Toronto Life articles from February 2005

Toronto Life archives from February 2005

Dead silence.(teen murders)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Amid the bustle of holiday shopping and carousing Torontonians were stunned to learn of three teen murders. Sixteen-year-old Andrew Stewart (his funeral shown here) was swarmed and stabbed after an altercation at a pool hall on Coxwell Avenue....

The lyrical worker.(profile of Dionne Brand)(Biography)
February 1, 2005... There is much language in her hands. Fine boned, delicate, they can sit poised on the table, like two small brown birds, in this too bright, too noisy restaurant on Toronto Street. They can dart like swallows when she talks about jazz, showing...

Prairie tale.(International Emmy Awards)
February 1, 2005... The 2004 International Emmys, doled out at a swank affair at the midtown Manhattan Hilton, recognized the best TV produced outside the United States. The event often places in competition shows produced in different languages. This is weird....

Hip to be square.(concert)(UrbanAIDS)
February 1, 2005... November's UrbanAIDS benefit at Ricoh Coliseum was meant to raise awareness (and money) for women and children affected by the pandemic. However, the three-hour concert, headlined by soulster Alicia Keys and featuring a stellar lineup of...

North wing.(Telling Tales)(filming of West Wing television program in Dundas, Ontario)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Only days after Dubya's Canadian visit, it was oddly unsettling to see the Stars and Stripes flying high outside the old town hall in Dundas (Hamilton's greener suburban sibling) and a newly minted statue of Thomas Jefferson staring intently...

Urban decoder.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Dear Urban Decoder: Can you please tell me why there is Val Kilmer qraffiti--sometimes just his name, sometimes his likeness--all over the city. And does Val know about it? --Lucinda Pickett, Casa Loma The story going around on...

Waste land.(Reality Check)(waste disposal)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Not counting Christie Blatchford and a few disgruntled bloggers, Torontonians seem to be going gentle into that good green bin. Since the composting program's launch last fall, 100 tonnes of veggie scraps, fish heads, diapers and feminine...

Abfallverwertung baby!(Reality Check)(waste disposal of organic material)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The city had to buy new trucks with a tighter seal to move the organic slop, which is much wetter than mixed garbage. Once at the processor, the waste is subjected to a kind of mechanical purgatory designed by a German biotechnological...

The trommel.(Reality Check)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The conveyor belt dumps the material into a 40-foot-long rotating cylinder of horrors with long spikes that puncture and tear plastic bags. Anything small and loose falls through the sieve-like trommel and continues on a conveyor belt to the...

The pulper.(Reality Check)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The 10- to 12-tonne batches of trommelled waste are then thrown into a vat with water (which is recycled and reused throughout the various steps) and beaten into a fetid soup. Light plastic floats to the top and is skimmed with a rake into a...

The hydrocyclone.(Reality Check)
February 1, 2005... The organic soup then goes to a surge tank, where it is subjected to a hydrocyclone that removes grit, such as broken glass, clamshells, bone and china. A tonne of grit is removed every day and placed in a heaping pile that looks, but doesn't...

The digester.(waste digester)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The slurry is warmed by a heat exchanger in preparation for the digester, which, once full, is sealed so that no air gets in. The bacteria in the digester like their meals served warm, wet and oxygen free. They linger over their...

The screwpresses.(Reality Check)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The slurry is fed through screwpresses to get rid of any excess water (which then returns to the pulper to make more soup). At this point, it looks very much like what you might find in a baby's diaper (including whole kernels of corn, which...

Stinky inside, but not outside.(biofilter)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Inside the facility, the sweet and sour stench is overwhelming, but you wouldn't know it standing just outside the door. The whole plant is under slight negative pressure, so that the putrid air doesn't escape. Stinky air is pumped outside the...

Organic enlightenment.(composting)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Despite being trommelled, pulped, hydrocycloned, digested and screwpressed, the digestate has not yet achieved pathogen kill, a.k.a, organic nirvana. That stage is reached when the digestate is cured at a privately owned and operated composting...

Solid waste becomes solid resource.(cured compost)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The cured compost is now ready to become a productive member of consumer society. You can buy several flavours of the stuff (peat, leaf, peat and leaf, etc.) at your local gardening store. Some of the compost is even sent on "soil remediation"...

Six degrees of separations.(Roundup)
February 1, 2005... Even by cliquish attorney's standards, the city's top family lawyers are a close-knit bunch. They water-ski at each other's cottages, jam in the same garage bands and continue their in-court jousting over bridge, golf and tennis. It's a...

