Live Green Toronto

The City of Toronto has created a new web space called Live Green Toronto, that provides easily accessible information on all things environmentally friendly that both residents and businesses now have access to in one convenient place.

As Mayor Miller leaves office, this is an extremely fitting example of his overall political goals and agenda during his term in office. He was a huge proponent of creating a cleaner environ, and hopefully this will let him depart on a high note.

Here's his address -

Living green. Here in Toronto, it’s more than a trend; it’s becoming a way of life.

We hope this new, one-stop website filled with tips, success stories, learning opportunities, information updates – even rebates and grants – will inspire you to keep taking the small steps that lead to a healthier planet.

As you may have heard, Toronto has targeted an 80% reduction of our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It’s an ambitious target, and we're rising to the challenge. To reach our target we not only need to take big, bold steps as a local government, we also need every resident of Toronto to take action in their home and in their neighbourhood.

The Live Green Toronto program is designed to inspire and support every resident who wants to do something right now to make Toronto an even greener city.

I hope you find this exciting new site a terrific resource for action.

We all know how good we feel when we do our part. So thanks for living green for a greener Toronto.

Mayor David Miller
City of Toronto

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Live Green Toronto's new Membership Card will help you shop, save and live green!

Shop Green - When you shop at participating Live Green Toronto businesses, you support businesses that have committed to green their operations, products and services and support our local communities.

Save Green - Use your Live Green Toronto Membership Card for exclusive offers and/or instant discounts at participating Live Green Toronto businesses.

Live Green - Where you spend your money and what you spend it on is a big part of living green.

The Live Green Toronto membership card is one more way that Live Green Toronto supports and inspires residents and businesses who want to do something right now to make Toronto an even greener city.

Are you a green business owner?

Make a pledge to support Live Green Toronto and enrol your business in the Live Green Toronto membership card program today! Benefit from extensive promotion and attract new and loyal customers. There is no cost to participate.

Click here to register - https://www.livegreentorontocard.ca/signup/register.php

Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival (Toronto) - Nov 5 to 14

This is one of my favourite film festivals in Toronto. I've been attending for 15 years and never once have I been disappointed. It's most definitely worth attending and supporting this amazing endeavour. I'm going to really miss the theatre at CAMH, but looking forward to seeing the new digs over at 651 Dufferin Street. Enjoy!

About the festival

MENTAL ILLNESS AND ADDICTION are fundamental parts of our human experience and they have always been difficult to present and discuss in the public arena. Fear and stigma routinely make accurate representations and presentations next to impossible.

The vehicle through which mental illness and addiction are most often presented publicly is mainstream film. Through these films the public can, in most instances, sit back and watch from a safe distance. Audiences are secure in the belief that they are watching the experiences of others and remain divorced from the realities of society.

Film can also enable new and established artists to visually explore ideas and express stories of mental illness and addiction in ways that are nearly impossible in other artistic media. The technical freedom of film allows for these artists to challenge perceptions of reality and to express the truth of mental illness and addiction.

RWM explores these cinematic representations and hosts panel discussions after each screening. The films are the art, the discussion gives them perspective.

Opening Night - Thursday November 5th
Celebrate the premiere of the 17th Annual Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival. The classical theme of Canadian premiere Clara is accompanied by performances from pianist Yuval Fichman and continued with an evening of intimate conversation between him and Dr. David Goldbloom, senior medical advisor, education and public affairs, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Afterwards, everyone is invited to view the inSANITY installation; a hot topic of conversation featured at this year’s Nuit Blanche, and enjoy music provided by one of Workman Arts’ own musicians, Faeghan. This event is the first of many planned at Workman Arts’ new home, 651 Dufferin St.

Fichman will perform the last two etudes of Schumann’s piano landmark, Symphonic Etudes, in addition to the famous Traumerei from Scenes from Childhood to celebrate the festival opening. He has performed as a soloist with most of the major orchestras in Canada and the United States, and travelled internationally as a guest soloist with the Montreal and Vancouver symphonies. Fichman has also performed for several movie soundtracks including Don McKeller’s Last Night, Francois Girard’s 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould and Larry Weinstein’s Beethoven’s Hair.

Helma Sanders-Brahms, director of Clara, is the most critically acclaimed and highly awarded female voice of New German Cinema. She presents a tale of passion, betrayal and redemption in her astounding biopic of Clara Schumann. A brilliant musician and composer in her own right, Clara is content to stay in the background and support the delicate genius of her husband Robert Schumann; that is until the younger and equally brilliant Johannes Brahms enters their lives as his protégé.

