Artscape Wychwood Barns, which officially opens to the public on Thursday, is a pleasant anomaly in Toronto.

It's a burgeoning 60,000 square foot community-based facility that Artscape developed with the City of Toronto and The Stop Community Food Centre. You'll find it situated on a five-acre piece of land where the former historic TTC streetcar repair barns were located, in the St. Clair and Christie neighbourhood.

Artscape Wychwood Barns has space for 15 artist studios and 26 artist live/work spaces, as well as 13 not-for-profit organizations that will provide educational programming focused on arts and the environment.

Since Tim's first look last weekend, I got a chance to preview the space and meet with some of the artists who got affordable live/work, studio, office and rehearsal spaces in the new facility....

The new Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is a transformed gallery abounding in organically shaped curvy staircases made of Douglas fir and the extensive use of glass, showing off the talents of architect Frank Gehry and giving the gallery a much-needed face-lift.

On Thursday I got a chance to hear Toronto-raised Gehry speak about his role in the transformation of what's sure to be one of Toronto's most talked about galleries. I also got to capture some of the spaciousness and beauty of the place in the photos that follow....

The Comedy Bar celebrated its official opening Friday night, kicking off a weekend of free comedy in Toronto.

Gary Rideout Jr. (of The Sketchersons) has carved out a cozy little new space to call home for comedy in a promising space at 945 Bloor St. W. near Ossington. The Comedy Bar's 110-seat theatre will host 70 shows a month and feature more than 300 performers in sketch, improv and stand-up.

Friday night's showcase featured some clever performances from Canadian Comedy Award winning troupe, The Sketchersons. The comedic onslaught continues Sunday evening with their flagship show, Sunday Night Live, starting at 8 p.m.

Over 800 people packed The Bloor Cinema last night to witness a piece of history as the U.S. election results poured in.

NOW Magazine organized this America Votes party, which had a licensed bar and free entry (Bloor Cinema memberships needed, which were just $3).

Toronto is overwhelmingly supportive of democrat Barack Obama, so it wasn't much of a surprise that the place was at capacity by 8:30 p.m.

Chinese Food is a safe bet tomorrow night.

The band, not the rat-infested restaurants is set to perform at their album release party at The Horseshoe Tavern, just around the corner from Chinatown.

I first caught these guys during a NXNE performance last summer and was pretty impressed by their tuneful songs and positive energy. Their debut full-length album, When the Future Caught on Fire, will be available on vinyl and digital download card.

I caught up with Chinese Food singer Tim Beresford for a little Q&A about his band, his love of vinyl and the nature of rats....

Former OCAD student Thorarinn Jonsson spoke with The National Post in an article today that discusses his life 11 months after the brouhaha he created.

Jonsson was made infamous for his Fake Bomb art project outside the Royal Ontario Museum last fall, for which he was granted a discharge in a Toronto courtroom last month.

In this Q&A, he says he hopes to come back to Toronto. "I'm so in love with Toronto. I wish they were more positive towards me."

Jonsson's now studying at the Icelandic Art Academy, where he's up to more mischief.

He talks of a piece he did in Reykjavik that created a bit of a stir, albeit of Icelandic proportions:

"I rented this massive speaker system and I took it to the top floor of the schools' office building, in downtown Reykjavik, and five times a day I played the Muslim call to prayer.

"There was one Saturday morning, when it went off at dawn, and you're not supposed to make noise before 8 so a lot of people woke up. So the police were called, and the school had me shut down the piece."

This piece of "art" supposedly "reflected the way the idea of Muslims has entered popular consciousness. Kinda like changing your middle name to Hussein, but with his own perverted artistic vision I guess.