City councillor wants to bring in the army—literally—to fight gangs. Torontoist ultimately decided to link to the Star's version of this story over Holy Shit Somebody Actually Said That Weekly. You are welcome. Mitt Romney delivers passionate speech defending religious plurality in America. The gist of the speech is thus: "Don't be intolerant of me because I am a Mormon; be intolerant of those agnostics and atheists over there who should not even be......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of......

They’ve got Hank’s seal of approval, so you know they’re at least half-way decent. Since receiving some "big-ups" on Henry Rollins’ show on L.A.’s Indie 103.1, The Harold Wartooth’s grunge-y star has been rising, with support coming in from the likes of CBC’s seminal Definitely Not the Opera and UK-based Catacomb Records. With a solitary self-titled EP under their belts, the band have demonstrated a propensity for writing Fun House-era Stooges-style riffs and burying them......

There used to be a sign above a video arcade that proclaimed "Yonge Street is Fun Street." Back in the 1960s and 1970s, much of that fun was to be had at the many bars and clubs that lined the street south of Gerrard––Le Coq D'Or, Steele's Tavern, Friar's Tavern, Zanzibar Tavern and so on. Depending on the venue, you could listen to music, dance the night away or catch a striptease. Today's advertiser......

New laws will officially criminalize identity theft by making it illegal to gather personal information which can be used for criminal purposes. Fun fact: if your identity is stolen online, the chances of the crime ever being investigated or prosecuted are practically zero. Surf safe, kids! Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton did a little preaching to the choir yesterday when he told a crowd of supporters that Canada's banks should "stop whining and start paying......

As you may have read, Blue Rodeo played a series of free concerts around the city yesterday. As you also may have read, there's a provincial election going on. Reader Matt Kim sent us the following story of a rather odd intersection of the two: Me and some of my co-workers left early today to see Blue Rodeo, who were playing various spots around Toronto, promoting their new album. By the time we'd arrived,......

OMG! This week sees the release of Kickin' It Old Skool, a Jamie Kennedy vehicle. He plays a breakdancer who awakes from a 20-year coma and something that Jamie Kennedy probably considers hilarity ensues. We here at Torontoist Towers are astounded at the idea that somebody greenlighted a film with Jamie Kennedy in it. Absoultely gob-smacked. Moving on, Stone Cold Steve Austin plays Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man On An Island (The Condemned)......

Despite the bitter temperatures as of late, the windy weather is perfect for kite flying! Toronto Kite Fliers is seeking kite enthusiasts to participate in the first monthly TKF and Spitfire Fun Fly of the year at Downsview Park this Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The Toronto Kite Fliers hosts events not only in the GTA but in surrounding communities as well, such as the Four Winds Kite Festival in Maple and Milliken......

It takes chemistry, faith and ego control to make a comedy duo work—elements that aren't easy to keep in check. In improvisational theatre, a duo has even less control over the laughs because it's all made up on the spot. But that's the beauty of the form—it's a high wire act. Me Likey, a combo comprised of Jan Caruana and Rica Eckersley, is one of the city's most successful comedic pairings. In June, the......

L’Oréal Fashion Week kicked off this morning with an 11 a.m. press conference at Queen's Park. Seems the Ontario government excludes fashion from its definition of culture. So members of the Fashion Design Council of Canada want fashion visionaries to get the same recognition as their colleagues in art, dance, theatre and music. Clearly Toronto Fashion Week isn't the same kind of high-octane glamathon as Paris or Milan. In fact, most shows will be......

* George Playlist Update: Added this week: "One" by U2 and "All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun" by Sheryl Crow......

Thanksgiving weekend marked the beginning of harvest season (or the end, if your harvest season involved picking apples in Bowmanville). We're all wearing scarves, the leaves are turning yellow, and it's time to roll out the cornucopia of gourds and wild corn. The best places to find gourds and wild corn are harvest-themed events, but they don't usually happen in the centre of the city. Luckily, Harvest Family Fun Day at the Brick Works......

