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Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / Toronto / Toronto Travel / Air Canada / Restaurants / Porter Airlines / YYZ / → All Tags

Drive-Thru For A Fast Food Lunch And A 747 Landing

We love airplanes, you love airplanes, so let's go look at airplanes! In our Prime Plane Spotting series, we'll let you in on all the best spots to whip out your cameras and binoculars for a piece of the aviation action.

On the Pacific coast of Canada, in Vancouver, there is a jetty ideally situated for watching landing planes. On almost the other side of the North American continent in Toronto, it's a Wendy's fast food restaurant that makes for the perfect lookout.

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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: Pollution / Zoos / → All Tags

Toronto Zoo to Harness the Power of Poo

There are certain cities in the world that are having a bit of a problem with poop. As we pointed out last week, for example, the glimmering emirate that is Dubai lacks a viable drainage system for sewage, resulting in polluted beaches and illegally-dumped ponds of poo surrounding the city. Nasty! One would think that such a wealthy and technologically-savvy place could afford the world's most sophisticated sewer system, but if they haven't built it yet, maybe a better solution to their problems can be found at the Toronto Zoo. Zoo officials recently announced plans to build a $13 million plant that turns animal poo into clean, green, pollution-free energy that would power not only the zoo, but the surrounding community as well. The poo-to-power process is known as anaerobic digestion, and it converts animal and food waste into biogas with the use of some very helpful bacteria. With more than 5,000 poo-producing animals providing a constant flow (sorry) of fuel, officials are optimistic that the zoo can meet its goal of becoming an energy independent, carbon-neutral destination in just a few years, hopefully providing a example for other cities who are struggling to deal with environmental and energy problems. Naturally, we have to wonder if some poop is better than others for power. Is grass-fed elephant poop preferable to Dorito-fed human poop? Can they actually use teeny tiny poops from frogs, turtles, and snakes? In any case, it sounds like both the people and the animals up in Toronto are on to something.

[Photo: AP]

Related Stories:
· Toronto Zoo [official site]
· Toronto Zoo Wants to Turn Poo Into Energy [CBC News]
· Zoo's Poo Aids Push to Become Carbon Neutral [thestar.com]
· Why We're Never Swimming at a Dubai Beach Again [Jaunted]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Jennifer Aniston / Toronto Film Festival / → All Tags

Film Festival Travel: Toronto's a Little Disappointing, Eh?

Only grown-ups here: Far from the sparkles of the MTV Video Music Awards, Jennifer Aniston opens her new movie "Management" at the Toronto Film Festival. The road-trip comedy stars Aniston as a traveling saleswoman who finds her last one-night stand (Steve Zahn, "Rescue Dawn") is chasing her across the country.

While Toronto's wave of premieres has featured the usual parade of smiling faces, industry insiders are feeling a little let down over last year's marquee offerings like "No Country For Old Men," "Juno" and "Eastern Promises."

Guy Ritchie's premiere "RocknRolla" debuted to tepid-to-cold reviews, and the Venice Film Festival stole the thunder of this year's Coen Brothers output "Burn After Reading." Persevere, armchair critics! The next "Ray" could be in there somewhere!

Related Stories:
· Brad Pitt Makes Knees Weak; Wyclef Jean Mops the Floor [HC]
· Missed Connections in Toronto: The "Admit It, You've Seen "The Notebook" Edition [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebrity-Gossip.net]