If you're like me, cooking with beer generally means cracking a tall boy while your hot dogs boil. Not so much for David Ort, the Toronto-based writer behind the blog Food With Legs who has taken a decidedly more in-depth take on beer and food with his newly released Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook.

As you might assume from the name, the book, out this month and published by Whitecap Books, takes a look at the relationship between food and beer - specifically some of the great offerings available from the country's burgeoning craft brewing industry.

Cooking with beer obviously isn't a new idea, and there are other cooking with beer cookbooks on the market, but not too many are as well done as this one and, if you're looking for a cookbook that brings some refinement to the idea of cooking with beer while at the same time bringing much-deserved focus to this country's great craft brewers, there are no substitutes.

The concise collection of 75 recipes includes food ideas broken down by categories, including snacks, salads and soups, seafood, meat and poultry, sweets and desserts, and even a section on pantry items like IPA mustard and hop mayonnaise that beer lovers could conceivably use to spice up every day cooking (like say, boiled hot dogs, for example!).

While the book is clearly accessible even to those who aren't total beer nerds, you might be one by the time you've finished reading it. Ort has included a brief but informative introduction that provides a rundown of beer styles and even a short explanation on the basic ingredients of beer; all of which adds to a greater understanding of the clearly well-researched beer and food pairing ideas that follow.

As for the recipes, they tend to run the gamut from pretty basic - an IPA guacamole, for example, that includes Hop Head from BC's Tree Brewing, a Sweet and Sour Beer Nuts recipe made with 20 mLs of Porthole Porter from Winnipeg's Half Pints Brewing - to the more refined, a beer fondue, for example, made with Barrel-aged Bière de Garde from Toronto's own Bellwoods Brewery, or even a risotto with red cabbage, bacon, and apples made with Derniere Volonte from Montreal's Dieu du Ciel! Ort, however, provides step-by-step instructions in a straight-forward manner that shouldn't prove too intimidating even for the most novice of chefs/beer drinkers.

For me, what sets this book apart from others like it is that Ort's enthusiasm for craft beer comes through loud and clear. His focus, obviously, is on Canadian beer, but he frequently provides international substitutes to make the book more universal and far from simply tacking beer onto a recipe in a gimmicky way, he takes some time to explore the relationship between food and beer, even opting to intersperse his recipes with relevant Canadian beer profiles of places like Spinnaker's Brewpub in British Columbia and people like Brad Clifford, champion homebrewer, brewmaster at Get Well's nano-brewery, and co-founder of the fledgling Ontario Beer Company.

From a beer-lover's perspective, the book's an admirable achievement toward raising awareness of Canadian beer as more than something to be chugged ice cold from a pitcher alongside wings, but even if you're not a craft beer evangelical, it's probably worth checking out in order to up your dinner game. Given that it's currently listed at under $20 on Amazon.ca, you'll even have some dough left over for beer to accompany your meal - or a couple bucks to pick up some No Name hotdogs when you inevitably overcook your first Belgian witbier poached salmon.

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. You can follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson

Photo c/o Kathy Coleman

This open plan Trinity Bellwoods Victorian semi is anything but cookie cutter. Currently owned by a Toronto landscape architect and featured in local decor blogs and magazines, 18 Bellwoods Ave. has been artfully designed to bring in as much light as possible. It's bright, white and shiny, but hasn't lost any of its turn of the century charm.

This house boasts a pretty spectacular kitchen with all the industrial fixings: expansive marble countertops, concrete floors, lots of (low) storage and a bright orange recessed lighting feature. The mix of modern and natural elements is carried through to the bathrooms. The main floor powder room has a deep stone sink and long window overlooking the yard, while the second floor bathroom features a subway-tiled tub edged in marble.

Some of the other design choices are a little less successful. The painted hardwood floors are glossy and grounding in theory, but scuffed and worn in execution. The carpeted stairs might inspire a redo and that half-painted stairwell should come with its own can of primer. The backyard is long and landscaped, but bear in mind that it is all gravel and no grass.

SPECS

• Address: 18 Bellwoods Ave.
• Price: $865,000.00
• Sq. Ft: 1590
• Bedrooms: 3
• Bathrooms: 2
• Parking Spaces: 1, off laneway
• Taxes: $3,963.74 (2013)
• Walk Score: 97

NOTABLE FEATURES

• Extension recently added to back of house
• All light fixtures included (minus the tangled kitchen light and awesome faceted fixture in the living room, bummer)
• Built-in shelving system in office
• Wood-burning stove

GOOD FOR

Someone with modern design sensibilities, a sizeable contemporary art collection, and a thing for the feel of pea gravel under their feet. If you're ever nursing an urge to roll around in the grass, Trinity Bellwoods is just a two minute walk away. That close proximity to the park might turn some buyers off, but it's hard to deny that this location is a winner - TTC, restaurants, shops and bars are all in spitting distance.

