Geeks, gamers, circuit benders, and new media art-heads may not always find the spaces to overlap, which makes Vector Game Art & New Media Festival's third year in Toronto all the more exciting.

Running from February 18-22 at Interaccess, Bento Miso, and Videofag, the multi-venue fest will feature a huge game art centric exhibit, plus music performances, early computer animation screenings (hint: Star Wars tie-in), a new media panel, the return of workshop GlitchJam, and a live action laser maze.

Many Canadian geeks will know co-director Skot Deeming through his Broken Pencil column Error State. Deeming saw a divided gaming art world, and aims to remedy that through the festival. "For me, Vector is about creating a critical bridge between experimental works in games and connecting it to larger new media art practice. It speaks to digital interdisciplinary, rather than say, the disciplinary siloing that often occurs in the arts. Vector is inclusive, rather than reductive in this way."

Deeming explaines how this year the fest will push for fan and artist integration even more: "Our exhibition To Utilily and Beyond: Interface Experiments in New Media and Game Art speaks well to this, I think. As does our evening of performance (Computer Music{s}), which cuts across a broad spectrum of what 'computer music' can be: electro-acoustic, acousmatic, code driven, hardware driven, etc."

Then there's Daniele Hopkins' and Kyle Duffield's live-action laser game the L.E.A.P. Engine, where players "try to outwit a mysteriously challenging game sentience that has seemingly evolved for one purpose - to put humans in dangerous circumstances." Play it one night only amid craft beer, snacks, prizes and more at Dames Making Games' Killer Interfaces fundraiser party on Friday February 20th.

Vector 2015 runs from February 18-22. Many events are free or PWYC. Learn more on their website.

WayHome festival, the outdoor mega-fest styled after (and by the producers of) Bonnaroo set to land in Toronto this summer, has revealed its line up. The festival, actually running outside of the GTA at Burl's Creek Event Grounds a short drive north of Barrie, will run from July 24th - 26th and feature headliners Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Alt-J, Modest Mouse, and Hozier, along with nearly 100 other artists.

Also on the massive lineup thus far are Bassnectar, The Decemberists, Passion Pit, St. Vincent, Girl Talk, Vance Joy, Future Islands, Odesza The Gaslight Anthem, Walk The Moon, Run The Jewels, Kaytranada, Hey Rosetta!, G-Eazy, Sylvan Esso, Danny Brown, Big K.R.I.T, Timber Timbre, Benjamin Booker, Courtney Barnett, How to Dress Well, SZA, Viet Cong, Com Truise, and more.

Local acts include METZ, Alvvays, Sloan, The Sheepdogs, Evening Hymns, Fucked Up, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and July Talk.

Why Toronto, and why now? Ashley Capps, CEO of AC Entertainment, who've partnered with Republic Live for the Ontario event, answers: "Toronto is an amazing city and the numbers speak for themselves. The art, culture and entertainment scene in Toronto is very strong. It's a good market tuned into what we do and we feel will embrace a festival of this nature."

The story behind the online-lodging-finder reminiscent festival name (changed from the initial Home Away to WayHome) is just as precious. Shannon McNevan, Executive Director or Republic Live, tells us: "The goal of the festival was to create an atmosphere that would celebrate life and engage people to explore their own creative process. When we went through the list of places that encouraged people to do that we kept coming back to themes that revolved around being home. So the 'WayHome' seemed like the perfect fit."

So, no, it's not a riff on you, mud covered and bleary-eyed, trying to find a way home from Barrie in late July.

While Lamar's performance is exciting, it's harder to hype Sam Smith, Run the Jewels, or St. Vincent to Torontonians - it will be great for fans to see them again, but all three acts and more were just in town, while an overwhelming number of names on the roster are festival fodder who made the rounds here last summer. The air of predictability around the lineup isn't exactly surprising, but it would have been nice to see more wild cards - not to mention a female headliner.

Will you make the trip to Toronto's Bonnaroo? Let us know in the comments.

WayHome runs July 24 - 26 at Burl's Creek Event Grounds. Tickets are on sale for the general public February 16. Enter to win tickets via blogTo here in our contests section.

Photo of Kendrick Lamar by Theo Wargo via theboombox.com

It's fun to watch Toronto intersections change and evolve. The ability to scroll forward and backward through time on the popular Esri historical map of the city is an excellent illustration of how the old city has expanded beyond its former boundaries, but maps and plans only tell part of the story. Photos help fill the gaps, illustrating how the places we know came to be.

