LITERATURE | Bronwen Low's Slam School Book Launch
Bronwen Low's powerful book about hip-hop curriculum in schools, Slam School, launches tonight at Type Books with a party hosted by OISE. The McGill professor's book examines her two years co-teaching an independently developed curriculum that integrates hip-hop and spoken word in classrooms. Working alongside another teacher/performance poet, Low's book examines the transcripts and findings of how the hip-hop program helped bond administrators, teachers and urban students. Low will be present at the Toronto launch party of her book to answer questions and discuss the challenges and triumphs faced in using the curriculum in urban schools.
Type Books (883 Queen Street West) 6PM Free

CULTURE | Come and Talk To Me
How does the modern man converse with women when small talk, sexts and online messaging systems aren't an option? The goal of Come and Talk to Me is to find that out by inviting men from across the city to be assessed on their ability to hold a decent conversation about various topics of their own choosing. The conversationalists will be judged by bloggers Skye from Met Another Frog, Mizz Love Lippz from Erotica By Savannah and Max from Max-Logic with prizes for the man who demonstrates the best grasp of the art of conversation.
Tequila Bookworm (512 Queen Street West) 8:30PM Free

ART | Beyond Our Roots
Beyond Our Roots explores the multicultural influences on Latin American artists and the impressions it leaves on their artistic representations of their own cultures and traditions. The exhibit, curated by Alejandro Freeland, comes full circle in developing unique visual art works when all these elements of influence are combined. The exhibit is presented by the Latino Canadian Cultural Association in association with the Ontario Arts Council and features artists such as Ulysses Castellanos, Paula Gonzalez-Ossa and Dax Dani Vorona amongst nine others, belly dancers and flamenco music by Santerias. The exhibit runs until July 3rd.
Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West) 7PM Free

THEATRE | Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
Vampire Lesbians of Sodom tells the story of two vampires as they travel from Ancient Sodom to 1920s Hollywood to modern day Las Vegas in a burlesque theatre experience, as directed by Jessica M. Rose. This Charles Busch-written play boasts a lengthy cast of Torontonian burlesque performers and actors and encourages a Rocky Horror Picture Show audience experience by offering a percentage off tickets for those who dress up as vampires for the show. The show is one of the longest running in off Broadway history and the Toronto production is affiliated with Pride Week, running until the end of the week-long festivities.
Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington Avenue) 8PM $25

FILM | 40yearsvideoart.de: Record Again
The Goethe-Institut brings seminal video and films from contemporary German cinema to Toronto to showcase Deutschland's greatest works that have helped shape 20th century filmmaking and art. Tonight marks the beginning of this series, which will continue throughout the year, with a program that features six shorts produced between the late '60s and early '80s by such filmmakers as Rudolf Herz and Ernst Mitzka. The evening's program is the personal selection of award-winning German filmmaker and OCADU professor Oliver Husain, who will be present at the event.
TIFF Bell Lightbox, 3rd floor cinema (350 King Street West) 6:30PM $5

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR

• Cocktails x Canvas
• 2011 AIDS Candlelight Vigil
• The Thing Is Concert
• The Normal Condition of Any Communication

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 Neil Ta | I am Bidong in the blogTO Flickr pool