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George Stroumboulopoulos goes the full Angelina, named World Food Programme ambassador

George-Stroumboulopoulos-with-Stephen-Lewis

Stephen Lewis, George Stroumboulopoulos and WFP spokesperson Bettina Luescher at last night’s announcement (Image: John Michael McGrath)

The World Food Programme—an enormous international aid program that feeds 90 million people a year—has named George Stroumboulopoulos as its first Canadian Ambassador Against Hunger, putting the former MuchMusic VJ on the same list as people such as Sean Connery, Drew Barrymore and Penélope Cruz. The CBC also announced after the taping of his show last night that there will be an April 1 special about Stroumboulopoulos’s recent travel to Pakistan, where the CBC host toured the WFP sites and saw the devastation that remains after last year’s floods.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 20, 2010 | 9:51 am

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TIFF’s worst dressed

Because any dress that makes its wearer do this in front of a camera crew makes our list. (Image: Karon Liu)

This year’s worst-dressed list was far easier to put together than our best-dressed roundup. (Overall, the fashion choices were too safe, too casual and sometimes just plain wrong. Take a look at the festival’s sartorial lowlights in our slide show below.

: Because any dress that makes its wearer do this in front of a camera crew makes our list. (Image: Karon Liu)

: The overlay on the Philip Lim frock Furtado wore to the Score premiere made her look like she’d been caught in a fishing net. We’re still not sure how a leather skirt managed to look frumpy.

: This dress that the Black Swan actress wore to the film’s premiere is our pick for the absolute worst of TIFF. (Image: Jeff Vespa/WireImage/Getty/Images)

: All of Karpluk’s TIFF fashion efforts have been perfection…for a 16-year-old attending the prom. (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

: This strapless dress Able wore to the premiere of The Town looks like it’s been left out in the sun too long. (Image: Karon Liu)

: The Town premiere wins an award for worst-dressed red carpet, thanks, in part, to this fugly YSL jumpsuit Rebecca Hall wore. (Image: Karon Liu)

: This patchwork DKNY dress Lefevre wore to the premiere of The Town is a disaster. Thankfully, her gorgeous hair helps distract from the shoes. (Image: Karon Liu)

: Ryder looks uncomfortable in every photo we’ve seen of her in this Louis Vuitton dress at the Black Swan premiere. No wonder; it looks terrible. (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

: As one of our favourite over-50 TIFF hotties, we expected more from you, Mirren. This floral frock you wore to the Brighton Rock premiere looks like the wrapping paper of a bridal shower gift. The green sash doesn’t help. (Image: Karon Liu)

: We know the festival is draining, but that’s no reason to wear PJs on the red carpet. Fortunately for Weisz, she’d look stunning in a potato sack, or even this vintage jumpsuit she wore to the premiere of The Whistleblower. (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)

See our picks for TIFF’s best dressed >>

The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 9, 2010 | 2:16 pm

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The swag series: George Stroumboulopoulos’s celeb guests take ketchup chips and Clamato back to the U.S.

Exotic Canadian Clamato

What it is: Guests of Strombo’s new show, George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, get their pick of some sweet swag in the Made in Canada Lounge at CBC headquarters. Housed behind the set in an area normally cordoned off for props, the space has been transformed into a CanCon cloud nine complete with furniture from The Bay and Queen West shop Design Republic.

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The Hype

From the Print Edition

August 26, 2010 | 2:23 pm

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From the Archives: a look back on TIFF’s most memorable moments

Oh, Snap
This month, the Toronto International Film Festival celebrates its 35th year with a glossy new home in the Bell Lightbox. Much has changed since the inaugural year, when Hollywood studios turned up their noses at the fledging fest. Then again, much hasn’t. It’s still two weeks of celebrities and fans behaving badly. Here, a look back on TIFF’s most memorable moments, from the coke-fuelled ’70s to the paparazzi-riddled oughties.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

May 10, 2010 | 3:38 pm

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Tease those TIFF taste buds with a Shinan Govani Q&A

Shinan Govani at the launch party for his book, Boldface Names (Photo by Jen McNeely)

Local gossip king Shinan Govani landed the cover of the premiere issue of In Toronto magazine this week (it’s like Xtra or Fab for the Yorkville crowd), and while we already know too much about the party pundit, the story revealed some tidbits that might be useful for amateur celebrity spotters. The highlights of the 1,400-word Q&A:

Govani’s picks for celebrity sightings:
Drew Barrymore was spotted at Sweaty Betty’s twice when she was in town for TIFF, Robin Williams once visited the Dora Keogh, Daniel Craig and Megan Fox have dined at Avenue Road’s L’Unità, and Toufik Sarwa’s Cinq 01 on College is the go-to place for local celebs.

His answer to the tired “will Toronto ever be like New York” question:
Up the population by one million. “Toronto is plenty engaging and glam—what we’re still lacking is scale,” he tells the magazine, adding that a Toronto party may have 10 “cool” people, but a New York or London party may have 100 “cool” people.