While some transformations have been dramatic--Danforth east of Pape, for example--others have remained, against the odds, relatively untouched: King and Spadina has sported the same cluster of buildings at its northwest corner for more than a century and Queen and Broadview remains familiar thanks to Dingman's Hall (Jilly's to its friends.)

Here are 10 more intersections as they were (roughly) 100 years ago.

See also: 10 key Toronto intersections as they were 100 years ago

Queen and University
In 1924 when this photo was taken, University ended abruptly at Queen, just south of the Boer War memorial. It wasn't until 1931 that the road was extended south to Front as part of a scaled back beautification plan for the downtown core. Had it been fully realized, several Parisian-style avenues and a grand interchange reminiscent of Picadilly Circus would have been built south of Queen between Simcoe and Yonge. Today, the Canada Life Building dominates the same view.

Baldwin and Kensington
The corner of Baldwin and Kensington on October 7, 1919 looking west. Kensingtons espresso bar has replaced the home on the left. There's still a grocery store on the corner behind the boy, albeit in a different building. When this photo was taken Kensington was a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood. Kosher butchers, grocers, and bakers lined the narrow streets of tightly packed Victoria homes. By the end of the 1920s, Kensington would be the centre of Jewish life in Toronto.

King and Spadina
Considering more than a century has passed, the northwest corner of King and Spadina looks remarkably similar. The Falconer Hotel is still standing as the closed Global Village Backpackers (the historic building is currently being renovated and will later be office and retail space.) In the early years of the 20th century the Spadina streetcar didn't have its own right of way and only reached as far south as King.

Danforth and Pape
Danforth and Pape looking like a frontier town on July 7, 1913. The same view today, at the east end of Greektown towards Donlands, is completely unrecognizable. Those winding tracks would become the Danforth streetcar line and eventually the Bloor-Danforth subway. Within 10 years of this photo both sides of the Danforth beyond Pape would be developed.

Eastern and St. Lawrence
Construction of the Eastern Avenue ramps over the Don River has completely changed the streets interaction with St. Lawrence St., a small and once heavily industrial street that runs south from King. The old intersection is currently under heavy construction, but when the West Don Lands is development is complete this view will include a new park.

Queen and Broadview
Queen and Broadview has been a key transit interchange for almost as long as Toronto has had streetcars. Today, the intersection is where the 504 King and 501 Queen streetcars go their separate ways, but in June, 1918, it also served the defunct Broadview line. That year Dingman's Hall was home to a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada on the ground floor and conventional hotel rooms above. By the 1970s the building had completed its transformation into bawdy strip club.

Eglinton and Old Forest Hill Rd.
A hundred years ago, Eglinton near Bathurst was a tree-lined strip, unpaved and quiet enough that one could walk down the middle of street without fear of being run over. Judging by the hill in the background, I would guess this image was taken at the present-day intersection of Eglinton and Old Forest Hill Rd. In 1913, both sides of Eglinton had been subdivided, but little had been built. Even a decade later very little had been built in this area.

Eglinton and Yonge
Further proof that Eglinton was almost completely undeveloped a century ago, this view of the south side of the street just west of Yonge shows fields and trees. The construction work being carried out here is likely for the TTC streetcar yard that was located on the site of the old bus bays until construction of the Yonge subway in the early 1950s. The intersections is once again about to see transit construction, this time for the Eglinton LRT.

Kingston Rd. and Woodbine
Historically the intersection of Kingston Rd. and Woodbine was the centre of the former village of Norway. The community's identity was fading at the time when this photo was taken looking east towards Victoria Park Ave. in November, 1922, and now it has all but vanished (Norway Cemetery is the most conspicuous remainder.) As far as I can tell, none of the buildings in this photo remain today.

Yonge and Lawrence
October 19, 1922 and Yonge and Lawrence is showing the first signs of development. The streetcar tracks are part of the now-defunct Yonge streetcar that was replaced south of Eglinton by subway in 1954 and into North York by a trolley buses. 93 years later, the view is completely different. Office buildings and midrise apartments have replaced trees and gardens.

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

Images: City of Toronto Archives

This Toronto burger joint distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack by serving up uniquely smoky, wood fire grilled beef patties. Other uncommon offerings include frozen custard and all natural root beer on draught.

Read my profile of Woody's Burgers in the restaurant section.

