Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Fresh Air. BY SIRCHARLIE......

Photos by Miles Storey Whatever the critical analysis of Earth Hour last night—Toronto Hydro is reporting a 9% drop in power during the hour—its success seems assured by the large number of people who attended events and the awareness generated. Walking around downtown, there was a palpable buzz that Torontoist hasn't felt in the city since Nuit Blanche. In addition to the free concert in Nathan Phillips Square, there were successful gatherings all around......

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Wherefore art thou (and thine career), Kenneth Johnson? In our very first Reel Toronto column, we established a core principle: Toronto's......

Ever wander past Yonge and Dundas, and wonder what in the world is going on inside that big building constructed of towering TV screens, covered in abnormally-sized ads and lacquered with logos? Starting this weekend, AMC allows Torontonians a sneak peek at the secret—or rather, all twenty-four of them. Known for inventing the cupholder armrest that is the cinema standard today, and setting the standard for the future with their "Digital Theatre Distribution System"—screens......

With Rogers' plan to move Citytv, OMNI Television, and the Fan 590 to the southeast corner of Dundas Square, those familiar with the current streetfront studios on Queen Street have wondered if the former Olympic Spirit building will be opened up in a similar way. Though merely an preliminary concept rendering, Rogers and Quadrangle Architects seem to have grand designs for the space, currently dubbed Rogers Television City, as evident in this image supplementing......

These pictures were not taken mid-transition. Photos by Jonathan Goldsbie.......

Weeks of record-breaking, finger-numbing, Antarctican weather are leaving Torontonians frozen across the city—and someone thinks it's hilarious. Who could be cruel enough to snicker as you stand miserably in a pool of slush, waiting thirty-something minutes for the streetcar that was stopped up by unprecedented snowfall? On February 16, the jerks themselves want to watch, photograph, and videotape you at your frozen-est... inside the Eaton Centre. Frozen, that is, in time. Would you believe the......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. ConstructBY COLOUR VOID HeartBY KARLOFUN UntitledBY EXMOHAX Structural IntegrityBY JONATHAN PONCE foodBY MATTHEW.STEARNS Flight over TorontoBY INSIGHT IMAGING Yonge & Dundas SquareBY FIGHTOFFYOURDEMONS-- Some......

Behold what might eventually become of Sniderman's Corner: an attractive first rendering of the Ryerson Student Learning Centre. To be built at Yonge and Gould on the former sites of Sam The Record Man and the freshly-vacated Future Shop, the building represents Ryerson's desperately coveted access to the Yonge Street strip. To be designed by critical darlings KPMB Architects and Daoust Lestage, the institutionally glassy building will incorporate the historically designated Sam's marquee, which......

Dundas Square gets a lot of flak for being a cold and soulless expanse of commercial neon and grey granite, and in a new music video for local singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe, it still is! But in this case, it's appropriate for his fantastic cover of Kanye West's mediocre "Flashing Lights" track. Directed by Toronto-based street artist, musician, and director Philip Sportel, the super-low-budget video effectively dulls the square down into a generic, industrial, underpopulated......

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. The Toronto Climate Campaign spearheaded the Global Day of Action on Climate Change that took place in Dundas Square......

Today is the first day of the Bali United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will continue until December 14. The purpose of the conference, which is being attended by over 20,000 delegates and observers from 180 countries, is to set out the framework of negotiations for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol when it ends in 2012. There are several events taking place this week in Toronto to mark the occasion. The first......

Contributor Tony Makepeace is taking us for some spins around our city with his fantastic VR panoramas. You can look up, down, side to side, in and out—pretty much every direction but back at yourself, which would be kind of creepy. Say hello to Panoramaist: the Toronto shoe-gazer's worst enemy. Click on the preview image above to launch the QuickTime VR panorama in a new window. Panoramaist is best viewed on a fast computer.......

The above image viewed from afar might lead you to believe it is just a photo taken in a dimly-lit subway station. We were almost tricked, too! However, it is actually a screenshot from the newest Half-Life 2 mod by a team of five George Brown thesis students, which is called City 7: Toronto Conflict. The story goes something like this: The Combine, some kind of invading alien force, has turned the CN Tower......

Liberals turf scandal-ridden MP. Blair Wilson (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) would just like everybody to know that he is very sorry that he impugned the Liberal Party's name with his electoral spending mishaps, although not quite so sorry that he's resigning as a member of Parliament. City capital budget for next year unveiled. A large increase in necessary infrastructure spending is the highlight of the budget, which we still can't pay for and which most voters......

After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square. Since Rogers Communications announced plans to acquire Citytv, there has been much speculation about what would happen to the legendary Queen Street studios. The solution became the former Olympic Spirit complex at the south-east corner of Dundas Square. Built for $42 million in 2004, the building......

