We're happy to report that the looser who sat behind you in Grade 12 English class just got a job as a copy writer. You always knew that he'd make his mark on the world in some way, didn't you? How exactly does such a glaring mistake make it through all of the design and approval stages that must be required before an ad like this is even printed? Interestingly, they managed to spell......

Being a high school student in Rexdale’s Jamestown community comes with its share of obstacles: at the time of this post, 55% don’t finish high school, and 44% of families are single-parent households with an average income of $22,000. Many are new to Canada, and strange labour laws can put immigrants with medical degrees in front of deep fryers instead of utilizing their proper skills. Many homes have more than one family living in......

Kincardine-born, Mississauga-bred, Toronto-based, and Berlin-bound, Joel Gibb is the musical and managerial head of The Hidden Cameras, the fantastic and always well-populated music collective whose members have included Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), Reg Vermue (Gentlemen Reg), Laura Barrett, Maggie MacDonald (Republic of Safety), Dave Meslin (founder of the Toronto Public Space Committee), Bob Wiseman, Steve Kado (founder of Blocks Recording Club, member of Barcelona Pavilion and Ninja High School), Ohad Benchetrit (Do Make Say......

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......

Nobody likes to be stranded during the holiday season due to car trouble. Whether it's a dead battery, unexpected snowfall, or executing a 180-degree spin into the ditch alongside the 401 on the way back to the city, inclement weather and Murphy's Law often combine to make this a busy time of the year for auto clubs like CAA. Even beloved weekend movie hosts occasionally require their assistance. Before gaining fame as a movie......

If you haven't been following the Raptors too closely this season, it's possible that you may have missed one of the greatest stories in professional sports at the moment. Jamario Moon is a 27-year-old rookie who had been kicking around just about every minor league on the continent until he finally got his shot with the Raptors this year. And he's tearing things up. Even though he's years older than a number of Raptor veterans,......

Torontoist spotted this bit of loveliness in St. George Station on Monday. Unlike most fugly marker graffiti, this is an elegant and playful addition to the station’s signage. It looks like the floral flourish on a crown, or possibly a fleur-de-lis. What compelled someone to draw this on the station wall? Is it a political statement, or is it simply meant to elicit a smile? Whatever the intention may have been, this piece of......

The Royal St. George's College "Focus on the Environment" speaker series continues with David Suzuki at the Bloor Cinema on Monday night. This year's series kicked off in September with Jane Goodall and continues through the rest of the school year with guest speakers ranging from writer Roy MacGregor to polar explorer Geoff Green. In contrast, the only guest speakers we remember from our high school years were actuaries and federal civil servants telling......

Poverty is an issue politicians like to debate, pundits cluck their tongues over, and that everyone agrees is kinda crummy, but pretty overwhelming. While debates, discussions and campaigns aren't bad things, they don't always result in a lot of concrete solutions. So what do we do about a complex issue like poverty? We find a complex solution. Pathways To Education is a program that started in Regent Park in 2001. It was the result of......

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. ZanzibarBY MOONWIRE SideBY DISCARNATEQUERN UntitledBY TORONTOGAL PHOTOS OutfallBY INVENTOR 77 CastlesBY MECHRISMAN BloorBY K-BEER SupersamplerBY UWAJEDI Balzac's ChandelierBY J.T.R. Beach biteBY CHELSEAGIRL UntitledBY K-BEER......

It's been said that the geeks shall inherit the Earth, and a pair of Ontario high school students are doing it with zero emissions. Behold the Tango—a compact, electric motorcycle that could be the future of motorized solo transportation. Introduced at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF) in Albuquerque, Oakville's Ben Gulak and Hamilton's Jason Morrow based their invention on the science behind the Segway. The bike features two wheels mounted......

"THE BANK." Does the use of bold face and quotations make this institution sound Big Brotherish? Canada's major banks regularly advertised in high school yearbooks and college newspapers in the 1960s, eager for new recruits as branches opened in new suburban markets. With all of the promises of security and comfort for potential employees, who wouldn't want to sign up with "The Bank?" This was the era of secure, benefit-laden futures, which anyone who......

UN Messenger of Peace Dr. Jane Goodall is celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of her eponymous Institute this year, and Toronto is lucky enough to be part of the festivities. Dr. Goodall, most renowned for her involvement with chimpanzees in Tanzania, will grace Toronto for three days in September. Of particular interest is the good doctor's appearance at UofT's Convocation Hall on September 15. According to Tim Grant, co-editor of Green Teacher magazine, Dr. Goodall will......

Friday afternoon, a Thai eatery in the Annex. Three girls in their late teens or early twenties are having lunch with two middle-aged women, possibly former high school teachers of theirs. One of the girls is expressing her dissatisfaction with university. Girl: "Anthropomorphic." That's the only thing I've learned. That's a $12,000 word to me.......

