Results tagged “christopherhume”

Often referred to as Canada's first photojournalist, William James spent more than thirty years documenting Toronto and city life in all its varieties. An ever present, silent observer of a changing city, he was there to record the construction of public infrastructure and new buildings. James photographed the first airplane flights over the city and, a few years later, captured the first bird's eye photos (and moving pictures) of Toronto from the back of a biplane. He recorded the changing landscape of the city's outward expansion. But he was far more interested in capturing the city's inhabitants in informal, unposed moments, such as workmen going about their toil and children at play. He entered the drawing rooms of the elite and photographed the city's destitute.

SEX: Pleasure emporium and sex-toy shop Good For Her presents the fourth annual Feminist Porn Awards, showcased tonight with a big party hosted by Deb “Dirk” Pearce in—irony of ironies—a church. The party includes award presentations; clips from winning films; music from Raging Asian Women, Daddy K and the Rhythm Method, and DJ Nik Red; burlesque from Coco La Crème; raffles; and a silent auction. Berkeley Church (315 Queen Street East), 9 p.m., $22.

Today's ad features your stereotypical 1950s architectural professional: trenchcoat, tie, hat (preferably a fedora), and a fistful of building plans. The building this dapper construction supervisor is depicted next to would quickly become one of St. Clair Avenue's architectural landmarks.

Architecture in Toronto has been getting a lot of attention lately. Some of the coverage has even been positive. The Toronto Archives and the Friends of the Archives of Ontario are capitalizing on the trend, presenting a lecture series (PDF) in coming weeks to be hosted by the Star's architecture critic and urban affairs columnist, Christopher Hume.

Will people ever appreciate the fine architecture or heritage value of such widely-detested buildings as Robarts Library or the Sheraton Centre? If history is any guide, they will—but only if the buildings manage to survive our collective hatred (or apathy) for another 40 years or so.

Photo of the Montreal edition of Mille Femmes from Galerie [sas]'s Picasa album. Consider the first editions of Toronto's two major multidisciplinary arts festivals: Nuit Blanche 2006 was a stunning success, a magical playground that revived the spirit of the blackout and provided a moving conclusion to Let's All Hate Toronto; Luminato 2007 was a mixed bag of highfalutin performances not attended by anyone you know (with the exception of the George F. Walker...

Photo by matthewpiers from the Torontoist Flickr pool.

Torontonians are, to say the least, an opinionated bunch. So instead of a simple "Best Of" list to cap 2006 off, the Torontoist staffers have racked their brains about everything (books, songs, restaurants, people, places, stores, newspapers, politicians, musicians, and a lot more) to bring you their choices for the very best and the very worst of our city this past year. It's Torontoist Love/Hate 2006, and you can find a new one every day at noon from December 26th until January 1st.

Toronto officials are currently engaged in a last-ditch effort to save the 2015 World's Fair. Is it just me or would the Expo be a colossal mistake?

These 45 seats might be empty now but come November 13 we'll get to help decide who should fill them. Yes, the municipal elections are upon us. So where should those addicted to municipal politics go for their online fix?

Things get worse for the TTC. In light of GM Rick Ducharme's resignation the TTC have decided to tell him to leave right away instead of waiting around till November. Ducharme is fighting this and threatening to call his lawyers. He also pins the blame for his resignation on interference by TTC Chair Howard Moscoe and even Mayor Miller . Many councillors are now calling for Moscoe to step down. Ducharme is the third TTC GM to quit under Moscoe's reign as TTC Chair.

Christopher Hume weighs in on the $20 million design competition run by the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation.

Yesterday we wrote about the destruction of the Inn on the Park, a Modernist landmark that will probably be missed in 20 or 30 years when architectural historians are looking for good examples of Modernism in this city and notice that everything has been torn down. The Star's Christopher Hume was upset about how council dragged its feet on issuing the permit that would've saved the building.

Christopher Hume laments the destruction of the Inn on the Park, a great example of Modernist architecture. It's being replaced with an auto dealership. Hume points fingers at a City Hall unwilling to stand up to business interests, and negligent in protecting the City's architectural history. The Post weighs in here.

The Toronto Sun and Torontoist agree on something. That Toronto Unlimited Logo totally bites. It bites so much that a giant room of monkeys working in front of iMacs would eventually design a better logo. Instead of going this experimental route billboard company Astral Media teamed up with OCAD advertising students to come up with alternative slogans for the city.

A North York teenager was stabbed to death over a bus ticket the Star reports.

The Toronto blogosphere is abuzz with the Star's "What If" special issue that ran this Sunday. The special issue was a number of think pieces on how the city could be drastically improved.

Everyone's been reporting on the Tim Horton's explosion/fire but the Sun gets at the most important question, just what will this do to Tim Horton's stockholders? The answer, probably not much.

Someone please fire the marketing team at Landmark Building Group. The marketers at this developer's have come up with this painfully obnoxious video advertising their lofts. We've seen better acting and production from late night spots and these ads simply scream gentrification. The video touts the location of their project (right across from the Drake) and has one of the most asinine slogans we've seen in recent memories ("Are you on the list?"). It's a slogan that reminds us of power-tripping bouncers at overpriced clubs on Richmond Street. Just wait until all those yuppies move into the neighbourhood and start complaining about the noise that bars like the Drake and the Beaconsfield make.

Torontoist's favourite magazine about the city (sorry Toronto Life) is celebrating the launch of its fifth issue at the Arts and Letters Club this Thursday night (14 Elm St., 8pm, $10 includes a mag). The most exciting development over at Spacing is the fact that the new issue is in glorious colour, which fits the new issue's theme of public art.