Faeghan, a member of Workman Arts for more than four years, is a multi-disciplinary artist who enjoys music, visual arts, expressive movement and performance. She is happy to return to her first love – the piano – in celebration of 2009’s Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival.

Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival (RWM) presents award-winning comedian Mike MacDonald on Saturday November 7, 2009 at 8 p.m. at Workman Hall, 651 Dufferin St. Tickets are priced at $10 for show only and $15 for the Crazy Comedy package for show plus “Laugh a Little” screening at 6 p.m., and are available by calling 416.583.4339 ext.7. MacDonald will be replacing “Big Daddy” Tazz and all tickets will be honoured.

Comedian Mike MacDonald, considered one of the top funny men in all of Canada, understands the power of laughter. In addition to his successful and well-received live performances all over North America, Mike has appeared on numerous TV shows including Late Night with David Letterman, The Arsenio Hall Show, Just For Laughs, Showtime’s Comedy Club All-Star Show, A&E’s An Evening at the Improv and Comedy Central’s The A List.

Mike has hosted both the Gemini Awards and the Just For Laughs 10th Anniversary Special for CBC, and starred in the sitcom Mosquito Lake. He has also starred in three well-received and critically acclaimed specials for CBC and for Showtime. His first special, Mike MacDonald: On Target was the first one-hour prime-time special by a stand-up comic in the history of the CBC. His next special, My House! My Rules!!, was nominated for two Gemini Awards and two Ace Awards. His third Showtime special, Happy as I can be, achieved a number-one rating when it aired on prime time on CBC.

“God’s favourite humour is irony, and what a more perfect mental health issue for a Canadian than bi-polar,” says MacDonald of his performance at this year’s festival.

“What is the relationship between madness and comedy?”, “Why do comedians venerate the mentally ill?”, “Is laughter an effective therapy?”, “What about the high suicide rate among comics?”, “If comedians were ‘well-adjusted’ would they be funny?”, “How does comedy in pop culture appropriate the language of madness and does it trivialize it?”

In a conversation between Mark Breslin, founder of Yuk Yuk’s and Dr. Joel Jeffries, these topics and more will be examined in an intimate and exciting discussion, followed by a performance by Mike MacDonald. Afterwards, all three will join to continue the discussion on health and humour, welcoming questions and comments from the audience.

About the Presenter

Workman Arts (WA) is a not-for-profit multidisciplinary arts organization that supports individuals who receive mental health and addictions services in their artistic pursuits and promotes a greater understanding of mental health and addiction issues through various artistic media.

Since its incorporation in 1991, WA has produced more than 38 original new Canadian plays, 16 Rendezvous with Madness Film Festivals, 9 Annual Being Scene Art Exhibitions, 4 multi-disciplinary festivals and 1 international festival. WA has formed partnerships with well over 100 organizations within Toronto, across the country and around the world.

The company has a current membership base of approximately 250 member artists to whom it offers year round arts training opportunities. WA members have presented their work in a variety of venues such as the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Second City, the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario Suites, Harbourfront Centre, the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, and the Pumphouse Theatre in Muenster, Germany.

Workman Arts / Rendezvous with Madness
651 Dufferin St.
Toronto, On, Canada
M6K 2B2

Phone: (416) 583-4339
Box Office: (416) 583-4606
Web: www.rendezvouswithmadness.com

Boys Under the Big Top (Toronto) - Nov 8 and 15

Boylesque T.O. is inviting all thrill seekers to their wild and wacky world of wonderment and whimsy.

Proudly presenting:

BOYS UNDER THE BIG TOP
a male burlesque and circus extravaganza!

TWO Spectacular Sunday Shows: November 8 and 15
http://bigtopboys.eventbrite.com

Hosted by Balonia Wry and Ginger Darling and featuring sensational circus celebrities including
1. Sexy Strongmen
2. Awe mazing Acrobats
3. Mystifying magic men and charmers
4. Wild diva beasts including gorillas, lions, snakes and horses
and much more...

With special guest stars:

Tanya Cheex (Skin Tight Outta Sight), Keith Cole, Mysterion the Mind Reader, PyRomeo, Charlotte Weber (Les Coquettes), The Mohyl (Les Coquettes) and others...


Revival Nightclub – 783 College Street West

Get $20 advance tickets now at http://bigtopboys.eventbrite.com
$25 at the door.

