Torontoist » Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

Are The Gillers Rigged?

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:12:47 +0000

For every prestigious award shows there will be people who complain that the prize is rigged. The Gillers, Canada’s most prestigious literary award, is no stranger to this. In its 13 year history the prize has been criticized for its bias towards larger publishers, to Ontario authors and any number of other shortcomings.
Geist magazine columnist Stephen Henighan throws another log angrily onto that fire with his latest missive that accuses the prize of a number of sins including favouring publishers owned by German media giant Bertelsmann Group, favouring GTA writers and being a symptom of the slow death of CanLit.
We were just appalled that event sponsor Chapters Indigo would cheap out and give out a remaindered Stephen King novel at Canada’s most important literary event. So two-bit starlets get thousand dollar bags of swag and Canada’s literary elite get an $8.99 horror novel? We digress.
Henighan also points his finger at Margaret Atwood. He recalls Vincent Lam’s Giller win last fall:

As soon as Atwood stood up to introduce the fifth shortlisted author, Vincent Lam, anyone who understood power in Canadian culture knew that Lam had won. Margaret Atwood does not introduce losers. By placing her authority behind Lam, she was giving the equivalent of el dedazo, the crook of the finger with which a Mexican president signals his successor.

Our friends at Quill and Quire dig a little further and shows us this old Anansi ad which has the diminutive Atwood in a lineup with Giller juror Michael Winter.
Henighan does have a few points. While we know that this city has some amazing writers we find it hard to believe that every Giller winner, except Mordecai Richler, has come from Toronto. Even 2000 co-winner and Maritimer David Adams Richards now lives here.
The jurors that pick the Giller winners aren’t stacked with a bunch of Ontario writers. Michael Winter is from St. John’s although he apparently spends an awful lot of time in Toronto, making him suspect. In previous years non-GTA writers like Alistair Macleod, Rudy Wiebe, Thomas King and Alberto Manguel has helped pick winners. So why is it that only Toronto books seem to walk home with a cheque from Jack Rabinovitch?
We’re not sure we want to pry into this too deeply. We hear that Atwood’s reach and influence in this town run deep and with the Long Pen who knows how far it’ll go? We suggest you literary muckrackers tread lightly.

Reading TOist at Work, Sneaky

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:23:26 +0000

Judging from our traffic statistics many of you read TOist at work. Tsk tsk. It’s workers like you who are dragging the productivity of our great nation down. Oh who am I kidding. Still, we here at TOist don’t want any of you to get into trouble and lose your job, how else will you read Torontoist?
Tod Maffin over at Inside the CBC pointed us to workFRIENDLY, a useful little site that transforms any site you’re reading into something that resembles a MS Word document. It may also explain why seemingly no work happens at the CBC. Sadly workFRIENDLY strips Torontoist of all its graphics and the formatting isn’t quite right but if it lets you look at celebrity blogs (and this site) to your heart’s content who are we to complain?

The New and Improved Quillblog

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:32:41 +0000

Sadly the quillblog is not about porcupines. However, it is the blog of Quill and Quire, Canada’s magazine about the book trade. Recent posts have touched on everything from which books authors really like, Starbucks playing Oprah to the latte-sipping set and the continuing car wreck that is the OJ Simpson book.
The Quillblog has also been recently renovated, a move that we hope gets them some more traffic. The fixups include getting blog basics such an RSS feed, searchable archives all the way back to 2004, and permalinks. The feature we’re most excited about, the ability for the public to comment. Previously, comments were only available to Q and Q subscribers. Most people would say that the Canadian literary scene is far too nice and polite, well, that’s nothing that a few nasty anonymous comments can’t change.

Thank You and A Happy New Year

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:57:24 +0000

2006 has been a great year for Torontoist and I’ve been fortunate to work with a team of great photographers and writers who put in countless hours to make this site something special. So it’s with some sadness that I step down as one of the editors of Torontoist.com. I will remain on Torontoist as a contributor and writer but I felt that it was time that I pursued other opportunities.
Editing this site and seeing it grow into the largest and easily the best city blog in Canada has been a learning and rewarding experience for me. I’ve also had tons of fun doing it. I hope you all have had as much fun reading, commenting and coming back to the site.
So without further adieu, I also introduce the man who’s stepping up to help David Topping run the site, Marc Lostracco. Right from the very beginning it was clear that Marc knew what makes blogs tick and also what keeps you coming back day after day after day. If Marc’s work in 2006 is any indication, I can hardly wait to see what he and David will get up to in 2007.
Happy new year everyone and keep on blogging.
Ron Nurwisah

