Photo from Deko-ze. The holidays are normally a time for rest but nobody told that to Deko-ze. The man dubbed Canada's hardest working DJ has a doozy of a week. On top of the Christmas Bash he is throwing at Footwork on Friday, Deko-ze will be spinning a six hour extended set at CZ on Sunday for Mass and is a part of CZ's Christmas Come Get Your Fcukin Beats party. He's also at......

Gate House goes coed. After a series of puerile, childish, vaguely misogynistic stunts, the infamous all-male U of T residence has been come down upon by that stuffy old dean. Of note is Gate House's claim to be an inspiration for the movie Animal House, just like every other "look at us we're so wild" frat house on every college campus ever, despite the fact that Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis went to McMaster.......

Torontoist has noticed that a few cats have made headlines recently. First was Lucky, who ran a campaign for MPP in the Davenport riding, but failed to get on the ballot. In a sadder story, a Mississauga couple are left with fond memories of their beloved Krinkles. While the pet owners were on vacation, their cat was picked up by Mississauga Animal Services. Krinkles had a tag and microchip, and while some efforts were......

With the provincial election upon us, Toronto's Davenport riding is in for a shakeup as a new candidate enters the fray: Lucky, Felis catus siamensis. Presumably asking for a ballot write-in, Lucky's campaign statement outlines a concern with the declining quality of life in Toronto's neighbourhoods, and promises to bring accountability to the riding. "If something stinks, I'll sniff it out," he says. "I'm your best pest control." And why should Torontonians send a cat......

Because there really isn’t any way to say no to a group of people dedicated to saving stray kittens and cats, Torontoist would like to encourage everyone to check out the Annex Cat Rescue’s yard sale this Saturday. Founded in 1997, the Annex Cat Rescue began as a small group of volunteers and has developed into a large network of foster homes for kittens and tame strays. This group of dedicated volunteers also coordinates an......

After Monday’s victory in the annual Labour Day Classic, the Toronto Argonauts (3-6) host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1-8) in the second half of the home-and-home series on Saturday at the Rogers Centre. It might not seem like the greatest match-up, with both teams fighting it out for last place in the league, and the abysmal Ti-Cats having beaten the Argos only once in their last seventeen regular season encounters. But the two teams, who......

Honestly, is there a more nauseatingly cute Toronto locale than Cabbagetown? All those impeccably-maintained Victorian houses, those happy retirees, those friendly neighbourhood cats—what other village in the city has its own hobby farm? Residents and fans of the area come together this weekend for the 2007 Cabbagetown Festival (September 7–9). Torontoist will be on site to photograph the corn roasting, street dancing and general merrymaking. A full schedule of entertainment and events is available......

Torontoist has always had a soft spot for felines, which is why we think you should know about an excellent kitty-benefiting event taking place this weekend. For ten years, the Annex Cat Rescue has been taking good care of stray and feral cats in and around the Annex. Their good work includes finding good homes for stray and injured cats, helping to humanely control the cat population, and monitoring feral cats for illness. The......

Employees of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission, which now oversees the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, will not be permitted to buy lottery tickets in Ontario. A representative of the affected staffers complained, "why do you think we wanted to work here in the first place?" before shotgunning a 40-ouncer of Absolut and collapsing to the ground. Who says you can't go home again? Well, if you're former Canuck Conrad Black, Judge Amy St. Eve does.......

Meet Charlie. He enjoys olives, ice cubes and having water dumped on his head. Charlie joined this Torontoist's household over three years ago when he was adopted from Toronto Cat Rescue; a no-kill, all-volunteer group that fosters kitties until they're paired with their new families. The TCR has an active website which profiles cats-in-need, and they hold Adopt-a-thons several times a month to find homes for over a hundred cats in their care. An......

We'd love to be flies on the walls of newspaper boardrooms these days. The democratization of information on the internet threw the media companies for a loop, resulting in years of failed attempts to protect that information from the non-paying public. Sites like CNN wanted web readers to pony-up to see video clips, while the Hamilton Spectator previously made their website only accessible to subscribers. Like The New York Times, the Globe and Mail......

If there's anything we hate more than broccoli, it's comment spam. And as any blog server administrator can tell you, a disproportionate amount of time and expensive equipment is spent weeding-out ads for penis pills, "discount" software and barely legal teenage dorm girls who go by unlikely, computer-generated names like "Concepción Anderson." So: we're doing something about it. In the effort to help prevent spammers from hijacking our comments and to provide a more streamlined......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

If your dog is a cancer survivor, the folks who bring you Woofstock want to meet it. They’re organizing the Doggie High Tea, a 50-dog tea party for dogs who’ve had cancer, complete with cookies and specially brewed “tea” (their quotation marks, probably best not to ask). The event will also feature the Doggie Designer Challenge, where “8 Doggie Designers will present their most fetching outfits.” Fetching. That’s cute. The event will take place on......

We at Torontoist love our pets, and yours too, and we’d be happy if they didn’t do much else but shower us with undeserved admiration and give us a little snuggle when we get home after a hard day of Torontoisting. So you’ve got to know that we’re impressed when we come across pets that not only take care of the basics, but actually save lives to boot. The 39th annual Purina Animal Hall of......

