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This Week in Comedy: Unga Bunga I Like Your Brain, Dana Alexander, David Sedaris, and Comedy Uncovered

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Toronto comedyNorth Korea's sabre-rattling got ya down? Upset that Mousasi is going to crush a can instead of Gustafsson? Buck up! We've got everyone from Grammy nominees to trailblazing femme fatales to take your mind off judgment day. And besides...there is no fate but what we make.

TUES APR 9 / UNGA BUNGA, I LIKE YOUR BRAIN / THE OSSINGTON / 61 OSSINGTON / 9PM / FREE

At the very minimum, you'll get to see Chris Locke, Kathleen Phillips, and Tom Henry. Wowzers. I could go on and on about how Kathleen is one of the best character artists in the world, or about how Chris Locke looks like he's having the time of his life on stage, or even about how Tom is the perfect comedian to complement the aforementioned acts. They're just...just catch them for free before they blow up and get swept off their feet to L.A., L.A. big city of dreams. If the talent in the above clip doesn't make your jaw drop, we can't be friends anymore.

WED APR 7 - SUN APR 14 / DANA ALEXANDER / YUK YUK'S / 224 RICHMOND W / 8PM / $11-20

Quick: name me a black female comedian from Canada.

Weird, huh? I wrote the question and still can't think of one, other than Dana, of course. She's been on the scene for a minute, and was even voted, 'Best Discoveries' by Now Magazine in 2006. Can she kick it? Well, the Halifax Comedy Festival, CTV, and Much Music's Video on Trial think so. Skip past the rhetoric to 0:28 for the goods.

FRI APR 12 / DAVID SEDARIS / SONY CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS / 1 FRONT E / 730PM / $49-66

This dude's mad talented. Like Grammy-nominated talented. Never heard of him?  That's odd, given that he's been touted as the, 'rock star of writers.' In all seriousness, David's lived life the way he's wanted to, whether it's been writing essays or recording comedy albums.  And it's precisely because he's narrowed in on what he loves that he's been featured by everyone from BBC, The New Yorker, and Esquire. Now, he's not your typical stand-up comedy act, but the depth of his content is utterly compelling. His act proves that if your writing is good enough, people will pay to hear your read it.

SAT APR 13 / COMEDY UNCOVERED SHOWCASE / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 10PM / $10 ADV $12 DOOR

One of the best producers and comedy nerds in Toronto, Taylor Erwin, brings us another banger. Performances by Mark Little & Kyle Dooley of PicnicFace, Julia Hladkowicz, host Fraser Young and headliner Steph Tolev will come together like a Jiro meal, each act building upon the next. The shows are always great because Taylor knows the scene in and out, and understands how to keep an evening consistently interesting, which is no small feat. Anyone can put together a line-up of killers, but it takes a special kind of insight to compile a cast with a varied arsenal. Join me as I lick two shots in the air for yet another independent doing his thang.

About the Author: This is Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third-person. My blog, Diary of a Stand-up Comedian, walks you through the up's and down's (they're mostly down's, really) in my quest to become a killer comic in Toronto.

Lead photo of Kathleen Phillips


A brief history of Queen's Park in Toronto

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toronto queens parkThe "pink palace," Ontario's fourth legislative building, has stood guard at the top of University Avenue for more than 120 years. Well, 120 years and 2 days, to be precise. The venerable edifice celebrated the end of another decade as Ontario's political heart on Thursday.

When it was built, the legislative building was by far the grandest of the structures built to house Ontario's politicians. The earlier legislatures were closer in appearance to regular homes. At times, when fire destroyed or damaged the buildings - something that happened surprisingly often - the politicians used a vacant room at the General Hospital and the ballroom of the York Hotel.

This is the story of Ontario's grandest seat of government.

toronto queens parkThe giant stone structure, nicknamed for the pink-purple hue of its sandstone facade, was finished 1893 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style popular in North America in the later part of the 19th century.

The look, typified by intricate stonework, arches, and columns, was named for renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson, its pioneer, whose magnum opus is considered to be Boston's Trinity Church. Old City Hall was built to a similar aesthetic six years later.

Richard A. Waite, the architect of the main wing, trained in New York under John Ericsson, a Swedish-born inventor and mechanical engineer. Ericsson co-invented the first tank-engine train and designed the USS Monitor, low-slung ironclad warship used during the American Civil War. Waite was also notable for hiring Louise Blanchard Bethune as a draftsman, the first American woman known to have held such a position.

At the time, six buildings had housed the legislative assembly of Ontario it its various guises, several of them in Toronto. The first, on the southeast corner of today's Front and Berkeley, was burned during a skirmish in the War of 1812. The second also went up in flames, this time accidentally. The predecessor to the Queen's Park building - itself twice scorched by fire - was located on Front Street just west of Simcoe, and is now under the CBC headquarters.

toronto queens parkThe foundations for the current legislative building were laid in 1886 and the stone to build it was quarried in Port Credit and Orangeville and carved into ornate details in Toronto. The land, which is technically still owned by the University of Toronto as the original site of King's College, was leased for a peppercorn $1 a year until 2892 by the province.

The design was asymmetrical from the start, though the finished product does differ slightly from the plans: the western domed tower, just to the left of the main entrance, was meant to house a large clock. It was ditched when the funds required to build it never materialized. The round holes where it should have gone were filled with windows instead.

Eagle-eyed observers will also notice the west-wing is taller than the east. During construction of the north wing, workers repairing the roof of the west wing started a fire that destroyed the upper floor and the building's reference library, erasing its important reference collections. The Toronto Daily Star called it a "scene of ruin and desolation."

