Category: It Happened to Me

“Let’s hug it out, bitch!”

The best-known line from the television series Entourage — “Let’s hug it out, bitch!” — is probably an apt summary of the meeting between a group of some of the most active DemoCamp/BarCamp participants (myself included) and a some of the people from ICT Toronto, the group charged with raising the profile of Toronto as a hub for information and communications technologies.

To say the least, the discussion was animated, with lots of disagreement over whether ICT Toronto adequately represented the smaller players in the Toronto tech community, whether their goals were too vague to actually be achieved and even over the name of the organization, which is perceived by many in the DemoCamp contingent to be a made-up term that never gets used in our line of work. In spite of the heat generated, the meeting was a first step towards understanding between both groups, and as ICT Toronto’s project manager Alicia Bulwyk said after the meeting, compared to some city council meetings, it was a tea party.

Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is keeping me a bit too busy to post a full writeup right now, but there will be one from me this week, and hopefully, from these other attendees as well:

• Leila Boujnane
• David Crow
• Mark Evans
• Jay Goldman
• Malgosia Green
• Estelle Havva
• Rob Hyndman
• Rohan Jayasekera
• Sutha Kamal
• Mark Kuznicki
• Tom Purves

I work in the part of Toronto called “Liberty Village”, an area made up of old warehouses, most of which have been converted into offices and living spaces. It’s where Cory Doctorow last lived before he moved to San Francisco back in 2000, countless television shows and feature films have been shot here (the upcoming Hairspray movie being the latest), a number of high-tech and television and radio facilities are located here, and let’s not forget the “Porn Alley” designation given to the area by a hyped-up Dateline NBC report. It’s rapidly becoming one of those former factory neighbourhoods turning into live/work/place-to-go areas. One parallel that comes to mind is Vancouver’s Yaletown.

This neighbourhood is located a good distance away from Accordion City’s “clubland”, and a dimly-lit railroad underpass and a little-travelled stretch of Dufferin Street bordering on Parkdale (which still is contending with its seedy rep) separates it from the nearest evening destination area, the Drake Hotel/Gladstone Hotel zone. As such, it’s an unlikely place to put a club, but that’s just what happened: there’s a queing-up area, complete with permanently-mounted outdoor heaters, that leads to the entrance of a newly-renovated building at the corner of Liberty and Fraser streets:

The club has no signage just yet, but a laser-printed sheet of paper that read “MARO DELIVERIES HERE” suggests that its name is “Maro”, and a little Googling confirmed the name. Apparently, it had its grand opening last Friday, with the Fifth Annual Booby Ball taking place there.

According to a recent events listing, the people behind Maro were also behind Brasaii, Brant House and West (I’ve only been to West). These are all pretty upscale places, and from the looks of Maro’s front entrance, it’s catering to the same market:

It’s an interesting addition to the neighbourhood. I wonder its being located in this neighbourhood is an attempt to duplicate the “Meat Packing District” club scene in New York. I’ll have to drop by one evening and see what it’s like inside.

Remember “Mary Fucking Sunshine” — the person who wrote the I LOVE TORONTO, DAMMIT! post in Craigslist, which got mentioned here, and then got blasted in Torontoist, mentioned in the National Post (Wednesday, September 27th issue, page A8) and counter-blasted here?

Anyhow, Mary left a comment on this blog last night. I think it’s worthy of promotion to the front page:

Hello Joey,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments about my post (which was indeed inspired by one of those cheery September mornings). I’ve written a rather long response over at the Torontoist, but wanted to mention that this rang very true for me:

“I think that there’s something wrong with equating enthusiasm and optimism with naivete and a jaded, apathetic and sarcastic approach with worldliness and knowledge.”

I know I am relatively naive, and terribly idealistic. I also know that naiveity does not necessarily exclude cynicism, sarcasm, and downright bitchiness. I’m certainly capable of all those things. Nor does the excessive use of exclaimation marks always equate to a lack of sophistication or worldly intelligence. The unbridled enthusiasmin my post was as much a reaction to all the negativity on CL as David’s post was a reaction to my gushiness.

I’m grateful that David at least made an attempt to dissect my “argument” intelligently. Those of you familiar with craigslist RnR will know what a rarity that is. (Incidentally, it was never meant as an air-tight dissertation, just as a little blurb to “get off my chest” as you say) We all see lifein different ways, I suppose. One view is as valid as the next; I just happen to find mine the most rewarding.

Anyway, I still love Toronto, hipster city bloggers and all. It’s all part of the texture.

Thanks again!

~Mary Fucking Sunshine

Keep on rockin’, Mary, and pay the cynics no mind. As Mr. Wilde once said, that sort knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. I salute you with a filet mignon on a flaming sword!