Archive | Toronto

3 Israelis movies on the schedule @ this year’s Inside Out LGBTQ film festival in Toronto… buy your tickets and check them out!

more via Insideout.ca

FILM: ADAM

Indonesia, Israel, USA

Adam is a sensitive 17-year-old who is secretly in love with Jonathan, the most popular guy at school. One day, Adam decides to make his true feelings known but the result is not what Adam was hoping for.

Wednesday, May 29th @ 5:15

@TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

____________________________________________________________________________________

FILM: LITTLE MAN

Israel, UK

Elliot is unable to form a long-lasting relationship but he never gives up, moving on to the next available man. One particular weekend, Elliot becomes obsessed with a very odd neighbour who is making too many loud noises. Reaching his limit, Elliot is out to kill whatever is eating him up.

Wednesday, May 29th @ 9:30

@TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

____________________________________________________________________________________

FILM: Out in the Dark

Israel, USA, Palestinian Territories

The romance between Nimr, a Palestinian grad student, and Roy, an Israeli lawyer, must withstand the forces that are trying to drive them apart, in this sensual and gripping drama.

When Nimr and Roy first meet, their attraction is mutual and they begin falling for each other. But complications soon arise. Roy’s family tries to sow seeds of doubt about Nimr’s intentions, while Nimr must struggle with the fear of rejection or, worse, of having his family find out that he’s gay. Meanwhile, Israeli Security Forces threaten to revoke Nimr’s permit to study in Tel Aviv if he doesn’t provide information about his older brother’s increasingly violent activism. Faced with these obstacles, can Nimr and Roy’s relationship survive?

Sparked by electric chemistry between its handsome leading men and imbued with assured cinematography that conveys the film’s intimacy and urgency, Out in the Dark is a sensitive, compellingstory about love, family and loyalty, set in a politically charged reality.

Thursday, May 30th @ 7:15

@TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

Tel Aviv Pride

Pack your rainbow flag, glitter, and sunscreen because there’s a whole lot of celebrating going on in these pride-ful cities.

Click here for full list

Gashash Deshe created Bharati, a song and dance extravaganza about India, after falling in love with Bollywood music on an Israeli TV ad.

Who would have guessed that a TV commercial broadcast in Israel was the seed for a spectacular, international hit stage show celebrating the rich and diverse culture of today’s India?
As Bharati, the beguiling song-and-dance extravaganza, returns to Sony Centre for three performances this weekend, we can only be grateful that Gashash Deshe, sitting in front of his television in Tel Aviv a decade or so ago, didn’t hit the mute button on his remote when the ads came on.

“I remember this catchy tune,” recalls Deshe. It turned out to be Bollywood-style music and was enough to stir Deshe’s curiosity about a land and culture he knew precious little about. The result was akin to falling in love.

Continue reading via Toronto Star

Bharati is on at the Sony Centre Feb. 9 and 10.

See http://www.sonycentre.ca/Performances/Event-Detail.aspx?evtID=865&long=78.96288&lat=20.59368&showInMap=Truewww.sonycentre.caEND for details.

As the day started at a Toronto hospital Tuesday, Tony Lightfoot’s “essential tremors” movement disorder was as debilitating as ever: his arms jolted violently up and down when he held them outstretched, his finger waved about wildly as he tried touching his nose, and the only signature he could manage was a random scratch.

A doctor suggested the retired Calgary engineer take a drink of water. “Have you got a rain coat?” the patient asked.

Over the next four hours at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, however, Mr. Lightfoot underwent a new “scalpel-free” brain treatment that involved firing bursts of ultrasound waves at the misbehaving neurons causing his condition. The results were remarkable. The 68-year-old could hold his hand out steadily, touch his nose with ease and — for the first time in a decade — both sign his name and down a glass of water.

“I can’t believe it,” said Mr. Lightfoot, grinning broadly. “I never, never thought it would happen to me. It’s just marvellous.”

He is one of only a few dozen patients worldwide to undergo the experimental procedure, part of a potential watershed in neurological treatment that is using sound waves, magnetic pulses and radiation beams to bloodlessly heal diseased brains instead of physically cutting into skull and white matter.

