The New York Times has gotten around to writing about Igor Kenk; an article by Ian Austen will appear on page A7 in Friday's paper, and at 1100+ words, it's apparently the longest article written about Toronto in the Times since that boring travel one in May. We're gonna be world-famous! [via Digg.]......

Since January 2006, quirky black-and-white brushstroke illustrations have graced the back page of the The New York Times Magazine. The work is that of Toronto-based designer and OCAD teacher Bob Hambly, who just completed his 500th illustration—a bus—for the prestigious Sunday newspaper supplement. "Even after twelve years, I still get that little pang in my stomach each time a new story is sent to me," he says. "I feel a great sense of responsibility for......

Earlier this week, The New York Times ditched their Times Select subscription thing, a move that saw content previously available for about $8 a month––like some well-liked columnists, for instance––unlocked and made free for everyone. Best of all, though, was the huge amount of material from the newspaper's archives that was set free, dating all the way back to 1851. The rest of the internet has already been having some fun uncovering the gems......

Kevin McLaughlin of Autoshare points us to this article in today's New York Times, about how New York City's subway system––encompassing some 277 underground stations––is to be set up over the next six years to allow for cellphone usage. Transit Wireless, the company that won the right to set up the network, will give the transit system at least $50 million over 10 years, and will incur all costs associated with building the network.......

We'd love to be flies on the walls of newspaper boardrooms these days. The democratization of information on the internet threw the media companies for a loop, resulting in years of failed attempts to protect that information from the non-paying public. Sites like CNN wanted web readers to pony-up to see video clips, while the Hamilton Spectator previously made their website only accessible to subscribers. Like The New York Times, the Globe and Mail......

Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love My Bike You should go see a movie tonight, dontcha think? Here are two you might want to check out. The Isabel Bader Theatre (map) has a free screening of Dr. Strangelove starting at 8:15 p.m. This particular version is digitally-restored and has a resolution of 4K, which apparently means something significant. Actually, it's kind of a big deal: the restoration is being shown-off as part......

When people first hear the words "Professional Pillow Fight League," they often conjure images of jello-wrestling and hair pulling. However, if you've ever been to a Pillow Fight League event, you know that the fights are real, they're violent, and they're bloody entertaining. The Pillow Fight League, also known as the PFL, has been performing around Toronto since last year. They gained international attention in January when they fought for two nights in New York......

It was only inevitable; indeed, they would say we asked for it. The Secret, the latest in a long line of mega-selling self-help phenomena, is on its way to Toronto. Several "teachers" featured in the original film and the subsequent book will be holding forth on April 14th and 15th at the Westin Harbour Castle. The promotional literature is distinguished by its modest proposal: "The Secret to everything—the secret to life filled with joy, good......

This afternoon, Torontoist noticed two enormous Jane Pitfield signs on the lawn of a Gloucester Street apartment building, which got us to thinking: does a landlord have a right to erect election signs at a building shared by many who might disagree with the endorsement? The City of Toronto and the Canada Elections Act have very clear rules about the right to place election signs, especially on public property. On private property, any candidate may......

Friday, we caught the 9:15 pm show of Mutual Appreciation at the Bloor Cinema. Shot in grainy black and white, we follow the story of Alan, a musician who's just relocated to New York from Boston. He's finding his way in a new city with the help of his old friend Lawrence and Lawrence's girlfriend Ellie. Alan's band has broken up, he's got a gig to play, and he needs to find a drummer.......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

DCist is screwed in the event of an oil crisis. Not that we're not all screwed in the event of an oil crisis, just D.C. is more screwed. Don't sell your car yet, District resident, a cabbie can kick you to the curb if he doesn't like your address. Not even Metro can save you now. Londonist experiences the London of the future through the wonders of 3D modeling, but while the 3D guys are......

Frank over at OMG Blog passed along this ludicrous looking poster that he spotted along Queen West. It's yet another condo development with yet another silly marketing slogan, this time the Bohemian Embassy. Frank goes on to critique the co-option of the word bohemian by various things including Broadway musicals, and now really really inept condo marketers. David Brooks invented a word to describe the trend of the moneyed class aping poor, edgy, artist......

An observant reader let us know that The New York Times Travel section has a piece on Toronto's revitalization as a travel destination, which means somebody at Tourism Toronto has been doing their job. The piece talks about the ROM, the AGO and other major construction projects. But its focus happens to be those singing, dancing, Mirvish produced Hobbits! The headline reads "A Revitalized Toronto Pins Its Hopes on the Hobbits." We're going to......

The only major release particularly worth recounting this week is the Wachowski brothers' V for Vendetta, and though it comes so shortly (you’d almost think they planned it!) after Natalie Portman’s sweary rap from Saturday Night Live went viral, the current reaction seems to be that even dudes who like bald chicks with dodgy English accents should just save up for a trip to Camden instead. The New York Times has a particularly nice......

Abuse, dancing, destruction, disappointment, death and Laffy Taffy, in that order: 8 year-olds, dude. The soooper-annoying Keith's Scottish guy is up on child porn charges - including pictures of infants. SNL goes Narnia Rap Redux with a new viral video. Or at least an attempt. Meanwhile, eye writes about Queen Street Man this week. We just wrote that so we could write this: New look, new OUTlook. Spitz destroys Destroyer. Indie-rock cheerleader Helen Spitzer breaks......

