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Torontoist’s Top Posts in 2006
Who likes lists? Everybody! As we creep up on the new year, we thought we’d reflect on a few of our more popular (and our more controversial) posts of the past twelve months. Thanks to our revamped Favourites page, it’s a little easier. If nothing else, this post will give you some reading material to glance over while you’re busy getting spiffy for this fine evening.
1. Our TTC Swag Suggestions (144 comments, October 2nd). When we discovered how shitty the TTC’s swag was, we decided to create some of our own. And everybody went nuts! (Available for purchase one day soon, we swear!)
2. Tall Poppy Interview: Lukas Rossi, Rock Star:Supernova (120 comments, August 2nd). This is what you get when you’re the top Google result for Lukas Rossi’s name misspelled (“Lucas Rossi”) and near the top for the correct spelling — you get lots of comments that range from distressing (“I want to jump his bones till I have hip displasure”) to laughable (“I WAS LIKE SERIOUSLY MEMRISED BY YOUR VOICE”) to kinda depressing (“I am a 57 year old from Ohio. Igrew up loving John Lennon. Since his death not one rock star has touched my life until Lukas”). Lukas Rossi was Torontoist’s golden boy this year, and, say what you will about him, the man does do one hell of an interview; he was, after all, getting tattooed as we spoke to him.
3. The Torontoist Cover Song Catalogue (111 comments, November 27th). A huge collection of awesome and not-so-awesome cover songs by local and not-so-local musicians that found a huge worldwide audience through the magic of the internet. Now our most-trafficked article ever, the comment thread is still going strong, with new suggestions in the comments added daily.
4. When Motorists Attack: Road Rage in the Market (72 comments, January 27th). A Kensington Market fight — cyclist vs. motorist — that quickly made its way to the cover of The Star and placed some of the city squarely into opposing camps; those who love biking and hate motorists, and those who hate bikers and drive. Those who hate both bikers and drivers, however, just laughed from the sidelines.
5. k-os Alleges Racism Over Album Review (61 comments, October 10th). After NOW’s Jason Richards gives local hip-hop idiot savant k-os’s latest album only three stars, k-os totally flips out and tells Richards to “eat a dick.” NOW draws the battle out, wins handily; no dick-eating ensues.
And, just because, here are the five most controversial posts (excluding those above), the ones that really pissed you off or delighted you — or, at the least, engaged commenters to argue back and forth. We’ve also included a few incredibly oversimplified things that we learned from them.
1. SEAL CLUB SANDWICH (56 comments, April 11th).
People don’t like it if you joke about the seal hunt, but people definitely want to talk about the seal hunt.
2. Hey Absolut, Stop Hijacking Our Sidewalks (54 comments, August 30th).
Public advertising is a complicated matter, especially when it involves hiring talented local artists to do it.
2. Concerning “I LOVE TORONTO, DAMMMIT!” (54 comments, September 26th).
People really don’t like it when you insult someone who loves Toronto.
4. The Toronto Port Authority Must Be Stopped (53 comments, September 27th).
There’s some divisiveness on the whole “Island Airport” issue.
5. Arrrrggggggghhhhhhhh! (50 comments, June 7th).
We need to start fights with unattractive Hummer owners parked in a disabled parking spot without a license plate or appropriate tags — instead of just writing about it.
Happy New Year! And hey, if any lurkers want to make commenting on Torontoist a new year’s resolution, we’d be totally cool with that.