For starters, the ad isn't all that effective. Although the switch is neat, even when it's on, the ad’s dark green tones don’t stand out at night, and during the day the text is almost invisible. On Thursday night, Torontoist staked out the sole installation at Empress Avenue and Yonge Street for more than an hour, and we found that most people didn't take notice (with the notable exception of one poor kid who couldn’t reach the switch, above).

The ad also violates two rules that govern Astral Media’s street furniture contract with the City of Toronto. According to Vibrant Streets: Toronto’s Coordinated Street Furniture Program [PDF], "To maintain visibility at night, it is critical that sufficient lighting be incorporated into the interior of transit shelters." In most shelters, the backlighting in the ad cassion (the case the ad sits in) provides the necessary light source. If a shelter doesn’t have a lit ad cassion, then fluorescent lighting fixtures have to be installed. The shelter where Live Green’s ad is installed only has one light source: the ad cassion, and when it’s off, the shelter goes dark. Although this may not seem like a big deal, it puts those who can’t reach the switch, like children or people in wheelchairs, at a disadvantage. The ad’s protruding switch is also a no-no, as the guidelines stipulate that "All advertising must be contained within the amenity; three dimensional advertisements or those that project beyond the structure of the amenity are not permitted."

During the day, the ad is almost unreadable.

We asked Brian Howlett, Agency59’s chief creative officer, about the ad's shortcomings and he told us that in the daytime "It works well enough to be read...That was the first thing we thought of when we came up with it, but lots of great ideas can be killed easily and we’d rather persevere because the reaction we’ve been getting from most people has been really encouraging." He also told us that "I can’t profess to know the intricate details of Astral’s agreement with the City of Toronto. I would only assume if they agreed to put it up then it met with their guidelines...I can only tell you that I stood inside the shelter and it remains very well lit, as Yonge Street is extremely illuminated. We wouldn’t plan on putting the ad up in a shelter that is on a smaller, darker street."

Later this month, Live Green plans to install another ad at King Street West and John Street, and another at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue West. "There tends to be a preaching to the converted when talking to all the folks that live downtown," Nancy Ruscica, Live Green’s manager of partnerships and innovations, told Torontoist. "So we’re really pushing—through our community animators program and through our marketing—to reach everybody who lives in Toronto. Branching out to Yonge and Eglinton—sort of midtown—and then further north, helps widen our reach." In conjunction with the shelter ads, Live Green is also launching an online campaign featuring banner ads with interactive trees. When a unique visitor moves their cursor over a tree, a leaf is added. Live Green is tracking all its online trees, and every time a tree gains a thousand leaves, the city will plant a real tree.

In other words, it's a smart campaign, and a creative way to spread environmental awareness. But the light switch ads may need to be retooled, and find a home other than transit shelters.

A hat tip to copyranter for letting us know about the ad, and thanks to former Torontoist contributing editor Jonathan Goldsbie for his encyclopedic knowledge of Astral Media’s outdoor furniture contract with the City of Toronto.

All photos by Christopher Drost/Torontoist.

A Pedestrian Sunday performer, at Augusta Avenue and Baldwin Street.

"There are a lot of advantages to a BIA," said Mika Bareket, owner of Good Egg, a kitchen tools and cookbook shop, that opened on Augusta Avenue last year. Bareket was the originator of the push to create a BIA in Kensington Market (she worked in consultation with area city councillor Adam Vaughan, who supports the BIA), though she eventually removed herself from the steering committee, she said, to allow others to share control. Her shop is orderly, well-lit, and stocked with brand-new, beautiful objects. The floors are gleaming tile, and the chairs have floral-patterned cushions. Like Kensington itself, Good Egg is on the rise.

"We now have access to all sorts of city programs, city funding, and the assistance of many experts, who can save us a lot of legwork on sourcing things like more bike racks," said Bareket.

If you've ever tried to lock up a bike in Kensington Market on a busy afternoon, you probably did some serious nodding and approving while reading the last few words of that last paragraph. Even those who love Kensington and its chaos acknowledge that there are certain things about the neighbourhood that could use sprucing up. A BIA is one way of making that happen.

Plus, it's a homegrown concept. The world's first BIA was established in 1970, in Bloor West Village (Kensington Market will be the seventieth in Toronto). John Kiru, executive director of the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), traces the origins of the idea to the emergence of malls in west Toronto.

