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Newsstand: May 15, 2010
Illustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
Good news for those of you seeking a new venue for TIFF celebrity-stalking. At least one, and possibly as many as three, of the five theatres in the new TIFF Bell Lightbox facility will be ready to screen by the opening of the Festival on September 12. The new building is located where the Theatre District meets the Entertainment DIstrict, at the corner of Mamma Mia and Jersey Shore King and Peter Streets.
Parents whose children attend daycare within the G20 summit security zone are being advised to keep the tots at home on the Friday and Monday which bracket the meetings on June 25 and 26, as police say that the intense security and expected crowds of protesters will make it difficult to bring kids into the area. An exception will be made for children who are themselves dignitaries, and will be chauffeured into the zone in tiny limousines and guarded by dwarf police riding Shetland ponies.
Smile, everybody! In other summit news, international politicos headed for Toronto will sleep sounder in their king-sized world leader beds, snug in the knowledge that police will be installing additional CCTV cameras downtown for the G20 period. A news release says that security officials are cognizant of privacy concerns, and that new cameras will be identified with signs announcing their presence and removed following the meetings.
A happy ending to the story of the Winnipeg woman who had her laptop stolen from a Toronto cancer hospice, along with 1,600 pictures of her daughter who died of cancer in March. The laptop was recovered, but the hard drive had been erased and it was uncertain whether Teresa Solta’s photos could be salvaged. However, data recovery experts have now been able to retrieve the pictures. A suspect has been arrested in this uncommonly despicable crime.
If you’re thinking of heading into the city from the western burbs this weekend, you’ll want to consider GO Transit. Toronto’s summer traffic mayhem season officially kicks of this weekend, with the Gardiner Expressway closed for maintenance from Saturday morning at 2 a.m. until Monday morning at 5 a.m. It’s a little-known fact that vehicles and their drivers found on the road at the time that it’s closed actually become the property of the crown, and are used as pawns on a giant chess board hidden deep in the bowels of Queen’s Park. That’s what we heard, anyway.
Possible mayoral frontrunner George Smitherman won’t be be participating in the first televised candidate’s debate on May 18, citing family obligations. As a result, City TV is reportedly reassessing their “Better than UFC” promotional campaign.
And headline of the week, from the Star: “Naked mole rats: key to human sexuality?” Hey, to each their own.