MOVE ON

There's no garage and the only parking space is off the back laneway, so this house is better suited to streetcar riders than car owners. Keep space limitations in mind as well: the house only has two livable bedrooms. The third upstairs room (part of an extension) is currently an office and could be converted into a bedroom, but might not fit a twin-sized bed. It does have a sweet balcony, though - so, every cloud.

MORE PHOTOS

Read other posts in this series via our House of the Week Pinterest board.

The Mayor Rob Ford US media tour continued this morning on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. Ford (joined by his older brother of course) went with all the usual soundbites that he's "only human" and has "admitted to his mistakes". While the interview was shorter, Lauer took a more noticeably aggressive stance than the CBC's Peter Mansbridge did earlier in the evening.

Watch the video below.

We already know that the Rob Ford saga has proved fascinating for the American media, but as our controversial mayor marches on from one gaffe to the next (knocking over another councillor is a bigger deal than was made of it), the depth of US coverage has increased as the story has become more bizarre. Over and above the varioustelevisioninterviews Ford has recently done and the late night talk show bits, major publications south of the border are grappling with the Ford story and what it says about our local and national identity (thankfully in more intelligent ways than that SNL skit).

The New York Times, baffled by the ludicrous nature of the Ford story, tries to make sense of it all by highlighting Toronto's urban-suburban divide. "For the lawmakers and people of Toronto, known to much of the world as a cosmopolitan city with copious bike lanes, hockey's Maple Leafs and general placidity, the endurance of Mr. Ford, so rotund and erratic that he often appears on the brink of spontaneous explosion, has become nothing short of an obsession," Jennifer Steinhauer and Ian Austen write. "[Ford's] recent behavior, which has mortified many of his constituents, has also enhanced his appeal with many of his core voters -- working-class residents of the unified suburbs, the people he calls the Ford Nation."

The Los Angeles Times, on the other hand, takes the Ford story as a counter example to the tired cliche that all Canadians are mild mannered and boring. "This guy makes Anthony Weiner and his crotch tweets look demure. He makes Bill Clinton seem circumspect. Rob Ford is such an outlandish buffoon that he is a challenge to cartoonists. How can any caricature exceed what this man does in real life?" asks David Horsey. "The stereotype of all Canadians as passive, pale versions of robust Americans has pretty much been ripped to shreds."

But, perhaps the best of all the recent American press devoted to Rob Ford comes courtesy of Business Week. "That all of this is happening in Toronto makes the situation even more surreal. The fourth-largest city in North America - population: 2.8 million - revels in its reputation as an orderly, prosperous, 'world class' economy," writes David Sax. "But Torontonians are an insecure lot. As observers around the world ask how a city like Toronto could wind up with a mayor like Ford, locals are wondering how much damage Ford will do to Toronto."

Yep.

At Vendor Queens, the small business is king. The "pop-up market", featuring all manner of handmade and vintage goods, will be taking over part of a condo development centre (the old Thrush Holmes Empire space) at Queen and Dovercourt every weekend until the end of 2013.

Artist Caitlin Brubacher, who masterminds Vendor Queens with pal and fellow artist Mark Savoia, came up with the idea while trying to find a brick-and-mortar home for Elephant In The Attic, Brubacher's collection of found prints from vintage books (which also makes an appearance at Vendor Queens).

"There wasn't just a lot of opportunities for people making their own stuff to be able to afford the rents in places that were high-traffic enough," she said. Instead, began bringing her wares to markets, and soon realized: "I can't schlep this stuff around." Having a pop-up store that lasts for several weeks, while still allowing vendors to come and go, allows them to "nest" and carve out a space for themselves: "You can treat it like your own little store within a store."

The idea of taking pride in your business and your wares, she says, is what gave the event its name. "Basically, I don't think that there are enough spaces in Toronto to be a small-scale business owner and feel really puffed-up and proud of your product," Brubacher says. "I think that having a sustainable situation where you can build a community, build a name for yourself over time, leaves space for people to own what they're doing more, and take it to the next step. It's like an incubator."

Vendor Queens will be celebrating the launch with a "Queen's Inaugural Jubilee" bash this Thursday night at 8 p.m., with music, live performances, and interactive installations at vendor booths; the vendors are even set to dress up as regal versions of themselves. (There's even party favours: A pair of vintage deadstock underwear, silkscreened with the Vendor Queens logo.)

Sellers will come and go during the length of the pop-up; here are just a few of the vendors you might find from now until December.

