Date Idea

From the TD Jazz festival website:
"For the past 20 years, Toronto Downtown Jazz has produced the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival as well as many other events and programs to further develop jazz talent and audience appreciation. Toronto Downtown Jazz is a registered charity (No. 12969 0269 RR0001) and over the years has come to be recognized as one of North America's premier jazz festival producers, while the organization itself has been used by other arts organizations and festivals as a model for community involvement, artistic excellence and outstanding production standards." The festival runs from June 20-29th across various venues in Toronto.

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary festival. Each year, the festival presents a selection of more than 100 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe. Through its industry programmes, the Festival also provides a full range of professional development, marketing, and networking opportunities for documentary professionals. Below are the remaining (April 23-27)show times and locations for documentaries related to love and relationships. Happy viewing!

by Mary Ann Wilson

What’s more romantic than a candlelit evening? A candlelit evening inspired by a shared environmental conscience, that’s what.

Last year, millions of Australians participated in the first annual Earth Hour to raise awareness about, and to actively combat, climate change caused by global warming (if you still think that global warming “isn’t real,” better pull your head out of the increasingly hot sand real quick, and hope that right-wing of yours can fly you and your descendants to another planet). This year, at 8 p.m. next Saturday, March 29, 2008, millions of people worldwide will accept the Earth Hour “challenge.”

I put the word “challenge” in quotation marks (twice, even) because the concept could not be simpler or easier: shut off your lights for one hour. That’s it. Such a small gesture can be all it takes to really get you thinking about your personal environmental impact and responsibility, but Earth Hour is far from a gesture alone. According to its website (www.earthhour.org), “[i]f the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour [2007] was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.” Small effort, big results.

In general, filming a cafe is a pretty monotonous task- unless you're talking about a cafe and art gallery in one!  Welcome to the Art Square Café, located just outside of China town, near the University of Toronto. 

Staff filmographer Tuna met up with Mary, a Fox and the Fiddle bartender, to ask some questions about picking up women at the bar...  We think he's a bit clueless when it comes to these things, so it’s a good thing Mary's here to set him straight!

Hey Torontonians, when was the last time you went to the CN Tower? For couples who are looking for a place to celebrate a late Valentine's weekend, why not take it to the top of the world- literally! Through February 15-18, there's a buy-one-get-one-free pass (see website for details) up the tower. For a light meal and refreshments, spend some time at Horizons Café, located at 1136 feet on the Look Out level.

By Amber Whitman

Who doesn’t remember the original romantic movie “Dirty Dancing” of 1987, featuring the sexy and acclaimed actor Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle, and the loveable Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman? Well, now you can see this movie-turned-musical, written and co-produced by Eleanor Bergstein, live onstage at The Royal Alexandria Theatre.

“Dirty Dancing” is a classic coming of age love story that begins when the adolescent Baby, a doctor’s daughter with lofty dreams, is forced to go on summer holiday with her parents. Bored one day, she wanders into a world of dance and new people, where she meets Johnny, a ruffian. Through as series of circumstances, they find themselves making an unlikely pairing as dance partners. However, against all odds they fall in love and face life’s challenges together. With popular favourites like “Hungry Eyes,” “I’ve had The Time of My Life,” and “Do you Love Me?” this summer-romance show is a surefire winner (emphasis on the fire)!

The Canadian Opera Company is holding their Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre from September 26, 2007 to June 18, 2008.  The free concerts take place the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. and every Tuesday and Thursday at noon, with additional noon hour and early evening concerts throughout the schedule.