The wood-paneled room, stacked floor-to-ceiling with books, was a disaster waiting to happen. Ironically, the new north wing was to contain a fire-proof space for the collection, which was being routinely damaged by sunlight, leaking windows, and steam heating.

toronto queens park fireDuring the years-long rebuilding process led by E. J. Lennox, who was also responsible for Old City Hall, an additional two floors were added to the west wing. The north wing, designed by Toronto architect George Wallace Gouinlock, enclosed a previously open courtyard and added much-needed extra space.

The Whitney Block, the next expansion wing, was built on the east side of Queen's Park Circle using Niagara Escarpment limestone, mined at Queenston Quarries. It was once the tallest building in Toronto and is linked to the older part of the complex by a tunnel under the road and to Queen's Park subway station.

The exterior of that building includes details depicting justice, tolerance, wisdom and power, others show mining, farming, forestry, finance, law, education, and other activities. The tower, added several years after the first office opened, has been vacant since the 1960s. It only contains one staircase and no internal ventilation, making it a fire hazard.

The basement bowling alley is now long gone, as are the live animal pens used by the provincial veterinary service. The addition of the Ferguson, Hearst, Mowat, and Hepburn blocks in later decades expanded capacity further and extended the provincial lands east to Bay Street.

toronto queens parkThe centre block of the original structure contains the ornate Legislative Chamber with its intricate carved wood and plaster relief interior. Several Latin phrases, including the assembly's motto "hear the other side" (Audi Alteram Partem), are embedded in the woodwork. "Dare to be wise, by teaching we learn" (Sapere Aude, Docendo Discimus) and "peace in our time" (Pax Sit Tempus Nostrum) also appear.

One strange feature, a wonky plaster relief of a goofy-looking face is thought to be a caricature of Queen Victoria. Other faces are thought to be likenesses of the craftsmen who were forbidden to sign their work. The only person allowed to mark his work was William McCormack, the chief cratfsman and woodworker who carved out the coat of arms the backing to the Speaker's Dais.

The room is divided in half by two seating areas. The current government, the party with the most ridings, sits to the right of the speaker with the premier at the centre near the front. Outside, the east and west wings feature grand central atriums; the east lined in wood, the west in marble. Both were originally wood - E. J. Lennox added the marble to the west wing during its restoration.

The viceregal apartment is another notable part of the interior, located in the northwest corner. When the province sold its last dedicated government house at Chorley Park to the federal government in the 1930s, a group of room were formed into an official reception area for visiting dignitaries, complete with a covered carriage porch using fixtures salvaged from the old house. The Music Room in the apartment is used to swear-in cabinet ministers.

queens park interiorIn its 120-year history the building has naturally been a focal point during important Ontario events. It was lavishly decorated for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. In 1960, a sample air raid shelter was built on the front lawn near College Street at the height of fears over a nuclear attack. The main entrance appeared on the cover of Rush's 1981 album Moving Pictures.

The building was once again damaged by fire in 2009, this time suffering only minor damage when an air-conditioning unit caught fire. Apart from the occasional scorching, the Ontario Legislative Buildings have stood up to over a century of wear and tear. Who knows, with proper care they might even see out that lease.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: City of Toronto Archives, Ontario Archives

5 places to shop for shoes on Queen St.

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shoes queen streetThis month Toronto is celebrating the Shop Small program - a new movement focused on giving some thought to the importance of small, independent businesses and the vibrancy and culture they bring to our neighbourhoods. To mark the occasion, every Saturday morning for the next four weeks we'll be featuring some of our favourite small businesses in a different neighbourhood in Toronto. Today we begin with West Queen West. Check out and support small businesses in your neighbourhood by pledging to #ShopSmall.

I have a problem. A strange addiction. One which has the power to keep me up at night and can send me into a greedy whirlwind of excitement. That addiction...shoes. I know, how typical-a chick who likes shoes. I'm going out on a limb here guys, so quit judging.

Toronto is chock full of great shoe shopping but when my feet are aching for something new and exciting, a little je ne sais quoi you might say, I like to walk my tootsies on down to Queen to check out the boutique options available for the consummate shoe connoisseur.

Here are five of my favourite spots on Queen to shop for all things shoes, shoes, shoes.

HEELBOY
Consistently one of the most well-stocked shoe shops on the block, Heel Boy is an absolute go-to for shoes for any occasion. With a wide variety of labels, running the gamut from extremely affordable (a pair of Keds for $40 or leather Dolce Vita sandals for $80) to the slightly more wish list-worthy (a pair of Steve Madden dicker boots will run you a still sensible $200), the selection of brands available help keep my feet happy without burning a hole in my wallet.

Durumi Chocolate ShoesCHOCOLATE SHOES
When Korean boutique Durumi & Chocolate Shoes (two stores housed in one space) opened up in 2011, it was as though my feet had met their soul mate. Chocolate owner Hyeon Moon stocks her shop with all the latest styles straight from Seoul, each pair completely on-trend and completely affordable. The wide selection of flats sit in the $60 range while the lace-up heels I couldn't help but try on ran a little more than $120. Add to that the great selection of apparel available from store-mate Durumi, and I'm like a kid in a candy store. Except I'm not. I'm a grown woman. In a shoe store.

brodawka and friendsBRODAWKA + FRIENDS
A former designer for footwear aficionado John Fluevog, Jeff Brodawka definitely knows his way around a shoe. Opening the doors to his stand-alone store last Spring, Brodawka is quickly making a name for himself as the purveyor of hand-crafted, exclusive and unique footwear for men and women. Working closely with manufacturers in Portugal and Mexico, every pair of Brodawka shoes is made with an artistic flare and a critical eye. Where else are you going to find tri-colored men's oxfords in buttery leather that looks good enough to eat ($265) or sensible yet stylish heels for women that won't break your toes on your morning commute ($250)? Though the somewhat quirky designs may not be everyone's cup of tea, these shoes are definitely worth a look.