Aside from everything Drake touches, it's been a while since a Toronto artist released a listenable anthem for the city - the last one I remember is Blimp Rock's oh-so-cute "Lake Ontario Lifeguards." Rather than go the animation route, Toronto rapper Chillaz and video director Pro Lifted went full on urban-porn for the "To The World," filming at Dundas Square and Nathan Phillips at Christmas time, and making Toronto look pretty damn beautiful from above through the use of drones, operated by Philippe Saint-Martin.

While both Chillaz's voice and video call to mind The Weeknd and his Toronto-centric "King of the Fall," the lyrics here are far more positive than anything Abel Tesfaye's penned (not that hard to accomplish), and the feel good city love-in is in line with Drake's 6 feels and, of course, Kardinal Offishall's "Anthem," which may remain #1 forever.

Will Toronto's new hip hop anthem catch on, or are you just a sucker for pretty drone footage? Let us know in the comments.

You can grab Chillaz's "To the World" produced by Chemist on Soundcloud if you need some extra Toronto love on your ipod.

Want to win passes to Toronto's massive new outdoor music fest? WayHome festival's outdoor mega-fest styled after (and by the producers of) Bonnaroo is set to land in Toronto this summer. The festival, running outside of the GTA at Burl's Creek Event Grounds a short drive north of Barrie, will run from July 24th - 26th and feature headliners Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Alt-J, Modest Mouse, and Hozier, along with over 80 other artists.

Tickets are on sale for the general public Monday, February 16 at noon, but we have 5 pairs of festival passes to give away to 5 lucky winners. You must be 19+ with valid government ID. The entry deadline is February 14, 2015 at midnight, and the winner will be selected randomly from all valid entrants and notified by email by noon February 16 2015.

To enter the contest, simply fill out the entry form on this page.

It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating ex-micro cinema Trash Palace's new life as a series at the Revue Cinema, but that chapter has come to a close this month as the cult series announced they'd be moving to Spadina cinema and DIY space Cinecycle. Trash Palace's Stacey Case laid out the reason for the move - new management and fees rising to $500 to $750 per screening - pretty clearly on Facebook, but further explained what led the series to part ways with the Roncesvalles rep cinema today.

"The deal with the old management was great: it was a 60/40 split of the door, 40% for us. No rental fee, win/win for both parties. The new management obviously didn't see it that way, so no more door split, just a straight rental fee. It's strange, a not-for-profit theatre priced us out of the game." Case originally chose the Revue for the exciting chance to leap to a "real" theatre and because it's Toronto's only rep cinema with 16mm projection, but says back alley venue Cinecycle will be a natural fit.

"When we left our original space, our choices were the Revue or Cinecycle. The Revue amused me because 'now we've hit the big time,' right? But it gives me great pleasure to work with Martin Heath at his space. It'll feel a lot more like it did when we had our own space. Me working the door, Dan 'The Mouth' Lovranski at the snack bar, kind of a secret space, much like what we were. We're really looking forward to it!"

As for my dream of Trash Palace taking over the Toronto Underground Cinema space, that's probably not in the future. "I'm more interested in the micro cinema concept." Case says. "It makes the experience a lot more personal." However - "My dream is for us to have our own space again. I feel confident that we will find one. We have the films, the audience, and a financial backer if we need him. The future looks bright for the Trash Palace!"

No argument there. After February 19th's screening of Melvin Van Peebles's Watermelon Man, on March 19th Toronto can catch William Castle's Let's Kill Uncle, and further screenings are plotted out until July and include Puppet On A Chain, Skip Tracer, This Is A Hijack, and Day Of The Animals.

Trash Palace moves into Cinecycle Thursday, February 19. Admission is $10.

Photos of Cinecycle by Jesse Milns

While Toronto's ukulele scene has made headlines, the Toronto Fiddle Collective is laying roots at Dundas and Jane. Meeting on the third Thursday of each month, the event welcomes beginner and seasoned fiddlers of all ages for a workshop followed by a jam session with a new special guest each month.

Fiddle teacher and vocal and mandolin musician Celina Di Cecca of The Great Canadian Fiddle Show and Greyhound Riders started the group up in September of last year, and February's gathering will mark the Collective's six month mark.

"I was inspired to start the Collective to build a fiddle community in Toronto." Di Cecca tells me. "I have a range of private fiddle students and I wanted to give them an opportunity to meet each other and jam together... The Collective is as much about the community of players who come out monthly as it is the special musical guest." The Collective also hosts various other "fiddle centred" events such as concerts (there's one coming up in March) and dances.

