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Tags: Porter Airlines / Airline News / New Routes / Toronto Travel / Air Canada Jazz / → All Tags

Porter Airlines Preparing To Battle It Out With Air Canada Jazz

Throughout the economic downturn, Porter Airlines has been doing everything right. They’ve impressed travelers with their service, expanded to new routes, and have served Toronto City Centre Airport without too much competition. Well that’s about to end as another airline wants to get a chunk of the air traffic from the city’s smaller airport. After all, the airport is a little more convenient to all that downtown business.

Air Canada Jazz is looking to return to end Porter’s dominance over the airport’s commercial traffic. Jazz used to come and go from the downtown airport until early in 2006 when they suspended their service, claiming they had been evicted by a firm that was in cahoots with the CEO at Porter Airlines. However, the exclusivity agreement between Porter Airlines and the airport ends early next year, and Jazz is ready to once again roll down the runway.

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Tags: Film Festival Travel / Toronto Film Festival / Celeb Travel / George Clooney / Jane Fonda / → All Tags

Toronto Film Fest Welcomes Double the Clooney And A Jane Fonda Controversy

George Clooney is the unofficial King of the festival circuit this season. Last week we reported on the salt-and-pepper haired actor gracing Venice with his presence with new girlfriend in tow, and he recently hopped back over the Atlantic to attend the Toronto Film Festival and promote not one, but two movies.

The first is the curiously titled The Men Who Stare at Goats, and the second is Up in the Air, a new film from Juno director Jason Reitman where he plays a very Jaunted-friendly character. Per CinemaBlend, Clooney stars as "a corporate downsizer who is obsessed with collecting frequent flier miles." Definitely our kind of movie.

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Tags: Vanity Fair / Toronto / Toronto Travel / Museums / Museum Travel / → All Tags

Vanity Fair To Shower Toronto With Celebrity Glitz

Hilary Swank as photographed by Norman Jean Roy

From a nude and pregnant Demi Moore to Tom Ford cozying up next to Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley (also nude, naturally), Vanity Fair is well-known for reflecting what's hot—and, apparently, clothes-free—in pop culture since the early 20th Century. In our celebrity-centric culture, Vanity Fair is bar none when it comes to showcasing the mythological glitz of Hollywood life, consistently attracting the curiosity of readers with photo spreads that are sometimes sexy, but always elegant.

With such a storied past, a retrospective seems like a natural way to commemorate 95 years of the magazine's glamorous perspective. Labeled a "smash" after its European tour (because Annie Leibovitz is the Bono of photographers), Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 is a collection of iconic images from the magazine's history. The exhibit will make a stop at Toronto's Institute for Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum from September 26th of this year through January 3, 2010, the first North American destination. Amelia Earheart, Charlie Chaplin, and Madonna are just some of the marquee names—and images—being used to draw crowds in Canada's capital city.

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Tags: Film Festivals / Toronto Travel / Celeb Travel / Back of the Envelope Guides / → All Tags

Back of the Envelope Travel Guide: Toronto International Film Festival

This year's Toronto International Film Festival is right around the corner, so it's time to start thinking about what films to see, where to stay and where to go for celebrity gawking. This year's roster includes Whip It, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, and Precious, a smaller film with a couple of big names (Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry) appearing at the festival to back it.

Tickets for the fest, which runs from September 10th-19th, can be purchased via the festival's box office in customized packages, pre-set packages or individually (single tickets go on sale September 4th at 7 am). If you're heading north of the border for the red carpet festivities or just to watch them, we've got all the tips for where to stay and eat and what else to catch when you're not asking for autographs.

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Tags: Best-Jewish-Delis-Map / Delis / Food Travel / Restaurants / → All Tags

Best Jewish Delis in the World: Pancer's in Toronto

You might not guess it, but those Canadians sure know how to do Jewish delis. Our neighbor to the north has not one, but two legendary Jewish joints that rival the greats in New York and LA.

In addition to Schwartz's Deli in Montreal, there's also Moe Pancer's in Toronto, a North York legend that's been turning out homemade corned beef and pastrami since 1957. The deli, now being operated by the third generation of the same family, claims to have served Toronto some 6 million sandwiches over the past half-century, and it seems just about every order has earned rave reviews.

