NOW_2014-11-27

S P E C I A L R E P O R T : C A N W H I T E P R I V I L E G E B E S T O P P E D AT C I T Y H A L L ?

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NOV 27-DEC 3 2014 ISSUE 1714 VOL. 34 NO. 13 MORE ONLINE @ nowtoronto.com 33 INDEPENDENT YEARS

HALF THE PEOPLE LIVING IN TORONTO BELONG TO

VISIBLE MINORITIES.

WHY IS OUR CITY COUNCIL

SO WHITE? PG 12

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CONTENTS

KOERNER HALL IS:

NOV 27-DEC 3 2014 ISSUE 1714 VOL. 34 NO. 13 MORE ONLINE @ nowtoronto.com 33 INDEPENDENT YEARS

“an outstanding, wonderful hall” JAZZ.FM 91

Jarvis Church & Ivana Santilli

half the people living in toronto belong to

visible minorities.

SAT., NOV. 29, 2014 8PM KOERNER HALL Jarvis Church brings Philosopher Kings hits, his own originals, and soulful classics by Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and more. R&B singer Ivana Santilli captivates with her distinctive vocals and electric piano jazz infused dance floor grooves.

Why is our city council

so white? pg 12

Sultans and Divas THURS., DEC. 4, 2014 8PM KOERNER HALL This multi-artist concert features mezzo-soprano and CBC radio host Julie Nesrallah; soprano Miriam Khalil; master oud player Bassam Bishara; OktoEcho; Juno nominees and Canadian Folk Music Award winners, Sultans of String; and many more!

Presented in partnership with The Canadian Arab Institute.

in honour of 50 great gifts 12 COVER STORY plus! black friday the real-steal gift guide under 25 bucks POLITICS OF PRIVILEGE

John Tory photo: Lucas Oleniuk/ Getty images

12 White knight Can John Tory unite a divided city?

Colour barrier Five steps to make council more reflective of Toronto 14 Race rewind 10 reasons why election 2014 was the ugliest on record Tory’s equity contradictions Does his left hand know what his right hand is saying?

16 Chow bait The lightning rod for attacks seemed unwilling to engage in the conversation on race Diversity our strength? The peculiar history of Toronto’s oft-quoted motto

10 NEWSFRONT 11 News briefs Ferguson protest hits T.O.; shelter crisis 19 Progressive credentials Are Toronto’s gone?

21 Uber tiff Testy tech start-up messes with taxi industry’s monopoly 25 Ferguson revisited Why killer cops don’t get indicted in America

28 DAILY EVENTS 32 FOOD&DRINK

32 Going whole hog A step-by-step guide to Branca’s whole pig roast 34 Drink up!

36 LIFE&STYLE STYLE

Hot Sardines & the Barbra Lica Quintet FRI., DEC. 12, 2014 8PM KOERNER HALL Two great young jazz bands led by charismatic singers!

The Hot Sardines are “consistently electrifying live.” (Popmatters) Barbra Lica brings her infectious fun to Koerner Hall.

Great Gift: Koerner Hall Concert Tickets and Gift Cards More than 40 extraordinary classical, jazz, pop, family and world music concerts to choose from!

TICKETS START AT ONLY $25! 416.408.0208

www.performance.rcmusic.ca 273 BLOOR STREET WEST (BLOOR ST. & AVENUE RD.) TORONTO

4

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

36 Ecoholic Mascara memo; TransCanada pushes it; and more 37 Astrology

38 GIFT GUIDE 38 Fifty under $20 Shop brilliantly without emptying your bank account

Contact NOW

189 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7, tel 416-364-1300.

EDITOR/PUBLISHER

EDITOR/CEO

GENERAL MANAGER

Michael Hollett

Alice Klein

Pam Stephen

Editorial

Art

Marketing/Advertising Sales

Senior Entertainment Editor Susan G. Cole Senior News Editor Enzo DiMatteo Associate Entertainment Editor/Stage & Film Glenn Sumi Music Editor Julia LeConte Fashion and Design Writer Sabrina Maddeaux Senior Writers Jon Kaplan (Theatre), Norman Wilner (Film) On-line News Writer Ben Spurr Staff News Writer Jonathan Goldsbie Entertainment/Music Contributer Carla Gillis Contributors Elizabeth Bromstein, Andrew Dowler, David Jager, Ellie Kirzner, Sarah Parniak, Wayne Roberts, Adria Vasil Entertainment Administrator Desiree D’Lima Copy Editing/Proofreading Francie Wyland, Fran Schechter, Julia Hoecke, Katarina Ristic

VP, Creative Director Troy Beyer Art Director Stephen Chester Graphic/Web Designer Michelle Wong Photo Coordinator Jeanette Forsythe

Production Director Of Production/IT Greg Lockhart Production Supervisor Sharon Arnott Assistant Production Supervisor Jay Dart Designers Ted Smith, Donna Parrish (Editorial), Clayton Hanmer, Monica Miller Publishing Systems Manager Rudi Garcia Publishing Technology Jason Bartlett

nowtoronto.com Online and Social Media Manager Kate Robertson Interactive Producer Leah Herrera Web/Mobile Developer Adner Francisco

Phone 416-364-1300 X381 or email advertising@nowtoronto.com Director, Display Advertising Sales Gary Olesinski Research Analyst/Sales Operations Manager Rhonda Loubert Senior Marketing Executives Bill Malcolm, Janice Copeland, Barbara Hefler Marketing Representatives Laura LaBella, Bonte Minnema, Briony Douglas, Elspeth Staniland, Edite Martins Marketing Coordinators Joanne Begg, Stacy Reardon, Jane Stockwell

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Phone 416-364-3444 or email classifieds@nowtoronto.com

38

NOVEMBER 27 – DECEMBER 3

ONLINE

50 MUSIC

50 The Scene Lucinda Williams, Damien Rice, M For Montreal, Caribou 52 Club & concert listings 54 Interview Hooded Fang 56 Interview Blonde Redhead 58 Interview Jazz Cartier 60 T.O. Notes 62 Album reviews

This week’s top five most-read posts on nowtoronto.com

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OFF

63 STAGE

63 Comedy interview Second City’s Matthew Reid and Carly Heffernan; Theatre listings 64 Theatre reviews Old Man And The River; Paulo And Daphne 65 Theatre interview The Stronger Variations’ Allyson McMackon 66 Comedy listings 67 Dance listings

67 BOOKS

68 ART

Review Tell Readings

Holiday art sales Must-see galleries and museums

1. Trans respect For the first time, there was a flag-raising at Nathan Phillips Square honouring victims of violence on the Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20).

2. Booty call-out Kim Kardashian’s butt #broketheinternet this month.

Wouldn’t it be great if other female talents could have the same impact?

3. Delayed progress The TTC has had GPS on all vehicles for three years. So why has technology failed to prevent users from having to wait?

4. Taken for a ride? We compare the TTC’s subway service to other cities to see if it truly is as subpar as it feels.

5. Second chances While things ended well for a chastened Andrea Horwath at the ONDP convention, it’s hard to believe party strategists have really kissed her retail politics goodbye.

69 Actor interview Horrible Bosses 2’s Christoph Waltz 70 Reviews Foxcatcher; Getting To The Nutcracker; Heartbeat; Penguins Of Madagascar; Corner Gas: The Movie; The Last Impresario; Women Who Flirt 74 Playing this week 77 Film times 84 Festival reviews Blood In The Snow Canadian Film Festival

NOV 27th till NOV 30th Hurry in

“Obama: ‘There’s never an excuse for violence.’ Actually, state-sanctioned killings of unarmed civilians are a pretty good excuse, I’d say.”

@EVAHOLLAND on the president’s words following a grand jury’s decision not to indict the Ferguson officer who killed Michael Brown.

“I’ve lived in cities hit by terrorists, I’ve lived in cities hit by tornadoes.

Never lived in a city so afraid of itself. #STL #Ferguson”

@SARAHKENDZIOR on the atmosphere in Ferguson and St. Louis.

FOLLOW NOW ON TWITTER

NOW ON THE MOVE

80 CLASSIFIED Crossword Employment Rentals/real estate

delivery before the holidays on all in stock items and marked floor models

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

69 MOVIES

80 80 82

BLACK FRIDAY

83 95

Get NOW Magazine on your...

Desktop, tablet or smartphone Flip through a down-

Adult classifieds Savage Love

loadable version of NOW Magazine with our new PressReader.

Shelterfurniture.ca 885 CALEDONIA RD TORONTO 416 783-3333 MON-SAT 10-6 SUN 12-5

Early Listings Deadline Get your party or New Year’s Eve event listed in NOW’s comprehensive New Year’s Eve Planner this coming December 11.

This edition of NOW is printed on recycled paper using vegetable oil based inks.

386,000* weekly

Audited circulation 104,072 (Oct 10 - Sept 11) ISSN 0712-1326 Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 298441.

*PMB FALL 2013

Adult Classifieds Sales Phone 416-364-1500 Senior Marketing Executive Beverlee East Marketing Representatives Christian Ismodes, Scott Strachan, Gary McGregor

Promotions

Promotions and Communications Manager Jules Hollett Promotions Administrator Dustin Aceti

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Controller Joe Reel Human Resources Manager Beverly Williams Office Manager Brenda Marshall Credit Manager Ray Coules Payables Coordinator Sigcino Moyo Credit Department Richard Seow, Rui Madureira Accounting Assistant Loga Udayakumar Reception Amy Mech, Janet Hinkle

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Publisher’s Office

Executive Assistant To Editor/CEO And General Manager Scott Nisbet Assistant To Editor/Publisher Deborah Egan

NOW is Toronto’s weekly news and entertainment voice, published every Thursday. Entire contents are © 2014 by NOW Communications Inc. NOW and NOW Magazine and the NOW design are protected through trademark registration.

NOW is available free of charge in the city of Toronto and selected locations throughout the GTA, limited to one copy per reader. NOW may be distributed only by NOW Communications’ authorized distributors or news agents.

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Deadline for listings is Thursday, December 4, 5 pm.

Email events@nowtoronto.com or mail/drop off: 189 Church Street Toronto M5B 1Y7

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ties. visibloue mir citnoyricouncil

half the people

livin

so white?

Why is

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Now Communications Inc. Alice Klein Chair/CEO Michael Hollett President/COO David Logan Vice-President Lilein Schaeffer 1921–2010

Everything Toronto

nowtoronto.com

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NOW NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014

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PROGRAMME SPONSOR

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The De Chardin Project

Adam Seybold’s two-hander about the connection between a Jesuit priest, scientist and philosopher and a mysterious guide debuted last year and won a Dora for best new play in the indie division. If you missed its very short run, you’re in luck since a new production starring Cyrus Lane and Maev Beaty (who’s spent most of the year wowing audiences at Stratford) and directed

by Alan Dilworth continues to December 14 at Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (16 Ryerson).

7:30 pm and some 2 pm matinees. $17-$38. 416-504-7529.

This week

November 27 – December 3

Thursday 27

AIDS Justice in Africa Screening of new film and a panel discussion featuring

Stephen Lewis and moderator Anna Maria Tremonti. 7 pm. $15. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. bloorcinema.com.

Gordon Lightfoot Canadian folk legend plays second of four shows at Massey Hall. 8 pm. $32.50-$99.50. roythomson.com.

Police carding A discussion with community activists, lawyers and researchers at Metro Hall. Free. 6:30-8 pm. stoppolicecarding@gmail.com.

Behold the ravishing virtuosity of guest pianist Alice Sara Ott, plus timeless selections from The Nutcracker. This concert is not to be missed!

Best of Tchaikovsky WED, DEC 3 AT 8pm SAT, DEC 6 AT 8pm Cristian Ma ˘celaru, conductor Alice Sara Ott, piano Tchaikovsky: Jurisprudence March Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 Tchaikovsky: Act II from The Nutcracker

Friday 28

Arkells Hamilton indie rockers play the second of three dates at the Danforth Music Hall. Doors 7 pm, all ages. $23.50-$39.50. soundscapesmusic.com, rotate.com, ticketmaster.ca.

Foxcatcher Steve Carell and Channing Tatum could get Oscar noms for this real-life drama directed by Capote’s Bennett Miller. Opening day. See review, page 70.

Renewing the Left Alan Sears, Chris Ramsaroop and others debate how to grow the left’s support. Free. 7-9 pm. Beit Zatoun. beitzatoun.org.

Saturday 29

OCAD Book Arts Fair Check out books by artists, printmakers, bookbinders and photographers at the art school, 10 am-5 pm.

Pwyc. bookartsfair@gmail.com.

Maestro Fresh Wes, Shad, Kardinal Offishall and Kellylee Evans Canadian hip-hop stars light up Nathan Phillips Square at the Cavalcade Of Lights. 7-10 pm. Free. toronto.ca/cavalcade.

Fair trade show Talks, screenings, fair trade vendors. To November 30 at the Gladstone.

Free. thefairtradeshow.com.

Sunday 30

Kim’s Convenience Ins Choi’s powerful look at a

Korean-Canadian family returns to the Young Centre. 2 pm. $5-$89. To December 28. 416-866-8666.

TSOUNDCHECK.CA 416.598.3375 ROY THOMSON HALL

Monday 1

Yusuf The British singer/songwriter formerly known as Cat Stevens plays Massey Hall. 8 pm. $60-$250. ticketmaster.ca.

Tuesday 2

Jason Collett’s Basement Revue The Toronto singer/songSEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR

writer brings his recurring music-focused-but-multidisciplinary show back to the Dakota. Look out for surprise guests. Doors 8:30 pm, $25. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com.

Wednesday 3 OFFICIAL AIRLINE

Flatbush Zombies & the Underachievers Alternative and psychedelic Brooklyn rap groups unite at the Guvernment.

8 pm, all ages. $23. inktickets.com.

6

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

Next week December 4–10

Long Winter First Thursdays Takeover The monthly music fest takes

over the AGO’s First Thursdays for the second year in a row, giving the Great Hall-based event room to stretch its legs. With the Hidden Cameras, New Fries and more. $15, adv $12. ago.net.

December 4 Demetri Martin The deadpan comic performs two stand-up sets at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. 7:30 and 10 pm. $39.50. 1-855-985-5000, hahaha. com/demetri. December 6 The Blind Boys of Alabama For lovers of the holiday season it doesn’t get much better than this gospel group’s stunning harmonies. Catch their Christmas Show at Roy Thomson Hall. 8 pm. $39.50-$69.50. roythomson.com. December 8 Wild Cheryl Strayed’s memoir about a woman taking a 1,100-mile hike comes to the screen with Reese Witherspoon.

From December 5

TTCRiders fundraiser With

awards for transit heroes and trolls. 5:30-7:30 pm. $25. Beit Zatoun. ttcriders.ca. December 4

Book now

These will sell out fast Cannibal! The Musical Be one of the

first to see the world premiere of a new musical by the co-creators of South Park and The Book Of Mormon. Panasonic Theatre. $29.95-$109.95. cannibalonstage.com. February 10 to March 8 Foo Fighters Dave Grohl’s alt-rock five-piece has a stadium-sized following, and they’re bringing their latest, Sonic Highways, to the Molson Amp this summer. $42.50-$75. livenation.com. July 9

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NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

7

Every Thursday 7-8:30 pm Room 212 - entrance beside Book City

FREE EVENING LECTURES

DEC 4 BREATHE YOUR WAY TO MORE ENERGY & LESS STRESS Feeling stressed out? Come and catch your breath! For thousands of years, yogis have been using breathing practices to enhance wellbeing in mind, body & spirit. Discover how yoga & Ayurveda can help you feel more balanced and understand yourself on a new level.

Learn simple breathing techniques to help you feel less stressed out and more energized in just a few minutes. Aili Kuutan is a Duke-certified integrative health coach, yoga teacher, change expert, and living proof that yoga can transform your life. ailikuutan.com DEC 11 DIY SKINCARE PRODUCTS WITH SIGRID Join Sigrid Geddes the creator of Sigrid Naturals and learn the art of hand crafted natural skin care. Enjoy a ‘short and sweet’ hands-on demonstration of making nutritious skin care that feeds and heals your skin. We will use whole oils, beeswax, herbs and water. Ta da, let’s whip cream the alchemic way. Sigrid’s skin care products and process of creating is unique in that she makes a notable effort in using ingredients that are local. The best food for our skin is often in our kitchen and outside out front door. Bring a small one-ounce jar and take home a little sample of the deliciousness! sigridnaturals.com

email letters@nowtoronto.com Horwath’s promises will end up in dustbin

Re Horwath’s Second Chance, by Ellie Kirzner (NOW, November 20-26). Four years is a long time in politics and in the life of a party. Promises made at a convention where a leader is seeking absolution for sins committed are likely to end up in the dustbin of history come the next election. It bears remembering that the main goal of any political party in a parliamentary democracy is to get elected. Platform principles and convention resolutions take a back seat to this objective.

Ted Turner Toronto

For NDPers it’s populism or death

I read the list of approved NDP-friendly big-picture issues at the recent NDP convention: climate change, a living minimum wage, the creation of a value-added green economy, better childcare, etc.... Didn’t Olivia Chow try to promote these very same tired programs when she ran for mayor? And she failed miserably. She was abandoned by the hard-working white and non-white/immigrant families in Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough who used to be the NDP base but no longer want their hard-earned income to pay for programs that only

benefit the politically connected NDP types in downtown Toronto. The only hope is with Horwath’s populist approach of respect for taxpayers and for the NDP to figure out how to create conditions that create jobs in the private sector. Otherwise, the future of the party will continue to be bleak.

Mitch Wolfe From nowtoronto.com

How Horwath can take NDP base back

Canadian Worker Owned Store Certified Organic Retailer

An important announcement at the convention not mentioned in Ellie Kirzner’s article is that Michael Balagus, formerly with Gary Doer’s administration, has become Andrea Horwath’s chief of staff.

His message to the convention was that Horwath is aiming for 2 million votes in the next election, and that means growing our tent and reaching out to other people. Which brings me to the “retail politics” issue that was criticized during the campaign. I saw this as Horwath’s attempt to bring into our tent the NDP’s natural constituency, which is people at the lower and middle income level who now vote for Ford and think the Conservative party is their home.

The task for the NDP is to explain that the Conservative mantra of lower taxes is not for low-income folks but for Conservatives in the corporate world and the wealthy.

Irma Orchard Don Mills

Mon-Fri 9-9pm • Sat 9-8pm • Sun 11-6pm

Fur foul-up

SEMINARS ARE TAKING A HOLIDAY BREAK AND RETURNING JANUARY 8/15

SINGLE EVENING COOKING CLASSES DEC 8

GUILT FREE HOLIDAYS WITH KATE MCMURRAY

JAN 12

NATURAL CHEESE MAKING

$70. + HST. 7-9:30pm

Who says the holiday season has to be stressful? This year indulge and entertain with confidence.

Nutritionist Kate McMurray will be sharing her favourite holiday recipes and advice for keeping your body happy all season long. Impress your guests withroasted pear and parsnip soup and orange and fennel salad. Keep the kids happy with Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls and the Ultimate Spice Cookie. Get fancy with a traditional holiday pudding and ‘Haute’ chocolate drink. Bring a friend and let’s celebrate!

Bonus: all recipes are gluten, dairy and refined sugar free!

$70. + HST. 6:30-9:30pm

Alongside cheese maker David Asher we will explore the various stages of cheese making from culturing to ageing. David will demonstrate the techniques for making paneer, yogourt cheese and rennet curds; three basic fresh cheeses that help students understand the different ways milk can evolve into cheese. David will also share how to transform the fresh rennet curds we make into an aged Camembert. The workshop will emphasize ‘natural cheese making’, with a focus on simple, hands-on techniques that can be easily reproduced at home. David will also discuss the history, science and practice of cheese making, the politics of raw milk, rennet free cheeses and dairy ferments.

Natural Food Market

348 Danforth Ave. 416-466-2129 thebigcarrot.ca

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#587 Leather Lined in Rustic Black $189.95

Your Life&Style section featured vegan handbags (NOW, November 13-19) that don’t participate in animal cruelty by not using leather. Leather is a by-product of the meat industry, which you clearly don’t oppose, given your food coverage. Yet in the same section you show two coats with fur trim, the fur being a product of extremely cruel trapping or fur farms.

How hypocritical can you get?

Christine Selwood Toronto

TTC’s tech Y2K-worthy

Robert Priest’s column on the TTC’s failure to provide basic and very much needed information (NOW, November 20-26) renewed my featherruffling.

A good sign of a caring and properly funded transit system is a well or-

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november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

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ganized and user-friendly website.

The TTC’s trip planner came to us very late in the game (I remember wondering why it was easier to navigate the GO system), and so did the route maps.

Priest forgot to mention that the TTC actually had a very solid phone service that gave you the next three arrival times at your stop. Sadly, it was the one (and seemingly only) thing that crashed during Y2K. The TTC would do well to hire more technical communicators who can suss out gaps in users’ needs and provide hardcore testing of the current technology.

S. Moffat Toronto

Silence no more

I have cherished the times I’ve picked up your newspaper since my rare visits to the big city at the tender age of 13. But this is the first time I have written to you, to extend my deepest appreciation for your articles in your special report on violence against women (NOW, November 13-19).

Personally, I have silently struggled through incarnations of nearly every imaginable situation of abuse in my life. I remain stronger for it, yet silent.

I feel as though, if each of us were to stand up and be counted and refuse to be shamed, ignored or labelled crazy, perhaps, like the gay rights movement, our plight would eventually be recognized.

Let the silence stop. I choose not to be anonymous any more.

Violetta Casaedie Toronto

King of cool Ghomeshi is a poseur

We’ve hadda brook the onslaught of Jian Ghomeshi’s sheer flummery over the years [showing] just how cool all of us unwashed could (should) be.

Alas, his good friend Big Ears never got to witness Ghomeshi’s alleged depravity cum malevolence. A true poseur, if anything!

Also, having seen your photo of John Tory in your opening pages lugging a shitload of documents in grandiose fashion (NOW, November 6-12), I can’t help but wonder if a misinformed electorate opted for yet another poseur!

William Gouzelis Toronto

Best of T.O. makes mincemeat of sausage

As the owner of Sorella Toronto, I was wondering what happened to the category of best sausage in your Best of Toronto Reader’s Poll issue (NOW, November 6-12).

It was your publication that hailed Sorella as the best sausage in Toronto.

To exclude the sausage category in a city nicknamed Hogtown is bewildering. Furthermore, NOW Magazine also referenced sausage in seven other categories. Who fucked up?

Mario Garisto Toronto NOW welcomes reader mail. Address letters to: NOW, Letters to the Editor, 189 Church, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7. Send e-mail to letters@nowtoronto.com and faxes to 416-364-1166. All correspondence must include your name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length.

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

9

newsfront

Faire game

CHEOL JOON BAEK

Tinkerers and the curious descended on the Mini Maker Faire, aka the greatest show-andtell on earth, at the Reference Library last weekend. Photo gallery at nowtoronto.com.

#GRUMPYRIDER

10

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

No One Is Illegal’s United Against Raids & Detentions rally in support of migrant detainees at the Toronto Immigration Jail in Rexdale Sunday, November 23. A recent Global News report named 11 people who have died in suspicious circumstances in immigration detention in Canada since 2000.

First-ever Trans Day of Remembrance flag-raising at Nathan Phillips Square, 3 pm, Thursday, November 20.

OWEN SHEPPARD

SPOTTED

ZACH RUITER

Cam MacLeod is looking annoyed after waiting for five full trains to pass before he could board one. TTCriders is calling on transit users to take photos of their grumpy faces – and send their selfies to Kathleen Wynne and John Tory – next time they experience a bad commute. The group has set up a gallery at instagram.com/ttcgrumpyrider.

ILLEGAL DETENTION

news in brief

zach ruiter

“GENIUS IS ETERNAL PATIENCE”

BLACK LIVES MATTER: SOLIDARITY WITH FERGUSON PROTESTS Outraged over the St. Louis County Grand Jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson on charges in the shooting death of Mike Brown, more than 1,000 people gathered for a rally opposite the U.S. Consulate on Tuesday night, November 25, in a call for justice for all victims of police violence. More on page 25.

SHELTER CRISIS

Five women were arrested Tuesday, November 25, at a Shelter Support and Housing Administration office after a protest demanding more shelter beds and a 24-hour drop-in space for violence-involved women and trans people. The protest was spurred by frustration over lack of action on initiatives council has already approved to ease overcrowding in the shelter system. Almost 20 months later, little progress has been made. Full story at nowtoronto.com.

ONTARIO ABUZZ OVER BEE-KILLING PESTICIDES

Beleaguered bees (and the environment) are getting a break: Ontario has just announced it will become the first jurisdiction in North America to get a regulatory grip on beekilling neonic pesticides linked to colony collapse disorder. Under the new regs, farmers will be allowed to purchase and employ neonics only

under “extraordinary” circumstances, with the aim of slashing neonic use on corn and soy fields by 80 per cent by 2017. The regs should come in time for the 2016 planting season.

MICHELANGELO

TRACKING CENSORSHIP

PEN Canada, the BC Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression have launched a website for members of the public to report cases of censorship and limits on free speech. These groups, among others, have been the target of audits by the federal government over their charitable activities. censorshiptracker.crowdmap.com.

Discover 30 rare, personal drawings from the hand of one of the greatest artists of all time.

Compiled by NOW staff with files from Zach Ruiter, Ben Spurr and Lia Grainger.

BIKE PIRATES SHIFT GEARS

Community cycling org Bike Pirates have decided it’s time to say goodbye to the spot at 1292 Bloor West they’ve called home for six years and move to a bigger, more accommodating space. On Sunday, November 23, they launched an Indiegogo campaign with the goal of raising $60,000 to fund reno of the new space (which has yet to be announced) and replace aging and broken equipment, among other things. More info at bikepirates.com or facebook.com/groups/bikepirates.

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Michelangelo, Nude seen from the back , pen with traces of black chalk, 40.8 x 28.4 cm, Casa Buonarroti inv. 73f.

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Nov 18, 2014

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11

SPECIAL REPORT

CAN WHITE PRIVILEGE BE STOPPED AT CITY HALL?

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By JONATHAN GOLDSBIE

12

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

MAYOR-ELECT JOHN TORY says he can repair the rifts exploited by his predecessor, but good intentions aren’t enough. Racist, sexist and anti-immigrant invective shattered Toronto’s “diversity is our strength” self-image during the municipal election. It’s just the visible manifestation of the largely ignored disadvantage that more and more of us face every day.

O

n December 1, Mayor-elect John Tory will become head of a council whose 45 members include just six people of colour; they will be overseeing a city in which “visible minorities” very nearly represent the majority.

Asked following the recent Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony how future councils could better reflect the diversity of Toronto, Tory surmised that “the only way we’re going to resolve that is to keep working at encouraging people to run for public office, remove some of the fears that exist with people… and encourage them at the fact that you can get elected, you can stand for office, that a campaign is not an experience to be feared but rather to be taken on as a challenge.”

I have no doubt he’s sincere. But while fostering individual ambitions is by no means a wrongheaded approach, it’s very much an incomplete one. Structural problems require structural solutions. From a man who’s denied the existence of white privilege, however, it may be as good as we get.

The saga of the last four years is the story of Toronto being painfully, repeatedly revealed to itself, its shimmering niceties ripped away to show a city divided along more lines than it has ever properly understood.

In 2010, Rob Ford’s election as mayor caused us to consider those who would vote for him. In the years that followed, Ford’s antics and personal issues caused us to consider those who’d remain by his side.

Other things, such as the Star’s landmark investigations into police “carding” practices, caused us to consider that many residents have fundamentally dissimilar experiences of life in the city. Maps of ever-growing economic disparity caused us to consider that Torontonians find it harder than ever to see each other across immense social and geographic cleavages.

And this election, the 2014 election, caused us to consider the strands of racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism, classism and ableism that still exist in a city that by and large believes itself to be above such things.

The Fords may have exacerbated these prejudices – and afforded them licence to be aired more freely – but they did not create them. To wish things would return to the pre-Ford status quo is to dream of a black-and-white Pleasantville whose patina of respectability masks the fact that all are not treated equally.

The eruptions that shattered the false pretense of Toronto as a city where “diversity is our strength” were just the most dramatic manifestations of the magma that flows beneath our feet at all times: the systemic barriers, the institutional hurdles, the structures that enforce privilege and disadvantage across too many divides.

Tory’s greatest strength is that he dangles the prospect of re-

1

Ranked ballots Candidates could no longer squeak into office with a small fraction of the electorate’s support.

Potential challengers would no longer have to calculate whether they might split opposition to the incumbent.

2

Give permanent residents a vote A recent Maytree study discovered a strong inverse relationship between a ward’s voter turnout and the proportion of its residents who are immigrants. Extending the municipal vote to permanent residents would encourage badly needed engagement in the political system.

pairing the rifts exploited by his predecessor. His greatest weakness is his limited understanding of the conditions that create those rifts in the first place.

At a late October debate hosted by CTV Toronto, mayoral candidates talked of ways to tackle gun crime in the city.

“When you grew up here, you grew up being told the police officer was your friend,” Tory said, generalizing from his own background. “In a lot of places people have come from, that’s not the prevailing view – for good reason in some cases.”

The incoming mayor surely meant well, but his comment is typical of the ways that his privilege pops out.

It’s concerning that after years of working with CivicAction, he could make a blanket statement overlooking the lived experiences of many in the city. Tory is a test case in the limits of compassion. Can earnestness be a substitute for experience? Can a person deplore the status quo without grasping it? Is good will sufficient to create change?

The problem isn’t that Tory doesn’t apprehend the breadth of experiences in Toronto, but that he may not understand what he doesn’t understand. It’s one thing to look at the makeup of council and get that something’s amiss; it’s another to view it as a symptom of larger imbalances.

In the alternate universe in which Olivia Chow had become mayor, she would have comprehended these issues in a much deeper way but might also have found herself running up against them. Think of the organized resistance to U.S. President Barack Obama, the legions who assert he’s not a genuine American. Think of the whipped-up rage toward leftish mayor David Miller, but with added layers of racial and sexual bigotry.

That ugliness would have been hard to bear, but crucial for the same reason: it would have become more difficult to deny that things such as white privilege exist in a pervasive, ongoing fashion. Rather than returning to the realm of the marginalized, Toronto’s racism problem would have remained in the open for all to see. It would have been that much harder for those in positions of privilege to forget about the shit that so many people right here, right now deal with every single day.

Race, sex and ability would frequently have been top of mind.

Still, through simply seeking public office, Olivia Chow and many other candidates of colour succeeded in exposing different angles on Toronto.

Because they’re used to tolerating it and throwing it under the bus and kind of saying, ‘It’s there, I see it, but I don’t want to acknowledge it.’”

FIVE 4 DIVERSE COUNCIL

said Munira Abukar, sitting in a Somali restaurant near her Rexdale campaign office on election night. “But I’m glad we’re even creating this space for a symbol in the first place.”

The Ward 2 candidate’s illustrated likeness, along with those of Ward 1 candidate Idil Burale and trustee candidate Ausma Malik, graced a crest that served as the icon for a movement. Drawn by Terra Loire on behalf of grassroots civic engagement group Women in Toronto Politics, the image, proclaiming “Stand up for the city you want,” circulated through the #TOpoli bubble in the days before the election, spurred on by attacks on the candidates.

Twice in October, campaign signs for the 22-year-old Abukar were defaced with hateful graffiti. Following the first occurrence – in which her portrait was scrawled over, an outline drawn around her headscarf and “GO BACK HOME” and “BITCH” written – the hashtag #IStandWithMunira trended on Twitter. On another occasion, days before the election, Abukar tweeted that her “volunteers just came back to the office shaken.

Man in a Purolator truck threw trash on them + called them terrorists.” (Purolator later told media the incident had been investigated and the employee disciplined.)

“Clearly, we’re being attacked because we represent something different, right?” Abukar, an elected tenant rep on the Toronto Community Housing board, said four days later. “We’re a diverse community, I’m a diverse candidate. And I think diversity scares a lot of people, right? Because they’re used to tolerating it and throwing it under the bus and kind of saying, ‘It’s there, I see it, but I don’t want to acknowledge it.’ So I think when you force people to acknowledge the fact that you have a diverse landscape in Toronto, that you have people who dress like me and are from Toronto and call it home – it scares a lot of people.”

In late September, the smear campaign against Malik began at the predictable peripheries: far-right blogs and Twitter accounts with varying degrees of anonymity; a mysterious “get the facts” website registered at MeetAusmaMalik.com; a column by the Toronto Sun’s Sue-Ann Levy treating Malik’s participation in a 2006 rally against Israel’s assault on Lebanon as a scandal; and an op-ed in the Jewish Tribune branding the can-

“DIVERSITY SCARES A LOT OF PEOPLE.

3

WAYS TO A MORE

“I didn’t expect to become a symbol,”

Municipal parties Political parties make a deliberate attempt to recruit and field diverse slates of candidates who would run and get elected on a shared set of values instead of just name recognition.

Campaign finance reform Toronto has a generous rebate system for campaign contributors. The city refunds a large chunk of donations. But that requires donors to front the full sum, which is harder for some people than others. New York City takes the reverse approach: candidates who meet certain thresholds can enroll in a matching-fund program that contributes $6 of public money for each dollar in donations up to $175 by NYC residents.

continued on page 14 œ

5

Rein in councillor self-promotion Until August 1 of an election year, city councillors may use their office budget to distribute newsletters, buy advertisements and host community events. Communicating with constituents is a legitimate objective, but these materials and events can have significant self-promotional components.

Given that election nominations open on the first business day of January, incumbent councillors can spend up to seven months publicizing themselves on the public dime without its counting toward a campaign spending limit. JG

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

13

SPECIAL REPORT CAN WHITE PRIVILEGE BE STOPPED AT CITY HALL? œcontinued from page 13

Cheol Joon Baek

didate for the Toronto District School Board’s Trinity-Spadina ward a “radical Muslim terrorist sympathizer.”

At the race’s first debate, on October 6, none of this registered. A candidate who brought up Malik’s involvement in a questionable U of T student election was quickly admonished by the moderator for his attack. From that point on, the event in the near-empty high school auditorium proceeded with a substantive focus on TDSB issues.

I’d shown up in search of a story about how racism and geopolitical conflict were bluntly intruding into a local contest to which few would otherwise pay attention. But I left wondering whether they were factors at all, and didn’t end up writing a story: why give greater exposure to a fuss on the fringes that had no apparent traction or bearing on the race?

In an interview the following day, Malik primarily stuck to her themes of “improving the public education system, making sure that it’s inclusive, accountable and [gives] every student the opportunity to succeed.”

But she reflected on how those principles didn’t quite apply to the race itself.

“It’s not unexpected to have attacks,” she said, “especially when you represent historically marginalized groups. I am a racialized person, I am a woman, a person of faith, and it is unfortunate that we will still have a different experience and have to challenge racism and sexism and all sorts of prejudice.

“But it is vital that we have a diversity of experiences and people who do share progressive values and a vision for this city at all levels of elected representation. And that’s what makes me energized by this race and why it’s important to continue to move forward.”

The Sun’s Levy, in her subsequent column, introduced the candidate as “Muslim Ausma Malik” and deployed “But let’s get back to our Muslim candidate” as a segue.

RACE REWIND

10 REASONS WHY #ELXN 2014 WAS THE UGLIEST EVER.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

“Fuck Islam.” “Go back to China.” “Let’s kick the faggots out of City Hall.” All were statements made in connection with acts of racism or homophobia.

The Toronto Sun’s cartoon portraying Olivia Chow as a Mao-like figure riding Jack Layton’s coattails, published two days before the election. Sun bosses blithely dismissed concerns it was racist and sexist.

Despite a higher than expected 61 per cent voter turnout – and more high-profile visible minority candidates than ever to choose from – the proportion of non-white members of council remains the same as it was 10 years ago, 13 per cent.

There’s white privilege and then there’s the entitlement that comes with incumbency; 15 candidates out of 44 running for council won with less than 50 per cent of the vote.

Don Andrews, head of the neo-Nazi Nationalist party, got 1,012 votes for mayor, three more than inspired youth candidate Morgan Baskin.

Former Chow operative Warren Kinsella, the guy who wrote the book on the rise of far-right racism in Canada, essentially chalked up Chow’s election loss to her broken English. He called her a “stammering, yammering deer in the headlights.”

Vandalism or hate crimes? Among numerous acts targeting candidates of colour: the office of York SouthWeston candidate Lekan Olawoye was trashed the day after its official opening. His and his wife’s cars had their tires slashed.

Aside from public transit, issues affecting the city’s most disadvantaged, from child poverty to policing to youth unemployment, barely registered with voters.

The fear factor, aka strategic voting, won the day – again.

Tony Soprano, Axis of Evil... in the grand scheme, Councillor John Filion’s cracks about private garbage pickup and his opponents in the race were more illconsidered than racist, but they lay bare how much work Compiled by enzo dimatteo there’s still to do.

JOHN TORY’S DIVERSITY GAP 14

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

The next debate, at Ogden Junior Public School on October 22, did not go as smoothly. The breakdown occurred in the final minutes, and was described by Kate Hammer – then an education reporter for the Globe – in a series of tweets: “During closing remarks, some members of the audience heckled Malik, accusing her of lies, supporting Hezbollah and racism…. They called her ‘Jew hater’ and demanded that she answer their questions, all the while preventing her from responding…. This continued for about five minutes…. Malik’s team expressed concern that the hecklers appeared to be waiting for her at the school entrance. She left through a back door.”

By the third and final debate, police were on hand to eject unruly attendees (and did).

Anti-Malik literature, meanwhile, was distributed through the ward; monochromatic photocopies gave way to full-colour leaflets and glossy door-hangers that put a photo of the hijab-clad candidate atop the flag of Hezbollah. Some person (or people) had invested real money and time in the effort.

My earlier decision to ignore the backlash increasingly seemed like a poor one.

Denying it the oxygen that it didn’t deserve also deprived it of the sunlight it did: away from scrutiny and exposure, the anti-Malik movement grew happily in the darkness. Such things shouldn’t be a candidate’s burden; a public response is only possible if the public is aware.

In a field of eight, Malik took the seat in a landslide, earning 40 per cent of the vote – more than twice as much as the first runner-up.

Council candidate Abukar wasn’t so

fortunate, finishing fourth in the north Etobicoke ward that will once again have Rob Ford as its councillor. In Ward 1, Burale finished a distant fifth against Ford yes-man Vincent Crisanti. * * * You’d never know it by looking at who’s there, but it is extremely difficult to get a spot on council.

Over the last four elections – 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2014 – incumbents ran in 144 of 180 races (including those for mayor), or 80 per cent of the time. In those 144 contests, only 11 incumbents – 7.6 per cent – were defeated. And of those 11 upsets, at least a third involved circumstances in which the incumbent had screwed up (or were believed by their constituents to have screwed up) in very specific ways.

In the same period, 33 candidates were elected in open races in which incumbents didn’t run. Of those 33, most were already connected to the political establishment: six were previously TDSB trustees; two had served as Catholic school trustees; five had worked as councillors’ assistants; two were councillors in previous terms; one had been an MPP; another an MP; five were sons of former councillors; two the offspring of sitting MPs; and one the son of a sitting MPP. (There’s some overlap, with certain people holding multiple distinctions.)

Since 2000, the proportion of women elected to council has hovered between 27 and 33 per cent, and people of colour between 11 and 13 per cent. Just two councillors in Toronto’s history have identified as gay, both representing the ward that includes the Church-Wellesley village.

OVER THE LAST FOUR ELECTIONS,

incumbents ran in 144 of 180 races – only 11 of them (7.6 per cent) were defeated.

continued on page 18 œ

THE MAYOR-ELECT’S NOT-SO-BRIEF HISTORY OF EQUITY CONTRADICTIONS • Spent years working with CivicAction to promote minority engagement, but famously denied the existence of white privilege.

• Pledged to restart the mayoral tradition of marching in the Pride parade, but threatened to defund the event if QuAIA takes part.

• Says fixing up social housing units is a moral imperative, but specified no new funding for affordable housing in his election platform.

• Won’t prioritize LRTs in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but his SmartTrack plan does not reach disconnected burbs.

• Made dodgy comments about women in the workplace, but has forged strong relationship with high-profile women like Jaye Robinson and Kathleen Wynne.

• Pledges to build a more inclusive “One Toronto,” but refuses to oppose the racial-profile practice of police carding.

• Says he favours examining ways of improving civic governance, but opposes ranked ballots or extending the vote to permanent residents.

Compiled by noW staff

NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

15

SPECIAL REPORT CAN WHITE PRIVILEGE BE STOPPED AT CITY HALL?

RACE BAIT Olivia Chow seemed unwilling to continue the conversation she had instigated on race, but at least it was a start By DESMOND COLE

david hawe

WHEN OLIVIA CHOW was asked

during the election how she, a card-carrying New Democrat, would differ in leadership from former mayor and NDP member David Miller, Chow’s reply was “I’m not male. Not white. Want to start there?”

Despite this brash invitation to explore diversity in politics, Chow seemed unwilling for much of the rest of the campaign to continue the conversation she had instigated where race was concerned.

This unfinished business – the unacknowledged truth that race and ethnicity affect people’s daily experience – was frustrating for all who seek equity and social justice. It’s fair to wonder if Chow’s advisers told her to lay off the race stuff: critics dismissed her “not male, not white” remark as irrelevant; her supporters said it was a bad joke. All sides seemed eager to dismiss the subject and move on.

But while Chow and many other promising candidates from visible minority groups failed to get elected and were un-

able to fully transform our political conversations about race, they made it possible for us to at least raise the issue.

It isn’t every day that voters hear first-hand from a person of colour that inhabiting darker skin offers unique and meaningful insights and experiences. We are far more used to hearing that racial diversity is our strength, even though most of the political and financial leaders are white men.

But you cannot ignore race in Toronto. Chow and other candidates were the targets of vicious attacks about their skin colour, religion and manner of speaking English.

Far from wanting to frame the election through the actions of overt racists, many candidates like Ward 2 council competitor Andray Domise attempted to go deeper.

The outspoken, whip-smart man of Jamaican heritage took dead aim at the racist agenda of Mayor Rob Ford. Domise set social media on fire after posing with Ford

COAT OF MANY MOTTOS T

he phrase “Diversity Our Strength” first appeared in the Star in an article titled Bear, Beaver Called Too Fat. In 1998, the cherished motto that has shaped so much of Toronto’s aspirational discourse was just one element of a proposed coat of arms whose design was micromanaged by finicky councillors.

The former municipalities of Metro Toronto had just been amalgamated, and new civic branding was needed. The city commissioned Canada’s chief herald to produce a new coat of arms, and when the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee was shown the proposal in May, they hated it.

“I think this thing is nuts; I think it’s terrible,” said Councillor Tom Jacobek, quoted in the Star.

The design, featuring what the paper described as a “pair of cat-like mythical beasts,” was rejected and sent back

16

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

along with the instruction that the public be consulted.

In July, the city posted a survey on its website and distributed copies through libraries and rec centres. Among the questions: “What should be the motto for a new Toronto?”

The city got 1,105 responses; the Star’s Royson James cobbled together a column from the lowlights, including “Growing Together, United by Our Differences” and the simple but elegant “Resistance Is Futile.”

When a revised coat of arms flanked by a beaver and bear was presented to councillors in the fall, they were given a choice of six mottoes: “Diversity Our Strength,” “Stronger in Unity,” “Strength in Diversity,” “The Meeting Place,” “Home to the World,” and “A New Destiny.”

“A motto can be simply descriptive (reporting a fact),” wrote Daphne Gaby Donaldson, the city’s chief of protocol, “but if it can be allusive (conveying an inspiring thought) it seems to invoke great-

for a selfie, only to turn and ask the mayor why he had called black people “nigger” and “fucking minorities.”

His insistence on holding Ford to account not merely for racist remarks but for reckless housing and recreation policies that harm people of colour was a refreshing and hopeful approach. Similarly, Idil Burale, who ran for council in neighbouring Ward 1, spoke candidly about poor relationships between Somali youth and the police.

But Domise finished a distant and disappointing third even though he earned regular mainstream media attention and fundraised so successfully that he eventually began directing prospective donors to other candidates. Burale finished fourth.

Denise Balkissoon, creator of the blog Ethnic Aisle, says the media only scratched the surface of the issues candidates of colour fought to raise.

Political conversations about race are rare, and usually far more sensational than discussions of who uses transit in the burbs.

But she’s cautiously optimistic about the reach that race-based conversations during the election may end up having. A memorable moment for her was when Global TV reporter Peter Kim asked mayoral candidate (now mayor-elect) John Tory if white privilege exists. “Having someone ask him that question on television is moving the conversation forward a little bit,” she says.

Balkissoon says politicians, media and the general public can all learn from their mistakes about race, just as they do on other policy issues.

“I do feel it’s everyone’s responsibility, but not everyone is going to do it well.”

In early October, months after Chow had opened and then mainly backed away from continued on page 18 œ

er interest and have a longer staying power. The motto shown here [on the mock-up] is allusive: Diversity Our Strength.”

Her report contained no explanation of the intended meaning, but did say of the beaver’s collar that “the intertwined strands speak of the added strength each has when working together, suggesting the emergence of strength out of diversity as an idea for the new City.”

At committee, when the choice came down to “Diversity Our Strength” or “The Meeting Place,” Kyle Rae told his colleagues the latter reminded him of a “sex chat line.”

“Talk about having a chilling effect,” James wrote. “‘The Meeting Place’ was doomed after that.”

The committee recommended “Diversity Our Strength” by a seven-to- five vote. Rae, per the Globe, said “that the most appropriate way for Toronto to see its future was that the city’s strength comes from its diversity.”

During council’s two-hour debate, Michael Prue moved that “Diversity Our Strength” be scrapped for “The Meeting Place.”

Raymond Cho put forward “Home to the World.” Norm Kelly wanted “Civility Our Strength.” And Doug Holyday asked his colleagues to support “The World’s Meeting Place.”

In the end, none of those passed, nor did attempts to replace the bear with a red fox or the intertwined collars with the symbol of the old Metro.

The following January, council’s task force on community access and equity tabled a draft of its thick report laying out a blueprint for addressing “the barriers faced by women, people of colour, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgendered, immigrants/refugees, [and] different religious/faith communities.”

It was called Diversity Our Strength. JONATHAN GOLDSBIE

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17

SPECIAL REPORT CAN WHITE PRIVILEGE BE STOPPED AT CITY HALL?

MAYOR-ELECT JOHN TORY

œcontinued from page 14

It can be tricky to separate the particular obstacles facing distinct groups from the more general barrier of incumbency.

“There’s something unique about municipal government,” says Alejandra Bravo. “And if you look at the way the provincial and federal election results have played out over time, there’s some clues there about what could be different.”

As a three-time runner-up to Councillor Cesar Palacio, Bravo knows the uphill battle involved in taking on an incumbent. And as the founder of the Maytree Foundation’s School4Civics, which equips members of diverse communities with the practical skills needed to run for office, she knows about the challenges specific to racialized candidates.

She lists a number of potential structural reforms that already receive intermittent consideration: moving from a first-past-the-post system to ranked ballots; extending the municipal vote to permanent residents; moving forward the August 1 date by which councillors are

no longer allowed to send out promotional newsletters during an election year.

But she also finds herself warming to the idea of political parties, which Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act doesn’t currently contemplate. Citing Maytree and CivicAction’s 2011 Diversity Gap report, Bravo points out that visible minorities were “by far” most underrepresented at the municipal level – 7 per cent of the Greater Toronto Area councillors, compared to 17 per cent of its MPs and 26 per cent of its MPPs. She says she understands the fondness for the city’s current party-free model, but “if you look at the way the federal and provincial levels are advancing more quickly, it does send a message that that’s something to consider.” She brings up Vancouver and Montreal, cities whose “civic parties look at their slate and make a deliberate attempt to recruit, mentor, support and get elected people from diverse backgrounds, because it’s of interest to the whole movement.”

