fourONEsixSTYLE

Queen St Fire
Originally uploaded by taxing

Flickr might be the top place to dig up photos of the six-alarm scorcher that tore though several historic Queen West buildings this morning.

The photo here by taxing is one of the best I’ve found from the early morning. If you’re filled with intrigue too check some other flickites’ sites like JL 1967, Johnny Mad or xarq.

Word is that firefighters have now gained control of the inferno though smoke continues to spread for several blocks. I can still taste it despite being over four blocks away. Riders beware - subways have been experiencing issues with lack of air circulation as well.

A fire that broke out this morning at 5AM continues to burn on Queen Street West at Portland between Spadina and Bathurst. All residents were evacuated and no one was injured but damage to this historic stretch has spead to at least 15 businessess including Duke’s Cycle, Suspect Video, a headshop and pizza place. It is so bad these buildings can not likely be salvaged. Firefighters, who are still working hard to contain the blaze, revealled that there is some explosive material within one of the buildings but will not comment on what that material might be. Surrounding streets are closed to traffic.

Photo by aardvark.

Update: More photos available through fourONEsixSTYLE.

It wasn’t long ago blogTV.ca (no relation) announced its TV portal of the future by cruising the city in obnoxious Hummers screaming out for attention, and ‘viewers’. Initially business was good for the social networking slash video site, owned and operated by Alliance Atlantis. However, since the launch in March, traffic had dropped steadily and sales never really got off the ground. Today, a memo explaining this and declaring that the end is in sight was circulated to employees in the interactive department. There’s no future for these kids. Playback speculates several execs may go down with the ship too.

I can’t say I’m upset about this. My first experience with the site was one of disgust. I’d attended Ron Jeremy’s book launch at The Gladstone and suffered some audio issues with my camera. I needed some video fast. Since I knew the crew from blogTV had been there I scoped their site for some video of the event. The first I came across was a pre-Jeremy interview with two lovely ladies in the back of the blogTV limo, er, Hummer. The backseat sleazeball from the site kept zooming in on the girl’s boobs then began asking them to take their tops off for the camera. It didn’t seem like these girls had expected the ‘interview’ to take this direction. They politely declined, and then it just got gross. The ‘interviewer’ was fixated on getting his money shot and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He kept repeating his proposal. They held firm, surely hoping Jeremy would soon arrive and break-up the routine. It was uncomfortable for me, so I can only imagine how these ladies felt. Next time I saw the blogTV Hummer parked on College Street I made a point of telling them how horrible I thought they were and never visited their site again. Adios sleazeballs.

According to the memo the site will cease operating on the 28th. As of yet no plans are in place to maintain or move user-generated content. Read what people think about the demise of blogTV on blogTO.

I’ve been sitting on the edge of the fence, deciding whether I wanna pay my $80, for day one of Virgin Festival on Toronto Island September 8th. I would’ve gone for Amy Winehouse and Bjork but now the bitchy crooner has dropped out and I don’t feel like paying the bucks to see cute little Bjork perform for only an hour or two. I’ve seen her on the Island before and it was okay. The view sucked for everyone unless you were on a picnic table or right at the front since the grounds have no naturally built-in gradient.

My fav show/concert ever was Bjork at the Hummingbird Centre, each song built up methodically over 15 minutes, layering effects by computer technicians Matmos, a choir from Greenland, a harp and Bjork herself emerging on stage as if in a fairy tale. Virgin festival, with its wham bam attitude, won’t come close to comparing.

Winehouse was really the clincher for me, having missed her appearance at The Mod Club earlier this year, but she’s cancelled all her September shows and is out of the line up for Branson’s big music festival. Must have something to do with all the gory details emerging from a bloody fight with her beau. Hope those two sort out their drug problems before Winehouse’s father-in-law convinces everyone to boycott her and business plummets. Despite her drug issues and bitchy demeanour I would’ve dropped the cash in a sec to see her. Now I’m dropping my plans to go to V-fest instead.

Ever since Toronto broadcasting powerhouse Alliance Atlantis was put on the sales block, people in the media industry have been speculating who the potential buyer would be. Playback magazine had a front-page poll listing the possibilities as Corus, CanWest, Astral, Rogers and Quebecor. However the news this morning is that Winnipeg-based CanWest, owner of Global and the National Post, is in the lead.

