Results tagged “criticalmass”

MUSIC: Acquired in 1929 by then Governor General Vincent Massey, the magnificent Hart House viols make up a collection of six late sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century instruments widely considered not only to be valuable cultural and historic relics, but objects of great beauty. Tonight and tomorrow, you can experience these instruments as they were meant to be—played by extraordinary musicians. The incomparable Montreal-based viola da gamba ensemble, Les Voix humaines, returns to the Toronto Consort series to perform on these rare instruments. Together, the musicians and viols will bring to life Henry Purcell's genius and inspirational Fantasias, written as a young man of twenty in 1680. This concert marks the first time all six viols have been played together in public in more than thirty years and promises to be a magical experience. Trinity St. Paul’s Centre (427 Bloor Street West), 8 p.m., $19–$46 (tickets available online or by calling 416-964-6337).

Everyone has a story for that night when the lights went out.

Urban Planner is Torontoist's daily guide to what's on in Toronto, published every morning. If you have an event you'd like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you've got any—to events@torontoist.com.

The more people who bike, the safer each biker is. So says ScienceDaily, citing studies done throughout Europe and California, and experts like Dr. Julie Hatfield from the University of New South Wales, who says that "the likelihood that an individual cyclist will be struck by a motorist falls with increasing rate of bicycling in a community. And the safer cycling is perceived to be, the more people are prepared to cycle." Dr. Chris Rissel from Sydney University also notes that "it appears that motorists adjust their behaviour in the presence of increasing numbers of people bicycling because they expect or experience more people cycling." Which makes sense! But we can't help but think that the same logic of safety in numbers applies—probably even more so—to communities who cycle en masse, like Critical or Kidical Mass. [via I Bike T.O.]

WORDS: Chris Carlsson, one of the founders of Critical Mass and the author of 2008's Nowtopia, is speaking this evening at CineCycle as part of Pages' This Is Not A Reading Series. He'll be discussing Nowtopia, which researches social challenges faced by outlaw bicyclists and others looking to get away from urban consumer lifestyles. Spacing's publisher and creative director Matthew Blackett will be interviewing Carlsson, and there will be an audience Q&A following the interview. CineCycle (in the alley behind 129 Spadina Avenue), 7:30 p.m., FREE.

Critical Mass bike rides in cities around the world stir up strong feelings on all sides. Rides in New York have seen arrests and assaults against cyclists, while riders in Seattle have been described as "rampaging." Critical Mass has become a polarizing event and although Toronto's version seems a little less controversial, the trip along the Gardiner Expressway in May was alternately hailed and vilified. Deserved or not, Critical Mass is getting a reputation as being confrontational and disruptive.

to be free...

SPORTS: Are you sick of taking your baby or toddler to a sports event and hearing the aggravated spectators around you groan every time your kid cries? The Rogers Centre sympathizes, which is why today is their monthly Babies at the Ballpark Blue Jays game. Parents with young children can buy discounted tickets and sit together in a special 200 level section. Diapers and wipes will be available at no extra cost, and there will be free juice and snacks for the kids. The Blue Jays are playing the Cleveland Indians, and rookie Scott Richmond is scheduled to pitch for the Jays. Rogers Centre (1 Blue Jays Way), 1:07 p.m., $9-$63.

June's Critical Mass ride this past Friday was a tad less eventful than May's, but that doesn't make the sight of cyclists dominating downtown streets any less spectacular. Two great videos of the ride have popped up: one from RebootYourComputer, and another from Martin Reis.

Who knew that the Gardiner was good for more than traffic jams? Between the Ride For Heart today, and the controversial Critical Mass ride last Friday, Toronto's highways are getting plenty of bike traffic. As cycling continues to grow in popularity, could a bicycle expressway eventually become reality?

                       

Photo by TObike from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

An art bike! A very, very tall art bike! Want to see it in action?

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us.

Torontoist immediately wins our heart by using the word "Jackass" in a headline. In fact, we love their use of it so much that we're going to use it as much as possible throughout this post. For example, it looks like there are Toronto-area jackasses besides those who misuse the sidewalk: look at the crap on sale on Toronto's craigslist. But it looks like Toronto doesn't contain the kind of jackasses who pee in public pools, as the issue never came up when they interviewed the creators of art installations in their public wading pools.

We gotta thank Dale Duncan from the eye blog for making our day with this link. "We're Not Gonna Take It" is an audio art project which mashes up Twisted Sister's (pictured here) karaoke classic "We're Not Gonna Take It" with political protests. Members of the public can call in, belt out their complaints and have the song heard by interweb listeners and delivered to the politician(s) of their choice.

Torontoist was looking at YouTube last night and found images of a pillow fight in San Francisco. A light bulb went off, Torontoist would like to be the first to propose an inter-city pillow fight challenge. We challenge cities around North America and the world to organize pillow fights on a certain day (SF picked Valentine's Day, Newmindspace did a Toronto pillow fight in November). Winner is the city with the most pillowfighters. If that's the case Toronto better step up, SF had around a 1000 people. Better yet, why not turn it into a monthly thing a la critical mass!

Time to get out that cloning machine you've been keeping around. If the Halloween and IFOA festivities weren't enough to keep you swamped there's the Small Press Book Fair and if that's not enough for you there's Canzine at the Gladstone 1:00 pm, on Sunday. It's also the unofficial launch of the newly re-designed Broken Pencil. This year's theme, Burlesque. Indie Kids Gone Wild anyone? There'll be over 150 zines, readings, Darren O'Donnell and fifth birthday celebrations for No Media Kings

Now that the weather is warming up again and the wimpier of us can cycle again, it's also time to remember that cycling can be dangerous in a city where the car is king.