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Thursday, August 11, 2011

New Sonic Boom record store opens in Kensington

Published on blogTO | shared via feedly

Sonic Boom Kensington While Sonic Boom will be making way for a Dollarama soon as Bloor and Bathurst, the Annex move didn't stall their plans to open a second store on Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market. Gone is the usual assortment of CDs and in their place are shelves of vinyl, cassettes, books and T-Shirts.

Find out more in my profile of Sonic Boom (Kensington Market)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Should Toronto outlaw panhandling?

Published on blogTO | shared via feedly

Toronto outlaw Panhandling In article entitled "How Rob Ford could improve T.O." the Toronto Sun suggests that Mayor Rob Ford consider a ban on panhandling, doing away with the mandatory plastic bag fee, and implementing a cyclist licensing program. We've already polled readers about the latter two suggestions at one point or another, but what about the first? Is this an idea that makes any sense?

There's little doubt that aggressive panhandlers can pose a nuisance to pedestrians going about their business, but one wonders whether or not the desire to outlaw such an enterprise just misdiagnoses the symptom for the disease. The presence of panhandlers on city streets marks a deeper problem than social awkwardness, and merely banning the activity does little to address the core problem of poverty.

Below is some feedback from our Twitter followers on the Sun's suggestion and an opportunity to vote in a poll on the subject. Given the sentiment of the tweets, the poll is hardly placed in a neutral context, but I wanted a way to keep the question open beyond the initial Twitter call.

@blogTO The safe streets act back in the early 2000s tried to address the same problem. Its only a move to criminalize the poor. Sad times.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Javin
hitok1ri

@blogTO re: outlaw panhandling suggestion->Outlawing panhandling not the answer. We need more programs to get help them homes & jobsless than a minute ago via Seesmic Darla Mittler
DarlaMittler

@blogTO As long as they include those charity solicitors who bug you for credit card donations as you're walking down the street.less than a minute ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry Tim Meehan
yorandomtweeter

Not before they outlaw SunTV. "@blogTO: Recently the Sun suggested that Toronto outlaw panhandling. Thoughts/comments on this idea?"less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Andrew Douglas
allojeandesign

@blogTO Completely support this. Toronto would be a much cleaner city. See Sydney. Didn't see 1 panhandler or homeless person.less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Nick San Juan
thenixonone

@blogTO outlawing panhandling will not solve anything. Toronto still needs to help these people get off the streets instead of fining themless than a minute ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry Steven Iserhoff
SteveAndI

@blogTO Outlawing panhandling is just another cost to keep a simple "nuisance" away & will = more crime. Better used in social programs.less than a minute ago via web Trish Starling
t__star

@blogTO Why doesn't the Toronto Sun support jailing all homeless and hungry people? They scare me when I go to Starbucks. #cdnpoli #torontoless than a minute ago via web Simon King
simonkinglaw

@blogTO I guess another more step towards police state is ONE way to handle the poverty problem.less than a minute ago via tGadget Life Post-Shaggy
postshaggy

@blogTO If outlawed, then the city needs to come up with a realistic and solid means of ending poverty.less than a minute ago via web Claire
claireshegoes

@blogTO As far as I can tell...pan handlers are the only people that use the Sun..for bedding & ground-cover since it's unreadable.less than a minute ago via web Erik R. Adler
EstonianaJones

@blogTO I've been suggesting a panhandling district on Toronto Island for years.less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac tapesonthefloor
tapesonthefloor

Hope they're ready to fund homeless shelters RT @blogTO: Recently the Sun suggested that Toronto outlaw panhandling. Thoughts/comments?less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Jill Krajewski
JillKrajewski

POLL

Should Toronto outlaw panhandling?

Photo by Spirited_Away in the blogTO Flickr pool

ABC Developing "Lincoln Lawyer" TV Series

Published on Dark Horizons - General Feed | shared via feedly

ABC has ordered a pilot script for a proposed drama series based on "The Lincoln Lawyer" and its lead character - charismatic defense attorney Mickey Haller reports Variety.

Michael Connelly has written five novels about the character, the first being 'Lawyer' which was adapted into a film which opened earlier this year. Matthew McConaughey played the role in the film which grossed a solid $85 million worldwide and scored quite strong reviews.

Now, Connelly and that film's script writer John Romano are teaming to pen the pilot for the procedural series which will tackle a case per week with Haller operating out of his Lincoln Town Car.

No-one is yet signed for the role or for other key characters such as his ex-wife and legal prosecutor Margaret McPherson, his daughter, his driver Earl and his investigator Levin.

Most of Connelly's novels focus on Haller's half-brother - Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It wouldn't be a surprise if 'Lincoln' is a success, Bosch could be introduced and spun-off into his own series.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Toronto through the lens of Tong Lam

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Tong Lam Toronto is a hub of photography. In addition to being one of the most photographed cities in the world, some of the best professional and amateur photographers out there can be found roaming our streets with camera in hand. To keep tabs on all this local talent, every Saturday we feature the work of a Toronto-based photographer in our series "Toronto through the lens of."

This week I chatted with Tong Lam.

What is your day job?

I'm a professor doing research on historical and urban issues.

How long have you been taking photographs and what made you want to pick up the camera in the first place?

When I was a kid, I spent lots of time learning painting and drawing, but I gave all that up when I was a teenager. Then, in the 1990s, I took several courses on black and white photography and was completely hooked. Somehow, my earlier artistic training came back to haunt me. I particularly enjoyed the experience of being in a darkroom. All these changed, however, in 2004 when I bought a Nikon D70, which was marketed as the first affordable DSLR. I still preferred the old fashion way of developing and printing photos, but DSLRs allow me to continue to shoot. At any rate, I didn't really become a serious photographer until just about two years ago.

