Morning Brew: August 29, 2006

Toronto Left Off Magazine ListYour morning news roundup for Tuesday, August 29, 2006:

Toronto is left off Travel + Leisure's list of top 10 destinations in Canada and the US because we don't have "any one thing that sort of stands up and knocks you out." I can surely find tons of people in the city that would stand up and knock you out if you get them mad.

The province has just announced that Ontario's disabled citizens are finally getting their overdue support payments.

One of the men charged with last year's horrific boxing day shooting has had his bail revoked, sending him to jail despite his proclaimed innocence.

Not everyone is excited about the film festival starting next week, as some Canadian directors claim it's too hard to get noticed at Toronto's premier film event.

After the media exposed to thieves how to break Toronto's bike stands, the city has decided to beef up the stands to cut down on theft.

In a day of explosions, Monday saw a neighborhood in Mississauga covered in flames, and a stretch of the 401 shut down by fire.

That bootleg copy of the new Brad Pitt movie might be harder to get now, after Toronto police busted the largest DVD piracy ring in Canadian history.

He couldn't make it out to Toronto for the AIDS Conference, but at least you'll be able to see PM Stephen Harper when he makes a cameo on Corner Gas.

A man that was injured on a ride at the CNE this weekend may be considering legal action.

City trustees are tired of an old-funding structure that leaves them short on cash. Maybe this might be where the province can use that huge surplus they just reported.

(Image: Atilla Soylu)

Reader Reviews and Comments

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I go back and forth on the film festival issue. On the one hand, I don't believe any festival has an obligation to program films from its home town just because they're from the home town - and god knows in years past I have seen some pretty stunningly atrocious Toronto-made work shown at the festival just because the filmmaker was "on the inside" with the TIFF organization.

At the same time, though, TIFF's explosion into the international marketplace does make it less and less appealing from an indie standpoint. But hey, it's still the big show, and I do loves me some big show.

Posted by: Matt at August 29, 2006 8:55 AM

I'm amazed at the new boldness of these DVD pirates, working in the open on Yonge and in Chinatown.

Surely these guys are getting their supply from that bust in Markham? How could 2 little stores sell 17 million in DVDs?

You ever seen these kids work in Chinatown? Last weekend I saw a 12 year old selling DVD's on a blanket. It was all he could do to keep up with the money.

After 40 minutes he rolled up the blanket and was gone.

Posted by: Ouimet at August 29, 2006 10:59 AM

They're only making so many pirated DVDs because there's a market for them. I was once up at Pacific Mall and saw people buying armfuls of bootleg DVDs at $5 a piece. Crazy.

You're right Matt, we all love the big show, and I'm certainlly not complaining at the scope and scale of the festival. In fact, I think they do a decent job of showcasing Canadian content, especially for an international event that is second only to Cannes. By the way, I'm definitely looking forward to your next podcast to hear your picks.

Posted by: Sameer Vasta [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 29, 2006 5:48 PM

What's amazing about those DVDs is that anyone would buy them a second time after trying them once. The ones I've seen are really crappy quality. Nothing like trying to watch a film with the sound drowned out by the rustling of the coat being used to hide the camera, and with people walking across the screen. People pay thousands for home theatre systems and then load them up with this crap?

Posted by: Paul at August 30, 2006 10:16 AM

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