The week starts off with another instalment of Pussy Pen, an evening of readings and performance focusing on women, trans, and queer perspectives. It takes place at Tango and Crews, 508 Church St, beginning at 8pm. Free. Tuesday’s Wildsound script reading series features Face to Face, a TV pilot script written by Christina Ray and Mark De Angelis. The event is moderated by Pamela Sinha. It starts at 7pm at the Stealth Lounge, 22......

This was the first press screening Torontoist went to, and we walked in 10 minutes late entirely by accident, so you don’t have to listen to us on this one if you don’t want to. Here’s what we guessed we missed: The main character, Ryan (played by Paulo Costanzo) meets a hot set-dresser while taking some photographs of a beached whale, begins his new job in which he takes the photographs and writes the stories......

Torontoist will take a look each week at what's being said on the people's perpendicular press on and around the Danforth. Given the absence of wooden poles and the city's policy of scrape, scrape, scrape, vox pop isn't as loud as it used to be. Pity. 1. Attention all residents "Ward 30"Don't forget summer is a time of year to be extra careful at parks and pools in all communities. *children are priceless *pets are......

Ban there, done that. In lieu of the City of Chicago's ban on foie gras, Toronto and our various bans seem a lot less authoritarian. In fact, we would venture to say our city is substantially lagging in the ban game. To make ourselves feel better about this, Torontoist has put together a list of memorable bans, almost bans and future bans for the city. Since there is no comprehensive list of banned items (that......

It's pretty much impossible to be a theatre enthusiast for over a decade (Torontoist started early) and not see a lot of productions of Hamlet. And sometimes we get cranky and cynical and grumble over our beer with our fellow cynical theatre school graduate chums about how it's enough already with the freaking Hamlet, and can everyone please just stop for awhile and, say, trot out Coriolanus instead. But that's just cynical beery grumbling. Because......

Our attention span is short enough at the best of times, and in the middle of a frigid and hectic December (like this one, if you haven't been paying attention) all we really want to do is read rhyming books about hippos. Fortunately, Sandra Boynton is here to fill all our rhyming hippo needs (which are extensive). Plus, if you're stuck for gift ideas for all the kids (and immature friends) in your life,......

Le Mercredi Mixtape returns. Yep, it's *sixeyes sharing music on Torontoist with you the Torontoist readers. So, put a plug in it, plug in and listen up while Torontoist plugs some recent discoveries and some favourites. 1. Kyle Andrews - "Sushi" Nashville indie-pop upstart, Kyle Andrews, sounds like he's having fun telling us about a Sushi bar and asking, "You gonna save me or not?" Uh, will listening over and over save you? Then,......

Summer, summer, summertime. Time to sit back and unwind? Here's how: Eye Magazine's Summer Guide NOW Hot Summer Guide Toronto.com Summer Guide City of Toronto Summer Fun Guide Canada.com Ontario Summer Guide Or, Paige and Matt check in with their own ideas for summer.........

Sorry, Torontoist got so wrapped up in that Gomery affair we totally forgot our Mercredi Mixtape obligations last week! Expect another blip in the Mixtape delivery when Chuck Guite gets all up in it. Other than that, here's the downloadables: 1. Sufjan Stevens - Illionoise Clever play on the state name, Suf. Fun song too! 2. The Coral - "In the Morning" video Scandalous! 3. The Russian Futurists - "Paul Simon" They can call you......

The Instant Coffee Artist Collective knows how to throw a party. Some of their past initiatives have included make out parties (complete with a blanket fort perfect for snogging) and the urban disco trailer (a converted trailer fitted with huge speakers and a queen size bed). They’ve also organized exhibits of up and coming Toronto artists all over North America and further abroad. Between all this dancing, drinking and making out, IC managed to......

Of all the shows that have opened in Toronto in the past week or so (Bea’s Niece, Little Dragon, Swimming in the Shallows), none have received as consistently good notices as Trout Stanley, the new play by Claudia Dey on at Factory Theatre. "It's like meeting a spellbinding person at a party and finding that you can't get them out of your mind the next day," writes Richard Ouzounian in the Star. (And that’s one......