"Those merchants at the mall contribute to a merchant's fee, and that fee is basically used to promote and market that mall," said Kiru. "Effectively what the people in Bloor West Village in the 1970s did was say: 'Well, let's replicate that.'" Establishing a BIA, in other words, is a way for small business owners to benefit from the single best aspect of a mall's business plan, without actually having to set up shop in one.

BIAs collect their merchant's fee by levying small surcharges on the property taxes of commercial and industrial landowners in their respective neighbourhoods. They can use the proceeds from these levies for neighbourhood publicity, or to make repairs and improvements to public spaces. BIAs are highly organized, fairly democratic bodies, with elected boards of directors and voting procedures―and, to reiterate, Kensington Market, better known for its punks than its politicians, is about to have one.

BIAs are never imposed on neighbourhoods. They come about only at the request of business owners, and only after a series of stakeholder meetings, to gauge interest. The only quirk of the BIA approval process is that it requires stakeholders to opt-out, rather than -in. For a designation not to succeed, a third of tax-paying tenants and landlords must object in writing within sixty days of receiving notice of its existence. The city clerk didn't receive any objections to Kensington Market's BIA. The motion had broad support in the neighbourhood, but whatever dissenting voices there were evidently didn't bother registering themselves.

Another Pedestrian Sunday crowd, on Augusta Avenue.

Aside from allowing neighbourhood businesses to save funds collectively and spend funds collectively, establishing a BIA also gives business owners a way of negotiating and communicating collectively with the city. The city occasionally splits the costs of certain kinds of streetscape improvements with BIAs, and all BIAs are required to include at least one member of City Council on each of their boards of directors.

All this money and influence enables BIAs to tackle issues of concern to their members. Kensington Market has issues.

"We have major problems in the Market," said Bareket, "and those are drug trafficking and garbage. The garbage situation has just worsened. They've now cut us back to pickup only once a week. And this is a very high-yielding garbage zone. It's bad for business."

Ike Geist, the proprietor of the AAA Army Surplus, on Baldwin Street, agrees. "I think it'll bring more people," he said, when asked about the BIA. "We need lights, and garbage bins, and painting. It's dingy outside at night."

Aviva Geist, Ike's wife and business partner, gestured towards the grey brick around the store's entranceway, where someone had left their signature in black spray paint. "I wish they didn't do this graffiti," she said. "It just ruins people's property." BIAs are empowered to spend their budgets on graffiti removal, if they choose.

A BIA could also fund more infrastructure for street life in Kensington. "I think we need to have more public space for artists," said Bareket. "There's not a single museum, not a single gallery in the Market. There's no stage for a musician to play."

"There are lots of fun things we can do without cornucopias and banners," added Bareket, alluding to the cutesy neighbourhood branding efforts of other Toronto BIAs.

"Personally, I think it's long overdue," said Grey Coyote, owner of music store Paradise Lost and director of the Kensington Market Action Committee, when asked about the BIA.

Shamez Amlani, owner of the restaurant La Palette and co-organizer of PS Kensington (which orchestrates the neighbourhood's popular Pedestrian Sundays), was more measured in his praise. In an email, he wrote that he is "intrigued by the idea of an organization that gets so many previously inert community members to come to the same table," and that he'd be glad to see Kensington gain clout at City Hall.

But, he wondered: "Who stands to gain if Kensington gets a facelift? How will that affect the edgy, rag-tag gypsy flavour of Toronto's favourite neighbourhood?"

It's a question to which the only possible answer is the ever-unsatisfying cop-out: let's all wait and see.

All photos by Nick Kozak/Torontoist.

The protest was one of thirteen actions taking place across the province.

"There are a lot of issues at play here," Chairperson of CFS Ontario Shelley Melanson said, "but we don’t believe you have to make a choice between cutting off one hand or the other. The [government] money is there." And boy, were there ever a lot of issues. The list included tuition fees, healthcare funding, affordable childcare, a livable wage, women’s income rights, affordable public housing, employment equity, new jobs, access to proper shelters, increased social assistance, Aboriginal rights, and status for all immigrants and refugees.

And if you think that’s a lot to take in, last year’s rally was even busier, adding Palestinian flags, anti-War and anti-capitalist protesters, and Communist Party banners—incorporating nearly every popular left-wing political mantra. In an effort to be more succinct this time around, the organizers narrowed it down to a mere eleven issues.

Lowering tuition fees was the foremost concern. "Seventy percent of newly listed jobs require post-secondary education," said Sandy Hudson, president of the University of Toronto Students' Union. "So obviously, people need access to education."

