Results tagged “relationships”

What happens when your poor-listener girlfriend forgets that you're backpacking around Europe for two weeks with no access to your mobile phone or the internet?

During labour disputes, anger is the emotion you tend to hear about most. Amid stories of picketers delaying citizens who are dropping off their garbage and protests over dump-site locations, romance seems an unlikely sidebar for those on the frontline of the current city workers’ strike.

Good fences make good neighbours; Rosie DiManno, not so much.

So you're in love. Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before. You've got yourself a girl, or a guy―whatever. You love 'em. But you sure as hell don't wanna buy a diamond ring―haven't you heard of that thing called the recession? Lovers, what are you going to do to let your soulmate (and the rest of the city) know that you're really not cheating on them when you come home late from "overtime"? We've got an idea―lock 'em down, with a heavy-duty padlock. No, no, we here at Torontoist don't encourage spousal abuse; you've got us all wrong. What we're saying is―take a cue from Europe―lock that love down.

Several years ago, Steven May did what any heartbroken, web-savvy individual would do: he blogged. Why throw gravel at your ex-girlfriend's window, or leave groveling "Iloveyou" [sniffle] "Imissyou" [honk] "Canwepleasepleasepleasegetback— tooooo—" [voice crack] "—gether?" messages on her answering machine when you could just as easily get her attention by broadcasting your woes on the web? But May never really intended for his ex-girlfriend (and ex-girlfriend’s friends, and ex-girlfriend’s friends-of-friends) to see his post-breakup blog. Really—he just needed to get a few things off his chest. Although May’s reactions were "virtual," the ramifications of his online grievances were real; he received a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, asking him to stop blogging about their breakup. "She thought it was an invasion of her privacy," says May, "even though I never used her name, or posted her photo. But a friend of hers had directed her to something I’d written online, and she asked me to stop."

Because in time for the Canadian edition of his book Who's Your City, the Toronto-based Florida ranked the best places in the country to live for certain demographics: singles (aged 20–29), mid-career professionals (29–44), "empty-nesters" (45–64), and families with children. The ten cities leading the way for "singles"? Calgary, Iqaluit, Ottawa-Gatineau, Victoria, Yellowknife, Edmonton, Guelph, Canmore, Whitehorse, and Montreal. Toronto finds itself at the top of the list for "empty-nesters" and right by the top for "families with children"; According to Florida's rankings, you're seemingly best off living in Calgary after you graduate from university, marrying, moving to Ottawa-Gatineau, having kids there, moving to Toronto when the kids leave for university, and then moving on back to Ottawa-Gatineau once your career ends. Sounds great.

The culprit behind the printed posters above—spotted around downtown late last week, many of them now gone—is as of yet unclear, but if we had to hazard a guess we'd say that it's a young man, aged 18–23, who is often met with rejection, rudeness and indifference, especially in places intended for meeting the opposite sex such as clubs, bars and online dating sites; who is unable to find a girlfriend; and who has a very very strange idea about what "mistreated" means.

As if one wasn't already far too many, there's a new Dimitri the Lover in town.

Photo by cl-s from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Cheap Thrills is a new bi-weekly column filling you in on fresh ways to get your kicks in the city and on the cheap.

The legions of cyber Romeos and Juliets who are slaves to Craigslist's Missed Connections in the hopes of being wooed by a mystery someone can now declare their insta-infatuation via text message with MobileMoment.ca. The Toronto-based website, which had its soft launch Wednesday, hasn’t seen much action yet, but we’re pretty sure that the ability to gush about The Elevator Hottie or The Cute Cashier to all of Toronto in the hopes of scoring a date will take off quickly with the texting crowd.

Lose the flab, attract a partner. Too honest? Too vain? Then Fit2SpeedDate is not for you. The latest joint venture from workout behemoth Extreme Fitness and FastLife.ca combines circuit training with speed dating. We know, it's hard to believe, but the press materials promise the opportunity to "connect with the opposite sex through friendly endurance competitions, strength challenges, and partner assisted stretches." What could be more entrancing than watching your well-coiffed companion start to wilt under the weight of her barbells, or scrunching your nose as even the most liberally applied cologne fails to mask the scent of exertion?

You know, that unspeakably grotesque misgonyist (né James Sears) who lost his medical license after being convicted of sexually assaulting female patients? Who—after creating the persona of Dimitri the Lover—founded Toronto Real Men, an organization that teaches courses titled stuff like "Worship the Cock" and that is thus obviously unaware that Magnolia was not an instruction manual?

Amid all the cute overloading our recent Internet history, all the LOLcatz and YouTube Charlies, we began to feel that something very important was missing. We just couldn't figure out what it was. Did we need more plush? More anime? More stuff on our cats?

Overheard by reader Tammy Yiu on the southbound Spadina streetcar last Thursday morning.

What's better than sex? Maybe writing about sex. Sex and Our City is a special week-long series that looks for questions and answers about love and sex in our city.

What's better than sex? Maybe writing about sex. Sex and Our City is a special week-long series that looks for questions and answers about love and sex in our city.

In the barter section of Craigslist's Toronto classifieds, some people are content to trade a small pot of "slowly cooling American fiddleheads, marinating in Gay Lea salted butter" for one or two "nice rounded goblets" of Stella.

What's better than sex? Maybe writing about sex. Sex and Our City is a special week-long series that looks for questions and answers about love and sex in our city.

What's better than sex? Maybe writing about sex. Sex and Our City is a special week-long series that looks for questions and answers about love and sex in our city.

Forget Harlequin––the results from NOW's massive love and sex survey are now out.

Canada's first same-sex marriage was performed here, and according to 2006 census data released today, nearly a quarter of same-sex common law couples in Toronto have officially tied the knot. Strangely enough, hetero marriages haven't crumbled en masse since the unions became legal country-wide in 2005, nor have people started lobbying to marry their pets. Someone should tell the Americans.

It's not entirely clear how or when R. Kelly's hip-hop opera "Trapped in the Closet" became a Zeitgeist. Part music video, part soap opera, it—while verging on self-parody throughout—has spawned parodies by everyone from South Park (which used it to make fun of Tom Cruise and John Travolta, among others) to Weird Al (who used it to make fun of fast food. Oh Weird Al!). What is clear is why it's been embraced by seemingly everyone in the entire universe: it's simultaneously the greatest and most confusing thing that any mainstream rap artist, nay, any musician, has ever done.

For some of us, Tuesdays can only mean one thing. Yes, "Family and Relationships" day over at Globe Life, the Globe's lifestyle section that was introduced in the April redesign. But it seems like they’re having some trouble finding material, because yesterday’s Globe Life section featured not one, but two pieces on what to do when you accidentally offend a colleague, either by mistakenly hitting "Reply" instead of "Forward" (à la Aileen Siu), or by talking shmack about a co-worker’s Scientology beliefs while he’s standing right behind you. Besides the fact that these are essentially the same article, shouldn’t they be filed under "Workplace," which is Monday’s theme?

Pity sex may have gotten some of us through university, but Loree Erickson, a York University PhD candidate and photographer/filmmaker, is determined that it’s not a phrase which should be associated with the disabled.

Photo of Post Porn Modernists Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens by Julian Cash.

It's a familiar story:

Spring is in the air. Can you feel the love? Apparently while in town this past weekend for a speaking engagement at The Learning Annex Real Estate and Wealth Expo, The Donald also found time to take his message to the streets. Apparently the beef with Rosie is finished and The Donald has developed a new affinity for this star of The View. What a big softie! Find more here, and see some more pics after the fold.