Pretty Young Things

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April 19, 2011 | 11:43 am

SPOTTED! Ryan Gosling needing a Kensington Market shopping companion

Snaps of Goz in TO from Just Jared and Pop Sugar

It isn’t every day that a celebrity is spotted casually walking around Kensington Market (Rachel McAdams not withstanding), but yesterday Ryan Gosling went on a solo shopping mission through Toronto’s vintage district. Fan boys and girls rejoiced, and many wished they had gone out yesterday to browse like-new caftans and polyester party dresses. Gosling is home in Canada after starring in a string of potentially okay films, including the romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid Love, in which he appears shirtless. Whether he’s shirtless or shirt shopping, a Gosling sighting is always worth note. There’s likely a man or woman at Exile today, sniffing the cowboy shirts for a whiff of Goz. Rumour has it the star capped his evening at West Queen West’s The Beaconsfield.

Pretty Young Things

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February 18, 2011 | 10:48 am

Skins teens showing too much skin? Scantily clad 17-year-old actors arouse controversy in new Elle photo shoot

What to do when ratings are slipping? If you’re a member of the Skins cast, the answer is easy: strip down to your skivvies and score as much controversy as possible. That’s exactly what several of the show’s young and enviably bodied actors did for a photo spread by Joe Zee and Thomas Whiteside in the latest issue of Elle magazine. Cue outrage from the Parents Television Council. No big surprise, given that the PTC already has a hate-on for Skins and previously blew a gasket over undies-only shots of the Glee cast in GQ (and those actors aren’t even teenagers—they just play teens on TV).

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February 10, 2011 | 4:45 pm

Sk8er girl Avril Lavigne goes sexpot for Vanity Fair Italy

She didn’t make the cover, but Avril Lavigne’s photos did make it into this issue of Vanity Fair Italia

Newsflash: Avril Lavigne is all grown up. She’s sexy in an adult way now, looking like a vampy version of Taylor Swift. The reformed sk8er girl is hoping to make a major comeback with a new album, which is why we’re seeing a lot more of her these days, including this sexpot spread in Vanity Fair Italy.

No, we didn’t know there was an Italian Vanity Fair, and no, we didn’t know that Avril had an Italian following, but we guess that she’s happy to remind anyone of her existence after a lengthy professional sabbatical. So far, the reception to her new tunes has been mixed (her first single hit 13 on the U.S. charts). Meanwhile, the eternally complicated pop tart is doing her best to stay in the headlines with controversial statements—“don’t compare me to Madonna”—and even more controversial hair. Maybe we should compare her to Rainbow Brite instead.

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January 25, 2011 | 4:48 pm

Ellen Page lies down, makes headlines anyway

Ellen Page lying down about town

Wondering what Ellen Page has been up to since Inception? Judging from a series of recent photos, mostly lying face down in the street. It seems the Halifax-born indie star is the latest fan of the Lying Down Game, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Started by a couple of quirky British dudes, the game has participants simply lie face-down in a weird place, take a photo of themselves, and then post it to the official Lying Down Game Web site, or to the Facebook group.

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October 28, 2010 | 11:14 am

From Michael J. to Justin Biebs: a brief history of Canadian teen heartthrobs

Glee star Cory Monteith will host the Geminis

Homegrown teen heartthrob Cory Monteith (better known as Finn from Glee) is hosting this year’s Gemini Awards (November 13), we assume in the hopes of giving the ceremony a ratings boost among 11- to 16-year-old girls. But adorable as Monteith is, he’s not the first Canadian lad to make girls the world over swoon. Here’s a little retrospective of all the boys we’ve loved before, from Michael J. to Justin Biebs.

Begin the slide show >>

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August 23, 2010 | 3:52 pm

Toronto’s Elena Semikina competing in Miss Universe pageant tonight

The Miss Universe pageant, that so-appalling-it’s-compelling affair helmed by Donald Trump (how can they still get away with it in 2010? Why can’t we stop watching?), is on tonight, and Torontonians have an excuse to tune in this year—Miss Universe Canada is one of our own. Allow us to introduce Elena Semikina, the 26-year-old, six-foot-one bombshell who’s boldly representing our great nation.

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August 23, 2010 | 12:29 pm

The Justin Bieber of Hong Kong is hiding out in Toronto

Maggie Q is filming the new Nikita series in Toronto (Image: Cameron Yee)

Justin Bieber would have to make like Johnny Depp and buy himself an island in order to go outside without being bombarded by hordes of teenage girls. But for Hong Kong actor Maggie Q (whom you may remember from such action films as Mission Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard), Toronto is a perfect hideout. While some Canadians won’t recognize her name, in Asia, Q provokes a paparazzi feeding frenzy everywhere she goes; it’s even worse than Bieber fever because of the enormous demand for celebrity gossip in Hong Kong. “You’re incredibly recognizable wherever you go,” she told New York. “I could never have a boyfriend. I couldn’t grocery shop for myself. I got very depressed by it.”

