All of these exciting events are sure to add some extra sizzle to this heat, so some Toronto residents will probably want to crank up the AC. I’m sure I would, if I had one, but I would also feel a little guilty for using so much energy. For those of you who are nice and chilly, here are some ways to balance your energy uses so you can relax with a clear conscience:

• Turn off the lights during the day time. There’s plenty of sun to go around.
• Keep window coverings (blinds, curtains) closed on South and West facing windows. In the night-time, open windows where it’s safe.
• Turning the AC up just a few degrees will not be very noticeable to you, until you get your energy bill
• If you can, program your AC to run less when you are out.
• Circulate air with fans, which you can turn off when you leave the house.
• Try to save energy in other ways, like taking cool showers (who wouldn’t want to right now?) or hanging your clothes to dry.

Now, I’ve talked about an issue in the East end (Bigbox in L-ville) and there’s quite a lot going on over here, as you can see above. However, the West side is not to be ignored! The twenty-fifth year ofDream In High Park will start up June 26th.

High Park is also currently the subject of discussion for Bloor West/Swansea dog-owners and environmentalists. The High Park Community Advisory Council sent plans to the City of Toronto to reduce the size of the off leash area.

Local dog-walkers have been known to have dogs off-leash (illegally) in other parts of the park. This is not only a danger to the wildlife in the area, but to children and other vulnerable enjoyers of the park. Dogs with irresponsible owners are also a… messy situation, for children and adults alike.

However, the off-leash area is a great community meeting place, for dogs and people. It would be immoral to own a dog and not give it opportunities for socialization and exercise. Therefor, I think it would be more productive and community friendly to focus on actually getting the dogs into the off-leash area.

Apparently, the City thinks so too, because the plans were rejected to keep the space as open to all positive uses as possible. Sounds to me like someone’s using their Hedonistic Calculus. That’s the theory developed by Bentham which looks at the amount of pain that would be caused by a decision, and the amount of pleasure that would be caused by a decision, and makes a choice based on the greatest good for the greatest number. Either that, or The City is being typically Canadian and doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Wait! Same thing…

Released in November 2007, “The Good Night” is now available for rental. I watch probably two or three films every week with my mum, and she chose this one for me because of the actors. The talented cast includes Martin Freeman as the lead, Gwyneth Paltrow as his girlfriend, Danny DeVito (who usually annoys me, but didn’t in this film) and Penelope Cruz (my favourite actress, mostly for her work with Amaldovar).

Freeman’s character, Gary, quit his life as a musician and is now writing jingles to make a living. His controlling, unsatisfied girlfriend doesn’t make him happy anymore. One night, Gary has a dream of a woman named Anna (Penelope Cruz). She is beautiful, sophisticated, mature and understanding, the perfect antidote to his crumbling love life in real life.

Gary becomes obsessed with his dream girl, and starts reading up on lucid dreams. He is recommended to a specialist named Mel, played by DeVito. Mel is a pitiful man, living on the edge of poverty because of a penchant to live in his dreams, yet he has no remorse. He teaches Gary to find Anna and how to avoid being jolted out of his dreams by unpleasant thoughts. Meanwhile, Dora leaves Gary. Left to his own devices, he is drawn further and further into the dream world. Anna becomes his friend and lover.

Now, philosophically this raises issues epistemologically and personally. Epistemology, the study of knowledge and certainty, has been used as a plot device in many films including the “Matrix” trilogy, “Fight Club”, “Open Your Eyes” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. While in some films it is used to introduce the character into a new world where his or her adventure will take place, others will use the doubting of knowledge to challenge a hero’s character. However, one question remains in each of these films and within ourselves as human beings: is it better to live easily in a world that is not true, or is it right to live in a seemingly harsh, true world?

In real life, this question is often far more mundane. There are many ways to escape from our realities, many of them are unhealthy to the body and the mind, and so are looked down upon. This can include the abuse of substances, avoiding responsibility, psychological defense mechanisms and even the simple act of losing oneself for too long in a book or in the alternate reality of an MMORPG.

In “The Good Night”, Gary has seemingly found the perfect way to live: in his dreams. In lucid dreaming, he finds the control and stability he has never had in waking life. The turning point in the film arrives when in waking life, he notices Anna’s face in an ad on the side of a bus. Realizing that his dreams could become reality, he finds a way to meet the real-life Anna. Hoping to win her over he manages to take her out for a drink. Of course, in waking life she is a completely different person. Still gorgeous and intelligent but also rude, a smoker, and not interested in the adoring Gary.

Without spoiling the ending, I’ll say that the characters manage to find balance in their lives. Balance is celebrated as the answer to life’s problems in many philosophies, such as in Buddhism and Aristotle’s teachings. I believe balance to be the answer to the attractiveness of escapism or doubtfulness of reality. Sometimes it’s nice to escape for a while, but because of societal norms we must also be responsible for ourselves. The life I understand to be real is full of surreality and lies, but taken with a grain of salt I think we can learn to exist happily.

Being student in the West end and living in the East end, I know for a fact that tiny little Leslieville is not a neighborhood known to most residents of Toronto. It stretches from (generously) Coxwell to Broadview along Queen East, but more specifically from Leslie street to Empire street.