THE HERB 'N HOMESTEAD
Owner/chef Sarah Gaby-Trotz, like many others at Vendor Queens, is a visual artist, but Brubacher persuaded the experienced chef to bring her vegetarian variations on the breakfast sandwich to the market. "I love farmer's markets, and that kind of homemade feel, so just getting back to that connection of food and people on a smaller scale really appeals to me," Gaby-Trotz says.That homespun approach comes through in the Herb N' Homestead's menu: chevre and pickled beets, balsamic mushrooms and cheddar, and guacamole, all served with scrambled eggs on homemade buttermilk English muffins ($8 each). She's planning to add soups later in the market for the late-afternoon crowd during upcoming weekends.

CHERRY PICKED
Cherry Picked's proprietor freely admits she uses her vintage business as an excuse to shop: "I have a bit of a passion for secondhand stores," Christa says. Her stall at Vendor Queens is packed with great secondhand threads sourced from spots around Ontario -- most dating back decades, though some are modern. Bargain hunters, take note: Prices are quite reasonable, with pieces like velour dinner jackets and mod dresses going for around $30. Quick turnover, she says, gives her more of a reason to go hunting for even more stock...

PLANTPANIC
Michael Young is giving houseplants new life through his plantpanic project. "We're making inroads to recycling all kinds of things in society, but we don't think about recycling plants," he says, adding too many are bought for cheap and left to die, or thrown out after a season ends. "I'm trying to think of them less as disposable." Young takes found or given-away plants and transfers them to discarded, repainted pots with beds of moss ($5-45). For an extra dose of whimsy, there's Young's "extinction" collection of planters -- hollowed-out shark and dino action figures painted gold ($25-35).

MADE IN BROCKTON VILLAGE
Made in Brockton Village's whimsical, hand-painted greeting cards and calendars are the brainchild of illustrator/graphic designer Marika and writer Tomas (who, true to the name, are based out of the west-end neighbourhood). You'll find adorable florals, bicycles, and a menagerie of anthropomorphic animals wishing you Happy Birthday (Marika says the fox birthday card is their most popular), all clocking in at about $5.

RULES OF REFRACTION
In addition to co-organizing Vendor Queens, Mark Savoia makes stained-glass window catchers "for our generation -- because, as I'm sure you've noticed, most window catchers are butterflies and angels." He'll be bringing his geometric creations ($60 to $200) to Vendor Queens, but only sample versions; buyers will have to order their own, since each piece takes between six and eight hours to make.

FITZY
Robin Fitzsimons didn't start out making accessories or working with leather. But after committing to making a piece of art every day for a year, the OCAD sculpture grad found herself with more than a few leatherwork pieces -- and plenty of friends telling her she should start selling them. Fitzsimons' pieces range from bow ties and jewelry to cell phone pouches, with prices ranging from $7 for an earbud holder to $65 for a sunglass case. Fitzsimons builds her pieces to last, with materials like natural leather and copper rivets and chains meant to age over time.

THE MELISSA
The Melissa was once a Queen St. store brimming with vintage collectibles; though the storefront is now gone, Melissa Levin's eponymous business still lives on at markets around Toronto. Most of the pieces, which range from housewares to retro board games to art and textiles, hover in the $10 to $75 range. However, there are a few high-priced standouts, like a massive piece of art made from intricately folded cigarette packs ($500) -- the largest of its kind she's ever seen, Levin says.

SARAH'S WOODEN SPOON
They may be made with alternative grains, fair-trade organic chocolate and sugar cane, but Sarah Fortunato's baked goods make for a perfectly sweet pick-me-up during an afternoon of shopping. Fortunato's "nutrient-dense" treats, which include lemon-cranberry shortbreads and salt caramel brownies, are made at her bakery at Dundas and Gladstone and can be found at cafes around the city; she's currently working toward opening her own storefront. (Check out the banner behind the counter for a gallery of her custom-made sculptural cakes.)

IT'S YOUR LIFE HANDMADE
Nicole Tirona makes costume jewelry with a mix of new and vintage elements. Her ornate pendant necklaces and earrings clock in at about $30 each (a fave of ours is her birdcage necklace on a beaded chain). Each piece, she says, tells its own story. There's also a selection of light switch covers featuring vintage pulp novel covers and propaganda posters; proceeds from those will fund typhoon relief in the Philippines.

Π-PI CERAMIC DESIGNS
Yep, that's "pi" twice. Cybele Stein, who quit her job in health care communications to follow her passion for ceramics, makes beautiful, inexpensive dishes, using texturized slabs and stamps to create ornate patterns and topping them off with layers of glaze to create washes of colour. All are food-grade and microwave- and dishwasher-safe, and nothing in her stall is priced over $100.