Sunnybrook doctors hope the MRI-guided ultrasound technique could eventually be applied to a host of other problems, from brain tumours to Parkinson’s, avoiding the risk of infection and other complications of traditional surgery. The technology might even help diseases like Alzheimer’s better respond to medication by opening up the blood-brain barrier that prevents most drugs from being absorbed into the organ, they say.

“This will revolutionize how the brain will be treated in future,” predicted Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, the Finnish-born inventor of the ultrasound device, now at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

The hospital already has approval for a trial of the machine to treat cancerous brain tumours.

The researchers still must prove the device manufactured by Israel’s InSightec Ltd. — which costs more than $2-million — is safer and more effective than the existing operations before it is used widely, said Dr. Michael Schwartz, head of neurosurgery at Sunnybrook.

It follows a trend, however, toward more non-invasive treatment of both neurological and psychiatric diseases. At Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, for instance, scientists are trying something called magnetic seizure therapy — which shoots magnetic pulses at targeted areas of the brain — to treat patients with severe depression.

Continue reading via NationalPost

by Andrew Lee

I have now been in Israel for about 3 months and this weekend was exposed to a new facet of Israeli culture, the music scene.

Before coming here, I never would have expected Israel to have such a prominent music scene. Courtesy of the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, we were invited to have dinner and a concert. Before going, I looked forward to the dinner but dreaded theconcert. Loud music and mosh pits never appealed to me. However, What transpired was beyond what I imagined and the whole event reminded me of a posh dinner with live music back in Toronto. And the music, it blew me away. I have been learning Hebrew for 3 months now and I never equated Hebrew and music but after that night, I would never see Hebrew the same. Although I barely understood anything, I was transported to another world. Idan Haviv truly changed my outlook on Israel as not only a nation with such a rich history but one that is pushing the boundaries of modern culture. Never again will I see Israel as I did in the past.

Toronto entrepreneurs ‘as ambitious as their counterparts’ in Silicon Valley, report says

Silicon Valley may still rank first, but Toronto, Vancouver and Waterloo, Ont., are among the world’s top 20 ecosystems for startups, according to a new report from San Francisco-based Startup Genome and Spain’s Telefónica Digital.

The report, based on data compiled on more than 50,000 startups globally, ranked Toronto in eighth spot, followed by Vancouver in ninth and Waterloo at no. 16. Right behind Silicon Valley as “the leading alternative” was Tel Aviv.

Among its findings on the Canadian choices, the report called Toronto the largest startup ecosystem in Canada and one of the largest globally, and said Toronto entrepreneurs are “as ambitious as their counterparts” in Silicon Valley.

Key challenges for Toronto-based startups, not dissimilar to other places, are customer acquisition, building the product, finding funding and building the team. The report said that “the increasingly vibrant startup activity of Toronto combined with its lack of capital presents a large opportunity for investors.”

The report noted that, similar to Toronto, Vancouver startups are “heavily undercapitalized in later stages,” creating an opportunity for “later-stage funds to find good startups cheaply.”

Waterloo, it said, offers “great access to talent and innovative projects and ideas,” and an opportunity for business angels or super angels to help startups grow.

The report also said Waterloo is among the startup ecosystems where the most entrepreneurs were previously based in Silicon Valley.

The full ranking of the top 20:

• 1. Silicon Valley
• 2. Tel Aviv
• 3. Los Angeles
• 4. Seattle
• 5. New York City
• 6. Boston
• 7. London
• 8. Toronto
• 9. Vancouver
• 10. Chicago
• 11. Paris
• 12. Sydney
• 13. Sao Paulo
• 14. Moscow
• 15. Berlin
• 16. Waterloo
• 17. Singapore
• 18. Melbourne
• 19. Bangalore
• 20. Santiago

Source: Globe and Mail

Aid App Art Award Canada Cancer Coexistence Competition Concert Economy Environment Europe Fashion Festival Film Food Funny Gay Green Hollywood India Innovation Innovation Israel Jerusalem Jewish LGBTQ London2012 Music Nightlife Obama Olympics Party Peace Photography Pride Research Science Sports Tel Aviv Toronto Tourism Travel TV Video

WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.