The CFS is asking for a reduction in tuition fees back to 2004 levels. With a new tuition and post-secondary education funding framework being developed by the Ontario government for this February, the organizers say the time is now. Unfortunately, this message—and the many other noble causes—were conflated and confounded within the sea of rally cries, the issues still too widespread to send a clear message.

According to Parkdale Community Centre food bank volunteer Rob Smits, the need for poverty reduction in this recession is crucial. The amount of people lining up for food went up 50% in the last year, but an increase in funding for such food banks and shelters has been slow coming, he said. "The way the government is doling out money is very disparaging." We at Torontoist heard his message load and clear, but with chants and slogans being heaved at Queen's Park from every different direction, it's unlikely Dalton could decipher it.

All photos by Nick Kozak/Torontoist.

Grand Analog.

Ranked somewhere after malls, the internet, multi-theatre complexes in the suburbs on weekends, and basically anywhere else, libraries haven't exactly made a name for themselves as a top choice for teenagers to hang out and be really cool together. Make Some Noise launched four years ago as both an effort to document and preserve the country's recent historical musical output by stacking the TPL's music library with the cream of the indie crop, and to engage teens in library and music culture by providing them with more all-ages show options, and broadening their musical scope. The TPL's youth collections librarian Lisa Heggum masterminded the project, and so far, the response from borrowers and artists has been encouraging. "[It's been received] very well. People are placing holds and borrowing the CDs, and the city's music community really seems to love the project. Artists we approach are almost always enthusiastic, and we're often approached by members of the industry who'd like to participate."

Grand Analog.

One of those eager participants is Soundscapes, the community-friendly record store turned coolness consultants. "Soundscapes has been involved since the very beginning," Heggum says. "Working with them helps make this project the success that it is. Not only do they offer their expertise, professionalism, and organizational skills in helping us build our music collection, but they also offer advice and assistance with the events side of things." Heggum strongly believes in this mutual support, both in the community, and in the stacks. "I don't see why we should favour one format over the other. Our music collection demonstrates the library’s commitment to the local music scene in much the same way our collection of local and Canadian fiction demonstrates our commitment to the local literary scene."

Best time!

Make Some Noise has branched further into the music scene this year; along with the usual library shows with high-profile artists, there will be information sessions with, among others, Steve Jordan, the founder and executive director of the Canadian indie music mecca, Polaris Prize. "Giving young people a chance to interact with local musicians and industry professionals and explore various topics [gives them] an overall excitement about the possibilities. Another area I'd like to see us become more involved in is local filmmaking. We attempt to keep in touch with those in the know and respond accordingly, and we plan to continue to listen to the community and try new things."

A moment: youth collections librarian Lisa Heggum and son enjoy Grand Analog.

For Heggum, daily validation for her efforts so far can be found right at home. "My two-year-old son is wild about the Sadies' record with John Doe. He requests it repeatedly. It's amazing that I'm not sick of it yet."

Make Some Noise runs until December 1. The next show features the totally library-appropriate Bruce Peninsula and Timber Timbre on Saturday November 7 (that's tomorrow!) at 8 p.m. at the North York Central Library branch (5120 Yonge Street; it's not that scary, it's right at the North York Centre subway!). The full schedule of shows and workshops can be found on the Make Some Noise site. All shows are free and open to all ages. Two-year-olds are encouraged to attend.

All photos by Remi Carreiro/Torontoist.

Well, that depends.

TTC fares have risen and are still rising year-to-year at a rate greater and greater than inflation is. (Gas? Doing great until recently!) For an ever-growing transit system that is ever-absent of adequate government funding and that individual riders pay an ever-disproportionate share to use each trip, though, it's a trend that won't be bucked any time soon. Riders who are angry about yet another fare increase—"Really? REALLY? We are supposed to be moving away from cars towards public transit, this kind of move makes me never wnat [sic] to ride the TTC again," one rider complained in the Star's comments—might be well off asking themselves what their $2.50 will be getting them in 2010 that their equivalent of $1.48 in 1991 wouldn't have then.

All charts by David Topping/Torontoist.

Coming in February will be the new operating budget; since this is where the City is looking at both major cuts and tax increases, this is what most of the political fireworks and policy debates will hinge on. To help get a sense of what the operating budget might look like, the City has asked each department and agency to prepare a budget showing what two successive years of 5% cuts would mean. The goal of this exercise, said Carroll this morning, is to see where further efficiencies might be found, and have a concrete sense of what significant cuts would look like. (The easiest way to frame the debate is to be able to give voters a choice: Would you rather pay x amount more taxes or lose library service two days a week? Pay x amount more or lose a given set of bus routes?) Based on those submissions, the City will then begin the long task of producing an operating budget that avoids cuts where they seriously damage important services, and raises taxes and user fees only as much as necessary. It's an impossible balancing act, and—this year more than most—there will be an awful lot of shouting indeed.

