...Um, I'd be careful when you google that. Pretty sure it's NSFW.

But, of course, when one door closes another opens. Rachael Glassman, the owner's daughter (and former Pages employee) is currently producing a documentary about the venerable independent bookstore.

With all of our focus on how it closed, the story of how it opened in 1979 is just as interesting.

"Maybe you can think big thoughts again when you're older," the magazine rack seemed to say. "But the teen and pre-teen magazines that tide you over until then will be wholly populated by doe-eyed boys, glossy ads for lip gloss, and vanilla-flavoured sex tips. Be prepared for a solid decade where your interests are presumed limited to bangles and boyfriends."

Then 2004 rolled around, and a Canadian upstart broke through these piles and piles of flippant frou frou and frizz -- Shameless, a magazine "for girls who get it."

Shameless is also written particularly for teen and pre-teen girls. But with politics in place of pop idols, queer positive instead of quizzes that only care if "he" likes you, and sexuality that's invited along for the whole messy and complicated ride that is growing up.

The Luminato event sold out in three minutes, proving that hearing an author of his caliber read from his own work, and sign autographs afterward, still has the power to draw crowds of fans.

Prior to the talk, it could be said that I wasn't a die-hard fan of his work, but hearing him read from his new novel The Graveyard Book has converted me. Gaiman and his writing are both witty and irreverent.

"People look at my career as an author with puzzlement," said Gaiman, "because I broke all the rules. It's likely because I came out of the comic world, where anything goes."

Except, of course, that the video is pretty darn funny. Shot inside Sweatty Betty's and back alleys around Ossington, the 5 minute video asks viewers to buy the book for which the author will make $1 per sale. It will all add up to help him buy anything from 1/4th of a Labatt's 50 or 1/200th of a sex act from a local prostitute.

Watch the video above and then decide then for yourself whether it's enough to make you buy the book.

Franke not only provided the book content but designed the book too, and thank goodness she did. Her visual aesthetic is as crucial to the stories as her compelling content, and if the design of the pages were left to somebody else I suspect the translation to paper would not have been so perfect. And that's really the word here: perfect.

But don't tell Franke it's perfect - she found a glaring error (and by glaring I mean to Franke only - nobody else would have ever known), and in typical fashion has gone on to tell the whole world about it.

Raising money for literacy is serious business. They brought in a handful of us Scrabble ringers (I've been playing competitive Scrabble for seven years) to help find better plays during the fund-raising game last Wednesday night at The Design Exchange.

Former Canadian and World Scrabble champion Joel Wapnick joined in the fray as we helped about 50 companies from Toronto's leading financial, legal, technology and accounting sectors vie for the coveted TMX Cup.

Wapnick and I joined about half a dozen ringers that participating players could rely on to increase their chances of winning by purchasing Helpful Assists. Each time our services were called upon, players had to purchase our expert advice for $60 (first period) or $80 second period. It was fun and rewarding to have been called upon over a dozen times throughout the game, helping raise over $1000 in the process.

David Mirvish Books closed its doors for the last time. Some diehard book lovers were witness to the closing of one of the best bookstores in Toronto. This included Natalie Kovacs, who identified as a book fetishist.

"Why didn't they replace it with funding for a university library?" Kovacs wondered. "Where else are you going to find books like this? It's about coming here and reading and touching and feeling the books."

Indeed. The book retailer decided to continue selling their wares online only after the closing of their bricks-and-mortar store.

"It's about coming here and reading and touching and feeling the books," said Kovacs. "I wouldn't buy books online unless I had an unlimited amount of money. The endless shapes, fonts, styles... I can't come in here and lust at books anymore.

This one is entitled Escondido Nights by Jim Christy, who joins a legion of poets whom I haven't heard of until I stopped subway-flirting long enough to look up...

According to the release, landlord Pinedale Properties agreed to the extension after witnessing the outpouring of concern from the local arts community, media, customers and City Councillor Adam Vaughan's office.

Here's an example of a post about a woman she spotted on the Spadina streetcar reading John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent.

Now, someone has spied on Julie and it's our friends over at Dear Toronto. Just before Christmas they tagged along with her as she cruised the Bloor subway line looking for new material. Their video is embedded above.

In recent years, we've all watched how many of the once thriving indie shops on Queen have been forced out by escalating rents and replaced by the who's who of Canadian and multinational chains like H&M, Zara, Aritzia, Lululemon and, ughh, Crocs. Their appearance has changed the integrity and character of the once uber cool stretch between University and Spadina. It was small consolation that places like Pages and The Horseshoe remained but now there's a very real possibility that Pages will be lost.

Besides reading his articles and books, it turns out that both Cathy and David are huge fans of George Saunders. Apparently David flogs one book (in addition to his) whenever he goes out on a tour. When he asked the packed Massey Hall crowd last week if anyone had read Braindead Megaphone, he got exactly two quiet-but-enthusiastic-Torontonian-style "whoo!"s. One was from Cathy.

This summer David was in town signing books and I missed him. Luckily Cathy is smarter than I am, and found out that he was back in town in December for a reading at Massey Hall. Hot. Diggity.

Going to book the tickets though, she discovered all that was left was "partially obstructed view". I sagely pointed out to her that when we listen to him on the This American Life podcast, we have an entirely obstructed view. She acknowledged my good point, and tickets were purchased. So Cathy was there to show Braindead Megaphone (and David) some love.