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God: A Play

Ally Jordan | Co-Editor — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:51 +0000

WHO: The Trinity College Dramatic Society

WHAT: Presents: God: A Play

WHEN: 8pm January 25-28, 2012

WHERE: George Ignatieff Theatre

Tickets
$10 adult
$5 student
general admission

Buy at www.uofttix.ca now!

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God: A play within a play about a play within a play.

Set in an Ancient Greek amphitheatre, God begins with a writer and an actor contemplating an ending for their play.

They soon realize that they are not in Ancient Greece, but in a University theatre in the present day.

Audience members become a part of the play, characters from other plays join in, and the line between theatre and reality is blurred as they all try to create something onstage with (literally) the help of theatrical devices from ancient greek theatre.

Stage, chorus, fates, ancient philosophy, and deux es machina, are affectionately torn apart in this comedy by Woody Allen.

Part parody, part postmodern, part satire, and part sincere, God is a hilarious and thought provoking picture of a play.

For more information, visit their Facebook group

All That’s In Between Point A and Point B: Thoughts on Undergrad

Danielle | Featured Blogger — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:00:35 +0000

Two things happened to me a few days ago that were ostensibly unimportant; but retrospectively striking.

The first thing that happened, was that a professor in a seminar I’m in this year asked the class, following our lively discussion of the week’s course material, what practical value we felt the course held, out of curiosity. At first, she was met with blank stares – this is, after all, a group of students taking a seminar, largely, I surmised, because this seminar so happened to be on an awesome topic. One student articulated this, noting that she was in the class out of academic interest – and what’s wrong with that, really? Undergrad would seem the time to learn about that which interests you, and not hesitate in that pursuit. There was some rambling about practical skills that could be gained from the course on my own part – and I maintain that beyond the value of the reading and assignments, any experience in a seminar setting has its own practical application – but it was agreed that it was a question perhaps worth returning to at the end of semester.

The second thing that happened, was that a cousin of mine, to whom I had recently sent a necklace I made in the mail, wrote on my Facebook wall thanking me for the jewelry. She added jokingly that perhaps I could make a career out of it – and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she meant that in the most complimentary, just-because-she-loves-the-necklace, not-at-all-related-to-the-value-of-my-undergraduate-degree sort of way. But still, it made me think. I absolutely love my program at U of T – I am beyond impressed with the amazingly precise, fascinating topics I have been able to study. But when I tell people what I’m studying, following a measure of curiosity, I am met with the question of what my plans are for after the completion of my degree. Will I need to find something else to make a career out of, when all is said and done? Will I end up doing something that is so far removed from my degree that these years won’t retain their meaning for me?

Which brings me to the present.

There is a certain preoccupation I have noticed for some time now with getting from point A to point B. Everything in life gets you from one point to another; everything is a trajectory. High school is a Point A that gets you to university, college, or whatever path you so choose or fall into – Point B. And the formula is easily applied specifically to university as well: undergrad is a Point A that can lead you to quite a selection of Point Bs: medical school, law school, graduate school, teacher’s college, straight into your career… There are many opportunities; but so far, in second-year, I don’t find that people (including third-years) have such a quick answer regarding what their plan is after undergrad, where as high school students seem to know their trajectory earlier on.

I’ve seen a lot of jokes lately on the internet and on television (notably on Daniel Radcliffe’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a hilarious and clever sketch called “You Can Do Anything”), poking fun at the age we live in for producing a generation that is ‘entitled’ in the sense of being encouraged to do anything we want, rather than forced into studying for obviously practical occupations. I do find it quite funny, and I think a lot of students share the sentiment that they can laugh at their lack of a clear trajectory or obvious practical application for their degrees. But that’s not to say that straight A science students who are obviously going to medical school, or political science majors who could have told you on your first day at U of T that they were going to law school, are any better than any other student, just because they have a very clear Point B.

