Starry Saturday

Sometimes living in a city like Toronto can surprise you. When you are not even expecting it you can stumble upon a red carpet event. Such was the case last night when my walk home turned into star watching outside the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre.

Yonge street was barricaded and a crowd had gathered. My mind was elsewhere so I was not really thinking of the date. But it did not take long to realize that the event was the Geminis. Yes, the event that rewards the best in Canadian television was going down and I was able to sneak into the second line of observers right at the entrance point.

My first catch was Mark Taylor. He is currently staring in "Flashpoint", a show that do actually enjoy. It is a cop procedural and is really well done. I must say that Mark is quite handsome in person. Truthfully, it was cool to be close to a homegrown star from one of my favourite Canadian guilty pleasures: "Instant Star". Squeeee!!


Next up was Enrico Colantoni. In spite of his roles on "Flashpoint" and "Just Shoot Me", he will always be Keith Mars to me. Does this mean I am officially only one degree of separation from Logan Echolls?


Sadly, I only had my blackberry with me so the picture quality was none-to-great. And while my location was perfect, the bright lights at the entrance did not help me get decent photos of the other Canadian stars going by including: the current cast of Degrassi (yay Snake!), the Dragons from CBC's Dragon's Den and Shaun Majumder.

Then the crowd along the street went crazy! Excited screams for tween throats echoed into the air and Cory Monteith arrived. Yes, the lovable singing jock from mega-hit "Glee" - who was hosting the night's event - arrived right in front of me.


He is obviously cute. And a total trooper when it came to giving the fans his time. He signed and took pictures. He hung out by the gals waving "Glee" foam fingers in the air. It was a treat to see him being accessible and funny and kind. Go Canadian talent. For me, it was just interesting to see someone in the flesh who I had last seen on the (controversial) cover of GQ Magazine! And that lopsided grin? In full force.


In the end I took so many pics in such succession that I burnt out the screen of my blackberry. No long term damage, just a momentary glitch in the operations, but the problem caused me to leave my spot in the crowd and head home. I packed in my star watching and it wasn't until today that I realized who I had missed. After my departure, Nina Dobrev arrived. Yes, the Canadian ex-Degrassi star who is now kicking ass on my favourite show "The Vampire Diaries". She was there and I missed her. Oh well, I guess sometimes in a city like Toronto you really never know what will happen.