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Kudos are due on two counts today for Montreal meat mecca Joe Beef. Reason No. 1: the operators of this long-lauded restaurant (David McMillan, Frédéric Morin, Meredith Erickson) have penned a volume—The Art of Living According to Joe Beef—that just took first place in the third annual Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks.
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All stories relating to awards
The Canadian Culinary Book Awards get an extreme makeover
The Canadian Culinary Book Awards have a new name, a new logo and, the organizers hope, some newfound relevance. TV consultant Karen Gelbart (who helped bring the Food Network to Canada) took over as national chair a few months ago and has already put her stamp on the awards, now called Taste Canada—The Food Writing Awards. Gelbart told the Toronto Star that she wants to move away from the “insider feel” of years past to attract more media coverage and more widespread public awareness. In other words, make like the James Beard Foundation and the Giller Prize to generate buzz. As Cookbook Store manager Alison Fryer put it to the Toronto Star: “We’ve got awards for everything—playwrights, poetry, non-fiction, children’s books. For heaven’s sake, cookbooks are always the elephant in the room because they probably sell more than any other category outside of fiction.” Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
Ryan Gosling faces some handsome competition for two Golden Globes
We do hate to admit it, but we don’t actually have a monopoly on Ryan Gosling gushing here at The Hype. This morning, Gerard Butler, Woody Harrelson, Rashida Jones and Sofia Vergara announced the 69th Golden Globe nominations, which revealed that the Almighty Goz could have two shiny statuettes coming his way next month. He’s received a nod for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Crazy Stupid Love, competing with Jean Dujardin in The Artist, Brendan Gleeson in The Guard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50 and Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris. For Best Actor in a Drama, Goz is up for The Ides of March against some of the biggest boys in Hollywood: George Clooney in The Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar, Brad Pitt in Moneyball and Michael Fassbender’s penis in Shame. The big award of the night, Best Picture, sees Ides up against The Descendants, The Help, Hugo, Moneyball and War Horse—in short, everything is coming up Goz. Does the Almighty Goz deserve this much attention? Click on to cast your ballot in our Goz versus the World polls—who will achieve Golden Globe supremacy?
POLL: Who deserves Best Picture? Click on to cast your vote »
Three Toronto writers take home Governor General’s awards (two, somehow, for “bird” books)
The Canada Council for the Arts announced this year’s Governor General’s Literary Award winners today, marking the awards’ 75th anniversary. Among the 14 winners, three Torontonians took home $25,000 prizes. Erin Shields was selected as the English-language winner in the drama category for If We Were Birds, a reimagining of the myth of Procne and Philomela that examines the sexual politics of war. In children’s lit, Christopher Moore impressed with From Then to Now: A Short History of the World, whose “energetic narrative tells a story that rivals the very best fiction,” according to the G.G. judges. And in illustrated children’s lit, Cybèle Young prevailed with Ten Birds, during which, the judges note somewhat gnomically, “a disarmingly simple story becomes a complex discussion of the adjectives used to ‘pidgeon-hole’ individuals in society.” And while he’s not a Torontonian per se, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the win for sometime-Toronto Life contributor Charles Foran, whose Mordecai: The Life and Times was recognized in the non-fiction category. The full list of winners is available on the Canada Council’s website.
How Deadmau5—a.k.a. DJ Joel Zimmerman—came to make $100,000 a show and have four million Facebook fans
Mouse pad: Joel Zimmerman’s downtown condo has jägermeister on tap. (Image: Matt Barnes)
A steady August downpour drenched Chicago’s Grant Park on the final night of the Lollapalooza music festival. The rain and the force of thousands of feet had turned the park into a swampy field of splattering mud. The show should have been a flop; instead, it became a frenzied dance party, like Woodstock on methamphetamines.