A third thing happened to me, a few days ago. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, in a science program (but without a clear Point B as well), and she was telling me something really interesting she learned in a psychology class. It reminded me a lot of something I learned in a history class, which I then told her, and then we spent an hour or so discussing this historical anecdote I had offered in the context of this psychological phenomenon she had learned about.

Here’s what I’m getting at: there is a certain preoccupation with Point A and Point B – but for your undergrad experience to really resonate with you, you need to go beyond that line of thinking. This is a time to learn, so unique to any other academic experience you’ll ever have. This is about practical skills, certainly, and in any classroom at U of T, science, arts, engineering, you are guaranteed to gain those in one way or another, in the experience of attending lecture; taking notes; participating; writing, and so on. Of course, this is about Point B; getting the grades you need to get there, figuring out what you want that to be. But the essence of undergrad, as I see it, is developing a worldview; learning what your interests are and becoming a scholar in those fields; not just reading and writing about the world, but engaging with it, from whichever standpoint appeals to you. This is a time, more than to achieve high marks and get to the next step, to become intellectually actualized, establishing this new toolbox of knowledge that you can continually reference and build upon in your life.

U of T, for certain, is an excellent Point A; worth fully appreciating the pause, before rushing off to Point B. It’s not what you’re studying here, or where you’re going next, that makes your experience worthy: it is your engagement with your studies, the impressions that permanently mark your point of view; not the grades and the diploma and the plans you leave here with, but the person you leave here as.

TV in 2012

Louis Train — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:00:59 +0000

People always look at me with a hint of skepticism and disturbance when I tell them just how much television I watch on a weekly basis. It’s true that the amount is substantially higher than that of the average passing university student, but there’s also the generations-old stigma attached to television that calls it an inferior art form and insists it is essentially trashy. What these people don’t seem to realize is that over the past few years television has changed drastically. New shows like Breaking Bad and The Good Wife present all the drama, profundity, and depth of character of cinema while others like Community take full advantage of their self-aware medium and present smart, funny comedy on a weekly basis. With the end of the calendar year, mid-season schedule changes will replace old shows that were floundering in the ratings (among them Glee and, unfortunately, Community) with these new, exciting, television programs:

Bombgirls
Starting January 4
Following in the nostalgic-historic vein of Mad Men, Pan-Am and the now-cancelled Playboy Club, Bombgirls is a six part miniseries depciting the lives of several Canadian women who work at a munitions factory during World War II. Though billed as a drama that will explore discrimination and societal problems, advertisements and teasers show there will likely be a substantial presence of music, fashion, passion, and the like to appeal to an audience eager to romanticize about the past. Oscar nominee Meg Tilly will lead the program as one of the bomb girls.

Smash
Starting February 6
The long-anticipated Spielberg-produced TV musical Smash is about the cast and production team of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, set to music by Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) and starring Debra Messing (Will and Grace). Though production began years ago, its premiere will come just a few short months after Glee’s extended hiatus began, scooping up a dedicated fanbase eager for musical television melodrama. Smash‘s original music and lyrics and grown-up cast are likely to give it a very different vibe from Glee, however, so don’t expect it to be more of the same.

Apartment 23
Starting January 16
Originally called Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, this ABC sitcom centers around two contentious young women (roommates) and their quirky friends and neighbours. Currently airing programs that are more or less identical: 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, and I Hate my Teenage Daughter, which is to say nothing of the dozens of odd-couple sitcoms that have passed through the airways over the years. Perhaps Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad, Veronica Mars, 27 Dresses) can make the show stand out in the slew of otherwise similar sitcoms.

The River
Movies like The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Cloverfield, and Apollo 18 have popularized the found-footage genre of mock home videos in recent years and shown just how effective they can be for supernatural horror-thrillers. The River capitlizes on this idea as it purportedly shows the actual footage taken by a family and rescue crew searching for a lost father deep in the Amazon. Created by Oren Peli of Paranormal Activity fame and starring Joe Anderson from Across the Universe, The River has the distinct possibility of creating a new genre of found footage television.