In Toronto, women and racialized candidates “find that it’s very diffi-

cult to make the case that this is what a leader looks like, that this is what a leader sounds like when you have English as your second language,” she says. “But at the federal and provincial levels, the party narrative, the party platform, the message of the leader, the fact that you’re part of a team mitigates some of that.”

(Councillor Mike Layton, whose late father, Jack, was a councillor and MP, says that while a “name’s only gonna get you so far,” it does have the connotations of a party brand, i.e., “This is the political space this individual probably or more than likely fills.”)

Olivia Chow was a school trustee from 1985 to 1991, a councillor from 1991 to 2005 and an MP from 2006 to 2014. But she says she never experienced racism like she did when running for mayor.

“I was quite surprised,” she says via Skype from Tunisia, where she’s helping monitor that country’s first democratic elections. “Maybe other elections weren’t as intense. In 2006, I had the ‘chow chow dog’ [comment on a Liberal’s blog], but it was slapped

“I BELIEVE

that everyone counts, no matter where we came from.”

RACE BAIT

down immediately. I didn’t have as much intense hatred.”

The most brutal attacks came online, but the most widely seen remarks were made in person.

At an October 1 debate at the Joseph J. Piccininni Community Centre, an audience member asked how Chow was qualified to be mayor despite being an immigrant who’s lived off the “public purse.”

Chow smacked him down harder than she did anyone else during the campaign. “I believe that everyone counts,” she affirmed with remarkable fire. “No matter where we came from, what colour of our skin, what background, what income level, what neighbourhood we came from, it doesn’t matter.

We are good Torontonians in this good city of ours, in this beautiful country.”

The other candidates, including Tory, declined the opportunity to chime in.

“I think [they could’ve made] a statement to say ‘We’re all Canadians’ or ‘Whether Olivia Chow is an immigrant or not has nothing to do with what we were talking about,’” she says. “I think they could have stated that. They chose not to.”

She doesn’t seem bitter. Just somewhat resigned.

3

questions about race, the persistence of attacks against her were too overt to ignore. CBC asked the veteran politician about the need for political candidates to confront racism and sexism.

In her answer, we saw a different Chow, the one who challenged systemic racism and homophobia in policing more than 15 years ago: “If I’m too tough I’m seen as bitchy,” she said, while also noting the stereotype that “Asian women are supposed to be gentle.”

It can’t have been easy for Chow and others like her to talk about privilege and systemic bias in response to personal attacks about their respective identities. They drew fire just for being who they are.

Yet they’ve encouraged us to consider race in an enduringly resistant culture of whiteness.

It’s not ideal for our diverse city, but it’s a start.

3

jonathang@nowtoronto.com | @jonathang

news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

œcontinued from page 16

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ELECTION POST-MORTEM

IS TORONTO STILL A PROGRESSIVE CITY?

Right-wing bogeyman Doug Ford proved a (mostly) unpalatable option for voters.

Three-quarters of Torontonians may have voted for right-wing candidates, but it’s a mistake to read the municipal election results as an expression of a left-right dichotomy By BEN SPURR

I

t feels like a discouraging time to be a progressive in Toronto.

Many residents, especially those in certain downtown constituencies, have long cherished the belief that ours is an inherently left-leaning town. But in October’s mayoral election, 76 per cent of

$

voters supported conservative candidates, casting their ballot for John Tory or Doug Ford. And while leftwing councillors all kept their seats, in the process of electing Tory the second right-wing mayor in as many terms, residents soundly rejected Olivia Chow, one of this country’s most respected progressives.

The situation at the provincial level doesn’t look much better. In June the Ontario NDP ran on an unrecognizable centrist, tax-averse populist platform so disappointing that three of five Toronto New Democrat MPPs were turfed from office.

These results can’t be ignored. Is Toronto still a progressive city? * * * Annex dwellers needn’t pack up and move to San Francisco just yet, according to Chris Cochrane, an assistant professor at U of T Scarborough who studies ideological disagreement in Canadian politics. He notes that on social issues like gay marriage or abortion rights, “Toronto is still considerably more liberal than non-Toronto.”

He says it’s a mistake to read this year’s municipal and provincial contests as an expression of left-right sentiment, because these days many voters are so disengaged, they feel no particular affinity for political parties or ideologies.

“A lot of voters simply don’t think in left-right terms,” he says.

Instead, many make electoral decisions on a caseby-case basis depending on a number of factors, including the economy, candidates’ individual personalities and specific policy proposals. That means their allegiance can shift dramatically, even if it means voting NDP one election and Conservative the next.

Gabriel Eidelman, a U of T assistant professor who studies urban governance, agrees that voters are “tuning out to those kind of ideological debates.”

Eidelman says it’s especially tricky to read leftright bias into municipal elections, because “right and left don’t really matter when you talk about a lot of local issues.”

Many causes that in Toronto are inextricably associated with either the left (bike lanes, LRTs) or the right (busy downtown airports, subways) aren’t inherently ideologically linked to either side. continued on page 20 œ

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Printed At None

IS TORONTO STILL A PROGRESSIVE CITY? œcontinued from page 19

Transit, the issue that took centre stage in the municipal race, is a prime example of a ballot question that doesn’t break down neatly along ideological lines. There’s nothing inherently right-wing about John Tory’s plan to electrify eastwest rail corridors, and Chow’s pledge to cancel the city’s $1 billion investment in the Scarborough subway extension should theoretically have appealed more to fiscal conservatives.

If many voters backed Tory and Ford because they promised SmartTrack and subways, their choice at the ballot box should not be misread as an indication that the majority hold conservative views.

Another factor that skews election results is our first-past-the-post system, which often gives people an incentive not to vote for the candidate they like best.

The impact of strategic voting can be overplayed, but this year voters were presented with formidable right-wing bogeymen in PC leader Tim Hudak and Rob Ford (who by September was replaced by his equally conservative brother Doug).

Strategic voting may have hurt the left, but the fact that the electorate ultimately opted for leaders closer to the centre than Ford and Hudak signals that most Torontonians re-

ject far-right policies as much as it shows that support for progressive values is dwindling. * * * With more voters apparently willing to cross back and forth across party lines, the task for candidates is to widen their appeal outside their core constituency and paint their opponents as rigidly dogmatic.

“Tory’s approach was very much to broaden the centre,” says John Duffy, a senior policy adviser to the Tory campaign.

“The idea was to combine the best of three political traditions,” he says: the “fiscal discipline” of conservatism, the “compassion” of liberalism and the type of progressive urbanism usually associated with the NDP. In practice this meant promising low taxes, vague but “inclusive” housing programs and urban tree-planting initiatives.

Chow tried hard to equate Tory with hardcore conservatives like the Fords, Hudak and ex-premier Mike Harris, but Duffy says the comparisons never stuck. He argues that the

mayor-elect is a true progressive conservative.

Chow also tried to reach outside her base, by appealing to the disaffected voters who supported Rob Ford’s brand of conservatism in 2010.

It “was the basis of our campaign strategy” at the start, says a senior member of her team.

To that end, Chow pledged more bus service on routes Ford had cut, and to expand school nutrition and free recreation programs that he’d threatened to eliminate. Crucially, she also declared early in the campaign that she wouldn’t raise property taxes above inflation, and repeatedly borrowed conservative opponents’ rhetoric about “fiscal responsibility.”

Ultimately, Chow lost the fight for ideologically fluid voters.

A full 19 per cent of people who supported the provincial NDP said they planned to vote for Doug Ford, according to a Forum poll released five days before the municipal vote. Another 24 per cent of ONDP supporters said they planned to back Tory.

On paper at least, Chow’s strategy made sense, but any candidate with a resumé as progressive as hers would likely have had trouble making the

“That there is not support for the idea of the state as an investor in the public good is a big problem.”

shift toward the middle look credible.

While Tory could believably run by pulling from different parties’ playbooks, the whole point of a principled progressive candidate like Chow is that she doesn’t compromise.

When she emphasized a commitment to “fiscal responsibility,” even in the context of stopping the wasteful Scarborough subway, voters “felt that she just wasn’t being genuine,” says her former campaign insider.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath had the same problem when she pinned her party’s fortunes on a platform of pocketbook populism. Like Chow, the NDP leader came off as disconnected from her party’s values, and she was badly outflanked by the Liberals, who were seen by many voters as the more progressive option. * * * Despite these dispiriting defeats, if voting intentions are much more fluid than the left-right paradigm would have us believe, there’s no reason to think Toronto voters won’t back progressives in big numbers in the future.

Rick Smith, executive director of progressive think tank the Broadbent Institute, argues that with economic inequality affecting a growing number of people, “the left needs to return to a basic gut-level message about fairness, about equity, about people doing their fair share. That is a winning message.”

But Myer Siemiatycki, a professor of municipal immigration and labour politics at Ryerson University,

says that if this year’s elections prove anything, it’s that the left is failing to leverage growing inequality to gain support for policy initiatives aimed at marginalized groups.

You would expect greater economic polarization “to create a natural constituency for the left,” Siemiatycki says. But instead, “the left is having greater difficulty resonating and connecting with the disadvantaged.”

While widespread political disengagement means more residents will switch freely between candidates of disparate ideological stripes, as the Fords’ success shows, it also benefits non-progressives in an important way: concomitant with that disengagement is a deep mistrust of government.

“The fact that there is not an appetite and support for the state as provider and investor in the public good is a big problem” because so much of the left’s agenda is predicated on positive government intervention, says Siemiatycki.

The task for progressives is to convince those getting the short end of the stick that a left-wing government can help. Siemiatycki believes that can only be done through intense engagement at the local level and “regular and ongoing conversations” outside of election periods.

“A progressive, left political party should do more than knock on people’s doors once every four or five years,” he says.

3 bens@nowtoronto.com | @BenSpurr

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November 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

TECHNOLOGY

Toronto is demanding that Uber get out of town. But don’t expect the tech start-up behind the ride-sharing app that’s cutting in on local cab businesses to leave any time soon.

Cease-and-desist orders are old hat for the online service that connects paying passengers with drivers via their smartphones. Uber has faced regulatory opposition in many of the more than 230 cities where it operates. From San Francisco, where it was launched four years ago, to Berlin, Seoul, Barcelona and Sao Paulo, local governments, often backed by entrenched taxi interests, have taken similar legal action charging Uber with contravening local taxi regulations.

And this isn’t the first time Toronto has taken legal action against the company. In August 2012, five months after Uber launched its initial UberBlack app, which connects potential passengers with commercially licensed limo drivers, the city charged the company with operating an unlicensed limousine business.

In a dazzling display

of defiance, Uber introduced a second service, UberTaxi, just a few days later. That app connects would-be passengers with licensed taxi drivers.

Not to be outdone, the city once again charged Uber, this time in December 2012, with operating an unlicensed taxi business. These charges – totalling 36 alleged offences in all – have been slowly wending their way through the courts. On December 3, Uber and city prosecutors will meet in court to set a trial date No surprise, then, that the city is once again seeking an injunction against all Uber operations after the company introduced yet another app, uberX, to connect potential passengers with ordinary people driving their own personal vehicles to take them where they want to go for a fee. Uber calls it “ride-sharing” and says it’s their fastest-growing option.

Andrew Macdonald, Uber’s regional general manager for the central U.S. and Canada, ran Uber’s Toronto of-

“It’s a ‘We don’t like what you’re doing’ type of notice. It has no basis in law.”

continued on page 22 œ

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UBER MOVES

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NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

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UBER MOVES œcontinued from page 21

fice at its inception. He’s dismissive of the city’s legal challenges. “It’s a ‘we don’t like what you’re doing’ type of notice,” he says. “It varies city by city, but in many cases the cease-and-desists we receive haven’t a basis in law.”

Macdonald argues that Uber is a technology company, not a transportation company. It doesn’t own a single car, nor does it have the middleman infrastructure of dispatchers and staff relaying phoned-in taxi orders. He adds, “It’s very hard to look at a set of rules that was designed in the 1980s or the 1990s before smartphones even existed and say that an app-enabled company that’s providing a totally new technology to allow people to provide a totally new service is breaking a set of rules which really don’t apply to their business.”

Uber’s tactic of ignoring regulatory opposition and barrelling ahead isn’t limited to Toronto; it’s standard practice for them worldwide.

In Belgium, where Uber is banned, drivers can be fined $14,000 for every ride they accept, but such penalties seem to represent a drop in the Uber bucket.

The company is currently valued at $18 billion (U.S.), with a projected rise to $25 billion if a current round of fundraising is successful. Not content with expanding markets in North America and Europe, its eye is clearly fixed on global market domination; the company is making inroads in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and eastern Europe.

22

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

While Toronto’s previous legal action against Uber barely registered on the public’s radar, this time was very different. Last week’s court injunction triggered a barrage of media coverage in which Uber was frequently described as wildly successful and brilliantly innovative while city bureaucrats were accused of blocking progress. One columnist described the taxi industry as hidebound and its “tortuous regulatory regime obsolete.” Even mayor-elect John Tory said the city can’t “pretend something like Uber is just going to go away, because it’s not.”

This, of course, plays right into the company’s hands, as do protests by anti-Uber taxi drivers. Thousands of them took to the streets in several major European cities on June 10 in a united show of strength. Traffic ground to a halt, disrupting the lives of millions of people, but Uber came out smelling like roses. Its sign-ups in Britain that day shot up by 850 per cent, a statistic the company smugly trumpeted.

Tracey Cook, Toronto’s executive director of Municipal Licensing and Standards, says, “Uber is jeopardizing public safety.”

Macdonald disagrees, arguing that Uber has “industry-leading safety.”

Uber’s Lauren Altmin adds that uberX ride-sharing drivers – those ordinary folk in their own cars – undergo background checks that are among “the most rigorous in the industry.” She says they include criminal screenings at both the RCMP and local police levels and a full review of the driver’s motor vehicle rec-

Uber index Founded 2009.

More than 200 Number of cities where the service is available. $18 billion (U.S.) Company’s net worth. Investors include Goldman Sachs.

10 per cent Commission the company charges cab drivers who use the app to find fares. Uber also has an app that connects would-be passengers looking for a ride with ordinary folks driving their own personal vehicles. $520 a month What cabbies typically pay cab companies in dispatching fees every month.

36 Charges against Uber by the city in December 2012 for operating an unlicensed taxi business.

ord. She adds that uberX drivers must have a registered vehicle – 2005 or later – and carry valid auto insurance. UberX itself carries $5 million of auto liability insurance.

As for UberTaxi, Macdonald points out that every single cab driver in Toronto is an independent contractor.

“Taxi drivers driving around in Beckbranded taxis pay Beck for dispatch, and they have the right to that service because they pay for it. But they’re also free to use Uber or other apps to source their business. It means they’re getting more rides as a result of more choice and more competition in the market.”

One UberTaxi driver I spoke to who didn’t want his name used was seated behind the wheel of a Co-op cab. He owns the vehicle. A smartphone given to him by Uber was lying on the seat beside him. He bristles when I ask if he’s notified Co-op that he’s also driving for Uber.

“Why should I?” he demands. “I pay them company dues of $520 a month.

Even if I go on vacation, I still have to pay the same amount each month. If the dispatcher gives me five fares a day or 100 a day, I still have to give them $520 a month.”

But with Uber, he says, he only pays a 10 per cent commission on the actual number of fares he accepts through the app. There are no restrictions, no quotas.

“We’re poor” he says.

3 Anne Wright-Howard’s documentary on The Sharing Economy will be broadcast on Ideas, CBC Radio One, on December 4. news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

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NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

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Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge Municipal Class Environmental Assessment Addendum Notice of Completion The City of Toronto has completed an addendum to the 2009 Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) study for the Fort York Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge. The original study recommended an alignment and structure for the bridge over two railway corridors east of Strachan Avenue. The bridge intends to provide a key community link from Wellington Street across to Fort York and improve wider connections between the city, Fort York and Toronto's Waterfront. This project was not completed because the bids received for design and construction exceeded the project budget.

This addendum provides a new crossing concept consisting of: • Two separate bridge structures across the rail corridors, linked by a path through the planned Ordnance Triangle parklands • Fully integrated with the Ordnance Triangle development plans • North landing located at the southeast corner of the Stanley Park extension • South landing located within the Fort/York Garrison Common lands further west of the originally recommended location to minimize impacts The exact details will be determined at the design stage. Please note that only the changes proposed in the Addendum are open for review. Subject to comments received as a result of this Notice, a design-build process led by Build Toronto will finalize the design and complete construction of the bridge at a reduced cost. For more details, visit: toronto.ca/fortyorkbridge Opportunities for Review An EA Addendum Report documenting the modifications to the original environmental assessment study has been placed on public review for a 30-day review period starting November 20, 2014 and ending December 22, 2014. It will be available for review at the Fort York Library (190 Fort York Blvd.) and online at: toronto.ca/fortyorkbridge If you have any outstanding issues about this project, please address them to the City staff listed below and we will attempt to seek a mutually acceptable resolution.

Maogosha Pyjor, Public Consultation Unit City of Toronto, Metro Hall, 19th Fl. 55 John St., Toronto, ON M5V 3C6 Tel: 416-338-2850, Fax: 416-392-2974 TTY: 416-397-0831 E-mail: mpyjor@toronto.ca Visit: toronto.ca/fortyorkbridge If concerns regarding this project cannot be resolved in discussion with the City of Toronto, a person or party may request that the Minister of the Environment make an order for the project to comply with Part II of the Environmental Assessment Act (referred to as a Part II Order), which addresses individual environmental assessments.

The Minister must receive the request in writing by December 22, 2014 at the address below, and a copy must also be sent to the City contact. If no requests are received by December 22, 2014 the City may proceed with this project as outlined in the Environmental Study Report.

The Honourable Glen Murray, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change 2nd Fl., Macdonald Block, 900 Bay Street, Toronto ON M7A 1N3 Tel: 416-326-1234, Fax: 416-314-6713

Issue Date: November 20, 2014

Information will be collected in accordance with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. With the exception of personal information, all comments will become part of the public record.

24

November 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

WORLD WATCH FERGUSON

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WHY IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO INDICT A COP IN AMERICA Panicked police officers’ snap judgments meet the U.S. legal system’s standard for use of deadly force By CHASE MADAR

H

ow to police the police is a question as old as civilization, now given special urgency by a St. Louis County grand jury’s return of a “no bill” of indictment for Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson in his fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The result is shocking to many, depressingly predictable to more than a few.

Can the cops be controlled?

It’s never been easy: according to one sociological chestnut, the monopoly on the legitimate use of vio-

lence is what defines modern government, and this monopoly is jealously protected against the secondguessing of puny civilians. All over the country, the issue of restraining police power comes into focus around the accountability of individual cops, from Staten Island to Milwaukee to Los Angeles. But is this the best way to impose discipline on law enforcement?

First, the big picture.

Last year, the FBI tallied 461 “justifiable homicides” committed by law enforcement – justifiable because

Protesters in Ferguson react to news Monday that a grand jury has decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

the Bureau assumes so and the nation’s courts have not found otherwise. This is the highest number in two decades, even as the nation’s overall homicide rate continues to drop. A USA Today analysis of the FBI database found an average of about 96 police homicides a year in which a white officer kills a black person.

The FBI’s police homicide stats are fuzzy, and they are surely an under-count, given that they come from voluntary reports to the FBI from police departments all over the country. That the U.S. federal government does not keep a strict national tally shows just how seriously it takes the problem.

But perhaps the most disturbing thing about these police killings, many of them of unarmed victims, is that U.S. courts find them perfectly legal.

Chapter 563 of the Missouri Revised Statutes grants a lot of discretion to officers of the law to wield deadly force, to the horror of many observers of the Ferguson story.

The statute authorizes deadly force “in effecting an arrest or in preventing an escape from custody” if the officer “reasonably believes” it is necessary in order “to effect the arrest and also reasonably believes that the person to be arrested has committed or attempted to commit a felony… or may otherwise endanger life or inflict serious physical injury unless arrested without delay.”

The legal standard authorizing deadly force is something called “objective reasonableness.”

This standard originates in the 1985 case of Tennessee v. Garner, which appeared at first to tighten restrictions on the police use of deadly force. The case involved a Memphis cop, Elton Hymon, who shot dead one Edward Garner: 15 years old, black and unarmed.

Garner had just burgled a house, grabbing a ring and 10 bucks. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a police officer, henceforth, could use deadly force only if he “has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury continued on page 26 œ

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WHY IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO INDICT A COP IN AMERICA œcontinued from page 25

to the officer or others.”

All this appeared to restrict police violence – even if, in the end, Hymon was never criminally charged for fa­ tally shooting Garner.

“Objectively reasonable” – what could be wrong with that? But in ac­ tual courtroom practice, “objective reasonableness” has become nearly impossible to tell apart from the sub­ jective snap judgments of panic­ fuelled police officers.

American courts universally defer to the law enforcement officer’s own personal assessment of the threat at the time. Wide latitude is granted to the officer’s account of the situation, even if scientific evidence proves it to be mistaken.

Such was the case of Berkeley, Mis­ souri, police officers Robert Pieku­ towski and Keith Kierzkowski, who in 2000 fatally shot Earl Murray and

Ronald Beasley out of fear that the victims’ car was rolling toward them.

Forensic investigations established that the car had not in fact lurched toward the officers at the time of the shooting, but this was still not enough for the St. Louis County grand jury to indict the two cops of anything.

“There is built­in leeway for police, and the very breadth of this leeway is why criminal charges against police are so rare,” says Walter Katz, a police oversight lawyer who served on the Los Angeles County Office of Inde­ pendent Review until it disbanded in July.

An officer’s personal threat assess­ ment is often bolstered by the fact that there are between 270 million and 310 million guns in the United States. Take the grand jury’s failure to indict the police officers who fatal­ ly shot John Crawford III, the black

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The law is firmly on the side of police who open fire on unarmed civilians.

Civil suits for monetary damages require a lower standard of proof than criminal cases, but these suits are not a slam­dunk for victims of cop vio­ lence either. The same jurisprudence that grants wide lee­ way to law enforce­ ment still holds.

Last March, one victim’s family lost a federal civil suit for wrongful death and civil rights violations brought against po­ lice officer Nicholas Bennallack for fatally shooting a fleeing and unarmed drug suspect. The jury believed the cop’s claim that he opened fire out of fear for his life.

Occasionally the federal Depart­ ment of Justice intervenes to prose­

Wanton overpolicing poisoned relations with the public well before Ferguson.

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man holding a BB gun in a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio. In a country where shooting sprees are a regular occurrence, where guns are widely available at Walmart and where fake guns that look very similar to real guns are sold in the same store, the police officers’ fears were deemed reason­ able enough for the grand jury to find no probable cause of criminal wrong­ doing.

That is how the Su­ preme Court police violence jurispru­ dence works, and it was firmly on the side of Beavercreek officer Sean Wil­ liams, just as it has now been found to be on Darren Wilson’s.

The first step to controlling the po­ lice is to get rid of the fantasy, once and for all, that the law is on our side.

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cute individual cops for depriving a victim of his or her civil rights. If a state­level prosecution fails to secure a conviction, this can give the gov­ ernment a second chance to prose­ cute on different charges. Rodney King’s LAPD assailants were convict­ ed in 1993 in just this way.

But the feds, like other prosecu­ tors, only like to take on cases they can win, says Alan Vinegrad, one of the federal attorneys who prosecuted the NYPD officer who in 1997 sexual­ ly tortured Abner Louima with a bro­ ken­off broom handle.

Will the Obama DOJ take on the Michael Brown case? It doesn’t look like it.

Eyewitness testimony is conflict­ ing, and so far the multiple forensic reports that have come out are not inconsistent with Wilson’s version of the shooting – which would make the federal standard of willful mis­ conduct difficult to prove. The DOJ has signalled with leaks that it is backing away from a federal case against the officer.

Police shootings are only one func­ tion of living in one of the most heav­ ily policed societies in the world. Any movement to roll back this creeping over­criminalization will have to look beyond criminal prosecutions of individual police and take in the big picture.

Wanton over­policing had poi­ soned relations between the people and their government well before Wilson shot dead Brown.

The local government in Ferguson has been treating its residents and neighbours less like free people with rights than like revenue milk cows to be exploited to the max. Citations and fines for petty offences are prof­ ligately inflicted on residents, parti­ cularly black residents. According to a blockbuster report issued by St. Louis’s ArchCity Defenders advocacy group, over 20 per cent of city reve­ nue comes from municipal courts (making them the city’s second­lar­ gest source of revenue).

Not surprisingly, high on the list of demands at one Ferguson com­ munity forum was an end to the “over­policing and criminalization of poverty,” an amnesty for old un­ paid warrants, new fines propor­ tioned to income and a state law cap­ ping municipal revenue from court fees at 10 per cent. (Terrified by the Ferguson unrest, the city of St. Louis decided to eliminate 220,000 open arrest warrants for traffic violations last month.)

The feeling of being under occupa­ tion by an armed force that cares more about meeting revenue quotas than public security corrodes all trust in law enforcement, and is the sort of environment in which police are more likely to open fire.

The state of emergency that Mis­ souri governor Jay Nixon declared on November 17 seems all too likely to encourage police overkill.

3 Chase Madar is a civil rights attorney in New York and the author of The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story Behind The Wikileaks Whistleblower. A longer version of this story was originally published by TheNation.com. news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

Take your seats Sit back and enjoy the latest design trends with programming from DW and discover what’s defining modern European culture and style today.

T CONTAC

3566 514 844 canada .de/tvwww.dw

www.dw.de

NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

27

daily events meetings • benefits How to find a listing

Daily events appear by date, then alphabetically by the name of the event.

F= Festive/seasonal event r indicates kid-friendly events indicates queer-friendly events

5

How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-​364-​1168 or mail to Daily​Events,​NOW​Magazine,​189​ Church,​Toronto​M5B​1Y7. Include a brief description of the event, date, time, price, venue name and address and a contact phone number, e-mail or website address for the event. Listings may be edited for length. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

Thursday, November 27

Benefits

aFriCan grandmothers triBUnal: seeking JUstiCe at the Frontlines oF the aids Crisis

Screening of the film and panel discussion with Stephen Lewis, Joy Phumaphi, Justine Ojambo and moderator Anna Maria Tremonti.

7 pm. $15 (Stephen Lewis Foundation). Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor W. bit.ly/1sjsNzK. 5toronto Bent BeaUty sUpreme Butches, bears and everyone in between works it on stage to show off their talent and style. With host Keith Cole and DJs Sigourney Beaver and Joe Blow. 9 pm. $10 (Rainbow Railroad). Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen W. bentbeauty2014.eventbrite.ca. tUrkey prov U.s.a. David Phalp presents American Thanksgiving-themed improv comedy. 8 pm. Pwyc (proceeds to the Daily Bread Food Bank). The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth, 2nd floor. blackswancomedy.com. warm the sole soCk drive Donate unworn socks and get free admission on weekends and a token gift on weekdays (benefits the Scott Mission). To Nov 30. Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor W. batashoemuseum.ca.

Fwnh Christmas Bazaar Handmade craft items and gift cards, a bake sale, music, dance

festivals • expos • sports etc.

listings index Live music Theatre Comedy

and more. 10:30 am-4:30 pm. Free (benefits WNH Seniors Program). West Neighourhood House, 248 Ossington. 416-532-7586.

Fr100 years oF Christmas Visit Santa in his workshop, see trees decorated by top designers, sing along with carollers, watch The Snow Queen theatrical show and more. See website for hours. $17-$27. Casa Loma, 1 Austin Terrace. 416-923-1171, casaloma.org. animal rights aCademy leCtUre Paul Bali talks about the Fermi Paradox and the protection of other life from humans. 7-9 pm. Free.

OISE, 252 Bloor W. animalrightsacademy.org. arChiteCtUre on display Conversation with Aaron Levy and Mirko Zardini. 6:30-8 pm. Free.

Ryerson Architectural Science, 325 Church. arch.ryerson.ca.

Breaking the Big stories Kevin Donovan, Diana Swain and Paula Todd talk about investigative journalism. 7 pm. $30, stu $15 (preregister). TMX Broadcast Centre, Exchange Tower, 130 King W. cjf-fjc.ca/j-talks. bon future affect our economy? Talk by James Leaton of Carbon Tracker. Free (pre-register).

Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. environmentaldefence.ca/carbonbubble.

FrChristmas at BlaCk Creek Tours, treats, ballroom dancing and more. To Dec 23. Weekdays 9:30 am-4 pm, weekends 11 am-4:30 pm. Free w/ admission. Black Creek Pioneer Village, 1000 Murray Ross Pkwy. blackcreek.ca.

endless war? the middle east and Canada’s new militarism Centre for Social Jus-

tice presents a discussion with Judy Deutsch, Tyler Shipley and Sardar Saadi. 7 pm. Free. Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. beitzatoun.org.

FetC pop-Up & toy drive Vendor market, music by Razaq el Toro after 10 pm, sweets and more. 7 pm. Free w/ donation of a new toy. The Beverley Hotel, 335 Queen W. facebook.com/events/716819365073215.

5Fighting oUt Goju-Ryu based Qigong and self-defense classes for LGBTQ and allies. 6:308 pm. Pwyc. 7th floor Peace Lounge. OISE, 252 Bloor W. cwse@utoronto.ca.

the giFt oF mUsiC: stories oF mUsiC therapy Doc screening followed by discussion with dir-

Dance Readings Art galleries

Strange​Brew​ screens​at​the​​ Beer​Film​​ Festival.

Events

Canada’s CarBon BUBBle and the risks it poses How will lower oil prices and a low-car-

52 63 66

Festivals this week

74 77

Getúlio, Pedro Asbeg’s documentary Black And White Democracy and more. $9-$14.

TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King W. brazilfilmfest.net.

Nov 27 to 30 mini soUlo Festival Workshops, feedback sessions and a networking social for theatre artists, plus a staged reading at this theatre fest. See website for times/prices. Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen E. soulo.ca/mini.

Nov 27 to 30

Beer Film Festival Three films – Strange

Brew (Nov 30), Beerfest (Dec 7) and The World’s End (Dec 14) – plus three breweries, over three Sundays with samples before the show. $9.50 per screening.

Rainbow Cinemas Market Square, 80 Front E. rainbowcinemas.ca.

Nov 30 to Dec 14 ector Scott Rondeau and panel of music therapists. $20, early bird $15. Palmerston Library, 560 Palmerston. musictherapytrust.ca. mindFUl yoga workshop Seminar geared towards cultivating mental clarity and wellness. 6:30-7:30 pm. Free. Living City Health, 120 Eglinton E. livingcityhealth.com.

European-inspired seasonal festival with musicians and carollers, family activities, handcrafted products, food and more. To Dec 21, Tue-Fri noon-9 pm, Sat-Sun 10 am-9 pm. Free. The Distillery District, 55 Mill. torontochristmasmarket.com.

Nov 28 to Dec 21 toronto serBian Film Festival Screening Joseph Sikorski’s Nikola Tesla: Tower To The People and films by Srdjan Koljevic, Arsen Dedic and others. See website for details. $16-$26, festival pass $75. Regent Theatre, 551 Mount Pleasant. 647-608-4111, facebook.com/TorontoSerbianFilmFest.

Nov 27 to 30

continuing

eUropean Union Film Festival Contem-

Showcase of contemporary horror filmmaking in Canada screens Massacre At Femur Creek, the BITS Short Film Showcase, Chris Alexander’s Queen Of Blood and more. $11, passes $30-$65. Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton. bloodinthesnow.ca.

Nov 28 to 30 Brazil Film Fest Brazilian cinema showcase features João Jardim’s biographical drama

porary films from many countries reflecting the excellence, innovation and diversity of European cinema. Free ($10 adv). Royal Cinema, 608 College. eutorontofilmfest.ca.

To Nov 30 veggieliCioUs Celebration of gourmet vegetarian cuisine with prix-fixe menus at restaurants and bakeries throughout the city. $15-$35. See website for details.

Various venues. veggielicious.ca.

To Nov 30

Fone oF a kind Christmas show & sale

Friday night live @ rom Live music by

Blood in the snow Canadian Film Festival

Handmade gifts from more than 800 Canadian artisans. Nov 27 to Dec 7. Mon-Sat 10 am-9 pm, Sun 10 am-6 pm. $12-$14, stu/srs $7, kids free. Direct Energy Centre, 100 Princes Blvd, Exhibition Place. oneofakindshow.com.

plant-Based inspiration and Fermentation

Marni Wasserman discusses the benefits of a plant-based diet and fermented foods and the fermentation process. 7-8:30 pm. Free. Big Carrot, 348 Danforth. thebigcarrot.ca. ganizers, lawyers and researchers. 6:30-8 pm.

Free. Room 309. Metro Hall, 55 John. stoppolicecarding@gmail.com.

the renaissanCe woman: CeleBrating the liFe and leadership oF dr maya angeloU

Gathering of artists, academics, activists and admirers to share presentations, poems, art and commentaries about the artist/civil rights activist. 6-8:30 pm. Free. Room 2-225. OISE, 252 Bloor W. cwse@utoronto.ca. women make media art Deanna Bowen, merritt kopas, Cheryl L’Hirondelle and Catherine McKinnon share their visions for a media arts land scape that is more supportive of all genders. 7-9 pm. Free. YYZ, 401 Richmond W, #140. 416-516-1023, mano-ramo.ca.

Friday, November 28

Benefits

FFeline FestivUs Festival oF Comedy

Amanda Day, Leonard Chan, Chris Locke, host Steven Mann and others perform a comedy show. 9 pm. $20 (Humane Society/the Annex Cat Rescue). Fairmont Royal York Hotel, 100 Front W. brownpapertickets.com.

Events

argentine tango workshop Try out a les-

son. 6:30-8 pm. Free. Unit 101. Simply Swagg Dance Studio, 705 Progress. chrisassis.com. diaBetes health talk Three doctors talk about risk factors, symptoms and treatment.

1-2:30 pm. Free (pre-register). In the Auditorium. Toronto Western Hospital, 399 Bathurst.

416-603-5100 ext 2661.

FrChristmas at eaton Centre Santa’s Log Cabin, outdoor tree maze, 50-foot tree, urban lodge and more family fun activities. See website for hours. Eaton Centre, 220 Yonge and Dundas. torontoeatoncentre.com.

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

Movie reviews Movie times

Frtoronto Christmas market

poliCe Carding: where we are... and what’s next Discussion with community or-

28

67 67 68

Kandle & The Krooks, DJs, pop-up food, tours of the galleries and more with a Celestial Blast theme. 7-11 pm. $12, stu $10. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. rom.on.ca/fnl.

F 5hotFF BlaCk Christmas Holiday-themed leather night. Bring an unwrapped toy for children’s charity. 10 pm. Free. Black Eagle, 457 Church. blackeagletoronto.com. manhUnt: davisville village Games played in parks and streets. Meet at the SW corner of Yonge and Davisville. 9 pm. Free. See website for details. urbanigames.com.

mexiCo: 43 missing stUdents and the mass movement Discussion on the students fight-

ing the brutality of the Mexican state and the capitalist system. 7 pm. Free. Riel Room, Ryerson Oakham House, 63 Gould. marxist.ca. native north ameriCa vol. 1 gathering Live poetry performance from Duke Redbird, album listening session and a screening of Willie Dunn’s short film, The Ballad Of Crowfoot. 8 pm. Pwyc. Double Double Land, 209 Augusta. facebook.com/events/811828458881633.

reCent works From ColleCtiF JeUne Cinéma

Pleasure Dome presents a screening of recent works curated by Filipe Afonso. 7:30 pm. $8, stu $5. CineCycle, 129 Spadina. pdome.org. renewing the leFt Talk on how to grow the left with Alan Sears, Umair Muhammad, Patti Dalton and Chris Ramsaroop. 7-9 pm. Free.

Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. beitzatoun.org. whole liFe expo Speakers, workshops and exhibits on natural health, alternative medicine and green living. Nov 28, 4-9 pm; Nov 29, 11 am-8 pm; Nov 30, 10 am-6 pm. $10-$15.

Metro Toronto Convention Centre North Bldg, 255 Front W. wholelifecanada.com.

Saturday, November 29

Benefits

Fra skating ChanCe Community ice skating event with hot chocolate, games, a silent auction and more. 1:30-4 pm. Free (donations/proceeds to Canadian Tire Jumpstart).

Mattamy Athletic Centre, 50 Carlton. facebook.com/ASkatingChance. aCtion positive 5th anniversary CeleBration & world aids day Commemoration

Francophone org dedicated to fighting HIV/ AIDS celebrates with music by Natalie Nadon

continued on page 30 œ

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2014-11-20 5:58 PM NOW November 27 - december 3 2014 29

events œcontinued from page 28

and Eric St-Laurent, stories, lunch and more.

10:30 am-2 pm. Free, donations welcome. Preregister. Ramada Plaza Hotel, 300 Jarvis. 647393-6656, eric@actionpositivevihsida.org.

5CLGA DisCo GALA Dance party bash with cocktails, dinner, a silent auction and live entertainment. Doors 6 pm. $175 (benefit for Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives). Reference Library, 789 Yonge. clga.ca.

HAve A HeArt Bloor Street Quilters and Togogo Grannies fundraiser of unique handcrafted gifts and baked goods. 2-5 pm. Free (proceeds to BSUC). Bloor Street United Church, 300 Bloor W. bloorstreetunited.org.

FHoLiDAy HousewArminG Stand-up and comedic music with Andrew Chapman, Megan Fraser, Caitlin Langelier, dancing and more. $10 min (Redwood Shelter). Charlotte Room, 19 Charlotte. 416-500-2617.

KAtHy sAyers BAKe swAp & soCiAL Bring baked goods and preserves. 2:30-3:30 pm. $5 donation to Sick Kids Hospital and food bank donation. Kingston Road United Church, 975 Kingston Rd. feester48@hotmail.com. min sooK Lee AwArDs GALA Celebrate artists and activists who promote social justice at this party with a silent auction, music and more. Doors 6 pm. $25-$50 (Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts). Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil. mayworks.ca. mo-off 2 Moustache championship and cocktail reception. Doors 8 pm. $10 (Movember).

Screen Lounge, 20 College. eventbrite. ca/e/13861647561. mostoCK movemBer pArty Music, dancing and moustache admiring with tunes by Orbital Groove and DJ Apple Scratch. 9:30 pm. $15-$20 (Movember Foundation). Adelaide Hall, 250 Adelaide W. mostockparty.com.

FnAtive Arts & CrAfts CHristmAs sALe

Moccasins, beadwork, dreamcatchers, jewellery and more plus a raffle and 50/50 draw.

10 am-4 pm. Sales benefit the NCCT. Native Canadian Centre, 16 Spadina Rd. ncct.on.ca. puB oLympiCs Teams of 4-6 play shuffleboard, pool, foosball, table tennis and darts. Noon.

V

The

$20 (proceeds to Movember). Dock Ellis, 1280 Dundas W. thedockellis.com.

FweLCome, yuLe Cantemus Singers Christmas concert. 7:30 pm. $20 (benefits Community Centre 55). Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square. cantemus.ca.

worDs AnD musiC for ACCess to JustiCe funDrAiser Laura Fernandez, Nigel Barnes,

Banoo Zan and Norman Cristofoli and others.

7 pm. Pwyc (Keep Neighbourhood Legal Clinics). Hirut Ethiopian Cuisine, 2050 Danforth. keepneighbourhoodlegalclinics@gmail.com.

Events

tHe Art of tHe mix Sound production work-

shop with Robert DiVito. 1:30-4 pm. Free. Fort York Library, 190 Fort York Blvd. tpl.ca/iir.

FrCAvALCADe of LiGHts Holiday tree lighting, musical performances by Kellylee Evans, Maestro Fresh Wes and Kardinal Offishal, a skating party and fireworks. 7-10 pm. Free.

Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen W. 416392-2489, toronto.ca.

FrCHiLDren’s spArKLinG worKsHops

Children create holiday ornaments. 10 amnoon. $20. Pre-register 905-752-0498 ext 3346. Yorkdale Shopping Centre, 3401 Dufferin. yorkdale.com.

CreAtive writinG Master class with author Lawrence Hill. 10 am-5 pm. $45. Barbara Frum Library, 20 Covington. niacentre.org.

DemistifyinG inGreDients in your BeAuty/ BoDy CAre proDuCts Learn to make your own

natural skin care products. 11:30 am-5 pm.

Payment by barter. Victory Café, 581 Markham. Pre-register. tradeschool.coop/toronto.

FrfestivAL of LiGHts Pegasus Studio Dancers, East End Music Project, Zero Gravity Circus fire artist and LED hula hooper, loot bags, and more. 4-6 pm. Free. Rain/snow date Nov 30. East Lynn Park, 1949 Danforth. info@ danfortheastcommunityassociation.com. innoversity CreAtive summit Join leaders and celebrities in Canada’s media industry and creators from culturally diverse backgrounds to explore ways to energize and reimagine media. $250. Reference Library, 789 Yonge. innoversitysummit.com. introDuCtory meDitAtion Class 1 pm.

Free. Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth. meditationtoronto.com.

FrKiDzfest: winter mAGiC Stage entertainment, rides, appearances by the Octo-

Nutcracker

big 3 NOW editors pick a trio of this week’s can’t-miss events

1

KEEP KAIROS GOING

Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives (KAIROS) is a faithbased organization that unites churches and other religious organizations to pursue social justice.

According to the Harper government, the org cared too much about justice – so much so that the feds withdrew its funding. KAIROS marks five years of survival since losing that money, at the We’re Still Here fundraising party on Sunday (November 30), 7-10 pm, at Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square. Snap up some swag (great nauts, Frozen Ice Queen & Princess and others, crafts and more. Free. Yonge-Dundas Square. wintermagic.ca.

FrLiGHt up tHe BeACH Festive light display, live music, Santa appearance and more at this community celebration. 7 pm. Free.

Leuty Lifeguard Station, 1 Lee. lightupthebeach.com.

FrLiGHt up tHe riversiDe Neighbourhood celebration with a tree-lighting ceremony, Santa visit, live choral music, a craft sale and more. 5-7 pm. Free. Mustard Seed Gardens, 791 Queen E. riverside-to.com. murDer At tHe rom Scavenger hunt for adults. 1-3:30 pm. $35. Pre-register. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. 416852-6444, urbancapers.com.

3

Lula Lounge

1585 Dundas Street W. Toronto Tickets AT EVENTBRITE NAME “NAUGHTY NUTCRACKER” or www.loveletterscabaret.com 30

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

SPEAK FOR TEARS: VIGIL FOR ABORIGINAL WOMEN, MEN AND CHILDREN

Tantoo Cardinal, Jenn Mt. Pleasant and Leighann Ford are among the speakers at a candlelight vigil for missing and murdered indigenous people at Dufferin Grove Park, 875 Dufferin, on Saturday (November 29), 6 pm. Free. facebook.com/events/366218966889956.

holiday gifts) and celebrate KAIROS’s invaluable work. $20, advance $15. kairoscanada.org.

2

WORLD AIDS DAY

Voices Of Hope, the annual pay-what-you-can community concert hosted by Casey House hospice, marks World AIDS Day on Monday (December 1) at 7 pm. Pro-

mytHBusters: BeHinD tHe mytHs TV’s Jamie

Hyneman and Adam Savage bring their fun, interactive approach to science to the stage.

7:30 pm. $40.50-$72.25. Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front E. sonycentre.ca.

FoCAD BooK Arts fAir Books and art by artists, printmakers, bookbinders and photographers. 10 am-5 pm. Pwyc. OCAD U, 100 McCaul. bookartsfair@gmail.com. rouGe pArK wALKs See website for meeting points. Nov 29-30, 9:30 am-2 pm. Free. rougepark.com/hike.

speAK for teArs: viGiL for missinG AnD murDereD inDiGenous women, men AnD CHiLDren Candlelight vigil with speakers in-

cluding Jenn Mt. Pleasant, Leighann Ford, Tantoo Cardinal and others. 6 pm. Free. Duf-

ceeds from this year’s event at Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen East, will support the 20,000 people living with AIDS/ HIV in Toronto. An outdoor candle ceremony will follow the concert.

One in 20 Torontonians is HIVpositive, and 1,000 people are newly infected in Ontario every year. caseyhouse.com. ferin Grove Park, 875 Dufferin, south of Bloor. facebook.com/events/366218966889956.

FrstiCKy finGers CrAft worKsHop Dropin holiday craft program for children 4 to 7 years. 3:30 to 5 pm. Free. Pre-register. Queen East Presbyterian Church, 947 Queen E. 416315-9686, stickyfingerscrafts@hotmail.com. tHrive: our voiCes risinG forum Keynote speakers, workshops, talksand more to mark the global 16 Days Of Activism Against Gender Violence. 9:30 am-4 pm. Free. Metro Hall, 55 John. surveymonkey.com/s/thriveforum2014.

5torn Rubber bondage demo and social mixer. 7-9 pm. Free. Black Eagle, 457 Church.

416-413-1219, blackeagletoronto.com. toronto fAir trADe sHow Talks by activists,

Fife House has been providing housing and support services to people living with HIV for more than 25 years.

Everyone deserves Hope, Help and a place to call Home.

December 11th - 2014 EARLY SHOW 8:00pm – 9:30pm LATE SHOW 10:30pm – 12:00am

Tantoo Cardinal honours missing aboriginal people November 29.

follow volunteer donate @fifehouse

/fifehouse

fifehouse.org

Fife House Foundation 416 205 9888

NOW: ¼ 3 col., 5.833” w X 4.59” h

film screenings, fair trade vendors and more.

To Nov 30, Sat 10 am-9 pm, Sun 10 am-6 pm.

Free admission. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. thefairtradeshow.com.

ToronTo SalSa PracTice No lesson, beginners to pros, no partner required. 3:30-8 pm. $5. Trinity St. Paul’s Church, 427 Bloor W. torontosalsapractice.com.

Sunday, November 30

Benefits

Judy rebick and rick SaluTin Brunch and talk

on the future of progressive media. Doors 11 am. $30, adv $25 (fundraiser for Outlook, progressive Jewish magazine). Winchevsky Centre, 585 Cranbrooke. 416-398-3405.

Peace, love, emPower Health, wellness, beauty, seminars, food and more. Noon-6 pm. $20-$25 (Jean Augustine Centre for Women’s Empowerment). Burroughes Building, 639 Queen W. peaceloveempower.com.

5PSychic brunch Psychic reading and brunch. 11 am-1 pm. $29 (Rainbow Assoc of Canadian Artists). The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament. psychicbrunch.ca.

SwaP don’T ShoP GrcT benefiT Live music by HotKid, By Divine Right, Dirty Frigs and others, plus a clothing/books/record swap. 1 pm. $5$8 (Girls Rock Camp Toronto). The Garrison, 1197 Dundas W. girlsrocktoronto.org. we’re STill here fundraiSinG ParTy Faithdriven social justice org KAIROS Canada celebrates its survival five years after losing CIDA funding with a party. 7-10 pm. $20, adv $15.

Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square.

416-463-5312 ext 227, kairoscanada.org.

Fwelcome, yule Cantemus Singers Christmas concert. 3 pm. $20 (benefits Community Centre 55). St Aidan’s Anglican Church, 70 Silver Birch. cantemus.ca.

techniques. 7 pm. Free. College/Shaw Library, 766 College. meditationtoronto.com. kevin courrier SPinS The beaTleS Film clips and talk on this week’s topic: Helter Skelter: Counter Culture & Mysticism. 7-9 pm. $12, stu $6. Miles Nadal JCC, 750 Spadina. 416-9246211 ext 606, mnjcc.org.

STrenGTh and Self Weekly group for women who have experienced abuse. Mondays, 11 am. Free. Miles Nadal JCC, 750 Spadina. strengthandself@mnjcc.org.

Tai chi Mon & Wed, 9-10 am. Free w/ membership ($6-$10/year). Cecil Comm Centre, 58 Cecil. greeneconomics.net/Cecil_TaiChi.htm.

Funion STaTion holiday markeT Holiday pop-up market with artisan gifts, food, art and more in the Great Hall. To Dec 7, approximately 10 am-6 pm (see website for exact hours). Free. Union Station, 65 Front W. unionstationholidaymarket.com.