New Brunswick native Mary Martell knew something was weird when the baggage scanners at Saint John Airport asked why she had packed a turkey in her suitcase. On her way through to YYZ for a business trip, Martell had no fowl to declare, so airport officials curiously sent her luggage through without much further scrutiny, despite seeing a tiny skeleton on the x-ray screen. After an uneventful two-hour Air Canada flight to Toronto, Martell's luggage......

Nixon had Checkers, Clinton had Socks, and now Stephen Harper has Cheddar. Kind of strange to see the man with the cold dead stare snuggled up with a fuzzy friend, no? According to the official Prime Minister of Canada website, Harper has been fostering cats for years through the Ottawa Humane Society and recently adopted Cheddar the Cat into the family. Not a bad charity to be associated with for a politician frequently accused of......

There are more wild animals walking amongst us than there are in cages at the Metro Zoo. Everything from foxes to deer can be found within our city limits. But perhaps the most misunderstood is the coyote. Most of the time, we don't see animals like coyotes because they prefer to stay clear of humans. But longer daylight hours signal the start of mating season, so your chances of spotting a bachelor male looking for......

Torontoist has noticed an abundance of lost pet notices downtown this month, and what could be sadder, really? We don't know if it's a time of year when pets go missing more often, but we do know it's unlikely to be a result of a Halloween ritual blood sacrifice. Many shelters south of the border report that most of their missing animal calls come on the heels of July 4th fireworks, which often scare a......

We just wanted to wish all of you bloggers out there a happy Catmas. Joey DeVilla seems to be the strongest local proponent of the silly "holiday" where bloggers post pictures of their cats (sorry dog-owning bloggers). In that spirit Torontoist provides you a link to the Toronto Cat Rescue, so next year you can have a very special Catmas with a feline friend of your own.......

Mayor Miller is announcing today that there will be a major competition to redesign Nathan Phillips Square. Olivia Chow wants her colleagues in Ottawa to stay away from Porter Air. The upstart airline is starting flights on October 23rd. A fire broke out in a Humane society foster home early this morning. A brave boyfriend saved many of the animals but sadly two cats died. Higher residential property taxes has 905ers pissed off at......

Tonight, the Horseshoe Tavern plays host to the Pitchfork/Secretly Canadian Indie Rock Triple-Header. This is a chance to see three awesome bands you've probably never heard of... but who everyone will be talking about in a few months. If you want to get ahead of the curve, read on. San Francisco's Birdmonster headline the night. Their sound is giant. Their guitarist famously declared: "Our main goal is to rock so hard one of us faints."......

After every long weekend we wait to read the stories about the wacky things that the OPP catch on our roads. This weekend doesn't dissapoint with a badly maintained trailer hauling three donkeys, a drunk couple that followed each other home in separate vehicles, and families moving junior to his college dorm with furniture insecurely fastened. All and all, the OPP gave out 3000 tickets province-wide with around 550 of these being in the GTA.......

Michigan, we used to love you. We Torontonians loved your 11,000 lakes, your 130 lighthouses, and the way you happily accepted all our garbage and made it go away. When we went to bed each Garbage Day Eve, our trash bags would be spilling over our curbs and filling the air with odours fishy enough to drive neighbourhood cats delirious. Then, when we woke up in the morning, it would all be gone. Nowadays, though,......

Who knew that the Toronto Cat Rescue had control over its very own undead horde, we thought that kind of thing was the domain of political parties? Well, they do and tomorrow their zombies are taking the streets to raise money to find adorable cats good homes. The dead will be roaming Queen Street West tomorrow around 5:00 pm so if you're partial to your brain we suggest staying away from that neighbourhood. If you......

As a grand finale for the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, the Dave Brubeck Quartet performed an incredible set last night at Massey Hall. Although the group of four could have been called Dave Brubeck and the Geriatrics, these jazz cats were tighter than David Bowie's pants in Labyrinth. 85-year-old Brubeck was absolutely amazing. With Bobby Militello on alto sax/flute, Michael Moore on double bass (no, not THAT Michael Moore), and Randy Jones on drums, the......

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddy for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bids Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash. Yeah, we may have a few issues with our World Cup broadcasters here, but this guy......

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.......

As mentioned previously, this Torontoist knows nothing of sports. Despite this setback, the willingness to learn (and report on) a thing or two is there. This Saturday, The Argos are battling the Tiger-Cats in the 2006 season home opener. This marks the beginning of their journey... no, not to the Golden Fleece, but to the Grey Cup. This is, of course, what The Oracle has told Torontoist. While the kickoff is at 3pm, the......

Who is Bryan Lee O’Malley? With the strength of character displayed by Scott Pilgrim, the protagonist of O’Malley’s breakthrough comics series, it’s easy to imagine that he is Scott Pilgrim - the unskilled bass player for a go nowhere band in Toronto, dating an American girl, sleeping in the same bed as a gay dude and getting into all kinds of crazy adventures. The kind of guy you could imagine punching a guy “so hard......