FASHIONABLY YOURS
Flipping through the pages of my monthly fashion glossies can be equal parts inspiring and tortuous. Beautiful designer shoes from the likes of Christian Dior, Prada and Proenza litter the pages, yet remain entirely unattainable to the likes of me. That's where designer consignment stores like Fashionably Yours come in to save the day. Owner Janet Han and store manager Hoda Perez are incredibly knowledgeable about every item that comes into the store, and the pair can sniff out a knock-off like a Bloodhound. Find simple Louboutin pumps or Rodarte x Opening Ceremony sandals for $100 or splurge on a pair of exclusive Guiseppe Zanotti x Swarovski wedges for a mere $1,500. Fashionably Yours even provides customers with a money-back guarantee on authenticity.

C Squared TorontoC SQUARED
Though spotting the sign outside may feel like a game of Where's Waldo, C Squared's location just west of Bathurst on Queen is stocked full of great picks from a wide range of designers. With a focus on practicality and comfort, brands like Sperry,Frye and Camper are right at home. Practicality by no means denotes a lack of style, but in fact, C Squared aims to marry style and practicality at an affordable price. As much as I love experimenting with new designers, sometimes a girl just needs a pair of Sperry boat shoes ($100) to trek around in on a hot summer day.

Shop Small TorontoHave a fave Shop Small business in Toronto? Vote for them in the Neighbourhood Gems contest on the American Express Canada Facebook page. You can vote once per day through April 21st and the then again between April 29th and May 5th for the finalist voting period. Each vote earns you on entry into a daily draw to win a$50 Amex Gift Card. Check it out.

Thanks to Amex Bank of Canada for sponsoring this post

East of Yonge

This Week in Theatre: The War of 1812, Race, A Brimful of Asha, Big in Germany, The Meme-ing of Life

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1812 PlayThis week in theatre rounds up the most noteworthy live theatre playing right now in Toronto. It includes just-opened shows as well as productions that are about to close.

The War of 1812 / Young Centre / 7:30pm/2:00pm / $20-$50
It's so incredibly important (and overdue) that Michael Hollingsworth's epic 21-part play-cycle, The History of the Village of the Small Huts, is being invited to performance outside of the back room of the Cameron House, first at the Stratford Festival and now at the Young Centre. It's been two hundred years since the town of York was torched and VideoCabaret details the events in their signature style in The War of 1812.

Race / Bluma Appel Theatre / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $29-$99
While there's no doubt it will be fun to see Jason Priestley back treading the boards, the reason I'm most looking forward to Race is the mingling of David Mamet's sharp language with the direction of Daniel Brooks. Add a high-stakes, politically-charged rape case along with courtroom action and it promises to be quite an intellectual evening at the theatre. The play features, Matthew Edison, Priestley, Cara Ricketts, and Nigel Shawn Williams.

A Brimful of Asha / Tarragon Theatre Extra Space / 8:00pm/2:30pm / $27-$53
There's a reason this show is returning to the stages of Tarragon Theatre — it's really good. In A Brimful of Asha, actor and celebrated theatre creator Ravi Jain performs alongside his mother in a story about generational culture clash based on their own relationship. When Ravi takes a vacation to India, his parents decide to showcase potential brides. Asha Jain had never appeared on stage until the play premiered last year, but audiences can't seem to get enough of her charm.

Big in Germany / Buddies in Bad Times / 8:00/2:30pm / $15-$25
Indie playwright Rob Salerno considers what life is like at home for rock-n-roll'ers The Omnipotents who, as the play's title would suggest, have broken through to a German audience but can't exactly connect with one here in Canada. After working in the porn industry just to pay the bills (rock bottom?), the twosome mounts their final attempt at obtaining rock notoriety with a hometown crowd.


The Meme-ing of Life
/ Second City / 8:00pm or 7:30pm S/S / $15-$29

Critics have been lauding the current Second City show as one of the best in recent memory, with its mix of strong performances and polished sketches. The Meme-ing of Life culls through the streams of data criss-crossing between our devices to find those little pleasures in life. But, to be certain, the troupe will balance these little gems by lampooning the behaviour of our friends and neighbours. Throw in a dash of improv and you can bank on it being better than a youtube party.

Get to know a Toronto startup: Epilogger

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EpiloggerGeneration Y records its life in a huge amount of public detail. Let's say you're at a great event. You don't just share your experience around the watercooler anymore: Gen Y Tweets its glee, Instagrams partners in crime, updates its Facebook status, checks in with FourSquare, and writes a blog about it the next day. But what happens to all of those fragments of the story created on social media, by every single attendee? They're on your Twitter feed one day, lost in a flurry of hashtags the next.

Enter Epilogger, a living archive that captures social media content generated about events and experiences and consolidates them into a handy, searchable, crowd-sourced log. By collecting public data from Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr and blogs, you can recap and revisit an event from all points of view, based on these user-generated content across these platforms. Epilogger is available as a web app and most recently an iPhone App, introduced last month at Launch Festival in San Francisco.

I asked CEO and Co-Founder Michael Nussbacher to explain how Epilogger aims to collect and archive the social media memories about the experiences we love to share.