Photos by Denise McMullin

This menswear/coffee shop may be new to Ossington, but it looks and acts just like its former Dundas West location - only bigger. Now you can peruse the same heritage goods over the same fair-trade coffee, this time with a bit more leg room.

Read my profile of Lost & Found (Ossington) in the Fashion Stores section.

Not so long ago we published a post called 10 quirky things you might not know about Toronto, which highlighted various urban oddities and pseudo-secrets. The TTC makes two appearances on that list - in the form of the rarely discussed Lower Queen Station and the Cold War-era proposal that subway tunnels be used as makeshift nuclear fallout shelters - but that's really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our transit commission. We've already posted a brief history of the TTC and tracked the evolution of streetcars, buses, and subways, which collectively make for an interesting peek at the story of public transit in Toronto. This list, on the other hand, is reserved for the semi-hidden elements of the TTC story, those quirky bits of information that will give you something interesting to think about the next time you're caught in a rush hour delay on the verge of a panic attack.

The TTC once had double decker buses
Back in the 1920s, the TTC fleet sported a few double decker buses, which made for quite the open-air experience on the top level. These buses never did catch on in any meaningful sense, and sightings of them vanish in the Toronto Archives by the 1930s. What did stay on Toronto streets for much longer were the TTC trolley buses, which first made an appearance in the '20s but were introduced full scale back in 1947 and stayed on Toronto streets until the early 1990s.

The original plan for the subway called for three lines
Although Toronto didn't get a subway until 1954, there was already talk of building underground rail back in 1910. As part of a study of Toronto's transportation infrastructure, New York engineering firm Jacobs and Davies outlined a subway route for Toronto that consisted of three distinct lines: one in the west running from Dundas and Keele, a central line up Yonge to St. Clair, and an eastern route starting at Broadview and Danforth. After initial construction was complete, a connecting line across St. Clair could be built to tie the whole system together. The plan was killed by R.C. Harris in 1915, who argued that Toronto didn't need a subway, but rather more semi-rapid transit.

Yorkdale Station once had a rainbow roof
When the Spadina Line opened in 1978, public art was a major feature of the new subway stations, none more spectacular than Michael Hayden's Arc en ciel at Yorkdale, which erupted in a multicoloured pulse as trains entered the station. The installation was ultimately removed in the mid 1990s after water damage to the tubing that lined the station roof was deemed too expensive to repair. It's possible that the rainbow might return, but we're not holding our breath.

The TTC planned to abandon streetcars in the 1970s
Toronto is one of just a few major cities with its streetcar network (largely) intact. It's a good thing, too - the TTC was once actively engaged in tearing out its surface rail lines and came very close to killing them altogether The TTC's streetcar abandonment policy, were it allowed to finish as planned in the 1980s, would have slowly mothballed all of Toronto's surface rail routes with the arrival of new subway lines. The Yonge streetcar was scrapped in 1954 and the Bloor-Danforth line met the same fate in 1966. Sherbourne, Dovercourt, Lansdowne, Spadina, Rogers Road, Weston Road and Spadina (since revived) all had their tracks removed before Streetcars for Toronto, a citizen-led group of activists, managed to halt the plan for good.

North York Centre was added after the subway already went to Finch
Unlike the riders at many of Toronto's subway stations, users of North York Centre don't see much of their fellow straphangers - a thick support wall with narrow gaps separates the north and southbound platforms. The wall harks back to the time when the subway bypassed the area completely. The station was added 1987, dug out and inserted between Finch and Sheppard, more than a decade after the Yonge line reached its current terminus. While ugly, the bulky centre wall keeps odd station structure stable.

There used to be a garbage train
The least glamorous job on the subway belonged for several years to a little train nicknamed Tokyo Rose. The distinctive car with its circular windows was bought from Nippon Sharyo, a Japanese train manufacturer, in the 1960s and converted into a moving trashcan. A team of TTC workers would ride on the train, tossing bags from each station into the bare metal interior (all the better for hosing down.) Other converted subway cars shared garbage detail with Tokyo Rose until the TTC halted its in-house collection in 2000 following a fire at Old Mill station.

The TTC had different names in mind for some stations
When the Bloor-Danforth line was still in the planning stages, two stations had working titles that were different to what ended up on the official map. Dundas West was "Vincent" after nearby street erased by The Crossways development and Spadina was known as "Lowther" on paper before the arrival of its Spadina line counterpart. In the 1980s, the TTC seriously considered renaming St. Patrick "Art Gallery" after the nearby AGO. The new name would have neatly bookended Museum station but was eventually dropped after a public outcry.