Some of the dancers wore cartoonish, oversized mouse helmets that bobbed side to side and back and forth. The helmets’ eyes were blank and bulging, their crescent mouths leering grins. They were worn as a tribute to the musician Deadmau5, who was the headlining act that night. Deadmau5 (pronounced “dead mouse”) is the nom de guerre of the Toronto electronic music artist Joel Zimmerman. When he performs, Zimmerman wears his own electronically enhanced mouse mask, what fans call a Mau5head. The helmet looks goofy, but it’s important: it was key in Zimmerman’s transformation from a dance music outsider into a mainstream icon. Read the rest of this entry »
Rob Ford spurns his own art party to attend a football game
The Don Bosco Eagles steamrolled their way to a stunning 34-0 victory over the Richview Saints, news that would be utterly meaningless if it weren’t also an explanation for Rob Ford’s absence at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Lunch yesterday. Roughly 300 people were in attendance—politicians, business people, artists and other notable figures—and $40,000 in cash prizes were given out. But the mayor still couldn’t find the time to attend his own party. The news points to two disturbing trends in the city: the mayor’s apparent aversion to, you know, doing stuff that mayors do (i.e. his job) and football as an important aspect of city politics (see here, here, here and here). Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
Toronto ranked middle of the pack by Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards
Publishing powerhouse Condé Nast recently released the Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards—an annual roundup of the best places to visit and stay around the world—and Toronto’s showing was average at best. More than eight million votes were cast for the survey, with top honours going to exotic locales like Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, the Peninsula House in Dominican Republic and Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Toronto, on the other hand, seems to lack the allure of other far-flung (read: tropical) destinations. In fact, no Toronto-based hotels made the cut on the Top 100 travel experiences list, although a few Canadian locations did (King Pacific Lodge in B.C., Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ontario, Emerald Lake Lodge in B.C. and Auberge Saint-Antoine in Quebec City). In the Canadian rankings, Toronto ranked fifth, behind practically every other city that matters (Quebec City, Vancouver, Montreal and even little Victoria). Although a few local spots did make the cut for the Canadian hotels list (the Hazelton Hotel was named fifth best in the country, the Four Seasons in Yorkville ranked 27th and the Windsor Arms and the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel took 31st and 35th place, respectively), the results prove that the CN Tower has nothing on historical clout, mountains or waterfalls. The verdict: we could really use an ocean view and year-round sunshine. Read the entire story [Condé Nast] »
Toronto Star’s Jennifer Bain wins North American food writing award
(Image: Toronto Star)
Jennifer Bain is the food editor at the Toronto Star and the author of the paper’s Saucy Lady column. She’s also this year’s recipient of the Association of Food Journalists Award for best newspaper food column. The awards “recognize excellence in reporting and writing in all media, newspaper food section design and content, food illustration and food photography.” Specifically, Bain was honoured for two articles: one about natto, in which she enlists Ryo Ozawa of Edo to elucidate the charms of the stinky, fermented soybeans; and another about Uptown Fine Caribbean, a tiny smoked-jerk takeout shop tucked away beside a Scarborough gas station. The annual competition drew 280 entries in 15 categories, with Bain beating out writers from the Kansas City Star and the San Francisco Chronicle. “There are so many incredible, offbeat food stories to tell in a city like Toronto, and I’m thrilled to be honoured for writing some of them,” Bain told her own paper. We’re just as happy she’s telling those stories.
• Saucy Lady column wins top award [Toronto Star]
• Association of Food Journalists Announces 2011 Winners [Eater]
Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? wins the Cadillac People’s Choice Award—but will it be Oscar bait?
(Image: Christopher Drost)
And that’s a wrap.
The official closing ceremony for the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival took place at the Four Seasons Hotel yesterday. TIFF 2011 co-directors Cameron Bailey and Piers Handling hosted the affair, and the attendees sipped mimosas and munched on egg souffle, spinach-and-flower petal salad, roast potatoes and crème brûlée (note: festival food is yum). Where Do We Go Now?, a dramatic comedy set in war-torn Lebanon that follows the lives of several women trying to keep their husbands out of the conflict, received the Cadillac People’s Choice Award, which in past years has been a sign of Oscar-y things to come (but we’re not so sure about this one). The Cadillac People’s Choice Documentary Award went to Jon Shenk’s political documentary The Island President and Gareth Evans took home the Cadillac People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award for The Raid.
Full list of winners here.
Gemini nominations announced: Flashpoint leads, once again, and controversial Kennedys miniseries gets some nods
The 26th annual Gemini Award nominations were released today and, like last year, Flashpoint features prominently across all categories—the show got 17 nods this year, including Best Dramatic Series. Close on its heels is Call My Fitz, the new HBO Canada series, with 16 nominations and TMN/Movie Central’s Living in Your Car, with 10 nominations. Also nominated for Best Dramatic Series alongside Flashpoint is the now-defunct MTV show Skins, as well as The Borgias, Endgame and The Tudors.
Perhaps the most surprising nominations of the day go to the Kennedys miniseries—shot in Toronto and starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes, the series had trouble getting picked up in the United States (and not just because of Katie Holmes’ atrocious New England accent). The Kennedys finally screened on ReelzChannels across the U.S. and History Television in Canada and has picked up 10 Gemini nominations, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Barry Pepper, Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series and Best Dramatic Miniseries or TV Movie.
