Results tagged “strike”

Hunger—which we caught at TIFF and again at the European Film Festival—is perhaps the most tactile movie we have ever seen. The impressionistic docudrama chronicling the prison hunger strike by IRA soldier Bobby Sands and the conditions leading up to his decision to take such extreme action, is all about the body and the things that go into, come out of, and are done to it. The film, the feature debut by British artist Steve McQueen (not that one), thoroughly deglamourizes the notion of deliberately starving oneself, by forcing you to confront the physical consequences of the act; it does for this method of suicide what 2:37 did for wrist cutting.

So Bob Kinnear successfully negotiates a contract for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113. The transit-using public breathes a sigh of relief, believing the threat of a transit strike to be past. A few days later, the union membership rejects the contract and surprises everyone by striking later that night. Sound familiar? Sure it does, but this time it's York Region's Viva instead of the TTC. Kinnear seems to be making a career of negotiating contracts that his members don't like. He did learn one thing from this spring's TTC strike debacle: Viva operators will be walking off the job at 4 a.m. instead of at the stroke of midnight. Get home while you can, kids.

TTC union reps walked away from the bargaining table yesterday, meaning you could be walking to work as early as next Tuesday. Much like everyone else on the planet, the union is looking for more money and better benefits, but unlike everybody else on the planet, they can force the city into shutdown if they don't get it. As Clint Eastwood famously said in Unforgiven, "Deserves got nothin' to do with it."

Plagued by complaints, the City of Toronto has finally gotten around to ticketing some homeowners who don't clear the snow in front of their property. A city spokesperson said they prefer not to send out inspectors in the winter because it's so difficult to get around.

Some musicians are professional wallowers. Others are professional romantics. And still others are professional fun-havers. Both Toronto's Spiral Beach and Brighton's The Go! Team fall into that last category—performers who embrace the sheer joy of performing. But more than that, they are young, talented, and famous, they know they are young, talented, and famous, and they're grateful for being young, talented and famous. Although Beach's Maddy Wilde and the Team's Ninja may strike diva...

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got.

Buzz about the Seventh Annual Griffin Poetry Prize began when its 2007 judges were announced last November. Anticipation grew when the shortlist was unveiled two months ago, and on June 5th, the nominated poets performed for an enthusiastic sold-out crowd at The Macmillan Theatre.

Only three days left in the 17th Annual Inside Out Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival! Last night, Eleven Men Out screened at the Bader; an Icelandic comedy with a reasonably original premise: a soccer player named Ottar being interviewed by a reporter in the locker room after a game while the rest of his team is changing decides, for the benefit of appearing on the magazine's cover, to come out of the closet at that exact moment. As a result, he is thrown off the team and becomes the pariah of his family, including an alkie former-Miss Iceland ex-wife, a biggoted soccer-exec father, a video-store managing brother with a penchant for shemale pornography and a moody tweenage son who would rather play Counter-Strike than have a conversation with his father.

Past Griffin Award recipient Christian Bök once stated, "The Griffin is the poetry award that can drastically change a poet’s life." Christian isn't exaggerating: the $100,000 prize, shared by two winners, is one of the largest poetry awards in the world. In a 2000 speech, Scott Griffin, founder of The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, explained, "the poetry prize had to be of sufficient size to make a statement that declared that poets and poetry are just as important as novelists and their works."

Torontoist would like to take a moment to wish all of our readers a very happy Festivus.

C'mon admit it. You secretly still love plush toys. They're cute, fuzzy, lovable and if they're creations from the Monster Factory then you know they've got a design sense and quirkiness that makes them stand out.

cover story.

Fears of Garbage Strike, Part Deux are rising precipitously as Friday's deadline looms. It's hard to say how things are proceeding at the secret talks, negotiated on behalf of 6,000 employees, but one thing is clear - both Miller and Union President Brian Cochrane go in for the descriptive language. Herewith, a scene of near-Mametian dialogue, comprised of the men's very own words:

Proper names are perhaps the most arbitrary labels in the animal kingdom. What criteria are available to name a baby too young to lend itself to any endearing nicknames? The Toronto Zoo is well well aware of this, and needs our help with baby names. They have a young gorilla (pictured -->) that must be addressed as something besides, "Hey You!" or "Monkey Boy." They, however, are not so open to give free reign in the naming process; it must start with the letter 'S.' So, we got to thinking: Sssstinky? Stollerys? Scotiabank? Strongbow?

And the sexy bowling trend is a sociological marvel to behold. Gone is the Lebowskian shlubbery, the greasy tater tots, and the gangs of former high school friends who still get together, with increasing awkwardness, to crack old jokes and reminisce about gym class. Nope, sexy bowling means hosted bars, hors d'oeurves, and lane fees that rival the GDP's of small island nations (at least at Bowlmor). But Lucky Strike is here, for good times and gutter balls. Bring your own tots.

It's a very Sakamoto of us to put a cover song in this week's mixtape, but it's a nice cover and the two bands seem to be the subject of a lot of talk lately. Don't worry though; we'll stay away from any of those Strokes/Chingy mash-ups that Sakamoto likes so much.