Dear Toronto (Flash+H.264 Feed)

Dear Toronto #40 - Pedestrian Sundays at Kensington Market (re-post)

Dear Toronto — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:34:48 +0000

NOTE: This is a new version which should play nice with your iPod.

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.

Dear Toronto #39 - Doors Open 2009 at H.M.C.S. York with Keri

Dear Toronto — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:28:25 +0000

NOTE: This is a new version of the video which should play nice with your iPod.

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.

Dear Toronto #38 - T.O. Jam

Dear Toronto — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:46:13 +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. http://www.tojam.ca Cross posted to www.AbootPlay.ca, a site dedicated to "play" in Canada.

Dear Toronto #37 Icefest Festival 2009

Dear Toronto — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:00:34 +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 sculptors and their emerging frozen wonders.

Dear Toronto #36 - Toronto Bike Awards

Dear Toronto — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:00:47 +0000

On January 20th, 2008, I Bike T.O. 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, I Bike T.O. 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.

Dear Toronto #35 - CUPE 3903 Queen's Park Rally

Dear Toronto — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:55:33 +0000

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.

Dear Toronto #34 - Max Dean

Dear Toronto — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:52:56 +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.

Dear Toronto #33 - Seen Reading

Dear Toronto — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:59:34 +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.

Dear Toronto #32 - Happy 2009

Dear Toronto — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:49:31 +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.

Dear Toronto #31 - galleryDK's PhotoLab

Dear Toronto — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:45:59 +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.

Music by These Electric Lives

Dear Toronto #30 - The Opposing Rallies

Dear Toronto — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:35:27 +0000

Earlier today thousands of Torontonians braved the cold and snow in support of two opposing rallies. I'd guess at least 2,000 made their way to Nathan Phillips Square in support of a coalition government, while about 500 rallied at Queen's Park to support the Conservatives and oppose the coalition. There was certainly a lot of strong words said on both sides, and the occasional clash as seen near the end of the video. Regardless of your political inclination, I think today's events speak volumes about how contentious an issue this is for Canadians and how passionate they've become about it.

Dear Toronto #29 - Gabe Toth + Superstein

Dear Toronto — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:50:21 +0000

Gabe Toth is a photographer in Toronto who I've known since my early days in blogging, and he does some incredible portrait photography, so I was happy to come by and document his latest photoshoot with Superstein's John Walke. Fair warning - this video is probably a little not safe for work seeing that Superstein was doing a shoot for some new underwear designs they're releasing.

Dear Toronto #28 - Halloween

Dear Toronto — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:50:48 +0000

Adam (dressed as Doctor Who, NOT Sylar) and Ryan (dressed as Frank West, and not pictured anywhere as he was manning the camera) hit Church Street in Toronto on Halloween night to talk to paintings, shower curtains, and Facebook. In the end, it's all about job creation.

Dear Toronto #27 - Fashion We-err, Marath-err, BRAAAAAAINS!

Dear Toronto — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:39:24 +0000

October 19th started out as a relatively quiet Sunday by Toronto standards. Sure, there was some sort of fashion week thing happening at Phillips Square, and somewhere in the city a marathon was happening, but little did we know that by the end of the day we would have an insatiable thirst for sweet, tender, under-nourished human frontal lobes.

Dear Toronto #26 - Nuit Blanche 2008

Dear Toronto — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:17:16 +0000

Frigid weather, unclosed streets and some poor woman having been run over by a streetcar notwithstanding, Toronto's 2008 edition of Nuit Blanche was successful in keeping many of us way out past our bed times. This vid represents what we saw outside of La Momma Morta which Adam caught on his stumble home. Music by Mojib

Dear Toronto #25 - La Momma Morta (Nuit Blanche 2008)

Dear Toronto — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:27:17 +0000

Nuit Blanche is an annual "all-night contemporary art thing" that sees hundreds of thousands of people come out to see public art sprout up along the city streets. This is my second Nuit Blanche, having missed the first, and it's always a really great feeling being out and seeing the streets packed with people who are all so excited to see what the night's got ahead of them. I was about to throw in the towel and call it a night at around 5am when I came across a stunning display at St. James Park on King Street East that really made the night for me. Enjoy the haunting performance "La Momma Morta" and look forward to more video from Nuit Blanche coming soon! DearToronto.com

Dear Toronto #24 - Buskerfest

Dear Toronto — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:22:14 +0000

Buskerfest hits Toronto once a year and buskers from all over the world are invited to strut their stuff. In the video are a small selection of the performances in the street festival that occured on the first of its three day run this year.

