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] »
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TIFF after hours: the 44 (and counting) film fest venues with the coveted 4 a.m. last call
(Image: walknboston)
Every year celebs from all over the world flood into the city for TIFF, but for many, it’s the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario that’s the real star throughout the month of September. Just in time to combat post-summer blues, the AGCO grants certain venues the rights to the elusive 4 a.m. last call. While last year’s list clocked in at 44 venues This year’s list of venues with extended hours finally caught up with last year’s, bringing the current number to 44—some of them not open to the public (we’re looking at you, Windsor Arms) and others open for one night only. Check out the list of late-night watering holes after the jump and stay tuned for updates on extended hours, as more are expected to roll in before the festival.
In the ’60s, Marshall McLuhan was Toronto’s most famous intellectual; now, the world has finally caught up with him
In the ’60s, McLuhan was hobnobbing with celebrities, advising politicians and forever changing how we think about mass media. A hundred years after his birth, the world has finally caught up with his theories
Marshall McLuhan. (Image: Robert Lansdale Photography/University of Toronto Archives)
Nineteen sixty-five was the turning point of Marshall McLuhan’s career—the Annus McLuhanis, the Year of Marshall Law, the heady, vertiginous breakout of McLuhan-mania. It was the year the irreverent journalist Tom Wolfe published a star-making profile of the Canadian media guru in the New York Herald Tribune that repeatedly asked, in Wolfe’s typically antic, hyperbolic way: what if he is right? “Suppose he is what he sounds like,” Wolfe wrote, “the most important thinker since Newton, Darwin, Freud, Einstein and Pavlov, studs of the intelligentsia game—suppose he is the oracle of the modern times?”
In the 40-odd years since Wolfe first posed this question, many others have asked it again and again. McLuhan was right about so many things. Browse his books, dip into any of the interviews he gave, and almost every probing, aphoristic utterance feels preternaturally prescient. Decades before doomsayers decried the Internet’s negative rewiring of the brain, he dramatically outlined the psychic, physical and social consequences: “One of the effects of living with electric information is that we live habitually in a state of information overload. There’s always more than you can cope with.” He predicted the slow death of magazines and newspapers: “The monarchy of print has ended and an oligarchy of new media has usurped most of the power of that 500-year-old monarchy.” And he foresaw the rise of crowd-sourced news: “If we pay careful attention to the fact that the press is a mosaic, participant kind of organization and a do-it-yourself kind of world, we can see why it is so necessary to democratic government.” McLuhan anticipated reality TV long before it was a glimmer in the Survivor producer Mark Burnett’s eye: “I used to talk about the global village; I now speak of it more properly as the global theatre. Every kid is now concerned with acting. Doing his thing outside and raising a ruckus in a quest for identity.” When, in his bestselling book The Medium is the Massage, he wrote, “Wars, revolutions, civil uprisings are interfaces within the new environments created by electric informational media,” he could have been writing about how Twitter and Facebook shaped the Arab Spring. The world that McLuhan conjured is a world that now looks an awful lot like ours.
Six places to watch this Friday’s Royal Wedding in style
(Image: Kevin Knaulls)
The Royal Wedding is more than just another way for Canadians to express their fondness for the motherland; Kate and Will are also the hottest celebrity couple du jour. Hardcore wedding watchers of either stripe will want to secure their Friday morning plans in advance. To whit, here are six restaurants celebrating the Royal Wedding on April 29 in style.
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The Best of Winterlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s 62 favourite restaurants
(Image: Renée Suen, from the torontolife.com Flickr pool)
January is upon us, and for many hungry Torontonians, that means one thing: Winterlicious. The menus are less predictable than previous years—crème brûlée’s out, lentils du Puy are in—so even the ’Licious haters might have a reason to take advantage of the festival this year. We’ve already named the 12 menus that we think are the best bets, but that doesn’t begin to cover it. Here, find Toronto Life’s 62 favourite Winterlicious restaurants, complete with menus, reviews and reservation numbers.
Winterlicious runs from January 28 to February 10. Reservations are accepted from January 13 onward (January 11 for American Express users).
The Winterlicious 2011 menus are out, so let’s compare them to previous years
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By now, Torontonians are well-seasoned winterliciousers—and at Winterlicious 2011, we will be deftly dodging the wilted arugula and heading straight for the belly of the beast (preferably pork). Looking through the newly published list of restaurants and menus, there is plenty to be pleased about this January. Our popular “Best of Winterlicious” piece is coming out next week, but we thought we’d get a jump on things and take a look at how this year’s roster compares with last year’s ’Licous lists.
The swag series: celebs like Rachel Weisz get all the jewellery they want at Lia Sophia
What it is: Lia Sophia, an international company focusing on jewellery, has set up camp in the Windsor Arms’ Prime Restaurant. Offering stars and lucky media gals who visit statement pieces from its latest collection, Lia Sophia will also be sending gift baskets directly to hotel rooms. We wonder if any stars holed up in the Windsor Arms deemed the restaurant too far to travel.