Carroll and her fellow panellists—Board of Trade Policy Director Brian Zeiler-Kligman and National Post columnist Peter Kuitenbrouwer—all agreed, as has pretty much everyone else, that we need systemic change in the operating budget. As Carroll put it, "we are past the point of symbolism." (Carroll also pointed out that the City is still suffering the aftereffects of a three-year tax freeze implemented right after amalgamation: had property taxes gone up 3% in each of those years, the City would have $300 million more to work with.) "Every global city of Toronto's size has two things," said Carroll, which we currently lack: better relationships with higher levels of government (which would hopefully lead to initiatives such a restoration of provincial contributions to the TTC's operating budget), and "dedicated revenues that grow with the economy." Specifically, she argued, Toronto will soon be the only city of its size which does not levy a sales tax. Carroll credited municipal sales taxes with sustaining cities such as Chicago and New York, and warned those listening that "if it's not a part of the discussion then you're just fooling yourself." She also counselled voters to be mindful of these financial realities, warning that "[a] 0% [tax hike] is not an option. If you hear that in this year's election, please be a discriminating consumer."

As for her own potential mayoral aspirations, Carroll kept largely quiet, and probably with good reason. The viability of her campaign will depend in large part on reactions to the budget she proposes, and how close she comes to managing the impossible balancing act. What we can say in the meantime is that hers was the most rhetoric-free, ideology-free speech on budgetary matters we've heard thus far in this pre-pre-election season, and that's about as promising a sign in a candidate as one could hope for.

Who knew that TTC schedule and stop metadata could be so engrossing?

In the afternoon, during the open data lab, attendees had the opportunity to talk with City experts about the data, and brainstorm ideas for new applications and mashups. While City officials weren't able to answer all of the attendees' questions about data availability and updates, we learned that some data sets, like GIS mapping, will be updated daily, while others, like child care centres, will be updated only when necessary.

Some developers were concerned about the TTC's data (to be refreshed every six weeks), which was released as text files, a format that many felt might create a barrier to new applications. Robert Miller, a TTC IT developer, assured us that the TTC plans to release the data in other formats soon. Real-time data is on the way too, but the TTC first wants to "get over the hump of launching its trip planner," which should be available by December.

This map of licenced child care centres in Toronto was built using the same child care centre data available at toronto.ca/open.

Another data set that received a lot of attention was the City’s child care centre information; participants with kids were especially excited at the prospect of using the data to create a child care space sharing application, which would allow parents who only need child care for a few days a week to find and share child care spaces with other neighbourhood parents. Other ideas included a multi-modular trip planner, an embeddable City event calendar, and a phone app that could be used anywhere in the city to find out when the next TTC bus is coming. (The lattermost of which, of course, received a round of applause.)

Flip charts = democracy.

While the open data lab was the focus of the event, the showcase also featured exhibits on how the City is using data and new technologies to improve its services. We stopped by the University of Toronto’s booth, where computer science graduate students were demonstrating Q-me, a program designed to eliminate the tedious lineups at municipal offices. Their solution: text messages.

"Our technology allows people to spend the wait room time more productively or comfortably by allowing them to leave the physical waiting room and be paged when their turn is near," the Q-me brochure explains. "This is accomplished by assigning an identifier to a person when they first enter the waiting room, and sending a text message to their mobile phone when they near the front of the queue." People can also use the system to enter queues online. At the moment, the team is still looking at ways to implement this technology in the public sector, before exploring its potential in the private sector.

Toronto EMS's booth at the Toronto Innovation Showcase.

We also visited Toronto EMS’s booth and talked with Emergency Medical Dispatcher Nick Kuzyk about SIREN, EMS’s new monitoring and dispatch system, which uses real-time data to display the location of all EMS vehicles and then uses historic demand models to coordinate vehicle deployment. SIREN also decides who to send to an emergency through a series of complex calculations, including, but not limited to, distance from a call, call priority, crew type, and length of time in station. According to Kuzyk, SIREN allows EMS to more effectively deploy its resources, while reducing dispatch process times from two to three minutes, to less than three seconds.