Arctic Air
Starting January 10
Good Canadian television airs so infrequently that it is a rare treat that two such promising shows should be debuting in the mid-season. Like Bombgirls, Arctic Air is an hour-long Canadian drama. It focuses on the lives and missions of pilots flying supplies to remote communities across the north, and is centred in Yellowknife. Based on the stories of real pilots and adventures, Arctic Air will star TV veteran Adam Beach (Law & Order: SVU, Flags of Our Fathers) and promises to offer excitement and thrills or, at the very least, mild patriotic enthusiasm.

Other shows debuting this winter:

An animated TV series of Napoleon Dynamite
a suspenseful drama by J.J. Abrams called Alcatraz
a Texan comedy called GCB (Good Christian Bitches)
a quasi-supernatural thriller called Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland
a spin-off of Bones called The Finder
an action-drama called Missing
a legal thriller based on a John Grisham novel called The Firm

To keep up-to-date on TV even with all the changes, check out this wonderful and free TV calendar service, http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/, to create, customize, and export a calendar of when your favourite shows air.

The Student’s Theatre Budget: Revisited

Louis Train — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:09:18 +0000

Oscar Wilde once wrote: “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” What he did not regard, it seems, is how few of us actually get the chance to sense another human being doing their theatrical thing. Theatre has changed tremendously since it was a mandatory cultural practise in ancient Greece; it is now a luxury enjoyed only by those with the financial stability to afford expensive tickets – a category that rarely includes students. Fortunately, theatre companies across our fair city have made their art more accessible to us by providing discount tickets. Here is a breakdown of Toronto’s major theatre companies and what they do to make their tickets more affordable:

Factory Theatre
Location: 125 Bathurst Street (at Queen)
Cost: Pay-what-you-can
Caveat: Only on Sunday matinees, only certain shows, available only one hour before curtain, not guaranteed
The first company in Toronto dedicated exclusively to Canadian pieces, many a play premiered at Factory has gone on to enter the Canadian canon. 2011’s highlights included Ronnie Burkett’s breathtaking puppet show Billy Twinkle and a revival of the classic The Rez Sisters, one of many in a series of ‘colour-blind’ productions by director Ken Gass. Pay-what-you-can tickets are sold one hour before curtain, but are only for certain shows and only ever on Sunday. It’s always a good idea to call ahead to see if there are tickets still available and, if there are, to buy them: you may witness the birth of the next Canadian classic.

Theatre Passe Muraille
Location: 16 Ryerson Avenue (At Bathurst and Queen)
Cost: Pay-what-you-can
Caveat: Only Saturday matinees, only certain shows, available only at box office, not guaranteed
One of Toronto’s oldest and most innovative theatre companies, Passe Muraille often appeals to students due to their productions’ willingness to take risks and stray from tradition. Sunday matinees are pay-what-you-can at the box office, but get there early before they’re sold out. In 2012, be sure to check out the premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Marina Nemat’s Prisoner of Tehran.

TOtix / hiptix
Location: Yonge-Dundas Square / online
Cost: Varies
Caveat: Varies
TOtix is Toronto’s answer to New York’s TKTS, a service that offers discounted tickets to plays throughout many of the city’s theatre companies. Their website is updated weekly with new discounts, but many are for one date only and sell fast, so be sure to check regularly. Some discounted tickets are available only in person at their box office at Yonge-Dundas Square.
Hiptix is a service for students aged 15 – 29 that can be accessed through TOtix. It offers severely discounted tickets for shows across the city – usually $5 plus tax, but occasionally up to $15. This is the cheapest way to get tickets to plays at companies that do not otherwise offer student prices or more accessible tickets, and should be taken advantage of in the fullest. The sales record or receipt of any purchase made through TOtix should be printed out and brought with you to the theatre, along with the credit card with which you paid for them and valid ID.

