CULTURE | Room for Thought
Remember when we told you about the Room for Thought contest that would allow Canadians to submit ideas for a chance to be mentored by Emily Haines, Marc and Craig Kielburger and Les Stroud? Beginning today with Lisa Shanker's Survivor Garden, a therapeutic community space designed for survivors of serious illnesses, the Four Seasons Centre will publicly display the winning projects. The Kielburgers will be present at today's opening with Emily Haines playing host on the 15th to Andrew Huang's interactive music installation Ghost II, and Survivorman Les Stroud will be on site on the 21st to open Evan Malach's Second Chance Travel, which helps underprivileged youth explore the world. The exhibit is free and closes November 22nd.
The Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts (145 Queen Street West) 8AM Free

FILM | Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
55 films from 12 countries will be screened at the 15th anniversary of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, which begins tonight. This ever-expanding festival opens with Lover's Discourse, a 2010 feature from Hong Kong, about four groups of seemingly unconnected people preoccupied with love (which sounds like Paris Je T'aime meets In The Mood For Love to us). Co-directed by Derek Tsang Kwok Cheung and Jimmy Wan, who will be in attendance at the Canadian premiere, the film stars Eason Chan, Karena Lam and Kay Tse. Further screenings will be held at Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Avenue) and Royal Cinema (608 College Street) over the next six days with the opening gala party occurring at Crown Princess Fine Dining (1033 Bay Street) tonight.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West) 7PM $20 general $15 student/senior

LITERATURE | 2011 Scotiabank Giller Light Bash
One of the biggest evening's in Canadian literature, the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Light Bash happens tonight on Queen West. In support of Frontier College, Canada's original literacy organization, the celebration will feature a live broadcast of the Giller Gala for the announcement of the winner of the Giller Prize, a prestigious literary fiction award named for journalist Doris Giller. There will be raffles, prizes and food as well as music by The Roughtnotes, DJ Teva Harrison and DJ David Leonard. Local literary icons will be attending this event that has been running for 10 years and originally began as a house party for a group of book-loving, Giller Gala-watching friends.
The Burroughes (639 Queen Street West) 7PM $30

ART | Signals From the DEW Line: Art and Poetry in the Global Village
The DEW Line--or the distant early warning line, as Marshall McLuhan phrased it--is the system that artists provide for a culture, signaling to the older culture through art what changes are happening to the established culture. In celebration of McLuhan's vision and the McLuhan 100 conference and DEW Line Festival, Gladstone Hotel will host an evening of poetry and art tonight. Works by Lillian Allen, David Bateman and Andrea Thompson will be on display in addition to the Post-Graffiti exhibit on the 3rd and 4th floors with pieces by Anthony Lister, Banksy, Retna and Dolk. Come out to enjoy reflections of the Global Village from those on the frontlines of the DEW Line.
Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West) 7PM Free

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• The Founder's Lecture: The Arrangement: Fashion and the Art Museum
• The Next Dimension: Holograms from the IOS
• TWM: Thousand Young, 1990 Future, Open Hand, Fuss at Rancho Relaxo

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo by coreymaaskant in the blogTO Flickr pool