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The Goods

Beauty School

February 25, 2010 | 10:05 am

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Grey hair trend makes its way to Toronto

Drew Barrymore's TIFF dye job (Photo by James Helmer)

We’ve been wondering when the grey hair trend would make its way from celebrities, teen bloggers and fashion runways to the streets of Toronto, and it seems that time has come.

Toronto junior stylist Mike Baronowski went from dark brown to a platinum-silver months ago to match his clients at Greg May Hair Architects in Yorkville. But Greg May, owner of the salon, has seen a serious increase in demand for all kinds of wacky shades.

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The Goods

Required Reading

December 14, 2009 | 12:14 pm

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The year in fashion: a roundup of 2009 retrospectives

Drew Barrymore's "daring" TIFF dress (Photo by James Helmer)

• Judith Thomson takes a look at the most memorable fashion moments of the Obama era. The highlights: the cardi-skirt combo Michelle Obama wore to meet the Queen, Aretha Franklin’s bowed inauguration hat and Sarah Palin’s glasses. [The New Yorker]

• The fall of Eatons, the rise of fashion week, the influx of starchitecture and seven other noteworthy Toronto design moments of the oughts. [Now]

• Topping People‘s snoozy best-dressed list is Kate Winslet, who wins for her body-conscious red carpet looks. Michelle Obama scored the award for most accessible style, and Cameron Diaz has the year’s best jeans. [People]

• Celebrity style bible In Style has put together a slide show of the most daring dresses of the year. None of the looks come close to J. Lo’s plunging Versace gown from 2000, but one of our favourite TIFF outfits—Drew Barrymore’s Alexander McQueen tattoo dress—made the cut, though we’d hardly call it risky. Barrymore’s dye job, on the other hand… [In Style]

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 22, 2009 | 2:03 pm

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The best and worst of TIFF 2009

The after party for The Men Who Stare at Goats. Not many people can say they were at a house party on the Bridle Path with George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

TIFF is toast for 2009, so we asked our team of writers and photographers report back on the best and worst, the scary and the sublime, the hot and the lame of this year’s festival. Here are their harrowing responses.

: Without a doubt, George Clooney, for having a bottomless pit of facial expressions, headline-worthy quotes and spending 20 minutes signing autographs for the entire line of fans.

: Eating smoked meat and kosher pickles with the dudes from Schwartz’s Deli. For The Trotsky after party at Pravda, Alliance Films flew in the Montreal meatheads, put them up at the Royal York, and paid them to feed a CanCon crowd with real-size sammies. Through full stomachs, our hearts were won.

: A glass castle on the Bridle Path, enormous and cubist, like something out of a Bret Easton Ellis novel. (People in glass houses probably shouldn’t throw parties, but we’re glad they do.)

: Getting chastised by a security guard for walking on the Duchess of York’s dress train at the InStyle party (although this moment would have been amazing had we not noticed and she kept walking).

: Hearing a group of middle-aged male photographers sing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” while waiting outside the press conference room.

: “So, you’re an actress?”, generally followed by a shocked, “No? Really?” when we shook our heads. Look, we can tell by your loafers that you’re from out of town, but come on—we’re holding a press pass, eating majorly caloric pastries, and carrying our own not-it bag. Nothing about this screams “movie starlet.” Kristin Booth is probably here somewhere, so please move on.

: The Grey Goose martini we sipped alongside Clive Owen while sitting on a TTC subway car in the secret Bay station.

: We had a hunch that Drew Barrymore would turn up at Sweaty Betty’s, as she has in the past, and we were right. We got there in time to see her behind the bar of our local watering hole, swigging beer in an Alexander McQueen gown.

: How to tell a celebrity’s non-famous date to get out of a shot without being rude. This is what happened during Colin Farrell’s now-infamous red carpet debacle. A bunch of photographers wanted a solo shot of the brooding Irishman, so they all yelled at his date to get out of the shot during the frenzy. Farrell took offence because his date was his sister. Pictured is a clear shot of Paula Patton, snapped after Alan Thicke’s son stepped out of the way.

: Colin Farrell for saying “cheers” to every reporter at the Ondine press conference after a photo of him grabbing a photographer made the front page of The Sun.

: Tyler Perry, who made a beeline for the red carpet at the Precious premiere and didn’t even look at the fans.

: Nikki Beach. It was supposed to be a huge deal, attracting all kinds of celebs, but turned out to be packed with rather horny, smashed girls from Thornhill.

: Being one of the few photographers who snapped a photo, albeit a slightly blurry one, of Robert DeNiro at the Precious premiere.

: Michael Cera’s shyness pays his bills, but his one-word answers do nothing for reporters.

: The barrage of camera shutters at press conferences. They peak whenever a celebrity smiles or talks with their hands.

: “Oprah, we are all so grateful to you for helping the children in Africa. I was born in Kiev, Ukraine [pictured], and not many people know that there are 200 orphanages there and over 100,000 orphans. I just want to know if anybody reached out to you or approached you to help out the country.”

: A tie between Edward Norton’s and Oprah Winfrey’s. In both cases, the barricades we were standing behind started to lean forward as the celebs walked past. It took two security guards to push everyone back.

