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Populist: May 26–June 1
We publish a lot of articles on Torontoist, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up. Populist is a weekly recap, appearing every Sunday night, that features some of the coolest, most interesting, most commented, and most recommended posts from our past week.
First things first: this week, Torontoist unveiled a new format for correcting our mistakes. Any significant corrections or clarifications will be made as quickly as possible, and a note acknowledging them will appended to the foot of a post. You can read more about the change and the reasons for it here.
- David Topping wrote about several hundred cyclists from Critical Mass spontaneously taking to (and taking over) the westbound Gardiner on Friday night (this week’s most recommended and commented-on post), and Pac-Men made by Posterchild and Teeth taking to (and taking over) streetcar shelters. Is nowhere safe?
- Jonathan Goldsbie covered some stinging graffiti on Fauxreel’s latest piece. The illegal vandalism on top of an illegal piece was a response to Fauxreel being commissioned by Vespa for illegal ads masquerading as illegal street art. Yeah.
- Miles Storey photographed the first Pedestrian Sunday of the year in Kensington Market.
- Robin Rix explored whether or not Toronto’s sign by-law is constitutional, in the face of two lawsuits against the City by Titan Outdoor and Strategic Media, two of the biggest players in the signage game.
- Cate Simpson wrote about “Jane”‘s Brand Timeline Portrait, the perfect DIY project for that sliver of the population interested in both branding and chart-making.
- Andrew Pulsifer wrote about Wikipedia’s new #1 contributor: a Torontonian (just like one of its past #1 contributors—Andrew Pulsifer’s brother!)! Our fledgling tourism industry may have just found its golden geese.
- Val Dodge looked at the history of now-dead Indian Line, and the newly-renovated S. Walter Stewart library.
- Patrick Metzger wrote about the Royal York turning off its sign for Energy Awareness Week. The move comes at an important time because now, more than ever, people are totally unaware of energy.
- Catherine Kustanczy wrote about Paul Needler’s rain collectors, larger-sized versions of those things you always tried to make when you were a kid.
- Maneesh Mohindra wrote about the looming Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which would, if enacted, allow border officials to guess if that one Ashlee Simpson song you sort of liked from her first album is on your iPod legally or not.
- Jaime Woo spent a week looking at Sex and Our City. There is apparently some movie out with a similar title?
- Readers’ favourite photo of the past week (by recommends) was Wednesday’s photo of a woman walking through a sliver of sun in the Financial District, by Rick Bogacz Photography.
- In columns this week, there were new editions of Snappy Answers (beards: weird?); Historicist (John Croft); Streeter (recycling, and homeland security); Great Torontoist Challenge (buttter); Who, What, Wear (Urban Outfitters vs. American Apparel); Vintage Toronto Ads (Canada Cycle & Motor Company); Vandalist (crude sex); Tourist (Ait-Benhaddou and the Philippines); Portrait Project (Aron Tager); and Illustration Sunday (dreams of a bicycle expressway).
You can keep track of our most popular posts by checking out Favourites, or browse past Populist posts by visiting its tag.