Toronto Caribbean Carnival launch 2023

Nathan Phillips Square is the venue for the 2023 launch of the Caribbean Carnival on Tuesday, July 10 beginning at 11am when dozens of mas dancers and band members will come out in full regalia to build excitement for the upcoming carnival season.

As festival season kicks off at City Hall with the official launch it's time to get excited about the massive party that is headed to Toronto with the Grande Parade taking place Saturday, August 5 at Exhibition Place and Lake Shore Boulevard.

From the Carnival website "There is an array of performances by popular Caribbean music artists. It is a cultural showcase and celebration of the creative spirit of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. The Band Leaders for the parade showcase their elaborate costumes that will be presented in the Parade. As well, you will be able to taste some of the Caribbean's traditional and favourite foods that will be available at many of the Festival events."

See more mas costumes after the jump.

Baskin-Robbins and the Ultimate Take-Home Sundae

I don't know if you know that July is National Ice Cream Month but the tip off should be the toasty warm temperatures! Baskin-Robbins Canada, fine purveyors of ice cream recently held a media launch of their new line up of Ultimate Take-Home Sundaes and they were very, very tasty. Plus we got to see one of their newest stores at 1029 King Street West (at the corner of Shaw Street), with their newest store design in Toronto.

The limited time offer of three ready to eat sundaes, available in 12 ounce packs are Cookie Dough Deluxe, Caramel Cookies 'n Cream and Chocolate Brownie Deluxe, each costing $9.99. The sundaes certainly live up to their tagline "Scoop the Joy!"

The sundaes were split open so you can see how loaded these sundaes are

“Going to the ice cream shop has always been an adventure,” says Natalie Joseph, spokesperson for Baskin-Robbins in Canada. “But now, more than ever, our guests can bring the party home. I’ve tasted the flavours and watched as others have dug in, and I can tell you the reaction is priceless. Cookie Dough Deluxe features five layers of indulgence including Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream, chocolate fudge, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, more chocolate fudge and topped with cookie dough pieces. Caramel Cookies ‘n Cream features Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream, caramel sauce, Chocolate Chip ice cream, more caramel sauce and is topped with Oreo® cookie pieces. Chocolate Brownie Deluxe features Peanut Butter ‘n Chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge, Pralines ‘n Cream ice cream, more chocolate fudge and bite-size chocolate brownie pieces."

These tasty products come from Baskin-Robbins which was started in 1945 by two ice cream lovers that will be celebrating 52 years in Canada in just a short while. I found out that they have a ice cream library that features 1,400 flavours but I am unsure if you need a library card to take out the ice cream.

The media seemed to love ice cream

World Press Photo 2022 at Brookfield Place

Large scale photographs sit under the white arch of the Allen Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place. It is another year of powerful photos from the annual World Press Photo Contest which celebrates the best of documentary photography and photojournalism. This stop on the worldwide tour showcasing the "stories that matter" during the 65th annual contest remains at Brookfield Place until October 26.

From the World Press Photo website, "Selected by an independent jury out of 64,823 entries by 4,066 photographers from 130 countries, the 2022 World Press Photo Contest regional winners are 24 photographers from 23 countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Russia, Sudan, and Thailand."

Columbia, South America: Police arrests during evictions of people from the San Isidro settlement, by Vladimir Encina

From the Book of Veles by Jonas Bediksen of Norway. The lady pictured is not real, she is a product of computer-generated 3D models for a documentary on fake news - where all the content of the book was fake

Women make camouflage gear for snipers in the Ukrainian army, by Guillaume Herbaut of France

An old high tech newspaper box

I found this credit card friendly newspaper box many years ago, sitting proudly in front of Union Station. I don't remember it staying very long and I have never seen another in the financial district or around the Eaton Centre since. Maybe this high tech box started the newspaper on the road to ruin.

As newspapers go out of business or have moved to an online only model the boxes have been disappearing from the streets faster than you can say "time for a covid lockdown". Since this box made a brief appearance in Toronto the Sun Newspaper chain was sold to Postmedia.

According to News Media Canada about 19 million newspapers per week were circulated in Canada (free and paid, 2021 data) while in 2009 this number was almost 37 million, a slight drop of almost 50%. Things should pick up next week though!

