Toronto had such high hopes for the Maple Leafs, which made it all the more painful to watch as they blew a 4-1 lead over the Boston Bruins in game seven of their first playoff series in years. Today, while editors invented punny headlines (sample: “Keep Calm and Bergeron”) and local sports pundits waxed on about scaling mountains and coming back down to earth, gobsmacked Leafs fans mourned en masse and took refuge in humour. Below, a slideshow of the most agonized and hilarious reactions to the big loss.
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Slideshow: the Internet reacts to the Maple Leafs’ crushing loss
The eight coolest things Chris Hadfield did from space
(Image: Chris Hadfield)
As if being the first Canadian to walk in space wasn’t enough, astronaut Chris Hadfield has become a social media phenomenon, amassing over 912,000 followers on Twitter and over 311,000 Facebook fans, all while making the Magnum P.I. moustache cool again. To celebrate his return to earth last night after 144 days on the International Space Station, we count down the eight coolest, weirdest and awesomely-nerdiest things Hadfield did while in orbit.
Kirstine Stewart leaves the CBC to run Twitter Canada
(Image: Alan Langford)
Two and a half years after Richard Stursberg’s ouster, the CBC is once again looking to fill a void at the helm of its English-language services. News broke just after noon that head of English programming Kirstine Stewart, who introduced Can-Con gems like Dragons’ Den, Battle of the Blades and Being Erica, has left the public broadcaster for a job as managing director of Twitter’s nascent Canadian operation. The social media addict has already changed her Twitter handle from @KStewartCBC to the more neutral @kirstinestewart.
Current Obsession: stunning aerial photographs of Toronto taken from Canada’s tallest crane
(Image: Twitter)
Robert MacFarlane, a crane operator working on Daniel Libeskind’s L Tower on Front Street, tweets photos from his panoramic vantage point atop what is currently the tallest free-standing crane in Canada. His tools—a point-and-shoot camera and a smartphone—are simple, but with 365-degree views stretching as far west as Mississauga and as far north as Markham, the results are spectacular.
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Toronto’s Best Tweeters: top Twitter feeds from local entertainers, athletes and media personalities
Toronto’s Twitter-happy celebrity set supplies a constant stream of bon mots, feuds and photo scandals, so choosing our favourite social media mavens meant scrolling through thousands of tweets. We settled on 10 notables whose 140-character missives are both funny and revealing. Some are native Torontonians, others have moved here more recently and one or two have only a tenuous tie to the city (but are just too good to pass up). Here, a list of 10 Twitter virtuosos, and why we chose them.
Reaction Roundup: Rob Ford befriends an owl and reporters get excited
(Image: Facebook)
Rob Ford visited the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show yesterday, where he showed off his well-honed fishing skills, fired a gun and got spooked by a possum (we don’t blame him: those things are creepy). The mayor was in a jovial mood, clearly enjoying being the centre of attention for something that doesn’t involve a court appearance. Judging by the onslaught of articles, photos, tweets and videos from city hall watchers, they liked it too. Or, at the very least, they worked out that Ford + animals = funny, and decided to capitalize on the opportunity (naturally, so did we).
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A mysterious sneak peek at the first-ever BlackBerry Super Bowl commercial
BlackBerry has committed some serious marketing miscues in the past, but we’re intrigued by its latest PR stunt. The company tweeted a mysterious still from its first-ever (and very expensive) Super Bowl ad and asked followers “Whaaat is going on?!” We’re not sure—a Care Bear explosion? The air in Beijing? In any case, we’ll be watching on Sunday to find out. Let us know your take on the BlackBerry Super Bowl commercial in the comments.
Gawker Gotchas: the snarky site’s top six takedowns of Toronto journalists
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Do not ask Rosie DiManno about her weekend. On Saturday, the Internet took aim at one of the Toronto Star columnist’s recent pieces, and the scathing and hilarious critiques included one from the takedown specialists at Gawker, who awarded her the prize for “Worst Lede of All Time.” At least DiManno can take comfort that she’s not the first of Toronto’s writerly class to run afoul of the site. Below, we rounded up Gawker’s most angry screeds and memorable jabs at Toronto media.