This month's meeting is Thursday, February 19th at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 266 (3591 Dundas West). Ottawa singer/songwriter and celtic fiddle player Meaghan LaGradeur will be teaching favourite Canadian fiddle songs starting at 7pm. Pricing for the night is $15 for the workshops (either 7pm's Beginner class or 8pm's Intermediate), or just $5 if you want to join the 9pm jam. Other instruments are welcome (yes, including ukes).

You can follow the Fiddle Collective on Facebook for more gatherings. March will feature a workshop and special concert by Canadian master fiddle siblings Kerry and Tom Fitzgerald.

Photo by Larry Williamson via Toronto Fiddle Collective on Facebook. From left to right: Canadian folk/roots duo Greyhound Riders, Tony Nesbitt-Larking and Celina Di Cecca.

What is musical improv? How does it work? How do people end up in that world? If you're curious about crossing over the line from whatever comparatively cool subculture you currently call home (ska?) to the uncharted awkwardness of improvised musical theatre (I'm philately-curious myself), the first ever* Toronto Musical Improv Festival might be opportunity you've been secretly, shamefully waiting for.

Launching on the Danforth at the The Social Capital Theatre February 25-28, the festival, run by two of Toronto's self proclaimed "biggest champions" of musical improv, Natasha Boomer of Comedy Bar's Wheel of Improv and Matty Burns of bi-weekly Second City show Let the Music Play, will be entirely devoted to the art of musical improv comedy, with four nights of shows, jams, and workshops.

Burns seems as devoted to the cause as he claims to be. "The improv community is already a small bubble within the city of Toronto - however it is one of the best improv communities in the world. Musical Improv has been around for a while, but is still an even smaller form within improv... This festival was inspired by wanting to help push Musical Improv as an art form further to the next level and up the map."

Opening night will feature Second City MainStage Alumni paired with relative improv newbies, and programming will be drilling spur of the moment melodies into winter-hardened funny bones until Saturday's All-Star Musical Jam, which will be pretty much what it sounds like. Check out the full line up on their website.

Will you cross the line into Musical Improv this February? Let us know in the comments.

*I did not fact check this, because how could there have been another one.

The Toronto Musical Improv Festival gets silly from February 25-28 at the Social Capital Theatre.

Photo of Matty Burns via the Musical Improv Festival

Photo by Hans Luedke in the blogTO Flickr pool.

Today in Toronto, think you've got the chops to out-stack all comers? Handlebar's single round Tetris elimination tournament will test your mettle. Wavelength pre-festival party's with Speedy Ortiz, HSY, and WISH is free with a Wavelength 15 pass, or a mere $3 if you RSVP.

Drake Lab will present an exploration of black identity in Western art with work by TALWST, one of our artists to watch in 2015. The opening will be pretty special: small groups at a time will be escorted to "open, close, and closely inspect the artist's incredible new series of hand-held dioramas." For more events, click on over to our events section.

• Games: Tetris Championship III (February 12, Handlebar)
• Art: Then and Now Series & Talwst Present 'NUBIANS' (The Drake)
• Music: Speedy Ortiz (Garrison)
• Film: The Toronto Black Film Festival (Carlton Cinema)
• Beer: Beerworking - Signature Series (Project: OWL)
• Art: Art In The 6ix (99 Sudbury)
• Games: Seinfeld Trivia (Unlovable)
• Film: The MUFF Society: Point Break (Royal Cinema)
• Country: Steers & Queers (The Dakota)
• Music: All Folked Up (Music Gallery)

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

Contributions by Derek Flack

Photo of Speedy Ortiz by Joseph Engle Photography via Facebook

Toronto Restaurant Openings highlights the latest restaurant openings and closings in Toronto and also gives a preview of what's coming soon. Find us here every Thursday morning.

OPEN NOW

• Noodle restaurant Sweet Lulu has taken over the former address of the Red Tea Box at 696 Queen St. West.
• Hawker Bar has doubled in size and debuts a new second floor dining room this week. The official grand opening takes places Sunday, February 15.

RECENTLY REVIEWED

• The 47Thrive Organic Kitchen
• Chris Jerk
• Woody's Burgers

OPENING SOON

• Signs are up now for a new lounge called La Sauccerie, coming soon to 229 Ossington Ave. where Yours Truly used to be.
• Healthy lunch subscription service, Oats & Ivy is set to open a retail location this spring at 171 East Liberty St.
• Citta just opened its first City Place location a few months ago, and is already planning a second location at 295 Adelaide St. West.
• Little Shmiddy's Hot Meat House is in the works at 584 Parliament St.

CLOSED

• Waterfalls Indian Tapas at 303 Augusta Ave. in Kensington Market is closed.

Have you seen restaurants opening or closing in your neighbourhood? Email tips to liora@blogto.com

Photo from Hawker Bar by Ryan Spencer

For anyone who's ever complained that there isn't enough gravy on their poutine, may I call your attention to this next specimen: Poutine Soup ($7.50), on the current menu at Bampot House of Tea & Board Games.

Call it an abomination if you like, slam it as inauthentic, but best of luck trying to deny its deliciousness.

Admittedly, it doesn't really resemble poutine, but rather some kind of lovechild between fondue and French onion soup. The basic components and flavours are present in the form of roasted potatoes and cheese curds submersed in a bowl of deeply-hued vegetarian broth.

Now where does such a stretch of the imagination come from?

Scottish-Toronto transplant and Bampot proprietor, Mark Newell, tells it like this; while playing tour-guide for his visiting mother, he introduces her to the city's finest delicacies, (er, poutine), and, in what I'm imagining is an adorable thick accent, her first impression is that "it would be better as a soup".

So there you have it: poutine soup, a rendition of Canada's most renowned culinary export, as made by a vegetarian Scot on the recommendation of his mum.

Thanks to IBM for sponsoring this post. IBM Watson's cognitive system helps chefs create new recipes and helps businesses cook up new ideas.

Know of any Toronto restaurants doing interesting takes on poutine? Let us know in the comments.

Flying solo on Valentine's Day in Toronto isn't a tragedy but if you'd rather avoid all the swooning couples and jam-packed restaurants, it's nice to find like-minded company. Whether you're looking to enjoy a dinner free of saccharine spectacles or aiming to soothe your lonely hearty with booze and loud music, this list offers options where singles like you can unite.

Here are 10 options for Valentine's Day 2015 in Toronto if you're single.

DINE AT AN ANTI-VALENTINE'S DAY RESTAURANT

1.The Bedford Academy and Bar Wellington invite the unattached to enjoy their annual anti-Valentine's Day menus featuring dishes like impaled heart-shaped ravioli.

2. The FU V-Day menu at The County General features three courses for $45, cheekily dubbed; the first date, intercourse, and the breakup.

3. Flying solo? La Carnita on College Street is hosting singles night with Mexican street eats and cheap cans of Labatt Crystal.

GET HAPPINESS DELIVERED

4.Sullivan & Bleeker bakery is happy to deliver to your party of one (unless Netflix counts as a +1) by offering free deliveries for any order of $40 or more.

MIX IT UP WITH OTHER SINGLES

5. Have you been looking for love in all the wrong places? Consider hitting four venues in one night. Purchase advance tickets to the Anti-Valentine's Day Pub Crawl ($30 solo, or $40 with a wingman) for a chance to party at Bar 244, McVeigh's, Cube (for a pillow fight) and Uniun (for a 50 Shades of Grey themed party). The cost of the ticket covers priority entrance, transportation between venues and mingling games.

6. The Anti-Valentines Day Dance Party being held at Junction City Music Hall bills itself as a "distraction from this stupid holiday." Try out the new cocktail menu, dance, and maybe eat some un-love cupcakes - there's no cover so, really, there's nothing to lose.

7. Once couple's dinner and sex talks are over, The Steady hosts a F*ck Love edition of Tramp. Singles are welcome for the dance party starting at 11pm.

8. Swipe your way to a new match with Scarlett BoBo's ValenTinder at Wayla Bar on Queen East. Cover is $5 and doors open at 10pm.

9. Show off your paddle moves at SPiN Toronto which hosts SPiN The Paddle, an evening of fun flirty games of ping pong complete with menu specials and mingling games for singles. 9pm onwards.

10. Get your lit on at Forno Cultura which hosts This Ain't No 50 Shades of Grey, a reading from a Theft by Chocolate for King West singles (a.k.a Kingles).

What did I miss? Add more singles dining options and events happening this Valentine's Day in Toronto to the comments.

Photo of Junction City Music Hall by Jesse Milns

According to new data released yesterday from Statistics Canada, the population of Toronto has smashed the six-million mark - 6,055,724 people, to be precise. That's up 8.4% from 2011's tally of 5,583,064. The Toronto census metropolitan area (which includes a number of surrounding towns) now holds more people than all of British Columbia, twice as many residents as the Atlantic provinces combined, and 55 times the population of Canada's northern territories.