What inspired Epilogger?

The inspiration behind Epilogger is to allow every participant of an event, a movement or an idea document the story of what happened from their own perspective. Chris [Brooker, President and Co-Founder] and I would go to a lot of events and notice that there was no single place to find all the content generated about the event because people would share their experiences across multiple social networks. Not everyone followed one another or used the same platform. Attendees would always ask where all the content was going, what happened, where all the photos were. We created Epilogger to fill that gap and give them a place to create, express, curate and share.

What kind of traction has Epilogger seen since the launch of the iPhone app?

We've experienced the growth of over 100 new events and many new users who are generating new events all the time. We're already at 34 million pieces of user-submitted content and counting.

What differentiates you from similar platforms?

Our main competitor was Memolane (recently deadpooled), as well as Eventifier and Sharypic. Our main differentiator is our commitment to creating communities around events, not just consolidate content. Epilogger creates a way for you to interact regularly with other people with similar interests. You can save favourite content in a Memory Box feature, get recognized for your contributions, and search within archives to find exactly what or who you're looking for. For event organizers, other differences that stand out are the ability to moderate an event, customization and branding, the ability to sell tickets, embedding and advanced analytics.

How does Epilogger make money?

We work with agencies, the music industry, organizations, and frequent event planners, like promoters, that want access to the advanced features we provide. They love the community-building aspect of Epilogger and the permanence it provides for them, especially since collecting user-generate content helps them improve their activities. We can also provide an embeddable and customizable widget for a website. In the near future, we'll also offer users the ability to print out their Memory Boxes and have it delivered to their door.

What do you think? Would you use Epilogger?

Sound issues sabotage k-os at the Danforth Music Hall

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k-osOn Friday Night, the Danforth Music Hall beat out Sound Academy for the title of worst acoustic venue when k-os hit the stage to promote his latest release, a rock/hip hop album entitled BLack on BLonde. k-os has called the album a conversation, and for an artist whose fame spawns from intelligent rhymes, Friday night's muffled conversation was a lackluster strain to the ears.

k-osWearing a trendy golden arm party, thick-rimmed glasses, and sneakers, k-os kept a fairly low profile, occasionally calling out to the quiet crowd -- perhaps to see if anyone was still out there. An all ages show, the audience was smaller than anticipated and the energy was low, particularly for a Friday night. Even his back-up breakdancer, who hit the stage during "Mojo On," could only temporarily enliven the crowd.

BLack on BLonde, which was released earlier this year, features 20 songs split into two discs: BLack contains hip hop songs reminiscent of k-os' classic style, while BLonde showcases k-os' ability to successfully take on rock and roll. k-os is known for fusing hip hop with any and every other genre so the strength in quality found on BLonde is no surprise.

k-osThe double album also features collaborations with Canadian artists Sam Roberts, Sebastian Grainger, Corey Hart (sans sunglasses), and, my favourite, Emily Haines. It's just too bad last night's performance of their collab "One Time" couldn't be saved by cleaner sound.

Hope sprung during a moment of aural clarity when k-os picked up his acoustic guitar and showed off his impressive vocal chops. But he cut the song short, dropped the guitar, and started chanting, "All I care about is music in the city that I'm from." Not even the Toronto love could stir the ever-thinning crowd. The only time I heard the crowd go wild was before he played "Sunday Morning" when he commanded them to scream as much as they would if they were at a Jay Z and Justin Timberlake concert.

All in all, for an artist with such a true talent, k-os fell flat in his hometown last night.

Additional Photos

k-osk-osk-osk-osk-osPhotos by Brian Morton

A lovely fish


Radar: Jamie Lidell, My Best Girl, New Music 101, Cents for Water Fundraiser, Guiltless Dessert Indulgence

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Jamie LidellToronto events on April 8th, 2013

MUSIC | Jamie Lidell at Lee's Palace
If you think the "one man band" concept died in the Vaudeville era, you might be in for a surprise. 'Live looping' is alive and well, and there are many practitioners out there, but Jamie Lidell seems to have a unique and more soulful take on this technique than most. Often focusing on layering vocals, Lidell develops unique textures and sounds that give his music a distinctive sonic imprint, as well as groove. Lidell is currently touring on his recent self-titled release, but his 2010 album, Compass is worthy of mention, as it features playing and production by Beck and Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Empress Of gets the show started tonight at Lee's Palace.
Lee's 529 Bloor Street West 9pm $15

LECTURE | Feminist Art: Where is it? Who has it?
The WhipperSnapper Gallery has an politically charged and intellectually provocative event tonight exploring "feminist art" from every angle. This is not merely a survey of female artists from various eras, but a discussion and exploration of what feminism really means from the standpoint of curators, art collectors, archivists, and how this applies to the scene here in TO from the Art Gallery Of Ontario to smaller independently owned galleries. There are some suggested readings and YouTube links that are recommended (see event listing) to prepare you for this discussion, but they are not mandatory. There is very limited space for this event, and the hosts are insisting you RSVP in order to be admitted, but fret not if no space is available, as this event will be repeated on April 16th.
Whipper Snapper Gallery (594b Dundas Street West) 6PM

FILM | Toronto Silent Film Festival presents My Best Girl
The Toronto Silent Film Festival has been taking place since last Thursday, and tonight, a screening of "My Best Girl" will take place at Casa Loma. When it comes to places to see a silent film from 1927, who can argue with the assertion that a swanky and historic venue like Casa Loma is quite the top drawer choice? This Sam Taylor-directed film starts Mary Pickford and her future husband, Buddy Rogers, in an amusing tale of romance and family drama. This was Pickford's last silent film. The the Toronto Silent Film Festival continues with its final day of screenings tomorrow.
Casa Loma (1 Austin Terrace) 8PM $20