What are your favorite places to shoot in Toronto?

Toronto is a wonderful city for street photography. Unfortunately, I don't have too much time to wandering around the city these days. So, my condo in the downtown core becomes one of my favorite spots to experience and observe the city. I'm often amazed by how complexed images and stories of the city--from urban spectacle to urban alienation--reveal themselves in the stream of time and in the ever changing light.

photographer, profile, Tong Lam

I know you're an avid traveler, how do you think traveling has shaped your photo style?

I travel a lot of because of my work: research, conferences, talks and so on. However, I do not like travel photography, at least not the conventional type. Yet, when you are traveling in a foreign country, it is impossible to not to engage the obvious question of sameness and difference. So, the real challenge for me is to avoid depicting peoples and places as strange and exotic so that they may become incomprehensible. That said, being an outsider definitely allows me to put things in perspectives, and those perspectives help me to select what is important and what is not.

photographer, profile, Tong Lam

What is your favorite subject matter(s)? Why?

At the moment, I'm particularly interested in industrial and post-industrial abandonment and ruins. I'm also interested in photographing contemporary China, especially the pace, magnitude, and contradictions of its hysterical transformation. In a sense, both topics are related to my work.

There is something special about shooting in an abandoned site at night, whether that is a ghost town in the high desert of the southwestern US or an abandoned airfield in England. The experience of just being there at night is incredibly refreshing and stimulating, and since shooting at these locations requires good intelligence and social engineering, I often need to link up with local photographers and artists.

What is your favorite piece of equipment in your camera bag at the moment?

My Nikon 18-200mm VRII, which allows me to handle a variety of situation. I wish I could shoot in a full frame camera with prime lenses. However, due to the way I travel, it is simply not practical for me to carry so many lenses.

photographer, profile, Tong Lam Previously in the series:

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Event Preview: Toronto’s Festival of Beer & Queer Beer Festival

Published on Taste T.O. - Food & Drink In Toronto | shared via feedly

There may be no shortage of beer festivals and events in Toronto nowadays, but it wasn’t too long ago that Toronto’s Festival of Beer was the city’s only major outdoor beer event of the year. Held for many years at Historic Fort York, the Festival moved in 2009 to Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place, which is where the 17th annual edition will be taking place later this week.

While it had developed a reputation of being an aggressively rowdy and drunken swillfest in the latter years at Fort York, both the atmosphere and the quality of the Festival have improved considerably since the venue switch. President Les Murray has worked hard to increase the representation of craft breweries at the event, and while the large breweries are still there, a large section right in the centre of the grounds is dubbed “The Local,” and features exclusively members of the Ontario Craft Brewers, including Flying Monkeys, Great Lakes, Nickel Brook, Wellington and many others. New this year is “The Mash-Up,” a booth serving four exclusive beers created collaboratively by eight different OCB breweries.

To accompany the more than 120 beers and other beverages being poured at the Festival, there will be a wide array of booze-absorbing eats available from vendors including Caplansky’s Deli, The Real Jerk, La Poutine Machine and Oyster Boy, plus a Grilling Tent featuring demos by Ted Reader, Rob Rainford, Tawfik Shehata, Mark Cutrara and other local chefs. On the entertainment side of things, there will be live music happening throughout the Festival, with acts including Dragonette, The Midway State, Danny Michel, The Trews and The Sheepdogs.

The most notable thing about this year’s Festival, though, is the rebranding of the Thursday evening session into its own distinct event: The 1st annual Queer Beer Festival. As the name suggests, this is an event aimed towards the LGBT community, believed to be the first of its kind in North America. The beer and food booths will be the same as those appearing at the main Festival, while the Bandshell stage will play host to the gay-friendly sounds of Ace of Base, with support from Hunter Valentine, Lucas Silveira from The Cliks, and emcee Maggie Cassella.

The Queer Beer Festival takes place on Thursday August 4th, followed by 17th annual Toronto’s Festival of Beer on Friday August 5th to Sunday August 7th. Tickets are $38.50 for each day, or $48.50 for a “hoptimized” ticket that allows for early access and extra sample tokens. Full details including times, vendor lists and ticket ordering options can be found on the event websites, beerfestival.ca and queerbeerfestival.ca.

Photo from Toronto’s Festival of Beer website

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Vote To Bring ‘Attack The Block’ To Your City

Published on /Film | shared via feedly

After months of building buzz with free screenings, online clips and giveaways, Attack the Block finally opened this weekend on eight screens to a very healthy $17,200 per screen average, making it the highest grossing of the new, limited release films. (It lost the highest per screen average of new limited releases to Miranda July’s The Future which made $27,000 on one screen). The awesome sci-fi adventure film will obviously continue to play in those cities and is schedule to expand on August 19 to Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas and Washington, D.C.

One additional city will also get the film on August 19 but which one is up to the fans. If you live in Philadelphia, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Cleveland or Minneapolis find out how you can cast your vote to get Attack the Block in your town after the break.

Fans in the aforementioned cities should head over to Facebook.com/AttackTheBlockMovie, Like it and then vote for their city. Which ever city has the most votes come this Friday, August 5^th at 12 pm PST will get the film in their city on August 19.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past five months, Attack the Block is a sci-fi action comedy written and directed by Joe Cornish. It’s about a group of teenagers in South London who find themselves smack in the middle of an alien invasion. Great characters, incredible music, exciting action and awesome effects are just part of what makes Attack the Block so special and, almost across the board, people who have seen the movie seem to love it. If you really want to bring the film to your city, and you live in Philadelphia, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Cleveland or Minneapolis, you should vote.

Hell, even if you don’t live in one of the above cities you should vote. The more people who see this film in all the cities will allow it to open wider and wider. Trust us, you want that to happen.