The TTC used to offer Christmas Light tours
Every festive season crowds of passengers would gather at the coach terminal on Dundas in eager anticipation for a tour of the city's Christmas illuminations. The two-hour special bus service took in the best of the downtown lights as well as those in residential neighbourhoods. The TTC, which was generally more festive in the 60s and 70s, also sold commemorative token holders and ticket books over Christmas.

Etobicoke almost had its own RT line
Stand on the upper level of Kipling station opposite the bus bays and look out the window. If the TTC's expansion plans had panned out a little differently, a white ICTS train identical to the Scarborough RT might be arriving right now, releasing passengers from all over north Etobicoke into the subway. The proposed line never got beyond the planning stage but it would have likely used the Kipling hydro corridor to reach Pearson airport and York University with stops at Burnhamthorpe Road, Rathburn Road, Eglinton Avenue, Highway 401/427, Islington Avenue, Weston Road and Highway 400, according to planner Scott Haskill.

Where did the term "Red Rocket" come from?
Sorry to disappoint, but there are multiple theories on this one. Some trace the etymology to the introduction of the original red Gloucester subway cars in 1954, while others link it to the PCC streetcars (which were a maroon-ish red). Still others link the term to the Peter Witt streetcars (they were painted red), which far outdate the subway system. Thanks to Transit Toronto, we know that the term was not officially adopted by the TTC in marketing materials until the 1980s, but the origins of its unofficial usage are more difficult to pin down.

Writing by Chris Bateman and Derek Flack

Looks like Rob and Doug Ford may not have careers as cable TV hosts after all. Sun News has announced it's pulling the plug on the Fords' TV show after just a single episode despite being "by far the most successful thing, from an audience perspective, the network has ever done," according to Kory Teneycke, vice-president of Sun News, speaking to the Globe and Mail.

The TV network told reporter Simon Houpt that the episode, announced on Thursday and broadcast Monday, took 5 hours to record and another 8 to edit, making it tough to justify in terms of cost. It might also have something to do with the fact advertiser Canadian Tire balked at associating with the mayor and his brother.

According to viewing figures, around 155,000 viewers tuned in to watch Sun Media personalities Joe Warmington and Ezra Levant play nice with Rob Ford about recent controversies.

Didn't catch the Ford Nation star while it burned bright? Watch it here.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo by Tim Folkins in the blogTO Flickr pool

Toronto events on November 20th, 2013

MUSIC | Nightmares on Wax
UK producer and DJ, Nightmares On Wax (aka George Evelyn) hits the Hoxton tonight to deliver some electronic sounds that will definitely move some bodies. Evelyn is a veteran of the Warp Records artist roster, and released his first album from this project back in 1991 - A Word Of Science: The First And Final Chapter. After a hiatus of a few years, the project resumed, and has carried on successfully with live musicians filling things out live. The most recent Nightmares on Wax release is Feelin' Good, which came out in September. The Hoxton (69 Bathurst Street) 9PM.

CULTURE | Art as Survival with Antony Gormley
British sculptor Antony Gormley delivers this year's Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum this evening, and this annual event always brings prominent cultural figures out to discuss contemporary and current issues and ideas with an intelligent and interested audience. Gormley, a multi-award-winning sculptor and British Museum Trustee, will discuss the issues of climate change and the relationship between our environment and our culture, and how each can affect and change the other.
Royal Ontario Museum, Samuel Hall (100 Queens Park) 7PM $28 (Members $25 / Students $20).

THEATRE | TCDS Presents: Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Tonight at the George Ignatieff Theatre, it's the opening night of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Steve Martin's first play. Written in the early '90s, this play centers around a fictional meeting of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso at a bar called The Lapin Agile. Both are at pivotal points in their respective careers: Einstein's Theory Of Relativity is about to come to fruition, and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is a few short years away from coming to life. The play is a conversational one, with the two characters in deep discussion about life and art while interacting with a few other characters, and trying to impress an intriguing woman. The play runs until November 23rd. George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place) 8PM $15 ($10 students/seniors)

BOOKS & LIT | Totally Unknown Writers Festival
An ongoing event since 1992, The Totally Unknown Writers Festival happens tonight at The Rivoli. This is an opportunity for emerging and obscure writers to read their work before an appreciative audience, and this event brings out a considerable crowd. The festival will feature ten writers from all around the globe. A collection of the stories read tonight will appear in an anthology, published by Life Rattle, the organization responsible for putting the festival together. Come out and help keep the "oral tradition of storytelling" alive! The Rivoli (344 Queen Street West) 6:30PM $5.