Garden party.(camera)(Garden of Earthly Delights)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Garden party for one night only, a Garden of Earthly Delights sprouted on a dark corner in east end Toronto--a bacchanalian year-end feast for the eyes, courtesy of renowned interior designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberq. The guest list...

This issue.(Editorial)
February 1, 2005... FROM TIME TO TIME, TORONTO LIFE INVITES PEOPLE WHO know more than we do about a facet of the city to join us for lunch. Our guests have included mayors, chiefs of police, premiers, TTC chairs, hospital CEOs, artistic directors, university...

Rude awakening.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... I have long been a subscriber to Toronto Life, and I thoroughly enjoy the articles. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the recent issue, specifically the article about the chef Mare Thuet ["Bite Me," December]. One word completely...

Where's the love?(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... Leah McLaren's writing might annoy the unnamed authors of "The Year That Was" [January], but to lump her in with such cretins as Maha Khadr and the Black-stock parents was a loathsome act in itself. Your contributors should be able to...

Weighing in.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2005... I read with interest Sasha Chapman's article about her recent foray into low-carb dining ["Starch Enemy," November]. The last paragraph, however, made the questionable association between the documentary Super Size Me, eating at quick-service...

Oops!(Letters)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2005... Apologies to illustrator Graham Roumieu, whose name was misspelled in January's "A Fish Tale" [This City].

Apology to Conrad Black.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2005... In the July issue of Toronto Life, we published an article by Robert Mason Lee and an illustration by Barry Blitt concerning Lord Black. The article depicted in writing, and by way of illustration, Lord Black. Toronto Life did not intend in...

February at a glance.(This Month)
February 1, 2005... 25 African-Peruvian groovesters Peru Negro turn the beat around at Roy Thompson Hall. See page 39. 2 Yanni and his magnificent mane grace the Air Canada Centre. See page 39. Ed Pien's densely layered drawings (including Shamanic...

Theatre.(this month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... OPENING Bat Boy: the Musical. No relation to the caped crusader. This bizarre musical mines a campy, Rocky Horror Picture Show vein. A freaky-looking kid (Jay T. Schramek) resembles the long-eared, fanged hats in the cave in which he's...

Altered states.(this month)(Metamorphosis Festival)(Illustration)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... ALTERED STATES Prepare to be transformed. Over the next five months, 34 cultural organizations are joining forces for the city's first-ever Metamorphosis Festival. Driven by a multitude of transfiguration myths rooted in different cultures,...

Classical music.(this month concerts)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... CHAMBER AND SOLO Mooredale Concerts. This program's core, Mozart's String Quintet in D Major, K. 593, was among the composer's final instrumental works (he died in 1791, the year after it was written). One of the most expressive of the six...

Hell's Angels.(this month art exhibition)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Ray Caesar describes his digitally drawn depictions of pale, saucer-eyed girl-women as "images of the hidden part of ourselves." After working at a hospital with a forensic photographer who documented victims of child abuse, the Toronto artist...

Say Uncle.(interview)(3rd Uncle design)(Interview)
February 1, 2005... Don't be misled by 3rd Uncle's design for the Drake Hotel, the adult clubhouse on Queen West that grabbed all the ink in 2004--its calculated, cheeky grunge represents only one face of the firm. Since Arriz Hassam, Paul Syme and John Tong...

Dance.(this month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... Arabesque Academy. This intimate entertainment (called Hezz Ya Wezz, meaning "a good time" in Arabic) showcases the art of belly dancing in all its different styles, from folkoric to cabaret. Under music director George Sawa, and featuring 10...

Art.(this month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... FREE Bill Burns. Parodying band-aid solutions for saving vanishing animal species, this Toronto artist has devised a museum of self-manufactured safety gear for small animals. In sizes ranging from petite for frogs to extra-extra-large for...

Rock and roll all night, party every day.(this month)(Illustration)
February 1, 2005... ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT, PARTY EVERY DAY The notoriously hard-living men of Motley Crue had already cleaned up their act by the time the Sum 41 boys were old enough to play doctor. But once the Ajax pop punks graduated (and got a record...

Nightlife.(this month concerts)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... CONCERTS Keane. Freddie Mercury lives on, and Bono gains a new disciple, via Keane's lead singer, Tom Chaplin. Critics aren't kind to Keane (derisive cries of "wimp rock," "emo-pop" and the like), but lovers of songs managing to be both...

Jazz and standards.(this month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... Bill Mays. As a pianist, Bill Mays has a knack for bringing a sense of adventure to the mainstream, whether it's by stretching the harmony of a standard or engaging in the demanding art of contrapuntal improvisation. He brings his skills to a...

