Results tagged “citylife”

Speculation has been swirling in Toronto's literary community over the authorship of The Calling, a new recent crime fiction novel, penned by a prominent and highly-regarded writer under the alter-ego of Inger Ash Wolfe. First, Maclean's guessed the author was Jane Urquhart, who denied the rumour. Then, citing as evidence a handful of anonymous leaflets distributed to publishers, The Star pointed the finger at Michael Redhill, one of Torontoist's favourite authors. He coyly side-stepped the question without firmly denying it. Finally, Quill & Quire suggested Linda Spalding as a candidate, but she too rebuffed the notion. Pseudonyms are common enough in crime fiction—from Franklin W. Dixon to John Ross MacDonald—but the real identity usually emerges eventually. In this case, the publisher denies that they'll ever reveal the secret. Is the secret a mystery-wrapped publicity stunt to generate pre-release buzz, or a genuine attempt to identify the book as a first-in-genre launch instead of a first-time-author? Either way, now that the book's in stores, is it worth the hype?

This evening, Toronto Culture and Fort York are unveiling a permanent public art installation under the Gardiner Expressway (off Fort York Boulevard, between Bathurst and Fleet Streets). In WATERTABLE, Toronto artists Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak use video and lights to create the effect of rippling water on the underside of the highway—a reminder that the Gardiner runs along what used to the original shoreline of Lake Ontario. Ever wonder why the the Toronto Harbour Commission building is notably not on the harbour? It used to be surrounded by water on three sides!

The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is usually a repository of "the urban equivalent of messages in a bottle." It’s home to those wishing for a second chance at a serendipitous encounter and to cute, shy-person flirting, as nameless, faceless people share their private emotions in a very public way. The messages usually affirm that no matter how much coldness there seems to be at street level, there’s just as much hope and optimism fueling city life.

Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!

Each weekday morning, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!

Apparently police in Montreal will now be fining pedestrians who jaywalk, we figure this'll be like fining Montrealers for smoking. The anti-jaywalking blitz has raised the hackles of one Torontonian, Joe over at the Biking Toronto blog.

There's a difference between celebrity-gawking locally (seeing P Diddy buying some clothes at Roots in Yorkville), and local celebrity-gawking (catching Stuart Berman eating a burrito at Bar Burrito). At Torontoist, we'd take the local celebs locally any night of the week. And last Friday - the Tangiers' CD release party at Lee's Palace - happened to be such a night.

TOist loves Spacing like a fat kid loves cake. So the kid is in the sweet shop, and TOist is over the moon because tonight the mag presents Public Space Invaders, 'an evening of short films focused on transit, public art installations, monster homes, surveillance cameras, urban exploration and city life in public space,' at the Draconian. We're curious to see what the piece entitled TTC will be all about.

Antony Hare, Toronto Artiste