Continuing

THEATRE | After Miss Julie
Red One Theatre's updated verious of August Strindberg's (once) shocking Miss Julie takes the play, set in post war England of 1945, to more overtly sexual territory, but the story of the seduction of the family's valet by the title character (or does the seduction run the other way round?) remains. Can you handle the sexual tension? The Storefront Theatre (955 Bloor Street West), Until Saturday, November 30, Tues - Sat 8:00pm & 2:00pm, $10 - $20

Also Of Note

• TorQ Percussion Quartet presents: John Cage's Sonatas & Interludes
• The Art Day Project
• The Don Valley Art Club Large & Small Holiday Art Show & Sale

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo by of Nightmares on Wax by Tracey Taylor

The 14th annual Planet in Focus Film Festival kicks off Thursday November 21st in Toronto, and what looks to be a fantastic lineup of program should be a welcome hoist up from the dismal abyss of hopelessness Fordmania has inflicted upon the city of late. The non-profit fest aims to raise awareness about issues from politics to environmental issues through film. Screenings, award ceremonies, and various events will take place all weekend at the TIFF Lightbox and the AGO Jackman Hall. From nuclear fall out to mischievous crows, here are five standout picks from the fest.

Metamorphosen
In what looks like it could have been made by master of depression Béla Tarr, director Sebastian Mez takes us to south Ural region in Russia aka "the middle of nowhere," and allows us to meet some of the residents of one of the most radioactive places on earth. The region was secretly victimized by accidents at Mayak, the first nuclear facility for the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union. It's still in operation. AGO Jackman Hall, Friday, November 22 3:45pm.

Gringo Trails
Director Pegi Vail asks: are tourists destroying the planet, or saving it? It looks like he found a mixture of both while searching the Amazon jungles, Thai beaches, and (why not) Timbuktu. Backpackers are given a chance to tell stories of ruined secret beaches and sleep overs in the desert in front of a lush and colorful background. AGO Jackman Hall, Saturday, November 23, 9:15pm.

Burning Ice
David Buckland had a unique idea to get regular people to care about climate change - sail to Greenland with musicians Laurie Anderson, Jarvis Cocker, Feist, Robyn Hitchcock, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Shlomo, KT Tunstall and Martha Wainwright; British comedian Marcus Brigstocke; artists David Buckland, Sophie Calle and Chris Wainwright; and architect Sunand Prasad (plus a host of scientists). Will the power of art and an impressive soundtrack help spread his apocalyptic warning? Tiff Bell Lightbox, Saturday November 23, 10am.

The Ghosts in Our Machine
Director Liz Marshall's documentary hopes to change the way humans perceive animals the way Food Inc helped change attitudes toward food. The film follows photographer / activist Jo-Anne McArthur, who has been photographing animals for ten years. Her investigation into the changing face of animal rights brings you up close and personal (in high def) with animals used for food and testing. Marshall has previously made films which focused on human rights and environmental issues and states she followed McArthur because "her powerful photographs invite us to consider non-human animals as individuals." TIFF Bell Lightbox, Sunday November 24, 9:10am.

Tokyo Waka
More tender looking than much of the fest's activism leaning programming, this poetic documentary is a portrait of hidden lives in Tokyo rather than an attempt at a dire warning or lesson. Amid stunning cinematography John Haptas and Kristine Samuelsons's Tokyo Waka: a City Poem studies the city's architecture and human-made nature from an emotional perspective, investigating minor crow attacks and speaking with a tofu seller, a homeless woman, and a Buddhist priest. AGO Jackman Hall, Sunday November 24, 2:30pm.

Planet in Focus Film Fest runs from November 21 - 24 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the AGO Jackman Hall. The full schedule is here. Buy tickets and passes here.

Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur (The Ghosts in Our Machine)

The latest take-down of Rob Ford on The Daily Show has got to be the best yet. Weighing in on city council's vote to strip the mayor of his powers, Ford's bull-like charge at Councillor Pan McConnell and our mayor's appearance on CNN, Stewart doesn't even have to do much more than roll his eyes after each clip to send his viewers into fits. And why not? The whole story is so preposterous that the comedy writes itself.

Thankfully, however, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart does take it a step further. In addition to biting takes on the latest Ford controversies, the bit features a trip to Toronto by correspondent Jessica Williams, who interviews Councillor John Parker, grills a token Rob Ford supporter, and smokes some crack at Dineen Coffee Co. (OK, not really on the last one).

Watch the video below.

Hey SNL, this is how you do Rob Ford comedy. Please take note.

Opened on Halloween in the space once occupied by GO Lounge, this new bar comes from the same co-owners as well as Black Pug DMK designer Daisuke Ito. Gone are the board games, replaced by a strong list of cocktails and craft beer, and some of the friendliest bartenders around.