Tuesday, December 2

Benefits

donaTe & ParTy neTworkinG evenT Workshop/party with online marketing experts and entrepreneurs. 5:30-9 pm. Free (donations to YWCA’s Adopt-A-Family Program). Pre-register. YWCA Elm Centre, 87 Elm. greenlotus.ca/ learn-donate-workshop.

QueSTion Period Comics Hannah Cheesman and Kristian Bruun test your knowledge at this trivia night party. 8 pm (doors 7 pm). $15 (Mother Nature Partnership). Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen W. mothernaturepartnership.org.

Events

canadian valueS & ciTiZenShiP SerieS

Workshop for newcomers and those taking the citizenship test. 9:30-11:30 am. Free.

Centre for Immigrant & Community Services, 2330 Midland. 416-292-7510 ext 0, cicscanada.com. cinema PoliTica: Gulabi GanG Screening of Nishtha Jain’s film about a group of fearless women who fight gender violence in India, 6:15 pm. $5-$10. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor W. cinemapolitica.org/bloor.

FGlühwein, STollen and German carolS Holiday cheer with singing, hot spiced

wine and more in the Distillery District.

6:30-9:30 pm. Free. Mill St Brew Pub, 21 Tankhouse Lane. germansintoronto.com/ events/216574402. leadnow SPark evenT Election mobilizing event to engage voters in Willowdale. 7 pm.

Free. Royal Canadian Legion – Branch 66, 6 Spring Garden. we.leadnow.ca/.

Peru and The inca Trail Travel talk. 6:30 pm.

Free. Merit Travel, 408 King W. 416-345-9726.

TrailblaZer SerieS: enGaGinG The media

Leadership talk for people who manage volunteer-run, non-profit organizations. 6:30-8 pm.

Free. Canadian Management Centre, 150 York.

Pre-register volunteertoronto.site-ym.com.

Wednesday, December 3

Benefits

STill we riSe Gala Spoken word poet Mus-

TORONTO ARTS FOUNDATION; 7.4444 in; 536613; 2cols

tafa Ahmed and DJ Kelsey Will perform to help at-risk youth access wellness-based resources. 8:30 pm. $100 (New Leaf Yoga Fdn).

Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. newleafyoga.org.

Events

buildinG reSiliency of urban ecoSySTemS ThrouGh TranSPorTaTion PlanninG Talk

by Namrata Shrestha. 4:10 pm. Free. Room 149 (basement). U of T Earth Sciences Bldg, 5 Bancroft. environment.utoronto.ca.

The canTicle of The birdS Princeton prof Michael Barry reimagines a masterpiece of Persian literature by Farid ud-Din Attar. 6:30-7:30 pm pm. $20, stu/srs $12. Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford. agakhanmuseum.org. iidex canada Design and architecture exposition and conference. To Dec 4, Wed-Thu 9 am-6 pm. $25. Metro Convention Centre North Bldg, 255 Front W. iidexcanada.com. ken leland The author discuss his novel 1812: The Land Between Flowing Waters and the era’s history. 7:30 pm. Free. In the Tower Community Room. St David’s Anglican Church, 49 Donlands. uelgovsimcoe.org. medicaTionS and demenTia Info session.

6-7:30 pm. Free. Pre-register. Dotsa Bitove Academy, 1929 Bayview. 416-640-6307.

SinGle, SeParaTed & divorced dadS Support group weekly meeting. Women welcome. 7-9 pm. Free. Eastminster United Church, Room A5. 310 Danforth. 416-8610626, father.org.

FTell me SomeThinG Good Storytellers

have 5 minutes to convey sexy and true holiday-themed tales. 8 pm (doors 7:30 pm).

Free. In the Melody Bar. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen W. gladstonehotel.com.

upcoming Thursday, December 4

Benefits

TTcriderS end-of-year fundraiSer Celebra-

tion with awards for transit heroes and trolls, a raffle and more. 5:30-7:30 pm. $25 (benefits TTCriders). Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham. ttcriders.ca.

Events

animal riGhTS academy lecTure Rosemary

Alles talks about the effort to save elephants from extinction. 7-9 pm. Free. OISE, 252 Bloor W. animalrightsacademy.org. harry leSlie SmiTh The author talks about the need for real poverty reduction strategies.

7:30-9 pm. $10-$25. 519 Church Street Community Centre. putfoodinthebudget.ca. meeT cuSo inTernaTional Info session on volunteering. 7-8:30 pm. Free (RSVP). Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina. 647-4784089 ext 1, outreach@cusointernational.org.

FTree liGhTinG & Toy drive kick-off Check out decorations, see live music and dance and bring a new, unwrapped toy for the Toronto Fire Fighters’ Toy Drive. 5-8 pm. Free/donation.

Shops at Don Mills, 1090 Don Mills. facebook. com/TorontoFirefightersToyDrive.

3

SONY CENTRE AND ATTILA GLATZ CONCERT PRODUCTIONS PRESENT

Events

canadian arTiSan TaSTinG fair Sampling from local bakers, cheese makers, craft brewers and more. 11 am-4 pm. $40, stu $10-$15, kids under 12 free. Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie. tastingfair.ca. exPlodinG Zebra bad movie niGhT Screening of Samurai Cop. Doors 7:30 pm. Free. Clinton’s, 693 Bloor W. explodingzebra.com.

FrhiGh Park chriSTmaS celebraTion

Sing along with The Withnells and area public school choirs, face painting, reindeer tattoos, crafts, Santa visit and more. 2-5 pm. Free.

Grenadier Cafe, 200 Parkside. highpark.org.

FleSlie flea holiday marikeT Unique vintage, handcrafted and upcycled items, food and more. 10 am-5 pm. SH Armstrong Comm Centre, 56 Woodfield. leslievilleflea.com.

FrPeT PhoToS wiTh SanTa Pets and their families can get a photo taken for the holidays. 11 am-2 pm, 3-5 pm. $12. PawsWay, 245 Queens Quay W. pawsway.ca.

TheraPeuTic immuniZaTion: a novel aPProach To TreaT hiv-1-infecTed PaTienTS Lec-

ture by Dr Arnaldo Caruso. 2 pm. Free. Medical Sciences Bldg, 1 King’s College Circle. royalcanadianinstitute.org. weSTfronT 1918 Screening of the 1930 film about four soldiers in the WWI war. In German with sub-titles. 2-4 pm. Free. Lambton House, 4066 Old Dundas. 416-236-7427. rwill STreeT & The backyard band Rockin’ family concert in English and French. 11 am. $12, family 4-pack $40. Al Green Theatre, 750 Spadina. willmusictoronto.eventbrite.ca.

FrwinTer fair Storytelling, puppet shows, craft making, vendor market and more. 10 am-4 pm. $5. Waldorf Academy, 250 Madison. waldorfacademy.org.

Monday, December 1

Benefits

Fhome for The holidayS Fundraising concert including Broadway tunes to sing-along Christmas carols. 7:30 pm. $35-$100 (LOFT Community Services). St James Cathedral, 65 Church. loftcs.org. monday niGhT live Cabaret evening with Jackie Richardson, Michael Therriault, Sheila McCarthy and others. Dec 1 at 6 pm. $150 (Theatre Museum Canada). Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge. theatremuseumcanada.ca.

FvoiceS of hoPe concerT World AIDS Day concert followed by an outdoor candle ceremony. 7-8:30 pm. Pwyc, $20 sugg (Casey House). Metropolitan United Church, 56 Queen E. caseyhouse.com.

WATCH THE MOVIE ON A 40-FT SCREEN WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR CONDUCTED BY JUSTIN FREER

DECEMBER 5, 2014 • 7:30PM 1 FRONT STREET EAST, TORONTO

1-855-872-SONY (7669) | sonycentre.ca

Events

canada, don’T coP ouT! Learn about climate talks in Lima and post-Kyoto prospects for climate action with Kai Reimer-Watts, Margaret Rao and others. 7 pm. Pwyc. Friends House, 60 Lowther. 416-596-7328. inTroducTory mediTaTion Learn three easy

sonycentre.ca

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

31

DAVID LAURENCE

food

Chef Kanida Chey begins by butterflying the pig.

A tasting board brings the dish together.

Branca goes whole hog

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire are nice, but the sudden onslaught of winter weather has us craving something heartier.

Chef Kanida Chey of Argentine-style restaurant Branca takes us into his smokehouse to show us the three-day process of roasting a whole suckling pig. By KARON LIU

32

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

The pig is ready to be removed from the brine.

Chef lights the smokehouse fire.

Three days to create the roast with the most $34 (available Fridays and Saturdays only, 1727 Dundas West, 416-519-8165, branca.ca, @branca_to)

Tuesday, 9 am

The pig, weighing between 20 to 25 pounds, arrives at the restaurant on Tuesday morning. Chey butterflies the pig, cracking open the ribs and cutting the joints in the hind legs so that they can be spread apart. Hey, no one said this was a pretty process. The pig is then immersed in a brine solution of water, salt, lemon, parsley, garlic and bay leaves for two daysin the fridge. That’s pretty much all the flavouring it gets.

“I was captivated by this style of cooking because I’m so over southern barbecue,” he says. “There’s so much vinegar and sugar, you can’t taste the meat flavour. Argentinean cooking is all about the meat. Both Argentina and Ontario have great beef, so all you need is salt. It also won’t make you feel like shit afterwards.”

Samuel Maser and chef take the animal out of the brine.

Chef sets up the meats in the smokehouse.

Chase Shin, Maser and chef attach the butterflied pig with wire to the iron support before smoking.

Chef takes the roast pig from the smokehouse.

tween 40 and 60 degrees) over the wood-burning fire.

Factors like humidity, wind and the type of wood being used vastly affects cooking times. The wet winter air makes the logs moist so it’s harder to start the fire. Chey says that thanks to the moisture content the burning logs emit more smoke, which is great for flavour but a curse on the cooks’ watery eyes when they’re checking on the meat. Gusts of wind blowing through the smokehouse’s windows could put out the fire or make the flame lean toward one direction, making the cooking uneven.

Chey burns hardwoods like Ontario white oak, cherry and pear, saying that they hold on to heat longer than softwoods like pine and spruce. The wood arrives on Tuesdays and the cooks have the additional job of chopping it into smaller logs and stacking it beside the smokehouse, which takes around two hours. About 25 to 30 logs are burned while the pig is roasting, and the smokehouse reaches temperatures between 350°F and 400°F.

Thursday, 1:30 pm

The pig is turned around so that the flame can start cooking the back of the animal. In another three hours, the meat is flipped upside-down so that its head can be closer to the heat. Another three hours after that, it’s flipped again, totalling three times to ensure even cooking. Sprigs of rosemary dipped in saltwater are used to baste the swine.

Other great places you can eat the whole thing Dayali Beijing Roast Duck

20 Gibson (Markham), 905-604-8680 This Markham outpost of a Beijing-based restaurant is famous for its Gold Medal Roast Duck, so be prepared to wait a bit at the door if you don’t have reservations. The paper-thin, amber-coloured roasted skin is as crispy as a potato chip, and the dish comes with the usual accompaniments, like green onions, cucumber cut into matchsticks and, oddly, grapes. Get the whole duck experience by ordering duck bones ($2.88) – literally a plate of roasted duck bones with a peppery kick.

Price $36.88

Dundas Park Kitchen 2066 Dundas West, 647-3514793, dundasparkkitchen.ca, @DundasPark Hands down, this is one of the best takeout roast chicken dinners in the city. It’s moist, sim-

Fresh dish

Opening

Haute dog shop Fancy Franks is opening a third location at 453 Queen West (at Spadina). The intersection continues its transformation into a hub for independently run fast food places like Burger’s Priest, P&L Burgers, Banh Mi Boys, Fresh Off the Boat, Rose City Kitchen and Saffron Spice Kitchen.

The cold-pressed juice trend flows on as Village Juicery comes to 540 College (at Euclid).

Vegetarian takeout hits the Ossington ’hood. Veghed Bar (1199 Dundas West, at Ossington) offers soups, smoothies, salads and specials like pad thai with chia, hemp and pea shoots.

Mean Bao, the steamed bao shop (think pork belly and pulled pork, not char siu) popular with OCAD students getting lunch at

Thursday, 10 pm

Pork is separated into pieces.

Thursday, 10 am

The pig comes out of the bin of brine and the cooks start the delicate process of tying it to a custom-made iron cross. First the shoulders are hooked on the top rack, then the hind legs are tied to the bottom with metal wires.

Whole chickens also get similar treatment, brined and tied up as if – for lack of a better description – they are being crucified.

Thursday, 10:30 am

The pig is brought to the little smokehouse at the back of the restaurant (the space was previously a residence, so everything that’s part of the kitchen had to be built from scratch). The iron cross is planted into a groove on the ground, leaning ever so slightly (be-

Curtis Samuel and chef cut and pull the pork.

While the dining room is busy with regular dinner service, the cooks duck out to the smokehouse to retrieve the pig. It’s removed from the metal rack and ready to be taken apart. The suckling pig is broken down into four sections: tenderloin, skin, belly and “pulled” meat.

That last one is not the shredded pork slathered in barbecue sauce found in sandwiches, but rather hunks of meat pulled from the head, legs and Chey’s favourite part: the flavourful meat in the neck and around the spine. The skin is stripped of the fat, dehydrated and then later fried-toorder to make chicharrón – pork rinds, essentially. The meat is sealed and packed, ready to be grilled and served to diners the next day.

Friday

One pig yields about 15 plates, each containing the pulled meat (the most flavourful), tenderloin (the most tender), belly (the fattiest) and skin (the crispiest).

There’s no barbecue sauce or rub, just a hint of salt on the juicy, pink meat. A side of chimichurri ($1) does add a fresh, grassy and tart complement for those who feel the need to dip the meat in something.

3

ply seasoned with lemon and herbs, the meat is tender and juicy, and it tastes great the next day shoved into a kaiser.

(Save the bones to make a delicious broth.) Call ahead to order the whole (or half) roast chicken for pickup, which comes with two sides and dipping sauce.

Price $30 whole chicken, two sides, sauce; $16 half

Bestellen 972 College, 647-341-6769, bestellen.ca, @BestellenTO If you want to see a whole suckling pig at the table, Bestellen’s family-style whole pig dinner is the best option. It comes with all the fixin’s, like rolls, vegetables and dessert, and is the perfect meal for birthday parties or your Game Of Thrones fan club event. Reserve three days in advance.

Price $59 per person, eight people minimum Karon Liu

Village by the Grange, is opening a second location at 167 Bathurst (at Queen West), once the home of the short-lived Burger Press.

The signage is up, but according to its Twitter feed (@MeanBaoToronto), it’s having a few opening delays.

Supper club CC Lounge is debuting in the historic Beardmore Building in Old Town (45 Front East, at Church) this week.

Playing with a speakeasy theme, it features life-sized birdcages and “North America’s first whiskey-tasting tunnel housing over 100 whiskeys from around the world.”

Changes

After eight and a half years, Cava chef and owner Chris McDonald is handing the restaurant (1560 Yonge, at St. Clair) over to former partner and co-chef Doug Penfold on December 1. The midtown restaurant is best known for its Spanish and tapas menu pioneered long before the trend hit the rest of the city.

Know of any openings, closings or Black Friday door-busters at Canoe or Scaramouche?

Email food@nowtoronto.com.

food@nowtoronto.com

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

33

drinkup

By SARAH PARNIAK drinks@nowtoronto.com | @s_parns

Look up an Old Pal

WHERE TO DRINK RIGHT NOW!

Toronto’s cocktail culture has polished our vices so that a large chunk of the drinking demographic knows (and even craves) Negronis (1:1:1 gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, stirred and served over ice with an orange zest for the uninitiated). Requests for its bourbon-anchored cousin, the Boulevardier, have never come so frequently in the decade I’ve

Old Pal reciPe 1.5 oz rye whisky (try Lot. No 40 or Rittenhouse) ¾ oz Dolin dry vermouth ¾ oz Campari Stir ingredients over ice for at least 15 seconds until properly chilled and diluted. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Most cocktail bartenders around town should be able to accommodate an Old Pal, but why not try inspired twists on the classic along the way?

Stop by Parkdale’s Food & Liquor

(1610 Queen West, 647-748-7113, foodandliquor.ca) for a Hey Pal (rye, Cynar and sweet vermouth, $10), Veronica Saye’s more approachable version of the classic.

Hit up Cocktail Bar (923 Dundas West, 416-792-7511, hoofcocktailbar. com) for David Greig’s No New Friends (bourbon, cognac, tokaji, Campari and Fernet branca, $16).

GINO’S PIZZA; 5.5417 in; 531046; 5cols

spent behind the stick, and lately, an Old Pal has been making re-introductory rounds in the city’s cocktail bars.

The Old Pal recipe (traditionally 1:1:1 rye, Campari and dry vermouth) first appeared in Harry MacElhone’s Harry’s ABC Of Mixing Cocktails (1922), attributed to journalist William “Sparrow” Robertson, the sports writer for the New York Herald Tribune in Paris. In true journalistic fashion, one of Sparrow’s preferred pastimes was drinking, and his signature term of endearment was, you guessed it, “my old pal.”

It’s generally accepted that the most challenging original member of the spirit-vermouth-aperitivo cocktail famiglia appeared post-Negroni and pre-Boulevardier, making it a sort of an awkward middle child. But now that many palates have adjusted to the initial shock of Campari, and spicy rye whisky is de rigueur, the Old Pal has gotten much closer to what it professes to be.

Call me a whisk(e)y fiend, but my personal opinion is that the Old Pal (like the Boulevardier) is better with more spirited proportions, but try it both ways and be the judge.

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Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal Cognac The sun is setting obnoxiously close to 5 pm. You could wallow in the premature twilight, snuggling a bottle of vitamin D, or you could embrace the early-sun-downing ritual. Should you take the latter approach (carpe noctem, y’all), consider treating yourself to a snifter of Rémy Martin’s latest release. Rich, round and elegantly oaked, 1738 Accord Royal is classified as Fine Champagne Cognac (a blend of eaux de WHAT vie distilled E WE’R from grapes DRINKING grown in both T H IG N TO Grande and Petite Champagne plots). Sip it neat, served over a single rock or in a killer Sidecar or French Sazerac.

Price $114.95 Availability LCBO 386177

Hot releases raise your spirits Break out these bottles for a taste of something new AMARO BEEFEATER ALPINO BURROUGH’S ñBRAULIO ñ RESERVE GIN Rating NNNN Why Brisk and bitter, this sonorthern-Italian-it’s-basically-Swiss amaro is infused with a bouquet of mountain herbs from the Valtellina region, including gentian, juniper, peppermint and wormwood. It’s like taking your tummy on a soothing after-dinner amble through snow-coated conifers.

Price 750 ml/$28.95 Availability Vintages 364059

MOUNT GAY RUM BLACK BARREL

Rating NNNN Why Burrough’s Reserve is a musttaste for any juniper geek. Distilled in small batches in a vintage copper-pot still, the spirit is then rested in Jean de Lillet French oak barrels. The result is a creamy, complex premium gin designed to be savoured neat.

Price 700 ml/$89.95 Availability LCBO 397679; extremely limited quantities

Rating NNN Why The latest release from the legendary Barbados rum house, Mount Gay Black Barrel is a blend of rums double-distilled in pot-andcolumn stills and finished in heavily charred bourbon barrels. The result is a versatile mixing rum great in stirred drinks like Old Fashioneds or Rumhattans.

Price 750 ml/$39.90 Availability LCBO 395715

TASTING NOTES Hunt and win

Calling all bartenders: Toronto’s first bar scavenger hunt kicks off December 1. As participants meet up to 100 challenges – like rocking a ridiculous moustache behind the bar or asking someone to dance – success shots will be posted on Instagram @torontobarhunt with the hashtag #TOBARHUNT for the chance to win daily and grand prizes. Learn more at the launch party on Monday (November 30) from 7 to 10 pm at Momofuku Nikai (190 University, 647-253-6226, momofuku.com/toronto/nikai) or online at facebook.com/torontobarhunt.

Come to my Parlor...

Parlor, a restaurant and bar committed to all things Canadian, helmed by chefs and owners Brett Howson and Jason D’anna, opens this week in the space that used to be Paese (333 King West, 416-596-0004, parlorfoods.com). The kitchen showcases local ingredients, and the bar, headed up by Japhet Bower (the Grove, the Whippoorwill), stocks mostly Canadian whisky (ryes and otherwise) and other local spirits.

Follow us on Instagram

@nowtoronto Ñ

Golden Tap Awards 2014 - Best Newcomer To The Beer Scene in Ontario

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Ambrosial NNNN = Dangerously drinkable NNN = Palate pleaser NN = Sensory snooze N = Tongue trauma

NOW NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014

35

ecoholic

When you’re addicted to the planet By ADRIA VASIL

LASHING OUT: The mascara guide

I’VE TRIED AT LEAST A DOZEN NATURAL MASCARAS OVER THE YEARS AND I WON’T LIE – NONE REPLICATE THE FAKE LASH LOOK. BUT YOU CAN PLUMP UP WHAT NATURE GAVE YOU WITHOUT COATING YOURSELF WITH QUESTIONABLE CHEMS. COVERGIRL/L’OREAL/ MAYBELLINE­ Great lash my ass. There’s nothing impressive about mascaras with estrogenic butyl or propylparabens and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives like quaternium-15. Plus, these products are loaded with unsustainable petroleum distillates and plasticky nylon as well as ecologically dubious cyclopentasiloxane. And they use a lot of controversial mica, linked to child labour scandals at illegal mica mines in India.

Give them the brush-off.

SCORE: N

ORGANIC­WEAR At drugstores this is definitely your best natural mascara pick. (Actually, it’s probably your only natural mascara option.) I gave this one a top score in my Ecoholic Body book, but it’s been reformulated since: it doesn’t have quite as much wow factor now, and more women complain about smudging. However, it’s Ecocert-certified to be 100 per cent naturally derived and 70 per cent certified organic, so content-wise it deserves top marks. Performance-wise I’m not hooked.

It’s made in the U.S. by Physicians Formula, which makes dodgy conventional makeup, too.

SCORE: NNN

PURE­ANADA/MARIE­ NATIE

100%­PURE/HAUSCHKA­ ­VOLUME

These two Canadian natural beauty brands are both great everyday mascaras.

Manitoba’s Pure Anada is vegan, water-resistant and definitely the best deal at $12 to $14. Nice to see it has ditched eco-toxic siloxanes as well as child-labourlinked mica. It does use phenoxyethanol preservative, which wouldn’t fly with some natural cosmetic certifiers like Ecocert. Even more natural and local is Toronto’s MarieNatie ($16.99), which uses organic beeswax and coffee powder. However, I find it wears out sooner than Pure Anada and isn’t vegan.

Happy to see its mica is from the more labourfriendly U.S. SCORE: NNNN

Performance-wise, natural makeup artists tend to swear by one of these two brands (emphasizing that you need to wiggle the wand with a good dozen slow strokes to get pro effects). In a faceoff, Calibased 100% Pure ($26) is hands down the most lengthening natural mascara I’ve tried. Love it. And it’s pigmented with stuff like black tea and coffee. It does contain some mica from India, though its supplier is said to own its own mines to avoid illegal sources.

Pricier German import Hauschka Volume ($39 or cheaper at Big Carrot Co-op) is tops for plumping while lengthening (unlike even pricier Lavera Butterfly Effect) and definitely lasts all day, whereas most natural mascaras tend to fade away after 12 hours. However, the essentialoil-derived preservatives may irritate some. Coloured versions also have mica.

SCORE: NNNN

TE ST L

AB

ZORAH Want a Canadian/natural/organic lash booster that delivers good oomph? Montreal’s Zorah is Ecocert-certified to be 97 per cent natural and 18 per cent organic, with an emphasis on fairly sourced ingredients. Ecocert also requires that products be tested for heavy metals, which is great.

It comes in two $25 formulas, but I prefer the Length & Care version, with its double-helix wand designed to be twisted. No mica, and palm-derived ingredients are consciously sourced from South America, avoiding contentious Southeast Asian palm. Plus Zorah’s preservatives are all Ecocert-approved. Losing a point because it doesn’t wear quite as long as, say, Hauschka. Coming soon to Toronto retailers, but for now you can get it at zorah.ca.

SCORE: NNNN

ecoholic pick

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“

What is radical? Is it radical to expand fossil fuel infrastructure in the midst of climate change?

Is it radical to use police force to quell public opposition and public opinion?

”

Beyond Boarding co-founder Tamo Campos at a Burnaby Mountain conservation park press conference after being arrested the day before for protesting Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

Campos (the grandson of environmentalist David Suzuki), J.B. MacKinnon (author of The 100-Mile Diet) and an 11-year old girl and her mother were among more than 50 protesters taken into custody since blockades against drilling operations began last week near Vancouver.

nature note TRANSCANADA TURNS UP THE HEAT IN PIPELINE PR WAR

Between the the images of rippling water and children on bikes, a voiceover assures TV audiences that TransCanada cares about the communities through which it wants to pipe tar sands oil.

The Calgary-based pipeline giant’s new ad campaign appeared in heavy

green

DIRECTORY

nightly rotation just as the premiers of Ontario and Quebec threw the company for a loop, laying down seven conditions TransCanada must meet if it wants to build its $12 billion Energy East pipeline.

The preems are demanding an environmental assessment weighing

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Energy East’s greenhouse gas emissions. GHGs aren’t a consideration of the National Energy Board, which will ultimately determine the fate of the proposal to pump 1.1 million barrels of crude per day from Alberta to tanker ports in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Though according to Council of Canadians climate justice campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue, Energy East would unleash climate pollution equivalent to adding 7 million cars to our roads.

Another condition of Ontario and Quebec approval: the company should consult First Nations and ensure that the project is “socially accepted” by communities along the route, a serious hurdle since polling has shown that most Quebecers oppose Energy East.

Internal documents obtained by Greenpeace last week reveal the ener-

TransCanada’s new TV ad says it cares about the communities through which it wants to pipe tar sands crude.

gy company is priming for a PR fight, armed with a bag full of dirty tricks: TransCanada’s hired the world’s largest public relations firm, Edelman, to fake grassroots support (aka astroturfing) and smear environmental opponents.

According to the documents, Edelman planned to dig up dirt on the Council of Canadians, the David Suzuki Foundation, Quebec’s Équiterre and others to “add layers of difficulty for our opponents, distracting them from their mission and causing them to redirect their resources.”

Council of Canadians’ Maude Barlow calls the move “desperate,” and it may well be. A whopping $33 billion of

the corporation’s planned pipeline projects are now entangled in political quagmires here in Ontario and Quebec as well as south of the border. Last week, its Keystone XL pipeline was voted down, at least for now, by the U.S. Senate. ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

Get your copy of Adria Vasil’s latest book, Ecoholic Body: Your Ultimate Earth-Friendly Guide To Living Healthy And Looking Good

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astrology freewill

11 | 27

2014

by Rob Brezsny

Aries Mar 21 | Apr 19 What exactly do

you believe in, Aries? What’s your philosophy of life? Do you think most people are basically good and that you can make a meaningful life for yourself if you just work hard and act kind? Do you believe that evil, shape-shifting, kitten-eating extraterrestrials have taken on human form and are impersonating political leaders who control our society? Are you like the character Crash Davis in the film Bull Durham, who believed in “high fiber, good scotch, the sweet spot, and long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days”? Now would be an excellent time for you to get very clear about the fundamental principles that guide your behaviour.

Re-commit yourself to your root beliefs – and jettison the beliefs that no longer work for you.

TAurus Apr 20 | May 20 I have two encyclopedias of dreams, and they disagree on the symbolic meaning of mud.

One book says that when you dream of mud, you may be facing a murky moral dilemma in your waking life or are perhaps dealing with a messy temptation that threatens to compromise your integrity. The other encyclopedia suggests that when you dream of mud, it means you have received an untidy but fertile opportunity that will incite growth and creativity. I suspect that you have been dreaming of mud lately, Taurus, and that both meanings apply to you.

GeMini May 21 | Jun 20 Are there cer-

tain influences you would love to bring into your life but you can’t figure out how? Do you fantasize about getting access to new resources that would make everything better for you, but they seem to be forever out of reach?

If you answered yes, it’s time to stop moping. I’m happy to report that you have more power than usual to reel in those desirable influences and resources. To fully capitalize on this power, be confident that you can attract what you need.

Follow us on Twitter NOW @nowtoronto

you lop off and bastardize? Definitely not. Do I recommend that you spend time editing and purifying? Yes, please.

Does this mean you should censor and repress? No, thank you. Here’s my third pair of questions: Will you be wise enough to shed some of your defence mechanisms and strip away one of your lame excuses? I hope so. Should you therefore dispense with all your psychic protections and leave yourself vulnerable to being abused? I hope not.

Leo Jul 23 | Aug 22 I know you’re beautiful, and you know you’re beautiful. But I think you could be even more beautiful than you already are. What do you think? Have you reached the limits of how beautiful you can be? Or will you consider the possibility that there is even more beauty lying dormant within you, ready to be groomed and expressed? I encourage you to ruminate on these questions: 1. Are you hiding a complicated part of your beauty because it would be hard work to liberate it? 2. Are you afraid of some aspect of your beauty because revealing it would force you to acknowledge truths about yourself that are at odds with your selfimage? 3. Are you worried that expressing your full beauty would intimidate other people?

VirGo Aug 23 | sep 22 Helsinki, Finland,

is growing downwards. By cutting out space in the bedrock below the city’s surface, farseeing leaders have made room to build shops, a data centre, a hockey rink, a church and a swimming pool. Projects are also under way to construct 200 other underground structures. I’d like to see you start working along those lines, Virgo – at least metaphorically. Now would be an excellent time to renovate your foundations to accommodate your future growth.

LibrA sep 23 | oct 22 The Pantone Color Matching System presents a structured approach to identifying colors. It’s used as a standard in the printing industry. According to its system of classification, there are 104 shades of grey. I suspect you will benefit from being equally CAnCer Jun 2Hollett 1 | Jul 22 Should you cut Michael .....................................................................................@m_hollett discerning in the coming weeks. It just back and retrench? Definitely. Should Alice Klein .................................................................................................@aliceklein Susan G. Cole .......................................................................................@susangcole Enzo DiMatteo ..........................................................................@enzodimatteo Norm Wilner ....................................................................................@normwilner Glenn Sumi ............................................................................................@glennsumi Custom designs. Ethically sourced. Made in Cabbagetown.

Julia LeConte ....................................................................................@julialeconte Kate Robertson.....................................................................................@katernow Sarah Parniak ..............................................................................................@s_parns Ben Spurr ..................................................................................................... @benspurr Fair Trade Goldsbie Jewellery Co. ..............................................................................@goldsbie Jonathan 523 Parliament St. Toronto Adria Vasil .................................................................................@ecoholicnation 647.430.8741 Sabrina Maddeaux ................................................@SabrinaMaddeaux #madewithlove NOW Promotions ...............................................@NOWTorontoPromo @ftjco

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OW @nowtoronto

@nowtoronto

won’t be possible to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys.

You’ll misunderstand situations that you try to simplify, and you’ll be brilliant if you assume there’s always more nuance and complexity to uncover.

Don’t just grudgingly tolerate ambiguity, Libra. Appreciate it. Learn from it.

sCorpio oct 23 | nov 21 I am not necessarily predicting that you will acquire a shiny new asset in time for the solstice. Nor am I glibly optimistic that you will get a raise in pay or an unexpected bonus. And I can offer only 65 per cent certainty that you will snag a new perk or catch a financial break or stumble upon a treasure. In general, though, I am pretty confident that your net worth will rise in the next four weeks.

Your luck will be unusually practical. To take maximum advantage of the cosmic tendencies, focus your efforts on the one or two most promising prospects. sAGiTTArius nov 22 | Dec 21 Galileo

Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and mathematician who is sometimes called “the father of modern science.” He expressed his innovative ideas so vigorously that he offended the Catholic Church, which convicted him of heresy. For us today, he symbolizes the magnificence of rational thought. And yet Galileo also had a weird streak. For example, he gave lectures on the Shape, Location And Size Of Dante’s Inferno, analyzing the poet’s depiction of hell. In the course of these meticulous discourses, Galileo concluded that Satan was more than four-fifths of a mile tall. In this spirit, Sagittarius, and in accordance with current astrological omens, you are temporarily authorized to de-emphasize the constraints of reason and logic so that you may gleefully and

unapologetically pursue your quirky proclivities.

CApriCorn Dec 22 | Jan 19 While in his

early 20s, actor Robert Downey Jr. appeared in the films Less Than Zero and Weird Science. That got him semi-typecast as a member of Hollywood’s Brat Pack, a group of popular young actors and actresses who starred in coming-ofage films in the 1980s. Eager to escape that pigeonhole, Downey performed a ritual in 1991: he dug a hole in his backyard and buried the clothes he’d worn in Less Than Zero. I recommend that you carry out a comparable ceremony to help you graduate from the parts of your past that are holding you back.

AquArius Jan 20 | Feb 18 In her book

Revolution From Within, Gloria Steinem offers a challenge: “Think of the times you have said: ‘I can’t write,’ ‘I can’t paint,’ ‘I can’t run,’ ‘I can’t shout,’ ‘I can’t dance,’ ‘I can’t sing.’” That’s your first assignment, Aquarius: Think of those times. Your second assignment is to write down other “I can’t” statements you have made over the years. Assignment three is to objec tively evaluate whether any of these “I can’t” state-

ments are literally true. If you find that some of them are not literally true, your fourth assignment is to actually do them. The coming weeks will be a favourable time to transform “I can’t” into “I can.”

pisCes Feb 19 | Mar 20 “Dogs don’t know where they begin and end,” writes Ursula K. Le Guin in her book The Wave In The Mind. They “don’t notice when they put their paws in the quiche.” Cats are different, LeGuin continues. They “know exactly where they begin and end. When they walk slowly out the door that you are holding open for them, and pause, leaving their tail just an inch or two inside the door, they know it. They know you have to keep holding the door open.... It’s a cat’s way of maintaining relationship.” Whether you are more of a dog person or a cat person, Pisces, it is very important that you be more like a cat than a dog in the coming weeks. You must keep uppermost in your mind exactly where you begin and where you end.

Homework: For three days, uphold your highest ideal in every little way you can imagine. Report results at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

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Green beauty brands EOS and Be Delectable team up for one of the sweetest gift packs around. ($12-$14, Loblaws, 60 Carlton, 416-593-6154, and others, loblaws.ca) If you’re gonna get nailed, make sure it’s good. These bold polishes from local beauty bar chain the Ten Spot look fab and have serious staying power. (Get Nailed lacquer, $12, the Ten Spot, 916 Queen East, 416-6130252, and others, the10spot.com)

gift guide fifty

Step away from binging on holiday Netflix favourites and get moving with this kids game that challenges players to jump, twist, shake and exercise their way to victory. (Crazy Legs, $16.99, Endless Games, endlessgames.com)

38

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

An alternative to disposable chemical light sticks, the reusable Nite Ize LED marker band lights up your dog, the pack you left back at the beginning of the route or any item you have to spot from a distance. ($10, MEC, 400 King West, 416340-2667, mec.ca)

under $20 Great gifts don’t have to break the bank. Check out these frugal finds – from geeky gadgets to locally crafted curiosities and cat-themed novelties – that prove it’s the thought that counts after all. by sabrina maddeaux Photos by david hawe

The Plasma USB Red LED rear light – inexpensive but bright – recharges from a computer, so you can start out in the morning, recharge and get home without being stuck without a light. ($9.75, MEC, 400 King West, 416-340-2667, mec.ca)

If heaven was a cheese, it’d be baked brie. (Brie Baker, $19.50, Indigo, 220 Yonge, 416-591-3622, and others, chapters. indigo.ca)

Fuck Hallmark. Shop these cheeky made-in-Leslieville cards crafted from 50 per cent recycled card stock.

(Christmas cards, $5 each, Trenchcoat Press, trenchcoatpress.ca)

Toronto-born Booh gets nervous around breakable objects (he’s had some bad experiences), but that shouldn’t stop you from giving him a home this season. (Booh, $12.95, Monster Factory, monsterfactory.net) If Paris Hilton can DJ, what’s stopping your cat? (Gamago Gamago cat scratcher keyboard scratcher, $17.95, Rolo,, 24 Bellair, 416-920-0100, rolostore.com)

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The Slussen splitter adapter hooks your iPhone into most sound systems and/or headphones, allowing you to DJ any party using the music on your phone. It looks cool and comes in a variety of colours. ($15.99, Moog Audio, 442 Queen West, 416-599-6664, moogaudio.ca)

Sure, Rudolph can fly, but did you know he can also open bottles with ease? (Reindeer bottle opener, $10, Shop AGO, 317 Dundas West, 416979-6610, ago.net/shop)

gift guide fifty

under $20

All the glam minus that sickening feeling in your stomach when you spend half a month’s rent on jewellery. (earrings, $14.50, Shop for Jayu, shopforjayu.com)

Planning some sexy time by the fireplace? Steer clear of commercial lubricants that contain harsh synthetics and grab this scentless oil-based lube. (Sex oil, $28, Province Apothecary, 16 Kensington, 2nd floor, 647-479-5525, provinceapothecary.com) Inside this boom box (remember those?) are trivia cards to test your knowledge of the greatest musical talents to ever grace this planet, aka the Spice Girls, Vanilla Ice and Will Smith. (90’s Music Trivia, $12, Drake General Store, 1144 Queen West, 416-5315042, and others, drakegeneralstore.ca)

The Filzer DZ2L cycling computer does double duty thanks to its ability to shows two lines of data simultaneously. ($15, MEC, 400 King West, 416-340-2667, mec.ca)

Take your meat to the next level. (Just Cook spice rubs, $12 each, Drake General Store, 1144 Queen West, 416-531-5042, and others, drakegeneralstore.ca)

40

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

Salt and pepper shakers shaped like kissing kittens. Seasoning has never looked so cute. (Kissing Kittens S + P, $16.50, Le Tablier Blanc, 550A College, 647-883-0091, and other, letablierblanc.com)

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We bet you’ve never wanted to eat a sock before. (Hot Dog short foot gloves, $13.95, Shelfies, shelfies.com)

gift guide fifty

under $20 This toy with squirrels popping out of every hole is basically your dog’s wet dream.

(Hide-A-Squirrel, $16, Timmie Doggie Outfitters, 867 Queen West, 416-203-6789, and other, timmie.ca)

We can’t help it: the holidays bring out our sweet tooth. (Hazelnut Grand Cru milk chocolate nougatine, $8, Nadège, 1099 Yonge, 416-968-2011, and other, nadege-patisserie.com)

Bah, humbug! Spread the misery this season. (Grumpy cat 100-piece puzzle, $4.99, Retro Festive, retrofestive.ca)

This quirky change purse from Toronto makers Cate & Levi is perfect for children and made from reclaimed wool.

(Moose coin purse, $17.48, Etsy, etsy.com/ca/shop/cateandlevi)

Add a dash of holiday spirit to your homemade cocktails. (Dillon’s cranberry bitters, $16.95, BYOB Cocktail Emporium, 972 Queen West, 416858-2932, byobto.com)

The last thing you need this winter is harsh soap that dries out your skin. Try this farm fresh goat’s milk soap with natural essential oils blends instead. (Liv Simple Farms soap bars $4 each or $10 for three, One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale)

Call us old-fashioned, but iPads have nothing on these über-cute jumping ropes handmade in Montreal. (Des Enfantillages jumping ropes, $18, Victoire, 129A Ossington, 416-588-6978, victoireboutique.com)

42

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

The good to Big Ears Teddy’s bad. One hundred per cent of proceeds benefit the HBC Foundation. (Hudson’s Bay Company Maud heritage charity bear, $19.50, the Bay, 176 Yonge, 416-861-9111, and others, thebay.com)

Has there ever been a more perfect gift for committed cat ladies?

(Fiesta cat D.I.Y embroidered doll kit, $15, Kiriki Press, One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale, November 27 to December 7, Direct Energy Centre, 100 Princes’ Blvd, oneofakindshow.com)

These hand-screened pint glasses are a perfect gift for the dedicated cyclist in your life. Just remember: beer and bikes don’t mix! (Bicycle pint glass, $12, Spruce on Parliament, 455 Parliament, 647-748-4060, spruceonparliament.com)

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43

gift guide fifty

under $20

Get baked with the ultimate pot-infused cupcake cookbook. Recipes include Snicker Muffins with Chocolate Fudge Frosting and Toxic Red Velvet Cupcakes. (Cannabis Cupcakes, $16.99, Rolo, 24 Bellair, 416920-0100, rolostore.com)

It’s never too early to develop a healthy, if not fanatical love of Toronto with the help of this educational book. ($12.99, Shop AGO, 317 Dundas West, 416-979-6690, shop2.ago.net)

Remember when socks were shitty gifts? Not any more.

Local startup Huely collaborates with eight Toronto street artists for its second series of cool kid socks. ($20 each, Huely, huely.com) Give the gift of library resources for CAMH patients to help relieve the stresses of hospitalization. ($20, CAMH Foundation, give.camh.ca)

A weather station in a box that lets your little Einstein keep track of changing conditions and conduct experiments on the greenhouse effect. (Weather station science kit, $18.19, Grassroots, 372 Danforth, 416-466-2841, grassrootsstore.com)

44

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

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No need to induct your kids into the military industrial complex with toy soldiers – these rad toy skateboarders are way cooler anyway. (Toy Boarders, $9, I Have A Crush On You, 51 Jefferson, suite 201, 416-880-6369, ihaveacrushonyou.ca)

SALE RUNS THURS-MON *second item must be of equal or lesser value excludes outerwear and footwear (no tax)

Dude, it’s way too cold to smoke outside, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to know you’re getting Marley’d. (Nag Champa marijuana incense, $5, Drake General Store, 1144 Queen West, 416-531-5042, and others, drakegeneralstore.ca)

Can you really call yourself a bike lover if you don’t write poems about your steel steed? (Bike lover magnetic poetry kit, $15, Le Tablier Blanc, 550A College, 647883-0091, and other, letablierblanc.com)

Way more fun than mistletoe. (Glowin-the-dark erotic dice, $4.99, Ohhh Canada, 712 Queen West, suite 201, 647-288-1118, ohhhcanada.ca)

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Coffee junkie? Drink your favourite brew with dessert or before bed without fear of staying up all night.

This Canadian blend is not only decaffeinated, but also mixed with a natural herbal sleep aid to help you unwind. (Counting Sheep Coffee, $13.99, countingsheepcoffee.com)

gift guide fifty

under $20

You can never have enough socks. ($8 per pair, Tristan, 3401 Dufferin, 416-783-2495, and other, tristanstyle.com)

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A perfect gift for the wee inspiring fashion designer nowtoronto.com/food in your life. Kids can decorate their denim with temporary tattoos that come off easy in a normal laundry cycle. (Peaceable Kingdom jean tats fun flowers, $3.99, Mastermind Toys, 2134 Queen East, 416-699-3797, and others, mastermindtoys.com)

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This pre-wrapped set celebrates the Festival of Lights with all-natural Olive Branch shower gel, citrusy Celebrate Lotion and a Gold Fun sudser. (Happy Hanukkah gift, $18.95, Lush, 312 Queen West, 416-599-5874, and others, lush.ca)

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gift guide fifty

Historic Merchant s Heritage Cuisine Regency Fashions military demonstr ations Christma s Greenery & gifts

frostfair DECEMBER 6 & 7, 10AM - 4PM toronto.ca/fortevents

Fido puts up with your crap all year long. The least you can do is get him a spiffy made-inToronto scarf for the holidays. (Doggie bandana by Crywolf for eBay, $12, ebay.ca or crywolfclothing.com)

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What’s a meal without a matching plate? (Go-to dishes, $20 each, Said the King, saidtheking.com)

These locally hand screen-printed Kempton Jones tea towels feature sound waves that are captured and arranged in bold patterns. Sample sounds: slurping coffee, purring cat and sizzling bacon. (Life’s Soundtrack tea towels, $20 each, One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale)

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Locally brewed cider is just the thing to take the edge off family gatherings. Bonus: five per cent of profits go to green charities.

(Brickworks Ciderhouse Cider, $3.10, LCBO, lcbo.com.)

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This all-natural hand cream from local fave Consonant gives you all the softness with none of the greasiness. (Intensive Therapy organic hand cream, $20, Consonant, 2479 Yonge, 416-925-2855, consonantskincare.com)

DIRECTORY

Nellie’s Shelter

Give the gift of HOME to a homeless woman or child today Donate now at www.nellies.org or call 416-461-0769

There’s nothing like kicking back a cold one after a hellish day of holiday shopping at the Mill Street seamall. (Mill sonal sampler,, $13.45, LCBO, lcbo.com)

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Jazz up your kicks with these bright shoelaces from local company Stolen Riches. (fun coloured shoelaces, $17.50, Gotstyle, 21 Trinity, 416-777-1221, and other, blog.gotstyle.ca)

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49

music

more online

nowtoronto.com/music A holiday playlist courtesy of Toronto rapper Jazz Cartier + Expanded M For Montreal recaps + Searchable upcoming listings LUCINDA WILLIAMS at

ñMassey Hall, Thursday, November 20.

Rating­: NNNN Lucinda Williams has travelled a long way since the launch of her jangly eponymous 1988 LP and her breakout album a decade later, Car Wheels on A Gravel road. This year she’s released down Where The Spirit meets The Bone, a double album of country soul.

The Americana songwriting queen admitted that it felt kinda weird to play some of those “earlier songs,” but we’re glad she dusted at least a few off for massey Hall. She totally owned bluesy randy Weeks cover Can’t Let Go, and her powerful delivery on songs like i Just Wanted To See You So Bad nearly brought this reviewer to tears.

Williams’s great band grooved on new songs West memphis and Something Wicked This Way Comes, the latter a kind of swampy gospel exorcism, with Williams guitar-free and able to move her arms about. meanwhile, her solo turn on When i Look At The World was evidence that she’s still penning great songs. during a slightly chaotic encore of the lights-up, coats-on, band-comes-backout-a-couple-of-times variety, Williams dug into fats domino, the Allman Brothers and Neil Young, closing with a surprisingly convincing, fist-pumping cover of rockin’ in The free World, with complisarah greene ments to Canada.

the scene

mike ford

Shows that rocked Toronto last week DAMIEN RICE at the Danforth Music Hall, Tuesday, November 18.

­ ating: NNN R irish singer/songwriter Damien Rice hit the Danforth Music Hall after an eight-year absence, playing alone with just his acoustic guitar, a little smoke and a couple of spotlights behind him. occasionally, there were swells of thundering feedback, but that was it in terms of effects.

The minimal set-up worked well for the musician, who handily carried the two-hour show, except for a couple of minor glitches when he couldn’t quite reach the high notes. (He admitted that his throat was very dry.)

50

But no matter how hard he strummed that guitar, it couldn’t make up for the orchestration on his albums. it’d be satisfying to see rice’s tunes performed with a fleshed-out band and female vocalists during the duets. He wisely focused on back-catalogue hits – 9 Crimes, delicate, The Blower’s daughter – and finally gave some time to his new album, my favourite faded fantasy, 45 minutes into the show.

The best part? Just before the encore, rice split the audience into thirds, leading us through a three-part singalong of o favourite Volcano, mimicking the recorded version. We sounded pretty great.

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

julia leconte

OPERATORS, TEI SHI, JACK NAME and many others as part of M FOR MONTREAL at various Montreal venues, Wednesday to Saturday, November 19-23.

ñ

Rating­: NNNN M For Montreal represents all the things we Torontonians love about Quebec’s cultural capital: it nurtures its own artists, it’s hip without seeming to try, it’s really inexpensive.

The not-for-profit festival feels indie and intimate. its point isn’t to sell as many wristbands as possible or fill up large venues, but to launch the careers of Canadian artists (mostly from Quebec, though Toronto had a strong contingent) out-

side the country, which is why the fest reels in media from as far away as Berlin and Paris.

