What's Your Story? features the different characters that roam the streets of Toronto. Every Monday and Thursday, a new person shares their story, likes and dislikes about the city, a little secret and more.

Photo: "Kensington" by Bertrand (Nascimento) Riviere, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Thursday July 17th, 2008:

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be giving away free tickets to a pre-season game in September. This is a good move on their part, since it's become apparent that if you can't afford to show up wearing a designer suit, you can't likely afford to buy a ticket. For one day only, the ACC will actually be filled with the everyday sports fans.

An Ikea showroom will soon be opening at the corner of King and Church. It won't be a traditional store in that you won't pick up your furniture there. Instead you'll order and get delivery (presumably from one of the other locations outside of the downtown core). Looks like Leon's at the roundhouse will have some competition for downtown condo dwellers' particleboard coin.

A trial girls-only sexual education program for grade 7/8 students at a Waterloo school is getting great reviews. The same concept, applied to boys the same age, hasn't even been attempted because even as adults we giggle too much when the topic of sex comes up

This Sunday July 20th, Rogers Picnic has some seriously stiff competition in the famous traveling summer Hip Hop all-star tour, Rock the Bells.

Rock the Bells music festival has grown into the premier hip hop festival in North America. Every year, since it's inception in 2003, the festival keeps growing into a stronger community, showcasing the best in new and old-school hip hop.

This year the most anticipated headliners on the tour are A Tribe Called Quest and West Coast troupe The Pharcyde, who re-united this year for the festival. This shows the caliber that this festival has to offer, when someone like Mos Def is not considered a headliner.

It's hard to describe the life of someone as notorious as Dr. Hunter S. Thompson... a man who chased the American Dream through the turmoil of the 60s and 70s, only to find it had already been hunted down and 'killed by swine'. With the remains of the dream festering in the wake of the 2004 Bush/Kerry election, it seems natural that a man living so close to the edge should finally fall off.

Chronicling the events leading up to and following Thompson's 2005 suicide, Alex Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson takes a deep stab at trying to explain the phenomenon of Gonzo journalism and the brilliance of Hunter Thompson, from birth to demise. For a man "living on borrowed time", Hunter S. Thompson sure had one hell of a ride.

It was a Tuesday like any other, that is until I walked into the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and almost stepped on the shoe of TIFF's Co-Director Cameron Bailey, rubbed elbows (literally, trying to get through the crowd) with Sook-Yin Lee, and couldn't think of anything interesting to say to Jason Jones. Other than that, it was quite the normal line-up of Canadian personalities yesterday at the Toronto International Film Festival's Canadian Press Conference. A lead up to the many festival announcements expected for TIFF 2008, the conference covered a variety of things from new venues and initiatives, to Special Presentation and Gala announcements and Canadian feature selections.

Breakfast at Kim Moon doesn't feature eggs and bacon, but when the muggy weather is getting me down, I like to head over here to start the day with iced coffee and congee.

Whet your appetite with my review of Kim Moon Bakery in the restaurants section.