Results tagged “mcdonalds”

Reading about world economies is important, but it can also be dry and boring, which is why the latest Big Mac Index, published by the Economist, caught our eye. The annual Index, which measures "purchasing power parities" around the world, has been around since 1986, but UBS Wealth Management Research has helped shape the more current incarnations. Basically, it estimates how much time an average wage earner must work to make enough money to afford a Big Mac, taking into account local currencies and wages and weighted across fourteen professions and seventy-three international cities.

Toronto is home to thousands of convenience stores, but this is the first time we’ve ever seen a convenience store, let alone a Hasty Market, with a built-in falafel and shawarma takeout. McFalafel, which opened a month ago, is located on the north side of Dundas Street West in the heart of Islington Village. We talked to the proprietor, who told us that business is going well, but he still gets a lot of people wandering in who are confused by the relationship between the store and restaurant.

You know how when most people think of working at McDonald's they picture a bunch of unhappy people who really have no other options cramped together and sweating over deep fryers, collecting minimum wage while working long hours serving greasy, high-fat food to screaming, overweight kids?

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?

In Tuesday's news round-up, we told you that the plan to sell McDonald's the land at Bloor and Avenue had been halted until January 18. It's a good thing, too, as there are many questions that must be answered before the $3.38 million sale is finalized. Is it in the best interest for Toronto taxpayers? Is the sale a smart corrective action to the bungled 1971 lease agreement or another dumb move we'll regret for...

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The price of oil scaled new heights yesterday, climbing up over $80 US for the first time ever. That's good news if you're an oil company, but bad news if you're a regular folk who likes to go places, or do things, or eat stuff.

Kids think that food in a McDonald's wrapper tastes better than the same food not in the wrapper, study shows. This study confirms what many of us have long believed: namely, that children are stupid.

It happens in the middle of the night on a dark, deserted road in the wilderness near Kapuskasing: Carrie McDonald's car breaks down. Her mobile phone is without a signal, and nobody knows where she is. The pavement is lit only from Carrie's headlights, and she strains to hear any approaching vehicle in the dead silence.

From left to right (roughly): Vivian Li, Zoe Higgs, Matthew Corker, Melinda Montgomery, Adam Martin and Kerri (aka: Adam's girlfriend).

After being hotly anticipated for months- at least by stores- All Hallows' Eve is finally here.

Weird.

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery.

If there's one defining quality of being a major metropolis, a "world class city" if you will, it is undoubtedly having a hockey team that despite having tons of money and a psychotically loyal fanbase can never win the championship. CORRECTION! It is undoubtedly having heaps of access to cheap Chinese food, preferably of the all-you-can-eat dinner buffet variety.

What ho? As the Yonge-Dundas Irregular Polygon burrows ever deeper into the hearts of Torontonians like that thing from The Wrath of Kahn, news arrives from the email circuit about what fresh terrors may await the North side of Dundas:

A double big mac, extra large fries and a gallon of iced tea might just be the worst call of year. Deeeesgusting.

The good people over at Spacing.ca have directed our attention to arts collective Year Zero One's latest project, which launches tomorrow night in Yonge-Dundas Square and runs throughout August. This month, video artists Manu Luksch and Jillian McDonald will have their one-minute installations broadcast on the 29th and 59th minutes of each hour, respectively. Luksch's features the artist enviably inserted into romantic scenes from Hollywood films with the likes of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Don't miss the rare chance to see art edge out advertising in the usually soulless heart of the downtown core.

writer Gina Mallet. In her newish book, Last Chance to Eat, Mallet explains how the tasting pallet has shifted decidedly toward bland foods (number one culprit being tomatoes). Available in hardcover since September 2004, her critiques of modern dining are now making their way to tables in U.K., causing a proverbial stir and selling out in pre-orders. Mallet mostly points the finger at animal activists and nutritionists for the decline of taste in the world, while likening McDonald's and other high-salt foods to a "White Knight." Part memoir, Mallet's book wants to remember the free-eating times of the 1950's, and as it turns out, there are plenty of chubbsters that want to remember it with her. The paperback version comes out in Toronto in October of this year.

Not all Irish, but serving green beer:

Brooklyn based artist Jillian McDonald draws inspiration from the peculiar cultural phenomenon of celebrity worship. Her video installation, "To Vincent, With Love," showing until March 26 at YYZ Artists Outlet straddles the two extremes of celebrity worship; the innocuous deluge of fan-sites, letters, and mind-numbing celebrity "journalism" and the often disturbing phenomenon of stalking, romantic delusion and threats of violence.

It could be the result of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, or Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. Or it could be the realization that fast food costs the same as good food these days (An $8 meal at McDonalds could also buy you a real sandwich at a real cafe). Or it could just be the fact that McDonald's is gross. And Justin is too. Dis.