Photo: untitled by tcp909, member of the blogTO Flickr Pool.

Events on Toronto's Radar for TUESDAY JANUARY 5, 2009... lovingly handpicked from blogTO's events calendar.

BOOKS AND LIT | Brockton Writers Series
The first edition of this West End reading series features a mix of local writers. Mike Smith, aka White Noise Machine, is a poetry slam specialist whose strength lies in his cynical wit, while Judy Rebick has recently published an optimistic book about transforming personal power into successful political movements. Poet and journalist Kim Fry rounds out the bill with her unique style of poetry based on childhood and environmentalism. If you're a writer looking to test out your own recent work on a live audience, there is an open mic portion at the end of the evening.
Zoots CafĂŠ, 1438 Dundas St. W., 7 pm

MUSIC | The Barettas and the Big Deal at the Horseshoe Tavern
Hamilton punk-rock trio the Barettas hit up the Horseshoe tonight for the latest installment of Dave Bookman's Nu Music Night. Carly, Kate, and Katie are still in the "up and coming" category but have already landed themselves an opening slot for x-rated boogie rockers White Cowbell Oklahoma on their next swing through Steeltown. They're joined by brand new band the Big Deal, who just formed in 2009 and thus, as of yet, are no such thing.
The Horseshoe Tavern, 370 Queen St. W., Free, 9 pm

PARTY | Paul Rev at the Red Light
The Red Light is not yet a year old, but already it has begun siphoning off the bar-hopping crowd from the Ossington strip. Their sister bar Sweaty Betty's is party responsible for turning Ossington into the congested hot spot it is today, and the Red Light is similarly gritty and laid back... but twice the size. Tonight Paul Reverend will be spinning all the greatest hip hop classics for your listening pleasure, and with drink prices this low things could get very pleasurable indeed.
The Red Light, 1185 Dundas St. W., No Cover, 9 pm

MUSIC | Fourcorners at Bread and Circus
Come watch songwriters at work at this event in the heart of Kensington Market. Blues guitarist Sean Pinchin will be joined by classically trained Sarah Lockus, singer-songwriter Lesley Pike, and acoustic soloist Mandippal Jandu to perform new songs in a round-robin format, revealing as they do so their writing process. The artists are very diverse, they share the ability to put together a tune. Come see how they do it.
Bread and Circus, 299 Augusta Ave., PWYC, 8:30 pm

FILM | The Bird Who Stops in the Air: A Film by Jeon Soo-Il
The first ever Canadian showing of a film by Jeon Soo-Il was on Saturday at the Royal as part of a mini-retrospective on the Korean filmmaker's work. Today the mini-festival continues with a free screening at Innis Town Hall of Jeon's first feature, The Bird Who Stops in the Air, a semi-autobiographical story of a film professor whose professional and private life falls apart while he obsessively pursues a documentary about birds.
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave., Free, 7 pm

For full listings, head on over to our events calendar.
Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO calendar, contact us directly, or use our handy Facebook app.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.