Highlights from the four days? electro-pop-r&B singer Tei Shi hypnotizing us with her breathy, effects-enhanced vocals, both with her own material and a cover of Beyoncé’s No Angel. Synth-pop outfit Operators’ totally compelling frontpeople Dan Boeckner and Devojka, who initiated m’s biggest dance party. Weaves singer Jasmyn Burke making the most of Café Cléopâtre’s strip-clubcum-performance space. And Jack Name puzzling us with their psychedelic, droney, noisy repertoire, which managed to sound country and western one jl song and 90s pop the next.

ñ

CARIBOU at the

Danforth Music Hall, ñ Monday, November 24.

Rating­: NNNN Dan Snaith’s most recent albums as Caribou have been increasingly inspired by electronic music. Wisely, he still takes a live band approach for his performances, though, which makes his shows far more engaging than those of most artists navigating similar terrain.

While some elements were still sequenced to help maintain that robotic quality, Snaith and his three-member band allowed for enough variations and realtime interplay to ensure there was never any question about how “live” the show actually was. They also proved that you

can still put on a great synchronized light show without sacrificing spontaneity.

Snaith focused mostly on material from this year’s our Love and 2010’s Swim, balancing the uptempo house-influenced tracks with slower ambient soul numbers. Both sonic extremes got strong reactions from the crowd, with some of the biggest applause of the night going to opening act Jessy Lanza’s guest appearance on Second Chance, which proved that her soaring vocals don’t need the safety net of the studio to impress. it’s been a long time since Snaith lived in Toronto, but this final tour stop was definitely a triumphant homeBenjamin Boles coming.

= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Perfect nnnn = Great nnn = Good nn = Bad n = Horrible

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Buy before Monday, December 8th. Use promo code: GREEN

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Supported in part by

masseyhall.com | roythomson.com NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

51

presents

clubs&conce hot

Arkells

tickets

Saturday, November 29 Nathan Phillips Square - 7 pm

Shad

Kardinal Offishall

Kellylee Evans

Maestro Fresh Wes

Enjoy a free concert, the first lighting of Toronto’s official Christmas tree, stunning fireworks and an open-air skating party! toronto.ca/cavalcade

22 ND ANNUAL

DEATH, OBITUARY, MASSACRE Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne), Thursday (November 27) Progressive death metal.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT Massey Hall (178 Victoria), Thursday to Saturday (November 27-29) Canadian Songbook folk icon.

JAZZ CARTIER, WISH, PLUMES Garrison (1197 Dundas West), Friday (November 28) See preview, page 58.

CROSSS, HSY, BOYHOOD, POSTER BOY Smiling Buddha (961 College), Friday (November 28) Doom and punk.

TASHA THE AMAZON, BRENDAN PHILIP, JOSEPH OF MERCURY Steam Whistle Brewing (255 Bremner), Friday (November 28) Tiger-loving rapper.

SOLIDS, THE DYING ARTS, THE OBGMS, CHAMPION LOVER Tattoo (567 Queen West), Friday (November 28) Good times rock and roll.

BLONDE REDHEAD, VBA Horseshoe (370 Queen West), Saturday (November 29) See preview, page 56.

SLOAN Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne), Saturday (November 29) Hooks and harmonies aplenty.

HOODED FANG, MILK LINES, MOSS LIME Silver Dollar (486 Spadina), Saturday (November 29) See preview, page 54.

YUSUF Massey Hall (178 Victoria), Monday (December 1) Cat Stevens returneth.

JASON COLLETT’S BASEMENT REVUE Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington), Tuesday (December 2) Myriad musical surprises.

A Benefitfi Concert for Families fi

Riverdale Share Concert th Sunday, December 7

3pm DANFORTH MUSIC HALL 147 Danforth Ave.

Tickets $20

Plus a non-perishable food donation

Tickets available at: The Big Carrot 348 Danforth Ave.

It’s My Party 423 Danforth Ave. Treasure Island Toys 581 Danforth Ave. Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-985-5000 www.riverdaleshare.com 52

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

@RiverdaleShare

just ann Long Winter First thursdays takeover

Music by The Hidden Cameras, New Fries, Mekele, DJ Kevin Hegge, plus art, discussion and more. $15, adv $12. Art Gallery of Ontario.

December 4.

surinam, the dark PLains, saiLboats are White, hiera, toronto homicide squad, Watershed hour Soybomb doors 9 pm, $10. wavelengthtoronto.com. December 6.

donneLL Leahy, nataLie macmaster & FamiLy, etobicoke schooL oF the arts hoLiday chorus Celtic Christmas Roy Thomson Hall. 2 and 8

pm, $29-$110. tso.ca. December 9 and 10.

sean nichoLas savage, army girLs, antivibes, animaLia, Wish goin’ steady dJs and others Long Winter Year Three, Vol. Two The

Great Hall doors 7 pm, all ages, $11. torontolongwinter.com. December 12. bidiniband Castro’s Lounge 9 pm.

December 13. tinashe, taya marquis Tattoo doors 9 pm, all ages, $29.50. rotate.com, playderecord.com, soundscapesmusic.com. December 14.

Jose contreras, WiLL kidman, ada dahLi, suitcase sam Exile On Main Street (Rolling

Stones classic LP performance) Silver Dollar doors 8:30 pm, $10. December 18.

Jhené aiko, sZa, the internet Sound Academy 8:30 pm, $47.25-$72.25. ticketmaster.ca.

December 18.

erts Toronto gets three nights of Hammer Town rock when Arkells roll through Thursday through Saturday. Their new album, High Noon (Dine Alone/Universal) has been praised for its diversity: tunes range from classic pop and glam rock to new wave and straight-up indie. Is a third Juno in their future?

Since High Noon’s release in August, the five-piece have toured it steadily.

Their Canadian dates come on the heels

JUST ANNOUNCED! of a European tour with Augustines, which they press pause on to play the Danforth shows and then pick up again on December 1 in Manchester.

Expect them to be a polished, harddriving rock machine. X Ambassadors and Adam Baldwin open.

Thursday to Saturday (November 27-29) at Danforth Music Hall (147 Danforth), doors 7 pm, all ages. $23.50-$39.50. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketmaster.ca

with special guest

Anais Mitchell

MONDAY FEBRUARY 2 DANFORTH MUSIC HALL DOOR 7PM SHOW 8PM RT, SS • ALL AGES

SATURDAY APRIL 11 ROY THOMSON HALL SHOW 8PM • ROYTHOMSON.COM

ON SALE TOMORROW AT 10 AM

ON SALE TOMORROW AT 10 AM

TONIGHT! KOOL HAUS

DOOR 7PM SHOW 8PM • 19+

THIS SUNDAY! NOVEMBER 30

ON SALE TOMORROW AT 10AM

AIR CANADA CENTRE

THIS SATURDAY! NOV 29 PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE

SHOW 6:30PM

DOOR 8PM SHOW 9PM • RT, SS • 19+

KINDNESS

STEV E HACKETT

FRIDAY MARCH 13 WRONG BAR

GENESIS EXTENDED 2014 WORLD TOUR

TUESDAY DEC 2 MASSEY HALL

DOOR 9PM SHOW 10PM RT, SS • 19+

TUESDAY FEB 3 • MASSEY HALL

SHOW 8PM • MASSEYHALL.COM

SHOW 8PM • MASSEYHALL.COM T H E 1 0 TH A N N U A L

ON SALE TOMORROW AT 10AM! WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

nounced Tinashe

Dr Draw Hugh’s Room 8:30 pm, $40-$45.

December 21.

ruthless Ones, high seas, Fighting seasOn, reminDer, the Parallel, synerah Smiling Buddha 7 pm, $8. ticketscene.ca.

December 30.

Danny michel & BanD School Night Mondays Dakota Tavern 8 pm, $25. ticketfly.com.

January 5.

DestructO, anna lunOe, mOtez, t williams Ship2Ship Tour The Hoxton January 16.

the ting tings Virgin Mobile Mod Club doors

8 pm, $28. livenation.com. January 19.

the J geils BanD, BOB seger & the silver Bullet BanD Air Canada Centre $tba ticketmaster.ca. January 24.

marilyn mansOn Sound Academy doors

7 pm, all ages, $59.50-$75. livenation.com.

February 2.

Bush Sound Academy doors 6:30 pm, $39.50$60. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com. February 18. hunDreD waters Lee’s Palace doors 8:30 pm, $15. rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com. February 26. the lOne BellOw, ODessa Lee’s Palace doors 9 pm, $18.50. horseshoetavern.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

February 27. the DODOs Horseshoe doors 8:30 pm, $17.50. horseshoetavern.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

March 3. the POP grOuP Lee’s Palace doors 9 pm, $29.50. horseshoetavern.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly.com.

March 14. the DecemBerists, alvvays Massey Hall doors 7:15 pm, all ages, $39.50-$59.50. roythomsonhall.com, ticketmaster.ca.

March 30.

Damien rice Massey Hall 8 pm (doors 7 pm), $45-$75. 1-855-985-5000, masseyhall.com, ticketmaster.ca. April 11. six Organs OF aDmittance Horseshoe doors 8:30 pm, $13.50 adv. horseshoetavern.com, rotate.com, soundscapesmusic.com, ticketfly. com. May 4.

FOO Fighters, rOyal BlOOD Molson Amphitheatre time tba, $42.50-$75. livenation.com. July 9.

Lights • Kevin Drew • Brendan Canning • Platinum Blonde Beverley Mahood • Neverest • Finger 11

WED DEC 10 • VIRGIN MOBILE MOD CLUB

DOOR 7PM SHOW 8PM • 19+

TUESDAY MAR 3 • THE GARRISON

DOOR 7:30PM SHOW 8:30PM • RT, SS • 19+

WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE

DOOR 8PM SHOW 9PM • RT, SS • ALL AGES

Ticket Location Legend: RT - Rotate This, SS - Soundscapes.

All dates, acts and ticket prices subject to change without notice. Ticket prices subject to applicable fees.

Register at LiveNation.com to receive pre-sale access and special offers!

Follow us on

@LiveNationON

/LiveNation

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

53

this week How to find a listing

Music listings appear by day, then by genre, then alphabetically by venue. Event names are in italics. See Venue Index, page 60, for venue address and phone number. = Critics’ pick (highly recommended) ñ 5= Queer night

How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-364-1168 or mail to Music, NOW Magazine, 189 Church, Toronto M5B 1Y7. Include artist(s)/band(s), genre of music, event name (if any), venue name and address, time, ticket price and contact phone number or website. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm. Weekly events must confirm their listing once a month.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

Thursday, November 27 PoP/Rock/HiP-HoP/Soul

CadillaC lounge Sean Hales, Sam Taylor & the East End Love, Garrett Olson & the 49th Parallel, MOs Wanted 8 pm.

The danforTh MusiC hall Arkells, X Ambassadors, Adam Baldwin doors 7 pm, all ages. double double land Cellphone, Wrong Hole Album release show, 9 pm. drake hoTel Illitry, Bass Lions, Kira May doors 9 pm. horseshoe Allah-Las, Tashaki Miyaki (surf folk/rock), doors 8:30 pm.

Joe MaMa’s Blackburn, Thomas Reynolds & Geoff Torrn.

Johnny JaCkson Thirsty Thursdays (rock). kool haus The Tea Party, The Standstills doors 7 pm.

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linsMore Tavern The Legendary Castaways (R&B/funk/reggae) 8 pm. loCal Karen Andrew & Doron Zor (roots rock), Unplugged, 9 pm. lula lounge Yasgur’s Farm (Motown/soul/ funk/jazz-rock), Motown Movember, doors 7:30 pm.

MusideuM Donald Quan, Bob Cohen, Jim Gelcer, Steve Lucas, Shin Kim, Judy Marshak, Yvette Tollar, Tribute To The Chum Chart (pop), 8 pm. opera house Emmure, the Acacia Strain, Fit For A King, Kublai Khan Eternal Enemies Tour, doors 6:30 pm. orbiT rooM Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan tribute). pauper’s pub Mike Barnes Jam. 10:30 pm. phoenix ConCerT TheaTre Death, Obituary, Massacre (metal), Swamp Leper Stomp 14, doors 7 pm.

The pisTon Hilotrons, Silkken Laumann 8 pm. silver dollar Deliluh, Mother Tongue, The Svens, The Last Honest Fool doors 8:30 pm. souThside Johnny’s Skip Tracer (rock/top 40). 9:30 pm.

TaTToo Your Old Droog, Notes to Self, DJ Serious, Kaewonder, DJ Skizz 9 pm.

TranzaC Collette Savard 10 pm [Southern Cross].

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Folk/BlueS/countRy/WoRld

aga khan MuseuM DakhaBrakha (Ukrainian anthem folk/rock), 8 pm. aspeTTa Caffe El Faron Open Mic, 8 pm.

C’esT WhaT Tempting Murphy CD release show, 9 pm.

CaMeron house Corin Raymond 6 pm; Graham Nicholas (folk/roots), 10 pm. Luke Michielsen, Ken Yates CD release, 8:30 pm [Backroom]. free TiMes Cafe Ian White (folk/songwriter) 8:30 pm. grossMan’s Thrill Harmonic 10 pm. habiTs gasTropub Kirsten Sandwich, Nelson Sobral, Casey Yugo Wonderfest Music Series, 8 pm.

Fhugh’s rooM Lennie Gallant Live Acoustic At The Carlton CD release, 8:30 pm.

JunCTion CiTy MusiC hall Emily Jill West, Tim Watson & Dan Gooch (folk/roots), Witching Wand Album Release Show, doors 9 pm.

CONTESTS

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TIMBER TIMBRE

Win a pair of tickets to see Lydia Ainsworth on December 5th at The Drake Hotel!

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Win a pair of tickets to see Goapele on December 9th at The Hoxton!

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54

Blues Thursdays. press Club Ben Walker Duo (folk/jazz/pop).

9 pm. rivoli Spencer Burton (country/folk), The Canadian Songbook, 9 pm.

TranzaC Houndstooth Bluegrass Thursdays, 7:30 pm [Southern Cross].

ñ

Jazz/claSSical/exPeRimental

alleyCaTz Jazz Biscuit. edWard Johnson building Erika Raum,

Lydia Wong (violin, piano) 12:10 pm. eMMeT ray bar Atomics, Nomad (jazz/rock).

9 pm.

FflaTo MarkhaM TheaTre I Musici di Roma (18th-century Italian classical), 8 pm. gallery 345 Elizabeth Reid Duality: One Violist, Two Countries, 8 pm. gaTe 403 Annie Bonsignore Jazz Trio 9 pm, Joanne Morra & the France St Trio 5 to 8 pm.

FJazz bisTro Heather Bambrick, Julie Michels, Diane Leah Broadsway, 9 pm. kaMa Andy Ballantyne w/ The Canadian Jazz Quartet Thursdays At Five, 5 to 8 pm.

MusideuM Lazersuzan (groove-based jazz meditations), 8 pm. old Mill inn Beverly Taft Trio (jazz) 7:30 pm.

The passenger The J-Train Jazz In The Junction, 9:30 pm.

The rex David Braid & Peripheral Vision 9:30 pm. Kevin Quain 6:30 pm. roy ThoMson hall Toronto Symphony Orchestra Stravinsky Petrouchka, 8 pm.

TriniTy sT. paul’s ChurCh Eliana Cuevas, Nathalie, Fern Lindzon, Samidha Joglekar, Chloe Charles, Kathryn Rose International Divas, 8 pm.

MonarChs pub The Nomads (soul/funk/Mo-

town), Classic Rock Fridays. opera house Lagwagon, Swinging Utters, This Legend doors 8 pm. pJ o’brien irish pub Red Line Band (pop/rock covers), 10 pm. plaCebo spaCe Clementine, Grey/Water 9 pm. rivoli The Ugly, the Blue Demons, Valley Boys, Cyclops 10 pm (doors 8:30 pm). rose TheaTre Rock ’n’ Ray Michaels & the Retro Rockers Rock Around The Rose Sock Hop, 8 pm. royal onTario MuseuM Saidah Baba Talibah, Kandle & the Krooks, Cyclic Dream, Andria Simone, DJs Medley & BrankOh! Friday Night Live: Celestial Blast, 7 to 11 pm. silver dollar Twist, Mimico, Technical Kidman, Zones, Marriage doors 9 pm. sMiling buddha Crosss, HSY, Boyhood, Poster Boy 9 pm. sneaky dee’s Monster Voodoo Machine, Trigger Happy, Harangue, Valyear 20th Anniversary Show & Daily Bread Food Bank benefit, 9 pm. sound aCadeMy Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Youth Code, Haujobb (industrial goth), doors 7 pm, all ages. souThside Johnny’s Groove Marmalade (classic rock) 10 pm. sTeaM WhisTle breWing Tasha the Amazon, Brendan Philip, Joseph Of Mercury Unsigned Series. Doors 8 pm.

TaTToo Solids, the Dying Arts, the OBGMs & Champion Lover doors 9 pm.

TranzaC Ryan Driver Sextet 10 pm [Southern Cross]. Band Moms 7:30 pm [Southern Cross]. virgin Mobile Mod Club The Lizards (Phish tribute), 10 pm.

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ñ ñ

Folk/BlueS/countRy/WoRld

aga khan MuseuM DakhaBrakha (Ukrainian anthem folk/rock), 8 pm. aspeTTa Caffe El Faron Open Mic, 8 pm.

CaMeron house David Celia 6 pm; Jon Bryant 9 pm, all ages [Backroom]; Nick Teehan 10 pm, Patrick Brealey 8 pm. eMMeT ray bar Peter Boyd & Noah Zacharin (blues/country/folk/roots) 9 pm. free TiMes Cafe The Silver Cordero & Kayt Lucas Band (folk) 8:30 pm. grossMan’s Frankie Foo 10 pm.

Fhugh’s rooM Sugar Brown, the Jessica Stuart Few, Christopher Plock, Ab Dominal, Jay Aymar & others A Live Concert Tribute To Tom Waits, 8:30 pm. lou daWg’s Paige Armstrong, Pat Wright (acoustic blues/funk/soul/jazz).10 pm. luCy’s seafood kiTChen Fried Angels (blues) 8 pm. lula lounge Changui Havana (salsa/merengue/ cumbia/bachata/street-style timba) 10:30 pm.

Massey hall Gordon Lightfoot The Canadian Songbook, 8 pm. phoenix ConCerT TheaTre The Strumbellas, Sam Cash & the Romantic Dogs doors 8:30 pm. sMoCk Café Open Stage Grannis Bea. Sign-up 7:30 pm, begins at 8 pm.

TiMoThy’s pub Jerome Godboo, Eric Schenkman, Shawn Kellerman, Gary Craig 9 pm.

TranzaC The Foolish Things (folk) 5 pm [Southern Cross].

WhiTe elephanT Sarah Stinson (singer/songwriter), 7 to 10 pm.

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Jazz/claSSical/exPeRimental

array spaCe Eric St-Laurent Trio w/ the sTOx Saxophone Quartet 8 pm.

dance muSic/dJ/lounge

bunda lounge Throwback Thursdays 10 pm.

The Cave DJ Shannon Transmission.

ClinTon’s Throwback Thursdays (90s hip-

hop/pop).

Club 120 DJ Todd Klinck T-Girl Party, 10 pm. holy oak Cafe Good Rockin Tonight (rockabilly/early rock & roll). 10 pm.

Joe MaMa’s DJ Carl Allen & Wade O’Brown. seven44 DJ Soundman Sanchez Disco Inferno ToTa lounge Thursdays’N’Friends: A Hip Hop Throwback Party (dancehall/R&B/hiphop) 9 pm.

Wayla bar DJ Dwayne Minard (disco/yacht), Random Play, 10 pm.

hooded fang INDIE ROCK

Toronto band’s new album reflects their Berlin sojourn By BENJAMIN BOLES

Friday, November 28 PoP/Rock/HiP-HoP/Soul

adelaide hall Moscow Noir, Strange City

(rock/electronic), Record Release Party, 8 pm.

alleyCaTz Nine Times Band.

Casa Manila Nono Solarte (pop/folk).

CasTro’s lounge The Untameable Ronnie Hayward (rockabilly) 6 pm.

MUSIC

MUSIC

Massey hall Gordon Lightfoot The Canadian Songbook, 8 pm. ñ MonarChs pub The Jack de Keyzer Band

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

ClinTon’s JAMZ! (live band karaoke) doors

9 pm.

The danforTh MusiC hall Arkells, X Ambassadors, Adam Baldwin doors 7 ñ pm, all ages. drake hoTel Mirel Wagner doors 8 pm. druMs n flaTs The Robin Family Band (reg-

gae/calypso/Motown), 9 pm. eTon house Stiletto Flats (rock) 9 pm.

The garrison Jazz Cartier, Wish, Plumes (hip-hop MC/slack rock/chamber/pop), Wavelength & Dalton Higgins’s NICE II: Nifty Interventions For Cultural Enhancement Volume 2 doors 9 pm. See preview, page 58. geary lane Evan Caminiti, Castle If, Cetacea, M.Mucci 9 pm.

The greaT hall Greasemarks, Kitten Monroe and DJ Dr Velvet Blast From The Past: Vintage Prom For Those Born In The Wrong Era, doors 9 pm. hard luCk bar Mumbai Standstill, Running Red Lights, Hotel Royal doors 9 pm. harleM Daniella Watters (pop/rock/soul original and covers), 7:30 pm. horseshoe The Honeyrunners, Theatre Crisp, Mushy Callahan, Bordeen, RM & The Honest Heart Collective doors 9 pm.

Joe MaMa’s The Grind. lee’s palaCe Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party, Rambunctious, Pressgang Mutiny and others Fedora Upside Down Reunion Weekend, doors 9 pm. linsMore Tavern The Merves (Joan Jett/ Ramones tribute) 9:30 pm. loCal The Tonkas (rock & roll) 9 pm.

MonarCh Tavern Snowday, Loopsy Dazy 8 pm.

ñ

hooded fang, Milk lines and Moss liMe at the Silver Dollar (486 Spadina), Saturday (November 29), 9 pm. $8. RT, SS, TF.

Hooded Fang aren’t exactly sure what the songs from their upcoming fourth album are about. Not because they’re tackling complicated subconscious desires, but because at the moment the lyrics are still just placeholder syllables that Daniel Lee has been mumbling as they fine-tune the arrangements and record the instrumental bed tracks.

“I think he’s going to get drunk tonight and try to make stuff up,” bassist

April Aliermo says, showing little concern that the batch of new songs they’ll be playing on tour in less than a week are still so unformed.

“Dan likes to work really fast, and he somehow found us three other crazy people who are up for it.”

It’s been a year and a half since the last Hooded Fang album, but Lee and Aliermo haven’t exactly been slacking off: between the two of them they’re involved in at least four other projects, including Phèdre, Lee Paradise, Tonka & Puma and Hut. Maybe it’s the influence of those other artistic outlets, or possibly their much-needed summer vacation in Ber-

The Flying Beaver PuBareT Carolyn Scott

Cheap And Cheerful Cabaret. 7 pm. gaTe 403 Ori Dagan w/ Brandi Disterheft Jazz Band 9 pm, Mike Field Jazz Band 5 to 8 pm. glenn gould STudio Towards Shared Remembrance: WWI Centenary Concert 7 pm.

FJazz BiSTro Heather Bambrick, Julie Michels, Diane Leah Broadsway, 9 pm.

Koerner hall The Royal Conservatory Orchestra 8 pm. lula lounge Plakaso World/Jazz Fridays. 7:30 pm. old Mill inn Bob Brough Trio 7:30 pm. reFerence liBrary The Tost Quartet (chamber music), 12:10 pm. rePoSado The Reposadist Quartet (gypsy bop).

The rex Joel Miller & Honeycomb 9:45 pm, Chris Gale Four 6:30 pm, Hogtown Syncopators 4 pm.

FrunnyMede uniTed church The Bach Consort, The Mississauga Festival Chamber Choir, soloists Giving Bach To The Community: Christmas Oratorio, 7 pm.

Dance Music/DJ/Lounge

The BriSTol & BoMBay Arcee, Kaewonder, DJ Serious, Sipreano (album listening session followed by DJ sets), Wayne McGhie & The Sounds Of Joy Reissue Party, 11 pm-3 am. caSTro’S lounge DJ I Hate You Rob (soul/ funk/R&B/punk rock/rockabilly), 10 pm.

The cave DJ Trevor (60s mod Brit pop), Bif Bang Pow. coda Joris Voorn, Addy, Jonathan Rosa 10 pm. eMMeT ray Bar DJ Funky Flavours (funk/soul) 10 pm.

Joe MaMa’S DJ Carl Allen & Wade O’Brown.

Kool hauS Andy C, Armanni Reign (drum n bass), Projek, 10 pm.

lin, but the new Hooded Fang songs are very different from the jangly lo-fi garage pop of their last album, Gravez.

When Aliermo asks Lee if he thinks it has anything to do with the music they’ve been listening to lately, he responds with a laugh: “I only listen to dance music. Really fast dance music.”

You can hear elements of that current obsession in the new songs: aggressive ghettotech beats as well as the techno influence of their time off in Berlin. The difference is that those minimalist rhythmic concepts are translated for the instrumentation of a rock band rather than for drum machines and synths. Hints of surf rock

The PiSTon Shindig (60s R&B/soul dance

party) 10 pm.

PreSS cluB DJ Madame HAIR (rock n’ roll), Teabag, 9:30 pm. revival The Hot House Collective (house). 10 pm [Stone Lounge]. rivoli DJ Stu (rock & roll). round venue DJs John Caffery & The Robotic Kid, Charmed Monroe The Hot Box Ball, doors 9:30 pm.

STudio Bar DJs Hedspin, P Plus, Blessed Til 2000, doors 10 pm.

SuPerMarKeT LeFtO, Maylee Todd (DJ set), DJ John Kong, mymanhenri.

Wayla Bar DJ Jordan (funk/hip-hop/disco/ top 40), Friday Faces, 10 pm.

ñ

Joe MaMa’S Shugga.

Koerner hall Jarvis Church, Ivana Santilli

(pop/funk/soul/R&B), 8 pm.

Kool hauS Goran Bregovic & the Wedding & Funeral Orchestra (tribute to Yugo rockers Bijelo Dugme) 9 pm. lee’S Palace Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party, Rambunctious, Pressgang Mutiny and others Fedora Upside Down Reunion Weekend, doors 9 pm. linSMore Tavern Wild T & the Spirit (rockin’ blues) 9:30 pm. local Chris Staig & the Marquee Players (rock & roll) 9 pm.

ñ

Silver dollar Hooded Fang, Milk Lines, FnaThan PhilliPS Square Maestro Moss Lime doors 9 pm. See preview, this Fresh Wes, Kardinal Offishal, Kellylee ñ ñ page.

Evans, DJ Shad Cavalcade Of Lights, 7 to 10 pm. oPera houSe Morre, Samara York, B-side

Project doors 8 pm. orBiT rooM Hot Fiyah (funk/soul).

Phoenix concerT TheaTre Sloan doors 8 pm.

PJ o’Brien iriSh PuB Red Line Band (pop/rock covers), 10 pm. reMix lounge QuarterStepDown, The Album Club, Black Freeman, DJ Chris Chum Christmas Wish benefit, 7 pm.

The rex Danny Marks (pop) noon. roSe & croWn Hard Drive (rock). 10 pm.

ñ

The SiSTer The Soft Shoe Shufflers.

SMiling Buddha Sortilegia, Empyrean

Plague, Godstopper, Völur (black/doom metal), doors 9 pm.

Sound acadeMy Machine Gun Kelly (rap/ hip-hop) doors 8 pm, all ages.

SouThSide Johnny’S The Bear Band (rock/ blues), 4 to 8 pm; Kick Back (rock/Southern rock) 10 pm.

FoLk/BLues/countRy/WoRLD

aga Khan MuSeuM Sanam Marvi (Sufi/Pakistani folk music) 8 pm.

continued on page 56 œ

Saturday, November 29 PoP/Rock/HiP-HoP/souL

alleycaTz Lady Kane 9:30 pm. array SPace Shawn William Clarke Album release, 8 pm.

Bovine Sex cluB Protokult, Mächenbilder, At

Dawn’s Edge, Psycho Mad Sally (progressive folk metal), Metal Divas Fest I, doors 9 pm.

The danForTh MuSic hall Arkells, X Ambassadors, Adam Baldwin doors 7 pm, all ages. draKe hoTel Fast Romantics, Kandle & the Krooks 8 pm.

The Flying Beaver PuBareT Lisa Michelle Black Binder Cabaret (R&B/soul), 9 pm. holy oaK caFe LUKA, Our Founders, Anamai Winter Blues Part One (folk/ pop) 10 pm. horSeShoe Blonde Redhead, VBA doors 9 pm. See preview, page 56. izaKaya SuShi houSe Holy Shit!!, Toxic Deathula, Flesh Rag, Hangin’ Tuff 9:30 pm.

ñ ñ ñ

are still mixed in, but now the bass lines and drums are the focus.

If you’ve been following their side projects, this direction isn’t surprising, but it’s still an abrupt shift from the last Hooded Fang release. They’re not worried about how their new sound is going to suit their upcoming shows opening for Britpop legend Johnny Marr.

“Whenever someone asks him what he listens to now, he asks his daughter Sunny what’s good,” Lee explains. “I’m pretty sure he just asked her who he should tour with in Canada, and she suggested us.”

3

PLEASE ENJOY RESPONSIBLY © 2014 Diageo Canada Inc.

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

55

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 55

BAR RADIO WinnieBrave (americana/roots/

folk) 11 pm.

C’EST WHAT Jerry Stamp CD release show, 9

pm.

CAMERON HOUSE Dan Mock CD release show,

9 pm [Backroom]; Greg Cockerill Band (Canadiana), 10 pm, Whitney Rose 8 pm, Colonel Tom & the American Pour 6 pm.

CASTRO’S LOUNGE Big Rude Jake 4:30 pm.

FFLATO MARKHAM THEATRE Sultans of String 8 pm.

FREE TIMES CAFE Dr B’s Acoustic Medicine Show 2 pm.

FULL OF BEANS COFFEE Kids Open Stage 2 to 4 pm.

GATE 403 Bill Heffernan (folk/country/blues) 5 to 8 pm.

GROSSMAN’S Caution Jam 10 pm, the Happy Pals 4:30 to 8 pm.

HABITS GASTROPUB Crooked House Road (folk) 9 pm.

HARBOURFRONT CENTRE The Hay Babies, the Soeurs Boulay Coup de coeur francophone music festival, 8 pm.

HIRUT FINE ETHIOPIAN CUISINE Laura Fernandez, Nigel Barnes, Banoo Zan and Norman Cristofoli and others. 7 pm. Words And Music For Access To Justice Fundraiser, Fundraising benefit for Keep Neighbourhood Legal Clinics.

FHUGH’S ROOM The Rizdales, Jamie Oliver, Shawn Creamer, Alex Pangman, Colonel Tom Parker, Ginger St James Blue Ain’t The Word: A Tribute To Ray Price, 8:30 pm.

LULA LOUNGE El Quinto (salsa) 10:30 pm.

MACKENZIE’S ANNEX Rob Davis Rebas Open Mic, 2 to 6 pm.

MASSEY HALL Gordon Lightfoot The Canadian Songbook, 8 pm.

PALMERSTON LIBRARY Toronto Tabla Ensemble Students Student Recital, 6 pm, SMILING BUDDHA Arlene Paculan, uarei, Big Name Actors, Oneiroi Wonderfest Music Series, 5:30 pm.

TRANZAC Jamzac 3 pm [Southern Cross].

ñ

ñ

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/EXPERIMENTAL

80 GLADSTONE Myriad3 (jazz), Jazz Series, 8

pm.

ARTSCAPE WYCHWOOD BARNS Cullan Bryant, Moshe Hammer (piano, violin), Music In The Barns, 8 pm.

BLAKBIRD Michael Arthurs Quartet Coltrane Tribute.

C’EST WHAT The Hot Five Jazzmakers (jazz), doors 2 pm.

FCALVIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Oakham House Choir, Toronto Sinfonietta Christmas With Haydn, 7:30 pm.

56

CHALKERS PUB Shannon Gunn Quartet Saturday Dinner Jazz, 6-9 pm.

FCHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY Cantemus Singers Welcome, Yule: benefit concert for Community Centre 55’s Share-a-Christmas program, 7:30 pm.

FDONWAY UNITED CHURCH Adore Him (Soli Deo Gloria Ballet). An evening of music, dance, and spoken word. Nov 29 at 7:30 pm.

THE FLYING BEAVER PUBARET Tim Boyle w/ Carrie Chestnutt, Jordan Klapman (jazz/cabaret), 7 pm.

GATE 403 G Street Jazz Trio 9 pm.

HARLEM Mike Field (jazz), 7:30 pm.

FHART HOUSE Hart House Chamber Strings Winter Cantabile/Winter Concert. 7 to 8 pm [Great Hall].

FJAZZ BISTRO Heather Bambrick, Julie Michels, Diane Leah Broadsway, 9 pm.

METROPOLITAN UNITED CHURCH Arthur Ozolins, Matthew Coons, Lesley Bouza, James Bourne An Evening Of Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Canteloube And Others, 7:30 pm.

OLD MILL INN Alistair Kay Trio 7:30 pm.

THE REX Dave Neill CD release, 9:45 pm, Bacchus Collective 7:30 pm, Mississauga Big Band 3:30 pm.

ROY THOMSON HALL Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Second City Guide To The Symphony, 7:30 pm.

FST AIDAN’S ANGLICAN CHURCH Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir (classical), 7:30 pm.

FST PATRICK’S CATHOLIC CHURCH Tallis Choir Purcell’s Messiah, 7:30 pm.

U OF T SCARBOROUGH CAMPUS The UTSC Concert Band String Orchestra & Concert Choir The Classical Elements, 3 to 5 pm.

WHITE ELEPHANT DJ Chiclet (hip-hop/dancehall/ trap), TOASTR: canz a make her dance edition, 9:30 pm,

Sunday, November 30 POP/ROCK/HIP-HOP/SOUL

AIR CANADA CENTRE Slipknot, Korn, King 810 Prepare For Hell Tour, 7 pm.

AL GREEN THEATRE Will Street & the Backyard

Band Rockin’ family concert in English and French 11 am.

DANIELS SPECTRUM Patrick Walters, Juvon Taylor, Spoken Symphonies, May Oriel, JP Saxe, Progress and others Edutainment Concert & benefit for R.I.S.E. (hip-hop/spoken word/R&B) 9 pm [Ada Slaight Hall] THE GARRISON Cindy Doire, Angela Saini (indie rock/pop), Women On Screen Launch Party, doors 7 pm. By Divine Right, HotKid, Terror Lake, Dirty Frigs Swap, Don’t Shop Girls Rock Camp Toronto benefit, 1 pm, all ages.

LINSMORE TAVERN Pat Perez & John Dickie Band (R&B/funk/blues) 5 to 9 pm.

LOCAL Living Daylights Stringband (oldtime) 5 pm.

PARTS & LABOUR Key! (rap).

PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE Devin Townsend Project, Animals As Leaders, Monuments 7 pm, all ages.

THE PISTON Marwills, James Burrows Band, The Corsets 9 pm.

HOLY OAK CAFE Friend Club, Stan Simon & Matt Cooke (pop/folk). 9 pm.

THE REX Bugaloo Squad 7 pm.

ROUND VENUE Jesse Mac Cormack, Charlotte Day Wilson, Deanna Petcoff EP release, 7 pm DANCE MUSIC/DJ/LOUNGE ADELAIDE HALL MoStock Movember Party Music, (doors 6 pm). dancing and moustache admiring with tunes by SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY’S Rebecca Matiesen & Phoenix (pop/rock), Open Jam, 9:30 pm.

Orbital Groove and DJ Apple Scratch. 9:30 pm (benefits Movember Foundation).

FOLK/BLUES/COUNTRY/WORLD THE CAVE Full On Alternative DJ Pat. AGA KHAN MUSEUM Sanam Marvi (Sufi/PakCLINTON’S Bangs & Blush (60s soul/rock & roll) istani folk music), 2 pm.

Shake, Rattle & Roll, 10 pm.

BAMPOT HOUSE OF TEA & BOARD GAMES Open CLUB 120 DJ Mothers Crush Party, 10 pm.

Mic 7:30 pm. Free.

CODA The Martinez Brothers, Filsonik, Nitin, BLACK BEAR PUB SNAFU Jam, 4 to 8 pm.

Wonka 10 pm to 5 am.

C’EST WHAT Cadre (roots/blues), 3 to 5:30 pm.

EMMET RAY BAR DJ Serious (hip-hop/soul). 10 pm. THE CAGE 292 Phill Hood Jam, 10 pm.

THE GARRISON DJ Jonathan Toubin Soul Clap & CAMERON HOUSE Conor Gains Band 7 pm. J Dance Off Party doors 9 pm.

Swinnerton Blues Band 10 pm.

GUVERNMENT Arty, Lenno, Mark Oliver, ManDAKOTA TAVERN Bluegrass Brunch 10 am to 2 zone & Strong Up All Night Tour, 10 pm. pm.

LOU DAWG’S DJ Kenny Bounce (funk/soul/blues/ THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL Shawn Mendes hip-hop). (singer/songwriter) doors 6 pm, all ages.

OCAD U DJ B Bad, DJ B Ryan UBL Main Event V: FREE TIMES CAFE Mr Rick Zolkower, Laura FerUniversal B-Boy League Championships, 5 pm nandez, Noah Zacharin, Brian Gladstone, Tony [Room 190].

Quarrington Nashville Bound Salutes WinterTHE PISTON Juicebox (indie rock/Brit pop/new folk 8 pm. Gypsy Jive Band Jewish Brunch Bufwave dance party) 10 pm. fet (folk/country/klezmer) 11 am & 1:15 pm.

THE RED LIGHT King Python (dancehall/soca/hip- GROSSMAN’S Brian Cober (double slide guitar), hop).

Open Blues Jam, 10 pm.

RIVOLI DJs Jason Palma, General Eclectic FootHIRUT FINE ETHIOPIAN CUISINE Nicola Vaughan prints, doors 10 pm.

Jam, 3 to 6:30 pm.

ROGERS CENTRE Mr White, Baggi Begovic, Eric FHUGH’S ROOM Lance Anderson, Chuck Prydz, Afrojack, Bingo Players Sensation: Into Jackson, Paul James, Johnny Max and The Wild, doors 6:30 pm. others A Tribute To The Last Waltz: The Music WAYLA BAR Pop Machine DJ Aural (top 40 pop). Of The Band, 8:30 pm.

10 pm.

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

BLONDE REDHEAD ALT-ROCK

New York rock vets go all in, all analog on ninth album By SAMANTHA EDWARDS

ñ

ñ

ñ

BLONDE REDHEAD at the Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen West), Saturday (November 29), 9 pm. $21.50. HT, RT, SS, TF.

After 19 years, eight albums and three record labels, Blonde Redhead decided it was the right time to strike out on their own.

First, they cut ties with 4AD, the venerable London-based label they’d called home since 2004.

Second, they pooled their resources – i.e., money made from constant touring and a Coach perfume commercial featuring their song Girl Boy – to self-finance the LP. Third, they kept it a secret for as long as possible.

“It felt like the simplest thing to do,” says drummer Simone Pace over the phone between set-up and sound check at a recent gig in North Carolina. “We just wanted to record without thinking about who will be involved and why. We didn’t want input from anyone.”

The result, Barragán, is a quiet, atmospheric album– totally different for the New York trio also made up of Japanese-born vocalist/guitarist Kazu Makino and Pace’s twin brother, Amedeo Pace, on guitar, who previously forayed into postpunk, shoegaze and lush synth pop.

Barragán owes its minimalist

sound to producer Drew Brown, whose vision for the album’s instrumentation was a strict no digital, all analog policy from the get-go.

Without the luxury of modern technology, the band had to track down an organ, a 1950s-era Binson Echorec delay machine, the rare Yamaha CS-60 synthesizer and a harpsichord, which involved a treasure-hunt-like journey that led to a house in suburban New Jersey.

“We met Drew on [2010’s] Penny Sparkle and we really liked working with him. Once we started, there was no turning back,” says Pace. “It was difficult because he was very adamant about certain things, but it was worth it.”

After they shopped the finished record around, music publisher and services company Kobalt put it out in September.

Its release, combined with the fact that the band’s been together for over two decades, had some critics wondering if Blonde Redhead had finally gone soft?

“Compared to the first two records, yeah, totally.” says Pace. “But those critics should probably come to a show. We can play songs from our first record and our last record, and there will be no change in energy. It will be a smooth thing.”

3 music@nowtoronto.com

LocaL Los Caballeros del Son (Cuban) 9 pm.

LuLa Lounge Noche Andaluza (flamenco)

7:30 pm, Jorge Maza Sunday Salsa Brunch 11 am.

Mcgradies Tap and griLL Open Jam Dan Walek. 6 to 10 pm. reLish Bar & griLL Paul Brennan & David MacMichael Stir It Up Sundays Open Mic, 9 pm. rhino The Cocksure Lads, Crooked House Road, Kristina King & The Walk-Ups, Emmy Rouge, Natasha Nouveau (folk/blues/indie/ country), Music: A Cause Of/For Melancholy, doors 7 pm. sT andrew By-The-Lake church Mary Margaret O’Hara Feast Of Story & Song, 2 pm.

TriniTy sT. pauL’s church Wen Zhao, Ira Erokhina, Roman Smirnov, Toronto Mandolin Orchestra (world music fusion), Kaleidoscope Of Strings, 4 pm.

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

array space The Toronto Improvisers Orchestra 2 to 4:30 pm.

arTscape youngpLace Rezonance (German

& Italian chamber music), Power And Passion, 3 pm.

FBond acadeMy The Toronto Accolades, Cadence, Smash Just Sing!, 2 pm.

FFLaTo MarkhaM TheaTre Markham Concert Band Holiday Concert, 2 to 4 pm. gaTe 403 S.O.A. Jazz Band 9 pm, Melissa Lauren Jazz Band 5 to 8 pm.

Jane MaLLeTT TheaTre Isabel Bayrakdarian, Ernesto Ramirez, VOICEBOX OiC Chorus and others La Vida Breve (Spanish opera), 2:30 pm.

FJazz BisTro Judith Lander & Bruce Harvey Jazz Cellar Cabaret, 8 pm, Jeremy Walmsley, Adrian Hogan, Soren Nissen (jazz). 7 pm. The Mantini Sisters Christmas Ann Mantini, Sandra Mantini, Barbara Mantini. Noon.

Joe MaMa’s Organic (jazz) 6:30-10 pm. koerner haLL Zukerman Chamber Players 3 pm.

Morgans on The danForTh Jazzy Sunday: Lisa Particelli’s Girl’s Night Out East 2-5 pm.

MusideuM Brownman Ali & 1 (jazz) 8 pm.

Don Naduriak & Jambanda (jazz) 3 pm.

The rex David Hutchison 9:30 pm, Freeway Dixieland 3:30 pm. Excelsior Dixieland Jazz noon. roy ThoMson haLL Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Second City Guide To The Symphony, 3 pm.

FsT aidan’s angLican church Cantemus Singers Welcome, Yule benefit concert for Community Centre 55’s Share-a-Christmas program, 3 pm.

Tranzac Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble (jazz), CD release, doors 8 pm [Main Hall]. uniTarian congregaTion greaT haLL The Carson Freeman Quartet (jazz/history of the saxophone). 2 pm.

DanCE musiC/DJ/loungE

casTro’s Lounge Watch This Sound (rare/ vintage ska/reggae/dub vinyl). 9 pm.

easT ThirTy six DJ Eric The Tutor The Best Of

Hip-Hop. 9:30 pm. parLour Sunday Night Tales.

Monday, December 1 pop/roCk/Hip-Hop/soul

casTro’s Lounge The Cosmotones (old school rockabilly) 6 pm. grossMan’s No Band Required 10 pm.

Folk/BluEs/Country/WorlD

casTro’s Lounge BlueVenus (singer/songwriter). 9 pm.

Free TiMes caFe Open Stage Mondays (folk/ songwriters). 7:30 pm.

grossMan’s Ms Debbie & The Don Valley

Stompers 9:30 pm. horseshoe Strand of Oaks (indie folk) doors 8:30 pm.

Fhugh’s rooM Luke McMaster, the Willows Holly Days, 8:30 pm.

ñ

Massey haLL Yusuf (aka Cat Stevens) 8 pm. ñ Tranzac Open Mic Mondays 10 pm [Southern

Cross].

Jazz/ClassiCal/ExpErimEntal

harLeM underground Neil Brathwaite (jazz), 8 to 11 pm.

Joe MaMa’s Jim Heineman Dream Band CD release party. 8 pm.

The rex N.O.J.O. (16-piece big band led by

Michael Occhipinti & Paul Neufeld) 9:30 pm.

roy ThoMson haLL Itzhak Perlman (violin)

8 pm.

Fseven44 Advocats Big Band (bop/swing/ swoon), Festive Season Gig, 7:30 pm.

continued on page 58 œ

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

57

FST JAMES CATHEDRAL Home For The Holi-

son, Kristen Bussandri, the Commoners, the Dirty Fix (indie rock/pop), doors 8:15 pm.

PHOENIX CONCERT THEATRE Shakey Graves doors 8:30 pm.

SMILING BUDDHA Stüka, Teen Tits Wild Wives, Zones, Chastity doors 9 pm.

TRANZAC Collette Savard (indie pop) 7:30 pm [Southern Cross].

DANCE MUSIC/DJ/LOUNGE

120 DINER Musician Open-Stage 9 pm.

THE DUKE LIVE.COM Frank Wilks Open Jam.

clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 57

days: Benefit concert for LOFT Community Services 7:30 pm.

THE CAVE Manic Mondays DJ Shannon.

THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL Dillon Francis doors 7 pm.

DRAKE HOTEL College doors 8 pm.

REPOSADO Mezcal Mondays DJ Ellis Dean.

Tuesday, December 2 POP/ROCK/HIP-HOP/SOUL

CASTRO’S LOUNGE The Tom Waits Appreciation Congregation 8:30 pm.

COME AND GET IT RESTAURANT Undrcovr.

DAKOTA TAVERN Jason Collett’s Basement Revue doors 8:30 pm. ñ HORSESHOE Rag Maple, the Good Boys,

Rhinosaur, Buddy Black, Tom West Doors 8:30 pm.

JOE MAMA’S Jeff Eager.

MASSEY HALL Steve Hackett Genesis Extended World Tour, doors 7 pm, all ages.

THE PAINTED LADY Natty Valencia, Hugh Wil-

ñ

FOLK/BLUES/COUNTRY/WORLD 8:30 pm.

FREE TIMES CAFE Leanna Guenther, Andreas, Dominic & Nate Best Of The Open Stage 8 pm.

GALLERY 345 Emmy Rouge, Katey Morley, Brendan Wall and Matthew Barber A Woman Is A Secret theatre project launch, 8 pm.

FHUGH’S ROOM Ron Hynes 8:30 pm.

IZAKAYA SUSHI HOUSE Drum & Dance Tuesdays 8:30 pm to midnight.

LOU DAWG’S Tangled Up In The Blues Chris Caddell, Cassius Pereira, Kenny Neal Jr. 8 pm.

JAZZ/CLASSICAL/EXPERIMENTAL

THE BOAT Guy Moreau, Carrie Chesnutt,

Jordan Klapman, Kevin Barrett A Kensington Bohemian Cabaret (jazz/Broadway tunes/ pop), 7:30 pm.

THE REX Chris Gale Rex Jazz Jam, 9:30 pm.

Richard Whiteman Group (jazz) 6:30 pm.

