Results tagged “bloorstreet”

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Misinformation travels mighty fast these days. So when major news organizations around the city reported earlier today that there was word of one—or several—people with a gun in the Bickford Centre, a continuing education school on Bloor at Christie, and that police had swarmed the area, it was hard to separate what was really going on from what was alleged to be happening behind the building's walls.

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Time has flown by but it's time to wrap up Marky Mark Movie Month here at Reel Toronto. We've already tackled Four Brothers and Max Payne and now it's time to reach back to 1998's The Big Hit which is a big, dumb, action flick that pokes almost enough fun at itself to be watchable. If nothing else (not to dis Marky Mark), it has a ridiculously over-the-top Lou Diamond Phillips performance which seems designed to make people start quoting him in cool situations...whether you choose to actually do so is entirely up to you.

For years, Ben Kerr was a staple at Yonge and Bloor. And for a little while longer, he is again. Kerr—a regular mayoral candidate, winner of NOW's Best Local Busker award, promoter of the virtues of cayenne pepper, and wearer of excellent t-shirts—made the northeast corner of the intersection his own for well over a dozen years, singing with a karaoke machine or a guitar, until he died at his Jones Avenue home in June 2005. Earlier this year, the city paid tribute by naming a laneway near Kerr's former house after him, but some obliging stencillist (maybe, just maybe, the same person doing famous Bills by "Post No Bills" signs) has decided to honour Kerr much nearer to the site that made him famous. Kerr now watches the intersection from the southeast corner, on the gray walls that surround the future home of 1 Bloor, the kind of too-tall condo that Kerr once told NOW "cuts off the sunshine." But not yet. Roll over the photo above to see the stencil closer. Photos by Michael Chrisman/Torontoist.

The current economic situation has not been kind to American retailers. With sales sinking and several wobbly chains going the liquidation route, the U.S. retail landscape might not be the best model to emulate at the moment.

When we tried out the bench prototype at the street furniture unveiling at City Hall in June, it was one of the few items we were pretty much okay with. But because Astral Media can't do anything right (when it comes to street furniture and billboards, anyway—their other divisions seem to be functioning relatively well), they've managed to screw this up, too.

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Two weeks ago, on the fifth anniversary of the blackout, we reclaimed the streets. At 9 p.m., three parades became one and marched into the intersection of Bloor and Spadina. And took it over. For five minutes. Or maybe it was ten. Chris Bilton says it was fifteen. There were jugglers and fire dancers and trombones and drums and trees and a picnic table on which sat a kiddie pool in which there was standing a "human statue" spraying water with a hose. For one tiny fraction of one day of the year, the intersection did not belong to cars, although they could turn right if they wished. It was ours. Not "ours" as in pedestrians or cyclists or hipsters or activists or whatever. Just ours. Public. Space.

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

Something about this picture is about to change.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Many fast-food chains and grocery stores are reintroducing tomatoes to their menus after the American tomato salmonella outbreak last week. Officials for the stores said that they waited until everybody had forgotten about the salmonella thing before bringing back the tomatoes, and that in future they hope to make us forget about bad things faster.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

Photos (top, and bottom) by wvs from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

A line of high-fiving cyclists paraded along the city's newest bike lane Monday morning. Then, without warning, a gust of wind tangled the whole thing, nearly sending every set of pedals flying.

Photo by Patrick Metzger.

Says Charles DH Crosbie, who submitted the photo at right to our Flickr pool:

Yes, this is how the slice came: a used and soiled "Convenience Size" bottle of Vaseline moisturizer, as found in a Pizza Pizza, bagged slice of pizza; purchased in-store at 8:30PM (EST) 23 February 2008, Yonge St near Bloor St (Toronto, Canada).

If you want to see more (and why wouldn't you?), there are several more photos of the mess. (There's even a video.)

Every day this week, Torontoist is exploring the future of repertory cinema in Toronto. We spoke to the theatre managers of four major rep cinemas to hear if rep cinema is dying, what it's like to exist in a YouTube society, and what original programming has them most excited. Today, to conclude our series, we look at the next immediate steps for rep cinema.

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.

Every day this week, Torontoist is exploring the future of repertory cinema in Toronto. We spoke to the theatre managers of four major rep cinemas to hear if rep cinema is dying, what it's like to exist in a YouTube society, and what original programming has them most excited. Today, we look at the fall of Festival Cinemas, which sparked fears that rep cinema would disappear from the city.

While February 14th is reserved for lovers, and February 18th is all about families, February 13th has 'em all beat...tomorrow, Wednesday, is none other than Dead Bra Day! This is a chance for all bearers of boobs to come on out to Secrets From Your Sister (560 Bloor Street West) and:

Our favourite Bloor Street comic emporium is having an event tomorrow that sounds totally neat. The Labyrinth proudly hosts its first-ever group show tomorrow evening, an event called Vinyl Graffiti. They accepted submissions of art in any medium for which an old vinyl record sleeve could be used as the canvas. The event starts at 7:00 p.m., but at 8:00 p.m. they will begin a Character Design Face Off competition. Anyone who shows up is allowed to participate. Participants will take part in a series of two-person face offs in which they will have 3 minutes to draw a randomly chosen and probably ridiculous character design with the results being judged by the audience's applause and prizes a-plenty.

Toronto has been called a city of neighbourhoods: The Beach, Yorkville, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown, The Annex; all have their defining characteristics that make them appealing to locals as well as visitors. And when it comes down to it, most of these areas are well-defined by the intersection of two major streets.

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

How will this space-age family's future lose its balance?

If you're anything like us, you've always dreamt of riding the subway without pants. You'll finally have your chance on Saturday, during the first ever Toronto No Pants Subway Ride.

Sure, they penned the obviously raddest one-hit-wonder of 1996, but since that fateful year, full of cheerleaders and homoerotic football players, Nada Surf have continued to rage against the dying of that hit-single light. They may have fallen off MTV's radar, but so have most things north of Christina Aguilera's baby-bump. Since leaving Elektra in 1998, the band have built a quiet following of appreciative indie rockers around the world, unconcerned with attaining the high-rotation status that launched their career in the first place. Their last record, 2005's The Weight is a Gift, was called "a top-notch collection of sad-eyed guitar ballads" by Rolling Stone, and was their second album to be released by some label that also includes a band that's all about killing people in taxis, or something. Its follow-up, Lucky, is scheduled for release on February 5, and for no particular reason at all, the band are celebrating early with a Toronto in-store this Wednesday, January 9.