What's Happening

The Bloor Cinema on Bloor just east of Bathurst is one of the screening sites for the Filmi South Asian Film Festival. Tonight at 9:30 pm is the North American premiere of When Kiran Met Karen.
And Sex And The City screens at various times Saturday through Tuesday... excuse for a night out?

Brooklyn band Oneida plays Lee's Palace Friday at 7:30 pm. Tickets are only $8.50.

The Art Bar Poetry series at Clinton's features a special theme night on Tuesday: Poetry & Blues.
"Hostess Cynthia Gould leads an eclectic lineup of poets & musicians in an exploration of the bluesy side of poetry and the poetic essence of blues lyrics."
As always, things get underway at 8 pm and voluntary donations are appreciated.

It's India Weekend at the ROM featuring films and dance performances, including one that "is a unique and refreshing new take on the much-loved sport of cricket. It pushes the boundaries of contemporary bharatanatyam in an exciting display of dance, sport and popular culture."
Sounds intriguing!

And, last but not least, there's the Friends of Christie Pits neighbourhood celebration on Sunday from 4 to 6 pm that I already BLOGged about.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

This Sunday is a PS Sunday in Mirvish Village -- no cars and lots of fun. August 10th promises to "highlight the visual arts and the community artists who call Mirvish Village home."

The Spadina Public Library features a children's Laugh Out Loud Party with silly stories and games on Wednesday the 13th at 10:30 a.m.

There's an intriguing sounding show at the Tranzac, Things I Have Found And How They Got There, on Saturday at 8 pm. Tickets are $12.

I didn't know that there was an all-female Toronto Roller Derby League until I saw that The Annex WreckRoom is hosting an after-derby party Saturday. Learn something new every day!

If you feel like venturing a little further afield, head south to Spadina south of College for the Toronto Chinatown Festival Saturday and Sunday. There's no info on the website (?), but a flyer says that it runs Saturday from 11 am to 8 pm and Sunday til 6 pm.

The usual suspects hold their weekend events, of course, including the ROM and the Bata Shoe Museum.
Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

Green Gastronomy at the ROM

The ROM is launching Green Gastronomy this month... the program pairs celebrity chefs with local farmers and wineries to spotlight sustainable food and wine production.
It will be hosted at the museum's c5 and Food Studio restaurants.
Here's the scoop: "One Friday per month from April to July, c5 will host a celebrity Ontario chef, plus a selected regional farmer and vintner to create a superlative dinner and wine menu using local ingredients. They will also discuss their philosophies of sustainable food and wine production.
The following Sunday, the same culinary team will create à la carte lunch menu items in Food Studio.
Chefs include Jamie Kennedy, Michael Olson, Nathan Isberg, Bertrand Alépée."
Full details are available on the ROM's website.

Cheers,

Vanessa

ROM Saturday Morning Club

Looking for something to keep the gaffers occupied and intrigued on Saturday mornings? The ROM offers a Saturday Morning Club.

"Paint a Masterpiece, Build an Empire, Explore the World... Before Lunch.
This spring, explore the ROM's galleries as you walk in Darwin's footsteps, subdue minotaurs and demons, put your own "spin" on some pharaonic PR and create artwork based on the sights and sounds of nature.
These are just some of the creative hands-on activities featured in the spring session of the Saturday Morning Club. Eight Saturdays of fun-filled, educational adventures in the ROM's fascinating galleries and labs will keep your child engaged and entertained.
The spring session begins April 5 and runs to May 31 (excluding May 17).
Exciting course options like Monster Myths, Web of Life, Art Blooms and Wonder Worlds are filling up fast. For a complete listing of Saturday Morning Club sessions and registration information, please visit our website."
Cheers,
Vanessa

What's Happening

This one doesn't happen until Thursday, March 27th, but I'm telling you now so that you can make time in your schedule. The Annex Residents' Assocation holds its Annual General Meeting at 7:30 pm at the Friends House on Lowther. Gary Wright, Toronto's acting chief planner, will be speaking.

The ROM is "all about" Charles Darwin and his theories these days, so it's only natural that they would select (sorry!) the movie Inherit The Wind for a screening and lecture. The 1960 Stanley Kramer movie is about the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, the real-life case of a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.
The ROM screening takes place Tuesday at 7 pm and the evening is introduced by film lecturer Anthony Harrison, while Toronto lawyer Michael Weissenborn will discuss the legal aspects of the original trial. Tickets are $18/$15.

Tomorrow night at the Tranzac Club Mysterion the Mind Reader & Santini "The World's Most Extreme Escapist" take to the stage in the main hall at 8 pm for Mysterion: An evening of EXTREME sideshow and escape never before seen anywhere in North America." It's billed as being like SAW or Hostel LIVE on stage. Rock band The Sevenate also is due to perform. Tickets ($17- $20 ) are available at Darkside on Queen, or at the door.

The MilesNadalJCC at Bloor and Spadina holds its annual Purim Carnival this Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm. It's $7 per family to get in, there's cheap food for sale and you should wear a costume.

Dundas, Ontario's Caribou perform tonight and tomorrow night at Lee's Palace. Tickets are $15.