Read my review of 1718 Bar in the bars section.

It only took a little over four months for Rob Ford to go from "cost cowboy" and "rollback viceroy" to the "drunk-driving, crack-smoking, Mayor of Toronto" in the lyrics of songwriters.

Singer and American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry wrote and performed a new song on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night - "The Ballad of Rob Ford."

In it, Daughtry sings "Batman had Robin, Lone Ranger had Tonto, but I'm the drunk-driving, crack-smoking mayor of Toronto." It has its funny moments, to be sure - but perhaps the best part is the sheer lunacy that such a song exists and was performed by a former American Idol contestant on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Like, what?

Here's the video:

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Get ready to dig a little deeper at the Metropass office in 2014 - the TTC has decided to hike the cost of a monthly pass and pack of tokens by a nickel per ride. Under the budget approved this afternoon, cash fares will remain $3.00 while tokens and PRESTO rides climb to $2.70 each. A monthly Metropass will cost $133.75, an increase of $5.25.

Put another way, the price of a Metropass will represent the equivalent of 49.5 pre-paid trips, up from 48.5, a 5-cent increase per journey.

But why raise prices at all?

"It really comes down to service," says TTC spokesman Brad Ross. "We're looking at 540 million trips next year, which means we have to put the service on the street to meet that ridership demand, and that necessitates increased costs - more operators, more maintenance personnel, more fuel costs, increased energy costs."

"As ridership goes up so too do our costs, and that's essentially how we set our budget."

In other words, none of the extra money will be spent on new subway lines, trains, or other major expansions to the system.

94 per cent of TTC revenue comes from the fare box - the rest comes from advertising and fees for providing a limited amount of transit service outside city limits. Fare income covers about 78 per cent of day-to-day operating costs.

Despite a planned $17-19 million increase this year, which still needs council approval, the system remains the least subsidized in North America relative to the number of people it serves. The TTC receives receives no funding from the provincial or federal governments and just $411 million from the city, equal to 78 cents per rider.

For comparison, Montreal, the second least subsidized system by passenger numbers, gets $1.16 per rider. GO riders are propped up by a $1.28 contribution from the province. York Region transit, meanwhile, receives $4.49 per rider. The chart below from the TTC budget illustrates the current situation.

"One could argue our subsidy has been flatlined at $411 million, which really amounts to a cut because ridership has gone up but the subsidy has remained flat," Ross says.

"Even with the fare increase we're still facing a $6 million shortfall in our operating budget, but we feel that through efficiencies and other savings we can make that up."

Ross says the TTC with Toronto's city manager and chief financial officer will begin lobbying the provincial and federal governments for "long-term, sustainable, predictable funding."

"This is not sustainable - you cannot sustain an operating budget of this magnitude for a transit system of this size with a subsidy that is this low."

The new prices will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: Mike Rotenberg/blogTO Flickr pool, TTC, Chris Bateman/blogTO

The city will begin auctioning off its vast stockpile of old road signs next year, but not at the $30 starting price suggested in May. Owning a piece of Toronto's wayfinding heritage will cost a minimum of $100 once the city finds a way to manage the bidding process, the public works committee decided today.

The city current has more than 1,200 signs - some of them dented, bent, or too damaged to be of practical use, others made redundant by newer designs - in storage on Eastern Avenue. Since the look of Toronto's street signs was harmonized in 2007, the city says it has received more than 3,500 requests to buy an old piece of the streetscape.

Right now the requests have all been made informally via calls to the office. The city plans to dedicate a portion of its website next year to handle road sign requests (we'll provide an update when that happens).

When the online auctions go live in 2014, bids on individual signs will be accepted for a total of 60 days. Any that go unsold will be scrapped "in an environmentally responsible manner."

A note for would-be pranksters: The city says it will make the owners of old road signs sign a waiver promising not display the signs on the street "in such a way as to confuse road users." The kill-joys.

Earlier this year the city let us rummage through the street signs it had on offer. Check out the pictures here.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Chris Bateman/blogTO

Photo by Kyra Savolainen in the blogTO Flickr pool

Toronto events on November 21th, 2013

MUSIC | Lou Reed: Live Memorial Tribute
If you still can't believe Lou Reed is gone, you're not alone. From "Heroin" to "Perfect Day," here's your chance to pay tribute to one of rock's last beacons of integrity with Toronto bands By Divine Right, Andre Ethier (Deadly Snakes). Flowers Of Hell, Steven Leckie (The Viletones), Ostrich Tuning, Suitcase Sam, Patti Cake, Lily Frost, Jesse Laderoute (Blonde Elvis), Broken Bricks, Autumn Stones. The Silver Dollar (486 Spadina Ave,) 8pm, $5.