You know what we also don't see much of anymore - it's the TRUMP building on Bay Street, seen in this photo being built. In 2017 the building was sold and rebranded.

CBC Superfan Weekend

Toronto's CBC building at Front and Wellington Streets is full of fans meeting their favorite celebrities during three days of meet and greets and Q and As. Starting Friday, January 18 (7-11pm) and continuing Saturday, January 19 (11am-5pm) and finishing Sunday, January 20, 2019 (11am-5pm). CBC Superfun Superfan Weekend was a fantastic way to get close to some Canadian celebrities.

Michele

Michele, Dianne and the host

On Sunday Ann and I are here to see stars from Dragons Den in the morning and Murdoch Mysteries later in the afternoon. Dragon Den starts Arlene missed due to sickness and Vincenzo Guzzo was also unable to attend due to the snowstorm. Host Dianne Buckner and Dragon Michele Romanow did take part in the show, joined by Molly the Producer, for some interesting inside information and stories about the Den. From Murdoch Mysteries the main star William Murdoch, or Yannick Bisson, showed up for a funny and information meeting with fans.

Yannick

Tweets The Sunday fun started at 11am and will finish up at about 5pm. The tickets were free, you just had to sign up on eventbrite. After the show you got a swag bag of CBC merch and the studio was full of awesome photo opportunities and installations.

Some of the interesting photo opportunities

CBC Superfun Superfan host Maggie Cassella

World Press Photo 2018

The best of the best of the best. Pictures that capture the world, good and bad, return to Brookfield Place as part of the prestigious, annual photography competition. The photos speak for themselves.

Alessio Mamo, Italy. War portraits

Ronaldo Schemidt, Venezuela

From the World Press Photo website; "We showcase stories that make people stop, feel, think and act. We encourage diverse accounts of the world that present stories with different perspectives. We exhibit those stories to a worldwide audience, educate the profession and the public on their making, and encourage debate on their meaning. We are a global platform connecting professionals and audiences through trustworthy visual journalism and storytelling."

Adam Ferguson, Australia: Boko Haram, Aisha was assigned a suicide bombing mission

Thomas Peschak, Germany/South Africa: nature

See more of my favourite photos from the 2018 exhibition after the jump.

Doors Open Toronto 2018

#DOT18 might be free but almost everything comes with a price, yours should you chose to accept it, is the time spent in lineup at some of the popular attractions. Still it is fun to check out a few places that you might not otherwise get to see. City Hall had several areas as part of the event such as the Interactive Lego Experience, Virtual Doors Open and Concept to Creation: An exhibition of Canadian costume art and design. The them for 2018 was Film: The Great Romance and the film and television attractions took centre stage.

Concept to Creation, costumes from The Strain

Waiting to get into Massey Hall

At the CityTV building

See more DOT after the jump.

Clean Toronto Together 2018

Mayor John Tory helped to launch the upcoming Clean Toronto Together event starting April 20. Over 200,000 residents and businesses join together to clean away litter and other debris long hidden by winter’s snow cover.

Spring cleaning begins with School Cleanup Day and the Corporate 20-Minute Makeover on Friday, April 20. Then the 15th annual city-wide cleanup of public spaces happens from Saturday, April 21 to Sunday, April 22 and is ‘Canada’s largest spring cleanup.’ 

Mayor John Tory, right

Sponsors, volunteers and the Mayor joined the media on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at Nathan Phillips Square to talk about the need for the event and to promote everyone to join the movement.

"Every year, Clean Toronto Together sets new records for community participation, which is a testament to the people of Toronto and the pride we take in our great city," said Mayor Tory. "I encourage everyone to get involved in our spring cleanup and to make an effort every day to keep our city clean and green. Sponsors and partners include lead sponsor Glad Canada, Pizza Pizza, Tim Hortons, Toronto Star, Global News, Global News Radio, Metroland Media, Metro News, Park People, Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Bag2School."

