Dear Toronto

[40] Pedestrian Sundays at Kensington Market

Ryan Couldrey — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:35:43 +0000

The last Sunday in every month from May to October is a Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market. What that means is that there aren’t any cars allowed to drive through the area and people are free to wander the streets. The area gets swarmed by tons of people, all of them taking in the sights and sounds of the many buskers in the area. I hit the area for this year’s inaugural car-free Sunday to see some of the fancy capoiera martial artists, jugglers, mimes and folk trios.

Unfamiliar with the area? Here’s a Google Map just for you!

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[39] Doors Open 2009 at H.M.C.S. York with Keri

Ryan Couldrey — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:48:41 +0000

Keri (of www.TheCanadianExplorer.com) and I ventured to the H.M.C.S. York for Doors Open 2009. She refused to tell me what we were doing prior to sitting in her studio/Jetta, preferring instead to keep her love of all things navy/military as a surprise. The explorer knows how to reload a Navy-issue handgun, which is kinda cool and kinda freaky at the same time.

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Also! Here’s Keri’s video below. NOTE! She refused to watch the DT video until she finished hers, so any overlap is both a coincidence, and likely, considering we filmed the same stuff! Kinda meta…

Operation ‘Doors Open’ from KeriCDN on Vimeo.

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[38] T.O. Jam 2009

Ryan Couldrey — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:32:07 +0000

T.O. Jam hit Toronto on May 1st and kept going for 72 hours straight. The event is designed as sort of a high-speed NaNoWriMo for game developers, where participants take 3 days to spit out a game, both in teams and solo. Ryan was on hand to see what was going on and to get some advice from both veterans and rookies. Photos can be had here too and check out Brendan Lynch’s team portraits here.

Cross posted to Aboot Play.

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[37] Icefest Festival 2009

Calvin Lau — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:05:07 +0000

On February 21st, 2009, Bloor-Yorkville’s Icefest Festival took over the affluent retail neighbourhood. Armed with chisels, grinders, icepicks and chainsaws, artists from across Ontario carved out beautiful masterpieces out of the over 25,000 lbs of ice brought in for the event. Kids and adults alike were there to see the winter magic at work during the ice carving competition and demonstrations. Rebecca and Calvin tag-teamed to capture the ice sculptors and their emerging frozen wonders.

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Music by The Go! Team - Amazon - MySpace

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[36] Toronto Bike Awards 2008

Calvin Lau — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:50:23 +0000

Watch on YouTube 720p HD *

On January 20th, 2008, Toronto Cyclists’ Union and the City of Toronto jointly held their first (hopefully annual) Toronto Bike Awards at the Gladstone Hotel. With a winter-layering reverse strip-tease skit, cycle-machine races and live music from GUH and DJ duo Dorian and Dorian, Toronto Cyclists’ Union made sure it was an event to remember. New guy Calvin was on hand, and he got the goods from the organizers. He most definitely got the strip tease as well.

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[35] CUPE 3903 Queen’s Park Rally

Ryan Couldrey — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:28:37 +0000

* Watch on YouTube 720p HD *

On Sunday January 25th, CUPE 3903 held a rally in front of Queen’s Park in Toronto to protest back to work legislation announced by Ontario premiere Dalton McGuinty. The event was attended by several hundred union supporters, including members of other unions, York U. students who are unaffiliated with CUPE 3903, and NDP city councillor Howard Moscoe.

If commenting, please play nice. This isn’t Digg or YouTube or The Star.

Also, please pardon the sound quality. It was not only very windy, but there was a lot going on, sound-wise. Pump up the voluuuume!

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[34] Max Dean

Adam Schwabe — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:24:05 +0000

Canadian artist Max Dean’s work focuses heavily on the performance and interactive aspects as well as the experience that the viewer gets when approaching his work. Perhaps best known in Toronto for his Robotic Chair which briefly was on display during Luminato in 2007, Toronto now gets a the chance to take a closer look at Max’s work. Until January 31, more than 40 years worth of his work is on display at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery (451 King St. W) in Toronto. I stopped by on the opening night to experience some of Max’s work. Music by Stars.

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[33] Seen Reading

Adam Schwabe — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:40:58 +0000

It’s been at least a year since I first came across Seen Reading, a blog run by Torontonian Julie Wilson that I once called “the Gossip Girl of book readers.” Since then, Julie has spotted hundreds of readers on the TTC, blogging them in her very unique fashion. Just before Christmas, I tagged along with Julie along the Bloor West subway line to get her take on readers in Toronto. Music by Caribou.

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[32] Happy 2009

Adam Schwabe — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:55:50 +0000

To close off the year, here’s a 16-minute shot of the Sunset on Christmas yesterday from my family’s home east of the city, presented in just over 30 seconds. On behalf of all of us at Dear Toronto, we wish you, your family and friends a happy and awesome holiday season and look forward to bringing you some fun stuff in 2009. Music by Sufjan.

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[31] galleryDK’s PhotoLab

Ryan Couldrey — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:16:48 +0000

The five guys behind galleryDK (as well as the DK photo group) recently launched PhotoLab. The exhibit features over 200 photographic pieces of work from an international talent pool of over 80 artists. We had the chance to talk with the DK group about the exhibit, what’s coming afterward, as well as their new TV show debuting on the Bravo! network in 2009.

Links:
- galleryDK
- Music “Teach Me to Focus atlas5 remix” by These Electric Lives (BUY: iTunes, Amazon)

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