The surge that signals the end of the summer
Discover more from Twelve Thirty Six
“We’re coming after you,” said Doug Ford to those who returned to travelling outside of Canada without a quarantine, as Ontario looks to crack down on big parties while pausing business reopenings for four weeks. Meanwhile, in B.C., a rising COVID-19 count has retightened nightlife restrictions—but those businesses are blaming drum circles.
A cinema misanthrope’s dream
Hollywood Reporter attention to policies stating that masks were optional at indoor screenings was followed by the Toronto International Film Festival adjusting to even stricter rules at its Lightbox. The limited seating will make this TIFF a virtual route for most movies, although the outdoor screening options may help to build buzz.
“The ripple effects of closed office buildings.” The BBC’s walk about Toronto’s underground PATH results in tales of retailers struggling with little optimism, even as office life starts trickling back. The first of two CIBC Square towers near Union Station has climbed closer to completion, and other skyscrapers keep being proposed.
The sneaky passages of time
A development application submitted for a 13-storey residential building at the Toronto intersection of College and Bathurst stirred wider attention due to its theoretical displacement of Sneaky Dee’s, a dive bar whose walls are infused with nostalgia. But the social media sentiments typically don’t synch with gentrified realities surrounding it:
The cop instructed to remove the Punisher patch from his uniform. Toronto Star reporter Ben Spurr was at a press conference about automated speed reinforcement cameras when he noticed one officer sporting the Marvel Comics character skull logo embraced by police. The wearer is subject to an undisclosed disciplinary action.
Fifteen seconds on the fringe
TikTok’s ownership future remains unwritten, with a U.S. sale deadline looming. Among the young Canadians who used China’s technology to build a following is Max Taylor of Halifax. And nothing suits a 2020 political campaign more than a “TikTok star” testing whether telling area followers to go out and vote for him is enough to become the mayor:
A reporter quit Postmedia to find out if readers will pay him instead. Christopher Curtis spent the past nine years at the Montreal Gazette, where he gained acclaim for covering Indigenous issues while the newsroom surrounding him shrunk. He plans to move that reporting to Quebec website Ricochet if the donations arrive to sustain it.
Finally, the book of a Baroness
Barbara Amiel wrote a memoir, Friends and Memories, scheduled for publication on October 13. As a preview, the Daily Mail published three excerpts: about how the knives came out for Conrad Black, the three husbands she had before him, and how money can’t buy true friends. All is capped with an interview via her downsized digs:
