As a press stunt for their upcoming Valentine's Day rom-com release, Warner Bros is sponsoring the Music and Lyrics Karaoke Lounge this Saturday and Sunday at the Roots Organic Coffee House. The event will be hosted by Canadian comedian Craig Lauzon (CBC's Royal Canadian Air Farce) as well as the Gladstone Hotel's regular award-winning karaoke host Peter Styles.

You'd better do some extra crooning in the shower because Roots Valentine's Day prizing will be awarded for the best singers of the day. The event runs this weekend on Saturday, February 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Sunday, February 11 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Organic Coffee House can be found at 100 Bloor Street West on the second floor.

And you thought you could only see vampire hunts and demon exorcisms on reruns of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. Apparently the new Czech documentary The Shutka Book of Records takes an inside look at the real slayers and genie exterminators (among other things) of Shutka, the largest Roma (Gypsy) community in the world. The critically lauded film will debut here in Toronto on February 7th at 6:30pm and 9:15pm at the Bloor Cinema as part of Hot Docs' monthly film series Doc Soup.

Hot on the heels of the Golden Globe nominations, our own Toronto Film Critics Association has announced its picks for best flicks of the year. Comparing each list, I noticed Toronto excluded quite a few of the mainstream big-shots dominating the Hollywood Foreign Press' picks. There is no mention of Leonardo DiCaprio or Meryl Streep in the Best Male and Female performance categories, who were lauded at the GG for their work in the Departed/Blood Diamond and the Devil Wears Prada, respectively.

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And now for a review of Mel's latest bloodbath, APOCALYPTO!.

Whether or not you still hate Mel Gibson for his drunken Anti-Semitic tirade (what is it with celebrities that can't keep their mouths shut?), Apocalypto is a rousing experience. Mel knows how to make movies (remember Braveheart?), and even though this one's shot entirely in the Yukatec Maya language, the heart of Apocalypto is absolutely universal. Really it's all about survival and rising from fear to protect one's self and his loved ones, themes anyone can understand.

Apocalypto is a spectacular ride. It's marred by a few realism-killing cases of dues-ex-machina, but right to the clever finish, I was literally be on the edge of my seat.