MUSIC | New Music 101 series at the Rereference Library
The third annual New Music 101 series begins tonight at the Toronto Reference Library. This series, presented in four parts, is designed to educate and inform the public about contemporary music, its creation, and its performance. Over the four weeks, the series intends to cover chamber music, electronic music, "sound art," and music for game media. This evening, Arraymusic's Rick Sacks will discuss the relationship between music and poetry, as two poets and four musicians collaborate, and in the second half of the presentation, Eve Egoyan will discuss her artistic and curatorial practices, and also perform.
Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street) 7PM

ALSO OF NOTE

MORE EVENTS THIS WEEK

For more Toronto event suggestions, check out these posts:

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo by Jamal Khaja on Flickr

Morning Brew: Rob Ford defends casinos in open letter, Pebbles the dog saves doctor, Little Italy shooting tied to Vancouver hit, more CCTV, and pesky beetles are dead

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toronto storeRob Ford has released an open letter advocating for a casino in Toronto, calling the chance to build a major gaming facility a "golden opportunity." The letter, which starts "Dear Friends," was released this weekend ahead of a report by city manager Joe Pennachetti. Ford says the casino could create thousands of jobs and that "this opportunity shouldn't be judged on emotional or partisan rhetoric, but on facts."

He concludes saying the "$150 million" he expects for the city could be used for transit. The subways planned for Toronto typically cost between $1-3 billion. Is Toronto really missing a trick?

The Toronto senior doctor plucked from a ledge in an Arizona canyon this weekend says the experience was "quite an adventure." Dr. Elise Héon, the chief ophthalmologist at Sick Kids, became trapped while on a hike without warm clothes or water. Her cries were heard by a local dog named Pebbles, whose owner called for help. Héon says she didn't bring her cellphone because she thought she wouldn't have reception.

The Star has an interesting feature on a long-lost study into the effects of marijuana that never saw the light of day. In 1972, a group of 20 young women were thoroughly analyzed while smoking the drug at a downtown hospital in an attempt to determine the long-term health effects. So far, the report hasn't been released.

Looks like there could be a link between last summer's Little Italy shooting and a similar mob hit in Vancouver. Police believe both shootings were organized by 25-year-old drug lord Rabih Alkhalil who is wanted across Canada. Alkhalil is currently in jail in Greece awaiting extradition.

There will be more eyes on the streets of Weston in the coming months now Toronto police have confirmed they'll be installing two new CCTV cameras at Lawrence and Jane and Weston and Pine. The cameras are the first to be installed outside the core since 2007. Does more surveillance reduce crime?

The Asian long-horned beetle, terrorizer of maple, birch, elm, poplar and willow, is toast, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The invasive creatures damaged trees in Toronto and Vaughan and were the subject of a years-long eradication scheme that involved cutting down more than 30,000 trees across Canada. The pests were last detected in 2007.

IN BRIEF:

FROM THE WEEKEND:

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Jared Krause/blogTO Flickr pool.

Atomic Vaudeville's Legoland is clever as they come

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Legoland playThe siblings Lamb are like cousins from out of town who don't understand the ways of the world. As the only two characters in Legoland, we're treated to the defining moments of their short lives in a frenetic mash-up of tales. The whole thing feels as if it could be a play acted out in the family's living room on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Jacob Richmond's inventive comedy is at times irreverent and in other moments deeply dark. Like the older, intellectual black sheep of the family, however, it looks as if it's destined to be overshadowed by its fresher, more attractive younger sibling, Ride the Cyclone.

Penny Lamb (Celine Stubel) and her younger brother Ezra (Amitai Marmorstein) deliver a presentation about their crimes to fulfill their required community service. After their family's hippie commune in Uranium City, Saskatchewan is toppled by the RCMP for illegally growing marijuana, the kids take to the road in pursuit of meeting Penny's favourite pop icon Johnny Moon, who has recently turned hardcore rapper. They sell a boatload of Ritalin to finance their trip and let's just say the meeting with the one time pop star doesn't go so well.

Richmond's script has been injected with overt wit and cleverness. Both characters use performance to overcome challenges in "Legoland" (defined by their parents as everything outside of their commune). The stand out elements in the script are Ezra's cynicism, which punctuates each scene as a needle pops a balloon, and Penny's unbridled passion for JK47 that seems as odds with her intellect (that said, she is still 15).

The vaudevillian storytelling features the use of puppets and music, elements that add to the DIY nature of the Lamb exhibition. Directors Richmond and Britt Small have married well the personality traits of the characters, which oscillate between dry and over-the-top humour, to the presentation style.

At times, however, the rah-rah nature of the show is a little too off-the-wall, approaching "look how clever we are" territory. The show likely functions best in a more intimate space or as part of a festival.

The two actors are precise in their performances. Stubel drives things forward in long bursts of energy, while Marmorstein cuts through with a well timed observation. The characters' unshakable affection for one another is subtle, yet important.

Among the highlights are Marmorstein's Jeffrey Dahmer puppet sequence and when he steps out of Ezra's dandy role to describe why they are traveling cross-country. The most poignant moment of the show comes courtesy of Stubel who delivers a poetic vision of love: "it's the closest you come to being another person."

As Ezra so astutely identifies, the closest allies of irony are "wit, sincerity, and intelligence." All four qualities abound in Atomic Vaudeville's Legoland.