Jose Canseco for Toronto mayor? The pros and cons of the ex-slugger running city hall
Toronto city politics hit a new level of crazy at just after one o’clock this morning, when legendary home run hitter and admitted steroid user Jose Canseco outlined his platform to replace Rob Ford as mayor, a feat that would fulfill item six in Canseco’s amazing list of New Year’s resolutions. The erstwhile Blue Jay mused in a semi-intelligible tweet that “Ford too much trouble to be effective gotta fix budget, traffic, get new $ not from taxes, get more new businesses, and help schools.” Alas, the world will never get to see what Toronto would look like under Canseco’s rule—since he’s not a Canadian citizen, he’s not eligible to run. Still, that didn’t stop us from imagining the benefits and drawbacks of his never-to-be mayoralty.
We launch our new commenting system—now comments are easier to make and conversations are better
Late last week, we launched Disqus, a discussion platform for our blog posts that will make it even easier for you to weigh in with your opinions on our articles. You can still post comments using an email address, but now you can also log in using a Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Disqus account and share the discussion on social media platforms. Some of our favourite features: (1) the “Comments” tab shows the comments on a post from newest to oldest with replies appearing directly after the comment to which they’re responding; (2) the “Reactions” tab shows the conversation on Twitter and Facebook; and (3) the “Community” tab lists the top discussions and commenters on Torontolife.com. The new set-up allows you to reply to and vote on specific comments, follow a favourite commenter and view users’ comment histories. We’re not the first website to use Disqus, and we definitely won’t be the last. We suggest you sign up today and start commenting. We want to hear from you.
The 10 best Toronto Halloween costumes this year (including what Karen Stintz and Margaret Atwood wore)
Karen Stintz (yes, that Karen Stintz) as Elvira, a CBC listener as Jian Ghomeshi and a very creative man as the OCADU building
Although one Maple Leaf had trouble finding an appropriate Halloween costume, there were still plenty of great disguises this year. We rounded up the best of those donned by local politicians and celebrities, as well as our favourite Toronto-centric costumes from Twitter (including a baby dressed up in a Toronto Life–approved get-up).
Pizzeria Libretto is rumoured to be opening three new locations
Outside Pizzeria Libretto’s Danforth location (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Pizzeria Libretto owner Max Rimaldi recently took to Twitter to stake an even larger claim to Toronto’s ever-growing Neapolitan-style pizza market. Though he came off cagey when we pressed him for details, he did confirm he has plans for three new locations: one in midtown, one in the financial core and another in the west end. (Rimaldi wouldn’t commit to when the new joints were scheduled to open, citing ongoing negotiations.) Queen Margherita Pizza announced in September that it’s opening two new locations of its own, which would give the Libretto rival an edge in terms of sheer quantity of pie shops (three to two!). Rimaldi’s three theoretical joints, plus his existing locations on Ossington and the Danforth, however, put him back on top. Of course, Libretto’s other main competitor, Toronto institution Terroni, is the current bricks-and-mortar champ with three actual restaurants—but no word yet of plans for expansion.
QUOTED: David Chang, on the line outside the just-opened new Momofuku Noodle Bar
what the hell is happening here @momofuku toronto? surreal twitter.com/davidchang/sta…
— Dave Chang (@davidchang) September 21, 2012
— Momofuku’s David Chang, reflecting on today’s lunch rush outside his first Toronto restaurant.
QUOTED: Rob Ford’s response to being caught reading while driving on the Gardiner
(Image: Twitter)
Yeah, probably. I try to catch up on my work and, you know, I keep my eyes on the road, but I’m a busy man.
Spotted: a photo of what may be Rob Ford in his pyjamas at Walmart
(Image: Lanny Ferreira)
We’ve learned that this photo, which purports to be Rob Ford in his jammies in line at Walmart, has been immortalized in a new book. The picture circled the Internet late last year and now appears in People of Walmart: Of the People, by the People, for the People, which is a follow-up to People Of Walmart: Shop and Awe
