It's been the best of times, it's been the worst of times for the Toronto Maple Leafs; in fact, the past couple weeks have been nothing short of surreal. First, the best of times: wins against the high-flying Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, followed by a thoroughly unexpected Hockey Day in Canada victory over the league-leading Detroit Red Wings, have given the team a boost. Injured players are getting healthy. The return of the......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Each Sunday, the editors of every site—from LAist to Londonist—choose their most interesting article, a list which is compiled into the network-wide feature Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse. SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens' celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist found out what......

Photo from Plexifilm. For lovers of Detroit techno, the new year keeps on giving. This Saturday, legendary DJ Derrick May hits up Footwork. He will be joined by local favourites Greg Gow, Derrick Ramirez and Gerald Matrix. With his high school friends, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, May became known as one of the Belleville Three. The trio invigorated the 1980s Detroit house music scene and are credited with pioneering techno. May continues to......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Two years ago, the Toronto Raptors were the laughing stock of the NBA. Vince Carter and his mom had......

Craig Silverman, author of "Regret the Error," has published his annual compendium of errors and corrections in global print and online media, and it's a doozy. Culprits are fairly evenly dispersed, with errors from America (Obama? Osama?), the UK, Australia and Russia all figuring prominently. But don't fear! Southern Ontario media did us proud by contributing their fair share. The Toronto Star makes the list—twice. And both about the happy subject of death!A Nov.......

Sometimes, you just need to know when to give up. If you’re a Toronto Blue Jays fan, you should’ve picked last night’s game—a gut-wrenching 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers in which Toronto blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead for the second time in three games—as a good time to write off the team’s 2007 season. To be fair, most people did that months ago; unfortunately, some of us wouldn't let ourselves off so easy, and......

Faced with a distasteful choice between imposing unpopular new taxes or recommending draconian budget cuts, City Council came up with the ingeniously gutless idea of deferring the decision until after the provincial election in October. The premise is that maybe that the province will agree to once again pony up for the social service costs that it downloaded under Mike Harris. Or maybe the City Hall lotto pool will win the 6/49, like, forty......

When people first hear the words "Professional Pillow Fight League," they often conjure images of jello-wrestling and hair pulling. However, if you've ever been to a Pillow Fight League event, you know that the fights are real, they're violent, and they're bloody entertaining. The Pillow Fight League, also known as the PFL, has been performing around Toronto since last year. They gained international attention in January when they fought for two nights in New York......

It has been one week since the inauguration of Crosstown, Toronto's newest underground (literally) dance spot. Formerly Healy's, and well before that, Bassmint, this fresh Queen and Bathurst club has gotten an exposed-brick and Edison-lightbulb makeover, adding to the raw, minimal feel of the place. Party people seem to recognize every calendar holiday, and who better to celebrate last night with than Detroit techno legend Derrick May? The man credited with helping invent the......

Tonight marks the first installment of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School at the Cameron House. The event provides a night of drawing from the live model with a series of cheeky twists. Firstly, the model is not some random naked person, but rather a cabaret star dressed in appropriately Vaudevillian costume. And at this life drawing session, the art-making is accompanied by alcoholic beverages and groovy tunes, not to mention kooky contests (best incorporation of a......

Do either of these ads say "Toronto" to you? Captions: at left, "Do you think I need a breast reduction?", at right: "Tonight I'm not Susan. Call me Antoinette." They're the city's new "T.O. Live With Culture" ads. Made from leftover money from the Live With Culture budget, they are supposed to target American tourists: according to CTV, "the ads are destined for alternative weekly newspapers in eight U.S. border cities. Readers in Buffalo, Rochester,......

If ACTRA's quasi-strike isn't enough of a blow to Canada's dwindling film industry, another one recently hit that will also give American productions another reason not to shoot in Toronto. Which is great, because no one likes money -- especially American money. Word on the street is that TEDCO and Mayor David Miller recently mandated the imminent closure of the Pier 28 Cinespace Studios. The lot is 140,000 sq feet which is big enough......

First, in blog news: Mozilla releases Firefox 2.0: It's a well-known fact that the free browser is highly superior to Internet Explorer, and the new version comes with an integrated spell check designed for blogs and social networking tools. Stop using your IE, fool! St. Louis beat Detroit last night for a 2-1 game lead in the World Series, but nobody was watching it (only 12.8 million). A 39-year-old Whitby man faces 282 charges......

