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Toronto is a city full of exceptional digital storytellers – romantics, technologists, artists and players – with a penchant for journaling, a loving respect for shared spaces and no small amounts of narcissism, exhibitionism or altruism.
1. Sam Javanrouh’s Daily Dose of Imagery http://wvs.topleftpixel.com
An extraordinarily artistic photoblog that its creator calls “a simple view of my day-to-day visual experience in Toronto.” He almost always gives a user reason to pause and reflect on his images, which transcend routine weblog point-and-click digital photos.
2. Zoilus.com www.zoilus.com
This is the brainchild of Globe and Mail music critic Carl Wilson , who regularly posts the stories behind his stories as well as other fascinating points about music and culture. He thinks blogs are where the critical-thinking action is and that they have the kind of energy associated with 1970s rock writing or Internet e-mail discussion lists a decade ago.
3. BoingBoing.net www.boingboing.net
The technologist in me is particularly enamoured of BoingBoing.net, one of the most popular meta-weblogs on the Internet. Co-written by local boy Cory Doctorow , it offers an interesting, educational and sometimes ironic look at the evolution and daily state of technology in society. Doctorow notes that this weblog is among the most influential in the blogosphere, receiving more than 200,000 unique visitors per day.
4. DavidAkin.com http://davidakin.blogware.com
CTV News national business and technology correspondent David Akin‘s blog is always enjoyable because of his knowledgeable reporting about technology and its impact on our world. He figures he’s a better technology reporter if he’s also a user of new computing and communication technologies. “Firing up a blog was a natural way of continuing to be able to report, with some intelligence, about the things I’m supposed to be reporting on.”
5. Better Living Centre www.betterlivingcentre.ca
Writer Marc Weisblott runs this blog with artist Brett Lamb (known for his comics in the Annex Gleaner). It’s about “flipping the script, shattering the state, shaking the foundation,” says Weisblott when asked about why he blogs. He also admits that the entire process has turned him into a raving lunatic anarchist. And that certainly makes for interesting reading.
6. PhotoJunkie www.photojunkie.ca
Rannie Turingan has been photographing local indie bands and the city in which they play for more than a decade. He’s taken his addiction for photojournaling our culture and his own life onto the Web. Turingan’s recent photos of Kensington Market and the Distillery District are remarkable.
7. Community Blogs
Turingan is also a prolific contributor to the Toronto blogosphere in general – he’s a founder of both Toronto Area Photoblogs ( http://toronto.photobloggers.org ) and GTA Bloggers ( www. gtabloggers.com ) local blog collectives.
8. A Journey Through Time www.ajourneythroughtime.org
For a more inward-looking perspective, A Journey Through Time, subtitled A Fresh Look At (Mostly) 20th-Century History, is updated almost daily by Greg, a third-year university history student. He’s a great writer who’s nowhere near reaching his full potential.
9. Infiltration.org www.infiltration.org
As always, my all-time favourite resource for information about the seedy underbelly of Toronto is Infiltration.org. Though updated quite infrequently, the blog is a fascinating look into adventures many of us have always wanted to explore yet few have had the courage to take.9 10Mar
10. marmalade.ca www.marmalade.ca
Marmalade.ca is brought to you by the letter K, from a cute, knitting, cooking girl who likes cats and clothes and so many other things that I can’t relate to on any level. Still, I like reading what she has to say.
