Today in Toronto head to the lake to find a strange and beautiful Scandinavian double header: Swedish Robyn and Norwegian Royksopp will share the stage at Echo Beach to close out the summer. Anticipate a night of happy pop music, lights, and several stops at the beer tent. AG
Elvis Mondays is on at the Drake, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? will screen for free at David Pecaut Square thanks to TIFF. Belljar will host another record shop pop-up followed by live music and a screening of Picture Day with writer/director Kate Melville in attendance. For more events, click on over to our events section.
- Music: Robyn + Royksopp (Echo Beach)
- Music: Elvis Monday (Drake)
- Film: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (David Pecaut Square)
- Lit: outrageous ix: autobiography of prince (Central)
- Film/Variety: so long summer special film screening - Picture Day (Belljar Cafe)
Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.
Contributions by Adam Golfetto. Photo: Robyn @ Sound Academy by Randall Vasquez.
For the past five years, Toronto designer Amy Malcolm has been growing her handbag line through word of mouth and some steady online sales. Now, she's taken the label one step further with a brand-new showroom and shop on College St. The tiny storefront is a one-stop shop for thrifty fashion lovers looking for their next big handbag splurge - her leather pieces are made with durability and wearability in mind.
Did you line up for the 
This past weekend, entering Wilson Avenue and Bathurst Street felt like stepping into the crowded, noisy, and aromatic streets of Manila, Philippines.
"It's been pretty crazy and really enjoyable. I love to see everyone out here, smiling and getting a good bite to eat," said Berlinie Tuong from the 
Filipino cuisine is described as a mix of Chinese and Spanish influences, as seen in items like empanadas and lumpia. These food staples were present at Taste of Manila, including: chicken adobo; chicken, beef and pork barbecue; lechon (roast pig); siopao (steamed buns); siomai (dumplings); kare kare (stewed ox tail in thick savory peanut sauce), diniguan (stewed pork in spicy dark gravy of pig blood), and longonisa (native Filipino sausage).
Visitors also soaked up the saucy and greasy goodness with garlic fried rice or pansit - and washed it down with traditional beverages like sago at gulaman (made of brown sugar, water, gelatin and tapioca pearls) or buko pandan (refreshing coconut and gelatin beverage known for its distinct green colour). 
There were also desserts like Halo Halo ("mix mix" of shaved ice, evaporated milk and ingredients like red bean and purple yam ice cream).
As a Philippine-born Torontonian who occasionally craves the flavours of back home, it was also nice to see less popularized items like Banana Q (deep fried banana) and bangus (fried milkfish). As my souvenir, I packed home a container of freshly made chicharon from 
Toronto is home to many 
"The turnout has been incredible," said Pepito Torramba, Vice Chairman of the Philippine Cultural Community Centre, who organized the fest, which was expected to attract over 10,000 people. Torramba said the neighbourhood is the ideal festival location, because of its vibrant Filipino population. "Filipinos are the number one growing community in the GTA."
The crowd was predominantly Filipino indeed. Visitors packed the streets - many sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with overflowing styrofoam containers in hand. Chatter and laughter was muffled by the loud live music and performances.
"It's like being back home," said Bolivar Bao, Vice Consul, Philippine Consulate General of Toronto. "The support that the City has given to the street festival has simply been great and shows the strength in (Toronto's) diversity."
The Canadian National Exhibition is already in its final week, meaning there are just seven days left to gorge on 
Toronto is home to over 1,600 green spaces. Ranging from large-scale destination spaces like High Park to tiny neighbourhood parkettes, it's hard to know all that's out there based merely on the scale of options. A handful of parks tend to get all the attention, while others serve primarily the communities in which they're located. There's nothing wrong with this per se, but it does mean that there are worthwhile parks that fly under the radar, lacking the appreciation they deserve. 