Soulpepper Theatre Company
Location: Young Centre for the Performing Arts in the Distillery District
Cost: $5
Caveat: Available only one hour before curtain, not guaranteed, requires ID (21 and younger)
Soulpepper is one of Toronto’s fastest growing theatre companies, and for good reason: their productions are consistently excellent. 2011’s highlights included a brilliant production of Death of a Salesman and the world premiere of Double Bill: e.e. cummings in Song / Window on Toronto, as well as setting a Canadian record by mounting nine simultaneous shows in June. Rush tickets are only $5 for students (compared to $60 prepaid full price tickets) and require presentation of a valid student ID. Most shows will not be sold out, but some, such as 2010’s A Christmas Carol, are sold out for their duration. Productions to check out in 2012: Kim’s Convenience, Speed-the-Plow, Endgame, and the triumphant return of Death of a Salesman.

Hart House Theatre
Location: Hart House
Cost: $10
Caveat: Requires valid student ID, only Wednesday evenings, not guaranteed unless purchased online through uofttix
Located in the centre of our fair St. George campus, Hart House Theatre’s annual mix of Shakespeare, contemporary drama, and Broadway musicals draws in a nice crowd of students, alumni, and the theatre-going public at large. Student tickets are $10 on Wednesdays, but only $15 on other days of the week if you can’t make it for the full discount. 2011 hits included Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Macbeth; 2012 will see Cabaret and The Night of the Iguana.

Tarragon Theatre
Location: 30 Bridgman Avenue (at Bathurst & Dupont)
Cost: $12
Caveat: Only on Sunday matinees and Friday evenings, only certain shows, available only one hour before curtain at box office, not guaranteed
Fans of the Oscar-nominated Incendies might be fascinated to know that its English-language premiere occurred at our very own Tarragon Theatre, located in a renovated cribbage-board factory just north of the old midtown rail-road tracks. Tarragon mounts about as many original plays as it does established, so don’t be surprised to see experimental pieces nestled in among the classics on its calendar. $12 rush tickets are available for most shows on Fridays and Sundays one hour before curtain, but they go quickly. In 2012, look for the English-language premiere of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs.

Canadian Stage Company (CanStage)
Location: 27 Front Street East / 26 Berkeley Street
Cost: $12.50
Caveat: Requires ID (29 and younger), not guaranteed unless purchased online
The only company on this list that offers guaranteed student-discount tickets for pre-order, CanStage is also one of the largest theatre companies in Toronto. Their two locations – the massive Bluma Appel Theatre on Front Street and the smaller Berkeley Street Theatre – offer shows simultaneously, so there’s always a selection. When ordering online, simply enter the code you receive upon registration in the promotional codes box and all prices will be reduced to $12.50. 2011 highlights included Another Africa and Red; 2012 will bring, among others, Beckett: Feck It! and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park.
CanStage also offers pay-what-you-can tickets to Monday performances beginning at 10:00 AM on the day of. Availability of these tickets is subject to change.

In a city as large, diverse, and artistic as Toronto, naming every theatre company is a nearly-impossible task. Those mentioned above are some of the city’s largest (excluding DanCap and Mirvish, which are notoriously student-unfriendly) but there are many more: Obsidian Theatre Company, Clay and Paper Theatre Company, Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, Acting Up Theatre Company, Studio 180 Theatre Company, Second City Comedy Club, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Company, Nightwood Theatre Company, and many more. Some of them offer student discounts to select shows and some do not, but all offer exceptional programming and are worth checking out if you are able.