TRANZAC Peripheral Vision (jazz) 10 pm [Southern Cross]. continued on page 60 œ

JAZZ CARTIER SWANS HIP-HOP

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 • SOUND ACADEMY • $43.50 ADV FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 PHOENIX • $25.50 ADV

Toronto’s next big thing is ready for his close-up

FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY | HAUJOBB | YOUTH CODE

MONDAY MARCH 30 MASSEY HALL • $39.50-$59.50 ADV

XYLOUIRS WHITE

WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 PHOENIX • $22.00 ADV

COLD WAR

KIDS

MONDAY APRIL 6 PHOENIX • $20.00 ADV

THE DECEMBERISTS TWIN SHADOW

WITH

ALVVAYS

WEDNESDAY APRIL 1 • MASSEY HALL • $49.50-$69.50 ADV

BELLE &

SEBASTIAN

SECOND SHOW ADDED! WEDNESDAY MARCH 4 DANFORTH M.H. $35.00 ADV

ST. VINCENT ON SALE FRIDAY

58

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

JAZZ CARTIER with WISH and PLUMES at the Garrison (1197

Dundas West), Friday (November 28), doors 9 pm. $8 advance.

TF.

Twenty-one-year-old emcee Jazz Cartier isn’t partying any more.

“Since my music’s been out, I don’t go out much,” he says over tea at a local coffee spot. “I feel like rappers drop songs and go out that same weekend to get instant gratification – to get someone to be like, ‘I love your track.’”

With his deep, raggedly emotional and versatile vocals, and his go-to producer, Michael Lantz, lending menacing industrial-electro beats, Jazz has made some anthem-ready tunes already. People do love Set Fire and Switch/The Downtown Cliché, but he doesn’t need to party to know that.

Instead, the rapper, whose real name is Jaye Adams, spent last weekend with his girlfriend, baby shopping for his expecting pal and falling asleep to movies.

It’s a nice change, especially after two years in the threefloor, five-bedroom Kensington Market abode he shared with his Get Home Safe crew – a notorious party (and afterparty) spot somewhat ironically called the Palace.

“If we were in the States and everybody knew about the Palace like they do now, our house would have been raided by now.”

Jazz was born in downtown Toronto but started moving around the world (Idaho, Barbados, Kuwait) when he was six – his stepdad works for the U.S. government. Eventually he landed in an elite boarding school in Connecticut where he played tennis and snuck into 50 Cent’s estate with his friends on his downtime.

After graduation, he was supposed to go to school in Chicago, but to the chagrin of his mother, came back north.

“Five years of boarding school is like five years of university, and you don’t want to do it any more,” he says. “I wanted that connection to home. So I came back here with music in mind, had all these ideas – and lo and behold, they all came to fruition.”

Well, not all. First of all, Jazz doesn’t have an album out, or even a mixtape. Still, he finds himself at the forefront of

By JULIA LeCONTE

a Toronto hip-hop scene – along with his Get Home Safe clique-mates, emcees Derek Wise and Drew Howard – that finally seems to be bubbling beyond our city limits.

What he does have is a couple of slick music videos circulating on the internet and a few more due in early 2015.

One of those unreleased joints shows a different, softer side of the emcee that is way more in line with the guy across the table. The unsmiling Get Home Safe members who appear in his videos, for example, are the same guys Jazz shows me in a staged, sweatered-up Christmas portrait he made everyone take last year.

But he’s set his sights on something bigger than YouTube views. “A lot of rappers are comfortable with being internet celebrities,” he says. “I don’t want to be an internet celebrity; I want to be a superstar. When I think of myself and I think about Toronto, I’m Canada’s next superstar.”

This very focused ambition is apparent even in the careful way he handles our interview – he’s honest and unselfconscious, but clearly savvy, too. He’s one of those observant people you feel is two steps ahead of you, something he attributes to those years in Connecticut. “I was this little Canadian black kid soaking everything in. I just feel smarter [because of it]. Not smarter like book smart, but smart about life. Smart about the things I do. More meticulous about my actions.”

He also has a role model.

Jazz tells me a story about being in Georgia and hearing a rapper’s freestyle on the internet. “I loved the song so much, but I lost the link to it. The voice got stuck in my head and I could never forget it,” he says. “A few months later, I went on Concrete Loop and saw Replacement Girl, and I was like, ‘This is the guy.’”

That guy was Drake. Here we are five years later and Drizzy is still Toronto hip-hop’s sole crossover success.

“Drake said in a song on Comeback Season, ‘If 09 is when I’m a see mine / Being cool ain’t enough homie / I’m a freeze time.’ In 2008 he said that – 2009 came around, Drake’s the biggest in the world,” says Jazz, adding that the line gives him chills.

“It’s great,” he says. “But I want to be the next one.

There’s definitely room for another superstar in Toronto.” 3 julial@nowtoronto.com | @julialeconte

S

FRI DEC 5 • $8.00 @Door FAREWELL SHOW!

BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER

FERRARO SHAKY KNEES

COLD O-TOWN

THU NOV 27 • $6.00 @Door FRI DEC 5 • $15.00 Adv MON DEC 8 • $26.50 Adv

DENT

MOUNTAIN OF WOLVES

ALEX MASON

NOV 28 & 29 • $20.00 Adv

FEDORA UPSIDE DOWN

REUNION WEEKEND

SPECKS TODD AroarA

CAREY

LEMON UNION DUKE ELVIS SAT DEC 6 • $10.00 @Door FRI DEC 12 • $8.50 Adv • CAVE

BORINS DIGGING ROOTS: BUCKET DAVE AND THE VOLUMES THE SHOW ORKESTRA ATOM DEC 4 THu DEC 11, FRI DEC 12 & SAT DEC 13 PAUL CARGNELLO DEPRESSEDLY MON DEC 15 • $20.00 Adv

BENEFIT FOR THUNDER

WOMAN HEALING LODGE

• $9.00 Adv • CAVE

THU

LIL’ DEBBIE TIMBER TIMBRE LEE’S PALACE • $20.00 ADV

THE SOCIALS

WED DEC 10 • $17.00 @Door • CAVE

LUKE BILL

THU NOV 27 • $12.50 Adv SUN LOS ANGELES ‘60’s PSYCH NOV 30

ALLAH-LAS TASHAKI MIYAKI STRAND OF OAKS $8.00 @Door

INVASIONS

WITH

oPERA HouSE $19.00 ADV

WHITE COWBELL FLATLINERS PUP | SUCH GOLD | THE DIRTY NIL

DEC 6 $10.00 Adv

WALKERVILLES ADAM BALDWIN

THE MICKEYS | BAMBOO

DEC 8 JACKETS ST ANDREWS BIBLE TORRES No Cover TAME HELL DARWINS DR PROG & RAWKTOLOGISTS

FRI NOV 28 • $8.00 @Door TUE DEC 2 • NO COVER TUE DEC 9 • NO COVER MON DEC 15 • $20.50 Adv

THE HONEYRUNNERS RAG MAPLE PACESHIFTERS CHUCK BOOKIE’S NEW MUSIC NIGHT

BOOKIE’S NEW MUSIC NIGHT

THEATRE CRISP GOOD BOYS MUSHY CALLAHAN RHINOSAUR FAT AS FUCK

RAGAN

BOORDEEN BUDDY BLACK GRAEME KENNEDY ADAM FAUCETT RM & HONEST HEART COLLECTIVE TOM WEST ANGELA SAINI EAMON MCGRATH

SAT NOV 29 • SOLD OUT! WED DEC 3 • $10.00 @ Door 4 SHowS! DECEMBER 10-13 • $ 25.50 ADV

BLONDE REDHEAD WITH

VBA

MAIN SqUEEzE

AFTER FUNK CHARTREUSE THU

RLMDL

DEC 4 THE EFFENS $10.00 SNOqUALMINE Adv PRAISES

LAGWAGON STRUMBELLAS SWINGIN’ UTTERS & THIS LEGEND SAM CASH & THE ROMANTIC DOGS DEC 12

SAT

MON DEC 1 • $12.50 Adv SHOELESS MONDAYS SUN DEC 14 • $10.00 @Door MON JON KNIGHT & SOULSTACK PIFF BREAK ARCADE

FRIDAy NOVEMBER 28 • oPERA HouSE • $ 26.00 ADV FRIDAy NOVEMBER 28 • PHoENIX • $17.50 ADV

FRI

ELEPHANT SKELETONS ULTRA MAGNUS

THE HOLD STEADY THE HORSESHOE TAVERN’S 67TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

FRI NOV 28 • DRAKE HoTEL • $10.50 ADV FRI DEC 12 • DRAKE HOTEL • $12.50 ADV

WITH LYDIA VALERY GORE AINSWORTH DIGITS

MIREL WAGNER

GENERATIONALS W/ LOWELL

FRI DEC 5 GARRISoN $12.50 ADV

FRI DEC 19 • LEE’S PALACE • $15.50 ADV THU JAN 8 • OPERA HOUSE • $20.50-$65.00 ADV SAT DEC 6 • GARRISoN • $10.00 ADV wED DEC 10 • DRAKE HoTEL • $13.50 ADV

wEDNESDAy DECEMBER 31 • LEE’S PALACE • $17.50 ADV

OKLAHOMA PACESHIFTERS

FCOMEBACK OUR YEAR STRONGKID

RICH AUCOIN ELLIOTT AUGUST

MOUNTAINDUST SAT JAN 24 • PHoENIX • $23.00-$73.00 ADV FRI JAN 30 • PHoENIX • $30.00 ADV

THuRSDAy JANUARY 15 • LEE’S PALACE • $ 26.50 ADV

BURNS RED BROOD VAN BEETHOVEN

CRACKER & CAMPER

MISS MAY I

SAM AMI D ON JESSE MARCHANT

GREYS & ODONIS

ODONIS wED DEC 9 GARRISoN $10.00 ADV

FRI DEC 19 & SAT DEC 20 • HoRSESHoE • $28.50 ADV W/ HARLAN

SKYDIGGERSPEPPER

NORTHLANE | ERRA SATuRDAy FEBRUARY 21 wED DECEMBER 31 • HoRSESHoE TAVERN • $25.50 ADV • NEw yEAR’S EVE!

MoNDAy JANUARY 19 • LEE’S PALACE • $23.50 ADV SAT JAN 31 • GARRISoN • $10.00 ADV HARD LuCK • $14.50 ADV • ALL AGES

THE VASELINES VIET CONG STEP THE SADIES FRONT PORCH

• LEE’S PALACE •

THu FEB 19 • PHoENIX • $20.00 ADV JANUARY 31 • $15.00 adv SECOND AFTERNOON AA DRY SHOW

GLORIOUS SONS OWEN PALLETT ARIEL DECEMBER 18 • $ 15.00 adv

DECEMBER 31 • $ 13.50 adv

MARCH 14 • $ 29.50 adv

DANCE CAVE NYE THE POP GROUP

• THE DRAKE HOTEL • JANUARY 20 • $ 16.50 adv

HAMILTON LEITHAUSER ZOLA JESUS

PINK JACK NAME ORLA GARLAND JANUARY 22 • $ 16.50 adv MARCH 9 • $ 15.00 adv

• HORSESHOE TAVERN •

THE HORSESHOE WILL BE CLOSED JANUARY 4 - 15 FOR RENOVATIONS JANUARY 3 • $ 9.00 adv NYC CLASH MEETS SPRINGSTEEN

FEBRUARY 14 • $ 10.00 adv

JULIAN TAYLOR BAND FEBRUARY 18 • $ 12.00 adv

THE DISTRICTS MARCH 3 • $ 17.50 adv

WILLIE NILE THE DODOS NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

59

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PRESENTS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28

THE LIZARDS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29

T.O. music nOTes

SMILING LAND FOUNDATION

ROCKIN’ BIG GIVE

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30 PRESENTED BY EMBRACE

JAMES BLAKE – AIRHEAD FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5 PRESENTED BY ANCHOR SHOP

REBEL COAST

w/ JESSE GOLD, HIGH 75 THE SYNTHETIC ARMY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6 PRESENTED BY LIVE NATION

JAMIE T

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10

ANDY KIM CHRISTMAS SHOW 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

722 COLLEGE STREET

themodclub.com

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 • 9PM

FLOSSTRADAMUS GTA w/

DEC 5 :: THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL

G-EAZY #BAYTOTHEUNIVERSE TOUR JAN 13 :: THE DANFORTH

JAZZ CARTIER

WISH | PLUMES

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29 • 9PM

NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN

SOUL CLAP & DANCE OFF!

UNSIGNED’S BIG 3-0

Steam Whistle Unsigned is turning 30, sort of. The Toronto-born music series that showcases independent artists while raising money for notfor-profits has been going strong for over seven years now and has spread across the country. But this week marks the 30th show on Toronto soil. For the occasion, founder Matt Weed’s put together one of its strongest lineups yet. On Friday (November 28), 8 pm, rapper Tasha the Amazon, future-funky Brendan Philip and electro-fied singer/songwriter Joseph of Mercury play at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse (255 Bremner). Tickets are $5 and proceeds go to the Artists Health Alliance.

BAHAMAS GOES COMMERCIAL

Feeling an affinity for Verizon Wireless’s Droid Turbo lately? That’s gotta be because Toronto’s own Bahamas (aka Afie Jurvanen) has a tune in the latest commercial. The sweetly sung country-soul tune All The Time, from his new album, Bahamas Is Afie, now has millions of new listeners. Love the tune but don’t want to watch James Franco fall from a skyscraper? The music video (starring Jurvanen only) came out this week.

WE COULDN’T HAVE SAID IT BETTER After Monday night’s grotesque grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, Toronto punk four-piece Pup posted a touching statement on their Facebook offering their condolences to their friends in the United States. Here is a small portion: “At this point in time, all we can do is tell you all that we feel your pain. We feel your confusion and sorrow. It’s times like these where songs seem so inadequate, and yet music is the only response we know; it’s the only way for us to persevere. So we’ll keep on playing and keep on singing and keep on touring because that is how a community picks itself up: by staring down the evil and hatred and insanity, all the while yelling ‘FUCK! YOU!’ through a cacophonous wail of distortion, sweat, empathy and love. Be excellent to each other in all that you do.”

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clubs&concerts œcontinued from page 58

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5:30-6:30 pm [Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre]. monArcHs puB The Luke Maxim Quartet (jazz), 7:30 pm; The Robin Banks Quartet Jazz

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61

album reviews album of the week

Reggae

Punk

WILLI WILLIAMS Unification:

ñ

From Channel One To King Tubby’s (Shanachie) Rating: NNNN Willi Williams is best known outside of reggae circles for his 1977 song Armagideon Time, which became famous outside Jamaica after the Clash covered it. voices in pop, and the issues of trans-femANTONY AND THE After moving here in 74, he was a major JOHNSONS Turning (Secretly inism and identity explored in Atlas’s doc figure in Toronto’s early reggae scene. have received more exposure. And so Canadian) Rating: NNNN Many of his hard-to-find older recordings Turning feels particularly prescient; it capA decade ago, Antony Hegarty teamed have been heavily bootlegged, but until tures a moment when the up with filmmaker Charles recently this previously unreleased 1979 deeply personal songs of HeAtlas to stage a concert duralbum of quality vintage roots reggae cuts garty’s youth exited the stuing which 13 women turned had been pretty much impossible to hear. dio and grew into something on platforms in silent video Recorded in the lead-up to the tumulbigger and more widely resportraits. After Antony and tuous 1980 Jamaican general election, onant onstage. the Johnsons won the MerUnification finds Williams in a particuThat pivotal, joyous feelcury Prize for I Am A Bird larly serious and political mood, even by ing comes across in these Now, he and Atlas took the his standards. The music has a rawness beautiful recordings. Each Turning concept on a Euroand a more overt rock influence than was performance bursts with unadulterated pean tour and shot a documentary now common at the time, which suits the emotionalism as Hegarty’s voice swoops released in a CD/DVD package with an themes. It also features some of the bigand swells around the impeccable-soundaccompanying live album recorded at gest names of that era, including legending band.

London’s Barbican in 2006. ary heavyweights Sly & Robbie and the Top track: I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy Since then, Hegarty has become one Revolutionaries, Jackie Mittoo, the GladiRCM_NOW_contests_1-5bw_Nov27_Sardines.qxp__V 2014-11-19 10:18 1 KEVIN RITCHIEAM Page of the most expressive and singular ators and producer Vivian “Yabby You” Jackson. A snapshot of that era’s oft overlooked, vibrant cross-pollination of reggae communities in Toronto and Kingston.

Top track: Unification BENJAMIN BOLES

ñ

CONTESTS

Experimental

SAVAGES & BO NINGEN Words To

Hot Sardines & the Barbra Lica Quintet

Friday, December 12, 2014 8pm Koerner Hall Two great young jazz bands led by charismatic singers!

The Hot Sardines are “consistently electrifying live.” (Popmatters) Barbra Lica brings her infectious fun to Koerner Hall.

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THIS CONCERT AT:

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62

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

The Blind (Stolen/Pop Noire) Rating: NN Two of Britain’s most intense bands – post-punk act Savages and acid rockers Bo Ningen – square off against one another in a 37-minute live performance recorded in London’s Red Gallery and mixed in stereo to capture the experience of the two groups performing on either side of a U-shaped stage.

Inspired by the Dadaist concept of simultaneous poetry, Words To The Blind’s one-track, half-improvised composition opens with Savages’ Jehnny Beth and Bo Ningen’s Taigen Kawabe whispering in French and Japanese over each other with increasing urgency. Droning guitars, agitated cymbals and buzzing bass gradually awaken around them, building into a pounding storm of metallic chaos.

That free-form fury is a critique of the tendency to look for precise meaning in music, thereby devaluing the visceral and the emotional. But the most menacing part is the words uttered at the beginning; as both bands abandon their respective styles, they end up in a jammy middle ground that sounds more like an agreement – albeit a very loud one – than a battle.

Top track: N/A KR

PARKAY QUARTS Content

ñ

Nausea (What’s Your Rupture) Rating: NNNN It’s already been a big year for Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts. The brash post-punk foursome released their excellent third album, Sunbathing Animal, and joined up with psych band PC Worship to form PCPC, who went on to open a string of Thurston Moore dates. To finish off the year, college buddies turned co-vocalists/guitarists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown have a new band to add to their swelling list of side projects: Parkay Quarts.

It’s not quite an alter ego for their main gig, but Parkay Quarts sound decidedly scrappier and more easygoing, partially thanks to a vintage four-track and an expedited recording process. And Content Nausea gets its freewheelin’ spirit from loose experimentation: the album dips its toe in ambling garage rock, and there are spoken word rants about anxiety and media overload, plus a cover of These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ that possesses the same swagger as Nancy Sinatra’s, but with deadpan delivery.

Altogether, it offers a glimpse of what Parquet Courts could turn into. The future looks promising.

Top track: Pretty Machines SAMANTHA EDWARDS

Jazz FINALBOSS (independent)

ñ

Rating: NNNN Ben Gunning has always had a unique sound, not only when it comes to his guitarplaying style – clean tones, melodies derived from unusual scales and chords, a worked-up delivery – but also to his vocals.

His pinched, anxious falsetto lent huge character and hooks to his Montreal teenage rock band the Local Rabbits.

In the 13 or so years since the Rabbits’ demise, he’s continued forging a path all his own (and in Toronto). His solo albums are feats of ambitious conceptualism and musicianship, more soft jazz pop than quirky indie rock. Finalboss finds him going instrumental (as he does in his four-piece Swiss Dice), complemented hugely by co-writing guitarist/lap steel player Christine Bougie and drummer Joel Stouffer.

The trio’s debut album has few sharp edges and lots to hold interest. It’s light and fresh. Many moments make you smile, and you’re not even sure why or how. Playfulness infuses the high, loopy lead synth line in Disco Ronde, for example. Minusworld’s percussive xylophones (and maybe wood blocks?) offset superb guitar leads with thick, tough tones. Even without lyrics, Finalboss gets plenty of feeling across.

Top track: Minusworld CARLA GILLIS

Ñ

Hip-hop

WU-TANG CLAN A Better Tomorrow (Warner Brothers) Rating: NN For an album touting the future, A Better Tomorrow is all about yesterday, with WuTang head honcho RZA reflecting on the rap group’s legacy overtop uneven callback production. It was initially designed to mark the 20th anniversary of their landmark debut, 1993’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), but WTC couldn’t get their shit together last year, which taints and dates the new record’s sentimentality.

The best songs (Ruckus In B Minor, 40th Street Black/We Will Fight, Keep Watch) often contain samples from or lyrical allusions to beloved Wu triumphs. Ol’ Dirty Bastard might be the liveliest dude here, and he’s been dead 10 years, employed as inspiration for good reason: RZA knows that Wu’s glory days are past, its collective drive dissipated. A Better Tomorrow itself is named for a song from 1997’s Wu-Tang Forever, but its titular theme spawns the hook on Ron O’Neal, plus a new Teddy Pendergrass-aping title track. That’s weird.

Still their strongest effort since The W, but Wu-Tang Clan exhaust their fans’ good will and nostalgia without a classic to show for it.

Top track: Ruckus In B Minor VISH KHANNA

Electronic

RÖYKSOPP The Inevitable End (Arts & Crafts/Interscope) Rating: NNN It’s hard to decide what to make of Röyksopp’s announcement that their fifth record will also be their final studio album. The Norwegian duo have since clarified that they will still work together, just not within the album framework. But the dark mood haunting much of the material on The Inevitable End suggests that there’s more going on than just an interest in other formats. Their enigmatic comments in interviews about inner turmoil and mortality do little to dispel that impression.

Even though the songs are full of warm analog synths, a strong sense of cold melancholy and anxiety permeates even the most upbeat electro-pop moments. These aren’t the kinds of songs you’d want to relax with after clubbing, and that seems like a deliberate push-back against the chill-out tag they sometimes get saddled with. It’s a downer album, but I wish they’d fully committed to the gloom instead of attempting to lighten it with dated trance-pop fluff like Running To The Sea. Top track: Compulsion BB

= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Perfect NNNN = Great NNN = Good NN = Bad N = Horrible

Audio clips from interview with MATTHEW REID AND CARLY HEFFERNAN • Review of FISHSKIN TROUSERS • Scenes on ROPE, PAPRIKA FUNDER AND SOULPEPPER HOLIDAY SHOWS and more Fully searchable listings with venue maps nowtoronto.com/listings

R. JEANETTE MARTIN

stage

more online nowtoronto.com/stage

Matthew Reid and Carly Heffernan mug over classical music at Roy Thomson Hall.

COMEDY PREVIEW

Scoring big laughs Second City and Toronto Symphony pair up for “classic” comedy By GLENN SUMI THE SECOND CITY GUIDE TO THE SYMPHONY written by Carly Heffernan, Scott Montgomery and Klaus Schuller, with music by Matthew Reid, directed by Chris Earle, with Marty Adams, Matt Baram, Ashley Botting, Heffernan, Allison Price, Kevin Vidal and host Colin Mochrie. Presented by Second City and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe). Saturday (November 29), 7:30 pm, and Sunday (November 30), 3 pm. $29$99. 416-598-3375, tso.ca.

Rick Miller and Carly Street Photo by David Hou

With each new Second City revue, I naturally look forward to the fun sketches and songs. But there’s always

something that makes the classical music lover in me perk up. What little tunes will the company’s musical director, Matthew Reid, plant in scenes to underscore them? The majestic Jupiter theme from The Planets? A jaunty Chopin waltz? Elgar’s moving Nimrod, from the Enigma Variations?

Now, in the inaugural Second City Guide To The Symphony, the comedy institution’s collaboration with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Reid and some of SC’s funniest alumni get to combine classical music and laughs. Think sketch and Shostakovitch, or mirth meets Mozart and Mahler.

“Second City Chicago did a successful pairing with the Lyric Opera, so we thought

something similar could happen here,” says Reid, who graduated from U of T’s faculty of music before getting seriously involved with sketch and improv.

“I’ve never seen Reid so happy in my life,” says Carly Heffernan, a writer on the show and one of the SC alums with the best pipes (which was a consideration when casting).

“It was great to see Matt finally work with people who speak his language,” she continues. “When he used to say ‘fermata’ or ‘andante’ to us, we’d say, ‘Eff off.

We don’t know what that is.’”

I’m talking to them in the SC green room after a rehearsal

and improv set during which they’re fine-tuning the show’s sketches.

There’s a terrific one about how incidental music can change your mood.

There’s a cute one about a guy who won’s tickets to a concert and pretends to know lots about the symphony to impress a blind date. And in a musically adventurous scene, Matt Baram plays Gustav Mahler – who worked in advertising – as a modern-day ad guy.

The latter sketch gave Reid an opportunity to write in the style of the German composer, one of his favourites.

Writing for a full orchestra rather than an electronic one brought back orchestration tips from school.

“When we did our first runthrough, I remembered those knuckle-rapping moments and the ghost of Rimsky-Korsakov saying, ‘Don’t play two flutes and oboes at once.’ And rather than just turn up the volume on an instrument, you actually have to tell someone to play louder.”

As part of the collaboration, the Second City members got to know the TSO musicians early on through a questionnaire and discovered many were hilarious.

One musician has a dog named Chicken, and a woodwind player joked that they were swingers – i.e., they put their reeds in a bowl and swap them.

Obviously, a great sense of humour runs in the family of the TSO’s current music director, Peter Oundjian, who’s conducting the show; one of his first cousins is comedy legend Eric Idle.

As for performing in Roy Thomson Hall, a much grander space than the intimate Second City, Heffernan says, coyly, “You know, size does matter. It’s a much better feeling.”

And if this collab works, don’t be surprised if the Second City begins pairing up with other orchestras. After all, most major cities have one.

“It’s taken me approximately 259 hours to memorize my songs,” says Heffernan. “So yeah, I’d like to perform them more than twice.”

3 glenns@nowtoronto.com | @glennsumi

MORE ONLINE

Interview clips at nowtoronto.com

theatre listings How to find a listing

Theatre listings are comprehensive and appear alphabetically by title. New this week shows open or preview this week; Continuing shows have already opened. Reviews are by Glenn Sumi (GS) and Jon Kaplan (JK).

The rating system is as follows: NNNNN Standing ovation NNNN Sustained applause NNN Recommended, memorable scenes NN Seriously flawed N Get out the hook F = Festive/seasonal event

ñ= Critics’ pick (highly recommended) How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax to 416-364-1168 or mail to Theatre, NOW Magazine, 189 Church, Toronto M5B 1Y7. Include title, author, producer/ company, brief synopsis, times, range of ticket prices, venue name and address, and box office/ info phone number or website. Listings may be edited for space. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

New this week FA CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens (Soulpepper). Michael Shamata’s ñ adaptation of the classic holiday ghost story

gets a staging. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 27, see website for schedule. $29-$89, rush $5-$23. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. soulpepper.ca.

FA CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens (Alexander Showcase Theatre). The classic holiday tale is staged in the style of a 1940s radio play. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 7, Thu-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 2 pm. $22-$27, opening gala $70. Papermill Theatre, 67 Pottery. 416324-1259, alexandershowcasetheatre.com.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams (UC Follies Theatre Company). A delusional Southern belle moves in with her sister and her volatile husband. Opens Nov 29 and runs to Dec 6, Thu-Sat 8 pm, mat Dec 6 at 2 pm. $15-$22. Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle. 416-978-8849, uofttix.ca.

BITS AND PIECES by Diane Flacks and Katie Ford (Mini SOULO Festival). Staged reading of a new play, a performance by Sara Armstrong, a 50/50 draw and more. Nov 29 at 8 pm. $20$25. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander. soulo.ca/mini.

BLACKBIRD by David Harrower (FilmBooth Productions). A man and woman meet again, 15 years after their relationship ended. Previews Dec 2, opens Dec 3 and runs to Dec 11, Tue-Sun 8 pm. $20-$25. In Gold Studio 107. Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw. blackbird.alovestory@gmail.com.

ñ

continued on page 64 œ

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theatre listings

The expressive Old Man And The River is a must-see for the wee ones.

œcontinued from page 63

THE BROwN BuLL Of CuAILNgE by Neil Wech-

sler (The Room). Separated from their company and lost for thousands of years, four Irish soldiers search for home. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 14, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat-Sun 2 pm. $20, Tue pwyc. Sidemart Theatrical Grocery, 1362 Queen E. thebrownbull.com.

BuTCHER LAuNCH PARTy Reading from the play by Nicolas Billon. Nov 27 at 7 pm. Free.

Videofag, 187 Augusta. chbooks.com/events.

(Young People’s Theatre). An orphan finds adventures in a magical fruit in this musical based on the Roald Dahl book. Previews Nov 24-26. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Jan 4, see website for schedule. $25-$45. 165 Front E. 416-862-2222, youngpeoplestheatre.ca.

FTHE JuDy gARLAND CHRIsTMAs sHOw (THAT NEVER wAs) by David Church, Jim Web-

ber and Joe Patrick (The Civic Light-Opera Co).

Musical play in the style of a 50s holiday special that is part spoof, part tribute show.

Opens Dec 3 and runs to Dec 14, Wed 7 pm, Thu-Sat 8 pm, mat Sun (and Dec 13) at 2 pm. $28. Zion Cultural Centre, 1650 Finch E. 416755-1717, musictheatretoronto.com.

KIM’s CONVENIENCE by Ins Choi (Soulpepper). The play about a Korean family in Regent Park struggling with their past returns to the stage. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 28, see website for schedule. $29-$89, rush $5-$23. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. soulpepper.ca.

LA VIDA BREVE by Manuel de Falla (VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert). Passion flares when love crosses the boundaries of social class in this Spanish one-act opera featuring Isabel Bayrakdarian, Ernesto Ramirez and others. Nov 30 at 2:30 pm. $40-$52. Jane Mallett Theatre, 27 Front E. operainconcert.com.

LOVEsExMONEy (Howland Reading Group).

Join a cold-read of Kat Sandler’s play about a woman who sells her virginity online. Nov 30 at 7 pm. Free. Fraser Studios, 76 Stafford. howlandcompanytheatre.com.

MAD ABOuT MuNsCH (George Brown Theatre School). This family-friendly show is based on popular Robert Munsch stories. Nov 29 and Dec 6, 10:30 am & 1 pm. $20, srs $15, stu/kids $8. Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane. 416-866-8666.

MONDAy NIgHT LIVE (TMC) Cabaret with Jackie Richardson, Michael Therriault, Sheila McCarthy and others. Dec 1 at 6 pm. $150 (benefits Theatre Museum Canada). Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge. theatremuseumcanada.ca.

MuRDER AT THE BuRLEsquE: EPIsODE 4 (The Social Capital/Red Herring). This serial incorporates burlesque performances into a hardboiled detective story. Nov 28 at 8 pm. $15.

The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. eventbrite.ca/e/12434721587.

CINDERELLA: THE gAgs TO RICHEs fAMILy MusICAL by Reid Janisse (Ross Petty ñ ñ Productions). The classic tale is adapted into a

theatre review

Vivid River OLD MAN AND THE RIVER by Lynda Hill and Thomas Morgan Jones (Theatre Direct). At Wychwood Theatre, Artscape Wychwood Barns (601 Christie).

Runs Saturdays to December 6. $14, $25 pizza and play party November 29 at 4 pm. theatredirect.ca. See Continuing, page 67. Rating: NNNN

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The ability to hold an audience aged three to six for a whole play – even if it’s only 30 minutes long – is awesome.

That’s just what Old Man And The River does, without any need for parents to shush their offspring.

Created by director Lynda Hill and Thomas Morgan Jones from a story by Jones, the tabletop puppetry show follows a grumpy and lonely Old Man whose only pleasure seems to be fishing every day in the river near his isolated cabin. He ignores those who want to be his friends, including some playful trees and fallen leaves and a curious dragonfly.

A literally sparkling river fairy, effervescent and lighthearted, does its best to connect with the man and initially can’t. But warmth wins the day, and the lights go down on a much more contented Old Man, who says good night to the moon he’s previously

grumbled at and goes to bed with an unusual teddy bear.

Originally presented last May at Theatre Direct’s WeeFestival of Theatre and Culture for Early Years, the largely wordless show is a gentle yet powerful example of how theatre can entrance and entertain.

Puppeteer/designers Eric Woolfe (miles away from the kind of work he devises for his dark Eldritch Theatre shows) and Mike Petersen, assisted

by Kira Hall and Seanna Kennedy, manipulate and voice all the characters, and they’re as charming as the laughing trees and the teasing fairy who follows the cantankerous Old Man home. You can watch the puppeteers’ expressive faces and fully understand the emotions that inhabit the characters.

Nicky Phillips’s score has its own simple allure, as does Kelly Wolf’s design, which shows the house, trees and river but also what lies beneath them.

In her pre-show and post-show talks, Hill invites her young audiences into the world of the show, first coaxing them to demonstrate their own feelings through body and face movements and later revealing some of the methods used to make the puppets.

Want to introduce your preschool kids to the magical world of theatre? I can’t think of a better way than Old JON KAPLAN Man And The River.

wacky holiday pantomime musical. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Jan 4, 2015, see website for schedule. $27-$85. Elgin Theatre, 189 Yonge.

1-855-599-9090, rosspetty.com.

CuRTAINs by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Randolph Academy). A musical theatre-loving cop is called in to solve an opening night murder in 1959 Boston. Opens Dec 2 and runs to Dec 6, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $22. Annex Theatre, 730 Bathurst. randolphacademy.com.

DEATH IN A BLACK suIT by Maureen Jennings (Scarborough Theatre Guild). Actors rehearsing for a mystery play must solve a murder while stranded at a cottage. Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 13, Thu-Sat 8 pm, mat Dec 7 and 13 at 2 pm. $20, stu/srs $17. Scarborough Village Theatre, 3600 Kingston. 416-267-9292.

DOgfIgHT by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Holiff/Spetter). Reading of the off-Broadway hit musical about three marauding marines.

Dec 1-2 at 8 pm. $15-$20. Tranzac, 292 Brunswick. brownpapertickets.com/event/938307.

HAMLET by William Shakespeare (The Classical Theatre Project). The company presents a film noir-inspired version of the classic tragedy. Nov 28 at 7:30 pm. $29-$100. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge. ctptickets.com.

HANsEL & gRETEL (Cow Over Moon Children’s Theatre). Siblings must find the gingerbread house without their tech devices in this updated version of the fairy tale. Dec 3-7, WedFri 10:30 am, Sat-Sun 2 pm (see website for more times). $15, kids $10. Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen E. cowovermoon.ca.

HMs PINAfORE by WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan (U of T Faculty of Music). A captain’s daughter falls for a lower-class sailor in this comic opera. Nov 27-30, Thu-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $40, srs $25, stu $10. Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queen’s Park. 416-408-0208.

IN THE DusT (Ad Hoc Collective). This multidisciplinary creation explores the loss of home and the way our memories live on in spaces we’ve inhabited. Nov 27-29, Thu-Sat 8 pm. $10-$15. Saint Luke’s United Church, 353 Sherbourne. adhoccollective.wordpress.com.

INTIMATE ExPERIENCEs: INTIMATELy us (BIBT).

Members of the Graduate Company present mini-personal cabarets with hosts Bruce Dow and Jeff Madden. Nov 30 at 7:30 pm. $15-$20.

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander.

416-975-8555.

JAMEs AND THE gIANT PEACH by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Timothy Allen McDonald

Brought to you by

on s w e i v pre PWYC 11, 12 & 1or3ks Dec Brick W

THE NIgHT Is DARK AND fuLL Of TAssELs: gAME Of THRONEs BuRLEsquE III (Scarlett LaFlamme).

This revue features Betty Quirk, El Toro, Delicia Pastiche, Zilly Lilly and others. Nov 29 at 9 pm. $20-$50. The Great Hall, 1087 Queen W. gotburlesque.brownpapertickets.com. quEERCAB (BIBT). The monthly open-mic night for youth features music, spoken word, standup, drag and more. Dec 3 at 8 pm. Pwyc. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander. 416975-8555, buddiesinbadtimes.com.

RALPH + LINA by Michele Smith, Dan Watson and Christina Serra (Ahuri Theatre). Two Italian lovers struggle to stay together in the face of WWII, forced immigration and old age. Nov 28-30, Fri-Sat 7 pm, Sun 1 pm. $30, stu/srs $25. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. 416-538-0988, theatrecentre.org.

REVEAL ME BuRLEsquE (Red Herring Burlesque).

Virgin vixens and professional peelers put on a show. Dec 3 at 9 pm. $10. Rivoli, 332 Queen W. aprofessionaldistraction.com.

THE sCORPIONs’ sTINg: AN EgyPTIAN MyTH by Dean Burry (Canadian Opera Co’s Glencore Ensemble Studio). Students must find the cure to the deadly sting hidden in hieroglyphics in this all-ages opera. Nov 29 at 11 am.

Free w/ admission. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park. 416-586-8000, rom.on.ca.

THE sHOEsTRINg MAgIC fLuTE by Shoestring Opera (Solar Stage Children’s Theatre). Allegra is lost in a dark forest on her way home from school in this adaptation of the Mozart opera for ages 4 to 10. Nov 30 at 11 am & 2 pm. $16.

4950 Yonge. 416-368-8031, solarstage.on.ca

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THE sTRONgER VARIATIONs by Allyson McMackon (Theatre Rusticle). This version of August Strindberg’s play about a wife meeting her husband’s mistress looks at betrayal, desire and loyalty (see story, page 65). Opens Nov 27 and runs to Dec 7, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $27-$37, Sun pwyc at the door. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander. 416975-8555, buddiesinbadtimes.com THIs ONE by Denise Mader (First Root). In this autobiographical play, Mader comes to terms with her mother’s death through the baking of pecan pies. Previews Dec 3. Opens Dec 4 and runs to Dec 14, Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, Sat-Sun mat 2 pm. $25, stu $20. Fraser Studios, 76 Stafford. thisone.brownpapertickets.com.

Continuing ARCADIA by Tom Stoppard (Mirvish/ Festival). Stoppard’s intellectually ñShaw and emotionally gripping play, set in an Eng-

lish country house in the early 1800s and the late 1990s, is full of wit, wisdom and entertainment. This revival of the 2013 Shaw fest production is finely acted by an ensemble cast under Eda Holmes’s razor-sharp direction. To Dec 14, Tue-Sat 7:30 pm, mats Sat-Sun and Wed 1:30 pm. $25-$99. Royal Alexandra Theatre, 260 King W. 416-872-1212. NNNN (JK) AVENuE q by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty (Lower Ossington Theatre). A college grad moves to NYC and copes with grown-up problems in this adult musical puppet play. To Dec 14, Thu-Sat 8 pm, Sun 4 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $50-$60. Lower Ossington Theatre, 100A Ossington. lowerossingtontheatre.com.

THE BAKELITE MAsTERPIECE by Kate Cayley (Tarragon Theatre). A forger in postwar Amsterdam who sold a Vermeer to the Nazis faces a death sentence unless he can prove he painted the work himself. When his judge, an art historian, becomes the subject of his next picture, they both must deal with issues of guilt, mercy and forgiveness in this subtle, finely acted drama. To Nov 30, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sat-Sun 2:30 pm. $21-$53, rush $15. 30 Bridgman. 416-531-1827, tarragontheatre. com. NNNN (JK) THE BOOK Of MORMON by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone (Mirvish).

Two naive missionaries go to a volatile region in Uganda in this religious satire musical. To Nov 30, Tue-Sat 8 pm, Sun 7:30 pm, mat Sat 2 pm, Sun 1:30 pm. $49-$130. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King W. mirvish.com.

BuRyINg TONI by Catherine Frid (Alumnae Theatre Fireworks Festival). Emma Jung grapples with her history, real and imagined, after 50 years of marriage to psychoanalyst Carl Jung. To Nov 29, runs in rep w/ You Have To Earn It; see website for schedule. $15, Sun mat pwyc, festival pass $25. Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley. 416-364-4170, alumnaetheatre.com.

BuyER & CELLAR by Jonathan Tolins (Mirvish). Tolins’s clever solo show follows an underemployed L.A. actor (Christopher J Hanke) who takes a job working at a mall in the basement of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu estate. Hanke makes a likeable and entertaining guide through this surreal world of privilege, limited opportunities and human connection. To Nov 30, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat SatSun 2 pm. $25-$79. Panasonic Theatre, 651 Yonge. mirvish.com. NNNN (GS) THE DE CHARDIN PROJECT by Adam Seybold (Theatre Passe Muraille). An exiled Jesuit priest crosses continents in search of knowledge. To Dec 14, Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, mat SatSun 2 pm. $17-$38, mat pwyc at the door. 16 Ryerson. 416-504-7529, passemuraille.on.ca.

84, CHARINg CROss ROAD adapted by James Roose-Evans (Stage Centre Productions). This play is based on 20 years of correspondence between American writer Helene Hanff and a U.K. bookseller. To Nov 29, Wed-Sat 8 pm, mat

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Arlin Dixon (left), Craig Pike and Julia Course try on Fishskin Trousers (see review at now toronto.com/ stage).

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november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

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Get Stronger

Strindberg play gets a feminist rethink By JON KAPLAN THE STRONGER VARIATIONS by the company, conceived and directed by Allyson McMackon, with Liza Balkan, Andrya Duff, Chala Hunter, Viv Moore and Lucy Rupert.

Presented by Theatre Rusticle at Buddies in Bad Times (12 Alexander). Opens Thursday (November 27) and runs to December 7, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2:30 pm. $27-$37, Sunday pwyc, some $20 rush. 416-975-8555.

The reputedly misogynistic August Strindberg would be surprised at what Theatre Rusticle’s Allyson McMackon has done with his short play The Stronger.

A Christmas Eve confrontation between a wife and her husband’s mistress, the script is an exchange of catty remarks and implied put-downs. In 2005, Theatre Rusticle presented its first take on the material, combining movement and text in a series of variations between the two characters.

McMackon and her company – including Lucy Rupert, Viv Moore and Liza Balkan, who were in the original production – return to the material with new faces Andrya Duff and Chala Hunter, again examining what strength means in the context of female relationships and whether winning is what the exchange is about.

“It’s nine years since the Fringe production, and both Rusticle and the performers have grown,” says McMackon, who has also done a version of the show involving three men as well as another last year performed by her students at York University.

“Presenting it again as part of the Buddies season lets us focus on who we are as women today and how these two characters can be presented in all their possible adaptations.”

Over the course of some 16 scenes, the five performers switch roles as they pursue the nature of true strength in encounters that range from the comic to the savage.

“Is strength the ability to control another?” asks the director. “Is it to keep safe what you have in life, such

as your family? Being able to chart your own course regardless of what society asks of you? And is it stronger to speak or to be silent even if silence is seen as a weakness?

“When we ask these questions we bring up how we’ve been taught to be women: to be polite or quiet, to sit on what we need, whether it’s sexual, social, political or personal, the whole nine yards.”

In the original, the wife’s just been

#DeChardinProject

NOVEMBER 20 » DECEMBER 14, 2014 A THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE PRODUCTION

By Adam Seybold | Directed by Alan Dilworth Starring Maev Beaty & Cyrus Lane Jeff and Rita Rayman Production Sponsor

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theatre preview

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Allyson McMackon revisits The Stronger Variations after nine years.

shopping for presents for her children, gifts that suggest what’s appropriate for men and women in her society: a knife for her son and a doll for her daughter.

The wife hints half-humorously that she might stab the mistress with the knife, but more telling is her description of the doll, who “can roll her eyes and turn her head,” which seems to make the toy a marvel.

“But at another level any woman is like this doll. Her function is to be pretty, keep her yap shut and take care of people, especially the men in her life. That idea is supported in our production by the 1950s setting, with its Dior silhouettes. The time was repressive for women.”

The company is mostly female, which creates a vibe in the rehearsal hall that McMackon calls “relaxed.

The performers can take risks when dealing with hurt, rage or confusion.

There’s less pressure to get it right, to be correct, and we all feel comfortable trying out the different paths that come up in rehearsal.

Some of the choices are radically different from previous versions of the show.”

She points out that Strindberg’s original 1888 production was semiautobiographical, since his actual wife and mistress played the two characters.

“Maybe in claiming the work in our own fashion and for ourselves,” she says with a smile, “we’re trying to turn Strindberg into a feminist.” 3

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416.504.7529 | PASSEMURAILLE.CA | 16 RYERSON AVE. TORONTO

jonkap@nowtoronto.com

Written by Henrik Ibsen Adapted by Florian Borchmeyer Originally adapted for the Schaubühne (Berlin) English translation by Maria Milisavljevic Toronto staging by Richard Rose

Sept 16–Oct 26 in the Mainspace

Laura Condlln, Jordan Pettle; photo by Cylla von Tiedemann

Sextet

TORONTO STAR

a world premiere

written & directed by Morris Panych

‘one of the very best productions of the year’, ‘wonderfully entertaining’

starring Damien Atkins, Laura Condlln, Bruce Dow, Matthew Edison, Rebecca Northan, Jordan Pettle

Nov 5–Dec 14, 2014

generously supported by

LAURA DINNER & RICHARD ROONEY

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30 Bridgman Ave · 416.531.1827 · tarragontheatre.com

NOW november 27 - december 3 2014

65

theatre review

Myth magic Paulo anD DaPhne by Ned Dickens (Theatreworks). At Pia Bouman School for Ballet (6 Noble). Runs to December 7. Pwyc-$25. 416-645-9090, theatreworksproductions.com. See Continuing, page 67. Rating: nnn

Over the course of the play, Illyria (you might know that name as the setting for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or as the Balkan region conquered by the Romans in 168 BC) unravels her past for her listeners using legendary figures from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Key here is the story of the half-man, half-beast Minotaur;

Toronto isn’t a place where you’d expect to have to avoid an arrow shot through the air.

But such a shaft is one of the main elements in Paulo And Daphne, Ned Dickens’s contemporary take on the tale of the god Apollo – known for his archery – and the nymph Daphne, whom he loved and pursued until she was turned into a laurel tree to escape his advances.

In Dickens’s version of the story, Paulo (W. Joseph Matheson) is a Toronto immigration lawyer who loves his assistant, Daphne (Karen Glave), but she’s not able to return his affection except platonically.

Things get more complicated when Illyria (Daniella Forget), an immigrant with a hidden past, comes to Paulo for help staying in Canada.

Daniella​Forget​and​W.​Joseph​ Matheson​hit​their​targets.

comedy listings How to find a listing

Comedy listings appear chronologically, and alphabetically by title or venue.

F= Festive/seasonal event

ñ= Critics’ pick (highly recommended) How to place a listing

All listings are free. Send to: events@nowtoronto.com, fax 416-​364-​1168 or mail to Comedy,​NOW​Magazine,​189​Church,​ Toronto​M5B​1Y7. Include title, producer, comics, brief synopsis, days and times, range of ticket prices, venue name and address and box office/ info phone number/website. Listings may be edited for space. Deadline is the Thursday before publication at 5 pm.

If your free listing requires a correction, send info to: fixevents@nowtoronto.com.

Thursday, November 27 BeerProv: The DrafT Jim Robinson presents

thirsty young improvisers competing in elimination games. 9:30 pm. $15. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

corral’S corral #3: roBohorSe univerSe!

Corral Blue presents a kids’ show for adults with live drawing, improv, music and more w/ Kevin Henkel, Amy Zuch and others. 8 pm. $10. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. corralblue.com.

FholiDazeD & confuSeD The Second City presents sketches, songs and improvisations to celebrate and satirize the holiday season. 10 pm tonight. Runs to Jan 1, various days and times, see website for schedule. $22.

Second City, 51 Mercer. 416-343-0011, secondcity.com. kiTch komeDy Weekly pro/am show hosted

by Dean Young. 9 pm. Free. Kitch, 229 Geary. kitchbar.com. laugh SaBBaTh Amanda Day, Jimmy Cassidy, Nick Flanagan, Sara Hennessey,

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Steve Patrick Adams, Pat Thornton, host Chris Locke and others. 9:30 pm. $5. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. laughsabbath.com. mike wilmoT Stand-up show. To Nov 29, Thu-Sat 8 pm, plus Fri-Sat 10:30 pm. $13-$22. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. 416967-6425, yukyuks.com.

The Puff Puff laugh Show 420 friendly show with Alex Pavone, Garrett Jameson, Steven Patrick Adams and host Patrick Hakeem. 9 pm. $10. Underground Cafe, 670 Queen E. puffmama.ca/upcoming-shows.