The Art Bar Poetry Series, which takes place at Clinton's, features Toronto's poet laureate, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, on the 25th. It starts at 8 pm and admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Jeff Latosik and Ariel Platt also will read.

The Randolph Academy is mounting Anton In Show Business next Tuesday through Saturday at the Bathurst Street Theatre, which is housed in a former church on Bathurst, south of Bloor. Performances are at 8 pm and tickets are $22.

Of course, it's Easter weekend and the niblets are off school both Friday and Monday. If you'd like to celebrate with a parade, you'll have to leave the 'hood. You can choose either the frivolity of the Beaches Easter parade, or the solemnity of the St. Francis of Assisi Church's Good Friday Procession. The latter starts at 3 pm and follows a route south of our area. It's quite a massive undertaking, as this article outlines, and as these pictures illustrate.
The Beaches Easter parade runs from 2 to about 4 pm along Queen Street East from Fallingbrook Road to Woodbine Avenue. This parade is heavy on the bunny costumes/free chocolates aspects of celebrating Easter. There's even the third annual Dog Day Parade, with prizes for the best-dressed dogs.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening (Inc. March Break)

It's Varsity Day at the Bloor Cinema on the 10th. U of T students pay $3 admission, but you must show ID.
Screenings include The much ballyhooed The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, No Country For Old Men and Starting Out In The Evening. Great line up!

Speaking of the Bloor Cinema, this in from area artist Deb Wiles:
"A fine art auction is taking place in the upstairs lobby of the Bloor Cinema at 11:00 am sharp on Sat. March 8th.
The work has been up for viewing since Feb. 18th. Artists' Direct Auctions is the brainchild of John Romano who, after many years in the art business as an artist and a dealer, has decided to start an auction house. This auction will therefore be the first of many. Mr. Romano's intent is to sell work for artists as efficiently as possible, to get money into their pockets so that they may focus on producing more work rather than having to focus on selling their own work." [VR: Noble concept, that!]

On March 9th at the Miles NadalJCC, our neighbour, Jordan Klapman, continues with his Great Jewish Composers Music Lecture series. He tackles the topic of Yiddish American Swing in the Postwar Era from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Admission is $9 and includes bagels and coffee.

On the same day, you can meet at the Fitness Desk at 10 am to head down to Nathan Philips Square to skate en masse.

The performers of The Randolph Academy are mounting One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the 11th to the 15th at the Bathurst Street Theatre. Tickets are $22 and are available through Ticketmaster.

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, which makes its home at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. West, is offering In the Garden of Delights: Music from the Song of Songs this weekend. Call 416.964.6337 for details and tickets.

MARCH BREAK ACTIVITIES
Yes, it's that time again... time for the "mid-winter" break. Those with children, gird your loins. Those without children, gird your loins -- and, for pity's sake, stay away from any large public institutions!

The Toronto Public Library has a slew of March Break events, including Dan the Music Man at the Palmerston Branch and an Origami workshop at the Spadina Road location.

And the theatre in the Palmerston Branch plays host to Little Red Theatre's Goldilocks and the Three Canadian Bears on Monday at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $11 and $9; 416-533-8848.

The ROM has tons to do, including a Medieval Fair where you can try your hand at calligraphy and watch some medieval-style dancing. The Bata Shoe Museum has an Around the World In Five Days theme. Kids can dress up in kimonos or saris, paint miniature clogs and much more.

Casa Loma features pirate-themed activities for the gaffers, including a treasure hunt and a pirate show.

For events out of our area, Toronto.com has great listings and suggestions, as well as Toronto4Kids.com.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Cheers,
Vanessa

Eye Candy Friday

Okay, I'm cutting myself off after this fourth and final in a series of ROM pics.

This is NOT of the new crystal, but I included it for anyone who went to the ROM as a kid and, like me, spent the first five minutes ooohing and aahing over the glittering mosaic ceiling in the front lobby while their parent(s) bought tickets and dealt with other mundane stuff.

Although this area no longer serves as the front lobby, I was thrilled to discover that the ceiling is intact and is as gorgeous as ever.

Cheers,
Vanessa

What's Happening

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Neighbourhood resident Audry Kalman's art show opens at Lennox Contemporary gallery on Feb. 21 and runs until March 2nd. There's a reception from 7 to 10 pm on the opening Thursday.

There's a few celebrations in the offing for our first Family Day, Monday the 18th. MP Olivia Chow is inviting everyone to strap on their skates and join her at Christie Pits rink from 2 to 4 pm for a "fun afternoon of free skating and hot chocolate." (NB: there's no skate rental at Christie Pits, so bring your own blades).

The ROM opens two new galleries in the Crystal this weekend, the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East and the Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery. Also, to mark Family Day weekend, the museum is offering special programming "centered around dazzling dinosaurs and wicked weather" to its members.

Just down the street, at the Bata Shoe Museum, you can enjoy Family Day shenanigans, which include making an animal paper lantern or a slithery hanging snake, all based on a Chinese lunar calendar/Zodiac theme.
If you're a rat -- based on the Chinese calendar, that is -- just bring proof of birthdate and you can get in free.
(The Raymond-Moriyama designed building is worth a visit in and of itself, BTW.)