During TIFF a smartphone can become something like a Swiss Army knife: a multi-use, all-purpose lifesaver. With it you can check the weather so you know to bring an umbrella for waiting in line, or you can check subway delays so you know to mad-dash to your next screening by cab instead. You can also check Twitter to get a day-by-day update on what films are generating buzz (good or bad) and choose to update your line-up accordingly. 
Free events in Toronto this week will teach you how to dance, how to fold origami, and how to wind down from summer without blowing all the money you should be saving for winter boots. Remember the feeling of slush seeping into your socks? You need new socks too - goddamn do you ever need a free screening of Spider-Man 2, and a chance to sit by 
Last week, we 
Cliches about Toronto have varying degrees of accuracy, even as they shape the discourse about our city. Whether true or fair, cliches are at least a useful way to examine how a city collectively thinks of itself -- or in some cases, how it's thought of from afar. The idea that Toronto is a polite city, for instance, is a something I've regularly heard from visitors but less so from people who actually live here. Our multiculturalism, on the other hand, tends to be universally acknowledged, even if only in the most superficial, let's-pat-ourselves-on-the-back type way. 
Today in Toronto the Ashkenaz Festival of international Jewish culture starts a week (August 26 to September 1) of festivities at Harbourfront Centre. You'll find music, food, crafts, and more. TIFF is screening Robert Altman's Short Cuts featuring Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Lily Tomlin, Robert Downey Jr. and more in a film expertly patches together a collection of super gloomy Raymond Carver stories, including my supreme personal weakness, tear-jerker A Small, Good Thing. Sniffle.
This week on DineSafe there were no closures, though the list is made up of establishments of otherwise good repute. Mark McEwan's Bymark gets a yellow card for #dishwasherproblems, while School Bakery & Cafe has a problem with pests.
Tucked away into a sleepy stretch of Broadview just steps from East Chinatown is a brand-new trove of unusual vintage home goods from all around the world. From folk-art sculptures to hand-woven blankets to quirky old signs, they'll have just the thing to give your place a dash of personality (for less cash than you'd drop in one of the city's design districts).
For all of TIFF's star-studded glamor, and the chance to see films that could go Oscar, one of the festival's greatest pleasures is enjoying its vast selection of international cinema. Not just because some of our greatest filmmakers are working outside of North America, but because you might never have the opportunity to see the movies appearing at TIFF anywhere else. 
Ukulele in Toronto is a hot pursuit for those inclined toward all things twee. From its early introduction to Hawaii from Portugal to the American Vaudeville and Jazz to today, the ukulele has made its way into modern music. Tiny Tim had the hit "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," George Harrison was an avid collector quoted as saying, "You can't play it and not laugh" and there's even, uh, Eddie Vedder's "Ukulele Songs."
Toronto is home to an impressive population of urban explorers who use Instagram as a creative outlet. From rooftoppers to underground adventurers, these photographers capture parts of Toronto that most of us don't have access to, and it's intriguing to see these novel views of the city appear in one's daily feed.
A number of Toronto restaurants started here but have since opened locations in other cities. We are used to the reverse, patiently waiting for a chain or famous New York entity to put roots in Toronto (
If you live in the area around St.Clair West and Keele and were less than enthused about the news that your neighbourhood would be getting a sprawling retail centre, I have some actually exciting news for you: the Stockyards will soon be getting its very own brewery. 
As for what kind of beer he'll be brewing, Rainhard appears to be a man after my own heart (and that of most craft beer fans in Toronto). "I brew what I love to drink myself and that's really hoppy styles," he says. "I started with IPAs then moved on to double IPAs so I'm going to have those as staples," he says, "But I'll get into some session [low alcohol] beers too which are popping up everywhere these days. I find myself drinking [Great Lakes Brewery's 3.2%] Limp Puppet a lot these days. I tend toward those styles."
It's the end of an era in Yorkville, as the last coffee shop with ties to the neighbourhood's hip heyday in the 1960s has decided to close its doors. 
