Live-blogging Nuit Blanche for Torontoist

Last night, I had my first live-blogging experience as my star photographer friend Ayngelina and I tried to faithfully record the weird and wonderful things we saw throughout the night at Nuit Blanche: http://torontoist.com/2009/10/blanche_slate_nuit_blanche_live.php. A note to anyone trying to do this in the future, you cannot count on free wifi, or even paid services like Boingo. I ended up texting my editor instead.

Not only did my editor, David Topping, put together the post on the site as the night unfolded, but pieces of it were also projected on a big, blank outer wall of the AGO. We got there at about 1AM. My friends patiently waited as I stood poised with my camera, waiting for one of mine to come up.

Nuit Blanche always sounds really good on paper, but more times than not, the execution lacks something. "Dance of the Cranes," a piece where construction cranes were supposed to move in tandem to music was just two cranes with monotone blue Christmas lights spinning slowly on their axes. And the "Wild Ride," which was two midway rides located in the middle of the Financial District and staffed by carnies in suits to represent the "wild ride" workers in banking have had this year, didn't put any emphasis on the dressed up operators and just looked like a regular carnival ride with hordes of people waiting to get on.

I think the coolest thing was the "plane" that flew across the ceiling inside the 24 hour grocery store in Liberty Village. People are shopping, everything is as usual, then the sound of a jumbo jet fills the store and the immense shadow of a plane crawls across the ceiling...then it's gone. Loved it.

I think Nuit Blanche needs an injection of theatre, performance, and people. How cool would it have been to see Cirque du Soleil-type acrobats crawling over those slow-moving cranes? And really making those Bay Street carnies standout with crisp suits and Venetian masks.

Oh, l'amour

On Friday, Ayngelina and I had so much fun at the public opening for Thirty in Twenty, which I wrote about for Torontoist. I had such a hard time composing this post because I was overwhelmed by the richness of Toni and Ria Harting's story and how refreshingly real and sweet they were. Seeing them in the room, alongside the precious photos that chronicle their French culinary adventure from almost 40 years ago, made me well up. The photos capture the essence of youth, adventure, fun, and love.

The show is curated by another beautiful couple, Johanna Reynolds and Zach Kellum, who have such wonderful taste and styled the room perfectly for the show.

If you're in Toronto, don't miss it. It's free and runs until September 26.

Photo by Toni Harting.

Miracle on Queen Street

So, thanks to my Torontoist editor David Topping, who is a friend of Tyler Clark Burke, Ayngelina and I were able to attend a "miracle fruit" tasting last Thursday and we posted about it on Monday. Many high profile media people were there (Toronto Life, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, CBC) as well as little old us. We were crammed together on a tiny back patio and it was really fun.

Due to my own mix-up, we were double-booked that night and had to go to the Performance Gallery at The Gladstone as well, which we were slightly late for. After having some berries (which make everything eaten afterwards taste sweet) and scarfing down too much of the test foods (lemons, salt-and-vingear chips, sour candy, hot peppers, vinegar, tequila), we made a hasty exit and had just 45 minutes to see all of the gallery's performances.

At one point, we were watching a fabulous performance called German Lollipop that took place in the bathroom on the second floor. The night's performances were supposed to be over already, but since we were media, they did an extra one for us. In the show, Hannah Cheesman played a German wife who was being gradually driven to madness by her husband. It was a creepy, powerful performance and it was fantastic. I loved it, but the door was shut and it was a million degrees in there and my stomach was super mad that I filled it with dietary acid at the party. Word of caution: do not make plans to do anything after a "flavour-tripping" party.

Photo by Ayngelina Brogan.

Theatre Buff

With all this writing for Torontoist, my own blog is getting terribly neglected. Between the Pride Parade and now, I've had the amazing opportunity to review plays for the Toronto Fringe and SummerWorks. I've always loved theatre and see quite a bit of it usually, but this is the first time I've written any formal reviews.

During the Fringe, I went to see about 16 plays, mostly with Marcelo, and loved every minute of it (well, the vast majority). I couldn't get enough. Even at lunchtime, I snuck away to the Factory Theatre (just down the street from my office) and squeezed in an extra play.

As for SummerWorks, so far, I've seen only three traditional SummerWorks plays, one SummerWalk, and one visit to the awesome Performance Gallery. I simply fell in love with Quietness by Anthony Bergamin. I am a sucker for opera or any singing really.

So, belatedly, here are the posts I wrote for the Fringe and SummerWorks (to date) for Torontoist:

• First Class Baggage (review of Baggage)


• Bert and Eye (review of Bert and I)


• #FringeTO (collection of tweets by Fringe performers)


• It's in the Bag (review of BAGS: Obsessions of a Hoardaholic)


• Night at the Performance Gallery


• Remember Lola Lita (SummerWalk walking tour)

Proud Crowds

Yesterday, Torontoist photographer Andrew Louis and I were so lucky to march in the 29th Annual Pride Parade with Heterosexuals for Same-Sex Equality. To do something a bit different, we took photos of the crowd instead of the floats to shine the spotlight on all the amazing people who came to show their support.

It was my very first time at the parade and I was overwhelmed. Everyone there was smiling, dancing, laughing, and cheering. Makes me tear up to think about it. Happy Pride to everyone!

Toronto a la Cart's First Thirty Days

My post on the hard-working Toronto a la Cart street food vendors is now up on Torontoist. I had originally thought I'd write about the food they were offering, but when interviewing them they told me so many exasperated stories about working with the City that I changed tack to focus on that.

These vendors are working incredibly hard. Young Jin Kim and her son, Simon, are downtown at 9 a.m. every day to pick up the cart. By ten, they're at Yonge and Eglinton and they stay until 9 p.m., after which Kim goes to her restaurant to do the dishes and prepare for the next day. These guys deserve all the help they can get. Please support them.

Toronto Taste in USA Today

I'm so excited that USA Today linked to our post on Torontoist about Toronto Taste! And they pulled the closing quote by Mark McEwan out as well for their quotes page. It was a great quote. Mark McEwan is awesome.