The original Moe Pancer famously said that he was a "five meat kind of guy," and served a limited, back-to-basics menu. His eponymous deli has expanded since then, and you can now order all the standards, from latkas and borscht to baby beef and chopped liver. But we still side with the old man—you can't beat a hot pastrami sandwich done right, and at $7 Canadian ($6 U.S.), you can't beat the prices here, either. (But you'll want to shell out an extra buck for a side or sour dills.)

Related Stories:
· Moe Pancer's [Official Site]
· Springtime in Montreal: Schwartz' Deli on Saint Laurent [Jaunted]
· The Best Jewish Delis in the World:: Chicago's Ashkenaz [Jaunted]

[Photo: Pancer's]

Tags: Celebs Who Twitter / LeVar Burton / Twitter / Celeb Travel / → All Tags

LeVar Burton Shares Friends To Know And Ways To Grow on Twitter

To us, he’s right up there with Big Bird and Mr. Rogers. To others, he’ll always be the Chief Engineer aboard the USS Enterprise. Although we love Reading Rainbow—who knew it only ended a couple years ago—he’s most famous for his Emmy-nominated roll in Roots.

We’re talking about LeVar Burton of course, and he’s taking the Twitter world by storm. No simple mundane postings here—he’s mastered the ReTweet, is always up for a chat, and most importantly he's hosted Tweet-Ups abroad. No wonder he’s got over 150,000 followers.

Earlier this month LeVar was in Toronto as a guest on the talk show The Hour—it’s a little like Leno or Letterman and is hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. Even before LeVar boarded the plane to TO he was thinking about what to do once his feet hit the ground.

Contemplating a Tweetup in TORONTO this evening. Anyone know of a place that serves up a decent pint in Yorkville?

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Tags: Shopping / Fashion Travel / Benjamin Bixby / Andre 3000 / → All Tags

Where To Find A Dash of Andre 3000's Dapper Style

Call him spiffy, jaunty, natty or rakish, but don't you dare try to label him as a musician first and a fashion designer second. Andre 3000 of Outkast has long been known for his particularly colorful way of dressing to the nines, and once the stars aligned for him, he began to pursue this passion as a more than a hobby, creating a line of menswear named Benjamin Bixby. Entering its second season of retail, the retro-inspired and often ridiculously detailed looks of Bixby have finally earned themselves a cult following.

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Tags: Celeb Travel / Rachel McAdams / Josh Lucas / → All Tags

Rachel McAdams Recycles Her Vacations

Rachel McAdams took her new sweetheart, Josh Lucas, home to Canada for a romantic visit last week. Raised in St. Thomas, a suburb of Toronto, the pair ate dinner a deux and explored the streets where McAdams shot the forthcoming adaptation "The Time Traveler's Wife."

What's wrong with this picture, besides the way it makes fans of "The Notebook" homicidal? McAdams has been snapped all around Toronto before... with ex Ryan Gosling, with whom she got back together late last year only to once again break it off with him, reasons unknown. In fact, Rachel and Josh were spotted at Grace, the same restaurant where Ryan and Rachel had a steamy reunion last year.

Rachel, do you know what you are? You're a serial minibreaker. Named for the trip Hugh Grant and Bridget Jones go on in the instant classic "Bridget Jones' Diary," this is the trip she takes all her boyfriends on to the old familiar haunts of the homeland. The difference between us and McAdams is that when we recycle vacations among significant others -- or heck, college roommates, visiting relatives or foreign exchange students -- we don't have a team of paparazzi documenting our every move.

Related Stories:
· 2008: Mushy Reunion Travel: Gosling and McAdams, Together Again [Jaunted]
· Missed Connections in Toronto: The Admit It, You've Seen "The Notebook" Edition [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebrity-gossip.net]

Tags: Laid-Off Travel / Budget Travel / Big Three / → All Tags

Three Vacation Ideas For The Big Three

Are you one of the casualties of the hurtin' economy? We're here to help with Laid-Off Travel, a new series on where to go when you don't have somewhere to go from 9 to 5.

