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......

Merriam-Webster defines "telethon" as "a long television program usually to solicit funds especially for a charity." Almost from the dawn of broadcast television on both sides of the border, time has been set aside to urge viewers to support a long list of causes. This tradition began in 1949, when a 16-hour telethon to raise money for the Damon Runyon Memorial Fund to fight cancer brought in just over a million dollars in pledges......

Toronto has an unusual problem: too many mayors' offices. After the dying years of the last century saw Metro's five cities and one borough reduced into a single bureaucratic mess, the city was left with the prickly issue of what to do with the palatial digs of Alan Tonks and six mayors left sitting barren in the far-flung civic centres and City Halls throughout the megacity (which, when pronounced with the proper cynical inflection, rhymes......

Torontonians were once again woefully unprepared for the first major snowfall of the season. 500 traffic accidents in one day, people. Do we really want everybody else making fun of us again, like that time Mel Lastman called in the Army to help out after a snowfall? It's winter. It comes every year. Just because we've had a freakishly warm winter thus far is no excuse for complacency! At the Golden Globes, Dreamgirls becomes......

Yep, better steer clear of us this weekend that 'roid rage is going to set in. No, Torontoist hasn't been taking steroids, that stuff scares us. We have been figuring out our "blog juice" rating with the Blog Juice Calculator. The little tool aggregates your bloglines subscriptions, Alexa and Technorati rankings to get a feel for how amped up your blog is. Torontoist scores a respectable 6.2 which puts us well above the Bad......

Students at West Toronto Collegiate are being tested for tuberculosis after one of their classmates tested positive for the lung disease. Health officials are just being cautious and don't think TB has spread. Cecilia Zhang's killer will get at least 15-years without parole. It's more than the 12 his lawyers were asking for and less than the 17-20 the Crown wanted. Parts of the city including the DVP are on flood alert. We're expecting 40......

Our new favourite toy hasn't lost it's appeal yet (how could it, when people continue to enter such evocative search terms as yoga pants bums, fear of lines, and another crappy birthday), and this week we've decided to mix it up a little and answer a few of the better anonymously Google-posed questions. 1. What is not a good role model? Among many other things, Mel Lastman - just look at his son: "Who......

More than 1,000 friends and family came out to support a departing Chief Fantino last night, bestowing him with honours and friendship bracelets. Okay, we lied about the friendship bracelets. But reading of the speeches tossed off by Fantino fans, TOist discovers not insight about the chief himself, but insight about Mel Lastman's work ethic. To wit: Former Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman said Fantino was a tireless fighter for the city, pointing to the chief's......

Superman has been named the most popular Superhero of all time. Your neighbourhood Spiderman came second, and the Batman third. The most recent superhero on the rise is Mr Incredible, who placed above the Hulk. In other news, former Toronto superhero Mel Lastman reportedly doesn't take off his own coat anymore. Lastman just stands with his arms out while someone removes the coat for him, according to sources.......