5Queer comeDy nighT LGBTQ comedians and hosts Catherine McCormick and Danz Altvater. 9 pm. Pwyc. The Steady Cafe & Bar, 1051 Bloor W. thesteadycafe.com. reBel wiThouT a coSmoS This isn’t as solid as Second City’s last two revues, but there’s still lots to enjoy, particularly from veteran ensemble members Connor Thompson and Ashley Botting. Thompson scores big laughs as an Owen Sound layabout who has a gift for giving directions, as well as a children’s performer accidentally hired to sing at a Remembrance Day ceremony. Botting gets two big solos that showcase her sassy range. But under director Reid Janisse, many of the sketches need polish, presenting jokey types rather than people. Indefinite run, Tue-Thu 8 pm, Fri-Sat 7:30 & 10 pm, Sun 7:30 pm. $25$29, stu $16-$18. Second City, 51 Mercer. 416343-0011, secondcity.com. nnn (Glenn Sumi)

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The BoB revue Canada’s longest-running sketch comedy revue. To Nov 29, Thu-Sat 8 pm. $12, stu $10. Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles W. facebook.com/thebob2014. chriS giBBS – a legal alien The British comedian performs his new solo show. 8 pm. $10.

Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com

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each of the three characters has been chased by monsters and must ultimately face them.

Dickens fills his tale of transformation and change with mythical references that have the feel of age-old, universal truths.

The production is slow to get going, but once Illyria starts interacting with the others, director Adrian Proszowski gets fine work from his actors.

Matheson’s Paulo is believably charismatic and troubled, often at the same time; his early scenes with Illyria are filled with comic avoidance of her come-ons.

Glave at times allows some sweetness and warmth to radiate from the adamant Daphne, especially after a thrilling motorcycle ride.

Forget has the most difficult job playing the mysterious Illyria, who quickly switches from flirtatious to dangerous. Despite her obscure history, this woman is emotionally transparent and compelling. Though we learn she’s been at the mercy of men in power – just as Ovid’s nymphs and mortals are pursued by gods – she refuses to see herself as a victim, a viewpoint that is the source of her strength.

The play’s resolution doesn’t ring totally true, but this intertwining of legend and the modern world is vivid and inJon kaPlan triguing.

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“Vivid and intriguing.”

- Jon Kaplan, NOW

Now Playing Until December 7

SToneD uP comeDy Amanda Day presents a weekly stand-up show. 7 pm. $5. Hot Box Puff Lounge, 204 Augusta. 416-203-6990.

ToronTo urBan QueenS of comeDy Showcase of black female comics w/ Malika Bryce, Aisha Brown and host Aisha Alfa. 7 pm. $15.

Seven44, 744 Mt Pleasant. seven44.com.

Trixx @ aBSoluTe comeDy Headliner Trixx performs with Nick Reynoldson and host Barry Taylor. To Nov 30, Thu 8:30 pm, Fri 9 pm, Sat 8 & 10:45 pm, Sun 8 pm. $15$20. Absolute Comedy, 2335 Yonge. 416-4867700, absolutecomedy.ca.

Turkey Prov u.S.a. David Phalp presents American Thanksgiving-themed improv comedy. 8 pm. Pwyc (proceeds to the Daily Bread Food Bank). 2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

Two caTS comeDy Pro and amateur comics w/ host Jackie Pirico. 8 pm. Free. Not My Dog, 1510 Queen W. 416-532-2397.

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Friday, November 28 a laugh a minuTe Open-mic stand-up w/

host Mandy Goodhandy. 8 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. 120diner.com.

BumP (iS a comeDy Show) Love and jokes w/ Pat Thornton, Mark Little, the Sufferettes, Colin Munch & Hannah Spear, Danz Altvater and host Tom Hobson. 8 pm. Pwyc. Videofag, 187 Augusta. videofag.com. comeDy kaPow! Weekly stand-up, improv and sketch with a pro stand-up headliner. 9 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. facebook. com/comedykapow.

feSTivuS feSTival of comeDy Performances by Amanda Day, Leonard ñ Chan, Chris Locke, Phil Luzi, Erin Keaney, Ffeline

Gwynne Phillips, host Steven Mann and others. 9 pm. $20 (benefit for the Humane Society and the Annex Cat Rescue). Fairmont Royal York Hotel, 100 Front W. brownpapertickets.com/event/912376. geT iT on Improv, games and karaoke w/ host Andy Fruman. 9 pm. Free. 120 Diner, 120 Church. 120diner.com.

gooD newS, ToronTo: Too many cookS eDiTion! Korri Birch presents a live-news par-

ody show w/ comics and improvisers. 8 pm. $5. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca. hiruT hooT Pre-holiday, post-apocalypse stand-up w/ Jeanie Calleja, Anna Gustafson, Kevin MacDonald, Martha O’Neill, Lee-Anne Stewart, Herb Irving and host Carolyn Bennett. 9 pm. $5. Hirut Fine Ethiopian Cuisine, 2050 Danforth. 416-551-7560. imProv game Show Weekly Whose Lineinspired competition. 8 pm. $5. 2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

FThe PageanT BDT presents improvised “sitcom” episodes about a family’s quest to discover the true meaning of the holidays. $12, stu $10. Previews Nov 28, opens Nov 29 and runs to Dec 20, Fri 8 pm, Sat 9:30 pm, mat Dec 13 & 20 at 2:30 pm. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com.

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PWYC Tuesdays

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Nov 29 at 2 pm. $27.50, stu/srs $22. Fairview Library, 35 Fairview Mall. 416-299-5557, stagecentreproductions.com. fiShSkin TrouSerS by Elizabeth Kuti (Cart/ Horse Theatre). Three tales from three eras in the fishing village of Orford in Suffolk are woven together in this storytelling play (see review at nowtoronto.com/stage). To Dec 7, Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 2 pm. $20, Sun pwyc.

Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson. carthorsetheatre.com. nn (GS) holD mommy’S cigareTTe (Shelley Marshall). Marshall performs her solo dark comedy about life, mental illness and survival. To Nov 29, Thu-Sat 8 pm. $20. The Full Bawdy Loft, 290 Carlaw, #202. 416-8211754, holdmommyscigarette.com. human furniTure by Claire Burns (Red One Theatre Collective/Triangle Pi Productions). A kinky tryst is threatened by an unexpected guest and a nosy neighbour. To Nov 29, TueSat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $25. The Storefront Theatre, 955 Bloor W. secureaseat.com. i loST iT in kiev by Deb Filler (Filler Up Inc).

Filler performs a solo show about her travels through the backstreets of the world. To Nov 30, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm, Sun 3 pm. $21.50-$36.50. Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst.

416-504-9971, fillerup.ca.

JameS alan’S magic TonighT James Alan hosts a weekly live magic show with guests.

Sundays 7 pm. $20-$25. Izakaya Sushi House, 294 College. abracadabaret.com.

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Social STanDing Stand-up w/ Mark Little,

Tim Gilbert, Sara Hennessey & host Marcel St Pierre. 10 pm. $10. 2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

Trixx @ aBSoluTe comeDy See Thu 27.

The unemPloyaBleS Jamie O’Connor presents stand-up w/ guest comedians. 10 pm. $5. 3rd fl. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

Saturday, November 29 BeerProv Jim Robinson presents a short form improv competition. 10:30 pm. $20. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

Bruce mcculloch: young Drunk Punk The Kids In The Hall alumnus performs a ñ solo show featuring stand-up, music and stor-

ies. 8 pm. $35-$40. Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, 10268 Yonge. 905-7878811, rhcentre.ca. comeDy aT The reD rockeT Joel West hosts a weekly show w/ guest comics. 8 pm. Free. Red Rocket Coffee, 1364 Danforth. 416-406-0880.

Dave & frienDS Dave Merheje hosts a show w/ Patrick Hakeem, Steph Tolev, Chris Robinson, Marito Lopez, Garrett Jamieson, Sam Farid and headliner Ali Hassan. 11 pm. $15-$20. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca. gary gulman Empire Comedy Live presents the comic in a live stand-up show.

To Nov 30, Sat 7 & 9 pm, Sun 7 pm. $20. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. empirecomedylive.com. imProv league Four troupes go head-tohead in a shortform improv competition. 8 pm. $5. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

The JokeBox Impulsive Entertainment presents Massimo, Tony Ho, Plum Thunder, Allana Reoch, host Deanna Palazzo and others. 8 pm. $10. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. facebook.com/TheJokeboxComedyLounge. miceTro Improvisers work together to score points per scene in the hopes of being the last player standing in this Survivor-style show. 7 pm. $5. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com. muy calienTe comeDy: Show #2 Headliner Ali Hassan, Sandra Battaglini, Alex Pavone, Leny Corrado, Adrienne Fish and Azfar Ali. 8 pm. $15-$20. Clarke Memorial Hall, 161 Lakeshore W. mccshow2.eventbrite.ca.

FThe PageanT BDT presents improvised “sitcom” episodes about a family’s quest to discover the true meaning of the holidays. $12, stu $10. Previews Nov 28, opens Nov 29 and runs to Dec 20, Fri 8 pm, Sat 9:30 pm, mat Dec 13 & 20 at 2:30 pm. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com.

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ñThe SeconD ciTy guiDe To The

SymPhony The Second City cast and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra combine for a night of music and comedy with host Colin Mochrie (see story, page 63). To Nov 30, Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 3 pm. $29-$99. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe. 416-593-4828, tso.ca.

nn = Seriously flawed

n = Get out the hook

JILLIAN JIGGS! adapted by Derek Genova (Solar

Stage Children’s Theatre). Jillian and her pals dress up and go on adventures in this family show. To Nov 29, Sat-Sun 11 am & 2 pm. $16.

4950 Yonge. 416-368-8031, solarstage.on.ca.

LE CHANT DE GEORGES BOIVIN by Martin Bellemare (Théâtre français de Toronto). An elderly widower decides to retrace the steps of his first love, who he hasn’t seen for 50 years. To Nov 30, Wed-Fri 8 pm, Sat 3:30 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $30-$48, Wed pwyc, Sat rush $20. Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley. 416-5346604, theatrefrancais.com.

METROPOLITAN OPERAS by Joe Pintauro (Witchboy Theatre). Short plays featuring prostitutes and priests, chauffeurs and film stars, set in the gritty 80s of New York City. To Nov 29, Tue-Sat 8 pm. $20. The Theatre Machine, 376 Dufferin. witchboytheatre.com.

THE MOTHERFUCKER WITH THE HAT by Stephen Adly Guirgis (Bob Kills Theatre).

The language is raunchy and loud and the emotions are large in this exciting production of Guirgis’s play about a couple – one an AA member trying to stay straight, the other a happy drug user – who get into a jealous argument. Hysterically funny and deeply touching. To Nov 30, Tue-Sun 7:30 pm. $25$30. The Coal Mine Theatre, 798 Danforth. brownpapertickets.com/event/859215.

NNNN (JK) NSFW by Luck Kirkwood (Studio 180). A look into the inner sanctums of two magazines that emphasize fantasy body image, one aimed at men and the other at women, shows that their manipulative tactics aren’t so different. The script has some problems, but the Studio 180 production features some fine per-

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SHAUN MAJUMDER Newfoundland comic Majumder performs live. 8 pm. $40ñ $50. Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre Lane (Brampton).

905-874-2800, rosetheatre.ca.

SLINGS AND ERRORS Epic Comedy presents an improvised comedy in the style of Shakespeare. 3-5 pm. $10. Second City, 51 Mercer. bit.ly/1wqEiFX. THEATRESPORTS High-octane weekly team improv competition. 8 pm. $12, stu $10. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. 416-4913115, baddogtheatre.com.

TRIXX @ ABSOLUTE COMEDY See Thu 27.

THE UNSUNG SEQUEL Special Features Musical Improv Troupe presents a fully improvised musical sequel to your favourite movies. 8 pm. $5. Imperial Pub, 54 Dundas E. specialfeaturesimprov.wordpress.com.

FA VERY, VERY NDN CHRISTMAS Stand-up comedy w/ Anishinaabe comedian Ryan McMahon, funny short films and more. 8 pm. $22. Aki Studio. Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas E. 416-531-1402, nativeearth.ca/ndnxmas.

Sunday, November 30 ALL BLACK COMEDY SHOW The Nubian Disciples’ monthly show w/ Keesha Brownie, Ernie Vicente, Dave Merheje, Paul Thompson, Patrick Haye, Chris Robinson, headliner A Shia A, host Kenny Robinson and others. 8:30 pm. $20. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. yukyuks.com.

BONSPIEL THEATRE! PRESENTS Comedy cabaret with Jan Caruana, Alastair Forbes and James Gangl. 9 pm. $10. No One Writes to the Colonel, 460 College. bonspieltheatre.com.

COMEDY @ THE WELL Weekly show w/ hosts Dred Lee & Jag Ghankas. 8:30 pm. Free. The Well, 121 Ossington. thewellbarcafe.ca.

GARY GULMAN Empire Comedy Live presents the comic in a live stand-up show. To Nov 30, Sat 7 & 9 pm, Sun 7 pm. $20. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. empirecomedylive.com.

THE PLAYGROUND Stand-up comics followed by an open mic w/ hosts Melissa Story and Kris Siddiqi. 8:30 pm. Pwyc. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. blackswancomedy.com.

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THE SECOND CITY GUIDE TO THE SYMPHONY

The Second City cast and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra combine for a night of music and comedy w/ host Colin Mochrie (see story, page 63). 3 pm. $29-$99. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe. 416-593-4828, tso.ca.

SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE The Sketchersons’ weekly sketch and live music show. 9 pm. $10. Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor W. comedybar.ca.

TRIXX @ ABSOLUTE COMEDY See Thu 27.

Monday, December 1 200% VODKA Longform improv with the Social Capital Rep Company and guest hosts. 8 pm.

Pwyc. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. blackswancomedy.com.

ALTDOT COMEDY LOUNGE Alex Pavone, Rene Payes, Barry Taylor, Todd Graham,

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formances and telling comments on media exploitation. To Nov 30, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat Sat-Sun 2 pm. $15-$39. Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen W. studio180theatre.com. NNN (JK) OH, SARAH! by Ariel Mastandrea (Pacun Peras The-A-Tro). This play is based on the life and art of French actor Sarah Bernhardt.

To Nov 30, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $15, stu/srs $10, Sun $7. Arcadia Studio, 680 Queens Quay W. pacunperas@gmail.com.

OLD MAN AND THE RIVER by Lynda Hill and Thomas Morgan Jones (Theatre Direct). A solitary, grumpy old man finds a friend in this puppetry show for ages 3 to 6 (see review, page 64). To Dec 6: Sat 2 & 4 pm. $14 (Nov 29 pizza party show $25).

Wychwood Theatre, 76 Wychwood. theatredirect.ca. NNNN (JK) PAULO AND DAPHNE by Ned Dickens (Theatreworks Productions). This contemporary take on Ovid’s story of Apollo and Daphne is about breaking the ties that bind, atonement and transformation (see review, page 66). To Dec 7, Tue-Sun 8 pm. $20-$25, stu $12.50, Tue pwyc. Pia Bouman School for Ballet, 6 Noble. 416-645-9090, theatreworksproductions.com. NNN (JK) PLAY READING WEEK (Tarragon Theatre).

Plays in development by Fabrizio Filippo, Anna Chatterton, Marie-Beath Badian, Rachel Blair, Evan Webber, Kat Sandler and others get staged readings. To Nov 29, Wed-Sat 8 pm.

Free. 30 Bridgman. tarragontheatre.com.

ROPE by Patrick Hamilton (Bygone Theatre/ City of Toronto). Two young men murder a classmate just for the thrill in this 1929 play based on true events. To Nov 29, Fri-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Fri-Sat 2 pm. $20. Gibson House,

5172 Yonge. bygonetheatre.com.

SEXTET by Morris Panych (Tarragon Theatre). The randy members of a string sextet are trapped in a Canadian motel while a winter storm rages outside in Panych’s clever comedy. The production – including Ken MacDonald’s brilliant set – is top-notch, and the actors understand the heightened, farcical style while also delivering some resonant emotional notes near the end. To Dec 14, Tue-Sat 8 pm, mat SatSun 2:30 pm. $23-$55, rush $15. Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman. 416-531-1827, tarragontheatre.com. NNNN (GS) WHAT I LEARNED FROM A DECADE OF FEAR by Beatriz Pizano, Lyon Smith and Trevor Schwellnus (Aluna Theatre). A performance piece about the war on terror is framed as an interrogation in which seemingly innocuous questions are turned into attacks that challenge the morals we hold and the judgments we make. Beatriz Pizano and Lyon Smith are perfectly matched, and director Trevor Schwellnus’s videography brings another chilling element to the show. To Nov 30, Thu-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2:30 pm. $12-$20.

Aluna Theatre, 1 Wiltshire, #128. alunatheatre.ca. NNN (JK) YOU HAVE TO EARN IT by Ramona Baillie and Maria Popoff (Alumnae Theatre Fireworks Festival). A philandering boss, a scheming new employee and a wacky mail room clerk are part of this homage to screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s. To Nov 29, runs in rep w/ Burying Toni; see website for schedule. $15, Sun mat pwyc, festival pass $25. Alumnae Theatre, 70 Berkeley. 416-364-4170, alumnaetheatre.com.

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Daniel Woodrow, JJ Lieberman, MC Ryan Belleville and others. 9 pm. $5. Rivoli, 332 Queen W. altdotcomedylounge.com.

CHEAP LAUGHS MONDAY Weekly open mic w/ Russell Roy and guests. 9:30 pm. Free. PJ O’Brien Irish Pub, 39 Colborne. 416-815-7562.

HARD DAY COMEDY Weekly all-female comedy show w/ hosts Cassandra Sansosti & Eesha Brown. 8:30 pm. Free. Office Pub, 117 John.

416-977-1900.

FHOLIDAZED & CONFUSED See Thu 27.

PANCAKE MONDAYS Weekly comedy and allyou-can-eat pancakes. 7:30 pm. $5. Smiling Buddha, 961 College. facebook.com/groups/ PancakeMondays.

Comedy at 7:30 pm, Launching Pad for new stand-ups at 9:30 pm, every Tue. $4/show.

Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. 416-967-6425, yukyuks.com.

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Tuesday, December 2 ALTDOT COMEDY OPEN MIC Headliner Dylan

Gott, MC Mike Rita and 12 spots available.

9 pm (doors/sign-up 8:30 pm). $5. Rivoli, 332 Queen W. altdotcomedylounge.com.

CLASSY DRUNK Stand-up comedy show. 8 pm.

Emmet Ray Bar, 924 College. 416-792-4497.

FLAT TIRE COMEDY Weekly stand-up w/ host Chrissie Cunningham & others. 9:30 pm. Free.

Amsterdam Bicycle Club, 54 the Esplanade. facebook.com/FlatTireComedy.

FOUNTAIN ABBEY Stand-up w/ hosts Diana Love and Julia Hladkowicz. 8:30 pm. Free.

The Fountain, 1261 Dundas W. juliacomedy. com.

FHOLIDAZED & CONFUSED See Thu 27.

THE SKIN OF MY NUTS Weekly open mic w/ host Vandad Kardar and others. 7:30 pm. Free.

Sonic Espresso Bar, 60 Cecil. facebook.com/ skinofmynuts.

STUDENT BODIES Longform improv w/ players of the Social Capital Repertory Program.

8 pm. Free. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

YUK YUKS OPEN MIC The Humber School of

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Wednesday, December 3 THE HIVE Weekly improv w/ rotating teams.

8 pm. Pwyc. 3rd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, blackswancomedy.com.

FHOLIDAZED & CONFUSED See Thu 27.

HOLODECK FOLLIES The Dandies present the monthly improvised Star Trek variety show w/ improv from the Dandies and the 404s, plus character sketch by Rachelle Elie. 8 pm. $8. 2nd floor. The Social Capital Theatre, 154 Danforth. 416-903-5388, improvdandies.wordpress.com.

THE JULIEN DIONNE COMEDY HOUR Stand-up

by Dionne and music by Garage Baby. 9 pm. $10. C’est What, 67 Front E. 416-867-9499, cestwhat.ticketfly.com.

MAGIC OVEN COMEDY Weekly stand-up. 8 pm. Free. Magic Oven Keele, 347 Keele. facebook.com/MagicOvenKeele.

MIDWEEK MICETRO Improvisers work together to score points per scene in the hopes of being the last player standing in this Survivorstyle show. 8 pm. $5. Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, 875 Bloor W. baddogtheatre.com.

MIKE MACDONALD Stand-up show. To Dec 7, Wed-Sat 8 pm, plus Fri-Sat 10:30 pm. $13$22. Yuk Yuk’s, 224 Richmond W. 416-9676425, yukyuks.com.

PRO/AM NIGHT Headliner Joe Bronzi, Dave Code, DK Phan, Dr Ron, Francis Brian Shaw, Matt Gass, Michael Samuels and host Nick Carter. 8:30 pm. $10. Absolute Comedy, 2335 Yonge. 416-486-7700, absolutecomedy.ca.

SIREN’S COMEDY Open-mic stand-up w/ host Brian Ward and headliner Chris Allin. 8:30 pm. Free. Celt’s Pub, 2872 Dundas W. 416767-3339.

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dance listings F= Festive/seasonal event

Opening

FADORE HIM (Soli Deo Gloria Ballet). An

evening of music, dance and spoken word.

Nov 29 at 7:30 pm. $12-$20, kids free. Donway United Church, 230 The Donway West. 416444-8444.

BALLET 360 Ballet Jörgen presents contemporary and classical ballet featuring highlights from the company’s repertoire. Dec 2 at noon.

Free. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen W. coc.ca.

FSOULFUL MESSIAH (Harbourfront NextSteps). Ballet Creole presents a holiday production danced to Quincy Jones’s R&B rendition of Handel’s Messiah. Nov 28-29, FriSat 8 pm, mat Sat 2 pm. $25-$45. Fleck Dance

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Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000, harbourfrontcentre.com.

UBL MAIN EVENT V: KNOCK ‘EM OUT THA BOX!

The Universal B-Boy League presents Bboy Illz defending his championship against Bboy Tricky Troublez, a 2-on-2 breakdance tournament and more. Nov 29 at 5 pm. $10-$15. rm 190. OCAD U, 100 McCaul. bboyleague.org.

Continuing NIJINSKY (The National Ballet of Canada).

Choreography by John Neumeier explorñ ing the life and work of Russian dancer/chor-

eographer Vaslav Nijinsky. To Nov 30, Wed-Sat 7:30 pm, mat Sun 2 pm (and Nov 27 and 29). $26-$249. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen W. 416-345-9595, national.ballet.ca.

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= Critics’ Pick NNNNN = Can’t live without it NNNN = Riveting NNN = Worthy NN = Remainder bin here we come

books WWI FICTION

Truthful Tell TELL by Frances Itani (HarperCollins), 318 pages, $22.99 paper. Rating: NNN

In Deseronto, a small town in Ontario, residents prepare for the holiday season, skate on the outdoor rink and read their very influential daily paper.

But life is not going on as usual. This is post-WWI Deseronto, and in Frances Itani’s Giller-shortlisted novel, Tell, many of the townsfolk have been traumatized by the recent war, including Kenan, who’s lost the use of one arm and bears very visible scars on his face.

He’s not the only one coping with terrible anxiety. Others, like longtime couple Am and Maggie, are guarding decades-old secrets or taking personal risks in order to change their lives.

At the heart of the story is Kenan, for whom just going out of his house demands huge effort. He can barely talk to his wife, Tress, let alone share any real intimacy. Soon he finds a new freedom – and an outlet for his anger – at the rink where he and the

clock tower caretaker, Am, forge a link based on their fear of losing everything. Am’s wife, the soprano Maggie, is developing an attraction to Luc, the new choir conductor, as they prepare for the annual New Year’s concert.

Itani’s lucid prose – aided by obviously intense research – vividly recreates small-town life in 1919, including quotidian details about how to build an outdoor rink or the kinds of do-it-yourself Christmas gifts people fashioned with sparse materials.

But her talent goes beyond faithful recreation; she has the gift of emotional authenticity. You struggle with every step Kenan takes and feel the surge of exhilaration Maggie experiences when Luc awakens her sagging spirit.

But in the end, Tell is never a total grabber. The characters are all very likeable, which leaches the story of tension, and though they experience plenty of pain, you feel as if Itani is stopping short of delving too deeply into their devastation.

It’s a good read, but almost too SUSAN G. COLE gentle. susanc@nowtoronto.com | @susangcole

LAUNCHING THIS WEEK The national dialogue over Alberta’s dirty oil is heating up – perfect timing for the release of A Line In The Tar Sands ($25.95, Between the Lines), a collection of articles from varying perspectives by opponents of the development. The book launches Saturday (November 29) at Beit Zatoun, where co-editor Toban Black, contributor Lilian Yap, activist Myeengun Henry from the Chippewa on the Thames First Nation and more share information about the impact of the project on our culture and environment. See readings, this page. SGC

READINGS THIS WEEK

F = Festive event

FOCAD BOOK ARTS 10 am-5 pm. Free. OCAD U, 100 McCaul. bookartsfair@gmail.com.

Thursday, November 27 ALEXANDRA LEGGAT & ED MACDONALD 8 pm.

Free. Tranzac Main Hall, 292 Brunswick. facebook.com/AlexandraLeggat.

JONATHAN MARTIN DIXIT 4:15-5:30 pm. Free.

Jackman Humanities Building, Room 100, 170 St George. jonathanmartindixitauthor.com.

ROYSTON TESTER You Turn Your Back launches, Jeffrey Round reads. 6 pm. Free. The Central, 603 Markham. tightropebooks.com.

Friday, November 28 BLACK FRIDAY 2014 Readings by Pasha Malla,

Andrew Forbes and others. 7:30 pm. $5. Loft 404, 263 Adelaide W. puritan-magazine.com.

DINNER WITH ANDREW COHEN 6:30 pm. $100.

Pre-register ben@benmcnallybooks.com.

Grano, 2035 Yonge. 416-361-0032.

ZONG! WATCH NITE – ANNIVERSARY READING Join in the reading of a poem about a 1781 massacre of African slaves. 7-11 pm. Free.

Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw, room 109. nourbese.com/zong.

Saturday, November 29 A LINE IN THE TAR SANDS. 1-3 pm. Free. Beit

Zatoun, 612 Markham. beitzatoun.org.

N = Doorstop material

Sunday, November 30 DRAFT READING SERIES 10.2 New works by Dani Couture, Zainab and others. 2:30 pm. Free.

Paintbox Bistro, 555 Dundas E. draftreadings. wordpress.com.

Monday, December 1 MANSFIELD PRESS FALL LAUNCH Readings from books by Laura Farina, Nelson Ball, Corrado Paina, Frank Davey and Christine Miscione. 7:30 pm. Free. Monarch Tavern, 12 Clinton. 416-532-2086.

Tuesday, December 2 F45 BOOKS IN 45 MINUTES Ben McNally and

Lynn Thomson present their favourite 45 books of the season. 6:30 pm. Free (reserve).

Ben McNally Books, 366 Bay. 416-361-0032.

LINDEN MACINTYRE 7 pm. Free. Pre-register.

North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge. 416395-5639.

Wednesday, December 3 JACK GRANATSTEIN Free. Pre-register. North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge. 416-3955639.

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NOW NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014

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art

Shayne Gray’s Canadian Flag is at Gallery 44’s Wall To Wall.

Galleries on the move Gallery TPW’s Photorama inaugurates its new space at 170 St. Helens (416645-1066) with work by over 100 artists, including Annie MacDonell, Toni Hafkenscheid and Dominic Nahr (Thursday, November 27, to December

6). AGO curator Sophie Hackett gives a talk on Photorama at 7 pm Wednesday (December 3).

Ryerson holds its Full Frame sale of photos by image arts students (most student work under $200), faculty and alumni from Thursday (November 27)

to December 14 at the rechristened Ryerson Artspace (formerly I.M.A. Gallery), relocated to the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen West, 416-538-3100).

Propeller’s Off The Wall raises funds for a move in January to the Triangle Lofts building on Abell. Attendees at the December 13 gala ($125) get called up at random to select an artwork to take home by Joseph Muscat, Harry Enchin or others, on view from Wednesday (December 3) at the gallery (984 Queen West, 416-504-7142).

401 fun

The World is an Apple:

The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne

Frolic 4 (which includes studio sales and an artisan fair) opens at the arts building at 401 Richmond West from 6 to 9 pm on December 4.

Open Studio has printmaking demos

by Alex McLeod, Team Macho and Winnie Truong, and prints at $50 to $400 from the Artist Proof

Sale remain available until December 20 (416-504-8238). Thirty-five photographers – Tobi Asmoucha, Susana Reisman and Shayne Gray among them – celebrate Gallery 44’s 35th anniversary at Wall To Wall, running to December 13 (416-979-3941).

THIS WEEK IN THE MUSEUMS AGA KHAN MUSEUM The Garden Of Ideas: Contemporary Art From Pakistan, to Jan 18. 77 Wynford. 416-646-4677. $15-$20.

AGO Alex Colville, to Jan 4 ($16.50-$25).

Suzy Lake, to Mar 22. Aimia Photography Prize, to Jan 4. Michelangelo, to Jan 11, 2015 ($16.50-$25). Mohamed Bourouissa, to Feb 8.

317 Dundas W. 416-979-6648. $11-$19.50, free Wed 6-8:30 pm (special exhibits excluded).

DESIGN EXCHANGE Politics Of Fashion/Fashion Of Politics, to Jan 25 ($14-$18.50). 234 Bay. 416-363-6121.

GARDINER MUSEUM Claire Twomey, to Jan 4.

111 Queen’s Park. 416-586-8080. $6-$12; Fri 4-9 pm half-price.

JUSTINA M. BARNICKE Wendy Coburn, to Dec 19. 7 Hart House. 416-978-8398.

McMICHAEL Henri Matisse, James W Morrice

and John Lyman, to Jan 4. 10365 Islington.

905-893-1121. $12-$15.

MOCCA Vera Frenkel, to Dec 28. 952 Queen W. 416-395-0067. Pwyc.

OAKVILLE GALLERIES Aleesa Cohene, Shary Boyle and Emily Vey Duke, to Jan 4. 1306 Lakeshore E; 120 Navy, Oakville. 905-844-4402.

POWER PLANT Julia Dault, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Shelagh Keeley, to Jan 4. 231 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4949.

ROM Bernice Eisenstein, to Feb 8. Wildlife Photographer Of The Year, to Mar

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MUST-SEE SHOWS

www.artgalleryofhamilton.com Overnight packages available at Sheraton Hamilton.

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

F = Festive/seasonal event

ANGELL Karine Giboulo (installation), to Dec 20. 12 Ossington. 416-530-0444.

BARBARA EDWARDS Betty Goodwin

(painting), Nov 28-Jan 17, reception 6-9 pm Nov 28. 1069 Bathurst. 647-348-5110.

CHRISTOPHER CUTTS Martin C Herbst (sculpture), Nov 29-Dec 31, reception 2-6 pm Nov 29. 21 Morrow. 416-532-5566.

CIRCUIT GALLERY @ PREFIX Donald Weber (photos), Nov 27-Dec 20, reception 6-9 pm Nov 27. 401 Richmond W. 416-5910357.

DIAZ CONTEMPORARY Chris Kline (sculpture), Nov 27-Jan 10, reception 7-9 pm Nov 27. 100 Niagara. 416-361-2972.

GEORGIA SCHERMAN PROJECTS Tony Sch-

TPW’s sale includes Toni Hafkenscheid’s photo Motel With Sculpted Trees.

Holiday regulars

Paul Petro’s 18th Christmas Spice opens Friday (November 28) from 7 to 11 pm and runs to December 20, with a tree by Sadko Hadzihasanovic and works by gallery artists Stephen Andrews, Keith Cole, Maura Doyle and many others (980 Queen West, 416-9797874).

Art Metropole changes it up this year with New Balance: Approaching The Use Of Ceramics In Contemporary Art, from December 11 to January 31.

Don’t expect teapots. Canadians like Jimmy Limit and Katie Bethune-LeaSnap up works by Gary Evans man and international artat Paul Petro’s ists take part, and a book Christmas Spice sale.

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See still life masterpieces by the radical French Impressionist. On view now at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Small wonders Hashtag Gallery presents its #4X4 show, little works by emerging artists, from December 11 to 21 (801 Dundas West, 416-861-1866). Affordable artworks under 3-feet-square show at Navillus Gallery until December 31, with a reception Saturday (November 29) from noon to 5 pm (110 Davenport, 416-921-6467). Pick up art under $250 at Art Interior’s Festival Of Smalls, on until December 24 (446 Spadina Road, 416-488-3157).

Buy, wrap, give ’Tis the season to support local galleries and visual artists with your purchase of affordable small works, prints, multiples and editions – great gifts or additions to personal collections. There’s sure to be something calling out to you at one of these worthy events.

comes out in January (1490 Dundas West, 416-703-4400).

erman (painting), Nov 27-Jan 10, reception 6-8 pm Nov 27. 133 Tecumseth. 416-5544112.

HARBOURFRONT CENTRE Robert Burley; Surburbia group shows, to Dec 28. 235 Queens Quay W. 416-973-4000.

FJAPANESE PAPER PLACE Washi Artists’ Sale, 11 am-5 pm Nov 30. 77 Brock. 416-5389669.

FJULIE M. GALLERY New Cycles group show, to Jan 19. 15 Mill, bldg 37. 416-603-2626.

KATZMAN CONTEMPORARY April Hickox and Penelope Stewart (photos), to Dec 20. 86 Miller. 416-504-9515.

MERCER UNION Lis Rhodes, Elisabeth Subrin (film/video) and Tiziana La Melia, Nov 28Jan 24, reception/artist talk 7 pm Nov 28.

1286 Bloor W. 416-536-1519.

More holiday ops A bunch of artists who usually work in 2D – including Jay Dart, Fiona Smyth and Willow Dawson – make threedimensional items for design shop MADE’s Objects Have Stories, opening Friday (November 28) from 7 to 10 pm and running to December 24 (867 Dundas West, 416-607-6384).

Excellent org SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) raises funds with Take Home The Unknown, a one-day, $100-each sale of anonymous artworks contributed by artists like Oliver Husain and Allyson Mitchell, as well as filmmakers, actors, chefs and fashion designers. At the Gladstone, 8-10 pm December 10. savac.net FRAN SCHECHTER 23. 100 Queen’s Park. 416-586-8000. $14.50-$16, stu/srs; Fri 4:30-8:30 pm discounts.

RYERSON IMAGE CENTRE Harun Farocki; Dispatch: War Photographs In Print, to Dec 7.

Public Studio, to Dec 19. 33 Gould. 416-9795164.

TEXTILE MUSEUM Oriental Rugs, to Apr 15.

Urban Fabric, to Jan 11. 55 Centre. 416-5995321. $6-$15; pwyc Wed 5-8 pm.

U OF T ART CENTRE Allen Ginsberg and Robert Giard, to Dec 6. 15 King’s College Circle. 416-978-1838.

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MORE ONLINE

Complete art listings at nowtoronto.com/listings

MKG127 Lisa Platt, to Dec 20. 1445 Dundas W. 647-435-7682.

NEUBACHER SHOR Jen Mann (painting), to Dec 20. 5 Brock. 416-546-3683.

NICHOLAS METIVIER Charles Bierk (painting), to Dec 13. 451 King W. 416-205-9000.

ONSITE [AT] OCAD U Flash Forward 10: Uncanny Worlds, to Dec 20. 230 Richmond W. 416-977-6000 ext 265.

SCRAP METAL Somebody, Everybody, Nobody group show, to Mar 28. 11 Dublin.

416-588-2442. Fri-Sat or by appt.

STEPHEN BULGER Gábor Kerekes (photos), Nov 29-Jan 17, reception 2-5 pm Nov 29.

1026 Queen W. 416-504-0575.

SUSAN HOBBS Althea Thauberger (film), Nov 27-Jan 10, reception 7-9 pm Nov 27.

137 Tecumseth. 416-504-3699.

VTAPE Hanging Out In Deephaven, to Dec 19. 401 Richmond W #452. 416-351-1317.

movies

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Audio clips from interview with CHRISTOPH WALTZ • Friday column on BEER FILM FEST, THE SCAREHOUSE and EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL • and more

actor interview

Christoph Waltz

TAKE THIS WALTZ Double Oscar winner won’t improvise but gets the last laugh By NORMAN WILNER

HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 directed by Sean Anders, written by Anders and John Morris, with Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Christoph Waltz. A Warner Bros. release. 108 minutes. Now playing. For venues and times, see Movies, page 74.

LOS ANGELES – Christoph Waltz does not like to riff. And he’s okay with it.

Earlier in the day, the two-time Oscar winner endured the press conference for Horrible Bosses 2, where he was the only cast member who didn’t have a wacky story about the craziest thing he said or did in the movie – partially because the movie doesn’t require him to get as crazy as costars Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Jennifer Aniston, and partially because he doesn’t improvise. Like at all.

His co-stars razzed him affectionately for this, and Waltz played along, but it was clear he wasn’t just doing a bit. When we sit down together in more reasonable circumstances later that day, the first thing I ask him is how real his discomfort was.

“I really am extremely uncomfortable,” he says.

“And also I have sort of academic objections. I’m not the writer. Why would I, in the best case, interfere with the writer, and in the worst case, help the writer out? It’s not what I do. If you want me to write a script, ask me to write a script; I don’t know whether I can do it, but that’s a clear deal. But don’t put a script in front of me and then ask me to do it differently. Put a different script in front of me.”

Ñ

Waltz doesn’t come across as angry or argumentative, mind you. He’s speaking with the same genial rhythms you’ve heard in Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Carnage and even that regrettable Green Hornet movie. (I can’t wait to see him play Blofeld in the next James Bond picture, as reported earlier this week.)

As an actor, he projects a quality of being the most reasonable person in the room – even when, as in Basterds, he is most certainly not.

It’s the perfect attitude for his character in Horrible Bosses 2, an entirely respectable mogul who sets the master plot in motion when he pleasantly screws the boneheaded heroes (Bateman, Sudeikis and Day) out of a lucrative business deal.

Somehow, Waltz’s discomfort with everyone else’s looser style of acting becomes one of the funniest things in Horrible Bosses 2. His refusal to engage reads as the act of a man who’s blundered into a world of maniacs. His professional demeanour becomes its own running joke.

“Absolutely!” he says. “I was talking to Ralph Fiennes yesterday – we had a round table [for another event], the actors – and the subject came to self-consciousness. Ed Norton raised that subject.

And I said, ‘Yes, sometimes you have to deal with self-consciousness, but that’s not a bad thing.

There’s no moral aspect to self-consciousness; sometimes it’s the exact right thing.’”

He discusses his Horrible Bosses character as a cog in a larger machine – again, not disparagingly, but semiotically.

REVIEW HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (Sean Anders) Rating: NNN Horrible Bosses 2 finds the hapless trio of Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) once again attempting a revenge sting when an ill-advised business deal pits them against a mogul (Christoph Waltz) and his unhinged son (Chris Pine).

Really, though, it’s just an excuse to get the gang back together and find new problems to throw at them. Sean Anders and co-writer John Morris devise a constantly escalating series of disasters, bringing back the first film’s most vivid secondary characters and finding a fun new character pairing by matching up Bateman’s pissy Nick with Jennifer Aniston’s predatory Julia. He’s also clever enough to stack the cast with scene-stealers like Keegan-Michael Key and Lennon Parham.

No wheels are reinvented and no Oscars will be won, but it’s an enjoyable follow-up. NW

= Critic’s Pick NNNNN = Top ten of the year NNNN = Honourable mention NNN = Entertaining NN = Mediocre N = Bomb

“Comedy is about specific mechanics,” he says.

That leads to a conversation about Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye To Language 3D (I’ve seen it; he hasn’t and is very curious) and theories of acting.

“How do I lead an audience?” he asks rhetorically. “How do I pull you in? Because it’s about you; it’s not about me. I recently read something that made such an impression on me, something that Harrison Ford said. He said, ‘My job as an actor is not to show you how close I am to the character. My job is to show you how close you are to the character.’

“That’s such a smart thing to say,” Waltz says.

“Because [otherwise] why tell the story in the first place? Just to while the time away?”

3 normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner

Jason Sudeikis (left), Charlie Day and Jason Bateman try to get back at their Horrible Bosses.

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Interview clips at nowtoronto.com

NOW NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014

69

animated adventure

Bird-brained pENGUINS OF MadaGaSCaR (Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith). 92 minutes. Now playing.

For venues and times, see Movies, page 74. Rating: NN

Aspiring ballerinas watch from the wings in inspiring doc.

documentary

Plum roles GETTING TO THE NUTCRaCKER (Serene Meshel-Dillman). 98 minutes. Opens Friday (November 28). For venues and times, see Movies, page 74. Rating: NNNN

ñ

As companies all over the world are readying their productions of that seasonal dance staple The Nutcracker, this entertaining doc shows just what it takes to put it on.

From auditions to rehearsals to the sweaty palms of opening night, director Serene Meshel-Dillman follows the lead-up to a charming version mounted annually by the Marat Daukayev School of Ballet in L.A. The school has 400 students and is headed by artistic director Marat Daukayev, a former star of the Kirov Ballet, and his wife, Pamela, who calls herself

QuirKy drama

Weak beat HEaRTBEaT (Andrea Dorfman). 97 minutes. Opens Friday (November 28). For venues and times, see Movies, page 74. Rating: NN

I really wanted to like this small Canadian pic about singer/songwriter Justine, who’s fighting stage fright and works a shitty day job. But though Heartbeat shows occasional energy, it’s never able to maintain a steady pulse.

The pic opens with Justine (Tanya Davis) fainting in front of a

docudrama

Solid moves FOxCaTCHER (Bennett Miller). 134 minutes. Opens Friday (November 28). For venues and times, see Movies, page 74. Rating: NNN After 2011’s Moneyball, director Bennett Miller returns to the chilly tone of his debut feature, Capote, for another tale of interpersonal tensions and murder, though this time the result isn’t quite as impressive.

In 1987, Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) was recruited by John du Pont (Steve Carell) to build a wrestling team that could win gold in the 1988 Seoul Games. It ended

70

its “barely managing director.”

Daukayev passes on his rigorous technique, perfectionism and sound philosophy, his face and voice remaining expressionless as he instructs. He rarely hands out compliments, which becomes one of the film’s running jokes.

Oddly, tuition and money aren’t discussed, and the fact of privilege is an unintended theme. One student’s father owns a catering firm and donates food and a tent for the performance; an adorable sevenyear-old who now lives in Beijing is flown in by his family so he can dance in the show.

What gives the film its heart are the kids’ passion and talent (a couple are extremely gifted). The adrenaline rush on performance night is palpable, and that footage is terrifically edited.

The jaunty score throughout is, of course, intermingled with snatches of Tchaikovsky, which should GLENN SUMI get you in the holiday mood.

mic and then follows the wraps the film around unfortunate musician as singer/songwriter she copes with her Davis, whose tunes self-centred boss are sweet enough (Jackie Torrens) and but who doesn’t ambivalent boyhave the acting friend (Stewart chops to bring Justine Legere) until a chance to life. Whenever the encounter with drumcharismatic Naomi mer Ruby (Stephanie ClatTanya Davis Blackhall-Butler appears in tenburg) wakes Justine up can’t bring a small role as a friendly creatively and emotionally. her character physicist, she only highto life.

The pacing meanders, the lights Davis’s deficiencies. plot is pedestrian and it’s It’s still a likable movie, cluttered with not very visually arand you do root for Justine. But resting twee animation.

Heartbeat is kinda bloodless.

The main problem is that writSUSaN G. COLE er/director Andrea Dorfman badly. The script divides itself awkwardly among three principals – Mark’s older brother David (Mark Ruffalo) also gets caught up in du Pont’s ambitions – and Miller drenches every scene in heavy portent.

All three leads wear distracting prosthetics, which work against Tatum and Ruffalo’s naturalistic performances and make

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

Carell’s precise, creepy turn as the self-absorbed, deluded du Pont seem far too obviously unhinged.

(At TIFF, I joked that Carell might be able to do what Andy Serkis never could: win an Oscar for playing Gollum.)

Some have argued that the makeup is accurate. And maybe it is, but that seems like a pointless argument when Vanessa Redgrave is right there, looking exactly like herself as du Pont’s imperious mother and showing us how powerful an unadorned performance can be.

Few movies are played on repeat in my house as much as the last Madagascar, Europe’s Most Wanted, an antic and infectious series peak. The kids can’t get enough of the neon colours, absurdist wit and singing along to Chris Rock’s Afro Circus. That tune along with the humour and Red Bull energy only make brief cameos in Penguins Of Madagascar, a deflated return to the franchise’s blah beginnings.

The spinoff focuses on the super-

smart and self-serving penguins, probably because the other zoo animals, voiced by Rock and Ben Stiller among others, wanted to leave on a high note.

So it’s up to Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon) and the cuddly Private (Christopher Knights) to step up from scenestealers to characters with an arc. They become derivative in the process.

While doing battle with a vengeful Octopus (John Malkovich), the mischievous penguins compete with an elite covert animal team headed by a wolf (Benedict Cumberbatch, who makes the most of not much). That plot keeps us busy but not necessarily entertained, since the action and the gags are all well worn, save for a hilarious Werner Herzog cameo in the proRadHEyaN SIMONpILLaI logue.

These Penguins won’t float your boat.

rom-com

Flirt failure WOMEN WHO FLIRT (Pang Ho-Cheung).

Subtitled. 96 minutes. Now playing. For venues and times, see Movies, page 74.

Rating: NN Lessons on mastering the sexy #selfie are among the few delights in Women Who Flirt. That makes this energetic but derivative Chinese rom-com about as functional as a BuzzFeed list, which is certainly no worse than a lot of its Hollywood counterparts.

The charming Zhou Xun stars as Angie. The Julia Roberts character in this movie’s My Best Friend’s Weddingtype scenario, Angie is in love with Marco (Huang Xiao Ming), but he only sees her as a bro because apparently he’s an idiot. There’s nothing stereo-

typically masculine about the fetching, delicate Angie, so Marco’s perception of her is just another reason why his character is thoroughly insensible – not to mention bland.

Angie’s obsessive affection for him is just as unconvincing. When Marco finds himself a bubbly new girlfriend, Angie ups her flirtation game by taking some amusing classes on seduction from her friends.

The supporting cast, headed by Sie Yi-Lin as Angie’s naughty confidante May, help the monotonous and often imbecilic relationship material fly by, with funny lessons on how to text horny, mimic the sound of a kitten and, of course, prep for those aforementioned Tinder-ready selfies, where the intricate pout of the lips has never seemed so meaningful.

RadHEyaN SIMONpILLaI

Sie Yi-Lin (left) teaches Zhou Xun how to flirt in uneven Chinese rom-com.

NORMaN WILNER

Channing Tatum (left) and Steve Carell wrestle with their prosthetics.

Ñ

= Critic’s Pick NNNNN = Top ten of the year NNNN = Honourable mention NNN = Entertaining NN = Mediocre N = Bomb

HHHH (HIGHEST RATING)

“A MESMERIZING MASTERWORK. ONE OF THE YEAR’S VERY BEST FILMS.