Legoland, written by Jacob Richmond and directed by Richmond and Britt Small, runs at Theatre Passe Muraille until April 13.

Photo by Barbara Pedrick

5 films to watch at the 2013 ReelWorld Film Festival

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ReelWorld Film FestivalThe annual ReelWorld Film Festival, now in its 13th year, will screen dramatic features, shorts, documentaries, and music videos from April 10-14 at Canada Square. The festival is one of the largest of its kind in Canada, showcasing racially and culturally diverse filmmaking from around the globe, while boasting a lineup of 50-70 percent Canadian content.

At a recent press conference to announce the official selections, festival founder Tonya Lee Williams said "Racially diverse artists are carving out a place for themselves in front of and behind the camera; but we still have a lot to do." This year, nearly 70 percent of the filmmakers are Canadians from South Asian, Aboriginal, black, Latino, Middle Eastern, Asian, and other racially diverse backgrounds. Williams has created place to celebrate "Canadian films being supported by Canadian audiences - what a concept."

ReelWorld also welcomes progressiveness in the art form itself, and is showing three musical films Hoodrush, Mongolian Bling, and Orisha Suite that are using rap to bring around change. It is the first festival to recognize music videos as a form of filmmaking, and has included a program — on Friday, April 12 at 9 PM — to recognize some visually spectacular music videos that might not get playing time on MuchMusic.

I caught up with the head of Canadian programming, Bobby Del Rio, and he gave us his top five must-see Canadian films in the festival this year:

Goodness in Rwanda
At turns a study on travel, theatre, culture, and genocide, this documentary screens like a home video that captured something truly magical. The Toronto-based company Volcano Theatre took their internationally-acclaimed play about genocide, Goodness, and performed it in Rwanda. One of the play's actors, Gord Rand, decided to document the experience on film. In it, we see all the trials of bringing any performance piece before an audience, only here the players are a group of mostly white, Canadian actors, and the audience is made up of Rwandans who have survived unthinkable violence. First-hand accounts of the 1994 genocide are unforgettable, and the scenery is magnificent.
This is director Gord Rand's first feature documentary, and is co-directed by John Westheuser.

Fondi '91
An Indian-Canadian teenager goes to Italy for a soccer tournament, and some boys-will-be-boys adventure leads to him witnessing a horrible crime. The journey that ensues is one of cultural politics, moral struggle, and sexual suspense. Though the story can be hard to follow at times, Fondi '91 is a cinematographic joy and will capture any movie-goer with a fondness for Canadian art-house cinema. This is the first feature by Toronto-born director Dev Khanna, whose last two short films premiered at TIFF.

AKP Job 27
In AKP Job 27, a Japanese hitman falls in love with a prostitute and searches everywhere for her. The memory of her burns in his mind, much like the enduring cigarette actor Tyce P. Phangsoa is seen smoking in every shot. Influenced by Asian gangster movies, this modern noir film has the difficult task of sustaining an audience through 114 minutes with absolutely no dialogue. But writer/director Michael L. Suan has created a stylish and experimental hitman odyssey, as brutal as it is poetic. Suan was born in China but raised mostly in Canada, inspired by the stoic and minimalist filmmaking of the likes of Kim Ki-duk and Takeshi Kitano, and his films set out to create a bridge between Eastern and Western cultures.

Lost Lagoon
This quirky comedy is basically Lost in Translation in reverse: a Korean girl moves to North America, and must navigate her way through an unfamiliar urban landscape. Set in Vancouver, the film has moments of loneliness, goofiness, and contains some seriously hilarious dialogue. In director Rob Leickner's third feature, you can see the influence of Wes Anderson with its slow-blink humour and dramatic irony. The unfolding of the narrative can be sluggish, but bear with it and you will come out on the other end of a delightful film.

Actra YEAA Shorts
This year, the film festival has teamed up with the Young Emerging Actor's Assembly, a collective of hungry, young ACTRA performers working to create a thriving Toronto film industry, much like that in Quebec. Nine short, original films were selected specifically to showcase the directorial work of young Toronto actors. The films are an exploration of our city's unique culture of youth and diversity. It is definitely worth a look to see the origins of these future filmmakers and attend the Q&A after the screening.

For more information, check out the festival website.

Writing by Imogen Whittaker-Cumming

Still from Lost Lagoon

This Week in Music: Grove Music Festival moves to Toronto, Rolling Stones announce ACC dates, Muse comes to town

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Muse bandThis Week in Music rounds up the latest news, releases and concerts coming to Toronto.

IN THE NEWS

Grove Music Festival coming to Toronto

The Grove Music Festival was set to take place in Niagara-on-the-Lake this August, but it was announced last week that it's been moved to Toronto's Fort York Garrison Common. The exact reason for the move hasn't been given, but this is sure to excite Toronto music fans (and probably piss off music fans in the Niagara region). The festival will be headlined by Phoenix, Hot Chip, and Girl Talk, while the rest of the lineup has undergone a few changes. Bob Mould, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Pretty Lights will no longer appear on the bill. In their place will be the Gaslight Anthem, Young Empires, Wavves, and Palma Violets, among others. For more information and ticket pricing, head on over to the official website.

The Rolling Stones announce two Toronto shows

While their 50th anniversary was in 2012, the Rolling Stones postponed their celebratory tour until this year. And last week, they officially announced the dates, including two shows in Toronto. The first will take place on May 25 at the ACC, and the second will take place on June 6, also at the ACC. While the choice of venue leaves a bit to be desired, it's not surprising, as these shows will unquestionably be two of the hottest tickets of the year, and they're sure to sell out fast. Check out the trailer for the tour below.

