A new study shows that women are actually less attracted to men who are smiling than they are to men who look moody or ashamed. Meaning that Vancouver must be filled with an awful lot of unattractive men right now. The Canucks advanced to the Stanley Cup finals last night after beating San Jose in double overtime, making them the first Canadian team to reach the finals since Ottawa in 2007.
While Vancouver celebrates, the city of Toronto is embarking on a far less happy exercise: a series of public consultations to determine how to make $774 million in cuts. Do we look moody and ashamed yet? At any rate, add your two cents to the city service review here.
Speaking of shame, those moody federal Liberals are expected to announce their interim leader today. The candidates are Bob Rae and Marc Garneau. One of them, if chosen, will ascend to new heights of sexiness.
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IDLER
Sleeveface
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SCATTERLINGS
Luc Sante, the culture critic and our favourite New York chronicler, was at the Art Gallery of Ontario last week speaking about the legacy of photographer Robert Frank and his seminal book The Americans. If you missed it, this article distills the essence of Sante’s lecture.
Bob Dylan turned 70 yesterday. Among our favourite tributes, The Rest is Noise author Alex Ross shares his 10 favourite Dylan lines. (No. 6: “I took my potatoes down to be mashed.”) And his 15 essential Dylan tracks.
Something about today has us thinking about mug shots. No idea why. First we stumbled upon these surprisingly artful colour mugshots from the 1960s. Then, even better, this series of underworld portraits shot in 1920s era Sydney, Australia.
Dr. Jan Bondeson had been researching dogs in history and discovered that the Nazis attempted to build a fearsome army of “speaking dogs” with telepathic powers.
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LOCAL
It looks like Pride will get its funding from the city after all, despite opposition from some councillors, although the city won’t provide the money until after the event. You know, just in case something “offensive” happens.
Meanwhile, the city is also debating what to do about a historic mini-castle that’s currently just sitting in a west end lakeside park. The castle, which dates from the 1930s and used to be a gas filling station, finds itself trapped in the middle of various city business deals.
Frequently frustrated in your attempts to find a cab, or understand the city’s arcane taxi regulations? Apparently, there’s an app for that. Smart phones could solve everybody’s taxi difficulties, it seems. Is there anything they can’t do?
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THE LAST
A Calgary man is poised for stardom after placing third in an international facial hair competition. Evan Gillespie was the only Canadian to place in the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Norway earlier this month.
In European news, the Austrian town of Amstetten has decided to revoke Adolf Hitler’s honorary citizenship ahead of its 900th anniversary. Seriously? It took 66 years to do this, and then two city councillors voted against the revocation? We can’t wait for the tourism advertising campaign.