So it's been a few months since GM and Chrysler asked for a bailout. How are they doing now? Oh... they want more money. In GM's case, $12 billion more, and they're willing to cut 47,000 jobs to prove that they're trying really hard. Chrysler is "only" cutting 3,000 jobs, but that can't be comforting for Detroit residents who have already withstood several rounds of cuts. So use your severance wisely on one of these getaways:

Go North: The next warm day, drop in on neighbor-to-the-north Toronto. At the Park Hyatt Toronto you can choose how much to spoil yourself with $10 extras from now through Feb. 27

Go South: Fly'n'stay at the Mayan Riviera for under $500 per person -- spring break comes early this year!

Go Green: There isn't a direct flight from Detroit, but Airfare Watchdog's sales to Dublin right now are pretty fantastic -- try Chicago-Dublin for $368 r/t.

Related Stories:
· GM and Chrysler Line Up at the Pump [Digital Journal]
· Macy's Employees: Buy Something, Sorry We Didn't [Jaunted]
· Graffiti for Humanity in Toronto [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cliph]

Tags: Street Art / Museums / Art / → All Tags

Graffiti For Humanity In Toronto

The eternal question surrounding graffiti is whether you consider it art or vandalism, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto is coming down on the side of art. ROM recently opened Housepaint, Phase 2: Shelter, the first exhibition on the subject of street art in a major Canadian museum. The exhibit features 10 canvas houses of different sizes painted by 10 of Canada’s leading street artists. The pieces are meant to draw attention to the social problems of poverty and homelessness in Canada and around the world.

One of the featured artists, Patrick Thompson, aka Evoke, is a hometown boy who has been part of the Canadian street art scene for more than 15 years. His work has been seen throughout Toronto and Ottawa, where he has also been active in the community. Thompson has become a heavyweight in the graffiti world for the distinctive "freestyle" tags he leaves on city streets and freight trains. He recently told the Town Crier he is glad his chosen profession has been debated with such vigor:

I don’t think graffiti art should get a good rap, it’s good to talk about things ... agitate people in a way most things don’t agitate them.

The houses will be on display at ROM until Sunday, July 5, when they will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity.

Related Stories:
· Royal Ontario Museum [Official Site]
· Beautiful Art, or Wanton Destruction? [Town Crier]
· The Tao of Thompson [Ottawa XPress]

[Photo: Town Crier]

Tags: Street Art / Art / Urban Travel / → All Tags

Bringing The Streets Indoors

Canadian street artists Fauxreel and Specter have renovated an old warehouse into a dilapidated fake urban wonderland.

Called "A City Renewal Project," it's a secret world hidden behind a fake storefront in Toronto. Inside the seedy store is what looks like the workspace of an artist, filled with wood, construction materials and lots of Bell telephones. A back door will transport you into a long warehouse space that looks like an indoor facsimile of a real city street. Life-size black and white reproductions of closed and derelict stores line the walls of the warehouse. Further adding to the reality of the installation are real bus shelters, billboards, garbage cans--and real garbage. And of course, everything is covered in graffiti and tags.

The artists fear that the practice of tearing down old buildings and putting up brand-new condos is destroying their city's cultural history. Even the building the show is housed in is scheduled to be knocked down to make way for new apartments. A City Renewal Project is up until November 23, at inconsistent hours, so check the website for details.

Related Stories:
· A City Renewal Project [Official Site]
· Outside In [Torontoist]
· Toronto Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: A City Renewal Project]

Tags: Airport Photo Shoots / Celeb Travel / Zac Efron / Security Theater / YYZ / → All Tags

Zac Efron Can Write His Name

"High School Musical 3" star Zac Efron is forced to confront his legacy as a teen heartthrob at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

"HSM3" topped the box office last weekend for the second week in a row, besting a host of Halloween offerings from "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" to "Saw V." Youth, hope and optimism beats grim determination and appeals to fear? We've never seen that before.

Related Stories:
· Zac Efron Can't Even Mystic Tan Without His Bodyguards [Jaunted]
· Zac Efron's Oversize Carryon [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]