Food Adventure #9: SMITH (553 Church St.) Kate: After hearing Karolina rave about the huevos rancheros at Smith for the past few months, we decided it was time to check it out. Located in the Village inside what looks like an old townhouse, it would be hard to miss if you weren’t looking for it (I almost did). Karolina: It’s true, I hyped up Smith significantly. This wasn’t just because the food...
Laughter, Tears—and Bottles of Vodka Leviathan (2014) 4/4 Unflinchingly tense, staggeringly well-made, thought-provoking, and brimming with emotion, Leviathan is a Chekhov-style family tragedy; a subtle, extremely barbed satire exposing criminality in contemporary Russia; a film possessed of both classic sweep and sharp modern relevance. Filled with a desolate beauty, it’s a stupendous piece of...
Osgoode has an extensive list of partner schools with formal exchange agreements. Apart from these, there are summer programs, as well as semester exchanges with York University’s partner schools. But did you know that you can arrange your own exchange agreement with a non-partner institution? Of course it will take some leg-work, but the individualized and unique experience will be worth all the...
This week, the Obiter travels to one of the world’s oldest cities, a cradle of human history, and origin for three of the world’s most widespread faiths: the beautiful, timeless, and stately Jerusalem in Israel. Giving us a first-hand glimpse into the heart of this ancient place is Aryeh Samuel, currently in the third year of his Juris Doctor, who hails from New York and holds and undergraduate...
Spying, Sports, Showbiz – The “Dark Side” of Modern Society Citizenfour (2014) 3/4 Urgent, fascinating, and tastefully designed, Citizenfour is a primal political fable for the digital age; prosaic in its presentation, profound in its details, and perturbing in its implications. Alarming and essential, it’s a tapestry of escalating suspense; a masterful fusion of journalism and art; a rare...
Food Adventure #6: BIG CROW (176 Dupont St.) Kate: Karolina and I decided that since our last brunch adventure was such a hit (though, technically, the restaurant was a miss), she would be my official brunch companion for the rest of the year. Per her suggestion, we decided to check out Big Crow, which is run by the owners of Rose and Sons and Fat Pasha in a small tent-like structure directly...
FOOD ADVENTURE #5 – LE PETIT DÉJEUNER (191 King St. East) This week, my brunch companion was none other than the Obiter’s esteemed Editor-in-Chief, Karolina Wisniewski. After consulting a number of sources, we decided to check out Le Petit Déjeuner (LPD), a small restaurant located in St. Lawrence Market specializing in “Belgian-Canadian comfort food,” which also apparently serves the best...
An Avalanche of Actors Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 3/4 Tasty, ironic, incisive, and savagely audacious, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a weird brew of backstage black comedy and theatrical satire, a volcano of creative ideas in full eruption, and a dark comedy of desperation buoyed by unbridled artistic optimism. It will make you laugh out loud and...
What I Learnt About Being a Lawyer From the Set of Suits My partner and I are in the middle of a high profile divorce settlement. We are having a heated whisper-discussion on the best legal approach to the dissolution of this crumbling but lucrative matrimony. “We need to respect the boundaries of their terms,” I whisper to him. “But frankly I don’t think our client is going to get the yacht.” He...
By now, we all can relate to the fact that that one semester flies by in no time. Maybe the first weeks feel slower, but as routine kicks in, it’s already time to hustle for finals. But that perceived passage of time can change so very drastically when one is taken out of that habitual comfort zone; three months is a long, long time to pass when alone in a new world. Time alone in a foreign place...
Food Adventure #4 – SAVING GRACE (907 Dundas St. West) A thing or person’s “saving grace” is its redeeming quality, that feature which compensates for its flaws and imperfections. As I set off for my brunch adventure this week, I hoped and prayed that Saving Grace would be my saving grace from the lackluster brunch experiences I have relayed to you thus far. In addition to the promise that...
A Wife, A Mother, and a Music Instructor Gone Girl (2014) 3/4 Mystifying, well-planned, precisely curdled, and tantalizingly mercurial, Gone Girl is a stealthy comedy and an absorbing melodrama; a break-all-the-windows plot-twister that retains every jolt from Gillian Flynn’s blockbuster novel, and a work of chilly wit and bleak metaphor that toys with the viewer like a femme fatale with her...
