The Toronto Tree Tours aim to tell compelling stories about the urban forest, connect people to the trees in their neighbourhood, and to teach and encourage people to care for our city’s most valuable resource. I took part in the most recent Green Roof & Tree Tour put on by the Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests (LEAF) in association with the Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC). It was led by arborist Todd Irvine to a couple sites in Toronto, 401 Richmond St and 215 Spadina Ave, both of which host spectacular green roofs.
Direct Download (H.264 Standard Definition video)
High Definition 720p video (Available on Vimeo)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Toronto Tree Tours
LEAF
TPSC
Music by Mojib
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Poster Child is a bitchin’ street artist and promoter of all things nifty that coat our city’s urban landscaping. We recently got in touch with Post and he let us know that he was up to something nifty. On May 2nd Rebecca and Ryan set up shop at Nathan Phillips Square, awaiting the drop. Gotta say that we hope the pieces he followed with in the days afterward fared better!
Direct Download (H.264 Standard Definition video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Poster Child’s Blade Diary
Music: Urban Tapestry’s “The Friendship Song”
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Cut&Paste is a digital design tournament, putting designers head to head in a battle of creative digital arts. Their goal is to promote the idea that design is a tangible, real thing and to promote the people and who make all the magic happen. Each contender is given a few minutes, a theme, a set of tools including a digital camera, Wacom tablet and a suite of software including Illustrator and Photoshop. A live audience looks on as the designs are created before their eyes. The Toronto chapter of Cut&Paste happened this year at the FITC festival of design and technology and saw a couple of Toronto’s finest, Justin Broadbent and Alex Kurina take on New York’s Guillo Echevarria and Edward Ubiera. Look for me in one of the designs as I happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time with my camera.
Direct Download (H.264 Standard Definition video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Cut&Paste
FITC
Music by Bitstream Dream (via the Podsafe Music Network)
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Metronauts is an evolution of last year’s Transit Camp - a community of enthusiastic, open-minded people who care about the future of their city and the role transportation has in their lives. This was my first unconference and I was really inspired by the free-flow of ideas and open-mindedness most people showed. Metronauts will continue to hold events around the Greater Toronto Area with officials from Metrolinx there to hear ideas and contribute to the conversation. This is a pretty brief look at just a couple sessions out of the dozens held at Metronauts. Full-length, unedited video will be available soon at the Metronauts site.
Update: This irony is not lost on us that this video was released mere hours before the TTC strike. If it wasn’t clear before, it is now; Toronto’s transit system is in dire need of innovation and fresh thinking.
Direct Download (H.264 Standard Definition video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Metronauts
Metrolinx
Music by Kaimoku (via the Podsafe Music Network)
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
The Bax Bears World Tour is hitting Toronto, bringing the DIY (design-it-yourself) toy-like bears to our city, and enlisting a number of local artists to take on the task of creating unique designs based on the bears. I stopped in to talk to Rafi Ghanaghounian, the owner and curator of Keep Six Contemporary, the gallery hosting the bears, and got him to show me some of the very creative designs on display. The tour runs March 28 to April 6 at the Keep 6 Contemporary gallery (938 Bathurst Street). On Sunday April 6 they’ll have several panel discussions with some notable folks from Toronto’s illustration community, as well as the owners of the Queen West eclectic design shop, Magic Pony.
Direct Download (H.264 Standard Definition video)
NEW! High Definition 720p video (Available on Vimeo)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Keep Six Contemporary Gallery
Bax Bears
blogTO: Bax Bears Invade Toronto
Music by Animal/Monster
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Fight Club made it cool to beat the crap out of your friends all the way back in the 90s, but The Pillow Fight League (PFL) made it cool to for woman to beat the crap out of each other with a couple of thick feather sacks. Given the choice between watching Ed Norton shadow box and watching Mickey Dismantle thwack Eiffel Power with a pillow, I’d choose the latter. If you know what’s good for you, and you don’t want Laina Beaton to tear you in half, you’ll watch our latest vid, chronicling the competition to crown the number one contender to Boozy Suzy’s PFL throne. Watch the vid to find out who comes out on top.
NOTE: Boozy Suzy has since retired, which means the winner of the above matches is in need of an opponent! The next PFL match happens on April 24th at the Gladstone Hotel. If you can’t make it, the PFL is promising to stream the action live over the net.
If you like what you see, please don’t hesitate to send this vid to an awesome friend with those sharing buttons below!
Direct Download (H.264 video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
The Pillow Fight League
Music by Woodhands - www.Woodhands.com
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
The Toronto Ice Race is an annual event put on by owners The Bike Joint that’s usually held on Toronto Island, but has been recently moved to the vibrant community centre at Dufferin Grove. Racers outfit their typical bike tires with homemade studded tubes and hit the ice (usually with a few bruises to show for it). I swung by Dufferin Grove for the night to see what the event was all about, and to get the word from some of the very colourful characters who took part in the race.
Direct Download (H.264 video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
The Bike Joint
Friends of Dufferin Grove Park - The Unofficial Website of Dufferin Grove
Reuters’ Photo/Audio Coverage of the Race
Helmet cam from one of the racers (YouTube) (spot Adam shooting this episode for bonus points)
Music: Datarock (myspace)
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Wintercity 2008 may have happened way back in January but that doesn’t mean that Nights of Fire isn’t relevant still today, particularly if you take into account the horrendous amount of snow the T-Dot received over the weekend. Super-snow-sweater-stopper in hand, we set out to get the story behind the nifty pyrocentric showcase that was Nights of Fire.
Direct Download (H.264 video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Cie Carabosse
Wintercity
Music: Arkana (myspace)
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Sumo Robot 2008 recently took place at The Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). Knowing that nothing is better than mechanical monsters designed by the minds of mad scientists as war-raging prototypical beasts hell bent on the destruction of all who oppose them squaring off one on one, Dear Toronto made sure that Rebecca was there to document this world affecting event. She was lucky to escape with her life, let alone the gruesome footage presented forth before you.
Direct Download (H.264 video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Sumo Robot 2008
OCAD
Music: I am Robot and Proud (myspace)
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Tanja Tiziana is a photographer in Toronto. She occasionally decides to have what she calls a “Freestyle Photo Shoot” wherein lots of people are invited to come in whatever getup they like with whatever props they want, and she proceeds to take some awesome pictures of the madness. One of her recent shoots had a noir theme, and Ryan was on hand to capture the event, as well as get a snappy pic taken (see about page). Thanks to Stephanie Tung for some of the footage!
Direct Download (H.264 video)
Subscribe to Dear Toronto
iTunes
640×480 h.264 RSS
320×240 WMV RSS (non-iPod)
Links for this show
Tanja Tiziana - Flickr - DoubleCrossed.ca
Music by Modernboys Moderngirls - MySpace
Share this with someone awesome:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