"GLAD Canada is delighted to be part of the City's cleanup for the eighth year in a row. It's wonderful to see more residents, communities and schools pitching in every year," said Mike Pilato, General Manager of Clorox Canada, which owns the GLAD brand. "The simple act of spending just 20 minutes cleaning an area in your community can make a huge difference and make Toronto an even more beautiful and vibrant city."

When you register you will be supported with garbage, recycling bags and special litter collections.

Current registration numbers (as of March 27):
221 Community Cleanups
376 School Cleanups
133 Corporate Cleanups
149,110 Volunteers

And here is the city's press release about their Community Environment Days starting April 7:

The City's 27th annual Community Environment Days start on Saturday, April 7. These events, hosted by local Toronto City Councillors, encourage the correct and safe disposal of waste, promote the reuse of materials through donations, and provide residents with an opportunity to learn about waste diversion, water conservation and other environmental initiatives.

Community Environment Days allow residents to safely dispose of items that do not belong in the City's Blue Bin recycling or Green Bin organics waste diversion programs. These include items such as household hazardous waste, home healthcare waste and electronic waste. The events also provide an opportunity to bring specific items for donation to local schools and shelters. Free compost is available for pickup, to a maximum of one average car trunk load per household. Residents are also encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for local food banks.

"Community Environment Days are an opportunity for residents to participate in the City's waste diversion programs and learn how they can do their part to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by properly disposing of or donating items," said Councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25 Don Valley West), Chair of the City's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee.

"Improper disposal of items such as household hazardous waste, healthcare waste, textiles and electronics is a huge problem in the city," said Jim McKay the City's General Manager of Solid Waste Management Services. "In 2016, approximately 52,000 tonnes of materials was incorrectly placed in Blue Bin recycling and there continues to be a high percentage of material in the garbage that could have been diverted from landfill. Through education, policies and programs such as Community Environment Days, the City promotes and educate people on reuse, recycling and proper waste disposal."

Community Environment Days are a partnership between the City's Solid Waste Management Services, Environment and Energy, and Toronto Water divisions, and Orange Drop, Ontario's Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste program.

Event dates and lists of approved items for drop-off and donation is available at http://www.toronto.ca/environment_days or call 311.

Breakfast Television Live with Mini-Wheats

@BTtoronto is filming their show in Yonge-Dundas Square as visitors play games and enjoy samples of Kellogg’s frosted breakfast cereal. Co-Hosts Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese are bundled up against the cold with temperatures of -10 C in the city so the cereal served with hot milk hits the spot. You could also pick up free boxes of cereal and winter touques.

Dina

The show is on City TV and has partnered with Mini-Wheats for the Wednesday, January 24. Filming took place in the morning between 7am and 9am.

Theresa Longo and the Ring of Fire

Mining Minute videos featuring marketing strategist, actress and model Theresa Longo have created quite a firestorm in the news as media outlets are crying out about her wearing a bikini during one of the videos. Maclean's, CTV, Huffington Post, local newspapers and other outlets have all carried articles specifically about the 'Interesting Facts about the Ring of Fire' YouTube video below.

The Toronto Star proclaims "Canadian mining company defends racy promo video slammed for being archaic" while the Toronto Sun suggests "Bikini-clad Ring of Fire video blasted as 'archaic'". Interesting enough, archaic means out of date or behind the times - using sex to sell, ironic indeed for the Toronto Sun which still maintains their Sunshine Girl and has featured Theresa as a Sunshine Girl on numerous occasions. Luckily it gives the papers a chance to show pictures of the girls. Her friend Ashley is also in the video and she has been a Sunshine Girl as well.

Theresa has made a number of the videos promoting KWG Resources where she interviews participants in the mining industry. They made the Ring of Fire fact video while up on vacation at a cottage and she refers to the uproar over the video on her twitter account: ‏"@TheresaLongo : Um @womenwhorockWWR why is everyone sexualizing it? We were @ the cottage (100 degrees)want us in coats? We were NOT trying to "be sexy" SMH"

I was lucky enough to photograph Theresa down at Toronto's Harbourfront area when she was being sexy and include some of the photos here, Otherwise you can check out the Mining Minute videos and learn about the geology, investment opportunities and job creation among the many topics explored in the series which are produced and hosted by Theresa.