CanWest would partner with Goldman Sachs in the US to purchase Alliance Atlantis for 2.3 billion dollars. Goldman’s part of the purchase would include Alliance’s half of the CSI franchise - sadly, I’ll no longer be able to use CSI in my defense of Canadian television programming - while a new subsidiary of CanWest will take over broadcast specialty channels such as Showcase and the recently relaunched Slice channel.

At a benefit I attended in November hosted by Alliance Atlantis CEO Michael MacMillan, he ruminated about the company he started with a few of his roommates in a small Toronto apartment upon graduating from Queen’s University. Now, it appears he’ll be focusing on philanthropic activities like running Toronto East General Hospital’s fundraising campaign.

(photo: CPimages/Frank Gunn)

There’s nothing remarkable about the stretch of waterfront across from The Guvernment nightclub at Queen’s Quay where honeywagons sit parked before a large film production studio called Cinespace. It’s no surprise then that this is where the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation has set its sights to begin development of a key area of our waterfront called East Bayfront.

You’d think no one would object to the revitalization plan to include accessible waterfront and two-acre Sherbourne Park. The mixed use space, relative in size to Battery Park in Manhattan and London’s Canary Wharf will also include 7000 units of housing and 1 million square feet of commercial space. Cinespace, a major player in the Toronto film scene, will need to vacate by February 21st in order for the plan to go ahead, and they claim they’ve just been given notice to leave the premises leased by them from City of Toronto real estate developer TEDCO.

Toronto’s film industry is already dealing with city-ordered relocation of studio space, since a relative monopoly on the industry was given to the Toronto Film Studios to build Filmport. This means that space for US productions to shoot, key to the growing film industry in Toronto, is really tight. It could mean the loss of thousands of jobs if US productions find other cities that are more accommodating.

Cinespace is simply asking that it get 18 “official” months to find a new home. In the meantime Filmport and those affected by relocation can build new studios and Toronto can continue to offer the film production services it has come to be known for. Location Manager Craig Williams is one of 4454 film industry professionals who have signed an ongoing online petition agreeing that loss of studio space could have a “devastating impact” on Toronto’s film industry. He believes that “while we’ve all been waiting for the waterfront to evolve into something we can all use and explore, the city has to have a balanced plan to ensure it is not at the expense of key industry.”

It was a horrible day in Toronto when we learned we’d potentially be losing three of our historic rep theatres. That was back in June. I’m still lamenting the day the Runnymede Theatre became a Chapters bookstore and that was 8 years ago. It could’ve been worse. Though it’s not a theatre anymore, it still hangs onto some of the same old school charm it had back in the day when I had a date with my first teen crush there. Some of the cinema seating remains too, for those who want to cozy up with a book and forego the awkward handholding.

My memories of the Uptown theatre were demolished three years back and I pass The Revue on Roncesvalles wondering when someone will see its potential and bring it back to life. Local businesses and residents campaigned, raising $30,000 to save it from an unknown fate, but it still needs a buyer with a big heart. Further down Roncesvalles, the Brighton Theatre became a large convenience store years ago, but its classic signage was just recently removed.

Despite some of the losses and some of the change, there is good news on the street. The Royal on College reopened last Friday with a door toward the future of cinema. It’ll feature high-definition projection, top-notch sound systems and Avid editing facilities. Theatre D Digital, a Toronto post-house credited with mixing Rub & Tug and Phil the Alien, has taken over the property with the intention of restoring the theatre to its former glory days, back when they called it the Pylon. They’ll cut and mix projects in one of four suites during daytime hours and feature Canadian and International film on screen in the evenings.

blogTO reported this morning that someone could be missing out on a chance to claim $355,000 in winnings from Lotto 6/49. The lottery ticket was sold in South Western Ontario last year but has yet to be claimed. The deadline to claim the cash is 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 4, 2007. I could rifle through all the drawers in my house or just pull the ones off the fridge my man’s been waiting to claim. Maybe we can have our dream vacation after all.