Very early on this year, Torontoist was bold enough to predict that this may be the year of Basia Bulat. Nine months later and we may not have been very far off the mark. Ms. Bulat released her new album Oh, My Darling in Europe this past March, and has recently signed to Hardwood Records to finally (finally!) release her debut album tomorrow here in Canada. In celebration, we're giving away a pair of tickets......

If you're a fan of the Perry Farrell–helmed Satellite Party or the luxuriously-named Mink, hurry hurry hurry down to Dundas Square right now. According to tipster Liisa Ladouceur, the bands are playing a free surprise show at 2:00 p.m. at Dundas Square, (kind of) taking a page from The White Stripes' book. UPDATE (4:00 p.m.): Uh...so, maybe not. Apparently, Mr. Farrell changed his mind. According to Ladouceur, "might do cfny at 6pm. might dj......

This weekend, Yonge Street is bustling with all things wacky as the first annual Toronto Just For Laughs festival takes over the city. The street festival kicked off last night with a free Russell Peters show with guests Jo Koy and the Doo Wops. Dundas Square was packed with more than 15,000 people eager to be entertained by the comics, and they definitely were not disappointed. After the show the crowd stuck around to......

Can a transit system foster love for a city? Torontonians may scoff, but Londoners will nod. The underground—better known as the Tube—is often cited as a reason why so many Londoners take pride in their city. One trait of the Tube—and possibly something that Toronto can learn from—is the way in which stations are named after the city’s neighbourhoods and landmarks. A journey where you board at Notting Hill, travel past Marble Arch and St.......

Tut tut tut. We’re all very disappointed in you, John Krasinski, for your decision to star in License to Wed. Sure, you’ve been working so hard to build up your hipster cred—interviewing the Shins, playing on stage with Ben Gibbard, but I’m afraid we might have to revoke your hipster privileges. The Sun’s Kevin Williamson claims of the film, “you can at least approximate the experience of sitting through this alleged romantic comedy at home......

Hot on the heels of our review of the National Post's new Posted Toronto blog, they've reported that Toronto icon and terrifier-of-tourists Zanta, né David Zancai, is leaving. Zancai is well-known to downtown residents for doing pushups in his Santa hat, and his bizarre "Yes! Yes! Yes!" growl that causes alarm to unfamiliar pedestrians. Zanta has been banned from interacting with the sensitive suits on King Street from Church to Spadina, is prohibited from being......

The Green Toronto Festival wasn’t enough to get the city to go all environmentalist, so here’s another attempt. The Green Toronto Streetfest will take over Yonge-Dundas Square and Yonge Street from Dundas Street to Shuter Street on Saturday, July 7, noon–8 p.m. It coincides with the 7/7/07 Live Earth concerts around the world, which will be broadcasted at the Square in support of Friends of Live Earth. With this backdrop, check out clothing made......

The TTC spent today showing off their preferred model for the future of public transit in Toronto in the middle of Dundas Square: a light rail vehicle or, more accurately, half of a full light rail vehicle that Bombardier is showing off around North America—most recently in Milwaukee, where the paint scheme seen here is used for public transit. (Apparently, in Milwaukee, they like their transit to be ugly yellow.)......

In a recent argument in favour of the heritage value of the Sam's sign, the billboards in Yonge-Dundas Square were compared to "banner ad slots on a Web page" due to their ephemeral nature. Well, the same could be said of our cultural institutions. The agenda of the June 25th meeting of City Council's Executive Committee [PDF] contains a report recommending that the naming rights of the Hummingbird Centre be resold [PDF]: The financial......

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, child sexual abuse “occurs when a child is used for sexual purposes by an adult or adolescent.” In Canada, about 8,800 cases of such assaults were reported in 2002. More often than not, victims keep quiet about the abuse they experience usually because they fear retaliation from the abuser, blame themselves for the ill-treatment, or are ashamed of their predicament. So it would be more than......

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! There was a time a few years ago where the Dundas Square security team would take you down for even looking like you were having fun. These days, the public has finally started using it for its intended purpose thanks to......

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! The most striking aspect of this shot by Flickr pool contributor Chris Jackson is the apparent effortlessness by which the dancer holds this freeze. It's also a fascinating lesson in anatomy and physics, with the breaker's arm positioned at an unusual......

Each weekday morning, we pick a recent 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! Henri Cartier-Bresson, meet moonwire. Moonwire's stunning black-and-white photo of a man rushing past Dundas Square is both excellent in its own right and a fantastic (if unintentional) take on Cartier-Bresson's famous "Behind the Gare St. Lazare, Paris." There are......

The City of Toronto's Community Environment Days combine a number of different worthwhile initiatives into one event. They began last month and continue until the end of September, with each Ward getting their own day. There are four main stuff-related activities to do:Buy stuff like recycling bins, green bins, water efficiency kits, and rain barrels.Get free stuff, like leaf compost and rain gauges. (Actually, that's it for the free stuff. Go leaf compost!)Get rid of......