STEVE CARELL, CHANNING TATUM AND MARK RUFFALO GIVE THE PERFORMANCES OF THEIR LIVES. DIRECTOR MILLER HITS A NEW PEAK.” -Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

The New York Times

WINNER

BEST DIRECTOR CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

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CARELL

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TATUM

MARK

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FOXCATCHER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF

“M O N E Y B A L L” A N D “C A P O T E”

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS PRESENTS AN ANNAPURNA PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH LIKELY STORY A FILM BY BENNETT MILLER “FOXCATCHER” STEVE CARELL CHANNING TATUM MARK RUFFALO AND VANESSA REDGRAVE CASTING BY JEANNE McCARTHY, C.S.A. MUSIC SUPERVISOR SUSAN JACOBS MUSIC BY ROB SIMONSEN ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY WEST DYLAN THORDSON COSTUME DESIGNER KASIA WALICKA-MAIMONE EDITED BY STUART LEVY, A.C.E. CONOR O’NEILL JAY CASSIDY, A.C.E. PRODUCTION DESIGNER JESS GONCHOR DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY GREIG FRASER, ASC CO-PRODUCER SCOTT ROBERTSON EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS CHELSEA BARNARD RON SCHMIDT MARK BAKSHI MICHAEL COLEMAN TOM HELLER JOHN P. GIURA PRODUCED BY MEGAN ELLISON BENNETT MILLER JON KILIK ANTHONY BREGMAN WRITTEN BY E. MAX FRYE AND DAN FUTTERMAN DIRECTED BY BENNETT MILLER © MMXIV FAIR HILL LLC - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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71

Comedy

Gas leak CORNER GAS: THE MOVIE (David Storey). 95 minutes. Opens Wednesday (December 3). For venues and times, see Movies, page 74.

Rating: NN

Brent Butt (left) and Fred Ewanuick: rent the series instead.

Corner Gas: The Movie falls prey to the same problem as other sitcoms turned into features – Get Smart, The Flintstones and The Honeymooners spring to mind. What’s yummy as a halfhour snack turns tasteless as a full meal.

The original TV series (2004-2009) was about life in the tiny town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, where nothing much happens. Bored out of their minds, a collection of smart characters, idiots and loons engage in deadpan sarcasm, weird wordplay, escalating logic lapses and making mountains out of molehills.

At its best, it reached moments of inspired daffiness.

The movie version ditches that focus on the small, a source of much of Corner Gas’s pleasure, for a big story centered on the town’s imminent bankruptcy and destruction at the hands of a corporate giant.

The entire cast returns, headed by creator Brent Butt as the gas station owner, his idiot buddy Fred Ewanuick and Gabrielle Miller, who runs the diner. The characters generate some ANdREw dOwlER chuckles, but too many of the gags fall flat.

Superstars Johnny Depp and Kate Moss got big breaks from Michael White.

doCumentary

Star maker THE lAST IMpRESARIO (Gracie Otto). 92 minutes. Opens Friday (November 28).

For venues and times, see Movies, page 74. Rating: NNN

“GLITZY, GOSSIPY.”

“SUGARPLUM-SWEET.”

– The Hollywood Reporter

– LA Magazine

GETTING TO THE NUTCRACKER

THE LAST IMPRESARIO

Directed by Serene Meshel-Dillman

Directed by Gracie Otto

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Michael White’s name appears on a few dozen movies and TV and stage shows, but you likely have no idea who he is. Gracie Otto met him at a party in Cannes a few years ago, and she’s out to fix that.

Otto’s documentary The Last Impresario is a bouncy ride through White’s life and work, and there’s quite a lot of ground to cover. The English theatre producer brought Oh! Calcutta and The Rocky Horror Show to the London stage, was instrumental in the making of Monty Python And The Holy Grail and has for decades been a fixture on the European party circuit, a friend to everyone from John Cleese to Naomi Watts.

He’s basically the British version of Robert Evans, and Otto’s documentary is his The Kid Stays In The Picture – a testament to his wonderfulness that pulls back just enough so it never feels like full-on hagiography.

Otto (sister of actor Miranda) packs her film with candid interviews with major stars who feel White gave them their big break, but most of the commentary comes from White himself, who refuses to discuss his obvious physical frailty – which looks a lot like the result of at least one stroke – but is otherwise remarkably forthcoming.

It’s a fun, glamorous watch, and by the end you do get a sense of White’s considerable charisma, as well as an urge to pull out that Holy Grail DVD. NORMAN wIlNER

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november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

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THE EQUALIZER (Antoine Fuqua) reunites

Flick Finder

NOW picks your kind of movie DOC

FAMILY

FOREIGN

DRAMA

Playing this week BIG HERO 6

A 14-year-old robotics genius (voiced by Ryan Potter) upgrades himself, a handful of college-age scientists and a marshmallowy droid to battle a dangerous supervillain.

CITIZENFOUR

This must-see doc looks at how Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the U.S. National Security Agency’s secret data collection programs and the complicity of foreign governments.

FORCE MAJEURE

ROSEWATER

Jon Stewart’s feature directorial debut tells the story of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari (Gael García Bernal), who was arrested, detained and tortured by the Ahmadinejad government.

A picture-perfect Swedish family’s skiing vacay in the French Alps goes awry when the father panics in a moment of crisis. A wickedly funny dissection of bourgeois happiness.

CONTEST

How to find a listing

Movie listings are comprehensive and organized alphabetically. Listings include name of film, director’s name in brackets, a review, running time and a rating.

Reviews are by Norman Wilner (NW), Susan G. Cole (SGC), Glenn Sumi (GS), and Radheyan Simonpillai (RS) unless otherwise specified.

The rating system is as follows: NNNNN Top 10 of the year NNNN Honourable mention NNN Entertaining NN Mediocre N Bomb

Ñ= Critics’ pick (highly recommended)

Movie theatres are listed at the end and can be cross-referenced to our film times on page 77.

PICK OF THE WEEK

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (Miguel

Arteta) sticks to the spirit of Judith Viorst’s picture book while adding its own ingratiating material. After a disastrous day, Alexander wishes for his family to share his misfortune. They face disasters at work, the junior prom, driving tests and the school play, each more manic and derivative as the plot chugs along. 81 min.

NN (RS) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Colossus

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (Rowan Joffe) stars a quivering Nicole Kidman as an amnesiac who wakes up every morning next to a husband (Colin Firth) she can’t remember because of an accident (or attempted murrrderrr?). Director Joffe keeps things effectively tense and confusing, but with every reveal and explanation, the film becomes more hammy and ridiculous. 92 min. NN (RS) Yonge & Dundas 24 BEYOND THE LIGHTS (Gina Prince-Bythewood) is a love story about an English hiphop singer who falls for the Los Angeles cop who stops her going over a balcony.

They’re three-dimensional characters with compatible personalities, but the film puts increasingly silly obstacles in the way of their happiness. When the couple clicks, though, it still feels pretty damn good.

116 min. NNN (NW) Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñBIG HERO 6

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER After killing each other on a Vietnamese battlefield, two mortal enemies (Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren) are revived as genetically enhanced, lethally efficient super-soldiers, in this sequel-spawning sci-fi actioner.

Screening December 2 at 9pm – and don’t miss Van Damme vs. Seagal on now until January 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox!

tiff.net/versus

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

(Don Hall, Chris Williams) centres on 14-year-old robotics genius Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter), who “upgrades” himself and four college-aged scientists to battle an emerging super-villain. Directors Hall and Williams find new angles on the required action beats, but their real focus is on Hiro’s bond with his initial subject, a marshmallowy medical droid called Baymax (30 Rock’s Scott Adsit). The world in which it all takes place is a production designer’s dream. 108 min. NNNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (Alejandro González

Iñárritu) is a near-total fiasco from a filmmaker bent on impressing the world with his prodigious talent, a show-offy drama about a former superhero actor (Michael Keaton) making his Broadway debut by writing, directing and starring in a drama based on the stories of Raymond Carver.

It’s a godawful mess. 119 min. NN (NW) Eglinton Town Centre, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

THE BOOK OF LIFE 3D (Jorge R. Gutierrez)

is a phantasmagoric animated folktale centring on a love triangle between best friends who become gambling fodder for after-life gatekeepers. It’s an overpopulated, magnificent mess, where every intricate frame is nuanced and dazzling. 95 min. NNN (RS) Colossus

ñTHE BOXTROLLS

(Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable) are ghoulish-looking, sewer-dwelling creatures whose behaviour mimics that of raccoons (they rummage through trash) and Despicable Me’s Minions (they mumble and build stuff). They’re adorable, while the humans bent on exterminating them are ghastly. A hilarious visual treat from the Laika studio (Coraline, ParaNorman). 96 min. NNNN (RS) Fox, Revue

BOYHOOD (Richard Linklater) is the

ñ

best American movie I’ve seen in years – and one of the very best movies about America ever made, capturing the maturation of Texas kid Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from first grade through leaving for college. If I see another movie more ambitious, more honest or more illuminating this year, I’ll be stunned. 164 min.

NNNNN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre, Regent Theatre

ñCITIZENFOUR

(Laura Poitras) chronicles the eight days Edward Snowden spent in a Hong Kong hotel room with filmmaker Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald, where he blew the whistle on America’s secret data-collection programs and the complicity of foreign governments in those efforts. It’s as unnerving as any espionage thriller. Some subtitles. 114 min. NNNN (NW) Canada Square, TIFF Bell Lightbox

CORNER GAS: THE MOVIE (David Storey) 95 min. See review, page 72. NN (Andrew Dowler) Opens Dec 3 at Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñDEAR WHITE PEOPLE

(Justin Simien) is a vital, immediate comedy about contemporary attitudes toward race, gender and sexuality, set at a fictional Ivy League school where racial tensions are creeping toward a flashpoint. Social awareness can be fun! 108 min. NNNN (NW) Yonge & Dundas 24

DUMB AND DUMBER TO (Peter Farrelly,

Bobby Farrelly) settles for revisiting the inane toilet humour of the 1994 original.

The Farrellys don’t seem to realize that shit goes stale, too. Once again Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) go on a road trip while living up to the adjectives in the title, in a movie that does the same.

109 min. N (RS) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

the ever-formidable Denzel Washington with Training Day director Fuqua for a pulpy, sadistic big-screen update of a barely remembered 80s TV series. Up until the overheated climax, it’s even reasonably entertaining. 131 min. NNN (NW) Colossus

ñFORCE MAJEURE

(Ruben Östlund) follows a picture-perfect Swedish family’s skiing vacation in the French Alps, where the father (Johannes Kuhnke) panics in a moment of potential crisis, destroying his standing as benevolent patriarch and sending him into a spiral of self-justification. The deeper he digs, the funnier Force Majeure gets, and the more perceptive and uncomfortable it becomes.

Some subtitles. 118 min. NNNN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre, Regent Theatre, TIFF Bell Lightbox

FOXCATCHER (Bennett Miller) 134 min.

See review, page 70. NNN (NW) Opens Nov 28 at Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24 FURY (David Ayer) follows the crew of an American tank – among them Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman – making its way into Germany in April 1945. Director Ayer actively tries to top the brutality and gore of Saving Private Ryan, making it feel like a swaggering corrective to the old-fashioned pleasures of George Clooney’s recent The Monuments Men. Some subtitles. 134 min. NNN (NW) Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Colossus, Fox, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Yonge & Dundas 24 NUTCRACKER ñGETTING TO THENNNN

(Serene Meshel-Dillman) 98 min.

See review, page 70.

(GS) Opens Nov 28 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

ñGONE GIRL

(David Fincher) is a little cold, but that’s why Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network) is the perfect director for it, clinically dissecting what happens to a small-town bar owner (Ben Affleck) when his wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing on the morning of their fifth anniversary. Gone Girl feels machine-tooled in the best possible way, spotless and chilly and perfect. It’s exactly what this story and these characters require. 149 min. NNNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, Varsity

ñTHE GOOD LIE

(Philippe Falardeau) is being sold as a feel-good picture (about three Sudanese war survivors airlifted to Kansas City in 2001) along the lines of The Blind Side, but director Falardeau is far more interested in earning our empathy – and our tears – than in pandering to an American audience. Good for him. Some subtitles. 110 min. NNNN (NW) Canada Square, Revue

ñGOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 3D

(JeanLuc Godard) is not a masterpiece (in truth, it’s pretty much a mess), but it’s the work of a master who’s willing to reinvent the way we perceive narrative. Godard being Godard, he does this mostly in the service of banal conversations in which lovers in various states of undress yammer about philosophy and cultural theory in that uniquely French mode of intellectual exhaustion. Subtitled. 70 min. NNNN (NW) TIFF Bell Lightbox

HERMITAGE REVEALED (Margy Kinmonth) dutifully and unimaginatively recounts the history of the Russian institution, from its founding by Catherine the Great in 1764 to the present day, when contemporary art shares space with Old Masters and priceless antiquities. When some talking head discusses a Titian or Leonardo masterpiece, you’ll want to hit the mute button and get a close-up. Some subtitles.

82 min. NN (GS) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema THE HOMESMAN (Tommy Lee Jones) is a continued on page 76 œ

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NOW November 27 - december 3 2014

75

and Danish actor Kim Bodnia (Pusher) as his interrogator. 103 min. NNNN (NW) Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre, TIFF Bell Lightbox

Game Of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer sports a different look in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.

sT. viNceNT (Theodore Melfi) seems

œcontinued from page 74

flawed but fascinating study of despair on the American frontier, as a Nebraska settler (Hilary Swank) enlists a claim jumper (director Jones, who also co-wrote the screenplay) to take three women (Miranda Otto, Grace Gummer, Sonja Richter) who’ve suffered mental breakdowns back to civilization on the other side of the Missouri River. 122 min. NNN (NW) Canada Square, Yonge & Dundas 24

Horrible bosses 2 (Sean Anders) 108

min. See interview and review, page 69.

NNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

THe HuNdred-FooT JourNey (Lasse

Hallström) gives big fun to foodies. When family patriarch Om Puri opens a Bollywood-style eatery in a Gallic town across from the Michelin-approved resto owned

by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), intense competition ensues. There are no surprises but lots of pleasures: Puri and Mirren are obviously having a gas, and it’s literally a feast for the eyes. Prepare to want to eat afterwards. 115 min. NNN (SGC) Fox, Kingsway Theatre

THe HuNger games: mockiNgJay – ParT 1 (Francis Lawrence) keeps the fran-

chise in a holding pattern, focusing on Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) while she wrestles with whether she wants to be the Mockingjay, the public face of the rebellion against the Capitol and evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland). It’s very well made and Lawrence is riveting, as usual, but it’s all just set-up for the grand finale. 123 min. NNN (SGC) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

iNTersTellar (Christopher Nolan) is a

stunning visual accomplishment in service of a story that’s pretty dopey if you think about it for even a microsecond. Matthew McConaughey plays an astronaut-turnedcorn-farmer who pilots a mission into a wormhole in hopes of finding a new home for the human race, but director/co-writer Nolan undercuts the hard-SF premise with a weirdly goopy reliance on primal concepts like destiny and the power of love.

169 min. NNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

JoHN Wick (Chad Stahelski) stars

ñ

Keanu Reeves as the eponymous anti-hero, a retired assassin and recent widower who goes after the thugs who stole his car and killed the puppy his wife left him. First-time director Stahelski deftly shifts the tone from serious-minded character piece to full-on comic book excess. Some subtitles. 101 min. NNNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Carlton Cinema, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre

76

designed explicitly to win Bill Murray an Oscar, casting the beloved star as a cranky alcoholic whose hostile exterior masks deep sorrow and a heart of gold. But even as writer/director Melfi piles on the complications and contrivances, Murray refuses to condescend to them. 103 min.

NNN (NW) Canada Square, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

THe Judge (David Dobkin) is a slick, commercial package – but what’s inside is pretty solid, letting Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall go head to head in a fatherson drama wrapped up inside a contrived legal thriller about a hotshot lawyer defending his father from a murder charge.

Both actors are great, and Dobkin (who also co-wrote the story) foregrounds relationships over legalese at every turn. 143 min. NNN (NW) Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Fox, Scotiabank Theatre

ñTHe secreT Trial 5

(Amar Wala) tracks the experience of five immigrants to Canada who were labelled terrorists and detained without charges, let alone a trial, via the rarely used security certificate. They were never allowed to see the evidence against them. After the shootings on Parliament Hill, the dreaded security certificates are making a comeback, so the doc’s more timely than ever.

84 min. NNNN (SGC) Kingsway Theatre

keeP oN keePiN’ oN (Alan Hicks) is a pedestrian but likeable portrait of legendary jazz trumpeter and educator Clark Terry.

Tributes from the likes of Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones address the development of an individual voice in jazz. Terry’s contribution to this discussion is his emphasis on self-knowledge: that individual voice isn’t something you put on, but rather, through reflection and discipline, draw from deep within yourself. 86 min. NNN (NW) Carlton Cinema

THe THeory oF everyTHiNg (James

THe lasT imPresario (Gracie Otto) 92

min. See review, page 72. NNN (NW) Opens Nov 28 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

ñlove is sTraNge

(Ira Sachs) tracks lovers George and Ben, superbly played by Alfred Molina and John Lithgow, who are forced to live separately when they can no longer afford their Manhattan apartment. Sachs lets small gestures evoke the intimacy the two men miss so desperately. You won’t be on the edge of your seat, but you will get drawn in by the characters and their dilemmas. 94 min.

NNNN (SGC) Revue

loW doWN (Jeff Preiss) is the true story of junkie pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) and his daughter Amy-Jo (Elle Fanning), who spent much of 1974 living in a fleabag hotel in downtown L.A. They’re magnetic, fascinating actors who can hold the screen when nothing at all is happening.

The problem is that for much of Low Down, nothing does. 114 min. NN (NW) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre maPs To THe sTars (David Cronenberg)

takes Bruce Wagner’s satirical Hollywood novel and turns it into a flat, psychologically trite tale of absent parents and ruined children. There are some interesting ideas knocking around, but the script simply wanders back and forth between the characters with no real point or logic. 112 min. NN (NW) TIFF Bell Lightbox

THe maze ruNNer (Wes Ball) adapts a YA dystopia series about boys trapped in a mysterious area surrounded by a maze.

It’s monotonous, nonsensical, virtually humourless and oppressively grey. It only exists to set up the next one. 113 min. N (NW) Yonge & Dundas 24

THe meTroPoliTaN oPera – carmeN eNcore is a simulcast in high-def of the

Bizet opera in a new production by director Richard Eyre. Subtitled. 220 min.

Nov 29, noon, and Nov 30, 12:55 pm, at Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Yonge

mommy (Xavier Dolan) is the

ñ

Cannes prize winner and Canada’s foreign-language Oscar entry from precocious auteur Dolan, about a single parent (Anne Dorval) coping, barely, with the troubled, often violent son (Antoine Olivier Pilon) she loves. Operatic, beautiful and explosive, Mommy is wholly unpredictable. Dolan has turned into one of Canada’s best filmmakers. Subtitled. 139 min. NNNN (SGC) Fox

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

my old lady (Israel Horovitz) stars Kevin Kline as a penniless, middle-aged loser who travels to Paris to claim a sprawling apartment in the Marais bequeathed him by his dad. But under the viager system, the previous owner (Maggie Smith) and her daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) can still live there. The plot’s telegraphed in the first 10 minutes, but the stars are watchable. 107 min. NN (GS) Canada Square, Kingsway Theatre

NaTioNal THeaTer live: oF mice aNd meN – eNcore is a high-def broadcast of

the Broadway revival of Steinbeck’s classic drama, starring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd. 150 min.

Yonge & Dundas 24

ñNigHTcraWler

(Dan Gilroy) is a twitchy Los Angeles thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a creepy loner who worms his way into a career as a freelance videographer. His performance keeps you watching even as writer-director Gilroy’s slippery character study backs itself into a narrative corner. 117 min. NNNN (NW) 401 & Morningside, Canada Square, Carlton Cinema, Colossus, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre

oNe cHaNce (David Frankel) is a cheesy

but entertaining biopic about operatic tenor Paul Potts (James Corden), who achieved overnight success on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. The underdog story is anything but subtle, but Corden infuses his role with heart and pathos, and he and the bright-eyed Alexandra Roach (as his love interest) share a sweet, jokey, believable chemistry. 103 min. NNN (GS) Carlton Cinema

THe 100-year-old maN WHo climbed ouT THe WiNdoW aNd disaPPeared

(Felix Herngren) stars Robert Gustafsson as the titular hero, a former explosives expert who escapes from a seniors facility and finds a suitcase full of money belonging to drug dealers. The Forrest Gumpian conceit feels very old, and the scattershot attacks on historical figures make no distinctions between good and bad guys.

Worse, the pic’s not funny. Subtitled. 114 min. NN (SGC) Kingsway Theatre

ouiJa (Stiles White) is as flat as the titular board, from the stereotypical jump scares right down to the paper-thin premise, namely that five teens trying to contact a dead friend unleash a murderous spirit.

Ñ

The spook isn’t that scary, doesn’t get much screen time and doesn’t resonate in any way with the thoroughly characterfree kids. 90 min. N (Andrew Dowler) Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus

THe overNigHTers (Jesse Moss) is

ñ

an incredibly sympathetic portrait of Jay Reinke, a Lutheran pastor in North Dakota trying to shelter people drawn there by the promise of jobs in the fracking industry. Documentarian Moss structures it as a portrait of both an individual and a community, allowing everyone a point of view even when that point of view seems reactionary and ill-informed.

100 min. NNNN (NW) Kingsway Theatre

PeNguiNs oF madagascar (Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith) is a deflated return to the franchise’s blah beginnings, where the antic humour and infectious Red Bull energy of Europe’s Most Wanted make only brief cameos. This Madagascar spinoff focuses on those super-smart and selfserving penguins, who must step up from scene-stealers to characters with an arc, becoming derivative in the process. 92 min. NN (RS) 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande - Steeles, Humber Cinemas, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñPride

(Matthew Warchus) is an excellently played crowd-pleaser based on the true story of a London gay and lesbian grassroots organization that offers to support striking mineworkers against Margaret Thatcher’s vicious regime. It gets a bit too warm and fuzzy – bordering on manipulative – at the end, but this is an important story proving that activists with ingenuity can build improbable political coalitions. 119 min. NNNN (SGC) Carlton Cinema, Kingsway Theatre, Revue

ñroseWaTer

(Jon Stewart) finds first-time filmmaker Stewart tackling the story of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, whose appearance in a Daily Show segment about the 2009 Iranian election was a factor in his subsequent arrest, detention and torture by the Ahmadinejad government. It’s an assured, thoughtful and very moving debut, with fine performances by Gael García Bernal as Bahari

Marsh) takes the remarkable, complex story of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and imprisons it in the inspirational treacle of a disease-of-the-week movie about a young couple struggling with life-altering illness. Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones make it worth watching, but Anthony McCarten’s script sees them only as noble sufferers waiting for the next challenge. 123 min. NNN (NW) Beach Cinemas, Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, Cineplex VIP Cinemas Don Mills, Colossus, Eglinton Town Centre, Queensway, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24

ñTHis is WHere i leave you

(Shawn Levy) features a familiar premise – family reunites at a funeral – but director Levy’s got such a great cast (Jane Fonda as the matriarch, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Corey Stoll and scene-stealer Adam Driver as the children), he’s able to spin it into a pleasurably unpredictable comedy. 103 min. NNNN (SGC) Revue

ñTHe TriP To iTaly

(Michael Winterbottom) finds Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon and director Winterbottom reuniting for another grand tour of fine dining, conversation and deep human insight, this time knocking around a splendid series of hotels and restaurants in scenic Italy. Delightful. 108 min. NNNN (NW) Fox

uNder THe sea (Howard Hall) is a daz-

zling travelogue airily narrated by Jim Carrey, an alternative for those of us who can’t afford to go scuba diving off southern Australia. The mere 40-minute run time might make it a waste for those who have to travel just as long to see it. 40 min.

NNN (RS) Ontario Science Centre OMNIMAX

WHiPlasH (Damien Chazelle) is a battle of wills between a drummer (Miles Teller) who challenges a monstrous conductor (J.K. Simmons) for a potentially lifechanging spot in his school’s jazz orchestra. Teller and Simmons commit completely, but Chazelle’s plot twists grow increasingly ridiculous – to the point where the final act has the feel of a fever dream. I just couldn’t go with it. 106 min.

NN (NW) Kingsway Theatre, Varsity Wolves (David Hayter) is an inauspicious

directorial debut for superhero screenwriter Hayter (X-Men, Watchmen). The slapdash nature of the production suggests this doesn’t reflect his original vision, but it doesn’t seem like this werewolf-centric Twilight knockoff would ever have amounted to much. 91 min. N (NW) Carlton Cinema

WomeN WHo FlirT (Pang Ho-Cheung) 96 min. See review, page 70. NN (RS) Coliseum Scarborough, Yonge & Dundas 24

3

= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Top ten of the year nnnn = Honourable mention nnn = Entertaining nn = Mediocre n = Bomb

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Available for selected films: RWC (Rear Window Captioning) and DVS (Descriptive Video Service)

Downtown BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA (I) 506 BLOOR ST. W., 416-637-3123

AFRICAN GRANDMOTHERS TRIBUNAL: SEEKING JUSTICE AT THE FRONTLINES OF THE AIDS CRISIS Thu 7:00 EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL Wed 6:30, 9:15 GETTING TO THE NUTCRACKER (G) Fri, Sun 4:00, 6:30 Sat, Mon-Tue 3:30 GULABI GANG Tue 6:15 HERMITAGE REVEALED Thu 2:30 THE LAST IMPRESARIO (PG) Fri, Tue 9:00 Sat 6:00 SunMon 8:45 Wed 3:30 MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE Sat 9:30 PLAN B PRESENTS: B TRUE Mon 7:00 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (14A) Fri 11:30 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE: I DUE FOSCARI Sun 12:00 SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE ON SCREEN: HENRY V Sat 12:00

CAMERA (I)

1028 QUEEN ST W, 416-530-0011 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (PG) Sat 3:00

CARLTON CINEMA (I) 20 CARLTON, 416-494-9371

BIG HERO 6 (PG) 1:50, 4:10, 6:50, 9:15 BLOOD IN THE SNOW FESTIVAL 2014 Fri 7:00, 9:30, 9:45 Sat 4:00, 7:00, 7:15, 9:30, 11:59 Sun 1:45, 2:00, 4:00, 4:15, 6:45, 7:00 BOYHOOD (14A) Fri 1:05, 4:30 Sat, Wed 1:05 Mon-Tue 1:05, 4:30, 8:00 CENTRE FRANCOPHONE Mon 7:00 DOCUNIGHT Wed 6:30 DUMB AND DUMBER TO (PG) 1:35, 4:00, 6:55, 9:20 Sat 11:45 late FORCE MAJEURE (14A) Thu 1:30, 6:45 Fri-Wed 1:30, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15 FURY (14A) Fri-Wed 3:55, 9:30 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (18A) 1:30, 1:55, 4:00, 4:30, 6:45, 7:00, 9:05, 9:30 Sat 11:30 late JOHN WICK (14A) Thu 4:20, 9:20 Fri, Sun-Wed 1:40, 7:05 Sat 1:40, 7:05, 11:40 THE JUDGE (14A) Thu 1:15 KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON (PG) Thu 1:45, 7:10 LOW DOWN Thu 1:25, 4:05, 7:00, 9:30 METALHEAD (14A) Thu 3:35, 9:00 NIGHTCRAWLER (14A) Thu 3:45 9:25 Fri-Wed 4:05, 9:25 ONE CHANCE (PG) Thu-Fri, Tue-Wed 1:20, 6:40 Mon 1:20 PRIDE (14A) Fri-Wed 1:15, 6:55 ROSEWATER (14A) Fri, Tue-Wed 3:50, 9:10 Sun 9:10 Mon 3:50, 9:35 WILDSOUND FEEDBACK FESTIVAL Thu 7:00 WOLVES (14A) Thu 4:15, 9:30

REG HARTT CINEFORUM (I) 463 BATHURST ST., 416-603-6643

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Sun 5:00 BEGGARS OF LIFE Thu 6:45 THE BLACKBIRD Thu 9:30 CHARLIE CHAPLIN YEAR ONE Thu 9:00 HISTORY OF ANIMATION FROM EMIL COHL TO NOW Sun 2:00 KID DRACULA Sun 9:00 THE PERILS OF PAULINE Thu 6:00 PHLEGM: THE CINEMATIC WORKS OF JASON HAMMOND Sat 7:00 WHAT I EXPERIENCED WITH LSD Sat 11:55

ROYAL (I)

608 COLLEGE ST, 416-466-4400 EUROPEAN UNION FILM FESTIVAL Thu-Fri 6:00, 8:30 Sat 6:00 Sun 3:00

SCOTIABANK THEATRE (CE) 259 RICHMOND ST W, 416-368-5600

GONE GIRL (14A) Thu 12:20, 3:30, 10:30 Fri, Tue-Wed 11:50, 3:10, 6:30, 9:55 Sat 11:35, 3:10, 6:30, 9:55 Sun 12:40, 4:05, 7:25, 10:40 Mon 11:50, 3:00, 6:15, 9:30 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (18A) Thu 12:35, 2:25, 5:00, 7:45, 10:40 Fri, Sun, Tue-Wed 12:10, 1:35, 2:50, 4:30, 5:30, 7:10, 8:10, 10:10, 10:50 Sat 12:10, 1:30, 2:50, 4:30, 5:30, 7:10, 8:10, 10:10, 10:50 Mon 12:00, 1:40, 2:35, 4:30, 5:20, 7:10, 8:05, 10:10, 10:45 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 12:30, 1:00, 1:25, 1:50, 2:15, 2:40, 3:05, 3:30, 3:55, 4:30, 4:50, 5:15, 5:40, 6:05, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 7:55, 8:20, 8:45, 9:10, 9:35, 10:00, 10:30 Fri, Tue 11:50, 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 2:25, 3:00, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 5:50, 6:20, 6:40, 7:20, 7:50, 8:20, 8:45, 9:15, 9:35, 10:20, 10:50 Sat 11:00, 11:25, 11:55, 12:20, 12:50, 1:50, 2:20, 3:00, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:45, 5:20, 5:50, 6:20, 6:40, 7:20, 7:45, 8:20, 8:45, 9:15, 9:35, 10:20, 10:45 Sun 11:00, 11:50, 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 3:00, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 5:50, 6:20, 6:40, 7:20, 7:50, 8:20, 8:50, 9:15, 9:40, 10:20, 10:50 Mon 11:50, 12:15, 12:40, 1:05, 1:30, 1:55, 2:40, 3:05, 3:30, 4:00, 4:50, 5:30, 6:00, 6:25, 6:55, 7:45, 8:20, 8:50, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 10:45 Wed 11:50, 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 2:25, 3:20, 3:40, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 5:50, 6:40, 7:20, 7:50, 8:20, 9:10, 9:35, 10:20, 10:50 INTERSTELLAR (PG) Thu 1:40, 2:30, 5:25, 6:15, 9:00, 9:50 Fri, Tue-Wed 2:10, 6:10, 9:45 Sat 11:10, 2:40, 6:10, 9:50 Sun 2:20, 6:10, 9:50 Mon 2:10, 6:10, 9:40 INTERSTELLAR: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (PG) Thu 12:20, 3:40, 7:10, 10:40 Fri-Wed 12:00, 3:30, 7:00, 10:30 JOHN WICK (14A) Thu 2:00, 10:30 Fri, Tue-Wed 1:10, 4:10, 7:35, 10:20 Sat 12:10, 2:40, 5:00, 7:35, 10:20 Sun 12:00, 2:40, 5:00, 7:35, 10:20 Mon 1:20, 4:10, 7:25, 10:00 THE JUDGE (14A) Fri-Wed 12:30, 3:40, 6:50, 10:00 THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: CARMEN ENCORE Sat 12:00 Sun 12:55 NIGHTCRAWLER (14A) Thu 2:10, 4:50, 7:40, 10:20 Fri, Tue-Wed 12:00, 2:35, 5:15, 8:00, 10:40 Sat 11:45, 2:30, 5:10, 8:00, 10:35 Sun 11:50, 2:30, 5:10, 8:00, 10:40 Mon 2:20, 5:00, 7:55, 10:30

TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX (I) 350 KING ST W, 416-599-8433

2 X 50 YEARS OF FRENCH CINEMA (R) Sun 4:00 THE CHILDREN PLAY RUSSIAN (18A) Sat 4:00 CITIZENFOUR (PG) Thu 12:00, 2:30, 4:00, 7:15, 9:45 Fri 12:00, 3:00, 7:00, 9:30 Sat, Wed 12:00, 2:30, 7:15, 9:45 Sun 1:00, 3:30, 7:05, 9:35 Mon 6:45, 9:30 Tue 12:00, 2:30, 7:15, 9:55 DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (PG) Fri 6:30 ÉLOGE DE L’AMOUR (PG) Tue 6:30

EYES WIDE SHUT (R) Mon 9:15 FOR EVER MOZART (14A) Thu 6:30 FORCE MAJEURE (14A) Thu 1:00, 3:40, 6:20 Fri 12:30, 3:30, 6:20 Sat 12:30, 4:50, 6:20, 9:15 Sun 12:30, 4:50, 6:20, 9:00 Mon 9:45 Tue 2:00, 4:50, 6:20 Wed 1:00, 4:55, 6:45, 9:00 GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 3D (18A) Thu 12:20, 2:15, 5:30 HEARTBEAT (14A) Fri, Sun 12:20, 2:30, 7:30, 9:45 Sat, Tue 12:10, 2:20, 7:30, 9:55 Mon 7:30 Wed 12:30, 2:40, 7:30, 9:55 HISTORY OF THE WORLD: PART I (14A) Thu 8:45 KILLER’S KISS (PG) Sat 6:45 MAPS TO THE STARS (18A) Thu 3:30, 9:10 A PLACE IN THE SUN (14A) Sun 1:00 ROMEO & JULIET (PG) Fri 9:00 ROSEWATER (14A) Thu 12:30, 2:45, 6:45, 9:00 Fri 1:00, 3:15, 5:15, 9:10 Sat 3:50, 5:00 Sun 3:50, 6:45, 9:10 Tue 3:50, 5:00, 9:10 Wed 3:30, 5:00, 9:20 SPACEBALLS (PG) Sat 9:00 SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (PG) Sat 1:00 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (R) Tue 9:00

VARSITY (CE)

55 BLOOR ST W, 416-961-6304 BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (14A) Thu, Mon-Wed 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15 Fri-Sun 1:10, 4:15, 7:05, 9:55 FOXCATCHER (14A) Fri-Sun 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:25 MonWed 1:35, 4:30, 7:25, 10:25 GONE GIRL (14A) Thu 2:50, 6:00, 9:15 Fri 3:15, 6:25, 9:40 Sat-Sun 12:00, 3:15, 6:25, 9:40 Mon-Wed 2:50, 6:35, 9:45 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 1:00, 4:00, 7:20, 10:20 Fri-Sun 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:45 MonWed 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20 INTERSTELLAR (PG) Thu, Mon-Wed 2:45, 6:25, 10:00 Fri 3:25, 7:00, 10:40 Sat-Sun 11:50, 3:25, 7:00, 10:40 ST. VINCENT (14A) Thu 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:20 Fri 7:50, 10:20 Sat-Sun 12:20, 2:45, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Thu 1:10, 4:05, 7:00, 9:55 Fri-Sun 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 10:00 Mon-Tue 1:15, 4:05, 7:00, 9:55 Wed 12:45, 3:35, 9:55 WHIPLASH (14A) Thu 10:00 Fri 2:35, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05 Sat-Sun 12:10, 2:35, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05 Mon-Wed 2:05, 4:35, 7:05, 9:35

VIP SCREENINGS

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (14A) Thu 1:50, 4:25, 7:10, 10:05 FOXCATCHER (14A) Fri-Sun 1:00, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 MonWed 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 Fri-Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 Mon-Wed 12:45, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 INTERSTELLAR (PG) Thu, Mon-Wed 2:20, 6:00, 9:35 FriSun 2:20, 6:10, 9:50 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Thu 1:00, 3:40, 6:30, 9:15 Fri-Sun 12:40, 3:40, 6:35, 9:30 Mon-Wed 12:55, 3:40, 6:30, 9:15

YONGE & DUNDAS 24 (CE) 10 DUNDAS ST E, 416-977-9262

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (14A) Thu 8:40, 11:05 Fri-Sat 5:05, 10:50 Sun 5:05, 10:45 Mon-Wed 10:50 BEYOND THE LIGHTS (14A) Thu 8:10, 10:55 Fri-Wed 10:20 BIG HERO 6 (PG) Thu 4:40, 7:15, 10:00 Fri 1:40, 4:50, 7:30 Sat-Sun 2:00, 4:45, 7:30 Mon-Tue 2:00, 4:50, 7:30 Wed 7:30 BIG HERO 6 3D (PG) Thu 2:50, 5:30, 8:15, 11:00 Fri, MonWed 3:00, 5:45, 8:30, 11:15 Sat-Sun 12:10, 3:00, 5:45, 8:30, 11:15 BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (14A) Thu 2:35 5:20 8:20 11:10 Fri-Wed 2:30, 5:20, 8:20, 11:10 CORNER GAS: THE MOVIE Wed 1:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:30 THE DARK KNIGHT (14A) Thu 2:00 DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (14A) Thu 1:50, 4:25, 8:20, 10:55 Fri 3:15, 6:10, 8:45, 11:30 Sat 11:55, 3:15, 6:10, 8:45, 11:30 Sun 11:55, 2:45, 5:20, 7:55, 10:30 Mon 2:45, 5:20, 7:55, 10:30 Tue-Wed 5:20, 7:55, 10:30 DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART 2 (PG) Thu 8:25, 11:00 Fri 3:05, 5:40, 8:25, 11:20 Sat 12:25, 3:05, 5:40, 8:25, 11:20 Sun 12:25, 3:05, 5:40, 8:25, 11:05 Mon-Wed 8:25, 11:05 DUMB AND DUMBER TO (PG) Thu 1:30, 3:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 7:05, 9:15, 10:15 Fri 2:55, 4:00, 6:00, 7:05, 9:15, 10:15 Sat-Sun 12:05, 1:00, 2:55, 4:00, 6:00, 7:05, 9:15, 10:15

Mon-Wed 2:55, 6:30, 7:05, 9:15, 10:15 ELF (G) Fri 5:15, 7:30 Sat 12:45 Sun 12:45, 3:00 Mon 1:45, 7:15 Tue 4:45, 10:15 FOXCATCHER (14A) Fri-Wed 1:55, 4:55, 7:55, 10:55 FURY: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE (14A) Thu, Mon-Wed 1:45, 4:45, 7:50, 11:00 Fri 1:45, 4:45, 8:05, 11:20 Sat 1:30, 4:40, 7:50, 11:00 Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:50, 11:00 HAPPY ENDING (PG) Thu 1:45, 4:45, 7:50, 10:50 Fri 1:50, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50 Sat-Sun 1:45, 4:50, 7:50, 10:50 Mon-Wed 8:00, 11:00 THE HOMESMAN (14A) Thu 2:05, 5:05, 8:00, 10:45 Fri-Sat 2:05, 8:05 Sun 2:05, 8:00 Mon-Wed 8:05 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (18A) Thu 5:00, 8:00, 11:15 Fri 4:15, 7:30, 11:00 Sat 1:00, 4:30, 7:30, 11:00 Sun 1:00, 4:30, 7:30, 10:50 Mon-Wed 4:40, 8:10, 11:00 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 3:00, 4:15, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30, 10:45 Fri 3:00, 3:45, 4:45, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:15, 10:00, 11:30 Sat 12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:00, 11:30 Sun 12:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:00, 11:15 Mon-Wed 3:10, 4:00, 5:30, 6:40, 7:30, 8:50, 9:40, 10:40 INTERSTELLAR (PG) Thu 2:30, 6:00, 9:50 Fri 2:30, 6:30, 10:30 Sat 12:30, 2:30, 6:30, 10:30 Sun 12:30, 2:30, 6:30, 10:25 Mon-Wed 2:30, 6:10, 10:10 KILL DIL (PG) Thu 7:00, 10:10 THE MAZE RUNNER (PG) 7:40, 10:25 Fri 2:25 mat, 5:00 Sat-Sun 11:55, 2:25 mat, 5:00 NATIONAL THEATER LIVE: OF MICE AND MEN - ENCORE Thu 5:00 Fri 2:00, 9:45 Sat 3:00, 6:15, 9:30 Sun 5:30, 8:45 Mon 4:00, 9:30 Tue 1:45, 7:00 PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (G) Thu 1:35 Fri, Mon-Wed 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:00, 11:15 Sat-Sun 12:00, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9:00, 11:15 PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D (G) Thu 3:50, 6:05, 8:20, 10:35 Fri, Mon-Wed 3:30, 5:45, 8:00, 10:15 Sat-Sun 1:15, 3:30, 5:45, 8:00, 10:15 R.E.M. BY MTV Thu 8:15, 10:45 ST. VINCENT (14A) Thu 7:00, 9:40 Fri 3:35, 6:05, 9:05 SatSun 11:55, 3:35, 6:05, 9:05 Mon-Wed 6:05, 9:05 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (PG) Fri 3:10, 5:55, 8:40, 11:25 Sat 12:20, 3:10, 5:55, 8:40, 11:25 Sun 12:00, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15, 11:00 Mon-Wed 2:00, 5:15, 8:00, 10:45 WOMEN WHO FLIRT (PG) Thu, Sat-Sun 1:40, 4:05, 6:25, 8:45, 11:05 Fri, Mon-Tue 1:45, 4:05, 6:25, 8:45, 11:05 Wed 3:00, 5:20, 8:45, 11:05

Midtown CANADA SQUARE (CE) 2200 YONGE ST, 416-646-0444

SILVERCITY YONGE (CE) 2300 YONGE ST, 416-544-1236

BIG HERO 6 (PG) Thu 1:20, 4:10, 9:45 Fri, Mon-Wed 12:50 Sat 1:00 Sun 1:15 BIG HERO 6 3D (PG) Thu 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 Fri 3:50, 6:55, 9:45 Sat 4:00, 6:55, 9:45 Sun 4:10, 6:55, 9:45 Mon-Wed 3:40, 6:50, 9:30 DUMB AND DUMBER TO (PG) Thu 12:40, 3:20, 7:00, 10:30 Fri-Sun 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 10:25 Mon-Tue 1:25, 4:15, 7:40, 10:25 Wed 4:15, 7:40, 10:25 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (18A) Thu 1:10, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15 FriSun 12:10, 2:45, 5:25, 8:10, 10:00, 10:50 Mon-Wed 1:40, 4:30, 7:15, 9:15, 10:15 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 12:20, 12:50, 1:30, 3:20, 3:50, 4:30, 6:20, 6:50, 7:30, 9:20, 9:50, 10:30 Fri 12:20, 1:05, 1:50, 3:20, 4:05, 4:50, 6:20, 7:15, 7:50, 9:20, 10:15, 10:50 Sat 12:20, 1:50, 3:20, 4:20, continued on page 78 œ

Special Screenings AFRICAN GRANDMOTHERS TRIBUNAL: SEEKING JUSTICE AT THE FRONTLINES OF THE AIDS CRISIS Screening of the new film and

discussion. Nov 27 at 7 pm. $15 (benefits Stephen Lewis Foundation). Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor W. bit.ly/1sjsNzK. ALTHEA THAUBERGER (film) Preuzmimo Bencic. Nov 27-Jan 10, reception 7-9 pm Nov 27. Susan Hobbs, 137 Tecumseth.

416-504-3699.

CINEMA POLITICA: GULABI GANG Screening of Nishtha Jain’s film about a group of fearless women who fight gender violence in India. Dec 2 at 6:15 pm. $5-$10.

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor W. cinemapolitica.org/bloor.

DAY WITH(OUT) ART World AIDS Day commemorative film screening. Dec 1, every two hours between noon and 6 pm.

Vtape, 401 Richmond W #452. vtape.org.

EXPLODING ZEBRA BAD MOVIE NIGHT

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (PG) Thu 5:30, 7:30 CITIZENFOUR (PG) Fri 4:20, 7:00, 9:40 Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40 Mon-Wed 6:00, 8:30 FURY (14A) Thu 5:00, 8:00 Fri 7:00 Sat-Sun 1:20, 7:00 Mon-Wed 5:30 GONE GIRL (14A) Fri 3:40, 6:45, 9:50 Sat-Sun 12:30, 3:40, 6:45, 9:50 Mon-Wed 5:00, 8:10 THE GOOD LIE (14A) Thu 5:50, 8:20 THE HOMESMAN (14A) Thu 5:10, 8:10 Fri 4:30, 7:20, 10:00 Sat-Sun 1:50, 4:30, 7:20, 10:00 Mon-Wed 5:50, 8:20 THE JUDGE (14A) Thu, Mon-Wed 5:00, 8:00 Fri 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 Sat-Sun 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 MY OLD LADY (PG) Thu 5:20, 7:40 Fri 4:00, 6:30, 9:00 Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 9:00 Mon-Wed 5:10, 7:40 NIGHTCRAWLER (14A) Thu 5:40, 8:30 Fri-Sun 4:20, 10:00 Mon-Wed 8:30 ROSEWATER (14A) Thu, Mon-Wed 5:20, 7:50 Fri 4:40, 7:10, 9:30 Sat-Sun 2:00, 4:40, 7:10, 9:30 ST. VINCENT (14A) Fri 4:10, 6:40, 9:10 Sat-Sun 1:40, 4:10, 6:40, 9:10 Mon-Wed 5:40, 8:00

$15-$20. Nov 27 at 7 pm. Palmerston Library, 560 Palmerston. musictherapytrust. ca.

HANGING OUT IN DEEPHAVEN Video program. Nov 22-Dec 19, see website for times. Vtape, 401 Richmond W #452. vtape.org.

KEVIN COURRIER SPINS THE BEATLES Film clips and talk on this week’s topic: Helter Skelter: Counter Culture & Mysticism. Dec 1, 7-9 pm. $12, stu $6. Miles Nadal JCC, 750 Spadina. 416-924-6211 ext 606, mnjcc.org.

MT PLEASANT (I)

RECENT WORKS FROM COLLECTIF JEUNE CINÉMA Pleasure Dome screening of re-

675 MT PLEASANT RD, 416-489-8484 MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT (PG) 7:00 Fri-Sat 9:00 Sun 4:30

REGENT THEATRE (I) 551 MT PLEASANT RD, 416-480-9884

BOYHOOD (14A) Sun 2:15 FORCE MAJEURE (14A) Sat 3:30 Tue 7:00

Screening of Samurai Cop. Nov 30 at 7:30 pm. Free. Clinton’s, 693 Bloor W. explodingzebra.com.

THE GIFT OF MUSIC: STORIES OF MUSIC THERAPY Doc screening followed by discussion.

cent works curated by Filipe Afonso. Nov 28 at 7:30 pm. $8, stu $5. CineCycle, 129 Spadina. pdome.org.

WESTFRONT 1918 Screening of the 1930 film about four soldiers in WWI. In German with sub-titles. Nov 30 at 2 pm. Free.

Lambton House, 4066 Old Dundas. 416236-7427.

3

RAINBOW MARKET SQUARE (I) MARKET SQUARE, 80 FRONT ST E, 416-494-9371

BIG HERO 6 (PG) 12:20, 2:40, 4:55, 7:10, 9:25 Sat, Tue 11:50 late BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (14A) Fri, Mon, Wed 12:35, 3:35, 7:00, 9:35 Sat, Tue 12:35, 3:35, 7:00, 9:35, 11:30 Sun 12:35, 7:00, 9:35 DUMB AND DUMBER TO (PG) Thu 12:35, 3:35, 6:55, 9:15 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (18A) Thu 12:25 3:25 6:40 9:35 FriWed 12:25, 3:25, 6:55, 9:30 Sat, Tue 11:40 late THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 (PG) Thu 3:40, 6:45, 9:20 Fri, Sun-Mon, Wed 12:40, 3:40, 6:45, 9:20 Sat, Tue 12:40, 3:40, 6:45, 9:20, 10:50 INTERSTELLAR (PG) 12:30, 4:00, 7:30 Sat, Tue 10:45 PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (G) 12:45, 2:45, 4:45, 6:50, 8:55 STRANGE BREW BEER FEAST Sun 4:00

NOW NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014

77

movie times

Film Festivals Berkshire County is bloody good.

