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Newsstand: October 16, 2009
Who let the dogs out? Toronto’s Parks and Environment Committee, that’s who! The group has decided that dog owners can allow their furry friends to let their freak flag fly south of the snow fence on the Kew, Balmy, and Woodbine beaches between November 1 and March 31. We at Torontoist think it’s an excellent excuse to provide those of you without canine companions with a photo of a shaky wet dog to start your day. You’re welcome.
In literary news, the 2009 Toronto Book Award has been awarded to Austin Clarke for his novel More. Though the fact that this “vivid and powerful portrait of a black woman’s four-day journey as she relives her life in Canada as an immigrant from the West Indies” was written by a man is interesting enough, this tidbit of news may have been more Torontoist-tastic had the winner been shortlisted author Mark Osbaldeston’s Unbuilt Toronto. All told, let’s congratulate Austin for beating out such, ahem, interesting titles as Maggie Helwig’s Girls Fall Down, Anthony De Sa’s Barnacle Love, and Charles Wilkins’s In the Land of Long Fingernails, though any of of those titles has TV-movie gold written all over it through virtue of title alone. (Barnacle Love? Mmm hmm. Hey, even better: Clarke’s previous accomplishments include taking home the 2002 Giller Prize for The Polished Hoe. Draw your own conclusions, folks.)
On the tech side, Apple fanboys may (or may not) have been following the story of a man who wasn’t content with Apple’s assertion that iTunes gift cards were not eligible for app purchases this side of the border “due to Canadian Commerce Laws.” Well, a few phone calls later, a smug Jim Whitelaw was able to tell a harried phone rep at Apple Canada that, indeed, there is no such law. Score one for the little guy, Jim. Except that you just made Apple give you a refund for your gift card instead of changing their policy. Still want Santa to bring you that iPod, kids? Awww yeah.
Finally, though we mentioned this yesterday, Adam Giambrone has gone one step further from batting his eyelashes coyly to stroking his nonexistent beard thoughtfully at the idea of running for mayor (in that the Star is calling it news today instead of the Globe)—though Mammoliti’s plans for a casino and a red-light district are likely to get Monty Burns’s vote. Freemasons rule the country!