One of the highlights of spring in Toronto, High Park's cherry trees are blossoming. The trees, donated to the city by the citizens of Tokyo, are located in a sloping grove near Grenadier Pond and are a wonderful sight at this time of year. The trees are approximately 80% in bloom at the moment, making this weekend the perfect time to visit, as long as heavy rain doesn't destroy these delicate flowers. See the......

Photo by Word Freak. Water, it would appear as of late, is most oft discussed within the realms of the environmental and the geopolitical; and rightfully so. Landfills, drought, and container concerns aside, we, weak humanoids that we are, still need to stay hydrated, and if we're not at home, we often buy the bottled stuff. We here at Torontoist figured, well, you might as well know which one to go for.......

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com. Spring is here, and I want to get started on building a garden on my third-storey deck. It's only 8-by-8 feet and faces south, so it has direct sunlight for, like, 20 hours a day. Last summer, everything I tried growing either burnt in the hot summer sun or was dug up by squirrels. Do you have any tips......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. fade to blue BY GARDINERGIRL......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Crabapple tree BY J.T.R.......

Now that Spring is officially here, we can retrospectively name Winter 2007–2008 "The Winter of the Pothole." As the snow dunes melt, an ever-growing number of colossal crevices are appearing on the city streets and highways. City crews are working overtime to patch up the damage, but Toronto already spent $1.3 million of its $4 million annual pothole budget by early March. Yikes. So when are they going to deal with that crater in......

Can’t get to Florida for Spring Break this year? Don’t fret, for with a few accessories, you can enjoy a Florida vacation in the comfort of your Toronto home. Sun, sea and surf are the essential elements. Add some Jimmy Buffet and break out the Coors Light—you’re on vacation! Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Get your wellies ready because March is here and the end of winter is just around the corner. Puddles will be plentiful as Toronto defrosts after what may be a record-breaking season for snowfall. Hang in there folks—the first day of spring is March 20th. Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Every day this week, Torontoist is exploring the future of repertory cinema in Toronto. We spoke to the theatre managers of four major rep cinemas to hear if rep cinema is dying, what it's like to exist in a YouTube society, and what original programming has them most excited. Today, we look at the model used by Cinematheque Ontario. Cinematheque Ontario, the screening program run by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, is not a......

The Spice Girls are done––Geri Halliwell stuck the final nail in their room-for-five coffin last week when she told reporters that a tour like the one they're on now "probably won't happen ever again." Which means that the concert on February 26 in Toronto will be the band's last ever, maybe! While Baby and Sporty and Scary and Ginger will probably all continue on with their half-successful solo careers, Victoria Beckham––Posh––will continue doing what......

If you're like us (and, God willing, you’re not), then you're utterly exasperated by the ongoing steroid scandal in Major League Baseball. You're puzzled that the United States Congress has nothing better to do than to interrogate multimillionaire athletes who might've used performance-enhancing drugs. Moreover, you're wondering why, this past Wednesday morning, no fewer than three Canadian sports networks were showing live coverage of the Roger Clemens hearing. Is it really that important? Regardless,......

Calling all local dance floor heroes and heroines! Hearts are ga-gunking to the clocks, which countdown to a night of pure electro-bliss. This Saturday night, Kensington Market’s Teranga (159 Augusta Avenue) will play host to Woodhands, Bocce, Opopo, and Green Go for what will undoubtedly be the sweatiest night of your lives. Too generous? No! With a lineup like Saturday’s, you'll definitely need to bring a second set of clothes. Woodhands is fronted by keytar......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. What's so great about Jet Fuel Coffee Shop (519 Parliament Street)? It may be a favourite for Cabbagetown residents,......

Left: Lite-Brite satin at Nada Yousif; right: rainbow-striped dress, also Nada Yousif. The last day of Fashion Week's Spring 2008 collections brought the first taste of summer fashion (unless you count swimwear as fashion, which you shouldn't). Twenty-three-year-old designer Nada Yousif made her runway debut with a collection so full of candy colours (cherry, grape, orange, sour blue raspberry) that it made the phrase "bright young talent" too easy a pun. Yousif played with......

