The Scene

The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off with a ton of parties. The excitement was palpable, especially around the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the Hyatt Hotel where filmmakers and industry types congregate.

Rather than attend a red carpet party, I opted to walk the black carpet last night at the Drake Hotel Overdrive Launch Party celebrating TIFF. The line-up outside was ridiculous—and rightly so. Stella Artois and Sailor Jerry sponsored the event and were offering guests very personalized freebies… like tattoos. Real tattoos.

You know what rocks? Books. You know what rocks even more? People who put words together to make a book.

Lit freaks, squeeze your dog-eared hardcovers a little tighter and get a load of this: Vancouver's 2012 Vancouver Writers Fest tickets go on sale tomorrow (September 5). The 25th Festival offers bookshelves of events for readers with established and emerging writers in interviews, panel discussions, readings and more.

The bright red doors of the turbolift open with a swoosh. Captain James T. Kirk, still reeling from the hypnotic effects of the alien poison, steadies himself as he steps on to the bridge. His antidote to any love potion, hallucinogenic plant or alien drug is his singular devotion to his one true love, his lady, the starship Enterprise. Back in his command chair, his confidence returns and his crew know their captain is back in command.

Now, that throne-like chair, where "not chess, Mr. Spock, poker" was played so many times, saving the ship, planets and even whole galaxies, is here, in Vancouver, at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). As the showcase return to the Fair’s walk through pavilions of years past, Star Trek: The Exhibition collects 300 original items on display in the 20,000 square foot Rollerland Building next to the Pacific Coliseum.

An absolutely bizzare Korean pop (K-pop) music video is blowing up on YouTube, becoming one of the most shared videos in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Australia, Singapore and Sweden last Thursday.

'Gangnam Style' by Korean hip-hop artist PSY has over 18 million views and counting since its release last month. Already American news outlets have weighed in with some speculations about how, why, and with who this video is so popular. Gawker kickstarted the hype-machine by asking whether 'Gangnam Style' could be the best music video of the year.

"It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how or why Psy’s video took off among America’s online hipsters," mused The Wall Street Journal's Evan Ramstad. "A tweet by rapper T-Pain on Sunday no doubt has a lot to do with it."

Indeed, T-Pain did give a shoutout to the video: