DESI DIALOGUES: Hollywood taps into Bollywood successes

COOK ON CARLAW: Mayhem is muted with Mozart

A classical music purist is going to hate this. A school in England is using Mozart's music to punish students who have misbehaved.

Students who are serving detentions are required to sit and listen to Mozart's concertos or symphonies as a form of punishment, and according to the school...

BEYOND THE HEADLINES: Vigorous debate needed on how to pay for services

Huh?

The city found an extra $105 million? Just where did it look? Under some office plants? Was it left behind in a bag on the subway? Maybe between the cushions on a sofa?

No, city staff explained that the windfall was due to higher than expected returns on the city's investments, and...

CITY VIEWS: Budget surpluses nothing new at city hall

The appropriate thing to do when someone slaps a pie in your face, I'm told, is to smack your lips, roll your eyes and say, "Boston Cream - my favourite."

So in that spirit, may I say: "Toronto Cheese - my favourite," after the wily David Miller lured me along with the...

Indianapolis, Indiana provides a cautionary example for Toronto's municipal election

Long-time readers will know that I've made comparisons between the amalgamated cities of Toronto and Indianapolis, Indiana in past columns.

Back in 1969 the Republican majority amalgamated Indianapolis' downtown core with its suburbs, saying that it would bring about greater financial...

URBAN ANIMAL: Introducing kitten may help bring cat out of his shell

Dear UrbanAnimal,

Our eight-year-old cat, Danny, refuses to come out from under the bed. This started when my husband and I were having our home renovated and we were forced to live on the second floor for two months until the work was completed.

Danny has always been a calm cat, but the...

LIGHTSIDE: All ears for bright ideas

A thing I have learned during my passage through life is that one never need dwell on personal shortcomings! This is due to the fact someone or a group is just waiting in the wings to keep you up-to-date on your personal milestones, physical flaws.

You doubt this? Try gaining weight as an adult...

MENUMENTAL: Sushi Kaji sets the gold standard

I didn't try sushi until the ripe, old age of 19. It was a California roll served as an exotic appetizer at the long-gone Amsterdam on John Street.

Fast-forward 20 years. Sushi is now available at supermarkets, sporting events and food courts, and there is a Japanese restaurant (or five) on...

WATCHDOG: Honour Agnes Macphail by keeping democracy strong

There has been a lot of talk lately about restricting politicians' powers through such measures as term limits and eliminating their local newsletters.

Often politicians' newsletters are targeted as being taxpayer-subsidized propaganda that favours incumbents and presents only their...

CITY VIEWS: Growing left-right chasm at city council

It says something about the slow decline of political discourse in this town that when I watched the tape of Paula Fletcher shrieking a call-out to boisterous constituents at Monday night's budget meeting, my first reaction was to wonder what the fuss was about.

I've been watching city...

COOK ON CARLAW: So the girls just want to party, eh?

What do you call a bunch of women drinking alcohol with plenty of ice? You call them Canada's Olympic gold medal hockey team.

Yes, the ruckus caused by the women's hockey team celebrating on the ice has been wild.

I mean the audacity of young women swilling beer and champagne after...

BUT SERIOUSLY: Crunching the Winter Olympic numbers

O, Canada, it turns out we also know how to sit on guard for thee. As in, parked in front of the tube.

Mounds and mounds of fresh statistics continue to pour in every day and from everything I've seen so far, the Winter Olympic TV viewing numbers are absolutely mind-boggling.

Among the...

Critter Chatter: These pets are winners

This column's adoptable pets feature two gold medalists.

In the cat category we introduce Midnight with her petite physique and winning personality, and for dogs we have Johnny on the podium for his agility potential and handsome good looks.

Midnight, three years old, and...