In the year that the popularity of the ringtone might have outweighed the popularity of the single, Toronto-I-S-T comes up with the top ten songs that mattered in 2005. 1. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley - "Welcome to Jamrock" Called "the reggae song of the decade" by the New York Times, "Welcome to Jamrock" is the cross-over hit that shouldn't be: Unlike his contemporaries, Marley the youngest didn't have to employ an RnB hook from Beyonce......

Owen Pallett's most raucous cheerleader has to be blogger, Globe and Mail writer and man about town Carl Wilson. He's been singing Pallett's praises for months and all of this worthy praise has culminated in a profile in the New York Times arts section! If you haven't already picked up Pallett's release, go now. It makes a lovely holiday gift. Photo: stolen in a good cause from the NYT......

As featured in the Toronto Star and the New York Times, and just in time for the howl-iday weekend, it's the Islands-as-Geldof benefit CD, Do They Know It's Hallowe'en? There's no real analysis needed here, so here you have the basics: The Islands are two individuals from the Unicorns, who wrote the song to counter the absurdism of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The track and its four versions feature impressive-slash-slightly unnoticable contributions by David......

Maybe it's because they're not coming through Toronto on this tour, but there's a small contingent of the universe that believes Broken Social Scene is from Montreal. That small contingent includes New York Times writer Jon Pareles, who just now realises the band is from Ontario's capital city, not Montreal. Only this is neither a typo or a small oversight, since the crux of Pareles' review is that the band is from Montreal and they......

Until Sunday, the Anandam Performance Group performs Frida and Herself, a movement-based piece of puppet theatre based on the life and art of Frida Kahlo. Torontoist has only seen bits of the show workshopped, but we were particularly impressed by a sequence where Frida (played by Brandy Leary, also the company's founder and artistic director) dances a tango with a life-size skeleton. Anandam performed the show to great acclaim at the New York Fringe......

Ah lad lit, publishers trying to cash in on the success of “chick lit” writers like Helen Fielding, Candace Bushnell and Sophie Kinsella tried to create a the genre over the last couple of years. Thankfully it died a quick (and hopefully painful) death. Reasons for lad lit’s sudden demise are many. Market numbers point out that men make up a very small number of novel readers (about 20% in the US). Laura Miller, writing......

If the New York Times were John Travolta, they would be in the Look Who's Talking stage of their careers. But, seriously. Let's not go too far with the Ad Hominem Tu Quoque jokes (even though those are the best jokes ever). Instead, let's look at yesterday's "Was Canada Too Good To Be True?" article in THE newspaper of record. With the help of former Ryerson Journalism Ethics Chair Robert Fulford and Super historian......

Speaking last week to the New York Times, Maple Leaf Tie Domi hinted at toppling the current NHLPA and league administration. The Quizno's spokesman doesn't like the way Player's boss Bob Goodenow or NHL commish Gary Bettman have handled the current lock-out situation. But unlike the average TSN talking head, Domers went so far as to suggest that the two administrators be replaced. (This is a better alternative to replacing players, although Mr. Domi could......

This week's weeklies point us to few concerts of musical and cultural import, namely, the Over The Top Fest. Torontoist would just like to emphasize this: The music kicks off tonight with found-sound bad boys The Books at the Abbas-Mo (464 Spadina), New York Times favourites Mice Parade at the Poor Alex (296 Brunswick), and By Divine Right headlining at Sneaks (431 College). The rest of the weekend includes MC Paul Barman, Amy Millan, Republic......

You’ve heard it here before.  You’ve read it in the New York Times and Spin magazine and countless other publications.  Montreal is where it’s at and the Arcade Fire is THE Canadian band.  Why even bother to offer an adjective, there’s just too many too choose from.  The critically-and-David Bowie-acclaimed Arcade Fire is “Canada’s most intriguing rock band,” as declared by this week’s Time Magazine’s Canadian Edition, on newsstands now. Laura Blue and Hugh Porter......

Fashionistas, thrifters and all-around shopping enthusiasts came together at the Toronto Vintage Clothing and Textile Show on Saturday in pursuit of that one, or two, or three great find(s).  The show was held at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse in downtown Toronto for its first 12 years, then moved to Edwards Gardens last year, and this year found itself in the CBC Broadcast Centre.  The large atrium accommodated over twenty of Ontario’s top vintage clothing and......

In Sunday's New York Times Fashion Mag, Brûlé gets all up in the teased hair and shoulder pads of the modern newscaster. Fashion travesties all of them, he cries from the pages of that glossy redesign! Brûlé gets all sorts of deep in his wishlist of an article about what the people delivering the news oughta be getting delivered to their closets. To wit: "For two-way satellite interviews from economic summits in Latin America, there'd......

Quite a kafuffle was made of the "Montreal scene" this past Sunday in the New York Times, so much so that media everywhere are clamoring to keep up with the revelation. But to those in the know, both the Times article and a similar Spin article are somewhat suspect. When Times writer David Carr describes The Dears as goth-pop, fails to identify Nicholas Diamond of the Unicorns or places commas in between the 'yeahs' in......

Mediocrity. Look at the word; let your eyes linger on its stabbing ‘i’ dots and on the sassy, razzing tongue of the ‘y.’ Consider the big, judgemental block of the ‘M’ and let the jeers of the ‘ee’ sounds roll around inside your heads. Come to terms with the inescapable unpleasantness of the word. And then imagine how much more unpleasant your relationship with the word would be were it applied to your new Sunday......