FILM | Planet in Focus Film Festival
The 14th annual Planet in Focus Film Festival kicks off tonight. A fantastic lineup of program should be a welcome hoist up from the dismal abyss of hopelessness Fordmania has inflicted upon the city of late - the non-profit fest aims to raise awareness about issues from politics to environmental issues through film. Screenings, award ceremonies, and various events will take place all weekend. From nuclear fall out to mischievous crows, read our preview of the fest here. November 21 - 24, TIFF Bell Lightbox and AGO Jackman Hall, various showtimes and prices.

MUSIC | Soupcans & Strange Attractor double release party
Heads up, Soupcans' Parasite Brain EP is fucking great. They're calling it "6 more tunes about mental problems, dental hygiene, futuristic dystopias and altered consciousnesseses" but I'm calling it "dirty goth hardcore basement hey guys let's trash City Hall." Do the door deal with the EP because it kills. Strange Attractor will also release their new psychpunk EP Back to Cruel World, and Wrong Hole will play too. Double Double Land (209 Augusta) 9pm. $7 or $10 with EP.

ART | The White House Studio Project Members' Show: Space and Place
The White House Studio Project will host their first annual members' show and open house tonight. About a dozen different artists will show with incorporating a theme of space and place - our "physical and psychological relationship to space, how a sense of place is defined by each of us as individuals, and how our sense of place shifts in response to our experiences, identity and relations that develop within a given space." The White House (277.5 Augusta Avenue) 7pm.

FASHION | ReFashioned 2013: A NIght of LIve Fashion and Cabaret Show
Local Buttons' jewellery and accessories collection launch party is tonight from 8 pm until the wee hours of the morning. Sip local brews and make eyes at the DJ while shopping the new line at The Great Hall. It doesn't stop there - body painting and a cabaret dance show are on the bill to. A percentage of proceeds will go straight to H.E.R.O, an aid organization for orphans and street kids in Haiti. The Great Hall (1087 Queen St W,) 8PM, $30.

Also Of Note

• Leslieville Wanderlust
• Rosie the Rebel Holiday Style Event
• Vendor Queens Night Market

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Details of thousands of tapped phone conversations recorded as part of Project Brazen 2, the ongoing Toronto police investigation into Mayor Rob Ford, have been ordered released by a Superior Court judge. Though Ford's name is reportedly mentioned in the transcripts, his voice is not heard. 59 people had their calls monitored during the summer as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Star reports Sandro Lisi attempted to contact a person nicknamed "Juiceman" shortly after news broke about the crack video. Lisi also dialled the same number shortly after Rob Ford's cellphone was reported missing on April 20. The same day he also contacted several Ford staffers. More wiretap information could be released next week.

It turns out Rob Ford's new fitness trainer, who he says will help him get "bigger arms," is a convicted steroid trafficker who is banned from training in Canada. The National Post reports that Valerio Moscariello, who also goes by Valerio Mosca, was convicted in the U.S. in 2005. Moscariello posted (and later deleted) a picture of an exercising Rob Ford to Instagram yesterday morning.

The Ford scandal seems to be having an effect on the city's finances. Bloomberg says the negative press surrounding the mayor is "driving up borrowing costs and threatening to delay fixes to North America's second-worst traffic congestion." The interest rate on bond payments has climbed recently by 0.04 base points, apparently, when borrow costs should have fallen.

Two men have been charged after a police safely detonated a pipe bomb in the Entertainment District early Tuesday morning. Cops said the arrest came after a 5-month investigation into a series of arson attacks in Liberty Village, the Entertainment District, the Junction and the Fashion District. The device was found in the trunk of a car during a traffic stop at King and Peter.

Ford might not have allies left, but fictional TV anchor Ron Burgundy is on the mayor's side. On Conan last night, Will Ferrell (in character) sang the 2014 official campaign song for his "dear, dear friend Rob Ford." "I hold him in the highest regard, he's the best," he said before launching into a rendition of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend" - flute solo and all.

IN BRIEF:

• Elite Canadian squash player killed cycling to training facility [Toronto Sun]
• Missing elderly couple found safe [Toronto Star]
• Pan Am Games costs edging up, opposition warns [CBC]
• Raptors beat 76ers, move into 1st place in Atlantic Division video [CBC]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Jack Landau/blogTO Flickr pool.

This new gym near Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton provides CrossFit training along with additional wellness services in an unexpectedly upscale environment. Well educated staff foster a strong community vibe and sense of confidence in the gym's training techniques.

Read my review of CrossFit Metric in the fitness section.