Who goes: Rachel Weisz and Flare editor Lisa Tant.
What they get: Anything they want and as much as they want from the collection. The chunky, bejewelled, silvery Estate bracelet and earrings have been popular choices.
Today at TIFF: Good Neighbours, The Debt, Edward Norton interviews Bruce Springsteen and more
Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.
• 6 p.m. Edward Norton interviews Bruce Springsteen at Bell Lightbox
• 6:30 p.m. The Debt North American premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 6:45 p.m. Heartbeats world premiere at Varsity Cinema 8
• InStyle magazine party at Windsor Arms Hotel
• 9 p.m. Henry’s Crime premiere at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• 9:30 p.m. The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town world premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 9:30 p.m. Good Neighbours world premiere at Varsity Cinema 8
• 10 p.m. David Morales at Ultra
• 10 p.m. Stiff at The Beaver
• 10 p.m. Kiss Me I’m a Rockstar! with performances by Gene Simmons and The Envy at Tattoo Rock Parlour
• Good Neighbours cast party at Festival Central (148 Cumberland St.)
• Henry’s Crime after party at Brassaii
Spotted! Clint Eastwood having dinner
Eastwood and Matt Damon at Sunday's Toronto premiere of Hereafter (Image: Eric Charbonneau/WireImage/Getty Images)
One of our sources spotted Clint Eastwood dining at the Windsor Arms Hotel last night. His film, Hereafter, premiered in Toronto yesterday at the Elgin Theatre.
= Find this story on our Celebrity Sightings Map, where we plot the locations of stars spotted throughout Toronto
Playboy reality star Bridget Marquardt comes to TIFF for some reason
- Bridget Marquardt (Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Bridget Marquardt, one of the three interchangeable blondes who dated Hugh Hefner on reality series The Girls Next Door, is doing what she does best—oozing non-threatening sexuality while posing for photos on a banquette at Toronto’s den of dim lighting, the Windsor Arms Hotel. Bridget has landed at TIFF as part of the festival’s unpopular “You’re Not in Movies so What the Hell Are You Doing Here?” series (past participants have included Lance Bass, Paris Hilton and Hilary Duff). The 36-year-old looks pert and pretty in a baby-doll dress, though heavy makeup can’t conceal the crinkles around her eyes.
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Where to get a TIFF drink: the film festival’s 44 spots with 4 a.m. licences
The arrival of TIFF always demands answers to three crucial questions: which celebs are coming to town, what are the best flicks to see, and where can we get inebriated at ungodly hours of the night? The first two we’ve taken care of here and here, and now we have the nearly complete list of venues with extended hours for TIFF. The news is good: last year, around 25 bars and restaurants were approved for extended hours; this year, about 44 will be serving late. The selection is more varied, and with spots like Gabby’s and Hey Lucy on the list, it’s decidedly more casual. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario tells us that the list could expand as more venues get last-minute approval. Here, the 44 bars officially licensed to stay open until 4 a.m. »
Are the doomsayers right? Is it the end for Yorkville as TIFF epicentre?
The mean streets of King West (Image: Google Maps)
With the Bell Lightbox TIFF headquarters at King and John finished, doomsayers have begun predicting the demise of Yorkville as the festival epicentre. The new Lightbox—with its five screening rooms, festival programming and trendy new restaurants—is obviously going to provide Yorkville’s facilities with some competition. It’s also across from the Hyatt Regency, the official host hotel, and very close to the Thompson Hotel, where Shenae Grimes, Adrian Grenier and Enrique Iglesias have been spotted recently.
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Prime Steakhouse unveils its new chef’s new menu
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Prime, that famed steakhouse at the Windsor Arms Hotel, has become a revolving door for chefs, of late. After executive Stephen Ricci left earlier this year, alumnus J.P. Challet (he helmed the kitchen during Prime’s 1999 relaunch) returned to liven up the joint. Just five months into his tenure, Challet abruptly announced his resignation. “I don’t believe in the steak house. I don’t believe in fine dining anymore,” he told us in June. The restaurant has managed to pick up the pieces with a new head chef—Richard Andino of Flow—and brand new menus. There are also plans for an all-new restaurant at the hotel.
J.P. Challet leaves the Windsor Arms (again) to pick up the pieces at Ici Bistro (again)
A farewell to Arms: J.P. Challet bids farewell to the Yorkville institution (Image: windsorarmshotel.com)
Master chef J.P. Challet is leaving the Windsor Arms Hotel’s Prime just five months into his tenure—and nine years after doing it the first time. His company Jean-Pierre and Co. unceremoniously pulled out of the steak house after a deal to take over the hotel’s food and beverage program fell through. Challet served his last supper for the Arms at a 2,000-person function at Exhibition Place last Sunday and is now looking to restart construction on his once-hyped Harbord Street project, Ici Bistro.
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The High Life: four glam condos that redefine urban opulence
They call it downsizing, but who are we kidding? Four glam condos that redefine urban opulence
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