Lip Dub Teaser # 2

Ally Jordan | Co-Editor — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:00:51 +0000

We have the second official teaser for the University of Toronto Lip Dub. Check it out below and let us know what you think:

Avoiding Exam Stress with On-Campus Events

Danielle | Featured Blogger — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:44 +0000

I can feel it in the air – that distinct sense of shifting, as students are handing in their last essays and attending their last few lectures; the end of the semester is finally approaching, and as usual, it looks gruesome. The exam period – not only the actual writing of the tests, but the process of studying – overnights at Robarts, rewriting and rereading, cue cards, highlighters, coffee, sweatpants, snow, slouching – is just around the corner. It’s not a pretty time for U of T students, but it’s always laced with the comforting knowledge that winter break, that brief pause in our otherwise non-stop academic year (pardon me – there was that oh-so-satisfying “micro reading week”) where we might do a bit reading for year-long courses, but mostly can sleep, breathe, eat, and do all those other things that normal, non-U of T students do regularly and might consider, in fact, necessary to human survival.

I’m hoping to maintain my peace of mind during exam season this year, and while I know those moments of panic are unavoidable, there are certainly a lot of opportunities on campus for students to relax and defeat the stress plague, if only momentarily.

Hart House offers a variety of programs to soothe the stressed student:

Massage Mondays – Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Free massages, because U of T knows – you deserve it.
Lunchtime Crafts – Personally, I find arts and crafts to be really relaxing – though, of course, I have never produced anything presentable. Distract yourself with a little A&C, and who knows, maybe you will produce a great work!
ThursTeas – Enjoy a warm cup of tea at Hart House while chatting with some new friends or reading a (non-school related, perhaps) book.
Let Shakespeare distract you with the production of Macbeth playing at Hart House Theatre until November 26.
Jazz at Oscars – This free event every Friday night brings all sorts of different music to the Hart House Arbor Room. Be entranced by live music to distract yourself from stress. The monthly Sunday concert in the Great Hall might also be of interest.

It’s difficult for students to keep up exercising during exam time, but sometimes going to the gym is exactly what you need to wake you up and keep you studying productively. Both the Athletic centre and Hart House offer a wide variety of drop-in fitness classes. The AC has free yoga among its repertoire, certainly a relaxing pastime.

The Multi-Faith Centre offers a variety of yoga and meditation courses over the term, designed to help you relax and find peace of mind.

The Angela Grauerholz exhibit is still on the University of Toronto Art Centre until November 26, and the centre remains open until December 10, for your perusing pleasure. Take your mind off exams by taking a brief tour through this great U of T resource.

Every Friday night at Innis Café, story tellers come deliver tales for “1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling”, a tradition which has been running since 1978. A well-told story could be just the right thing you need to wind down and distract yourself from the looming stress of exams. Innis Town Hall also has inexpensive movies playing throughout the exam period, which may also serve as a welcome distraction.

Exam period is one I clearly characterize as bleak, but I think there are definitely ways to limit your stress. You do yourself a disservice by climbing under a pile of books in a library for a week and not facing the light of day until you are forced to enter the outside world in order to walk to your exam destination. Taking some time during the exam period to not study for exams will make the time you spend studying all the more productive. It’s always a pleasant feeling to realize that the world is going on when you feel like it’s ending, so allow yourself to bear witness to that comforting truth by taking a break. Whether it’s a yoga class, or just a walk around our beautiful campus, indulge yourself this exam period, if only for a moment.

Blog Abroad, Paris: Bus No. 29

Raha Francis | EFUT — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:00:09 +0000

Sunday afternoon, I was working on my PolEthics essay. Then I looked out my window and realized it was beautiful outside and the sun was setting. A little thought crept in my ear. I grabbed it and ran… literally. I dropped my book, grabbed my coat, and ran out the door. I was fighting the sunset! Booked it to the metro and then to station St. Lazare to catch Bus no. 29. Why? I heard that Bus 29 from St. Lazare had the most beautiful bus route in all of Paris. I also heard that this would be the sunniest day in weeks. I somehow had forgotten about both of those things and remembered them at that moment, which was why I had to drop my books and chase the sunset.

