Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Newsstand: November 19, 2009
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
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The Art of Not Knowing
Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2008--the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months, with one hero and one villain selected by each participating staff member. On Christmas Day: the heroes. On Boxing Day: the villains. And next week, cast your vote to determine the Superhero and Supervillain of the year.
Lupe Dominquez
The year 2008 has belonged to Guadalupe Maria Milagrosa Josefina Paz Dominquez (Lupe, for short). This spicy South American chiquita has had a banner year. Her solo Fringe show, Lupe: Undone, won big audiences, rave reviews, and a remount at the Diesel Playhouse after being declared "Best of the Fringe." She managed to interview David Miller in one of her popular The Lupe Show YouTube videos. And earlier this month, her new holiday special A Lupe X-Mas sold out its two-night run at the new Bread and Circus Theatre in Kensington Market. And all this after fleeing from a revolution in an unnamed South American country. But who is this sultry Latin lady with a taste for Gloria Estefan, tacos, and Tim Bits? Although anyone who has seen and fallen in love with Lupe during one of her performances will find it hard to imagine she isn't real, she is in fact the alter-ego of local actor Melissa D'Agostino, who co-created the character with director Adam Lazarus. The year 2008 was one where a lot of the most memorable shows we saw weren't the work of resident companies at local theatres, but plucky independent projects with a DIY attitude. From Convergence Theatre's remount of The Gladstone Variations, to Fish Shak Co-Op's Lawrence and Holloman, to The Company Theatre's absolutely electric recent run of Festen, to little Fringe shows that could like Lupe: Undone, smaller theatre has proved it can be every bit as professional, entertaining, and thrilling as the big leagues. D'Agostino and Lazarus have created something fantastic in Lupe: beyond being hilarious, beyond being a wonderful vehicle for satire, Lupe manages to befriend every single person in the audience. Whether she made you dance, drink a Margarita, stuff a taco, or just engage in a conversation with her, Lupe becomes a real person to you. She becomes your friend. And since she was able to conquer Toronto in 2008, we can only imagine that in 2009, she'll be well on her way to conquering the rest of the world. BY JOHNNIE WALKER; PHOTO BY PAUL FEGAN
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Is it any surprise that Jack Layton is a Torontoist "hero"?
In one you refer to Stephane Dion as a joke, then another as a hero. I don't think he is either, but he's the single reason Harper got cockier and more reckless. As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was.
High gas prices may be heroic for the environment, but that's all wiped out but the current sub 70 cent levels isn't it?
I like the choice of Bikes and Social Media.
PickleToes, is it any surprise you were the first to comment on this post?
Gauldar: A little, but I knew that you and rek were really the only other contenders.
"...all of this and more was just proof that we can be a very, very stupid country when we want to be. Remember, Dion pretty much wrote the Clarity Act all by himself, which put the sovereignty movement in Quebec to bed for a decade until Stephen Harper decided to open his stupid mouth earlier this year."
YES! Just wish the mainstream media in this country agreed. They really did their best to regurgitate all of Harpers' talking points about the 'weak leadership' of Dion and, sadly, Canadians bought it.
I have feeling the media's tune will change with the new appointed Liberal leader. He's pro-Bush Doctrine, pro-torture and has spent the last 30 years outside of this country but our press will conveniently ignore those facts.
Speaking of facts, here's the opposite of one: "As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was."
Dion was both a hero and a villain. It was contingent on him, as leader, to get his message across. He failed miserably at every turn. He's a good parliamentarian and a worthless leader. The Green Shift is great policy, it's unfortunate that he didn't step aside to let a more competent leader sell it.
Ironic that a guy who wrote something called the Clarity Act would be such an incomprehensible communicator. His awful leadership resulted in the greater success of both Harper and Layton, as the Liberal's bled support on both sides. That'll end with Ignatieff, Harper will be pushed to the right and Layton can return to being an irrelevant shouty fringe element.
Thanks for the love, Torontoist :) Newmindspace loves you too.
From Harper's wikipedia entry:
In late 1999, Harper called for the federal government to establish clear rules for any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty.[35] Some have identified Harper's views as an influence on the Chrétien government's Clarity Act.
Public Space Zealots
The radicals responsible for the decline of individual property rights. Yeah, they sound like heroes to me....
How about activists obsessed with creating communism through fascist methods?
Does anyone know about a greasemonkey application that can block comments from trolls? Killfile only works for LJ.
(No, I'm serious.)
@garden_hoe21: This past summer, someone wrote a Greasemonkey script specifically for banning Torontoist commenters of your choice.
*gasp* That's amazing! Thank you!!
David: Haha wow. I'm a preset too!
*kisses you*
Did Svend just cite conjecture on wikipedia in order to prove his point?
Union: If I wasn't so confident about the quality of his character, I'd conjecture that he edited the wikipedia article and added in that paragraph.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Bills/352/Private/C-341/C-341_1/C-341_1.pdf
This is the Quebec Contingency Act that Harper put forward in 1996 as a private member's bill, a precursor to the similar Clarity Act that Dion produced.
1996...hmmmm. Was that 'Quebec Is A Nation Harper'? Or 'Erect a Firewall Around Alberta Harper'?'Elect the Senate Harper'? Wait it was 'The Government needs the support of the House Harper'!
Dion and Chretien, two Québécois, got their ideas for dealing with Quebec sovereignists from the leader of a western protest party. Got it.
Yes, people can agree on one thing while disagreeing on several others.
Dion, Chretien, Harper all supported the Clarity Act - they share a strong stance in dealing with Quebec separatists just as Trudeau did before them. Did you even read Harper's bill?
I strongly disagree with your choice of East Toronto Community Coalition as a hero. They don't represent the interests of the community as a whole, just the interests of a narrow(minded) subset, as shown here and here.
totally agree. But this is Torontoist we're talking about so you come to expect it after a while.