Jonathan Goldsbie

@goldsbie

Mastodon didn't feel right, and hanging out on Twitter felt like trying to enjoy a beach vacation in a country with an increasingly spotty rights record.

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Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir goldsbie.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 25

That said, this remains her most important connection to Toronto:

Screencap of a March 18, 2022, tweet from George Civeris (@georgeciveris) that says: "Monitoring the feud between Charli XCX Updates and the politics editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books."

He includes a screencap from an account called CHARLI XCX UPDATES that says, "They don't build statues of critics," with a picture of Charli wearing a shirt with the slogan.

In reply, Tom Zoellner (@tomzoellner), tweeted, "Here's a statue of literary critic Northrup Frye," with a photo of the statue at U of T's Victoria College.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 24

It's rather like the opening of the Eras Tour, if, instead of Taylor Swift emerging, there was a fire boat.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 24

Toronto has a new park in the Port Lands, and it's celebrating the opening in style:

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 23

No one's talking about how The Odyssey has also been a boon to local news.

Screencap showing a YouTube video from CTV News titled "Regina IMAX theatre draws global fans for The Odyssey"

Screencap showing a YouTube video from CTV News titled "Calgary among few cities screening 'The Odyssey' in IMAX 70mm"

Screencap showing YouTube video from CBC News and CBC News Quebec titled "The Odyssey hype is here — and fans are flocking to Quebec's only IMAX 70mm theatre"

Screencap showing YouTube video from CBC News Nova Scotia titled "Only 9 Canadian cities can show you this film. Halifax is one"

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 14

The kind of glitch that answers the question "What if Council livestreams had been formative culture for Jane Schoenbrun?"

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 14

They sent an email this morning with 20-point type:

Large white-on-black text that reads: "We highly recommend bringing a physical credit card for purchases made at concessions, bar/lounges, and/or merch area."

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jul 14

I'm glad Toronto City Hall hasn't fully had its playfulness squelched:

Now she's showing off the back of the shirt, which looks like a concert tee. At the top, it says "Economic & Community Development Committee" over a stylized rendering of City Hall, and at the bottom is a list of dates.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· May 16

With an exterior that had always been suggestive of a courthouse, the Four Seasons Centre has taken a new step towards fulfilling its destiny:

A row of large walk-through metal detectors at the entrance, with bags being searched on tables next to them.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· May 4

Michael Coren (yes, that one) is being depicted in a play currently running on Broadway:

The cast list from a Playbill, showing the roles played by six actors.

The first listed actor is John Lithgow, playing Roald Dahl.

The last actor is David Manis, playing Wally and Voice of Mike Coren.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Apr 28

There were already several respects in which I was worried about The Washington Post, but I suppose I now have one more:

Screenshot of a portion of a Gmail inbox, showing two emails from The Washington Post.

The subject line of the earlier message, sent at 12:36 p.m., is: "The Post Most: The surreal evacuation footage of Cheryl Hines"

The subject line of the second, sent at 3:42 p.m., is: "I cannot stop thinking about Cheryl Hines at the correspondents' dinner"

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Apr 28

In its spring mini-budget, the federal government indicates that it's looking extend journalism subsidies to TV, radio, and, presumably, podcasts: budget.canada.ca/update-misea...

Screenshot, of a passage whose bullet point is the shape of a maple leaf:

The Spring Economic Update 2026 announces the government’s intention to seek the views of Canadians and stakeholders on extending the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit to audio and audiovisual news production. Further details on the consultation process will be released on the Department of Finance Canada website.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Apr 16

Genuinely curious how much of this paragraph — the conclusion of the NYT's review of Adrien Brody's Broadway debut — will have to be rewritten when it's pointed out that this *wasn't* the same production:

Screenshot from NYT article:

Another mystery remains: How this production, so clumsy here, could have been so rapturously greeted in England. I can imagine that when it was at the comparatively small, 250-seat Donmar Warehouse in London, with Brody’s electric presence only a hairbreadth away from the seats, faults in narrative drive and characterization might have seemed less intrusive. But at the James Earl Jones, which is four times the size, the distance makes those wrong notes echo. The farther away we are, the louder they clang. Each one feels like a door slamming shut between the audience and Yarris’s extraordinary, real-life story.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Mar 25

