A lot of what I’ve read coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival confirms the same opinion: Chris Smith’s Collapse is a terrifying, gut-wrenching, oh-god-no! type of film. But it’s neither slasher nor big-budget rendering of Armageddon. Rather, it’s a documentary focusing on cop-turned-reporter Michael Ruppert. What, you may ask, is so scary about that? Turns out Ruppert is something of Cassandra figure who predicted the sub-prime mortgage crisis with crazy accuracy a few years back. He’s got some other pretty frightening predictions too.

This year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) boasts one of the most stellar celebrity lineups in years. Over the course of the next ten days, we hope to see George Clooney and Matt Damon racing their Bentleys down Yonge Street, Megan Fox and Natalie Portman drunk skinny-dipping in Lake Ontario, and Michael Douglas and Michael Caine playing Backgammon in High Park. But most likely we'll be awkwardly stalking them from across the street with the other plebeians. Here are your best bets at joining the fun.

Contrary to what the songs on his new album might prove, Canadian artist Slim Twig doesn't consider himself a songwriter. “Although I’m the only person constructing the music and writing the lyrics, I don’t feel like I fit in with that tradition of people who are very keen on Bob Dylan and Neil Young.” The 21-year old has long forgone traditional instruments for less conventional, digital ones that result in a sample-based, found sound aesthetic, as evidenced on his debut LP Contempt!. A rising star in his native Toronto, Twig's branching out in different directions: recent shows in the U.S., and movie roles opposite Ellen Page (The Tracey Fragments) among them. His dark, sometimes nightmarish imagery lead us to believe that we’d be encountering a morose, gloomy individual. But no. After the jump, an interview where we get the skinny on a bright, charming young man, one who's maybe trying to reinvent that which has yet to be invented, among other things.

Toronto-based rockers The Cliks have the distinction of being the first transgender band signed to a major label. Lead singer Lucas Silveira has gotten press from the likes of MSNBC and The Boston Globe for his gender-bending lifestyle, and all band members are prominent figures in the LGBT community. Their third LP, Dirty King, was released yesterday. To celebrate, Silveira took the time to answer a few of life's most pressing questions.

It's one thing to pick a fight with the Fellowship of the Sun's poster girl, but with Mark Ronson? Perhaps noted anti-journalist Perez Hilton's got something of a personality defect. Which makes all the more incredulous cries of wolf against Black Eyed Peas frontman/friend of Girls Aloud will.i.am. Yawn!

Word comes from one of those talkative birdie types that Peter Gatien has been ousted from his throne at his Circa nightclub in Toronto. My source was vague on details except for a "he's definitely out," and that the "two lawyer/investor partners" had acted because Peter was "up to his same old shit.” At this time I’m not sure what “shit” he is specifically accused of being up to, but there was just so much of it in the old days. I’m promised details sometime today, but although it's no secret that Peter and I have had a "confused" past, I honestly don’t enjoy hearing this news. As I’ve said before, though it seems that he deviated far from any reasonable set of management practices in his reign as club king in New York, there is little doubt of his brilliance, daring, and vision. Things didn’t exactly work out as he planned here, and again I’m sad that this may be true for him in his native land. I never went to Circa, but I heard wonderful things about it and was impressed by the Kid Robot decor images that I’ve seen online.

“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” You’ll probably be asked this question a hundred times by your friends over the next week. However, for many, New Year’s never lives up to the hype, and partygoers' complaints are usually universal: Went to the same club I go to on a regular Friday night, paid ten times the price for admission, had ten times the amount of people there, waited ten times longer for a drink. Enter New Year’s Nation. This unique company hosts New Year’s Eve parties in ten cities, and what makes the events so different is the connectivity -- all cities will be linked live via the Internet. Plus, there’s no waiting outside behind a velvet rope to get in, and no chance of being empty-handed when the clock strikes midnight. NYN has a specific ratio of bartenders to guests, so everyone will get their drink on. And for your listening pleasure, NYN just announced DJ AM and Travis Barker will be DJing this year at their LA party -- their first time playing together since the plane crash.

● The Black Hoof (Dundas Street West) - Cocktail Molotov no more. Pig out on charcuterie prior to partying at the Chelsea Room across the street.

● Art Square Cafe (Baldwin Village) - Crepes, chocolate, art for purchase, and free wifi always makes for a good mix.
● Gilead Cafe (King East) - Jamie Kennedy's catering-headquarters-cum-informal-eatery is another notch of his empire.
● Balzac's Coffee (Distillery District) - See what's brewing in the Distillery.

● 7 West Cafe (Yonge and Bloor) - Three floors of nocturnal madness, 24/7.
● Le Meridien King Edward Hotel (City Hall/Financial District) - Old world luxury reigns supreme over 100 years later at historic property.
● Grapefruit Moon (The Annex) - Park your bike outside at Annex brunch staple.