œcontinued from page 77

4:50, 6:20, 7:15, 7:50, 9:20, 10:15, 10:50 Sun 12:20, 1:50, 3:20, 4:50, 6:20, 7:15, 7:50, 9:20, 10:15, 10:50 Mon 12:30, 1:05, 1:50, 3:20, 4:05, 4:40, 6:20, 7:00, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 Tue-Wed 12:30, 1:05, 1:50, 3:20, 4:05, 4:40, 6:20, 7:00, 7:30, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 Interstellar (PG) Thu 12:00, 3:30, 7:10, 10:45 Fri-Sun 12:00, 3:30, 7:05, 10:45 Mon-Wed 2:10, 6:05, 9:40 the MetropolItan opera: CarMen enCore Sat 12:00 Sun 12:55 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Thu 12:30 Fri-Sun 12:00, 2:25, 5:00, 7:30 Mon-Tue 1:15, 3:50, 6:40 Wed 3:50, 6:40 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 3:10, 6:30, 9:00 Fri-Sun 12:40, 3:05, 5:40, 8:15, 10:35 Mon-Wed 12:30, 3:00, 5:20, 7:50, 10:10

Sat 11:20, 2:00, 4:30, 7:10, 9:35 Sun 11:30, 12:00, 2:00, 4:30, 7:10, 9:35 Mon-Tue 1:40, 4:10, 6:40, 9:10 Wed 4:10, 6:40, 9:10 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 8:00, 10:30 Fri-Sat 12:30, 3:00, 5:30, 8:00, 10:35 Sun 12:30, 3:00, 5:30, 8:00, 10:30 Mon-Tue 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:40, 10:10 Wed 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10 st. vInCent (14A) Thu 2:15, 4:45 Fri 2:20, 8:20 Sat 11:30, 2:10, 8:20 Sun 2:25, 8:20 Mon-Tue 2:20, 8:00 Wed 12:45 the theory of everythIng (PG) Thu 1:25, 4:20, 7:20, 10:05 Fri-Sat 12:10, 3:30, 7:40, 10:40 Sun 1:10, 4:00, 7:40, 10:40 Mon-Tue 12:30, 3:15, 6:10, 9:05 Wed 12:40, 3:40, 6:20, 9:45

Metro

Woodbine CenTre, 500 rexdale blvd, 416-213-1998

West End HuMber CineMaS (i) 2442 bloor ST. WeST, 416-769-2442

BIg hero 6 (PG) 3:40, 6:50, 9:15 Sat-Mon 1:30 mat duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 4:15, 6:50, 9:25 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) 4:00, 7:30, 9:55 Sat-Sun 1:30 mat the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 3:40 7:00 9:40 Fri-Wed 3:50, 7:00, 9:40 Sat-Mon 1:10 mat penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Thu 3:10, 5:20, 6:40, 9:00 Fri, Tue-Wed 5:20, 6:40, 9:00 Sat-Mon 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 6:40, 9:00

KingSWay THeaTre (i) 3030 bloor ST W, 416-232-1939

Boyhood (14A) 9:05 forCe Majeure (14A) 5:00, 9:05 the hundred-foot journey (PG) Thu 11:15 Fri-Wed 10:45 low down Sat, Mon, Wed 5:00 MaxIMuM overdrIve (14A) Fri-Sat 11:00 My old lady (PG) 3:15, 7:15 the 100-year-old Man who ClIMBed out the wIndow and dIsappeared (14A) Thu 3:30 Fri-Wed 3:00 the overnIghters (PG) Thu-Fri, Sun, Tue 1:45 prIde (14A) Thu 1:25 Fri-Wed 12:55 rosewater (14A) Thu 5:30 Fri, Sun, Tue 5:00 the seCret trIal 5 (PG) Sat, Mon, Wed 1:45 the two faCes of january (PG) 12:00 whIplash (14A) Thu 7:15 Fri-Wed 7:10

QueenSWay (Ce)

1025 THe QueenSWay, QeW & iSlingTon, 416-503-0424 BIg hero 6 (PG) Thu 12:10, 3:10, 6:10, 9:05 Fri-Sun 12:40, 3:40, 6:30 Mon-Tue 12:40, 3:25, 6:20 Wed 12:40, 3:20, 6:30 BIg hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 9:55 Fri 1:40, 4:40, 7:35, 10:30 Sat 11:00, 1:40, 4:40, 7:35, 10:30 Sun 11:00, 1:40, 4:40, 7:30, 10:25 Mon-Tue 1:20, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50 Wed 1:30, 4:20, 7:15, 9:55 Corner gas: the MovIe Wed 7:00 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 12:45, 12:55, 3:00, 3:40, 3:50, 6:30, 6:35, 7:15, 9:15, 9:20, 10:35 Fri 1:10, 2:45, 4:00, 6:00, 7:30, 10:15 Sat 12:00, 12:20, 2:50, 4:10, 6:00, 7:30, 10:15 Sun 12:00, 12:20, 2:50, 5:00, 6:00, 7:35, 10:15 MonTue 1:50, 2:50, 4:40, 6:00, 7:20, 10:20 Wed 1:50, 2:50, 4:40, 6:00, 7:25, 10:20 fury (14A) Fri-Sat 5:00, 10:50 Sun 5:00, 10:55 Mon-Tue 4:55, 10:35 Wed 9:30 gone gIrl (14A) Thu 3:25, 6:40, 9:45 Fri 12:00, 3:10, 6:40, 8:50, 10:10 Sat 11:50, 3:10, 6:40, 8:50, 10:10 Sun 11:55, 3:10, 6:40, 8:50, 10:00 Mon-Wed 2:00, 5:40, 8:50, 9:00 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 12:50, 2:50, 3:55, 6:00, 6:50, 9:00, 9:50 Fri 12:00, 1:00, 2:35, 3:15, 4:10, 5:15, 6:30, 7:00, 8:10, 9:20, 9:45, 11:00 Sat 11:40, 12:00, 1:10, 2:20, 3:15, 4:00, 5:15, 6:30, 7:00, 8:10, 9:20, 9:45, 11:00 Sun 11:45, 12:00, 1:00, 2:35, 3:15, 4:10, 5:20, 6:30, 7:00, 8:10, 9:20, 9:45, 10:50 Mon-Tue 1:10, 2:10, 3:15, 3:50, 5:05, 6:30, 6:50, 7:50, 9:20, 9:40, 10:35 Wed 2:10, 3:15, 3:50, 5:05, 6:30, 6:50, 7:55, 9:20, 9:40, 10:35 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 12:00, 12:30, 1:00, 1:30, 3:00, 3:30, 3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 7:40, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:20, 10:30, 11:00 Fri 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 3:20, 3:40, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:00, 7:20, 7:40, 7:50, 9:15, 9:50, 10:20, 10:25, 10:55, 11:00 Sat 11:05, 12:30, 12:50, 1:00, 1:20, 1:50, 3:20, 3:40, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:00, 7:20, 7:40, 7:50, 9:15, 9:50, 10:20, 10:25, 10:55, 11:00 Sun 11:05, 12:30, 12:50, 1:00, 1:25, 1:50, 3:20, 3:40, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:00, 7:20, 7:40, 7:50, 9:15, 9:50, 10:20, 10:45, 11:00 Mon-Tue 12:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 7:40, 8:30, 9:30, 10:00, 10:20, 10:30, 10:50 Wed 1:10, 1:40, 2:30, 3:30, 3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 4:30, 5:30, 7:00, 7:05, 7:35, 7:40, 8:30, 10:00, 10:20, 10:30, 10:50 Interstellar (PG) Thu 1:45, 2:00, 2:35, 5:30, 6:20, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20 Fri 2:00, 2:10, 6:00, 6:10, 9:50, 10:00 Sat 10:55, 2:00, 2:30, 6:00, 6:10, 9:50, 10:00 Sun 1:30, 2:00, 5:10, 6:00, 9:00, 9:50 Mon-Wed 12:50, 2:00, 4:50, 6:00, 8:40, 9:50 john wICk (14A) Thu 10:10 the lego MovIe (G) Sat 11:00 the MetropolItan opera: CarMen enCore Sat 12:00 Sun 12:55 nIghtCrawler (14A) Fri-Sun 9:25 Mon-Wed 9:20 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Fri 2:00, 4:30, 7:10, 9:35

78

revue (i)

400 ronCeSvalleS ave, 416-531-9959 the Boxtrolls (G) Sat-Sun 1:30 the good lIe (14A) Sat 4:00, 7:00 Sun 4:00, 7:00, 9:30 love Is strange (14A) Thu-Fri 9:30 pretty faCes Fri 7:00 prIde (14A) Thu 7:00 thIs Is where I leave you (14A) Sat 9:30

East End beaCH CineMaS (aa) 1651 Queen ST e, 416-699-1327

BIg hero 6 (PG) Sat-Sun 1:00 BIg hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 7:50, 10:20 Fri-Sun 3:45, 6:30, 9:15 Mon-Wed 6:30, 9:15 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 7:10, 9:50 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 6:50, 9:30 Fri 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Sat-Sun 12:45, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 Mon-Wed 7:00, 10:00 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 7:00, 7:30, 10:00, 10:30 Fri 3:30, 4:30, 6:45, 7:40, 9:40, 10:30 Sat-Sun 12:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 6:45, 7:40, 9:40, 10:30 Mon-Wed 6:45, 7:40, 9:40, 10:30 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Sat-Sun 12:00 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 6:40, 9:00 Fri 4:45, 7:30, 9:50 Sat-Sun 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, 9:50 Mon-Wed 7:30, 9:50 the theory of everythIng (PG) 7:15, 10:15 Fri 4:15 SatSun 1:15 mat, 4:15

big PiCTure CineMa gerrard (i) 1035 gerrard ST e, 416-466-3636

Beer fIlM festIval Three films –

Strange Brew (Nov 30), Beerfest (Dec 7) and The World’s End (Dec 14) – plus three breweries, over three Sundays with samples before the show. $9.50 per screening. Rainbow Cinemas Market Square, 80 Front E. rainbowcinemas.ca.

Nov 30 to Dec 14

Blood In the snow CanadIan fIlM festIval Showcase of contemporary

rainboW Woodbine (i)

BIg hero 6 (PG) 1:05, 4:05, 7:00, 9:30 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 12:50, 3:45, 6:45, 9:25 Fri-Wed 1:15, 3:50, 6:50, 9:45 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 1:10 3:50 6:50 9:40 FriWed 1:10, 4:00, 6:55, 9:40 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 12:45 1:00 3:40 3:55 6:40 6:55 9:35 9:45 Fri-Wed 12:40, 12:50, 3:40, 3:45, 6:30, 6:40, 9:20, 9:25 Interstellar (PG) Thu 12:55 4:30 8:00 Fri-Wed 1:00, 4:30, 8:00 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Thu 1:15, 4:15, 7:05, 9:20 Fri-Wed 12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:35

This week

blood in the snow fest reviews

Be very afraid...

Blood In the snow CanadIan fIlM festIval Friday through

ñ

Sunday (November 28-30) at the Carlton Cinemas (20 Carlton). See schedule at bloodinthesnow.ca. Rating: nnnn

I’m writing this on an unseasonably warm November day, but hopefully a bitter winter chill will return by the time the Blood In The Snow Canadian Film Festival takes over the Carlton Cinemas for three nights of homegrown horror. Okay, not “hopefully,” but you know what I mean.

Audrey Cummings’s Berkshire County (Friday, November 28, 7 and 9:45 pm) is a home-invasion thriller in the vein of The Strangers/You’re Next, starring Alysa King as the latest young woman to discover that babysitting on Halloween is a really terrible gig. It’s a vicious and effective genre project, and Cummings and screenwriter Chris Gamble spend an admirable amount of time on character development.

Chris Alexander’s Queen Of Blood (Saturday, November 29, 4 pm) is a follow-up to the filmmaker’s 2012 debut Blood For Irina that finds the immortal Irina (Shauna Henry) feeding in the wheat fields of the Old West, where she crosses paths with a wild-eyed preacher (Skinny Puppy frontman Nivek Ogre). Part prequel, part sequel and full-on homage to the moody Euro horrors Alexander grew up watching, it’s perhaps a little less effective than its predecessor, but if you’re tuned in to the Mario Bava/ Jean Rollin vibe, you’ll like what it’s doing.

Written by Pontypool’s Tony Burgess, Matt Wiele and Chad Archibald’s stripped-down sci-fi venture Ejecta (Saturday, 7 pm) crosscuts a found-footage horror movie with a tense psychological thriller, both focusing on a man (Julian Richings) who’s convinced he’s being controlled by an alien entity. Richings is great, and Pontypool’s Lisa Houle is nicely cast as his quietly sadistic antagonist.

horror filmmaking in Canada screens Massacre At Femur Creek, the BITS Short Film Showcase, Chris Alexander’s Queen Of Blood and more. $11, passes $30-$65. Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton. bloodinthesnow.ca.

Nov 28 to 30 BrazIl fIlM fest Brazilian cinema showcase features João Jardim’s biographical drama Getúlio, Pedro Asbeg’s documentary Black And White Democracy and more. $9-$14. TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King W. brazilfilmfest.net.

Nov 27 to 30 european unIon fIlM festIval Contemporary films from many countries reflecting the excellence, innovation and diversity of European cinema. Free ($10 adv). Royal Cinema, 608 College. eutorontofilmfest.ca.

To Nov 30

toronto serBIan fIlM festIval

Screening Joseph Sikorski’s Nikola Tesla: Tower To The People and films by Srdjan Koljevic, Arsen Dedic and others. See website for details. $16$26, festival pass $75. Regent Theatre, 551 Mount Pleasant. 647-608-4111, facebook.com/TorontoSerbianFilmFest.

Nov 27 to 30

Finally, I want to say nice things about Justin Decloux’s Teddy Bomb (Saturday, midnight), a goofy action-comedy about a doofus delivery boy (Christian Murdoch) chased around Toronto by balaclavamasked terrorists who want the cuddly time bomb he’s accidentally picked up. But despite some zippy Scott Pilgrim-style action, it’s far too long and awfully dopey. Toronto After Dark programmer Peter Kuplowsky makes a surprisingly charismatic villain, though – and it’ll probably play well with a midnight norMan wIlner audience.

propaganda Thu 7:00

Fox (i)

2236 Queen ST e, 416-691-7330 the Boxtrolls 3d (G) Sat-Sun 2:00 fury (14A) Fri 9:20 Sat 4:00, 9:15 Sun 4:00, 9:20 the hundred-foot journey (PG) Fri, Sun 7:00 the judge (14A) Thu 6:45 MoMMy (14A) Thu 9:30 the trIp to Italy (14A) Sat 7:00

North York CinePlex CineMaS eMPreSS WalK (Ce) 5095 yonge ST., 416-847-0087

BIg hero 6 (PG) Thu 4:30 Fri 2:00 Sat 11:15, 1:45 Sun 12:15, 2:40 BIg hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 7:15, 10:00 Fri 4:30, 7:00, 9:55 Sat 4:30, 7:15, 9:55 Sun 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 Mon-Wed 4:30, 7:15, 10:10 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 4:15, 7:10, 9:50 Fri 2:40, 5:15, 7:55, 10:30 Sat 5:15, 7:55, 10:40 Sun 6:10, 9:00 MonWed 4:20, 7:05, 9:40 gone gIrl (14A) Thu 3:50, 9:35 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 3:30, 7:30, 10:15 Fri 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 9:45, 10:05 Sat 2:00, 4:45, 7:35, 9:45, 10:10 Sun 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 9:50, 10:15 Mon-Wed 4:45, 7:35, 9:50, 10:15 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 4:20, 5:00, 7:20, 8:00, 10:20 Fri 2:10, 3:20, 4:55, 6:40, 7:45, 9:35, 10:40 Sat 12:30, 1:00, 3:20, 4:00, 6:25, 6:55, 9:35, 10:05 Sun 12:20, 1:00, 3:20, 3:55, 6:25, 6:55, 9:20, 10:00 Mon-Wed 3:20, 4:00, 6:20, 6:50, 9:20, 9:55 Interstellar (PG) Thu 4:00, 7:45 Fri 6:50, 10:25 Sat

november 27 - december 3 2014 NOW

12:35, 6:45, 10:20 Sun 12:30, 6:40, 10:20 Mon-Wed 6:00, 9:35 Interstellar: the IMax experIenCe (PG) Thu-Fri 3:30, 7:10, 10:45 Sat 11:50, 3:30, 7:05, 10:45 Sun 12:00, 3:30, 7:10, 10:45 Mon-Wed 3:00, 6:30, 10:05 the MetropolItan opera: CarMen enCore Sat 12:00 Sun 12:55 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Fri 2:30, 5:00, 7:20 Sat 11:30, 12:10, 1:55, 2:30, 5:00, 7:25 Sun 12:10, 1:15, 2:30, 3:45, 5:00, 7:20 Mon-Wed 5:00, 7:25 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 4:10, 6:40, 9:00 Fri 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:15 Sat 5:35, 8:05, 10:25 Sun 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Mon-Wed 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 st. vInCent (14A) Thu 7:05 Fri 3:45 Sat-Sun 4:10 MonWed 3:30 the theory of everythIng (PG) Thu 4:50, 7:35, 10:30 Fri 2:05, 4:50, 7:35, 10:20 Sat 11:20, 2:05, 4:50, 7:45, 10:30 Sun 2:05, 4:50, 7:45, 10:30 Mon-Wed 4:50, 7:45, 10:30

CinePlex viP CineMaS don MillS (Ce) 12 Marie labaTTe road, 416-644-0660

duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 3:30, 6:30, 9:15 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 3:00, 7:30, 10:45 Fri 4:30, 7:30, 11:00 Sat 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 11:00 Sun 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:30 Mon-Wed 4:00, 7:00, 10:30 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 8:45, 10:15 Fri 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 6:50, 8:40, 10:30 Sat 1:00, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, 6:50, 8:40, 10:30 Sun 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 6:30, 8:30, 10:00 MonWed 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 6:30, 8:30, 10:00 Interstellar (PG) Thu 2:00, 6:00, 9:45 Fri 1:30, 5:00, 9:20 Sat 12:30, 5:00, 9:20 Sun-Wed 1:30, 5:00, 9:00 the theory of everythIng (PG) Fri 3:00, 6:10, 9:50 Sat 12:00, 3:00, 6:10, 9:50 Sun 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:30 MonWed 3:00, 6:00, 9:30

onTario SCienCe CenTre oMniMax (i) 770 don MillS rd., 416-429-4100

great whIte shark Fri-Sun 12:00 huBBle Thu, Mon-Wed 1:00 Fri-Sun 3:00 the huMan Body Thu, Mon-Wed 12:00 Island of leMurs: MadagasCar (G) 11:00, 2:00 under the sea Fri-Sun 1:00, 4:00

SilverCiTy FairvieW (Ce)

FairvieW Mall, 1800 SHePPard ave e, 416-644-7746 BIg hero 6 (PG) 1:50 Thu 4:40, 7:30, 10:10 Sat 11:10 mat BIg hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 1:10, 4:10, 7:00, 10:40 Fri-Wed 4:35, 7:15, 10:10 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 1:40 4:30 7:20 9:50 Fri-Wed 1:40, 4:15, 7:00, 9:40 Sat 11:05 mat horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 2:20, 5:10, 7:50, 10:20 Fri 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 9:50, 10:20 Sat 11:30, 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 9:50, 10:20 Sun-Mon, Wed 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 9:50, 10:15 Tue 2:05, 4:40, 7:15, 9:45, 10:10 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:40, 7:10, 7:40, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 Fri 1:05, 1:30, 2:00, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:40, 7:10, 7:40, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 Sat 11:20, 12:50, 1:30, 2:00, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:40, 7:10, 7:40, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 SunWed 1:05, 1:30, 2:00, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:40, 7:10, 7:40, 9:20, 10:00, 10:20 Interstellar (PG) Thu 1:20, 5:00, 9:10 Fri-Tue 1:00, 3:20, 6:45, 9:10 Wed 3:20, 6:45, 9:10 the lego MovIe (G) Sat 11:00 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Thu 2:10 Fri-Tue 1:10, 4:30, 6:50 Wed 4:30, 6:50 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 4:25, 6:50, 9:20 Fri, Sun-Wed 2:20, 5:00, 7:30, 9:55 Sat 11:50, 2:20, 5:00, 7:30, 9:55

SilverCiTy yorKdale (Ce) 3401 duFFerin ST, 416-787-2052

Beyond the lIghts (14A) Thu 6:40, 9:30 Fri-Sun 10:05 Mon-Wed 9:50 BIg hero 6 (PG) Thu 1:10, 3:50, 6:30, 9:10 Fri, Sun 2:00, 4:40 Sat 11:10, 2:00, 4:40 Mon-Wed 1:10, 3:50 BIg hero 6 3d (PG) Thu, Mon-Wed 1:50, 4:40, 7:20, 10:10 Fri-Sun 12:00, 2:40, 5:20, 8:00, 10:40 duMB and duMBer to (PG) Thu 1:20, 4:10, 7:10, 9:50 Fri 2:15, 5:00, 7:40, 10:30 Sat-Sun 11:30, 2:15, 5:00, 7:40, 10:30 Mon-Wed 2:10, 4:50, 7:40, 10:20 horrIBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 2:10, 4:50, 7:40, 10:20 Fri, Sun 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 7:50, 9:50, 10:35 Sat 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 8:00, 9:50, 10:50 Mon-Wed 2:10, 4:50, 7:00, 7:45, 9:50, 10:30 the hunger gaMes: MoCkIngjay – part 1 (PG) Thu 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 10:00, 10:30 Fri, Sun 12:15, 1:10, 1:55, 3:10, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 10:20, 10:50 Sat 11:00, 1:10, 1:55, 3:10, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 10:20, 10:50 Mon-Wed 1:00, 1:30, 3:10, 4:00, 4:30, 6:20, 7:00, 7:30, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 Interstellar (PG) Thu 1:40, 3:00, 5:15, 9:00 Fri-Sun 11:45, 3:20, 7:00, 10:45 Mon-Wed 1:40, 5:30, 9:30 the lego MovIe (G) Sat 11:00 penguIns of MadagasCar (G) Thu 1:40 Fri 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:30 Sat-Sun 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15 Mon, Wed 2:25, 4:50, 7:15 Tue 2:25, 4:50, 7:10 penguIns of MadagasCar 3d (G) Thu 4:20, 6:50, 9:20 Fri-Sun 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Mon-Wed 1:40, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20

Scarborough 401 & MorningSide (Ce) 785 Milner ave, SCarborougH, 416-281-2226

alexander and the terrIBle, horrIBle, no good,

Very Bad day (PG) Thu 5:15 Fri, Tue 4:05 Sat-Sun 1:30, 3:50 Mon, Wed 5:25 Big Hero 6 (PG) Thu 5:05, 7:40 Sat 11:30, 2:00 Sun 2:00 Mon, Wed 5:05 Big Hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 5:35, 8:10 Fri-Sat, Tue 4:45, 7:35, 10:10 Sun 4:45, 7:20, 9:55 Mon, Wed 7:40 dumB and dumBer To (PG) Thu 5:25, 8:15 Fri, Tue 5:20, 7:55, 10:25 Sat 2:45, 5:20, 7:55, 10:25 Sun 2:10, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05 Mon, Wed 5:35, 8:15 gone girl (14A) Thu 5:10, 8:20 Fri-Sun, Tue 6:30, 9:40 Mon, Wed 8:00 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 5:30, 8:05 Fri, Tue 4:00, 5:10, 6:50, 7:45, 9:30, 10:20 Sat 12:15, 1:25, 2:20, 4:00, 5:10, 6:50, 7:45, 9:30, 10:20 Sun 1:25, 2:20, 4:00, 5:00, 6:50, 7:30, 9:20, 10:00 Mon, Wed 4:55, 5:40, 7:30, 8:20 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) Thu, Mon, Wed 5:00, 5:45, 7:50, 8:25 Fri, Tue 4:10, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30, 9:50 Sat 11:20, 1:15, 2:40, 4:10, 5:30, 7:00, 8:30, 9:50 Sun 1:15, 2:40, 4:10, 5:30, 7:00, 8:15, 9:45 inTersTellar (PG) Thu 4:55, 8:00 Fri, Tue 5:45, 9:15 SatSun 1:50, 5:45, 9:15 Mon, Wed 7:45 joHn Wick (14A) Thu 6:00, 8:30 Fri, Tue 5:25, 8:05, 10:25 Sat 2:50, 5:25, 8:05, 10:25 Sun 2:50, 5:15, 7:40, 10:05 Mon, Wed 6:00, 8:25 THe lego moVie (G) Sat 11:00 nigHTcraWler (14A) Thu 8:30 Penguins of madagascar (G) Fri, Tue 4:15, 6:40, 9:00 Sat 11:10, 12:00, 1:40, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00 Sun 1:40, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00 Mon, Wed 5:15, 7:35 Penguins of madagascar 3d (G) Thu 5:20, 7:55 Fri, Tue 4:55, 7:20, 10:00 Sat 12:30, 2:30, 4:55, 7:20, 10:00 Sun 2:30, 4:55, 7:15, 9:35 Mon, Wed 5:55, 8:10

Hilary Swank has a bee in her bonnet in The Homesman.

ungli Fri 4:00, 9:30 Sat-Sun 1:00, 3:30, 9:30 Mon-Wed 6:30, 9:30 Vanmam Fri 10:30 Sat-Wed 4:00, 10:30

GTA Regions North ColoSSuS (Ce) hWy 400 & 7, 905-851-1001

ColiSeuM SCarborough (Ce) SCarborough ToWn CenTre, 416-290-5217

Big Hero 6 (PG) Thu 12:50, 3:40, 6:20, 9:15 Fri, Mon-Wed 1:20 Sat-Sun 12:15, 1:20 Big Hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 1:35, 4:25, 7:10, 10:05 Fri-Wed 4:10, 7:05, 10:05 dumB and dumBer To (PG) Thu 2:10, 4:55, 7:40, 10:25 Fri-Wed 1:45, 4:35, 7:30, 10:20 gone girl (14A) Fri-Wed 3:00, 6:30, 9:55 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 1:25, 4:10, 7:20, 10:15 Fri, Sun 12:10, 1:50, 2:50, 4:45, 5:30, 7:25, 8:10, 10:10, 10:50 Sat 11:10, 12:10, 1:50, 2:50, 4:45, 5:30, 7:25, 8:10, 10:10, 10:50 Mon-Wed 1:50, 2:20, 4:45, 5:05, 7:25, 7:50, 10:10, 10:30 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) Thu 12:30, 1:00, 1:30, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 Fri-Sun 12:20, 1:00, 1:40, 3:20, 4:00, 4:40, 6:20, 7:00, 7:40, 9:20, 10:00, 10:40 Mon-Wed 1:00, 1:30, 3:20, 4:00, 4:30, 6:20, 7:00, 7:30, 9:20, 10:00, 10:30 inTersTellar (PG) Thu 2:30, 4:05, 6:25, 8:00, 10:10 FriWed 2:15, 6:00, 9:40 THe lego moVie (G) Sat 11:00 ouija (14A) Thu 3:00, 5:30, 8:05, 10:30 Penguins of madagascar (G) Thu 2:15 Fri-Sun 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:45 Mon-Wed 2:25, 4:50, 7:15, 9:45 Penguins of madagascar 3d (G) Thu 4:40, 7:05, 9:35 Fri, Sun 12:40, 3:05, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Sat 11:20, 12:40, 3:05, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Mon-Wed 3:05, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Women WHo flirT (PG) Thu 2:35 5:10 7:45 10:20 FriWed 2:30, 5:10, 7:45, 10:15

eglinTon ToWn CenTre (Ce) 1901 eglinTon ave e, 416-752-4494

Beyond THe ligHTs (14A) Thu 5:00, 7:45, 10:30 Big Hero 6 (PG) Thu 4:05, 6:50, 9:35 Fri 1:35, 4:15, 7:00

Sat 11:05, 1:35, 4:15, 7:00 Sun 1:30, 4:10, 6:55 Mon-Wed 3:50, 6:40 Big Hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 2:10, 4:45, 7:25, 10:10 Fri 2:15, 5:00, 7:40, 10:30 Sat 11:35, 2:15, 5:00, 7:40, 10:30 Sun 11:45, 2:25, 5:05, 7:50, 10:30 Mon-Wed 4:35, 7:25, 10:15 Birdman or (THe unexPecTed VirTue of ignorance) (14A) Thu 4:20, 7:20 Fri-Sat 9:45 Sun-Wed 9:35 corner gas: THe moVie Wed 7:00 dumB and dumBer To (PG) Thu 2:05, 3:55, 4:45, 6:55, 7:30, 9:40, 10:15 Fri-Sat 12:20, 3:00, 5:50, 8:30, 11:10 Sun 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:55 Mon-Wed 5:00, 7:45, 10:25 gone girl (14A) Fri-Sat 3:15, 6:40, 10:10 Sun 12:00, 3:20, 6:40, 10:10 Mon-Wed 3:35, 6:50, 10:10 HaPPy ending (PG) Thu 3:40, 6:45, 9:50 Fri-Sat 12:50, 3:55, 7:35, 10:55 Sun 11:55, 3:00, 6:20, 9:30 Mon-Tue 3:40, 6:45, 9:55 Wed 3:40, 6:30, 9:55 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 2:10, 4:55, 7:35, 10:20 Fri 12:10, 1:50, 2:50, 4:30, 5:30, 7:10, 8:10, 10:00, 11:00 Sat 12:30, 1:50, 4:30, 5:30, 7:10, 8:10, 10:00, 11:00 Sun 12:50, 1:45, 3:30, 4:25, 5:15, 7:05, 7:55, 9:50, 10:35 Mon-Wed 3:45, 4:45, 6:35, 7:35, 9:20, 10:20 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) Thu, Mon-Tue 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 Fri 12:25, 12:55, 1:25, 1:55, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 10:50 Sat 11:00, 12:25, 12:55, 1:25, 1:55, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 10:50 Sun 12:20, 1:20, 1:55, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 6:15, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45 Wed 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 5:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30

inTersTellar (PG) Thu 2:20, 6:00, 9:45 Fri 3:25, 7:05, 10:45 Sat 11:50, 3:25, 7:05, 10:45 Sun 2:40, 6:30, 10:20 Mon-Wed 4:20, 8:20 joHn Wick (14A) Thu 10:15 kill dil (PG) Thu 4:15, 7:10, 10:00 THe lego moVie (G) Sat 11:00 THe meTroPoliTan oPera: carmen encore Sat 12:00 Sun 12:55 Penguins of madagascar (G) Fri 12:00, 2:20, 4:45, 7:15, 9:40 Sat 11:15, 12:00, 2:20, 4:45, 7:15, 9:40 Sun 11:50, 2:10, 4:35, 7:00, 9:25 Mon-Wed 4:50, 7:15, 9:40 Penguins of madagascar 3d (G) Thu 2:50, 5:15, 7:40, 10:00 Fri-Sun 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Mon-Wed 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 sT. VincenT (14A) Thu 2:45, 5:20, 7:50, 10:25 Fri-Sat 1:40, 4:10, 6:45, 9:30 Sun 2:15, 4:50, 7:25, 10:00 Mon-Wed 3:55, 6:25, 9:15 THe THeory of eVeryTHing (PG) Fri-Sat 1:30, 4:35, 7:30, 10:40 Sun 1:35, 4:30, 7:30, 10:40 Mon-Wed 4:10, 7:10, 10:05

alexander and THe TerriBle, HorriBle, no good, Very Bad day (PG) Thu 3:15, 5:25, 7:40 Fri-Sat 1:15, 3:40, 5:50, 8:20 Sun 1:10, 3:15, 5:30, 7:40 Mon-Wed 3:15, 5:30, 7:40 THe BesT of me (PG) Thu 9:45 Fri-Sat 10:55 Sun-Wed 9:55 Beyond THe ligHTs (14A) Thu 5:30, 7:50, 9:55 Big Hero 6 (PG) Thu 3:45, 6:25, 9:10 Fri-Sat 12:35, 3:25, 6:00, 8:35 Sun 1:00, 3:35, 6:30 Mon-Wed 3:00, 3:30, 6:00 Big Hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 4:25, 7:05, 9:50 Fri-Sun 12:05, 2:40, 5:20, 7:55, 10:30 Mon-Wed 4:15, 7:15, 10:00 THe Book of life 3d (G) Fri, Sun 2:00 Sat 11:25, 2:00 corner gas: THe moVie Wed 7:00 dumB and dumBer To (PG) Thu 3:00, 5:00, 5:35, 7:45, 8:15, 10:15, 10:45 Fri-Sat 12:10, 12:40, 2:45, 3:15, 5:30, 6:00, 8:10, 8:40, 10:45, 11:15 Sun 12:00, 1:55, 2:35, 4:35, 5:10, 7:05, 7:45, 9:35, 10:20 Mon-Wed 4:35, 5:10, 7:05, 7:45, 9:35, 10:20 THe equalizer (18A) Fri-Sat 11:05 Sun-Wed 9:30 fury (14A) Thu 3:50, 7:15, 10:25 Fri-Sat 1:40, 4:35, 7:40, 11:00 Sun 1:05, 4:00, 7:00, 9:55 Mon-Wed 4:00, 7:00, 9:55 gone girl (14A) Thu 4:10, 7:20, 10:35 Fri-Sun 12:50, 3:45, 6:55, 10:10 Mon-Wed 3:45, 6:55, 10:10 HaPPy ending (PG) Thu 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 3:05, 5:40, 8:05, 10:40 Fri 12:00, 12:30, 2:50, 3:10, 5:15, 5:45, 8:00, 8:30, 10:40, 11:10 Sat 11:45, 12:30, 2:50, 3:10, 5:15, 5:45, 8:00, 8:30, 10:40, 11:10 Sun 12:10, 1:45, 2:50, 4:25, 5:25, 7:10, 8:00, 9:50, 10:40 Mon-Wed 3:00, 4:25, 5:30, 7:10, 8:00, 9:50, 10:40 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) Thu 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, 4:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 Fri 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 10:50 Sat 11:00, 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 10:50 Sun 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 1:50, 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45 Mon-Tue 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:20, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45 Wed 3:20, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 6:50, 7:20, 7:50, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45 inTersTellar (PG) Thu 3:10, 6:40, 10:10 Fri, Sun 2:30, 6:10, 10:00 Sat 11:05, 2:35, 6:10, 10:00 Mon-Wed 6:00, 10:00 inTersTellar: THe imax exPerience (PG) Thu 3:40, 7:10, 10:45 Fri-Sun 12:00, 3:30, 7:00, 10:35 Mon-Wed 3:30, 7:00, 10:35

joHn Wick (14A) Thu 3:05, 5:30, 10:40 Fri-Wed 4:40, 7:35, 10:05 THe lego moVie (G) Sat 11:00 nigHTcraWler (14A) Thu 10:35 ouija (14A) Thu 3:20, 8:25 Penguins of madagascar (G) 4:45, 7:15, 9:45 Fri, Sun 12:05, 2:25 mat Sat 11:50, 2:25 mat Penguins of madagascar 3d (G) Thu 3:55, 7:25, 10:25 Fri-Sun 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:05, 10:25 Mon-Wed 3:10, 5:35, 8:05, 10:25 THe THeory of eVeryTHing (PG) Fri, Sun 1:30, 4:30, 7:25, 10:15 Sat 1:45, 4:30, 7:25, 10:15 Mon-Wed 4:30, 7:25, 10:30

rainboW ProMenade (i)

ProMenade Mall, hWy 7 & baThurST, 416-494-9371 Big Hero 6 (PG) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:30 Birdman or (THe unexPecTed VirTue of ignorance) (14A) Fri-Wed 12:40, 3:55, 6:45, 9:25 dumB and dumBer To (PG) 12:55, 3:50, 6:55, 9:35 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu-Sun, Tue-Wed 1:05, 4:05, 7:05, 9:45 Mon 4:05, 7:05, 9:45 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) 12:50, 3:45, 6:50, 9:40 inTersTellar (PG) Thu 12:30, 4:05, 7:35 Penguins of madagascar (G) Thu 1:05, 3:55, 7:00, 9:20 Fri-Wed 12:45, 2:55, 5:05, 7:15, 9:25

West grande - STeeleS (Ce) hWy 410 & STeeleS, 905-455-1590

Big Hero 6 (PG) Thu 5:30, 8:05 Sat-Sun 11:50 Big Hero 6 3d (PG) Thu 4:55, 7:35 Fri 5:05, 7:50, 10:30 Sat-Sun 2:30, 5:05, 7:50, 10:30 Mon-Wed 5:15, 8:00 dumB and dumBer To (PG) Thu 5:10, 8:30 Fri 5:20, 8:10, 10:45 Sat-Sun 11:55, 2:40, 5:20, 8:10, 10:45 Mon-Wed 4:55, 5:10 fury (14A) Thu 7:50 gone girl (14A) Thu 4:50, 8:20 Fri 3:50, 7:00, 10:15 SatSun 12:15, 3:35, 7:00, 10:15 Mon-Wed 4:45, 8:25 HorriBle Bosses 2 (18A) Thu 5:35, 8:25 Fri 4:30, 5:25, 7:10, 8:05, 9:50, 10:45 Sat-Sun 12:05, 1:50, 2:45, 4:30, 5:25, 7:10, 8:05, 9:50, 10:45 Mon-Wed 4:50, 5:30, 7:35, 8:15 THe Hunger games: mockingjay – ParT 1 (PG) Thu 4:45, 5:15, 7:45, 8:15 Fri 3:40, 4:40, 6:40, 7:40, 9:40, 10:40 Sat-Sun 12:40, 1:40, 3:40, 4:40, 6:40, 7:40, 9:40, 10:40 Mon-Wed 5:00, 5:40, 7:50, 8:40 inTersTellar (PG) Thu 5:00, 8:00 Fri 3:30, 7:05, 10:35 Sat-Sun 11:45, 3:15, 6:45, 10:20 Mon-Wed 7:40, 7:55 joHn Wick (14A) Thu 5:25 Fri-Sun 9:45 Mon-Wed 7:45 Penguins of madagascar (G) Fri 4:50, 7:15 Sat-Sun 12:00, 2:25, 4:50, 7:15 Mon-Wed 4:45 Penguins of madagascar 3d (G) Thu 5:05, 7:25 Fri 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:10, 5:35, 8:00, 10:25 Mon-Wed 5:20, 8:20 3

WoodSide CineMaS (i) 1571 SandhurST CirCle, 416-299-3456

HaPPy ending (PG) Thu 4:45, 7:45, 9:00 Fri 3:30, 6:30 Sat-Sun 1:00, 6:30 Mon-Wed 3:30 kaaViya THalaiVan Fri, Mon-Wed 7:15, 10:30 Sat-Sun 1:00, 7:30, 10:30 kaTHTHi (PG) 7:00 Fri 3:30 mat Sat-Sun 4:00 mat kill dil (PG) Thu 4:45, 7:45

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drivers/delivery

RK’d Game — IT’S REALLY...KOOL?

By Matt Jones ©2014 Jonesin’ Crosswords editor@jonesincrosswords.com

33 34 35 39 40 42 43 45 46 47 50 53 54 55 58 62

Epps of “Resurrection” Inspiron maker Jane of “Glee” “Iron Man” Ripken Tile arrangements It may be golden Clue weapon Jimmy Carter’s alma mater, for short “Strange ___” Bus driver of classic TV Gangster called Scarface Inflatable pilot in “Airplane!”

Dry Shop-___ Part of USSR Indie band formed by

actress Jenny Lewis ___ Wafers He was Jim in “The Doors” Chopin exercise Former “The Voice” judge Green 69 Chicago trains 70 Big Apple NL player, for short 71 “Melrose Place” actor Rob DOWN 1 One of Stephen Baldwin’s brothers 2 Prefix with byte or flop 3 Role 4 Iron Man or Thor 5 Corrections are made in it 6 Card game for two 65 66 67 68

7 “Thanks ___!”

8 Dickensian setting 9 Sandwich made with a press 10 Barrett once of Pink Floyd 11 Bank caper 12 Family man?

13 Took a legal puff, in some states 19 Like smoochy faces 21 Late “SNL” announcer Don 25 Snarls, like traffic 27 “Electric” creatures 28 “I got a ___” (Charlie Brown’s Halloween line) 29 Bowie’s single-named wife 30 “Going Back to ___” (LL Cool J single) 31 Axl’s bandmate 32 “The Price Is Right” game 36 Revenge getter of film 37 Canadian Plains tribe 38 Kate Hudson’s mom Goldie 40 Intend 41 Food ___ : Portland, Oregon :: Food trucks : other cities 44 Role for Elijah 46 Low-budget flicks 48 Giddiness 49 Instantly 50 Do a Thanksgiving job 51 Popular font 52 Pharmacy inventory 56 Grad 57 Formally hand over 59 Westlife’s “If ___ You Go” 60 Cosmopolitan competitor 61 Art colony of the Southwest 63 Barbie’s significant other 64 “Still...”

solution in next week’s classifieds

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NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 3 2014 NOW

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Employment

Crossword Puzzle

ACROSS 1 Doing OK on the golf course 6 Stinging creatures 11 Basic shelter 14 Get moving 15 Calm, as fears 16 “Achtung Baby” co-producer Brian 17 Acted like a human 18 Tae kwon do move 20 It drives Persians crazy 22 “Enough already!”

23 Where Gilligan ended up 24 Small buzzer 26 Like Russian matryoshka dolls 28 Breakfast noisemakers

}

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Looking for a skills upgrade or second career that you can take pride in? Toronto Image Works offers full-time diploma programs in Digital Publishing and Web. » Instructor led » Small classes, hands on » Real world environment

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Research Studies Do you want to quit using MARIJUANA? We are looking for participants for a RESEARCH STUDY ON TREATMENT FOR MARIJUANA DEPENDENCE! In this study, we aim to determine whether a medication containing similar ingredients as cannabis, in addition to weekly therapy sessions with a psychologist, are effective for treating marijuana. Compensation for time and travel are provided if you participate in this study.

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Nicholas is a grade 11 student at the York School in Toronto. He is an avid rower, ski coach and even speaks 3 languages! In grade 6, at the age of 10, he started volunteering at Mid-Toronto Community Services. Motivated by the stories his brother would tell about his experiences as a Meals on Wheels volunteer, Nicholas decided to get involved by shadowing him on his deliveries.

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seniors and adults facing a multitude of issues including Alzheimer disease, cancer, heart disease, depression, HIV/ AIDS and numerous other physical and/or mental health problems.

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Nicholas’ advice for those looking to volunteer is to: “Choose something you enjoy because when you enjoy it, it’s an AMAZING experience.”

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To search for volunteer opportunities in Toronto, go to www.volunteertoronto. cawww.volunteertoronto.ca

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Savage Love

By Dan Savage

I’ve been exposed I am a bI male In my early 20s who

until recently was in the closet. I have been exploring my sexuality for the past year, and I didn’t want to label myself and open a Pandora’s box of oppression in the American South before I knew who I was for sure. I learned through my exploration that I have a few kinks and I have been acting on those kinks, seeing what I am and am not into.

I may have been too trusting, because someone I interacted with decided that he was having none of me. This person took it upon himself to find all the info he could about me, regarding kinks as well as my career and other aspects of my life, and compile it on a website.

He then sent links to several of my friends and family members. He never gave an explanation for why he was doing this.

My family has been very supportive, and the few close friends I’ve spoken to have been great. But how do I talk to other friends when I see them? My life is out in the open now. I’m trying my best to roll with it and become more comfortable with myself, but it is a struggle.

These people are close to me, and I value their friendship. I don’t believe they think poorly of me, but I am uncomfortable knowing that they’ve seen a part of me I was trying to keep somewhat compartmentalized. How can I approach the situation without making it more uncomfortable and awkward?

Outed And Unsure You’re in your early 20s, OAU, which means you would’ve been all of seven or eight years old way, way back in 1998. So the first thing I want you to do – before you talk to anyone about what happened – is google “Bill and Monica” and then read the first few stories that pop up.

Here’s the take-away from the Bill and Monica story: An out-of-control special prosecutor appointed to investigate the suicide of a White House aide wound up “exposing” a series of blow jobs that President Bill Clinton got from a White House intern. Problematic power differential, yes, but consenting adults just the same.

Politicians and pundits and editorial boards called on Clinton to resign after the affair was made public, because the American people, they insisted, had lost all respect for Clinton.

He couldn’t possibly govern after the blow jobs, the rimmings, the cigars, the semen stains and the denials (“I did not have sexual relations with that woman”). Clinton refused to resign and wound up getting impeached by an out-of-control GOP-controlled Congress.

(Forgive the redundancy: A GOP-controlled Congress is an out-of-control Congress, and an out-of-control Congress is a GOP-controlled Congress.)

But guess what? The American people weren’t pissed at Clinton. Clinton’s approval ratings shot up. People looked at what was being done to Clinton – a special prosecutor with subpoena powers and an unlimited budget asking Clinton under oath about his sex life – and thought, “Jesus fucking Christ, I would hate to have my privacy invaded like that.”

People’s sympathies were with Clinton, not with the special prosecutor, not with the GOPcontrolled/out-of-control Congress.

I promise you this, OAU: everyone in your life who has seen the website where that malicious piece of shit made your private and consensual sexual conduct public – everyone worth keeping in your life – had the same reaction that the American people had to the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton: “Jesus, I would hate to have my privacy invaded like that.”

Their sympathies are with you.

So how do you address this without making things more uncomfortable and awkward than they already are? By acknowledging the discomfort and awkwardness (D&A) that has already been created while simultaneously and subtly drawing attention to the fact that said D&A are not of your creation. The conversations you’re going to have with friends start

with this premise:you’ve been victimized by this asshole and so have they. Practise saying this: “You know more about my private life than you ever wanted to. I’m going to stuff it down the memory hole and pretend it didn’t happen. I hope you will, too.” You also might want to memorize and riff on these wise words from two other people who have been similarly victimized: “I started to [make] an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for.” – Jennifer Lawrence “The real problem here was not me sending my pictures to someone, but rather sending them to the wrong someone. The real travesty is a misplaced trust.” – Dylan Sprouse You too trusted the wrong person, OAU, and you don’t have anything to say you’re sorry for.

Look people in the eye when you speak about it – when you speak briefly about it – then change the subject.

Finally, check to see if you live in a state that has laws against revenge porn. If you do, lawyer up, call the cops and press charges.

neighbour have not been positive due to parking issues.)

To cut to the chase, we got in a screaming match that resulted in me slapping him. I really didn’t mean to. It just came out of my body, and I immediately regretted it. He asked me to leave the apartment, and I have been staying with my mom for the past few days. We agreed to stay away from each other until our next therapy session. If he shows up, I know he wants to give me a second chance; if not, I have to pack my shit and leave.

I guess what my question really boils down to is: Am I an attacker? Am I the female equivalent of a “wife beater”? Is there anything I can do to prove my regret and willingness to change? I love him with everything I have inside of me and I don’t want to lose him over such a stupid mistake.

Lost And Confused, Knowing I Need Guidance Couples who wind up in counselling before their first year together is up are, in my opinion, better off being counselled singly. By

which I mean to say, being counselled as singles, not as a couple.

We don’t have to be perfect to date, LACKING, but we do have to be in good working order. It doesn’t sound like either of you qualify. His abuse and abandonment issues, your selfesteem and anger issues: I think you both should address your issues in counselling – with separate counsellors – for your own sakes, not for the sake of this relationship. You get your shit together, he gets his shit together, and then you can either get back together or be in good working order for the next guy who comes along.

And finally, LACKING: one slap at age 20 – one that was instantly regretted, one that the slapper has taken full responsibility for (no bullshit claims that the slappee provoked you) – does not a lifelong abuser make.

On the Lovecast, Erika Moen and her sex-toy comics: savagelovecast.com mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter

Get help – but separately I’m a straIght 20-year-o ld wo man In

a relationship with a straight 30-year-old male. We have been dating for a year and living together for seven months. There is a lot of love, but there has also been a lot of arguing.

Our conflicts stem from issues of abuse and abandonment on his part and issues of poor self-esteem and anger on my part. We have started to go to couples counselling to address these issues and see what we can do to make it work. About a week ago, we got into a yelling match over his drinking (it’s constant and a lot) and over him arranging for me to go hang out with our downstairs neighbour to smoke weed with her. (My interactions with the

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