This week, the third-ever Creative Places + Spaces has been bending my brain with a near-perfect melange of speakers: the obvious brilliant locals like Richard Florida and Mayor Miller are on stage with a dash of international thinker-stars like Sir Ken Robinson and inspiring outside-the-box artists like Kat Cizek (filmmaker-in-residence at St Michael's Hospital), naked crowd photographer Spencer Tunick, and Cape Farewell artist-founder David Buckland.

Toronto's first ever FOOL launches today--the Festival of Oral Literatures. A quick look at the schedule promises four days of amazing story-telling with performers like local dub artist d'bi.young, Yukon-born Ivan E. Coyote, and Brazilian story-teller Regina Machado. The fest kicks off with a set of six house concerts tonight and tomorrow.

The 2009 Toronto Urban Design Awards kicked off last night with a speech from Mayor Miller. Knowing he was preaching to the converted, Miller said, "You know that excellence in architecture is not only possible and achievable, but it is happening every day in our city."

Well, every day that we're not on strike or bickering, anyhow. The awards are given out every two years; this year's jury was made up of Ian Chodikoff, editor of Canadian Architect, architect Jack Diamond, landscape architect and environmental planner Eha Naylor (ENVsion - The Hough Group Limited), and landscape architect and urban designer Michael Van Valkenburgh.

The SummerWorks Festival starts in Toronto this Thursday! Running for ten days and packed with live performances of all stripes, SummerWorks is now the largest juried theatre festival in Canada. The 'Works' has been around since 1991, beginning as a Fringe-like festival, but it has evolved into very much its own animal: unpredictable, exciting, and a crucial showcase for local talent. Okay, with ten days, and way too many options, better take your vitamins now.

Roommate: we're using the word more often these days. Despite the economic downturn, Toronto rents don't seem to be dropping, and people who thought they were free of shared apartments suddenly have roommates again. No wonder Oonagh O'Hagan's recent book, I Lick My Cheese: and other real notes from the roommate frontlines is so popular.

Trevor and Geri have been friends for years and were pretty sure the other person's quirks wouldn't bother them. And this apartment just above West Queen West seemed perfect. "Not just for the wicked location," says Trevor, nodding out at Trinity-Bellwoods Park, "but also it had a bit of sentimental value, because I lived on Gore Vale Avenue in 2004 and it's my favourite street in all of Toronto."

Theatre, beer, and general wackiness...Toronto's 21st Fringe Festival kicks off tonight with 150 shows from here, there, and everywhere. Start with some of our picks, but take some chances, too--the Fringe is all about seeing the unknown, the risky, and the plain old strange. Tickets are only $10 at the door ($12 in advance), making the Fringe the city's biggest AND most affordable theatre experience of the year.