: Waiting two and a half hours for Megan Fox outside Cheval. She didn’t show up.

: A woman on the 501 streetcar gushing about how one time, she waved to Carla Collins outside the Hazelton and Carla Collins waved back! Because “stars are just normal people, you know?”

: Falling asleep on the sidewalk while waiting for Natalie Portman. For 10 minutes, we slept on the street.

: The fans sang “Smelly Cat” in hopes of luring Lisa Kudrow back to the barricades at the premiere of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. It didn’t work.

: The men’s bathroom on the second floor of the Sutton Place Hotel; we saw director Atom Egoyan exiting, adjusting his belt.

: It’s a tie, and both involve Drew Barrymore (although neither was her fault). The first was at the Whip It press conference, when a reporter asked how her family felt about roller derby (Barrymore famously filed for emancipation at the age of 15). The second was a question about Patrick Swayze’s passing; the actor didn’t know about Swayze’s death until that moment.

: A journalist from a certain national news network asking Eva Avila to take a photo with him on the red carpet.

: The Axe body spray haze at Tryst during the PETA fashion party.

: Natalie Portman saying TIFF is more about the films than celebrities as a wall of photographers snapped away at her.

: Surprisingly, not the hangover. The biggest ache was in our feet after 10 days of standing and partying.

: “Do you have anything to say about the death of Patrick Swayze?”

: Notorious paparazzi hater and fame eschewer Edward Norton at the premiere of Leaves of Grass at Ryerson, where he proceeded down the entire line of fans with a big, unforced smile and posed for a lot of photos.

: The after party for The Men Who Stare at Goats. Not many people can say they were at a house party on the Bridle Path with George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

: Oprah Winfrey for giving perfectly packaged quotes and knowing how to pose for cameras. Also, people clapped every time she said something at the press conference.

: Grovelling to kitchen staff by the back door vents of the Windsor Arms and basically begging them to sneak us into the InStyle party through the garbage room.

: Jessica Paré. Lips of velvet.

: Remington’s, the infamous gay male strip club on Yonge Street, holds the same party every year at the same time. Sure, it takes place during TIFF and is full of TIFF-goers, but they are in no way connected.

(Images from Flickr.com are greatly appreciated and used under the Creative Commons license found here.)

The Goods Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 21, 2009 | 10:29 am

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PHOTO GALLERY: 31 TIFF red carpet looks

Jennifer Garner and Julianne Moore opted for green and strapless, Amanda Seyfried chose sequins and Louboutins, and Drew Barrymore and Demi Moore did yellow in two very different ways. See the red carpet outfits these stars (and 26 others) chose for their TIFF galas in the slide show below.

: Demi Moore on the red carpet for the premiere of The Joneses at the Visa Screening Room, during the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday September 13, 2009. (Photos by James Helmer)

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 18, 2009 | 1:54 pm

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The buzz around TIFF awards is running rampant

We are thinking that the Cadillac People’s Choice Award should be renamed Teenager’s Choice this TIFF. High school horrors like Jennifer’s Body and Leslie, My Name is Evil are getting big buzz. There’s also some chat about Whip It, the (say it with us) directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. The Trotsky (starring Jay Baruchel and set in Montreal) is apparently winning over Canadian hearts, making it a front runner for the Best Canadian Feature Award.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 17, 2009 | 1:03 am

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The fun dozen stop: our top 12 TIFF tales

FunDozen This Saturday night, TIFF volunteers will roll up the red carpet for the last time in 2009. With the festival’s imminent end, we’ve compiled a list of the our most-read stories since the beginning of festivities on September 10. Here, the top dozen:

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 5:22 pm

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Drew Barrymore plays cuteness Ping-Pong with Ellen Page

Drew Barrymore at the press conference for Whip It (Photo by Karon Liu)

Sitting at opposite ends of the table at the press conference of the roller derby comedy, Whip It, Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page acted as the bookmarks of sweetness at the panel discussion.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 12:39 pm

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Patrick Swayze passes away during TIFF and the awkwardness of getting celebrity death reactions

Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) (Photo by Alan Light)

Every time a famous person passes away, news organizations call up a bunch of celebrities to get reactions, usually consisting phrases such as “I was shocked when I found out” and “Our thoughts and prayers go out to [famous person’s name]’s family.” What reporters didn’t count on yesterday was that some celebrities at TIFF, caught up in the hubbub of the festival, didn’t know about Patrick Swayze’s death until they were asked about it at press conferences.

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Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 16, 2009 | 11:22 am

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RED CARPET INTERVIEW: Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis and the cast of Whip It! at the Visa Screening Room

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 15, 2009 | 7:34 pm

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Loo styles of the rich and famous

Based on some recent indecent exposure, we’re thinking the key to TIFF reporting may be camping out next to the lav. The evidence below:

1. Bill Murray may skip his own press conferences, but the actor is fairly in your face when he needs the head. During a whirlwind gala at Roy Thomson Hall, an insider was in a stall catching up on a work call when an abrupt knock was heard at the door.

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All stories relating to Drew Barrymore

(Images from Flickr.com are greatly appreciated and used under the Creative Commons license found here.)

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