Once a year Toronto the Good becomes Toronto the very naughty. FFN (formerly known as Folsom Fair North) is Toronto's annual fetish fair. Now in its fifth year, the Fair features everything from play areas and parties to an art tent. Festivities kick off July 20 with the Welcome to Toronto party, being held at Alibi. The next night is Agitator, FFN’s big deal sports-themed fetish blowout at the Opera House. The FFN web......

Perhaps that headline is a bit over-the-top. Then again, so was this entire show! Maybe it was just this Torontoist's own expectations that a show selling itself as a gay hip hop opera couldn't really take itself too seriously; would be ironic; would be tongue-in-cheek. Not so. BASH'd is a gay hip hop opera that wants you to know that it is a gay hip hop opera and there's nothing wrong with that! There's......

A great haircut will make you feel cute, sleek and sassy. An even better haircut will make you feel cute, sleek and sassy and help children in Peru learn to read. On Sunday, June 24, Evoke Salon at Yonge and Eglinton will donate 100% of profits from all services to Para el Mundo, a non-profit organization that works with the community of Máncora, Peru. Para el Mundo organizes and facilitates education, health and social......

This is Corky and the Juice Pigs performing their song "Eskimo." If you're not familiar with the song, or if you haven't heard it in a while, then Torontoist should warn you: this clip may be offensive to the Inuit, gays, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Ric Ocasek, seals, and anyone without a sense of humour. This comes up, not because Torontoist was jonesing for novelty songs from the mid-90's, but because we recently learned that......

Facebook just added a new feature called Marketplace. Functioning a lot like Craigslist with more accountability, Marketplace lets you buy and sell, but also lets you see who, exactly, is doing the buying and selling (clicking a name takes you to their profile, if they've chosen to make it public, where you can all the usual things like see what friends you have in common). One of the best things about Marketplace is that......

Fresh off their massive St. Patrick's Day celebration, Steam Whistle is throwing another bash tonight, but this time in support of a much nobler cause than getting smashed and pretending you're Irish for a day. Tonight the doors to the Roundhouse (255 Bremner Boulevard) open at 8 p.m. for sets by Woodhands, Modern Boys Modern Girls and These Electric Lives in the first installment of Steam Whistle's Unsigned music series. It's $5 at the......

Quick–name the first department store chain to locate in suburban Toronto. Eaton's? No, they waited until 1961 to open shop in Don Mills. Simpson's? No, they followed Eaton's a year later, landing in Scarborough at Cedarbrae Plaza. Try a chain that only lasted in Toronto for a decade, but whose locations served those moving into areas like North York and Etobicoke. Morgan's roots were in Montreal, where Henry Morgan opened a dry goods store......

On any given weekday, around 5 p.m., you can expect to find a bit of a mob gathered around the corner of Queen and John. That’s when MuchMusic's Much on Demand airs live and excitable teens like to gather to catch a glimpse of a celebrity—any celebrity. And since it's March Break this week, you can expect double the crowds as guests like Christian rock band Relient K and High School Musical's Jordan Pruitt drop......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. When the police weren't busy trying to manage opening and closing the Gardiner a bunch of times after the Great CN Tower Ice Incident of 2007, they had their hands full with some skeezy characters this week. • The Fraud Squad is in full-effect these days with yet another charity fraud arrest.......

Toronto is a convention city. Usually we are unaware of the presence of conventioneers unless one happens to be run down by a swarm of out-of-towners carrying identical bags and wearing freebie t-shirts. But this this week brings hoards of delegates to town for Canada Blooms, Canadian Music Week, and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention. Canada Blooms and CMW are pretty much what you would imagine: A bunch of florists and record......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending a......

Although numerous studies link good health and good teeth, dentistry is not yet covered by OHIP (unless it requires dental surgery that takes place in a hospital). Rumours abound about places in the GTA that offer inexpensive and even free dentistry. It turns out that these inexpensive dental options actually exist—and Torontoist has looked them up for you. FREE DENTISTRY If you can't afford to go to a private dentist and don't have insurance coverage,......

Photo by David Topping. As far as picking memorable band names go, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin may be on to something. Right up there with I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness as the best independent-clause-turned-band-name, the Missouri band -- in town last night with Chicago's Chin Up Chin Up at Sneaky Dee's -- has received almost as much attention for their name as for their music. The choice to announce their......

Last night's Grammy awards were just as horrible as you assumed it would be. In the first five minutes: the reunited Police gave a lacklustre performance; Jaime Foxx's attempts to warm the crowd with stale racial jokes flopped; the first award went to a duet by Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder. Click. Broadcasting The Princess Bride twice during the lengthy award show was the smartest thing YTV has ever done. At least 11 students of......

Overhead by reader Becky W. on a VIA rail train from Toronto to London this weekend. A group of high school-aged girls, who seem to be on their way to some kind of conference, are all sitting together and talking excitedly. Girl #1: Well, I need to bring an object that symbolizes my independence. Girl #2: Bring a pay stub! Girl #3: Driver's license! Girl #4: Car keys! Girl #1: I can't just bring my......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not just......