In the end, the Toronto Innovation Showcase was a resounding success. Although the City’s initial data offerings were a tad meagre (so far, only a small fraction has been released, with plans to release more in the upcoming weeks and months; the City is urging citizens to make data requests at DataTO.org, so it knows what to prioritize) most attendees saw Monday's announcement as a first step towards something greater and applauded the City’s commitment to open government. "I’m surprised that the City got as much data available as they did," Oshoma Momoh, one of the developers behind the community website 5 Blocks Out, told Torontoist. "I’m also excited by the number of City staff here, and that they weren’t cajoled into being here, but are actually engaged."

All photos, unless otherwise noted, by Stephen Michalowicz/Torontoist.

In one of Erica's involuntary encounters with Dr. Tom, she finds him looking for directions on a touchscreen directory in the park next to Roy Thomson Hall. Since Astral Media's street furniture contract will still be effect by then, it seems like they've upgraded their craptastic InfoToGo pillars.

During a geographically incorrect rooftop scene, we can see a new skyscraper has arisen with an elegant twist, somewhat reminiscent of the Gherkin in London.

And there's our giant pickle again, but looking this time more like it's been grafted onto Hong Kong's 2 International Finance Centre. The future Toronto skyline boasts a few additional spires, but after a significant decline in the commercial real estate market over the last couple of years, we're gonna assume they're all condos. Except for the Torontoist Building off to the right, of course.

Well, right off the bat we're clearly in the Big Apple, eh? Like, New York is so famous for its architecture that it's practically impossible to shoot there without getting a shot of the Empire State....um, er...Toronto City Hall.

Anyway, Jackie is a taxi driver and he gets in a fight with some big dude on this street, which is Melinda Street, behind Commerce Court. It's nice to see our bike rings getting some respect from Hollywood.

Here's a wider shot and you can see the exact same view right here, thanks to the super-amazing magic of Google Street View. Thanks, Google!

Jason Isaacs usually plays horrible bad guys, which means he must have enjoyed playing a decent-enough, James Bond–esque fellow here—at least until he gets killed in the first act. Here, Jackie is picking him up on Wellington Street, right near the Flatiron Building and where Pravda is today. Do they have Green Ps in New York?

He's definitely well off, since he lives in Casa Loma, and all. We see it from the outside...

...and the inside...

...a few times.

Speaking of lovely interiors, Ms. Hewitt works at a lab at the RC Harris Filtration Plant.

This quaint backyard party was shot at Oshawa's Parkwood Estate, which we've already seen in a kazillion movies, such as X-Men.

No disguises here: the bad guys' super-secret headquarters is located within the Seaway Queen, parked down in the Port Lands. According to the fine folks at, um, Boat Nerd, she was parked here from 1999 to 2003, before getting taken apart and floated to Montreal, and then India.

Speaking of waterfront landmarks, there's an extensive action scene set atop the silos at Essroc, on Cherry Street. Credit to the filmmakers: you might think they shot most of this in some safe studio, but apparently they actually spent eight nights out there putting this together. Hope it was worth it!

These guys must have really liked the Port Lands, judging by the fact they moved only a block or so to shoot this shot at the Polson Pier Parkette, which is by the main parking lot at The Docks.

Here, Jackie steals a cellphone from this lady at the Yo Yo Ma–designed Music Garden at Harbourfront.

These exciting hotel interiors were shot at the Fairmont Royal York but...

...when dude gets tossed out a window he lands way up at the Crowne Plaza on Eglinton East.
The distinctive pool is easily visible in this overhead view. Thanks again, Google!

Here, Jackie walks under the recognizable canopy of the Hummingbird/Sony/O'Keefe/L Building centre to see a James Brown show...

...which, through the magic of cinema, was shot at the Fairmont Royal York, which we just saw minutes ago in a totally different context! That's the magic of cinema, folks.

Since dude is a driver and all, he drives all over the place. He drives past the Limelight...

...he drives on the Bloor Viaduct (shot from a lovely angle)...

...and under the Gardiner...you get the idea.

What, you're still not satisfied? You want to know something utterly obscure and pointless about this movie you never saw and never will? Fine. The bottling plant seen here, during the opening credits, is the Aberfoyle Springs plant in Guelph.

Not good enough?! Fine—according to the press notes, the titular tuxedo was designed by Giorgio Armani. It is "a one-button classic wool crepe tuxedo with narrow notched satin lapels. The jacket is detailed with topstitching, and the waistband cummerbund is in satin and is worn with a classic tuxedo shirt and bow tie."

Satisfied? Good.