Kids' events.(This Month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... [FREE] Father's Tales. Part of Harbourfront Centre's Kuumba Festival of black culture, Toronto storyteller George Blake recounts the lively adventures of four fathers and four sons, blending Caribbean and African rhythms to bring to life...

Diversions.(This Month)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... Cinematheque Ontario. A successful Canadian film lasts two weeks at the Carlton, or just enough time to ensure that it's gone before you've even heard of it. So here's another chance to see the top 10 Canuck films of 2004, as vetted by a panel...

Night crawler: Parkdale.(This Month)(Brief Article)(Directory)
February 1, 2005... Queen Street's wild western frontier is prettying itself up faster than you can say yee-haw! Parkdale remains a safe place to let your hair down--no matter how greasy it is--but cut loose now, before designer denim encroaches. First stop...

Making a Mochrie: as the nimble-bodied sidekick on the comedy hit Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Colin Mochrie often stole the show with his virtuoso improv work. But offstage, the limelight is the last place he wants to be. Portrait of a chronically shy funny man.(Pop Culture)(Colin Mochrie)
February 1, 2005... COLIN MOCHRIE GOT HIS FIRST LAUGH--AND discovered his calling--when he was just 16 years old. He was an A student, intensely timid, and his friend dared him to try out for the school play, a western called The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch....

Road warriors: the Front Street extension will slice through quiet neighbourhoods, block waterfront access and dump high-voltage traffic downtown. At $256 million, it will also be Canada's costliest road. And yet it has David Miller's support. Will it become our mayor's mistake by the lake?(Politics)
February 1, 2005... WHEN JANE JACOBS FOUGHT TO STOP THE Spadina Expressway in the late 1960s, she taught Torontonians two enduring truths about inner-city highways: one is that they destroy neighbourhoods; the other is that they act like fire hoses, spraying...

Terminal velocity: the new Pearson is an architectural success and an engineering marvel. It's also the priciest urban construction project in Canadian history. How one man created the airport of the future.
February 1, 2005... AT 6:04 A.M., APRIL 6, 2004, the first flight to the new Terminal 1, from Vancouver, was met by Lot Turpen, the head of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and his nemesis, Robert Milton, the president and CEO of Air Canada. The two men had...

Sweet hearts and a cuppa joe.(Super Shopper)
February 1, 2005... Fortune's cookie Anita Hill's artful gingerbread is enough to make its store-bought relatives seem as insipid as well-tanned Arrowroots. Hill--formerly an art director at an advertising firm--bakes up her spicy treats from her...

The $40 million man: after some 30 years in the business, Ray Civello is the city undisputed salon king. How a hairstylist went from making $400 a week to heading a multimillion-dollar beauty empire.(Fashion)
February 1, 2005... IN 1989, THE TERMS "HOLISTIC MEDICINE" and "wellness" had yet to be widely absorbed into the popular epidermis. There were no Botox injections to preoccupy the rich and idle. And Aveda--an 11-year-old Minneapolis-based line of skin and hair...

Small talk: our biggest chefs are downsizing their dishes. Everybody wins: the adventurous get variety, the abstemious can eat even less, and restaurants receive better returns. Will main courses go the way of the flambe cart?(Food)
February 1, 2005... "DO YOU SEE? DO YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN? It's happened again. Just like at George. You promise the place offers only small dishes, but then you have to order them all, and we end up the way we were after that buffet in Hong Kong." "We didn't...

Here are the facts on aging skin.
February 1, 2005... Maybe you're starting to notice a wrinkle here or fine line there. You don't want to look 16 again, but it would be nice if how you look on the outside matches a little better with how you feel on the inside. You probably know you can help...

What about those anti-aging creams?(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... The shelves at the drug store are full of anti-aging creams that come with big price tags and bigger promises. Although most of these products say you'll see a significant reduction in wrinkles, there is usually limited clinical evidence to...

Top nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... In 2003, 78% of the nearly 8.3 million cosmetic procedures performed in the USA were nonsurgical. Most popular nonsurgical procedures: Botox Injection 2,272,080 Laser Hair Removal 923,200 Microdermabrasion ...

The latest in anti-aging treatments.(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... You may have heard about some of the new anti-aging treatments, like BOTOX Cosmetic[R], fillers, photorejuvenation, and others. But what do they all do? Well, each works in a different way to give you a more youthful look. BOTOX...