Alongside The Kennedys is The Pillars of the Earth, based on the novels by Ken Follett and featuring Gordon Pinsent, Donald Sutherland and Alison Pill, with another 10 nominations, including Best Performance by an Actor and Actress in a Leading Role for Ian McChane and Hayley Atwell, Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries and Best Dramatic Miniseries or TV Movie.
The Gemini Awards will be broadcast live Sept. 7 on CBC Television.
See the full list of nominees in the program and performance categories, after the jump.
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Roberto Alomar entered the Hall of Fame with a Jays cap on his head—but when will another Toronto Blue Jay crack Cooperstown?
The Blue Jays’ next Hall of Famer? (Image: Keith Allison)
Last weekend Robbie Alomar became the first-ever player to enter the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame as a Toronto Blue Jay. Despite playing for a number of teams during his 16 years as a professional baseball player, his five seasons in Toronto defined his career: the Jays’ beloved second-basemen earned five straight Gold Gloves and two World Series rings and was named the 1992 ALCS MVP (not to mention throwing down a master performance in this McCain Punch classic). While we’re excited to see Alomar in the Hall—alongside wunderkind general manager Pat Gillick, who was also formally inducted on Sunday—in a Jays cap, we know the wait for the next former Blue Jay to crack Cooperstown is likely to be long. Sure, Roger Clemons, Frank Thomas and manager Bobby Cox are all virtual lock-ins, but none spent significant time in Toronto and all achieved the bulk of their success elsewhere. And, frankly, the Hall of Fame’s unnecessarily complicated voting system isn’t helping matters. We did a little research, and the truth is the chances of another Jay breathing the Hall’s rarified air are about as slim as the chances of Rob Ford riding a two-wheeled vehicle down Jarvis Street. All the same, we decided to break down the best Blue Jays candidates into three tidy groups after the jump.
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We take a quick look at some of the top Bollywood flicks up for hardware at the International Indian Film Academy Awards
There’s been no shortage of Bollywood-related events taking place around the GTA this week, but even amidst all the hype and hoopla we haven’t forgotten why the biggest stars in Bollywood have descended on Toronto: the IIFA Awards at the Rogers Centre on Centre (yup, it’s big). While we wouldn’t call ourselves Bollywood experts, we’ve been following the scene pretty closely ever since we heard the awards would be coming to Toronto. With that in mind, we offer a small preview of five of the biggest and best films in the running at tomorrow’s spectacle, after the jump.
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Only at the Bollywood Oscars: Jermaine Jackson and Sonu Nigam team up for IIFA Rocks duet
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Billed as a showcase of Indian and Canadian music and fashion and hosted by Bollywood stars Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar, this year’s edition of IIFA Rocks in Toronto looks like it’s going to be one of the most spectacular in the Bollywood festival’s 12-year history. Why? For starters, American performer Jermaine Jackson (yes, that Jermaine Jackson) is set to perform alongside Indian singer Sonu Nigam.
Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan will, in fact, be in town for the IIFA Awards
Although the rumour mill is still rapidly churning, we’re happy to confirm that Shah Rukh Khan—the man who drew a bigger crowd than Brad Pitt at last year’s TIFF and recorded a track with Akon, “Wanna Be My Chamak Challo,” for his upcoming superhero movie RA.One—will be in attendance at the International Indian Film Academy Awards at the Rogers Centre this weekend. The Bollywood actor-producer’s attendance has been the 64,000-rupee question surrounding this year’s Bollywood Oscars, but Khan delighted his massive legion of fans when he tweeted earlier today that he would be at the event. Apparently, he’ll be hosting both a party at the Sheraton hotel and performing a much-anticipated dance routine at the ceremony on Saturday (unless his recent knee injury keeps him on the sideline). The performance will mark Khan’s first on the IIFA stage in seven years—but his attendance alone won’t be enough to quiet the brouhaha that has erupted around the megastar.
Six reasons the International India Film Academy Awards are in Toronto
If you encounter more than the usual number of bhangra dancers on the streets this month, that’s because the International Indian Film Academy Awards are taking over the Rogers Centre on June 25. The gala will be watched by 600 million people in 60 countries and do more to raise Toronto’s profile than several G20 weekends. Forty thousand tourists will descend on the city’s hotels, and in the background, government and business officials will meet to build trade ties between Ontario and India. Infinitely more exciting are the many Indian movie stars who’ll be here, strolling in and out of the Thompson Hotel, signing autographs and, if we’re lucky, travelling the streets by elephant. Here, a primer to all things Bollywood in Toronto.
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