Dear Toronto #23 - Hummingbird

Dear Toronto — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:15:52 +0000

"Hummingbirds can to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15–80 times per second (depending on the species). They can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. They do not spend all day flying, as the energy costs of this would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to five times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10-15% of their time feeding and 75-80% sitting and digesting." — Wikipedia

Dear Toronto #22 - Mel C

Dear Toronto — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:23:22 +0000

June's Pride Week in Toronto has come and gone, but we're still drowning in a ton of fun video from the weekend's music events and other performances. Among a mob of other photographers, we got up close with former Spice Girl Mel C as she performed to a packed ground on the Wellesley stage. Crazy factoid: many of the girls in the front of this very hyped-up crowd came from the US, Europe and beyond to see her perform!

Dear Toronto #21 - Posterchild Gets All Dolled Up

Dear Toronto — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:11:07 +0000

Sure, we may have a thing for Posterchild but only because he really does a lot of awesome and creative work in the city, even if it isn't always met with the most positive of feedback. Recently, PC held an exhibition at Hot Shot Gallery wherein he hung up his dead astronaut dolls for Earthlings to ogle. We caught up with him at the gallery and got the juice on his expired astro boys, why sewing machines aren't for sissies as well as what he thought of Fauxreel's commissioned Vespaheads, all to the tune of "Flashman".

Links:
- Posterchild's Blade Diary
- Hot Shot Gallery

Music performed by The Runaway Five (www.therunawayfive.com), arranged by Brendan Swanson

Leo and John

Dear Toronto — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:02:53 +0000

Way back in February of 2008 Leo Laporte and John Donabie started talking about Dear Toronto. It was really soon after we launched the site so we were kinda psyched to have the original interview with John on CFRB, who said that he would definitely be telling Leo about the vidcast. Lo and behold, he sure did t ell him. But then, something disastrous happened- Leo completely forgot about us!

Not only that, I (Ryan) was relegated to the role of "some guy who helps out". I'll forgive John for the misundestanding, considering I wasn't available for the interview that Adam and dearly departed (but certainly not dead) Rebecca took part in. Actually, I'll forgive the both of them once the record is set straight, in the interview that WILL happen.

You hear that Leo? I'm'a callin' you out!

Links:
- The Original Twit-cast
- John Donabie on CFRB
- Steve Saylor's photo

Dear Toronto #20 - Kids on TV Dress Up with You

Dear Toronto — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:18:19 +0000

Yes, we're bring you more Kids on TV, this time their pre-show dress up as well as their show itself. KOTV put on a great performance and while you can certainly get an idea of what to expect from their music, you haven't seen anything until they serenade a well-endowed blow up doll on stage.

Links for this show
- Kids on TV (myspace)
- Photo set from the show
- Pride Toronto 2008

Dear Toronto #19 - Kids on TV Dance for Men

Dear Toronto — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:15:29 +0000

Le Tigre's Jd Samson and Johanna Fateman's group Men had a srsly oresome 2 hour DJ set at Pride Toronto this year, and were joined on stage by members of Kids on TV for two songs. John Caffrey, so I'm told, can't resist shakin' it when there's beats to be heard.

Links
- Men on Myspace
- Kids on TV (myspace)
- Pride Toronto 2008

Dear Toronto #18 - Pride Toronto Ice Cream Puppies

Dear Toronto — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:13:30 +0000

We're at Pride Toronto 2008, getting tons of crazy video of the various bands, performers, and people on the street. We figured that instead of saving the best for last we'd just give the best there is right up front, and as such, we present to you the Pride Toronto 2008 Ice Cream Puppies.

Links:
- Pride Toronto

Dear Toronto #17 - Idiotarod

Dear Toronto — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:01:18 +0000

The Idiotarod is a dog sled race in Toronto. Except instead of sleds the contestants use shopping carts. And instead of dogs the carts are pulled by people. It's a point to point race, like the original Iditarod, but in this race there's very little chance of getting bitten by a rabid huskie or mauled by a bear in Alaska. It's made of pure win.

Links:
- Idiotarod
- Werocreative "Improving reality"

Music by These Electric Lives (myspace)

Dear Toronto #16 - Pillow Fight!

Dear Toronto — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:44:30 +0000

The Newmindspace Pillow Fight is quickly becoming a tradition in Toronto, bringing hundreds of cushy-weapon wielding combatants to Nathan Phillips Square for an afternoon of mayhem. This year saw an amazing turnout given the inclement weather earlier in the day, and we were there right in the thick of the action to capture every bit of it. Watch as Rebecca, Ryan and I nearly destroy one of our cameras making this very fun video.