Which treatment is right for me?(Advertisement)
February 1, 2005... Well, that depends on what your skin needs. There are many treatments that combat different signs of aging; so many people find that a combination gets them the best results. For example, although most treatments improve the tone and texture of...

White wine.(Drink)
February 1, 2005... Willow Bridqe 2003 Reserve Sauviqnon Blanc **** 1/2 $21.95. Pemberton, Western Australia Sleek, exciting, with enough stamina to make it a front-runner--which may be why it claimed the Aussie sauvignon trophy at the 2003 Adelaide Wine Show....

Restaurants.(Restaurant Review)
February 1, 2005... A LA MODE Acqua ** When Franco Prevedello unveiled this high-end restaurant in an atrium, it seemed piazza life had arrived in Hogtown-sur-Lac. Now, amid the glare and blare of the cavernous BCE Place, which has the resonance of a...

Tidbits.(Restaurants)
February 1, 2005... It's beginning to look like the one that got away. After a much-publicized attempt to enforce a freezing requirement for all fish served raw, the Ontario Ministry of Health has made a guarded volte-face, thanks to a group of activists that...

Shopping with chefs.(Restaurants)(Didier Leroy)
February 1, 2005... Didier Leroy of Didier, 1496 Yonge St., 416-925-8588 Every chef dreams of one day running a place of his own, something small and intimate, where the guiding principle is pleasure, not profit. Didier Leroy is in just such a position; 33...

Hot chocolate.(Restaurants)(Directory)
February 1, 2005... When Cortes arrived in 16th-century Mexico, the Aztecs already considered chocolate a symbol and precious commodity: an offering to the gods, used to anoint newborns and traded as currency. Most commonly consumed as a frothed drink of ground...

Calendar.(Events & Opportunities)(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... The scoop on this month's events and promotions from advertisers: EASTER SEALS TELETHON An exciting lineup of hosts and talent! This entertaining on-air event celebrates the year's successes, recognizes generous supporters, and raises...

Disgrace under fire: Wanda Liczyk, turfed from public office November 29, 2004.(The End)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Wanda Liczyk always knew how to work the numbers. At 25, she began her career as a junior budget analyst in North York under Mel Lastman. Six years later, Mel made her the youngest city treasurer in Ontario, overseeing a staff" of 150. Just...

Adelaide Club.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Power brokers, corporate lawyers and CEOs scrip down to their spandex at this monolithic fitness centre, situated in the depths of First Canadian Place. Separate men's and women's workout zones and two sizable weight-training areas are filled...

Bally Total Fitness, Bloor.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... An escalator ride up from the see-or-be-seen Bay and Bloor corner, this Bally location is typically bright and spacious. Spanning two floors and over 35,000 square feet, the club offers a dizzying range of machines. If you don't fancy panting...

Bally Total Fitness, Eaton Centre.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Located on the fifth floor of an Eaton Centre office tower, this 30,000-square-foot sweatshop eaters to careerists looking for a quick endorphin blast before work, during lunch or after punching out. Massive windows capture the Yonge Street...

Bally Total Fitness, West Metro.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Cool and sleek, this Etobicoke gym, housed in a mirrored office building, is one el 400-odd Belly outposts in North America. The well-windowed top floor houses ellipticals, hikes, StairMasters and three rows of treadmills, plus over 90...

Bathurst Jewish Community Centre.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Set in the verdant basin that also houses the Koffler Centre of the Arts and the Leah Posluns Theatre, this 43-year-old building has an embarrassment of amenities: two six-lane pools (one indoor, one out); open-air tennis, basketball and...

Berkeley Gym.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Appropriately for its Queen East environs, the year-old Berkeley Gym is clean, crisp and no nonsense, but still suitably stylish to have been used as a set for Queer As Folk. It's an airy space with washed-out metallic walls is kept open to the...

Bloor Park Club.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... This is the snazzy sibling in the Sports Clubs of Canada family, a four-storey Club Med for the city's condo-dwelling literati. Treadmill-weight room-shower ennui is prevented by the sheer variety of offerings: two huge cardio rooms, brand new...

Cardio Loft.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Well-ventilated rooms have high ceilings, cement and hardwood floors and yellow walls. Most people come for classes and personal training; a mere five per cent stick to the circuits and weights. All in good shape, many of the 22 weight machines...

Columbus Centre.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... In addition to a 20-metre pool, five tennis courts, indoor and outdoor running tracks, three racquetball courts and five squash courts (four of them international size), there is an expansive central conditioning room wappeal to discng patrons...

