Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: Arts and Culture

Chandler is a delightful, single, second-year Cinema Studies major. If anyone is interested, e-mail artsandculture@thestrand.ca, and we'll hook you up.

They say that 60% of married couples meet their future partner in University. That's a big and scary number. Yet, in order to meet the man/woman of your dreams (like that's even going to happen), you have to undergo the terror of the first date. Everybody knows that first dates are terrible ventures, full of snide job interview-style questions like "so where did you grow up?" and "where do you see yourself in five years?" They're also a test of everything - coolness, who can have the sweatiest palms and who will crack first and lament about their ex.

But just as important as your date etiquette is the location. The place you go defines the date and where the relationship is going. It also helps to determine if this is the kind of person you can see yourself growing old (past the November drop date) with, or the kind of girl/guy you will have to avoid in your Monday lecture hall from now on. Let me break it down for you and tell you where you should be going. Let these venues be a test of whether that guy you think is sort of cute is actually worthy of your precious procrastination time.

1) Reg Hartt's Cine-forum, 463 Bathurst St - Reg Hartt is a Toronto force of nature who screens art films in his living room. He delivers fabulous (and all too inspiring) lectures about how everyone should drop out of school and experiment with LSD and sex before his Salvador Dali triple bills. If you are with some wimp from Etobicoke who doesn't understand art and freaks out because Reg's "movie theatre" is just a bunch of lawn chairs, then it's best you know now. Nosferatu set to Radiohead's Kid A is too esoteric an experience to be shared with a dweeb.

2) Honest Ed's, 581 Bloor St W - Honest Ed's is the best place to go to understand the concept of irony. How can you not get (for example) why hologram place mats complete with an Ed Mirvish-style rendition of The Last Supper are completely amazing? This store is more than shopping; it is a time for pointing out the utter weirdness that surrounds you. In no other building will bejeweled life-sized statues from the Orient (I love to think of Ed as some kind of modern day Columbus), canned anchovies and faux Louis Vuitton purses mix in such badly lit ways. Think of Honest Ed's as a chance to see what sense of humor your date has, because that's important. Bonus if they buy you 3 packs of stale gum for a dollar. (It's the little things that count.)

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