A seven (!!) alarm fire destroyed a building at Queen and Sherbourne. The building was occupied by a paint store which had been there since 1913. Firefighters rushed to the scene to stop the fire from spreading. King Jong Il is "very sorry" about the nuclear test. Also, the leader of Korea expressed sentiments such as "it would totally be cool" if he could have "an awesome sleepover party" sometime in the near future......

After the Leafs out-performed Torontoist's pre-season predictions, the real deal gets underway tonight. Despite the 3-5 record over the past two and a half weeks, the team lost a pair against Ottawa, followed by a pair against Detroit (with the Red Wings playing their "B" squad against the Leafs top unit in the second of the two games) leading in to the start of the regular season. So will they turn it around tonight? The......

Looking to check out some live music this week? Here's your listing of what's happening around the city between August 7-13. If you know of any good shows this week that we missed below, let us know in the comments. Feel free to also let us know about upcoming shows that would be worth checking out. Recently Announced Aug. 12 – OXFAM Music 4 Change Fundraiser feat. The Diableros, The Coast, These Electric Lives......

Rappers Royce Da 5' 9" and Choclair have recently been "jacked" in Toronto, according to a report last Friday. Assuming the jacking was of the car variety (Royce was "jacked" while "cruising"), it would be second high profile rapper carjacks this year. For those who believe the alleged jacking of the short-ish Detroit emcee did occur, this is a real bummer. But for the rest of us, the only troubling aspect is that the so-called......

Rocktober is winding down to a close, but November, while not quite as wordlplay-friendly, isn't letting up one bit with the shows of rock. And while it's early, it's hard to imagine that the month will offer any bills quite as exhilarating as The Constantines and The Hold Steady at the Opera House on November 2. Guelph's Constantines shouldn't need an introduction to anyone who's reading Torontoist - since forming in 1999, they've established themselves......

Tall Poppy Interview - Davy Rothbart...

Calling Beat, Breaks and Culture the Toronto Electronic Music Festival is a bit of a pickle. Supposing the ‘electronic’ refers to the "computer generated visual performance, film and video" and "live Canadian and international electronic artists," there’s still a real gap between the ‘electronic artist’ tag and the highlights Platinum Pied Pipers. Featuring Detroit’s finest rapper/producer Jay Dee, the PPPipers, along with Jean Grae, graffiti art and the film Freestyle, represent the festival’s strong......

Peyton Manning, Doug Brien, Joshua Errett. All three neglected to show up while their reputations were on the line. All three were faced with daunting tasks and failed to come through when their teams put the game in their hands. All three possibly solidified their place in sporting history, not for triumph, but collapse. Reigning back-to-back MVP Peyton Manning completed another kind of back-to-back accomplishment Sunday afternoon. With fifty-three touchdowns going into yesterday’s game, Manning......

Everyone is a bit sluggish and fat after such a nice holiday, so excuse our tardiness. You might not realise it, but you are probably much fatter than you were a month ago. Torontoist is not ashamed to say we got fat. But it's okay, all our fat went to our booty. On the subject of booty's, you can shake yours tonight at the Cloak and Dagger Pub (394 College), where the Mercredi Mixtape extends......

Not to be left out of our collective goodwill, athletes across the world have rushed help with aid to the tsunami-devastated regions of southern Asia. Following the lead of many tennis and soccer stars, the “Biggest Private Donation Ever” was submitted by F1 champion Michael Schumacher during a German telethon Tuesday evening. The Ferrari driver has pledged US$10 million to his country’s world-leading effort. The NBA, with the contribution of Raptor guard Jalen Rose, is......

Toronto Raptors all-star guard Vince Carter has injured his ankle this week, straining his left Achilles tendon. The alleged injury was suffered in the recent 90-86 overtime loss in Detroit, where the embattled Raptor was shooting 2-for-8 with five points and one assist. Carter was making a move toward the basket - which he would have probably missed anyway - when he dropped to the floor clutching his leg. The injury is bad news for......

In what some are calling the worst sports brawl of all time, Indiana Pacers forward and fledging rap star Ron Artest charged the stands to fight with a fan in an NBA game last Friday night. In Auburn Hills, Mich., the Pacers were under a minute away from beating the Detroit Pistons when the Pistons' Ben Wallace took exception to a hard Artest foul. Wallace and Artest exchanged shoves, and moments later tempers were cooled......