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August 5, 2010 | 4:18 pm

Promoting Guess and Budweiser, how one Toronto socialite makes her money

Ainsley Kerr at a TIFF after party in 2009 (Image: Sonia Recchia/WireImage/Getty Images)

Bud Light Lime, that love-to-hate beer seen at many a party, has just gotten a little classier(?) with socialite Ainsley Kerr signing on to promote the suds. As an ambassador for the brand, Kerr, a mainstay at every Toronto event with a guest list, will talk about the ins and outs of planning a sophisticated summer soiree, including “ambiance,” the transition from “chic to casual,” “palette etiquette” (whatever that means) and at the centre of it all, Bud Light Lime as a cocktail of choice. Where she’ll be doing this, we’re not sure.

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July 15, 2010 | 12:22 pm

Hot to Trot-sky: Jay Baruchel looking fine in GQ

Jay Baruchel: when it rains, he soars (Image: Ben Watts/GQ)

We had a Princess Diaries moment this morning when we saw this photo shoot of Jay Baruchel in GQ. Remember that awkward tween next to Elisha Cuthbert on Popular Mechanics for Kids? The one who just asserted his dorky bona fides by becoming the 20-something poster child of the Judd Apatow franchise? There’s no evidence of it here. Baruchel may be delightfully self-effacing and classically eh-list sheepish in interviews (he confessed on The Hour that he still lives minutes away from his mama in Montreal and buys her smokes), but posing in Ray-Bans and $1,800 rain slickers for this slide show, he’s nothing short of—dare we say it?—hot.

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June 29, 2010 | 4:52 pm

Dawson’s Creek reunion? Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes spotted in GTA

Last week, the pixie perfect Michelle Williams unleashed her inner downward dog at Yoga Space on Ossington, and yesterday a certain Mrs. Tom Cruise was spotted berry picking at Whittamore’s Farm in Markham. Could it be that our dreams of a Dawson’s Creek reunion are about to come true right here in the Big Smoke? Sadly, no. Williams is in town prepping for Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley’s latest behind-the-camera project, co-starring Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman), and Katie Holmes is here—well, technically she’s in Cobourg—shooting a Kennedy clan miniseries for the History Channel.

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June 17, 2010 | 4:58 pm

Be a celebrity tour guide: Katy Perry looking for advice on Toronto trip

Katy Perry’s in Toronto and appealing for local intel via Twitter. Beaver Tails and Canada’s Wonderland are on her list, but she nixed the Harry Potter exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre. No word yet on whether her long-locked fiancé, Russell Brand, is in tow. His recent tweets (@rustyrockets) suggest he’s been glued to World Cup games.

Pretty Young Things

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June 15, 2010 | 9:06 am

Tee hee: Toronto Star says Twilight stars James Pattinson

Sure, we all make mistakes, but when a paper runs a story about Twilight and says it stars James Pattinson, we are obliged to take a screen grab. It’s like a blogging rule or something. (Robert Pattinson, a.k.a. the most lusted-after teen heartthrob other than Justin Bieber, is the actor’s actual name.) Both the story, which is credited to Reuters, and the photo caption made the error. Ah, those disgruntled wire reporters.

• Kristen Stewart anxious to join ‘cool’ undead [Toronto Star]

Editor’s note: the Toronto Star story has been updated with the correct name.

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June 14, 2010 | 2:54 pm

First Africa-themed gaffes, now adultery: Miss Universe Canada more interesting this year

(Image: YouTube)

When we checked in on Friday, the Miss Universe Canada competition had a problem: one of its contestants was making off-colour comparisons to malnourished African children. Well, the good news is the pageant can stop worrying about those headlines because something much juicier has come up. Sophie Froment, one of the contestants, has done ads for adultery hook-up site Ashley Madison. The Toronto Star has the goods:

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June 11, 2010 | 1:16 pm

Beauty queen puts foot in mouth, reminds us of Mel Lastman

There’s an argument for having beauty pageant contestants warn young people about body image and eating disorders, but none seem forthcoming in the wake of beauty queen Tiffany Munro’s speech to Oshawa teenagers, during which she firmly planted her foot in her mouth. Speaking about her entry into the Miss Universe Canada competition, the 26-year-old told the kids that pageant organizers didn’t want contestants looking anorexic, “like some little African child with the ribs going on,” reports the Star.

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June 10, 2010 | 2:31 pm

The New York Times loves Drake as much as we do, and maybe more

(Image: Lunchbox LP)

With Drake’s debut album due out next week, the New York Times decided to pay its respects—and by respects, we mean grovel at Drake’s feet for three pages. With woeful descriptions of his past heartbreaks (ahem, Rihanna), emotionally tuned lyrics (we wish someone would tell us our sushi rolls are hotter than wasabi) and defiance of gangster rap conventions, writer Jon Caramanica attempts to elevate the celeb to a new kind of PG hip-hop royalty:

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