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    The Force Entertains, but Does it Awaken Anything New?

    Spoilers Ahead Star Wars: The Force Awakens is pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be. It’s fun, well-produced, and has great visual effects and action scenes. Tonally, it feels reminiscent of the original trilogy but technologically compatible with today’s standards. It touts itself as a Star Wars for a new generation, and in that respect, it delivers admirably. But underneath its flashy veneer, does the movie have much in the way of substance? Its plot and themes are essentially a retread of those in the original trilogy. Like Lucas infamously said in one of his interviews about the prequels, “it’s like poetry, it rhymes.” No longer is…

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    Tips for Sticking to your 2016 Fitness Goals

    Let’s face it: working out consistently is hard. We all start off with good intentions, but life gets in the way. Work, school, kids, hobbies, or just unexpected social gatherings impede your daily routine and eat up that workout time. For years, I struggled with working out consistently. Having been a very active child, I always got my exercise through sports. But when that was no longer the case, it was hard to motivate myself to go to the gym because I was so conscious that I was exercising and I didn’t particularly enjoy it. My goal would always be to lose weight and when I didn’t see results right…

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    The Best Lesser-Known International Cuisine in Toronto

    We’ve all had sushi, pizza, burritos, shawarmas, and various other well-known international fare. But in a city with as many nationalities represented as Toronto, an entire world of cuisine is at your fingertips, just waiting to be discovered. Many of these food items are delicious, underrated, and—to the average Canadian—unfamiliar. Any one of these could end up being your new favourite food item. Okonomiyaki Okonomi House Restaurant 23 Charles St. W., Toronto, On., M4Y 2R4 Okonomiyaki is colloquially known as the “Japanese pancake”, but it’s really unlike any pancake you’ve ever had before. As opposed to the more ubiquitous sushi and other typical Japanese fare, this dish, commonly eaten as…

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    5 Places You Can Go to Escape Your Cellphone

    In this day and age, we live by the internet and especially through social media. We eat with it, we sleep with it, and we even walk our dogs with it. For many, it takes as much as the inability to connect­­­—being physically unable to access social media—to make us log offline. Below is a list of places and events in Toronto that either do not allow for the use of cellphones or simply do not have WiFi or connection signals, giving you the ability to escape from your cellphone, even for just a few minutes (or hours). The Subway For just $3.00, you can travel underground on Toronto’s subway…

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    How to Survive Post-Holiday Depression

    All of December is spent preparing for the holidays. And let’s face it: it can be too much. Our efforts go towards planning and organizing holiday dinners and parties. We spend more than we can afford on gifts and decorations. We see family and friends day after day. But after all the hype and adrenaline has run out, what’s left? In a short few hours, all of that time, money and socialization is gone. If you’re anything like the 20% of Canadians who experience anxiety, then you’re struggling to get through the last few days before work or school resume. Here are some strategies to get you through until your…

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    8 Shows to Binge Watch Over the Holidays

    The winter break is coming and you finally have free time to catch up on TV shows. But what should you watch while your favourites are on their winter hiatus? The following shows are some of my top picks to dive into during this break: Shameless Each minute of every episode of Shameless contains its own bit of drama. This show focuses on Fiona and her siblings, showing how they make their lives work with questionable parents. It’s a quick series to catch up on, with only 12 episodes in each season. You’re going to want to catch up quickly since the US sixth season premieres on January 10th. The first…

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    Winter Recipe: Cheeseball Snowman

    Ingredients: 2 (250g) packages of cream cheese, room temperature 2 cups white cheddar cheese (or any other kind of white cheese), shredded 2 tablespoons minced shallot 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce ¼ teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tobasco) coarse salt and black pepper, to taste fresh rosemary sprigs 5 raisins pretzel sticks 1 baby carrot crackers (1 large Breton cracker for the base of the hat, and 3 regular Ritz crackers for the top of the hat) Mix the cream cheese in a bowl with 1 ½ cups of white cheddar cheese. Add the minced shallots, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Mix together and add…

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    How To Pick the Right Spices for Your Food

    We all know someone out there who’s a natural cook. Everything they make comes out tasting like heaven, and they never, EVER, burn a single baked veggie. Look into their freezer and instead of frozen pizza and instant meals you’ll find pre-prepared homemade dinners and oodles of ingredients. So how do they do it? Believe it or not, some of those amazing cooks started out just like you, confused and scared of the kitchen. The key to getting comfortable with cooking is knowing what goes with what, and learning that is as easy as pie. Buy Spices! A little salt and pepper can go a long way, but don’t be…

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    Have Yourself a Merry, Stylish Christmas

    The holidays are here and it’s time to give yourself a treat and find the perfect outfit for that amazing Christmas dinner. Have a walk down Danforth Avenue and find the top boutiques in Toronto that will have you dressing to the nines with their exclusive and stand-out designs. Share the joy! Boutique Lavilla, 766 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON (417)406-3444 Located on the very heart of Danforth Avenue, Lavilla is like an uncut diamond: once you pass through the roughness of its façade, you find an amazing variety of chic and modern outfits. But its most valuable treasure is the Spanish clothing brand Desigual, noted for its patchwork and asymmetrical…

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    Help Get the Homeless Out of the Cold

    Walking into the office of Heyworth House I am welcomed by the friendly smile of Haydar Shouly. He apologizes for the clutter and explains that with the start of Out of the Cold (OOTC) the space has turned into more of a storage unit. Shouly is a manager of housing and homelessness services for Dixon Hall, a community based not-for-profit that runs programs for all ages. More specifically, he manages Heyworth House, a homeless shelter located at 2714 Danforth Avenue. In my opinion, the office did not seem out of sorts at all–especially when I learned what a large undertaking OOTC has become. OOTC is an initiative that Dixon Hall…