I just sat on the bus on the gorgeous fall evening, looking out the window, to see where in Paris it would take me. I soon noticed that the inside of the bus was just as interesting as the outside… in a good way. Here is my jotted-down list of the things I saw:

Resto: Pharaon (a really cool-looking French diner)
Musée: Fragonard (a perfume museum – my mother would get a headache)
Resto: Café de la Paix (swanky)
A monument
Winding streets
Librairie: de la Mode (ooh)
Magasin: Y’s (really cool coats)
Dépot Ceramique
The staple fashionista stores: Cop-copine, Naf Naf, some Shoebizz store… all that jazz
Magasin: Kabuko (very cool-looking coats)
L’ethnospecialiste (huh?)
Resto: Madame Tomate (nice couches)
A random office that looked like it was from the future. I think there was an architect working on a blueprint inside. It looked like the guy’s desk was on a second floor with the glass showing both the first and second floor, but it was the size of a room with the bottom floor completely empty.
Behind me: ”Il bosse. Il bosse pas énorme, mais il bosse.” ”Hmm.”
A young woman sitting beside us: Short brown shiny bob with bangs. Big black scarf wrapped around forever, until just below her lips. Dark eyeshadow, shiny levres. Leather jacket, of course.
A tiny girl schoolgirl with an amelie haircut, cute black-red plaid jacket, black boots tied up, and little black socks. Adorbz. I think she was playing musical chairs
Magasin: Antoine et Lili. I’d seen it before. LOVE. so bright, so colorful!
Magasin: Tepetto? Repetto? Lepetto? I don’t know, but a cool-looking store. The first letter of its name was a little too cool-looking, though
Sandro. Nice stuff. Maaaaan.
Musée Picasso. (ooh)
Another monument. Oh, at the Bastille!
A philosopher’s bookstore (I stopped by after getting off. So cute.)

23. No inhibitions, naked curiosity, a beautiful city.

Raha loves being the only tourist on free bus tours.

-
Raha Francis is a an economics and philosophy undergraduate at the University of Toronto. She is spending her third year abroad, studying in Paris. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact her at raha.francis@utoronto.ca.

Exploring The Used Book Stores Around Campus

Danielle | Featured Blogger — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:24 +0000

As we struggle under the generous heaps of academic reading that we are all forced to endure as students, I find it becomes easy to excuse casual reading at the end of a day of studying. Prior to university, I used to go through more books than I could afford in my spare time. Prior to owning a laptop, for that matter, I used to read every night before bed without fail. I found especially in first-year that I dismissed non-academic reading with the excuse that, after all my reading for my classes, I simply didn’t have it in me to pick up another book at the end of the day, no matter the content. It was much easier to pick up my laptop and watch a show or peruse a day’s worth of tweets.

This year, I decided to reinstate my reading habits in favour of twittering, tumblring, and so on. In the pursuit of this cause, I decided to go on an inexpensive book-buying binge which led me to explore the various used books stores we are lucky enough to have around campus in search of gems for my night-time reading. Based on my exploration, I offer this informal guide to used book stores around University of Toronto campus, for night owls, overachieving essay researchers, commuters seeking subway reads, and, of course, book-lovers here at U of T.

Willow Books, 333 Bloor St. West

Tucked next to the Bata Shoe Museum, this visually unimposing bookstore is very easy to miss as one is bustling along Bloor Street. The book selection of this literary trove, however, is hardly reflected in its lacklustre store front. Willow Books boasts a vast collection of books at fantastic prices. Their fiction section has plenty of classics and a hefty amount of modern literature as well. As the signs on the shelves explain, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, they probably have it in storage. The store also has nonfiction books on a wide range of topics, anthologies, and otherwise. This is the type of bookstore where you find all those books you’ve been meaning to read for years, at five dollars each. The top shelves have the fancy, expensive editions that are a pleasure to behold for any booklover but certainly unaffordable. Exercise caution, though, as many of the books from this store are more heavily used. While a used book can be just as good as a new one, and some might say better citing the added charm, some of these books were clearly previously used by students and are covered in markings that are more bothersome than endearing.