THIS WEEK'S HOT TICKETS

TUESDAY APRIL 9 & WEDNESDAY APRIL 10 / MUSE / AIR CANADA CENTRE / 40 BAY / $55.50 - $81 / ALL AGES

It's been an interesting few months for UK alt-rock trio Muse. They released their sixth album, The 2nd Law, last September, and both critical and fan reception was mixed, to say the least. It's certainly a radical departure from the band's previous works - dubstep influences and a New Order-inspired sound are dominant throughout. Frontman Matt Bellamy has come out and said that he's not entirely happy with how the album turned out, but at the very least, you have to respect the fact that the band tried something different. Tuesday night's show is sold out, but there are still some tickets left for Wednesday's show. They'll probably go pretty fast, though, so don't dilly-dally.

THURSDAY APRIL 11 / GREEN DAY / AIR CANADA CENTRE / 40 BAY / $34.25 - $71 / ALL AGES

It's not often that you see a band release three albums in four months, but that's exactly what Green Day did with ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré! And while the albums were their first non-concept albums in eight years, it's pretty clear that the band's best days are behind them. Still, they continue to have a very loyal and rabid fanbase, and it's safe to say that they'll play some of their older hits at this show. Just expect to hear a lot of newer, weaker material, too. Best Coast will offer support.

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED CONCERTS

WHAT WE GOT UP TO LAST WEEK

Photo of Muse courtesy of NRK P3 on Flickr.

St. Clair takeout joint home to city's best BBQ chicken

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Churrasco TorontoPrimarily a place to order take-away, the heavenly aroma of BBQ that drifts out of this 27-year-old St. Clair institution is far more enticing than its appearance. There's lots to like here, including cheap lunch combos, spicy chicken sandwiches and hot sauce with real zing. Oh, and hey, this might just be the best churrasco-style chicken in the city.

Read my review of Churrasco of St. Clair in the restaurants section.

Party Style: 14 rockin' looks at the GUESS launch party

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GuessrocksLast Thursday the GUESS store at 364 Queen St. West played host to the launch of the new GUESS Music Festival Collection. What's this? A new concert series? A big summer music festival? Sadly, no. But for GUESS fans it was a chance to preview some summer looks the fashion brand wants you to rock out in.

Check out all the looks in our Style section.


This teenage Toronto tech-wiz raised $1.8 million

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Jordan SatokAt first glance, Jordan Satok seems like the average Toronto high school graduate - except that he deferred a full scholarship to the University of Waterloo, started his own company, and raised a whopping $1.8 million dollars in VC capital that makes him one of Canada's youngest funded entrepreneurs.

Jordan's company, AppHero, is an intelligent recommendation platform for mobile apps. With a cutting edge team of developers and data scientists, AppHero will analyze your interests, preferences, and actions to recommend quality apps for your device. A combination of data science and common sense, its algorithm goes as far as analyzing your tweets to detect interests, while still keeping it as simple as just making sure it doesn't recommend too many paid apps to people who only use free ones.

As Jordan explains, with over 800,000 apps available in the app store, discovering new and quality apps has become increasingly difficult. With heuristics built around what defines a quality app (across a variety of verticals), the algorithm also analyzes app store reviews and developer comments for key phrases scoring apps by more than the most number of downloads or the most number of stars.

Admittedly, with competitors such as CrossWalk and Appsfire, the space is not new, however experiments show that AppHero users are "5 or 6 times more likely to download an app via AppHero than from another competing service", he says.

These increased download rates tie directly to their funding and revenue model. Already approached by carriers and OEMs who run their own stores, these companies have shown interest in licensing its recommendation algorithm hoping that the increased download rates will also result in increased sales. Beyond sales, these carriers also hope that providing a richer experience for consumers will help them to retain these users when contracts are up for renewal.

This carrier interest allowed AppHero's $1.8 million in funding to close in only 3 weeks from sources that include Toronto's own Omers Ventures and Golden Venture Partners, and a variety of angel investors - including Facebook executives. Satok says the funding lets them stay focused on building a great product allows them the flexibility to scale increase workforce and their office space and provide "app recommendations in 150ms or less".

By the numbers: The TTC's Spadina Extension

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TTC Spadina Subway ExtensionWhile the city waits on the Downtown Relief Line, the TTC is busily tunneling a six-stop extension of the Spadina line from Downsview station into York region. When it's finished, subway trains will travel outside the Toronto city limits for the first time.

Although the project isn't scheduled to wrap until the Fall 2016, the excavation work is close to 70% complete. Holey and Moley, the two boring machines, recently completed the parallel tunnels that will become the southern section of extension between Finch West and Downsview. Torkie and Yorkie, the machines working the northern stretch, are currently approaching Jane Street just north of the CN tracks.

Here's a closer look at Toronto's only active subway construction site.