A screenshot from the official nominations list showing:

Achievement in Music - Original Song | Meilleure chanson originale

Brent Bodrug, Julian Stirpe, Siobhan Bodrug – Dream Eater – "Wildflower"

David Carriere, Jane Penny – Mile End Kicks – "A / S / L"

Jay McCarrol, Matt Johnson – Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie –
"The Alphabet Song"

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Mar 25

Canadian Screen Awards nominations are out, and this is up for Achievement in Music - Original Song:

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Feb 26

Fourteen years later, this makes no more or less sense than it did at the time:

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Feb 26

With his death, the off-record status of this segment of the 2011 City Hall Press Gallery Christmas Party has presumably lapsed:

A screenshot from YouTube, showing a private video titled "Goldsbie roast - Giorgio Mammoliti." It's 5:54 long. In the frame, I'm wearing a suit and bright red tie, sitting cross-legged on a stool on a small stage at the old Hard Rock Cafe. To my left is Mammoliti, standing, holding a microphone.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Feb 6

How to manage expectations, or not. The TTC, Tuesday: Be cool, everyone, this is just a soft launch, a preview period, not the official opening-opening. The Premier's Office, today: 📯 🎆 📯 🎆 📯 🎆 📯 🎆

TTC to begin phased start to service on Line 5 Eglinton

February 03, 2026

The TTC will begin an introductory service period on Line 5 Eglinton starting Sunday, February 8, marking the final step toward launching full, regularly scheduled service once the new line demonstrates a high degree of reliability and performance.

This phased opening will allow customers to benefit from rapid transit along Eglinton Avenue while the TTC and Metrolinx fine-tune operations in live-service conditions to deliver consistent and dependable service. Riders may notice service adjustments as real‑world operating conditions emerge with public use. The TTC will continue to share updates as key milestones are achieved and will announce the start of full service once all partners are confident in the line’s performance. A celebratory event will be held at that time.

News Release

Ontario Marks Opening of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT

Province providing funding for LRT operating service, including free service on opening day

February 06, 2026
Office of the Premier
Transportation

TORONTO — The Ontario government is marking the official opening of the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Toronto, a major milestone in the province’s plan to protect Ontario by building transit, relieving gridlock and cutting travel times. The new transit line will begin operating under the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) on February 8, 2026, moving more than 123,000 riders each weekday and reducing travel times from Kennedy Station to Mount Dennis Station by nearly one hour. To mark the official launch of the line, service will be free for riders on opening day.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Feb 5

Nah, you need corrupt cops to get a TL cover. For now, tow trucks take a back seat to "Young and Retired":

The cover of the February 2026 Toronto Life.

The cover story is YOUNG AND RETIRED: They hold down multiple jobs and save every dime. Sounds brutal, but they'll retire decades before you. THE SECRETS OF THE SUPER-SAVER MOVEMENT By Andrea Yu

One of the stories teased at the very top is: BLOOD BATH: Carnage in
the tow truck industry, p.42

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Feb 4

Plus, Woody Allen was looped in on the fallout of Jian Ghomeshi's NYRB essay:

Screenshot:

iMessage
[3] 2018-09-19 19:39:54 (UTC)
Sender: Self ( e:jeeitunes@gmail.com )
Participants: Woody Allen [email redacted], Self ( e:jeeitunes@gmail.com )

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/arts/ian-buruma-out-jian-ghomeshi.html

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jan 23

I suppose this is one way to track the evolution of Twitter/X-brain:

A bar chart titled "Tristin Hopper tweets that include the word 'penis,' by year," showing a general trend of more occurrences over time, peaking at 15 in 2024.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Jan 1

I got into Star Trek a year too late to catch the TNG finale at the SkyDome, so this'll have to do.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Dec 10

(SEC filings show the Broadway production was capitalized for up to $7 million, which is actually a bargain for a new musical-type thing.)

A section of an SEC form, showing:

13. Offering and Sales Amounts

Total Offering Amount: $7,000,000 USD

Total Amount Sold: $1,685,000 USD

Total Remaining to be Sold: $5,315,000 USD

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Dec 10

(thankfully, they clarified)

The same message as above, now with a big header that reads: If you received this message, please disregard. It was sent in error.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Dec 10

Canadian Psychiatric Association creating new complexes by blasting out this message in error:

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Dec 2

The Toronto Public Library has purchased the old WE Charity headquarters at Queen & Parliament to convert into a new branch: blogs.tpl.ca/news-release...