The main driver in population growth - as it is for all Canadian cities, Stats Canada points out - is international immigration. New Canadians settling in Toronto accounted for 79,500 new residents, or 31% of the total for Canada. But we're not the fastest-growing cities in Canada; those would be Calgary and Edmonton, who are tied for first.

Photo by Mauricio Calero via the blogTO Flickr pool.

The newest Drake meme is "Drake's sad face," as Photoshoppers and internet comedian ride the wave of Drake looking bummed at a Raptors game. Admittedly, he does look devastated - like his mom just told him his puppy died slowly and painfully under the wheels of one of his luxury vehicles.

Twitter jumped at a chance to run and play with the sad face like children playing with a pre-tragedy puppy, and politicians and mediaweren't far behind to report on the story, stressing that the Raptors won the game, so wtf Drake.

Drake looking sad is hardly news - there's a blog devoted to the world's softest rapper called Drake Looking Sad, not to mention, uh - and Drake looking down at a Raptors game isn't new either.

Why are we so obsessed with and ready to drop everything for a new photo of Drizzy showing emotion? Could it be that as a society we are so repressed that to see a man openly mirror the worlds we keep locked in heart shaped boxes deep in our anxious chests fills us with a perfect mixture of envy and wonder? Let us know in the comments.

Stay tuned for more Drake news on this special day.

Photo via Twitter

Drake is feeling the harsh chills of the winter too, and not just when he jumps from his chauffeured car into the studio. He and OVO pals are trudging through the snow and wearing matching parkas just like you and your friends, and Drake shares this slice of life with you in a new short filmJungle, directed by Karim Huu Do and scored by 40.

If you were planning a lonely Valentine's, forget it: you now have 14 minutes of hi-def Drake at his cheesy, immobile-women-dreaming crisp-est, not to mention the reassurance that no one is more lonely than our Aubrey.

While the brooding and Drakian introduction to the film is not Toronto-porn - that first skyline isn't ours, baby - later footage pays tribute to the city's cabs, Castle Frank subway station, the Don Valley, St. James Town, and more, plus retro Toronto footage and shots of the G20 riots. Plus, new footage of kiddie Drake singing his heart out and trying to get past the doorman as a nobody.

The video and its short, teasing seconds of actual rapping has rumours, like red dust in the club, spiraling that Drake's now overdue new mixtape may drop today. Regardless, may your boots be relatively salt free and your sexy dreams be forever ambiguous and swirling, swirling, swirling.

The best jewellery stores in Toronto celebrate the marriage of exquisite, precious materials with a craftsman's eye. "Precious," by the way, doesn't just mean "expensive". Though a large number of these shops do prize diamonds, sapphires, gold and silver, and cater especially to the Romeos and Juliets looking to present that special someone with some major hardware (custom or off-the-shelf), others transform more base materials into beautiful pieces that hold a different kind of value.

Here are the best jewellery stores in Toronto.

See also:

The top 10 independent jewelry designers in Toronto
8 stores to buy vintage jewelry in Toronto

If you felt like Toronto got a little more crowded over the past year, you're probably right: In addition to its steadily-growing population, the city saw its biggest-ever tourism season in 2014, a year that brought marquee events like World Pride to the city. Tourism Toronto has announced that the city saw 14.3 millon overnight visitors in 2014 up roughly 600,000 from 2013 (also a record-setting year).

Though U.S. tourism stayed strong (more than 2.3 million of those visitors were American), Toronto also saw its highest-ever visitation numbers from overseas (primarily China, while the U.K., India, Japan and Germany also contributed plenty of visitors). All of that added up to the highest hotel occupation rate in the country, at 71.4%.

Photo by Kamilla Gee in the blogTO Flickr pool.

Ford spun heads in January when it revealed its 2017 GT supercar at the Detroit auto show - and now, it looks like Toronto gets to unleash its unprecedented badassery upon the rest of the world. Ford announced yesterday the car will be produced in Markham by Toronto-based company Multimatic -- the same folks who had a hand in the Aston Martin CC100 and the One-77.

Developed in secret over the past year (which, fittingly, is hyperspeed in the auto world), the two-door GT will feature a carbon-fibre body, scissor doors, rear-wheel drive, and an EcoBoost V-6 600 hp engine - all of which, Ford says, will add up to the best power-to-ratio of any car on the market. The final model is due out next year.

What do you think? Are you excited for this car of the future?