Dear Toronto
Newmindspace

Music by Final Fantasy

Dear Toronto #15 - Sweet Valley High Ninja Lesbian Porno Murder Mystery

Dear Toronto — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:38:14 +0000

At one of Tanja's recent freestyle photo shoots Ryan brought his first batch of Ninja Dolls in the hopes that they would elicit some osrt of reaction amongst a few people. The last thing he expected was for a video to be shot, and the related title above also functions as a great summary to its content.

Links:

-Ninja Dolls - www.ninja-dolls.com
-Tanja Tiziana - www.doublecrossed.ca

Special thanks to Maggie and Steph, the two most twisted people at the House that Parkdale Built. Possibly the most inebriated as well.

Dear Toronto #14 - Green Roof & Tree Tour

Dear Toronto — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:12:29 +0000

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) and 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.

Dear Toronto #13 - Poster Child's Big Day Out

Dear Toronto — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:34:09 +0000

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 Philips Square, awaiting the drop. Gotta say that we hope the pieces he followed with in the days afterward fared better!

Links for this show Poster Child's Blade Diary

Music: Urban Tapestry's "The Friendship Song"

Dear Toronto #12 - CUT&PASTE

Dear Toronto — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:02:50 +0000

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.

Dear Toronto #11 - Metronauts

Dear Toronto — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:41:02 +0000

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. Full-length, unedited video will be available soon at the Metronauts site.

Dear Toronto #10 - Bax World Tour

Dear Toronto — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:30:30 +0000

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.

Links for this show

Keep Six Contemporary Gallery

Bax Bears

Music by Animal/Monster

Dear Toronto #9 - Pillow Fight League

Dear Toronto — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:18:53 +0000

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!

Links for this show
The Pillow Fight League
Music by Woodhands - www.Woodhands.com

Dear Toronto #8 - Toronto Ice Race

Dear Toronto — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:20:47 +0000

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.

Links for this show
The Bike Joint
Friends of Dufferin Grove Park - The Unofficial Website of Dufferin Grove
Helmet cam from one of the racers (YouTube) (spot Adam shooting this episode for bonus points)
Music: Datarock (myspace)

WMV player compatible, 320x240. Better quality 640x480 h.264 streams are available at www.DearToronto.com

Dear Toronto #7 - Nights of Fire

Dear Toronto — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:26:49 +0000

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.

Links for this show

Cie Carabosse
Wintercity
Music: Arkana (myspace)

Dear Toronto #6 - Sumo Robot 2008

Dear Toronto — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:48:30 +0000

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 set forth before you.

Links for this show

Sumo Robot 2008

OCAD

Music: I am Robot and Proud (myspace)

Dear Toronto #5 - Double Crossed Freestyle Noir Photoshoot

Dear Toronto — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:36:54 +0000

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!

Links for this show
Tanja Tiziana - Flickr - DoubleCrossed.ca
Music by Modernboys Moderngirls - MySpace

Dear Toronto #4 - The Atomic Cherries

Dear Toronto — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:51:40 +0000

On Valentine's Day The Atomic Cherries performed a sold-out live burlesque show at the Cadillac Lounge on Queen West. Come along for the ride as the Cherries introduce you to the sexy, sultry, and seductive world of burlesque and cabaret performance.

This video is most definitely NOT SAFE FOR WORK as it contains nudity and as they say, 'mature themes'.

Dear Toronto #3 - Vegan Chili Cookoff

Dear Toronto — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:23:20 +0000

Left Feet and Heart on Your Sleeve held their first annual Vegan Chili Cookoff, outdoors, in January. They're insane, but so is Rebecca who was on hand to sample the offerings, get some of the secrets too contestant's chili recipes (hint: beans), and to capture the crowning of the best vegan chili cooker in Hogtown. Check the video to find out, and then post your own recipes in the comments area.

Dear Toronto #2 - Video Games Live

Dear Toronto — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:47:14 +0000

Video Games Live is an interactive concert showcasing some of the best music in video games, put on by famed games composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. They made their first appearance in Toronto back in 2006 to a sellout crowd at Massey Hall. Now they're back, and here's what the show had to offer. Check out some photos Ryan snagged at the show.

Dear Toronto #1 - Snow Fort

Dear Toronto — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 23:04:28 +0000

For our first episode, we tracked down Liam O’Doherty and a mini-mob of public space activists from the Toronto Public Space Committee’s Art Attack wing. During one of 2008’s worst snowstorms in early February, the group converged on a lonesome transit shelter in Leslieville to give it some beautifying love.