Everyone and their mother has heard New York's new state anthem, Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind". Let's face it, it's an incredibly empowering song. Don't deny it, you know that when you listen to it you wish you could sing it and claim it as your own (whether or not you're from New York).

Well to all of our Toronto peeps (or Toronto appreciators), hometown rapper Ron Dias has reworked the already infamous song to show some love to our favourite city.

It's essentially the same song with references to various experience in Toronto.
He mentions Vince Carter (that ass, we'd sooner forget) and Chris Bosh, Drake, the Skydome, Lakeshore, Caribana, the CNE etc. It's definitely a track to listen to on replay when you're missing your city pretty hard (Not speaking personally or anything).

Download Toronto State of Mind here.

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This months "The Neighbourhood" feature are the infamous Toronto Islands. Why? Because this summer, after the wretched Toronto City workers strike was over, I jumped on the first ferry to the islands with my good friend Nicole and had an incredible time touring the island by bicycle.

If you are not from, or have never been to Toronto, let me share with you the greatness that lies just beyond our shores:

There are a collection of small islands just off the shores of Lake Ontario in downtown Toronto. One island houses an amusement park, another island a nudist beach, one a small airport, another small cottage homes and yacht clubs. Toronto's city islands are secluded but accessible.
For those lucky enough to own homes on the tranquil (at times) island community they know all about the uniqueness of their little enclave.

On the islands you'll find bike trails, picnic parks, baseball diamonds, beaches, tennis and volleyball courts, Toronto Island Natural Science School, Yacht Club, Historic Gibraltar Point Light House, Restaurants, Pools, Centre Island's amusement park, even a Golf Course.

The facilitates on the islands are never ending.

For a relaxing day with the family, we definitely advise heading down to Harbourfront and hopping on the first ferry out to one of the islands. Arrive early, because in the afternoons the lines get VERY long.

Don't forget that the islands are foot and bike islands only.

- SLICE

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Val did a post on these two a little while back.

Their debut single, "Got Me" did rather well. In fact, it was picked up by Telus for their Smartphone campaign.

The band is currently putting the finishing touches on their debut EP, but it's safe to say it's sounding pretty good so far.

Enjoy,
SLICE

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St. Jovite Quebec

La Tourtière is a meat pie with it's origins deeply routed in the province of Quebec.

It is traditionaly served with tomato Ketchup, but depending on the region and ones taste, it can really be served however you like it.

Traditionally it is a pie that is eaten over the Christmas holidays by families across Canada (usually with French Canadian ancestry) and the North Eastern areas of the States (Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, New York etc).

Ingredients

Pie pastry

- 100 g (3 1/2 oz.) vegetable shortening

- 150 g (about 1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 125 ml (1/2 cup) cold water

Basic tourtière recipe from the St. Jovite region

- 500 g (18 oz.) fresh ground pork butt

- 1 large onion, minced

- 125 ml (1/2 cup) breadcrumbs

- Salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Method

1. Put the pork and onion into a large pot; season; cover with water and let simmer over medium heat for 90 minutes or until the water has completely, or almost completely, evaporated;
2. break up the meat with a fork; correct the seasoning;
3. lay the bottom pie crust in a lightly buttered pie plate, letting the dough hang over the edges slightly; prick all over with a fork; place the filling into the crust, spreading it evenly with a spatula;
4. cover with the top crust; lightly moisten the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts together and pinch them with your fingers;
5. roll a small piece of aluminum foil around your finger and stick it two-thirds of the way into the middle of the pie to form a little steam vent;
6. brush with an egg beaten with a little milk; bake at 200° C (400° F) for 10 minutes;
7. reduce the temperature to 180° C (350° F) and continue baking for about 20 minutes until the crust is golden.

- Recipe from World Wide Gourmet

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CFCF - You Hear Colours from tommy boy on Vimeo

OK so we have two options:

1. CFCF comes to Melbourne.
2. Frankie goes to Canada to see CFCF.

I just bought the album (kudos) and can already see/feel the future we are going to have together.

Gosh I'm in love

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Spring is ending in Australia and Summer is coming. . .

With the season of heat approaching, all will experience this thought at one point during the season.

"Do I smell?"

The thought brings a particular feeling. It’s the feeling that a truly concentrated pungent smell is exiting from your pores. No not exiting, evaporating from your body into the vapors surrounding you.
This is the type of feeling where you cannot move your arms with liberal movements, because if you do, that juice extricating from your pits will fill the nostrils and stroke the taste buds of the tongues surrounding you.

There is a girl who lives on the end of my corridor. She is notorious for her scent. Its pungent. Males have sworn of her beauty but believe its wasted on such a smelly creature. The funny thing is, even when the day is not particularly balmy, she smells.

The smell is so strong in that it is not limited to just her body, no her room smells too. Every time you walk past it - even when the door is closed- your nostrils are filled. The experience is similar to being thrashed about in the ocean, the waves fill every orifice of your body. You can smell, taste, see, even hear salty water. Replace 'salty water' with 'odour', actually 'strong odour' and its pretty much a similar experience.

Read on...

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I FUCKING LOVE THIS GUY!

Okay, I recently became a raging fan of Friday Night Lights. I watched it when it first started a few years back and loved it. Then I moved to London and stopped watching it, and would hear my sister drown ON AND ON AND ON about how amazing the show was. So over the summer I began to play catchup to find out what I had missed.

So Season 4 started a few weeks ago and it is SO exciting! (If you don't watch it... just close this page down right now and go finish jerking off somewhere else!)

Anyway, the point of this post is to talk about the hotness that is Taylor Kitsch.
He's the piece that plays Tim Riggins on the show.

He hails from beautiful Kelowna, BC. Attended University of Lethbrige in Alberta (Not gonna lie, I didn't even know that place existed 'till writing this post). Played hockey in the BCHL until a knee injury forced him to retire. Moved to NY. Started modeling. Began acting. Landed the roll of Tim Riggins on FNL. Has been acting in fantastically non-commercial films ever since (except for that tiny film... oh what's it called again.. oh X-MEN!). Oh ya, and he's HILARIOUS!

In short. I love him.

Watch the video.

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It was my birthday last weekend, yes I am born the day after the "Day of the Dead". My celebrations almost always involve creepy costumes, figures of questionable morals and many sheets of black crepe paper. The upcoming birthday was one I particularly didn’t want to celebrate. Although keeping with tradition of me never really enjoying my birthday, the transition from 19 years to 20 years was more distasteful than the rest. The ripeness of the age made my tongue recoil, like remembering the jokes of an old boyfriend.

I wasn’t sure why this celebration of birth came with particular annoyance.

Conclusion 1: I hadn’t done anything, I was the same person I was last year. Consideration, no this didn’t fall into place, if I compared things, they were very different . I was very different, I hadn’t wasted anytime. Perhaps not.

Conclusion 2: It was the whole change from ‘teen’ to adult. Consideration, this didn’t feel right either. Initially I thought the answer was here, but I was wrong. In fact I was ready to move on from the last phase of life. I thought I had completed it, really worn it down into the ground, and now needed something new.

Conclusion 3: The weather was the key. It was a stormy night. The air was thick with sweat, incense and the smell of supermarket cologne. I sat there with my legs on my desk, reading while I drank orange juice from the carton. The back of my knees were itchy. The cool shower I had taken minutes earlier was stuffed in the corner with my towel. The hot rain drooled down my window. Either side of my forehead, a beat began, my eyes ached from the afternoons harsh daylight sun. Enough with the description, I dressed and met the sweaty night.

Read On...

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