Reinsborough: I'd heard about an art project in L.A. where a bunch of whacky art profs go and pick fruit by night—they wear sanitation suits and harvest into shopping carts. They do these as sort of public spectacle pieces but are really trying to engage with the idea of harvesting public fruit. And then an opportunity kind of fell into my lap to harvest the apples at Spadina Museum—never having picked fruit from a tree before—but I went with it and was inspired by it as performance, as spectacle. Then I learned about other projects, because there are lots. We've learned from groups in B.C., and the Hamilton Fruit Tree Project had started a year before us.

We focused on residential fruit trees because that's where so many of them are not being used and people don't feel as though they have the access to address that themselves—people don't feel comfortable just going and picking from somebody else's tree.

You're just finishing your second year. How have things been going?

Last year we picked three thousand pounds of fruit, entirely volunteer-based with no funding, and that was in one neighbourhood. This year we're picking a couple more neighbourhoods and we've just passed eight thousand pounds. At the end of our first year we had 150 volunteers and we're up to about four hundred now, so there's no shortage of eager people to help out and lend a hand to this. It's a really strong community-building project because of that. There's no shortage of fruit trees—we have over three hundred in our database right now—and that's with very little soliciting. There are so many other neighbourhoods with fruit trees where we could expand, and of course organizations that could make good use of the fruit, so the key is just trying to build our capacity.

You're looking at a tree-mapping project now too, we hear?

Yes! It's in its really early stages, but we're hoping to work also with public trees. Right now it's all residential trees on private property, but there are a lot of trees on public property... [W]e want to make the information available about where those trees are and what are the cautions about those trees—the specifics you should know in order to harvest that tree best.

And if the trees are on city property anyone is free to just go and pick the fruit?

There aren't any bylaws written up about this, but generally the feedback I've gotten is that there are quite a few trees—some that the city will plant, most that happen by accident or are remnant trees from old orchards—and of all of those the city really doesn't have the capacity to tend them. So, any sort of harvesting would be making good use of them.

What kinds of fruit are you picking?

We'll pick any fruit that grows on a tree: sweet cherries, sour cherries, serviceberries, mullberries, apricots, plums, crabapples, elderberries, sumac, pears, apples. We just did ginko nuts; we did black walnuts—those were two firsts for us for this year.

We seem to be having this cultural moment that is part return to the land, part homesteading, part environmentally driven: people are talking about their food in a way that they weren't even ten years ago. What do you think that's about?

It's huge and it's exciting and I think it has to do with a collective understanding of just how screwed up our food system is—so much so that we have a difficult time imagining what a sustainable food system looks like. But slowly examples of that, pieces of the puzzle, are starting to bubble up here and there, and I think that what is especially exciting about urban agriculture is that it's...challenging the division of city and country. It shows so much potential, and it also helps to bring the city alive in a different way.

There's this one cherry tree on St. Clair: it's in a Green P parking lot, and I don't think it's there on purpose—it has just sprouted up in a crack in-between asphalt. From that soil that's underneath the concrete a friend made a few pies this year. To know that a tree is coming from that soil makes you think differently about what constitutes that soil and what's underneath our feet. To know that food can be produced from that—that you can actually eat this, that this is delicious, that this is actually fruit, that it's sweet, that it has come from something in the city—it shows the potential for what can be grown in the city and it shows the potential for what we can be doing in what looks like some of the most dire circumstances... It's doing a number on how we perceive the city. That soil is there anyway; it's just that if we see it as food-producing or life-giving soil then that potential can be realized.

Not Far From The Tree's End-of-Season Celebration will be held at the Wychwood Barns this Thursday, November 5, from 7–10 p.m.

Photos by Ayngelina Brogan/Torontoist.

"People are just fed up with incumbents who continually waste resources. These people don't understand that it's the taxpayer who picks up the tab and not them," says Anderson while, ahem, on the move to a photo shoot. "And at the same time I want to make history as the first transsexual on City Council."

No stranger to the bear pit of municipal campaigns, Anderson has twice run for office and lost, though has marked impressive showings. In 2000, she placed third in the mayoral race behind Mel Lastman and Tooker Gomberg, with more than 13,000 votes. In 2003 (a year after she tried to run for leader of what was then the right-wing Canadian Alliance), Anderson took on incumbent Kyle Rae for the Ward 27 seat. Soundly beaten, but not defeated, Anderson wants a rematch, and will brook no arguments that her efforts are solely about garnering press attention.

"I've never done anything as a publicity stunt. What I say to anyone who says that is that I'm raising issues that you failed to do, one," she says. "Two: When I do something, it's because it affects me and other people. When something upsets you, you have to make a stand. And these people, what was the difference when they ran? Why are they so special that it wouldn't be a publicity stunt for them? But I don't sweat it. The voters can decide."

And what's on Anderson's agenda? She's the first to admit her total platform is embryonic, but she's adamant about building a bridge to the island airport, fiscal responsibility and transparency, and making public transit and garbage collection essential services. Privatization is a no-go, she says, adding that Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti's idea to have a corporate-sponsored TTC is "crazy" and that Mammoliti "has been in politics for years and still hasn't got the grasp of how serious the transportation issue is. To him it's just a big joke."

"This city is so under-managed when it comes to moving people," she says. "And we need to open the books so people can see where their money is going. We also need to take a look at our communities that are being lost. Church Street is dying, for example. We've [Toronto's LGBT community] fought an uphill battle for what we have, for this, and if we lose this area, we lose who we are."

Not long after Anderson says this does a group of high school students walk by; one yells "Go home, you fucking faggot!" It doesn't take a person of LGBT orientation to see how deeply those remarks cut, and it's an ugly reminder of the unique battle she'll fight to be taken seriously during her bid. Anderson steels herself and continues, but not before saying, "I hate that."

"People should be looking past my gender and look at my ideas," she says. "I can work like everybody else, not just in the gay community. It's about what you can do, not what you are. And I can do the job of city councillor."

All photos by Brian Towie/Torontoist

ECW Press participated for the first time this year, having published Broken Pencil’s new fiction anthology, Can’tLit. ECW Press's publicist, Sarah Dunn, was surprised by the diverse crowd and vendors the festival brought out. “It’s been a busy day so far,” she said. “Being here gives our books exposure to a different audience.” The organizational structure was a bit of a free-for-all—booths were served up on a first-come first-served basis and better signage would have simplified navigating the haphazard layout—but participants seemed pleased with the large turnout and enthusiastic response.

Events included the One-Two Punch Book Pitch, where participants had two minutes to pitch their best-selling book idea to Coach House Press’s Alana Wilcox, Broken Pencil’s Hal Niedzviecki, and The Rights Factory’s Sam Hiyate. The pitches ranged in topics from a darkly comic novel “A High-Rise Condo at the End of the World” which promised philosophical reflection and spies (!), to “Search History,” a collection of poetry based on the search history of people’s computers, and “Waterlogged,” a graphic novel that sounded a lot like a scifi reinterpretation of Splash. Alana and Sam had fun playing good cop/bad cop, as Sam unapologetically shut down any project where he didn’t see potential, and Alana tried to be more constructive, offering participants advice on how to improve their concepts or on finding an appropriate audience for their work.

Artists Kim Sokol (left) and Karen Brown (middle).

Perhaps the highlight of the day was the Canzine Olympics, an event staged in honour of Broken Pencil’s latest Olympic-themed issue. Evan Munday, King Frankenstein, and Lindsay Tipping competed in such creative events as Word Relay Race, the Zine Lift, Speed Zining, and Competitive Speaking. Chaos reigned as the three competitors rolled around on stage trying to score coveted words (“penis” was a popular choice) to compile inane sentences, tested their strength and endurance by repeatedly lifting zines, and showed off their cut-and-paste skills by putting together a zine at breakneck speed.

The day ended with readings from Can’tLit by Joey Comeau, Greg Kearney, Zoe Whittall, and Jessica Faulds.

All-day art installations filled the Gladstone’s hotel rooms, including the Toronto Comic Jam project, a continuous comic where each sequential panel is created by a different artist; The Lost Window, a collection of photographs of Toronto mannequin window displays from 1930–1950; and Artcade 2009, a showcase for Toronto’s indie videogame scene, which featured an awesome arcade cabinet created by the Hand Eye Society and stations to create your own videogame character.

Photos by Erin Balser/Torontoist.

To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar was unsurprisingly (and not entirely undeservedly) scorned by critics for being a bastard stepchild of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert when it first came out; it's tamer and more mainstream than Priscilla, to say the least. (Man, thinking back to a time when Priscilla was avant-garde is just so weird now, isn't it?) But it's not a bad little movie at all, despite being clumsy and mainstream and Hollywoodish: Patrick Swayze is a great lead and Wesley Snipes's drag queen is consistently hilarious. Time improves some things. (BET, 8 p.m.)

