Extra, Extra: Figuring Out Ford, Following After Atwood

By Meg Campbell

Every weekday’s end, Extra, Extra collects just about everything you ought to care about or ought not miss.

• Rob Ford’s CP24 interview with Stephen LeDrew last Friday raised many an eyebrow amongst City Hall watchers. Edward Keenan did some lightning-fast fact-checking for the Grid, and over the weekend Ford For Toronto writer (and Torontoist guest contributor) Matt Elliott put together his own debunking analysis of the interview. Elliott recommends people see the full interview before watching his edited version (above).
• Margaret Atwood apparently has an Oprah-like influence over her legion of followers. When she tweeted about the petition to protect Toronto’s libraries, hosted on the Our Public Library website, so many people flocked to sign it on Friday evening that the server was overwhelmed and the site was inaccessible for about 30 minutes. It was a small price to pay for a big boost of publicity; the petition now has more than 22,000 signatures.
• Did you know Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) was once a Timothy’s World Coffee franchise owner? Or that in 2008, long before she ran for council, after Rob Ford made an offensive comment about Asian people’s work ethic she publicly demanded an apology and organized a “sleep-in” protest outside his office? She’s a rising star on council, and she really opens up in this interview with Toronto Standard.
• Something for the aspiring film-buff photographers out there: The TIFF Bell Lightbox and Lomography Canada are behind a Fellini-inspired photo contest, based on the theme of “paparazzi.” The Lightbox, which is currently hosting a Fellini exhibit, will display the best Lomograph, and the winning photographer gets credits for TIFF’s online shop. The deadline, July 31, is fast approaching, so interested photogs had better get snapping.
• The world was watching Norway this weekend, and here at home Norwegians and sympathetic Torontonians gathered at Little Norway Park to mourn Friday’s events in Oslo and on the nearby Utoya Island. The vigil was organized via Twitter by Himy Syed.

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