Seekers Books, 509 Bloor St. West (Downstairs)

Seekers Books has a noteworthy range of classic and modern titles among its assortment of used books. This store has a unique selection in terms of niche reading on obscure topics, and is a great place to scout material for ambitious essay researchers. The staff is helpful and warm, and the store is more spacious than others of its kind so you’re not stepping on fellow shoppers as you look for books. The book selection at Seekers will satisfy the hippie in you, but isn’t quite as thorough as others on this list.

Ten Editions Bookstore, 698 Spadina Ave

Ten Editions is marked by an appealing exterior featuring a display window that draws in the curious book-lover at first glance, as compared to the more subtle storefronts of many of the other noted used bookstores. Ten Editions boasts an interesting array of editions and a diverse selection of books, as well as an intriguing collection of old postcards and travel booklets. There are also $2.00 books at the front of the store to peruse if you’re feeling lucky, though the odds of finding a prize in this pile are not in your favour.

BMV Books, 471 Bloor Street West

BMV Books is a beloved staple of Bloor Street and the largest book store on this list. It is by far the most visually imposing, and its big windows out onto Bloor Street differentiate it from the other used book stores on this list in a refreshing way. In other words, BMV Books feels less like a basement or library, and more like a regular book store that happens to be selling used editions – and though some may find this openness an advantage, others who are perhaps more romantic may prefer to suffer for their used finds in dusty dens. That sense of being a normal book store permeates with the books being sold, which are high-quality books that usually aren’t too marked up, but have a low price and minor flaws to indicate they are used. BMV offers not only books, but also CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, comics and magazines. It’s a well-organized store with friendly staff and really reasonable prices, as well as a lot of different, eye-catching editions alongside paperbacks that won’t cost you your life’s savings. The first floor holds fiction, with modern titles, classics, poetry anthologies, and a noteworthy Canadian literature section. The first floor also has a lot of the non-fiction titles, including the art section with its many impressive and cheap coffee table books. The second floor, which is filled with how-to guides, history books, and a youth section, also has 3 for $10 books that are definitely worth browsing with a lot of recognizable names on the shelves. These are often displayed outside the store as well. BMV Books has plenty of selection for those looking for something specific, but is also a great place to start searching for used books with its wide, high-quality selection and large, bright space.

If I’ve made a criminal omission, I assure you it is entirely accidental, and encourage you to include it in the comments!

Adventures in Productive Procrastination: The Angela Grauerholz Exhibit at UTAC

Danielle | Featured Blogger — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:00:03 +0000

Angela Grauerholz La bibliothèque (The Library), 1992, printed 1993 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

It was a dreadfully rainy afternoon and I was out for coffee with a good friend of mine who happens to be an Art History major. Our moods were dampened by the wet weather as we exchanged laments about long lectures and relentless readings. The second-week-of-school-slump was upon us, and was only made more dreary by the grey skies.

For a few days before this meeting, my friend had been asking me to go with her to a photography exhibit on campus. I had said yes noncommittally, like you say yes to a parent’s pleas to walk the dog or mow the lawn. As our coffee date was wrapping up, she implored me to attend the exhibit with her, and my strong desire to procrastinate at that particular moment in time prompted me to comply.

So we huddled under her umbrella and walked to the University of Toronto Art Centre to see the current exhibition, Angela Grauerholz: The Inexhaustible Image. Organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, this exhibit contains the diverse works of the Montreal-based artist. The first room presents the artist’s personal collections of books, some related to photography, and her own photographs of paperbacks.

As you progress through the exhibit, there are rooms filled with her photographs, including portraits of women and images of fountains, paperbacks, and libraries, among other subjects. One room displays a sort of bookshelf which has black frames that can be pulled out to reveal photographs of doors, window views, and household scenes. While my friend carefully examined each image, I was interested (on a far more immature level) on just pulling out all the frames for the fun of it.