Latke + Eggnog + Art + Party = Good Times

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:56:28 +0000

Everyone is talking about Christmas this and Yuletide that, but let’s not forget that the festival of light (Hanukkah) is upon us. What better way to celebrate that holiday than with latkes.
Katherine Mulherin is kind of enough to let a few artists use her Queen St. W. space to deep fry some potatoes.
For all the goys she’s also got her annual eggnog party and sale. Both events are tonight 7-10 pm at 1080 Queen St. W. Or if you’d prefer you can use this handy graphic as a recipe and make your own, but somehow we don’t think it’d be as much fun.

38-Year-Old Remains IDed, U.S. Stop Using Lakes as Shooting Range, Man Shoots Dog Makes News

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:14:27 +0000

A body that was discovered in 1968 north of Toronto has been identified as a 17-year-old New Brunswick teen. Richard Hovey moved here to take part in Toronto’s thriving counterculture scene but sadly met a tragic end.
Shaun Bruce, the 22-year-old that ran against David Miller, is back at this old job as a zamboni driver. No word on where Jane Pitfield and Stephen LeDrew are now, and do we really care?
There’s an old saying in the newspaper business that dog bites man isn’t a news story. Well it seems that man shoots dog DOES make the news, or the Toronto Sun at least. We’re happy to hear that the dog will make a full recovery and we hope the cops nab the jerks who would shoot a girl’s dog.
The U.S. won’t be using the Great Lakes as a shooting range, which goes to prove that there’s still some sanity left below the 49th parallel.
The police union wants a public inquiry called on Julian Fantino’s reign as police chief.
Finally the Toronto Star has an X-mas gift for all of you, a site redesign. Yay.

Torontoist’s Totally Toronto Holiday Gift Guide

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by dzgnboy from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
If you need a gift for the Toronto lover on your list, look no further than our handy list of Toronto-inspired gifts. We wouldn’t be unhappy if any of these ended up under our virtual Christmas tree this year. Also, accept no imitators — you know those north pole elves have never been to Toronto, right?
We give you these ten gifts. One for each shopping day until the big day. Shudder.

1) The Coach House Commitments
No, Alana Wilcox isn’t going to join a band. But the hard printing team at Coach House is selling these packages of books. the uTOpia/State of the Arts Commitment gets you both books for $45 while the Toronto Commitment gets you both books, Howard Akler’s the City Man and Darren O’Donnell’s Your Secrets Sleep With Me, all for $70. Get ‘em here.

2) The 2007 Spacing Holiday Gift Pack
Spacing’s holiday gift pack includes a handsome calendar featuring photos from the photobloggers that make that magazine prettier than a sunset on the islands. But you also get three issues of Spacing magazine AND it all comes wrapped in a TTC route map (nice touch Matt). $20, available at Pages. Calendars are also available separately for $8 at Ballenford and Pages.

3) Photos by Torontoist Contributors
TOist shutterbugs David Topping and Carrie Musgrave would be thrilled if you bought some of their work this holiday season. Topping has prints of his 69 stations project and they’re totally affordable from $8 for a 4″ x 6″ all the way up to $100 for a signed and numbered 12″ x 18″ print. Carrie Musgrave is part of ToPOST’s series of postcards which you can order from their site, or even better, buy the real thing at Ballenford Books.

4) A Metropass
Couples separated by the geographic expanse of the city needing a gift look no further. The new transferable metropass is possibly the best gift we can think of. TOist co-editor David Topping points out that “nothing says “I love you” like a Metropass!” which we think should be a TTC holiday slogan. Councillor Giambrone, are you listening? Available in person at all subway stations for $99.75.

5) Sean Lerner’s TTC Rider Family Pack
The family pack contains three rider’s guides so you know exactly where to get on and off, a large print guide, and a copy of unorthodox tips for riding the TTC. We think it’ll make a great gift for the transit aficionado. Buy it here for $15, includes postage.