Speaking of "things that were common in the '90s but relatively rare now": a rerun of an episode of classic Star Trek! Space is kind enough to air "The Cage" in its full-length version (which runs about seventyish minutes, ninety with commercials): you really don't get a chance to see the full version often, and although by modern standards the effects are of course hokey, and by Trek standards the storytelling still finding its feet (they hadn't formalized a lot of the canon at this point, to say the least), it's still gripping television, and explains a lot about why Trek became, well, Trek. (9 p.m.)

Tuesday

ABC's strategy for their new rendition of V (er, which is remaking the 1983 "aliens invade Earth while pretending to be friendly" TV epic, and not the recent movie about the guy in the mask blowing up future fascist London) is...interesting, in that they've decided to air four episodes of it right now in November and then, so far as we know, will air no more episodes until March. Like we said...interesting. In fairness, the "single-serving preview" strategy worked reasonably well for Glee, but Glee has an entirely new sort of revenue-generating model and V doesn't. And also Glee is a much, much cheaper show than V. All of this having been said, the pilot for V is slambang fantastic, so give it a shot. But you have been warned. (CTV, 8 p.m.)

Nova is caught up in a series-within-a-series called "Becoming Human," about proto-apes and early human life on Earth. It's actually pretty fascinating; this week's episode focuses on "Lucy," the famous complete proto-human skeleton found by the Leakeys (among others) in 1973. However, Nova refuses to accede to Televisualist's demands for idle speculation as to what Lucy's favourite flavour of ice cream might have been were she to live today, so, you know, grain of salt. (PBS, 8 p.m.)

Wednesday

It is kind of creepy watching Pitchmen because Billy Mays plays such a prominent role in it, and with Mays's death this summer the entire thing becomes sort of funereal. Which completely works against the tone of this docu-show, as it wants to be light, fluffy fare. Like, this week has Mays's son directing his first commercial, and it should play as funny. But, you know, dead guy, so it's not that funny. Awkward! (Discovery, 8 p.m.)

Bill Cosby receives the twelfth annual Mark Twain Prize for American humour; presumably he will do some standup. This is worth seeing, because even though Cosby is now a grumpy old fart he is actually still very, very sharp when it comes to his standup act. Alternatively, he might complain about how black people need to be more responsible, and that's not quite as funny but it's also worth watching in a sort of train-wreck way. (PBS, 8 p.m.)

Thursday

We're up to the "merge" in Survivor: Samoa. For those having trouble keeping track: one tribe is full of utter douchebags who are unfortunately pretty good at the challenge portion of the game, and the other tribe is filled with such a bunch of useless, pathetic schmendricks that Russell, this season's likeable sociopath who was touted as the next awesome Survivor villain, is actually the guy that Survivor fans are all now rooting for because A) he is actually pretty clever and B) he backs up his lip with good challenge performance, gameplay, and work ethic. See, this is what CBS doesn't get: Survivor villains aren't guys like Russell. They're guys like Coach from last season, who was the most useless bag of flesh ever invented and who never, ever shut up about how awesome he was. (Global, 8 p.m.)

Community is flopping in the ratings and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just too dry a show for network TV? After all, The Office has gradually wackied up since its first couple of seasons, and 30 Rock is one of the funniest shows on the air but it's also one of the silliest. Community's generally restrained wit and affinity for wordplay over visual gags seems almost too urbane by comparison. (City, 8 p.m.)

Friday

This week's contestant on "classic comics concept ruined by Smallville": the bottle city of Kandor! Give it up for the bottle city of Kandor, ladies and gentlemen! All three million of you tiny Kryptonians must be very proud indeed. (SunTV, 8 p.m.)

The Simpsons rerun of the week: "Deep Space Homer," which birthed the "I, for one, welcome our new ______ overlords" meme when Kent Brockman sees the supposedly giant ants. "The only danger is if they send us to that terrible Planet of the Apes. Wait a minute...Statue of Liberty...that was our planet! You maniacs, you blew it up. Damn you! Damn you all to hell!" (CFMT, 10:30 p.m.)

The Weekend

The Nature of Things's three-part special minseries on Charles Darwin concludes tonight. Spoiler: he figures it all out, but Republicans don't like him a hundred years later! (CBC, 9 p.m. Sunday)

Secret Girlfriend is a new and frankly terrible comedy series with a gimmick: the entire thing is shot from a second-person perspective, making you the viewer the "star of the show." (Much like how you were previously Time magazine's Person of the Year. At some point, they should probably start paying you.) It's a clever gimmick: unfortunately the comedy is just a series of dick-and-titty jokes not even worth repeating to your friends when you are drunk at a bar somewhere, which tells you something. (Comedy Network, 10:30 p.m. Sunday)