Another room, dubbed by the artist as the ‘Reading Room for the Working Artist’, projects a multimedia film titled ‘At Work and Play’ which flashes images of suburban settings, people, and books, while the music changes from creepy carnival tunes to relaxing piano songs. Also on display in this room is a futuristic looking chess set and seating and books for, presumably, the artist at work.

To provide full disclosure, I do not feel that I am entirely qualified to critique this exhibit from the point-of-view of a seasoned art historian such as my friend, who paid close attention to detail and will surely write a report for her class that delves into the deeper themes and subtleties of the artist’s intentions and the meanings of the works, which will be a far cry from this post. This stated, I found the exhibit to induce a somehow surreal feeling; as my friend commented afterwards in our discussion of what we had seen, the images flashed before you begin to feel like memories of your own. The exhibit is meant to be a reflection on time, memory, and collections, and it doubtlessly succeeds in putting such concepts at the forefront of your thoughts as you peruse it.

As I walked through the exhibit with the slow saunter which all museum-goers seem to adopt, I felt relaxed and somehow aged. The photographs and displays, emphasizing tones of blacks, whites, and reds, all attribute to a general mood of melancholy and dazedness. The title of the exhibit, The Inexhaustible Image, seems entirely true to its content, for the images seem themselves to be infinite moments in time.

Although, again, my qualifications to review an art exhibit are limited, I found this to be an enlightening experience. The exhibit was filled with images that any obscurity-loving Toronto hipster would drool over, and was an interesting and beautiful rumination on time and memory that served as a perfect diversion from the perils of being a student at the University of Toronto, especially when the weather is a rainy reflection of your own work-related misery. My friend and I left the exhibit thoroughly distracted and in somewhat of a dream-like state, a testament to the worthiness of this artistic venture by Angela Grauerholz, which one does not have to be an art history major to enjoy (although, I’m told, it doesn’t hurt).

The Angela Grauerholz exhibit is open at the University of Toronto Art Centre in University College until November 26, 2011. For further information about the exhibit and the Art Centre (and all the other wonderful things it has to offer including the permanent Malcove exhibit), see http://www.utac.utoronto.ca.

The Canadian National Exhibition

Jess | Featured Blogger — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 17:57:25 +0000

The Canadian national Exhibition (also known as the CNE and The Ex) is an annual event in Toronto. Although ticket prices tend to rise a bit each year, it’s something that I’ve enjoyed since childhood, and has become a tradition in my family. Since The Ex always takes place just before school starts, it’s a great way to mark the end of the summer holidays. Everyone should make an effort to go, whether it’s just once (to say that you’ve had the experience), or every year.

When is the Ex happening this year?

August 19th to September 5th.

What is there to do at The Ex?

There’s tons of stuff to see and do at the CNE, including:

A variety of shows featuring cowboy trick riding, figure skating, and cultural song and dance
The World Market, which features booths that showcase cool stuff from all around the world
The Home Living Market – you can buy a sauna!
The Arts and Crafts Market – browse (and buy!) cool jewellery, dips and jams, wind chimes, and tons of unique trinkets
Carnival rides
Carnival food – the usual corn dogs, cotton candy, and Tiny Tom doughnuts are always available (but why not try a Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger instead?)
A kids playcentre
A horticultural contest and gardening market – look at some spectacular blooms and gardens, and check out the annual flower competition
Parades
Last, but not least, the Labour Day air show!

Where can I get tickets to The Ex?

You can get tickets at the door but, if you want to avoid the lines and save a little money, some retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws usually have discounted tickets. You can also buy discounted tickets online before opening day here.

How do I get to the The Ex via public transit?

Take the 509 Exhibition streetcar from Bathurst or Union Station and it will take you right to the entrance of the Ex. Or, you can take the GO train to Exhibition station.

Let’s go to the Ex!