Toronto Public Library union president Maureen O'Reilly is predicting Toronto's library workers will be included in the city's lockout of unionized workers. With negotiations heating up between the city and its two CUPE unions, along with the library's contract having expired at the end of 2011, O'Reilly expects libraries to be affected, and worse, fears that they'll remain closed during a possible lockout.

OpenFile has an interesting read on what the heck is going on with The Star's recent ads. In December, the newspaper printed full-page ads of the Mirvish production "War Horse" in two consecutive weeks, along with a Rogers ad that covered the whole newspaper with the intention that people would use it as holiday wrapping paper. Right. The ads sparked an outrage among present and previous Star employees, resulting in a Facebook discussion that decried the practice. The newspaper had no comment, but with huge reductions in ad revenues, you can be sure to see similar ads in the future anyway.

We've all walked by Captain John's, the floating restaurant at the foot of Yonge that's been there for, like, ever, but I'm guessing few of us ever ventured inside. Well, just in case you've always wondered what the seafood-restaurant-on-a-boat was like, The Grid takes us on board the 35 year-old boat on New Year's Eve and reveals all of its kitschy delights.

"Rob Ford: The Opera"? It's happening, and apparently, according to Michael Patrick Albano, resident stage director at the U of T's opera program, it makes sense. With Ford instilling such strong reactions to him, he's a natural operatic figure. But Albano, who wrote the libretto, ensures the opera isn't a full-on attack on the mayor. We hope to have more to tell you about the production shortly.

If you're into city politics and have yet to check out Matt Elliott's blog, Ford for Toronto, this year-in-review post would be a good place to start. It was, needless to say, an eventful 12 months under our fearless leader.

IN BRIEF:

• Leafs beat Lightning
• 'Dreamy' pinhole photo of Toronto skyline on sale
• Who are the mysterious people working at the abandoned factory near the DVP?

Photo by asianz in the blogTO Flickr pool