Toronto Life articles from May 2000

Toronto Life archives from May 2000

Bionic man: weird science: U of T professor and wearable computer pioneer Steve Mann.
May 1, 2000... Bionic Mann I imagined him to be the dyspeptic type, a computer geek version of James Dean, a Rebel Without a Cause 2.0. In pictures, he looks like a street thug, as if he poses exclusively for mug shots. His head is usually tilted...

Reality check (National Post media columnist publishes Eminent Canadians).
May 1, 2000... With friends like these Warning: If you are a journalist, you may already be John Fraser's friend. The media columnist for the National Post, whose aptly titled book Eminent Canadians comes out this month, does throw the kinder, gentler F word...

City state (lacrosse fans support Canada's only team in the North American league, Toronto Rock).
May 1, 2000... Lacrosse breed Players clash on the field as the palm-sized white rubber ball zips past the goaltender into the net. The Rockettes cheerleading squad, in red sequined sports bras and black stretch pants with flared cuffs, backflip onto the...

This issue (journalists cover littering, Mississauga politics and actor Paul Gross).
May 1, 2000... PERHAPS YOU'VE HAD THIS EXPERIENCE. YOU'RE DRIVING along and notice something--a paper cup--fly out the window of the car ahead. It's a common sight, but still irritating, even when it's only a cigarette butt. But wait: the car has discharged...

Plot trysts (film director Jeremy Podeswa appears at Inside out, the annual gay and lesbian film festival).
May 1, 2000... "Romance. That's the glorified name we give to some of our most sublime mistakes," Those sardonic words belong to David Roche, the narrator of Jeremy Podeswa's 1983 short film David Roche Talks to You About Love, a candid exposition of one gay...

Going the distance (Larry Towell's Mennonite photos are on exhibit at the Stephen Bulger Gallery).
May 1, 2000... Canadian documentary photographer Larry Towell is Irresistibly drawn to social subjects--a territorial crisis festering in Gaza, for Instance, or an economic dream turned nightmare in El Salvador. Once there, he freeze-frames isolation, fatigue...

Floor, please (the Flatiron Building opens its doors to the public to experience Toronto's first electric elevator).
May 1, 2000... The image of the shiplike Flatiron Building, parting Front and Wellington at its prow, is usually admired from the street. On May 27 and 28, the event Doors Open invites us in. There, participants can take Toronto's first electric elevator, one...

Shadow boxer.
May 1, 2000... BREAKING THE WAVE If Toronto is a character in Steven Heighton's first novel, The Shadow Boxer, she is a sniggering careerist with a penchant for the bottle and belittling her friends. Not exactly someone you want to draw into your inner...

E-mazing Scott Paterson: before he came along, Yorkton Securities was bush league.
May 1, 2000... Before he came along, Yorkton Securities was bush league. He was the first to see the fortune to be made in high-tech stocks. No wonder the big boys on Bay Street look down their noses at him ON A WEDNESDAY EVENING IN MID-FEBRUARY, the...

Cure: traditional cancer treatments are aimed at killing the disease globally, even if it means almost killing the host ... Jeremy Carver and his team of researchers have discovered a better way.
May 1, 2000... Traditional cancer treatments are aimed at killing the disease globally, even if it means almost killing the host. Slowly, quietly, amazingly, Jeremy Carver and his team of researchers have discovered a better way--an off switch. We're this...

Her town, her rules: she's been running Mississauga for 22 years, and at 79 she has no plans to retire.
May 1, 2000... SHE'S BEEN RUNNING MISSISSAUGA FOR 22 YEARS, AND AT 79 SHE HAS NO PLANS TO RETIRE. ON THE CONTRARY, THE DIMINUTIVE, SCRAPPY HAZEL McCALLION HAS ONE MORE FIGHT TO WIN INTERIOR OF AN INTERVIEW GOING BADLY. TALKING POINT: the Burnhamthorpe...

Hockey lite in Canada.
May 1, 2000... Shayne Maxwell is in a parking lot next to the cement tennis court turned ball hockey surface at Silverthorn Junior Public School, near Eglinton and Keele. He's blowing on his hands against the wintry chill and strapping himself into goalie...

Wasteland (photo essay of Toronto litter by photographer Ruth Kaplan).
May 1, 2000... When I down my litter-strewn stretch of St. Clair West these days, that fabled Toronto the Clean story seems to taunt the present--you know, the one about the overzealous city workers who removed the prop garbage in an alley where a film crew...

Hose of repute (the York Club).
May 1, 2000... Although a declining influence on the Canadian elite, the York Club--that magnificently aloof Romanesque relic of the robber baron era--still stirs awe in the hearts of the masses who will never cross its threshold. Originally the home of...

Gross encounters: on the way to writing a profile of Paul Gross, the author discovers his fans are the real story.
May 1, 2000... On the way to writing a profile of Paul Gross, the author discovers his fans are the real story. Reflections on celebrity worship, Internet love, and Canada as the Holy Land SOMETIME IN 1995, I WALKED INTO THE Patrician Grill, a diner on...

New school of thought: a few tears were shed when they tore down Eglinton Public School, an Edwardian classic. Then teachers and students got a load of architect Stephen Teeple's new design.
May 1, 2000... A few tears were shed when they tore down Eglinton Public School, an Edwardian classic. Then teachers and students got a load of architect Stephen Teeple's new design. No one's crying now WHEN THE EGLINTON PUBLIC SCHOOL teachers asked their...

Sweet and lowdown.
May 1, 2000... Ivana Santilli When Ivana Santilli released her first solo record last year, she named it Brown--because music, say the trumpet-playing jazz-soul singer-songwriter, must be "organic and earthy." Same goes for her personal style. Just add a...

Inner sanctums: Agora's has rare sculptures, Langdon Hall's a conservatory, Zoom's a separate entrance. Inside the best private dining rooms.
May 1, 2000... PRIVACY. THE GREEKS DON'T HAVE A WORD for it. The nearest they get to "private" is monachios, with its connotations of monasticism, or idiotikos, which speaks for itself. A convivial lot, the Greeks, especially when it comes to eating. Even in...

Tasting notes.
May 1, 2000... These notes list producer-shipper, agent (and telephone), CSPC number (V indicates a Vintages bottle), price per 750 mL and region. Consignment bottles are generally brought in by the case from the agent. Rating is on a five-star system that...

Brothers Restaurant and Tavern.
May 1, 2000... August 25, 1979--May 6, 2000 Beef barley soup, chicken pot pie, corned beef and cabbage--my mother made them all, but I haven't missed her cooking in 15 years, not since I've been going to Brothers. Everyone else in the neighbourhood...