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=196514979045&ref=nf

The 501

The wind is brisk, but tolerable. My Russian compatriot, my dog and I wait alongside Lakeshore Boulevard for the next streetcar. I arrived at the stop first and was later joined by Mr. X. Obviously this is not his real name, but likely one he would like being referred to in his line of business.

The 501 is the longest spanning streetcar route in the city of Toronto. For under $3.00 you can ride from the far western reaches of the Long Branch Loop to the Neville Park Loop at the opposite end of the city, a distance of over 20 kilometres. As with most times I jump on The 501, I am usually only on it to get from point A to point B. Tonight I was heading home after a night of drinking with friends.

The snow is blowing in that wind tunnel sort of way that feels like a slap in the face. I don’t see a streetcar in site, so I bunker down in the trusty TTC shelter with my eager canine companion. Then, as I lift my head up I am greeted by Mr. X, who begins to start a conversation with me. I am in the far reaches of Etobicoke, late in the evening, and feeling somewhat uneasy hanging around this dark and desolate street corner. Everything is closed, either for the night or permanently, except for the packed Tim Horton’s across the street.
“Do you know when the next streetcar is coming?” he asks. “Likely about five minutes”, I quickly answer, not having any idea. “I have to be to Dufferin and St. Clair within an hour”, he tells me. More questions ensue - “Do you think I can make it? What is the best way to get there?” I think a bit longer on these ones, and give him my personal opinion.

“I can’t be late, not even one minute, you know what I mean?” he continues on. I remain silent this time. He has this very Siberian look about him, dressed in a long winter coat, oversized winter boots, and a fur hat. I imagine he is quite warm beneath these layers as he proceeds to provide me with a glimpse into his life, as so often happens on The 501.

To ride from one end of the city to the other would take approximately an hour and a half to two hours, depending on traffic and weather. The route traverses through the suburban blue collar neighbourhood of Etobicoke, passing by the recently developed condo projects along the Western Beaches, via the trendy West Queen West strip, to the core of downtown, onto Leslieville, and finally reaches the Eastern Beaches (or The Beach as the locals like to refer to it as).

This line also runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It is the main artery for many commuters to get to and from work and play. Mr. X tells me he’d rather be 30 minutes early than even just one minute late. He knows “the others” can jump in on his deal if he doesn’t come through in time. “I’ve been in this country four years now and it’s difficult to live here. Everything is so expensive. You have to find ways to make money to survive”, he lauds.
His darting eyes and jittery movements don’t help to make me feel at ease, as I step back a bit when he turns to look for the streetcar. The one-sided conversation continues. I learn he lives in the High Park area, and was just doing “business” in this area, before heading off to his next “client”. He keeps referring to his line of work, without actually mentioning what he does, and without me ever asking. We’ve sealed the deal of trust between us, and I become more relaxed. He then branches off into how Canadian politics differ from Russian views, and how he pays $2,500 in insurance premiums for his $500 car, Again, I didn’t ask why he wasn’t driving his $500 car now instead of waiting in the cold winds for a streetcar. The political aspects did prompt some feedback and input from my end.

It was now as if we were good friends sharing a pint in a local pub, debating the pros and cons of democratic and communist regimes. I had the feeling if we waited much longer, there would be a discussion on hockey that soon ensued. Soon after, our ride arrives and we both board in silence. I grab the first available seat and Mr. X slides in a few seats behind me. I look around and see that the streetcar is fairly full, as it suddenly occurs to me that it is 11pm on a Saturday night heading toward downtown.

As always, there’s an assortment of “characters” travelling about on their way to somewhere. At this time of night it typically is more of the club crowd, however I notice some looking like they are on their way to or from work, others with luggage, a few shoppers packed down with bags, and others staring blankly out the windows. There are several different languages being spoken, random cell phone chatter, distorted beats from various MP3 players, and at least one conversation about getting laid.

A group of teens get on at a one of the stops, obviously partying, and one of them is so comatose that she neglects to pay her fare when blankly walking by the driver. The driver quietly mentions it to one of her friends, who pays on her behalf. The smartly dressed couple politely whisper to each other in a language I don’t recognize, while the more rowdy partiers at the back speak loud enough for all to ear whatever they have to say. An elderly lady with a cane joins us, and is offered up a seat reserved for the elderly and disabled.

My stop approaches and I stand to pull the stop cord. As always, I leave with a curious inquisition as to how the rest of the evening will pan out for these various individuals I briefly had an opportunity to travel with. I nod in silence to Mr. X, sitting on his own, counting the minutes until his arrival. I step down and hope he made a good connection at Dufferin, and beat the clock for his “appointment”.