EASY RESTAURANT (1645 Queen St. West / 713 College St. West) After my disappointing experience at Aunties and Uncles, I was hoping that this week’s brunch adventure would boost my confidence in the Toronto brunch scene. I chose Easy Restaurant, as it is another spot with a great reputation and has a location on College Street, a stone’s throw from my apartment. Unfortunately, this may have been...
Greetings from Tokyo! Your correspondent has now landed in Japan for an exchange semester at Waseda Law School. As introduced before, this semester the Obiter Dicta will bring you a special series covering the amazing experiences of fellow Osgoode students who are spending a semester abroad at one of Osgoode’s partner schools worldwide. As for myself, I will be presenting a little slice of the...
AUNTIES AND UNCLES (74 Lippincott St.) For my brunch adventure this week I, thankfully, wasn’t hung-over and decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about at Aunties and Uncles. I had been hearing about this place since moving to Toronto, but living in Passy meant taking an hour-long transit ride downtown, followed by what I had heard was an extremely long wait prior to getting...
The 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) was another hectic ten days in a long line of new beginnings over the last thirty-nine years. It was the first time that King Street was closed to traffic for the opening weekend, and the first time that TIFF took a firm stance regarding Telluride premieres, resulting in the loss of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, among others. It was...
Laugh now, cry later, Osgoode. This is our 3L swan song, our last dance. And we’ve saved this dance for you. After today, we’re handing off the column to our successor contributors, who we hope will continue in our stead by leaving a trail of steaming culinary justice across the GTA. Goodman’s Bistro: Dan: No analysis of campus food options would be complete without mentioning the Aramark...
In my mind, there were two possible options for the topic of my final Obiter Dicta article. I could write a sentimental, well-written article waxing poetic about my nine years of post-secondary education and the great memories associated with my time as a student at Osgoode Hall; alternatively, I could write a review for a 1996 movie that scores a paltry 5.6 out of 10 on IMDb. Having chosen the...
1L student Nadia Klein, whose roots in the arts began here in Toronto, comes from a prestigious background in perfecting the cello. Since playing the cello from the young age of 6, Nadia completed her Bachelor of Music Performance at the University of Toronto before continuing on to receive her Masters of Music Performance and Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of...
The sun is shining, and we are finally approaching the end of the law school year. It must be time to break plates and luxuriate! It’s time, in other words, for Greek food! Venue: Kalyvia – 420 Danforth Ave (just east of Chester station) Cuisine: Greek Food Food: Dolmades ($6.99), Prix Fixe Combo ($15.00): village salad, homemade chicken and pork gyros, roast potatoes, rice, Greek cheese...
If there are two words I cannot stand to see in print, they are “sublime” and “Kafkaesque”. There is nearly always a less pretentious way to achieve descriptive accuracy, and I’ve come to regard overreliance on those turns of phrase to be little more than laziness hidden beneath a thin veneer of pseudo-intellectualism – something I have little patience for in general. In light of this, I...
I see a lot of movies in theatre, but I rarely walk out of them thinking about how bad they were or about how I wish I hadn’t spent the money I paid to see them. In the past year, only The Purge (one of the worst and most disappointing movies I have ever seen) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Peter Jackson can legitimately go to hell for thinking it was reasonable to drag this one book...
I wanted to grow an herb or two,
It was spring, and a good thing to do.
I had never gardened before, it’s true.
I had no idea what I was getting into.
I soon found myself at the gardening store,
With soil and seeds and seedlings galore,
Into my cart the items did pour,
This cold weather seems to be never-ending. So, comfort food was back on the menu in a big way this week. Hold onto your butts and give thanks, Osgoode. Meaty buns are front of mind in Midtown at Holy Chuck. Venue: Holy Chuck – 1450 Yonge Street (just south of St. Clair station) Cuisine: Burgers Food: Luke went for “The Big Chuck” ($10.99), which is HC’s take on a big mac, and rounded...
Thinking green is becoming more elusive to the Canadian public, as the day-to-day tasks of life preoccupy our minds and influence our every action. It seems that being environmentally conscious in our lives has become something that must be an active and deliberate choice, as opposed to a way we carry out various aspects of our daily lives on a constant basis. For instance, the purchase of a...