Results tagged “facebook”

It’s a surreal experience—interviewing a guy about an online “lifecasting” experiment and unwittingly becoming a part of it. But if there’s one lesson we can take away from the hour we spent with Hal Niedzviecki and his surveillance equipment (in his home, no less), it’s this: we should probably get used to it. That is, we should—and you should—probably get used to being watched.

Several years ago, Steven May did what any heartbroken, web-savvy individual would do: he blogged. Why throw gravel at your ex-girlfriend's window, or leave groveling "Iloveyou" [sniffle] "Imissyou" [honk] "Canwepleasepleasepleasegetback— tooooo—" [voice crack] "—gether?" messages on her answering machine when you could just as easily get her attention by broadcasting your woes on the web? But May never really intended for his ex-girlfriend (and ex-girlfriend’s friends, and ex-girlfriend’s friends-of-friends) to see his post-breakup blog. Really—he just needed to get a few things off his chest. Although May’s reactions were "virtual," the ramifications of his online grievances were real; he received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, asking him to stop blogging about their breakup. "She thought it was an invasion of her privacy," says May, "even though I never used her name, or posted her photo. But a friend of hers had directed her to something I’d written online, and she asked me to stop."

Hunger—which we caught at TIFF and again at the European Film Festival—is perhaps the most tactile movie we have ever seen. The impressionistic docudrama chronicling the prison hunger strike by IRA soldier Bobby Sands and the conditions leading up to his decision to take such extreme action, is all about the body and the things that go into, come out of, and are done to it. The film, the feature debut by British artist Steve McQueen (not that one), thoroughly deglamourizes the notion of deliberately starving oneself, by forcing you to confront the physical consequences of the act; it does for this method of suicide what 2:37 did for wrist cutting.

The TTC management and its workers' union have agreed that the TTC is not an essential service. However, they are saying this not because they are saying, "Yes, we are useless," but because they both want to avoid contract arbitration. However, since management wants to pay workers less than they would receive through contract arbitration, and the union wants workers to get more than they would receive through contract arbitration, one side or the other has really, really not thought this whole thing through.

Dalton McGuinty has agreed to prevent any kind of commercial or industrial activity in 225,000 square kilometres of boreal forest in Northern Ontario. The plan mimics strategies that successive provincial governments have executed successfully in Toronto.

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com.

Photo of Howard Moscoe at March's OCAP protest by Miles Storey.

Photo by Jordan Roberts from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

You've got less than three weeks to prepare yourself for Earth Hour on Saturday, March 29. That's when people around the world are being encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour to raise awareness about global warming. Toronto was the first Canadian city to sign up for the international event late last year, and has since been joined by most other GTA municipalities, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, and many more—close to 50 cities across the country at last count.

Award-winning Canadian comedy troupe The Imponderables are at it again. In this spoof of the movie The Bourne Ultimatum, the famous red-and-white striped bespectacled Waldo must piece together clues of his half-remembered past.

City sells "the McDonald's site" on Bloor for a fairly low price. However, Adam Vaughan insists there are upsides to the deal, such as being able to limit the height of the condo development that will take its place, because who would want tall buildings in the downtown core?

Here's a riddle: What walks throughout Canada, weighs more than a Brit, but less than an American, and can help stop global warming? No, it's not Sasquatch. It's not Kyoto.

The final lineup for the benefit concert for the O'Keefe family has been announced. Organized by Andrew Copland—John O'Keefe's close friend and the Duke of Gloucester's head bartender—the concert aims both to honour John O'Keefe, who was killed walking home from the bar a month and a half ago, and to raise money for an education fund for John's son, Iain.

Last week’s fire on Queen West didn’t only destroy some of the neighbourhood’s best stores; it also put the dozens of people who lived in apartments above the shops out of a home. Some of these folks didn’t have insurance and lost most of their possessions. Many of the artists who lived in the buildings lost their work, and thus their source of income.

Keri and Charity are two residents who lost everything on Wednesday morning. By that afternoon, a Facebook group (called Ker-ity) had already been set up with the sole purpose of helping them replace what was lost. Torontoist was alerted to the efforts by Erin Dermo, Managing Director of The Ten Spot (less than a block away from the blaze), who has been approaching local businesses to see if they can donate anything that might help. So far, aside from The Ten Spot’s own contributions, nearby businesses like Heel Boy (yes, they donated shoes), The Bier Markt, and Brazen Hussy have all been very generous with much-needed items and gift certificates. The coordinators of the drive (including Dermo and yoga instructor Caren Cooper of Jivita Yoga) are accepting clothing, shoes, and gift certificates at Essensuals Salon (678 Queen Street West). They're also asking for people who have any household items to offer to hang onto them until a storage space or apartment can be found. Don't have any stuff to give? Hey, money always helps—they're accepting Paypal donations at donations@kerity.ca and they'll also be opening a TD Canada Trust account in the next day or so. Check the Facebook group for further details.

Weeks of record-breaking, finger-numbing, Antarctican weather are leaving Torontonians frozen across the city—and someone thinks it's hilarious.

If anybody remembers last year's Snow Day, an ill-fated attempt to make snow in Trinity-Bellwoods Park with a defective snowmaker that lead to a giant snowball fight, you may be pleased to learn that exactly one year later, there is actually a bunch of snow on the ground, and the plan is the same. It seems the lesson about controlling Mother Nature has been learned, and our collective prayers have been answered.

Miss the fourth installation of YO! Remember the 90's?? As if! Unless you're totally clueless when it comes to comebacks, you know the nineties are the dopest thing since, like, the eighties. And if you don't, you oughta know.

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a "behind the scenes" glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a "behind the scenes" glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.

If you're anything like us, you've always dreamt of riding the subway without pants. You'll finally have your chance on Saturday, during the first ever Toronto No Pants Subway Ride.

The annual Polar Bear Dip is a success, raising $59,000 for World Vision Canada. This follows Toronto's proud tradition of really, really bloody stupid stunts for charity, like the Great Canadian Tack-Eating Contest of 1958 and the Who Needs A Parachute? First Canadian Place Jump-Off of 1971.

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.

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.

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.

Every November and December, a handful of current and former Toronto International Film Festival employees make the trek to the United Arab Emirates to help run the Dubai International Film Festival. Its fourth year having wrapped up on Sunday, DIFF—like most everything else about Dubai—is an experiment in accelerated postmodernization, an attempt to create a world-class film festival (this year's opening movie was Michael Clayton, with George Clooney in attendance) from scratch.

The Harper government will introduce legislation to protect consumers more effectively from dangerous products, in part by holding importers more accountable for the goods they bring in. Christmas isn't going to be the same without the traditional lead-laden toys and minor brain damage.

It looks like there will now be a reprieve for all of you filthy, dirty scum who have dared to engage in file-sharing, downloading, and the elusive but nonetheless nefarious "time-shifting."

Rarely does a Toronto murder get such visceral international attention.