Delisle Club.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Bright, big and bustling with the young professional set, this pristine space with the floors and brushed-steel trimming is not the place to wear those old ripped sweats. A full range of workout equipment is available, from the Life Fitness...

The Dunfield Club.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... With 60,000 square feet over four floors, this one's hard to beat for sheet' sprawl and variety. The luminous space boasts over 40 Life Fitness and Cybex cardio machines, some brand new, facing out onto the bustle of Eglinton Avenue. Four of...

Eclipse Fitness.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... With decor best described as an early-'90s take on futuristic cool, Eclipse exudes an aesthetic austerity that seems out of step with these yoga-loving times. Floor' to-ceiling windows wrap around its eastern and southern sides, offering a...

Epic Fitness.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Steps from Church and Wellesley, this cruisey club caters mainly to a gay male crowd, but female membership has grown quite a bit of late. Evening classes are held in the third-floor studio and include yoga, Tai Chi and Abs Attack. A smaller...

Extreme Fitness.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... High energy tunes thump out of the sound system as strutting 20- and 30-somethings cheek out the glitzy singles scene. Cardio classes are the key attraction--everything from power abs and boot camp to fusion yoga (done with the room at an...

Fitness Connection.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... This expansive 30,000-square-foot club rarely feels crowded. A recent $2.5-million renovation added a shiny new lobby and a $50,000 sound system. Also new are some of the many cardio machines, including elliptical trainers, treadmills and...

Fitness Institute.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... A sky-high retreat for the financially fit. The centrepiece of the four storey facility is a massive conditioning room with spectacular views of the lake, the islands and the west end of the city. Twenty treadmills (seven have a TV in the...

The Fitness Institute--Willowdale.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Lining the walls of this high-performance club are framed jerseys and photographs of the big-name athletes who train here: tennis star Daniel Nestor, Detroit Red Wing Kris Draper and members of our Olympic women's hockey team, to name a few....

Fitness 365.(Full-Service)
February 1, 2005... Formerly known as Monster Gym, it's a slightly tamer beast than it was a couple of years ago, with more cardio equipment and a kinder; gentler environment (both walls and sky-high metal ceiling have been painted a soothing baby blue). But make...

All about you: personal trainers.
February 1, 2005... The Benchmark Group 416-428-3536, www.benchmarkgroup.ca The personality: More than a muscle maker, director Mark Stables and his crew of up to five other trainers work with clients to improve everything from diet and stress to general frame...

GoodLife Fitness.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Dependable and omnipresent, this Canadian outfit is rather like the Gap of gyms. Spawned 26 years ago from a single club in London, Ontario, the chain now has 100 clubs across Canada (23 of which are in the GTA). Facilities (and rates) vary...

Bloor West.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Bloor West. Trading convenient locale (it's in the Manulife Centre) for space, this gym often feels cramped--a paucity of windows doesn't help. Hurried after-work crowds can turn ugly when you've overstayed your limit on the cardio machines....

McCaul.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... McCaul. This older, steadily busy location eaters to students from the nearby Ontario College of Art and Design, as well as Queen Street regulars. Teeny, half-size lockers in the too-small change room punish heavy packers; a sign-up board for...

Queen and Yonge.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Queen and Yonge. Those without a Y chromosome. get their own section in this three-level Eaton Centre outpost. A planned expansion (bringing it up to 3,200 square feet) should help ease post work congestion (especially in the change rooms);...

St. Clair and Yonge.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... St. Clair and Yonge. This sizable midtown club sports a charity-supper ring juice bar featuring such concoctions as smoothies and protein shakes. it's spacious if a hit dark due to its subterranean setting-although, as at other locations, it...

Union Station Platinum.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Union Station Platinum. Until the recent addition of Soul Fit, this was the swankiest GoodLife going. It's still a rather fine gym, boasting double-wide lockers, free towel service and spotless showers, along with floor-to-ceiling windows (in...

King's Mill Club.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Though small--no pool, running track or squash courts-and located on the mezzanine level of an Etobicoke office complex, the nine-year-old outlet of the Sports Clubs of Canada is airy and well lit, with key rooms looking out onto the street....

Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... This multi-purpose facility is named after the philanthropist who put a couple of million dollars toward transforming the centre into a bold spectacle of glass. Despite the modern new look, inside you'll get the same warmth and hospitality...

Northridge Club.(Full-service)
February 1, 2005... Cavernous fitness rooms fan out from a central lobby (with an unsettling mirrored ceiling) and extend over two floors. Red and white Cybex machines form a training circuit; close by are free weights, a Gravitron and Hammer Strength machines....