Extra, Extra: Lawrence Heights Wins an Award; Michael Ondaatje Turns Another One Down

By Hamutal Dotan

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

• We were especially charmed during Nuit Blanche by one video piece installed in the middle of Queen’s Park: The Feast of Trimalchio. Set up on huge screens that surrounded us, the multi-part video blended footage, CGI, and a score to fantastic effect. Turns out the full video loop is online; part one is above, and you can follow that up with parts two and three. Not quite the in-person experience, but still pretty nifty.
• Rob Ford has expressed his reservations about plans for a massive revitalization project at Lawrence Heights, but it definitely has its fans as well. News came yesterday that the Ontario Professional Planners Institute is according the project—which calls for entirely rebuilding the area around Lawrence and Allen Road with a new mixed-use, mixed income community—an Excellence in Planning award. The project has in principle been approved by City Council already; more detailed plans are expected to come up for a vote later this fall.
• Fiction fans may have wondered why, when the Governor General’s awards shortlist was announced yesterday, one name was notable for its absence: Michael Ondaatje, who has a new novel, The Cat’s Table, out this year. Turns out he withdrew his book from consideration because he has won five times already and felt he shouldn’t enter again.
• The weather is cooling, but definitely still well in the comfort zone for even casual cycling. To help riders adjust to the shortening days, the Cyclists Union is setting up stations at select spots and working with several bike shops in town to give away bike lights to riders who are missing some needed illumination. They’ll be out for two more days this month.

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