On Friday the 29th, Hot Docs, North America’s largest and most important documentary festival, revved up for its 17th year. In the past, documentaries have been stigmatized as boring, staid, and educational in the worst “this is a bad 50′s educational school video” sense. However, reality is indeed often weirder than the more popular and box office-grossing fiction.

As each permutation of reality unfolds on tabloid websites, increasingly for better or worse, documentaries have continued to give greater depth and context to both the sensational and the often-forgotten. Documentaries have become better, more potent, diverse, and engaging than ever. Hot Docs as a festival has also evolved, becoming an event for world and Canadian debuts of new and challenging films while increasingly trying to dispel the unglamorous past of documentaries by reaching out to younger viewers.

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There is only less than a month left before the beginning of the new school year. Here is what you must do to make the most of it before you are cooped up in your room studying while there’s a blizzard outside:

a) spend lots of time outside
b) wear sandals with shorts on every possible occasion
c) eat lots of frozen desserts
d) attend some of these events below

Taste of the Danforth
I hear there are free samples, and beer (but not free).
When: Aug 7 – 9
Cost: Free
Where: Along the Danforth, of course
Website: tasteofthedanforth.com

Toronto Festival of Beer
For those beer connoisseurs.
When: Aug 7 – 9
Cost: $45 – $50
Where: Exhibition Place
Website: beerfestival.ca

Outdoor screening of Gladiator
This movie won 5 Oscars, apparently.
When: Aug 11 @ 8:30pm
Cost: Free
Where: Yonge-Dundas Square
Website: ydsquare.ca

Toronto After Dark Film Festival
An awesome film festival of horror and sci-fi movies. Check out my reviews from last year: Home Movie and Let the Right One In. The latter is actually being remade in English!
When: Aug 14 – 21
Cost: $10 – $15
Where: Bloor Cinema
Website: torontoafterdark.com

Outdoor screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Arrrrr (pirate sound)…. Bring a blanket and some snacks.
When: Aug 18 @ 8:30pm
Cost: Free
Where: Yonge-Dundas Square
Website: ydsquare.ca

The CNE
I discovered that watching people play games is as fun as playing them yourself, with the added bonus of not losing tons of money.
When: Aug 21 – Sep 7
Cost: $15 for General Admission (but $1.75 on opening day!)
Where: Exhibition Place
Website: theex.com

Buskerfest
Street performance at its best, plus the money they raise goes to Epilepsy Toronto.
When: Aug 27 – 30
Cost: Donate what you can
Where: St. Lawrence Market
Website: torontobuskerfest.com

So have you decided where you are going to be for the … eh… second most important election this year? The election I am referring to in that so blatantly stolen line from the zeitgeist and The Hour, is of course the American election.  Whether or not we are willing to admit that the election on November 4th is the one most people have been looking forward to, it is generally agreed that this election is one of the most important in U.S. history. With Senator Obama being the first African American presidential candidate and America’s economy, not to mention world image, in collapse many people have their eye on the result of this election as a turning point which will determine the future direction of America.

After the jump, read about 3 great ways to watch the results as they come in, and mark this momentous occasion.
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Boo!!! It’s almost Halloween!  In a couple of days, on Friday none the less, it will be that time of year again when “normal” people have implicit permission for one night to be someone or something else, and to stretch their boundaries. That sense of freedom of possibility and unhinging of all rules is what makes Halloween one of the most interesting if not enjyable holidays.

In that spirit, the adored cult movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show , is playing at the Bloor Cinema. This classic Transylvanian tale about a transvestite host named Dr. Frank-N-Furter, who throws a party with an assortment of strange and hilarious guests that an unsuspecting couple crash when they get stranded at the host’s massive dark mansion, is almost indescribable in its effect. It is a flamboyant, unapologetic musical that has sprung favourite sing-a-long songs like the Time Warp. If you’ve already seen it, have you seen it with a pack house of avid fans singing and screaming along while an actual full cast of um…actors play every part and act every line on a stage below the movie screen as the movie plays? If not, I must say it is the only true way of experiencing such a cult phenomenon. There are three showings of the movie this Halloween, one on Thursday (today!) and two showings on the 31st. My strong recommendation is for the two on the 31st, which are guaranteed to be packed, but buy your tickets a.s.a.p., as they sell out, and arrive early to get the best seats.

What: Rocky Horror Picture Show
When: Thursday Oct. 30th @ 11:00pm, Friday Oct. 31st @ 9pm and 11:30pm
Where: The Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street west, Bathurst and Bloor)
How Much:  Thurs. 30th – $8 for Bloor members, $11 for non-members, Fri. 31st – $12 for members, $15 for non-members