For those who get totally stressed Christmas shopping I have one piece of advice - go local and stay out of the malls. Over the course of two rainy days I've found nearly everything I need in Bloor West, Parkdale and West Queen West, granted I've been buying for people who love design as much as I do and it's always easier to find unique gifts away from the dreaded mall.

It was a horrible day in Toronto when we learned we'd potentially be losing three of our historic rep theatres. That was back in June. I'm still lamenting the day the Runnymede Theatre became a Chapters bookstore and that was 8 years ago. It could've been worse. Though it's not a theatre anymore, it still hangs onto some of the same old school charm it had back in the day when I had a date with my first teen crush there. Some of the cinema seating remains too, for those who want to cozy up with a book and forego the awkward handholding.

My memories of the Uptown theatre were demolished three years back and I pass The Revue on Roncesvalles wondering when someone will see its potential and bring it back to life. Local businesses and residents campaigned, raising $30,000 to save it from an unknown fate, but it still needs a buyer with a big heart. Further down Ronces, The Brighton Theatre became a large convenience store years ago, but its classic signage was just recently removed.

Despite some of the losses and some of the change, there is good news on the street. The Royal on College reopened Friday with a door toward the future of cinema. It'll feature high-definition projection, top-notch sound systems and Avid editing facilities. Theatre D Digital, a Toronto post-house credited with mixing Rub & Tug and Phil the Alien, has taken over the property with the intention of restoring the theatre to its former glory days, back when they called it the Pylon. They'll cut and mix projects in one of four suites during daytime hours and feature Canadian and International film on screen in the evenings.

(Image: o.brien)

It's hard to believe Hollywood's feel good movies most of the time, since real life isn't always about happy endings. I have a hard time buying it. For this reason the majority of media I watch and read is non-fiction, documenting real life with all its highs and lows. Thankfully, documentary is flourishing and Toronto is a major hub.

The Hot Docs festival has grown amazingly and has become one of the top doc forums in the world. It's not limited to 10 days in April however. Doc Soup, their monthly film series, takes place tomorrow at the Bloor Cinema.

I was at the same Cinema a couple weeks ago for the One Minute Film and Video Festival and picked up some flyers in the lobby, one was for the Doc Soup screening of The Bridge - an assembly of stories of people at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge - those who witness the unthinkable, but also the stories of those who decide to take fate into their own hands. Director Eric Steel filmed over 20 of those stories over the course of one year - and was able to stop many too.

Toronto is truly a "city of neighborhoods" as Mayor Miller has suggested. A trip through TO could bring you in contact with plenty of new cultural experiences whether you pass through Little Poland, Little Jamaica or Greektown, but it's on the eclectic streets of Kensington Market where you'll find the remnants of all of Toronto's communities meshed in one place. Because of this, many of Toronto's new immigrants have called it their first home, and it's also due to this diversity that Parks Canada has just designated Kensington Market a national historic site. This honour is shared with only two other Toronto areas - The Distillery District and Fort York.

It has yet to be proven exactly what this designation can do for a community in the long run. At the very least it means more scrutiny will be paid to any projected plans in the area. In the 60s, the Victorian row houses of The Market were nearly razed when it was proposed that an affordable-living community, akin to nearby Alexandra Park, should be built. Fortunately, Mayor Crombie saved The Market from this fate. Now the community of Kensington appears to be one of the strongest collectives in the city.

Even those of us who haven't been to Havana, Cuba have heard stories of the crumbling city; glorious examples of Colonial, Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture that can no longer stand the tests of time. Fortunately, Old Havana's potential has been realized and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage site in 1982, but restoration efforts are slow and are often mired in deep political battles.

This Friday at 7PM the ROM presents, as part of its ROMlife series, a lecture entitled "The Astounding Architecture and Urban Design of Havana, Then and Now: History, Heritage and Challenges". Harvard University professor Leland Cott, chief architect for the restoration of Hemmingway's Cuban jungle homestead, will explore the legacy of Cuban architecture beginning over 450 years ago. Influences are far-reaching, Spanish, Caribbean, American and even Soviet styles converge, making Havana a multicultural melee even a Torontonian could appreciate.

(image: danilosiqueira)

"Deck the Halls with Boughs of Kool-aid" would've been a fitting holiday jingle to hear as I checked out the efforts of city designers and architects for Canstruction. The event, to raise awareness of urban hunger problems and help Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank, has a simple message - It starts with one can - but it took much more than that for each design team to build their structures from tin cans and kool-aid packets.

Throughout the lobbies of our black TD towers are the fruits of their labour - mostly cutesy icons with cutesy titles. The giant Winnie the Pooh titled "No More Rumbly-In-The-Tumbly" was the competition's juror's favourite, though it was the C-a-n-quarium made of tuna and sardine cans impossibly held together with elastic bands and paperclips that seemed most impressive.