Length of subway: 8.6 km
Tunnels bored: 6.2 km
Number of tunnel boring machines (TBMs): 4
Speed of tunnel boring machine: 15 metres a day
Time it would take a TBM to bore the length of the Gardiner: 3 years 2 months
Weight of one TBM: 430 tonnes
Number of GO locomotives needed to balance the weight of a TBM: 3.3
Length of cut and cover tunnels: 2.4 kms
Number of stations under construction: 6
Caisson Piling: 110 kms (length of drilled piles)
End-to-end length of caisson piling*: Union Station to Cobourg, Ontario (via DVP and 401)
Excavation: 1,400,000 m3
Concrete: 400,000 m3 (400,000,000 litres)
Spadina extensions required to fill the Rogers Centre with concrete: 3.9
Precast Tunnel Liners: 54,000 segments (9000 rings)
Precast tunnel rings per TTC vehicle: 3

* Caisson pilings are vertically drilled holes that shore up the walls of cut-and-cover parts of the subway so the surrounding earth doesn't collapse in on itself. The figure above is the total length, laid end-to-end, of all the pilings to be dug during construction.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Tom Ryaboi

The great Toronto coffee drink challenge: The Ella

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Ellas UncleDon't argue with me, because it's a fact that a clear majority of people don't drink their coffee black - mostly because they're drinking poor quality coffee, but also because, let's be honest, straight black coffee, even from the best of beans, has more of the sour and bitter in it than the garden variety set of taste buds can handle. With that in mind, it's worth putting some thought into how to sweeten our daily coffee in ways that don't involve a packet or two of white sugar. Luckily, one Toronto coffee house has a solution.

the ellaCONCEPT
Not for Jennifer Hedley and Michael Craig of Ella's Uncle the crude bludgeon of a double-double or promiscuous squirts of flavoured syrups. When it came time to open their small but popular Dundas West cafe, they needed to come up with a signature drink that was quick to make but distinct in taste. And thus was born the Ella.

There are a lot of alternatives to sugar as a sweetener; the Romans used lead acetate, with regrettable side effects like blue gums, kidney damage and death. Honey is a more altogether pleasant alternative, but for some reason its rich, floral taste is more suitable to tea than java. There was, thankfully, a more altogether Canadian option, a product of our national tree no less.

Hedley and Craig decided to use maple syrup in the Ella, inspired by Hedley's use of the popular pancake topping at home when she discovered that the sugar bowl was empty. Providentially, the slight smokiness and caramel quality of maple syrup is a beautiful fit with coffee, enhanced by the (slightly) healthier glycemic index of syrup compared to white sugar.

SCORE: 8/10

Steaming milkEXECUTION
As coffee drinks go, the Ella isn't rocket science. A half ounce of maple syrup is poured into a steamer mug with milk, which infuses the foam with the syrup. Hedley says she isn't particular about the brand - any decent maple syrup will do.

Ella's Uncle has a policy of putting double shots of their Classic Gourmet and Dark City espresso into all of its milky coffee drinks - they think the taste cuts through the milk much more sharply, and with the Ella, it lets the syrup and the beans muscle their way to the front of the line, taste-wise.

SCORE: 7/10

pulling a double shotVALUE
What looks like your standard medium latte retails for $4.25 and can be had in an iced version when the weather gets warmer, with the maple syrup dissolved in the espresso and not the milk. Don't even think about sugar, as you'll just kill the very lively flavour of the maple syrup and espresso that fills every sip of this very addictive coffee drink.

SCORE: 9/10

TOTAL SCORE: 24/30

Thanks to the New Listerine UltraClean for sponsoring our coffee-fueled adventures.

See all posts in this series via our Toronto Coffee Drinks Challenge Pinterest board

Have a suggestion for a unique coffee drink that should be part of this challenge? Send your tips to editors [at] blogto [dotcom]

Does half a billion in revenue justify a Toronto casino?

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toronto casinoA Toronto casino could net the city, province, and federal government $392 million in extra tourism revenue if it includes convention space, a hotel, and other recreation facilities, according to a new staff report released today. In total, it estimates an extra 130,000 new visitors would come to Toronto if the venue is built to the city's spec rather than to OLG's plans.

The report, which is intended to inform future council decisions, was released just hours after Rob Ford wrote an open letter to the people of Toronto expressing his support for a major gaming facility in the downtown core. Ford says he expects $150 million in direct annual revenue for the city, calling the chance to develop one of the proposed sites - probably the CNE or Metro Toronto Convention Centre - a "golden opportunity."

City Manager Joe Pennachetti says a casino, if built on the city's terms, would net around $111 to $148 million in hosting fees from OLG. The amount increases based on the overall size of the gaming floor, therefore the city would get the most money if it allowed a larger complex with a greater area dedicated to gambling. There would also be $19 million a year due in property taxes.

The lower amount is connected to the 135,000 square feet of gambling space recommended for the downtown core by city planners. OLG would rather see closed to 175,000 square feet.

In terms of jobs, a casino could generate roughly 6,200 to 7,000 building jobs and 10,070 full-time positions within the finished facility. A report from the Toronto Board of Health in February found that despite new jobs the casino would be unlikely to change the overall unemployment rate and could syphon cash from other businesses and attractions.

This latest staff report, which will be received by the city's executive committee next Monday and later debated at city council, also found 71 per cent of respondents were opposed to a Toronto casino. The areas that expressed the most support were all outside the downtown core.

Are the numbers convincing enough? Is it worth building a casino in Toronto for a chance at $148 million a year and a bump in tourism revenue? How do you think council will vote?

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Phil Marion/blogTO Flickr pool.

Toronto fashion vet brings a dose of Paris to Ossington

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Annie Aime TorontoNew boutique Annie Aime opened its doors to the public this past week, offering up a selection of stylish garments, jewels, shoes and home décor straight from the streets of some of Europe's most stylish capitals, as well as a few Toronto favorites to keep the locals happy. Owner Annie Mesenge is a seasoned veteran of the Toronto high-end retail scene and with her latest venture, aims to bring a dose of French whimsy to Toronto's style set.

Check out my review of Annie Aime in the Fashion Stores section.

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