Casa Loma offers children, accompanied by a paying adult, free admission on Family Day.

Other events just happen to coincide with the Family Day weekend, such as the new ceramics exhibit opening tomorrow at the Gardiner Museum, called Man Eating Tiger.
It features Staffordshire figurines made between about 1790 and 1840, including "conniving cut throats, bare-knuckle brawlers, run-away brides, hen-pecked husbands, dancing bears and other colourful characters from 19th-century Britain."
Sounds very action-packed for a ceramics exhibit!

We're privileged to have a stellar baroque music orchestra in our midst... Tafelmusik, which makes its home in the Trinity-St. Paul's Centre at 427 Bloor St. W, just west of Spadina. This weekend Tafelmusik presents Mozart, Haydn & Bach with a Twist with guest director and soloist Sigiswald Kuijken. 8 pm performances, except for Sunday at 3:30 pm.

Tickets are $29 to $68. Call 416-964-6337 for more details.

At the same location on Monday at 7:30 pm, members of the TSO present one in the Five Small Concerts series called From the Hacienda to the Salon. Tickets range from $10 to $17. Call 416.221.8342 for more info.

On Sunday, as part of its Books and Bagels series, MilesNadalJCC at Spadina and Bloor features a reading by author Nick Maes of his "elegant fiction," Dead Man's Float. It starts at 11 am, tickets are $6 and the book will be available to purchase.

Also on the 17th at the MilesNadalJCC there are two screenings of The Ritchie Boys at 4 and 7:30 pm. It's a documentary about a group of young men who fled Nazi Germany and returned to Europe as soldiers in U.S. uniforms. (As the tagline says: Their courage and heroism were matched only by their chutzpah.)
The documentary is presented by the Jewish Film Society and "Ritchie Boy," professor Guy Stern, is the guest speaker.
Rush seats will go on sale 15 minutes before screenings for $15 and $10 for those ages 18 – 29 (7:30 pm screening only). For more info contact Esther Arbeid, 416.924.6211, ext 606, esthera@mnjcc.org.

Now, it may not be entertaining, but it could be quite informative: Confused about the new blue bin program? There will be an Open House at Scadding Court Community Centre February 19 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and another one in the theatre of the Palmerston Library on the 20th during the same hours.
During the open houses, Toronto waste management staff will be on hand to answer questions, including "what size of new box do I order?" and "what do I do with my old boxes?"

Whatever you do, enjoy it! And enjoy it with your family!
Cheers,
Vanessa

What's Happening

The "crystallized" ROM is going all out to get families through its doors, though judging by the line ups I saw spilling a looooooong way on to Bloor during the Holidays, the newly re-opened Dino exhibit's already packing them in.
Anyway, Saturdays and Sundays are crammed with events that are free with admission.

Nearby, the Bata Shoe Museum has Saturday Shenanigans with a Chinese New Year theme until the end of February.

The Central is a restaurant/live music venue in Mirvish Village that's always hopping. During the next week there's several music shows and something called a Plasticine Poetry Series.

Clinton's, at Clinton and Bloor, is the venue for the free Art Bar poetry reading series 9th annual Discovery Night on the 22nd at 8 pm.

On the 20th there's a Virtual Family Tree Workshop at the Miles Nadal JCC. It's $50 per person or $75 a couple.

On the same day, the JCC also is hosting one in its series of music lectures about great Jewish composers. The topic Sunday will be Jews and Opera. It's $9, which includes bagels and coffee.

Enjoy your week!
Vanessa

Weekend Stuff

ROM Special Programs
The ROM has gotten a lot of attention for its spanking-new crystal(ish) addition lately and I tend to forget that it's back up and running but an "events" email landed in my inbox to remind me. And though it's technically south of Bloor and NOT in the Annex, it's a stroll away!
You can get in to the ROM on Friday nights for a reduced price ($10 for adults, $7 for kids and free for any ankle biters younger than four) and there's free special programming.
There's special stuff on Sunday afternoons, too.

Window Wonderland
Well, I SWORE I wouldn't mention the "C" word until at least next week when, BTW, the Santa Claus Parade rolls through town (no, I'm not kidding!). So I won't use it. I'll use "Holiday."
However, anyone who ever hotly anticipated heading downtown years ago to press their eager little faces against the cold glass of the Eaton's store windows will want to know about this one: Window Wonderland.
Apparently, we're not the only ones disappointed with the half-hearted, slightly sad store window displays of the past many Holiday seasons, displays that were thinly veiled advertising opportunities for various toy companies and the like.
This year Ryerson students have been given one hundred smackers per display to create something great in sixteen storefronts in the dowtown core.
They get unveiled today and the winner is announced December 3rd. This is the first year, so let's hope they're good and, though it might be too much to ask for, let's hope that you can smell roasting chestnuts from at least one of the locations. Talk about total nostalgia!
ps After writing that post, I saw this article about how "the art of window dressing is making a comeback," including in Toronto.

Missed The Butter Sculptures?
No, you didn't! The Royal Winter Fair continues until Sunday.
Vanessa