Out of respect for the funeral of Richard Bradshaw, the Toronto International Film Festival Group chose not to hold their traditional big final press conference in Nathan Phillips Square yesterday, and so with slightly less fanfare than usual we received a massive lump of press releases from the Festival announcing that they’ve announced absolutely everything about the festival there is to announce, pretty much. So what does that entail? Well, in the 32nd Toronto International......

Every two weeks, Torontoist looks to fill up all the square feet in your abode. Eschewing the IKEA catalogue, delve into the unique design shops, interesting sales, and easy do-it-yourself projects that can be found scattered throughout Toronto. The green bin program has been met with little resistance as one of the better initiatives the city has taken on to divert a greater percentage of waste from landfills. Since many of the residents of Toronto......

OpenCities was a weekend-long unconference that took place on the 23rd and 24th of June. Many excellent conversations came out of the weekend, and this is one of them. You can read notes from the rest at OpenCities.ca. The late Jane Jacobs asserted that a great public space should attract different people for different reasons at different times of day. Why, then, have we forgotten the last part in our planning—and our thinking? Torontoist......

Spring launch season slows this week, but finishes strongly with new poetry collections by national treasures bill bissett and David McFadden. Tomorrow night, help David celebrate his Selected Poems: Why Are You So Sad?, edited and introduced by Stuart Ross. Here’s Stuart, from the intro: "David's poetry, like David, is social. It's interested in people, and in trees, squirrels, dogs, and oceans. It's also social in that it wants to be read, and it......

Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington market, more commonly known as P.S.Kensington, kicks off its fourth year this Sunday, May 27th. Several streets will be closed to vehicular traffic, allowing pedestrians to celebrate the community, culture, and ecology of this great neighbourhood. This Sunday’s grand opening celebrates Spring, which will include several food demonstrations, piñatas for the kids, and a maypole for the adults. There will also be a community debate about wi-fi and its effects on......

Get on over to the east end tonight for Exile Editions' Spring Reading. New books will bloom this eve, and others will be ripe for picking throughout spring and summer. Exile Editorial Board Member Chris Doda gives us the layout for tonight’s garden of authors: Priscila Uppal's Ontological Necessities, her fifth book of poetry with Exile, has been shortlisted for the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize. It deals predominantly with the absurdity of the 21st century......

The Leslie Street Spit is a man-made stretch of land that juts into Lake Ontario. A good chunk of it was built from the debris of old bank buildings that had been razed to make way for projects like the Toronto Dominion Centre in the 1970s. The Leslie Spit is also the breeding ground for all kinds of migratory songbirds. It's like our feathered friends are dancing on the graves of the structures they......

For over forty years, Toronto’s Coach House Books has consistently offered stellar choices in all things literature. With a catalogue that includes writers such as Anne Michaels, Di Brandt, Steve McCaffery, Michael Ondaatje and bpNichol, one can't go wrong by supporting this local press. This season’s list of new releases continues the tradition of awesomeness. Tonight, Coach House will launch their five spring titles with a party and reading from all five authors. The new......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

Are you hungry? Not "man, I could go for an Oh! Henry" hungry, or "that chow mein was good but I should have ordered some chicken balls" hungry, but "another three cents and I can get a loaf of bread this week" hungry. If you’re reading this, chances are you don’t fall into the latter category, but many people in Toronto do. In fact, according to the publication Who's Hungry [PDF], a staggering 1 in......

Spring has finally sprung in a big way, just in time for Earth Day. Tomorrow, why not try something new, while also doing your part to help save the planet? Number three on the “Top 10 Actions” to help the environment on the Earth Day Canada website is try eating meat-free at least one day a week. The reason according to them is this: a meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based......

Shameless, the Toronto-based publication "for girls who get it," has made a name for itself as an inclusive, progressive alternative to mainstream girls’ publications, where the dominant message is one of surface over depth. Staffed by volunteers, Shameless’ mandate is to give voice to a diverse group otherwise characterized as singularly boy and diet-crazy. This Saturday, Shameless will be launching its latest issue and welcoming a new editorial team with a party friendly to all......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Spring is a time of renewal and rejuvenation. A time of change and new things. It makes sense that spring marks the start of the complementary health trade show circuit, with virtually every weekend promising another venue in which people can explore and learn. Some shows are a bit too “wacky” for some, but a few manage to tread close enough to the mainstream to attract a broad audience. These shows have exhibitors and lecturers......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyway, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In other......

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......