6) The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Sure Toronto has tons of wonderful graphic novelists but Scott Pilgrim is one of the few set in this city. O’Malley’s hapless hero hangs out in the Annex, goes to see movies at the Paramount, bargain hunts at Honest Ed’s, and is in a complicated relationship. In short he’s like one of us… but illustrated. Available at the Beguiling and online (vol.1 on sale for $5!).
7) A Helicopter Tour
Because going up the CN Tower is soooo passe, get on a whirlybird and see our city from the air. Tours start at $85. You can reserve seats here.
8) Cinematheque Membership/Tickets
No one, and we mean no one knows films like the people at Cinematheque Ontario. The programmers at the Cinematheque find rare prints of classic films, get amazing guests (Terry Gilliam, Isabella Rossellini) and more. Memberships get you huge discounts on film tickets as well as other benefits and will set you back $45. If you can’t quite commit single tickets are just over $10. Both available on their site.
9) The CN Tower
Ok, we take back our previous comments. We love the tower. For about the same price as an elevator ride to the top you can buy the whole kit and caboodle, gilded and on a plastic base at various stores selling tourist knick knacks around town.
10) From Jamaica To Toronto: Soul, Funk, Reggae 1967-74
Right around the same time when Motown record was turning Detroit into one of the world’s music meccas Toronto was undergoing a renaissance of its own fuelled by immigrants from Jamaica who brought their thriving and influential music scene to then sleepy Toronto. Sadly many of these musicians were lost to time until the dogged people at Light in the Attic Records decided to put together this anthology. The result is a 16 track CD that just might get you dancing on a cold winter’s day. The CD is available direct from Light in the Attic or at fine record stores everywhere.

Hackers, Leave Our Bands Alone

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:58:40 +0000

Chart Attack and CBC Radio 3 reported that hackers have gotten in and deleted the MySpace account of local indie rockers Magneta Lane.
The popular band lost over two years worth of fan comments and 7,000 friends.
The ladies are getting back on their feet though. As of the writing of this post Magneta Lane has a functional page again, with videos and music and 372 friends.
As for those alleged Turkish hackers that did this, we hear the Vatican and/or the U.S. government has a few nice sites that probably deserve some hacking. But geez, leave the poor musicians alone.

Sure, Sheila Heti Can Write Stories But Can She Write Music?

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 16:22:41 +0000

Sheila Heti (pictured here hiding behind this chair) is one of the many artists invited by the Music Gallery for its fundraiser “Compose Yourself.”
Heti, along with filmmaker Atom Egoyan, philosopher Mark Kingwell, minor media mogul Moses Znaimer, and haircut facilitator Darren O’Donnell will come with compositions or ideas for compositions that will be played by an improvisational supergroup.
The concert starts at 8pm and is $25.

DUDE, Where’s My Show?

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:01:57 +0000

The answer to that groan-inducing question is the Latvian House (491 College St.) where the Downtown Urban Design Event (DUDE) show starts tonight at 6pm and runs through the weekend. Exhibitors include: socially responsible fashions from Passenger Pigeon (all their clothing is made with organically grown and ethically produced materials), our friends from the Monster Factory, pottery, jewelry, pins and more.
For all of you who missed the one-of-a-kind show or found that event just mind bogglingly huge the DUDE show might just be the right fit for you.

A Holiday Party with BikeShare

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:51:09 +0000

With winter knocking on our doorsteps, it’s time that many of us put away our bikes (those who ride through sleet and snow, we salute you). The organizers of Community Bicycle Network’s BikeShare program are putting away their bikes for the season too and want you to join them at the Canadian Corps Building at 201 Niagara. We’ve been to this building and it’s one of the coziest places to drink and dance in the entire city.
You can do both this Friday 9pm (til late) with the staff of BikeShare, CBN and other cycling enthusiasts. Don’t forget your dancing shoes.

I Call Dibs on the Front Row

Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:21:17 +0000

These seats are empty now, but they won’t be after today, as Mayor Miller and the 44 other city councillors take office. We found out recently that councillors are seated randomly, which explains why during the last council term loyal lefty Adam Giambrone sat right next to dogged mayoral critic Denzil Minnan-Wong.
We’re curious where Adam Vaughan will be sitting; we hope it’s right next to tree advocate and Front Street Extension booster Joe Pantalone. We really want to see the sparks fly on that one.
Photo by Scott Chandler from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.