Hallowe'en is nearly here! Xtra and Fab have already listed all the party goings-on for the sacred gay weekend, and over at the Round-Up Scott's got a list of spooky costume suggestions (although I think it might still be too soon to go as Matthew Shepard, personally).

This year I'm keeping it simple and going as one of Toronto's local ghouls -- terrifying Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno.

DiManno's terrible writing has attracted criticism all over the interwebs, particularly from Torontoist (where I snagged the above composite), and also on this very blog. As someone with no moral compass or shame, she's the perfect source for a drag costume.

I was all prepared to go out and buy wig and do a terrible dye-job myself, but then I discovered that Shoppers' Drug Mart sells ready-made DiManno wigs off the rack.  

They're just called "Colour Streak Witch" wigs. Simply pull the hair behind your ears, throw on some junk earrings, and add cherry red lipstick. Air of disgust, spite, and utter shamelessness sold separately. Happy Hallowe'en!

 Oh, and if you're looking for real news, Canadian Blood Services has recently created a fan page on Facebook, and this week activists have inundated it with complaints about the gay blood donor ban. It sure looks like CBS is having fun responding to each of the complaint posts, so why not go stir the pot a bit?

It's a bit of a quiet week for theatre with most of the major shows in Toronto wrapping up rather than opening this week, so let's do a recap of what's out there to see.

Buddies' Hysteria Festival of works by women creators continues through Sunday. I went to my first Hysteria show ever last night and had a hoot! Lex Vaughan hosted a cabaret-style night of female performers called "Mass Hysteria" featuring slam poetry, comediennes, musicians, and even trapeze artists! Based on last night's show, I definitely recommend checking out the program over the rest of the weekend.

Brad Fraser's True Love Lies also closes at the Factory on Sunday. If you haven't seen it, do go and catch it. Kelly Nestruck of the Globe and Mail recently tweeted that it's the best thing on stage in Toronto right now, and he's probably right since he works for a national paper and all.

Also at Factory, Saturday/Hallowe'en night is the Lab Cab Festival, which features a tonne of great local performers. One of my favourite solo performers, Paul Hutcheson (of comedy porno night fame) will be presenting part of his newest show.

And if you can make it out to Hamilton this week, go check out Sky Gilbert's new play, Why We Tortured Him, an inspired-by-the-headlines look at the nature of violence, playing at The Pearl Company through Nov 8. Honestly, the Go Train isn't that bad, and I'm going to keep encouraging you to see art in the far corners of the GTA.

Check back here tomorrow for Hallowe'en news, and a sneak peak at the costume I'll be trotting around Church St on Saturday. 

There really hasn't been much news in the Toronto gay scene over the past week that wasn't related to the horrific murder of Chris Skinner last Sunday, and all of that news has been pretty faithfully delivered to you over on Xtra's news pages.

It's clear the community is still sensitive about the murder and the possibility that it was hate-motivated. Call me a bleary-eyed optimist, but I'm not yet convinced that the gruesomeness of this crime necessarily means that it was hate-motivated, or that, as my colleague Scott Dagostino puts it: "Chris Skinner's homosexuality is the most probable reason for this horrific escalation in brutality." We have no evidence yet that the killers were hate-motivated, or that they intended to send a message to the gay community. The police say they have a number of witnesses to the crime, none of whom so far have said they have reason to believe that bias played a factor.

Cry for justice for Chris Skinner, but don't let knee-jerk fears keep you from enjoying what is more often than not one of the safest and most tolerant cities in the world.

In other news around the gaybourhood, construction proceeds apace along the Church St streetcar rail/road reconstruction, and the city now predicts the whole project will be finished up to Carlton St by the end of the year, beating original predictions that the section north of Dundas would drag into 2010. It's unfortunate that the Church St BIA and Ryerson couldn't get the city to commit to some streetscaping improvements in that dreary area (wider sidewalks, trees, bike paths maybe?), but at least the roads will be nice and smooth again. And hey, maybe the hookers will be back next spring? (The BIA stops at Carlton, but they could still pressure to have the adjoining neighbourhood/gateway beautified).

Also, the city has decided to rename a small portion of Jarvis St between Bloor and Charles "Ted Rogers Way," because that's not unnecessarily confusing.

Hey, I said it's been a slow news week.

The big opening tonight is Buddies' in Bad Times' Hysteria Festival of women creators. Of course, the whole Buddies season this year is created by women, so this year's Hysteria Festival is more about getting a sampling of interdisciplinary work by women all over the world. Every day from now until Hallowe'en there's a different show rocking the joint, so go often. I'm a Hysteria virgin, and I'm looking forward to popping my hymen this year. Highlights I'm looking forward to are Spin by Evalyn Parry on Sunday and the Mass Hysteria night of shorts on Wednesday.

Regular readers also know that I likes me some comedy -- and I particularly likes it gay and raunchy. And trust me, comedy in Toronto doesn't come gayer or raunchier than Paul Hutcheson. Hutcheson's solo shows have become a fixture on the Fringe Festival circuit, but he's better known in some circles of Toronto as the host of the semi-regular Comedy Porn Nights in the porno room of 7-24 Movies and More in Parkdale. This Saturday is the fall/Hallowe'en edition of the Comedy Porn Night, which features a dozen of Toronto's big name comedians in a room where you can also buy a video called "Come in My Mouth And I'll Spit It Back In Yours: 6." Shows are at 10pm and midnight -- show up early because it will sell out.

The big news of the weekend is surely the announcement that Toronto will host World Pride in 2014. Pride is projecting that the event will be five times the size of this year's Pride festivities while spotlighting human rights around the world and welcoming thousands of additional tourists.

Reaction around the city and country has been decidedly mixed. Sure, the traditional lefty federal parties are lining themselves up for partisan advantage (no word from the Conservatives). You may remember that premier McGuinty included a letter of support for the bid in its application.

And the Toronto Sun has a bizarrely homophobic column heavily relying on Charles McVety and councillor Rob Ford condemning Pride for "ramming this through council." Someone really ought to tell both these gentlemen that freedom of assembly means that we don't have to ask the city's permission five years in advance to throw a private party -- it's a bit like expecting council to approve hosting the Autoshow. If anything, they have a point in suggesting that we know nothing about what Pride is planning for the event, and hence don't know the scope of city services and government grants required. It sounds like they expect an Olympic-sized event when in all likelihood we're looking at a slightly larger Pride festival. But that's a problem with World Pride itself -- it doesn't seem like the pitch was anything more than a statement to the effect that Toronto's a fun place and Pride will be able to pull something together, and Pride hasn't been really clear about what World Pride is supposed to mean or look like in 2014. 

Reactions on the gay face-blog-twittersphere have varied from congratulatory to "ugh, I can't believe those bastards are going to make my drive through Church and Wellesley slightly more aggravating for a 48-hour period five years from now." While it's true that this bid for World Pride seemed to come out of nowhere (and it's not like World Pride has really launched itself as a successful tourism event yet), let's just take a moment to congratulate Pride Toronto and look forward to the wicked party we hope will live up to the hype.

Also on Sunday, a horrifying murder in downtown Toronto. Police say there's no evidence it's a hate crime (yet), but friends of the victim are suspicious.