A rendering of the new TPL branch at the southwest corner of Queen & Parliament, showing a nicely-preserved, three-storey brick building with giant street-facing windows.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Nov 5

It's not *not* Islamophobia, but there's arguably a more complex and equally troubling phenomenon at play. As the sociologist Paul Gilroy observed in a 2000 essay on the oddity of "Black Fascism":

Screenshot from a journal article:

In Britain, the United States, South Africa, Bosnia, and elsewhere, politically opposed forces have learned to bury their differences in order to join in a dismal dance of absolutism. I am asking you to venture into an unstable place where white supremacists, black nationalists, Klansmen, Hindu fundamentalists, Black Muslims, neo-Nazis, Zionists, and antiSemites encounter one another as potential allies rather than as sworn foes. In the words of Primo Levi, it is "a grey zone, with ill-defined outlines which

continued:

both separate and join the two camps of masters and servants. It possesses an incredibly complicated internal structure, and contains within itself enough to confuse our need to judge." These enemies share a way of understanding the meaning of their own uniqueness; for them ethnicity and "race" serve as first principles of human existence. It may seem tempting to regard this shared enthusiasm for segregation as the spontaneous eruption of an elemental human antipathy toward Otherness. But arguments for racial and ethnic separation are not merely instinctive: they are the product of negotiation and compromise, three centuries of profane politics and complex history.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Nov 5

If I had the time and resources to go anywhere and do anything, I too would hang out at U.S. Supreme Court hearings:

Screenshot from a NYT live-blog:

53 minutes ago
Aishvarya Kavi

Inside the Supreme Court, the courtroom was crowded — members of President Trump’s cabinet in attendance included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer. They were seated in the front row of the public gallery, along with Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ed Markey, as well as Republican Senator Mike Lee. Also in attendance was the chairman of the House’s chief tax-writing committee and a top officer at Meta.

Seated in the back of the courtroom was the comedian John Mulaney, who is apparently friends with the lawyer Neal Katyal.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Nov 2

(This was *my* baseball: bursts of ecstatic wonder fitfully sprinkled amidst stretches of… considerably less wonder.)

A view from a seat at the Bluma Appel theatre, with a Canadian Stage playbill for The Far Side of the Moon held up in front.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Oct 23

At a press conference this afternoon, Attorney General Doug Downey said they want to move away from requiring "evergreen leases, that just go on with no end in sight":

Reporter: With respect to what we were told this morning about the government consulting on “alternative options” essentially that could allow landlords to end leases — I think this is a question best for the Attorney General? Just wondering what you are looking at there.

Attorney General Doug Downey: Well, we've heard from stakeholders that these evergreen leases, that just go on with no end in sight, may not be the appropriate — other jurisdictions, when we did a scan across the country, do different things. But we weren't confident that we had the answer, and we only want to move with confidence. So we're going to go back out and talk to landlords and tenants and organizations and see if there's a better way for the people of Ontario to unlock that housing that isn't happening now.

Reporter: But that's housing that people are in. They're tenants, right? It's hard to see a world in which, if you're giving landlords more power to end leases, that they're not gonna want to get in a tenant that will pay more. So is this not inevitably gonna end up with higher rents, more people getting kicked out of their rentals?

Downey: We're gonna consult widely on it. What we do know is there are a lot of landlords that are not putting their units on the market. We need to get those units. I'm convinced if we get the right balance, we'll unlock tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of new units, and those will be places that people that currently don't have a place to be will be able to rent.

Reporter: So, sorry, you're saying that if landlords, there are some landlords that if there are more flexible types of agreements that they would be willing to rent currently unrented spaces?

Downey: I’ve been told that repeatedly, for years, that some landlords are not entering the market because they don't have confidence in it.

Jonathan Goldsbie@goldsbie· Oct 23

In particular, they want leases to no longer necessarily remain in effect indefinitely, so that landlords have more options for creating tenant turnover. Current situation in left-hand column, proposal on the right: