Local Author Breaks Through with Breakdancing Novel, Raptors Steal one from the Nets: TorontoIAM

This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from TorontoIAM where you will find the best blogs from Toronto, Ontario as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Bicyclists Take to the Ice this Weekend

Over at I Bike TO, Vic invites readers to what he calls “Toronto’s best annual winter cycling event” this Saturday (February 16th) at Dufferin Grove Park. He’s talking about Icycle 2008, and “it's all about bike racing on ice.” The cyclists use “the most aggressive studded tires possible,” nothing you can get commercially, “and then race fast while looping around the arena.” There are less spills and wipeouts than you’d expect, since “the studded tires generally keep excellent grip,” but he expects “you'll see some good spinouts and crashes into the boards though.”

The “most fun” happens after the champion has been crowned, in the form of the “Rubber Race.” Vic calls it “anarchy on ice” when the mass of cyclists “race around the track with only one rule: no studded tires!” He says in his post that “it's absolutely hilarious to see bikes and riders of all different shapes, sizes, and abilities try to make their way around the rink as fast as possible.” You can even join in on the rubber race fun. He encourages readers to contact The Bike Joint for more information.

Raptors Take Easy Win from Short-Staffed Nets

NBA’s Raptors News reviews Toronto’s win against the New Jersey last night (109-91), both teams final game before the All-Star break. The Nets were “reeling from news that Jason Kidd” is most likely to be traded to Dallas soon and “didn't put up much of a fight” against the Raptors. Chris Bosh was a star once again with 27 points. Jose Calderon was also strong with 22 points and 12 assists. After building at 13-point lead in the first quarter, “the game was all but won by halftime,” when Toronto led 61-42. “You would think that we were already on vacation in the first half,” said New Jersey's Vince Carter said.

It was an “emotional day” for the Nets as things won’t be so rosy without Kidd, our blogger points out in the post. This is the “second time this season the Raptors have won big against the Nets, the team that eliminated them in the first round of last season's playoffs.” Last November, Toronto posted our largest victory of the season with a106-69 win at New Jersey. “With Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright all inactive and center Jamaal Magloire at home in New Jersey, the Nets had just nine players available.” They were out of the game quickly, “short-staffed and subdued… missing five of their first six shots and calling timeout after falling behind 9-2 at 8:16 of the first. Behind 10 points from Bosh, Toronto opened a 30-17 lead after 12 minutes.”

Book Release Party Features B-Girl Battle

Karen Whaley, blogging on the Torontoist, sends kudos out to Jill Murray, a Toronto writer who celebrates the release of her first book this week. Her YA novel Break On Through “is the story of Nadine, aka Lady Six Sky, a badass b-girl who dreams of winning the Hogtown Showdown with her breakdancing crew.” Whaley is a breakdancer herself, but has “never tried to battle.” She says this is the “essential difference” between herself, a recreational dancer who does it “for fun, health, camaraderie… and b-girls, who are necessarily competitive and driven to excel.” Says Murray, “You don't see many women battling… the ones who do often have to contend with either easy props… being ignored totally no matter what they do, or not being respected as a dancer.”

The post announces that Murrey’s free all-ages Break On Through release party will take place this Saturday (February 16) at Street Dance Academy. Whaley invites readers to “catch MCs Abdominal, Sunny D, and Jill's main man More Or Les perform live while a b-girl team re-enacts a battle from the book.” Murray is currently talking about deals with the CBC and YTV, and will also give a reading at the Harbourfront Centre.

Is Toronto Theatre in Deep Trouble?

A recent post on Blog T.O. by Graeme laments the state of theatre in Toronto. One week ago, the “axe fell” at the Canadian Stage Company. Nine employees had to leave “in the face of a $694,000 two season loss and a total debt load of $1 million.” This is bad news for CanStage, but is also reflects on the plight of theatre in Toronto. Graeme ponders in his post about how “a theatre company with a 50 year history” could lose so much money in two years. The answer, he says, “has to do with a kind of identity crisis.”

There are external factors like “September 11th, SARS and a strong Canadian dollar” which has “wiped out much of the American audience that used to drive big-budget shows in the city.” But Graeme believes CanStage doesn’t really know what it is anymore. Of this season's eight offerings, “five are by American authors. One is a 26 year-old musical based on a 48 year-old movie. Another is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel.” They just don't seem to fit together. The “scattershot slate” leaves theatregoers confused. Whatever the reason, though, “as Toronto's biggest non-profit, CanStage is a barometer for Toronto's entire theatre community. Weakness there points to weakness everywhere.”

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