The area is growing fast, with run-down auto mechanics, trendy boutiques, specialty foods, espresso bars and plenty of antique stores all sharing spaces. Also plentiful are restaurants, ranging from family joints like Dan’s Diner, to healthy energizing takeout at Pulp Kitchen, to relaxed sit-down places like Gio Rana’s Really, Really Nice Restaurant (known to locals as The Nose, for the sculpture hanging outside instead of a sign).

Leslieville is a real community, and this is what residents are facing: 1900 parking spaces, a three story development just a block or two south of Queen (depending on the street), and big name bigbox stores that will undermine small business initiative. Smartcentres (a developer connected to Wal-mart) will own half the eighteen acre property while the previous owner Rose Corp. will own the other half. Rose Corp is responsible for the Toronto Film District, which is the current occupant of most of the land.

The city has zoned the land for employment. Smartcentres’ proposal (currently being tried at the Ontario Municipal Board) would provide “2100 Ongoing and 1800+ Construction Jobs” according to their website (www.thefoundrydistrict.ca). Local business owners worry that the discount and brand name stores would distract from their business and the individuality of the community. Also, the average wage of the Smartcentres employee will be about $30 000 per year, meaning those at the bottom of the corporate ladder will hardly earn enough to live on.

Toronto Danforth City Councilor Paula Fletcher is also against the Smartcentres proposal. In her Spring/Summer newsletter, she illustrates further problems with the plan. It says “1900 parking spots will bring 7 million cars a year into the neighborhood”. Leslieville is full of cycling enthusiast and this will cause the area to become much more dangerous to them, as well as the children who attend public school nearby.

More cars also means more shoppers from outside the neighborhood. The Foundry District site lists this as a positive, saying the proposed development “will help Retain Outgoing Retail Expenditures in the Community – An MGP market study found that 67% of all retail spending is leaving the neighbourhood”.

Those in favour of the proposal are difficult to find within the community, but articles in The Toronto Star and in the Globe And Mail have quoted low income families as the prime group who will benefit from the development, especially from a possible Wal-mart. However, according to Joe Clark’s blog, the average yearly household income in Leslieville is “$61,154 (lower than the Ontario average, higher than the Canadian average).” This is hardly the target group for a Wal-mart. US-based website Wal-mart Watch also contradicts the ‘moms need cheap diapers’ argument with the fact that Wal-mart and similar stores can afford cheap prices because they pay employees badly and offer few benefits. This suggests that supporting such stores perpetuates the need for them.

So, what is there to say philosophically on this issue? The Smartcentres development proposal has raised issues of the morality of Capitalism. Capitalism can be defined as an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. Over the course of history, Capitalism has grown along with standards of living. Freedom to own property and a free market ideally leads to equal opportunity employment. However, history also shows us that this is easily taken advantage of.

The majority of opposition to Capitalism has come from left-leaning politics, including many famous figures such as Marx, Trotsky, Lenin, and Chomsky. In Marxist theory, capitalist leaders will be overthrown by the working class in favour of a fair unionized environment and possibly communism. (Psst! Wal-mart is known to avoid unionization.)

Opposition is also found in many religious groups, where the accumulation of wealth can lead to sins such as envy and greed. Some groups, such as Judeo-Christian religions, only permit some aspects of Capitalism, while other aspects (such as lending money with interest) are forbidden.

Common problems with Capitalism are the concentration of wealth and power, unemployment and inequality between social classes. These problems are clearly evident in the Smartcentres case. Bigbox stores follow the common practices of Capitalism, such as unequal distribution of pay based on rank. Local business owners worry that their stores will not be able to compete with cheap brand names, leading to their possible unemployment and a bigbox monopoly on customers.

However, the small businesses are also part of the Capitalist system, and everyone likes them. So if the problem is not purely with Capitalism, where is it? Perhaps the problem lies in the ethical code of the developers and owners of bigbox stores, but you can’t arrest someone for being greedy or for having tough politics.

On the bright side, perhaps there won’t be a problem in Leslieville at all. As of the 21st of May, the OMB is holding a hearing to decide on the Smartcentres’ proposal. Residents and local businesses have won and lost battles in this war against bigbox: although Ontario will not declare Provincial Interest in the hearing, a motion for consolidation has been won (“the hearing is no longer site-specific and the OMB will look at a larger community context” according to the East Toronto Community Coalition). Hopefully the OMB will take the side of community values so that one of my favourite neighborhoods can continue to thrive.

New street furniture! (Link at the bottom.) The city has finally decided on a unified design for your park benches, litter dispensaries, bicycle posts and more.

The new face of the Art Gallery of Ontario is slowly being unveiled. Last week the new logo was unveiled by designer Bruce Mau. He says, “The Art Gallery of Ontario is relaunching with a renewed mission to bring art and people together to experience spaces that are dynamic yet timeless, popular yet iconic… The new logo is similarly imbued with fluid motion and spontaneity, counterbalanced by stability and legibility.” Of course, the AGO is following the footsteps of an equally giant field-trip hot-spot: the Royal Ontario Museum. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal was opened last summer, and Museum Station on the TTC has been given a museum themed make-over.

Speaking of the Toronto Transit Commission, it plans to order over 200 brand new streetcars by the end of this year. Not only will they look different, they will also (hopefully) function better and more frequently than the classic red icons.

So with all this change, I’m wondering how we relate to our collective Torontonian image. Is all of this change a good thing? Much of the funding of this gentrification comes from taxpayer’s money. Is a face-lift really what we should spend that money on? Aesthetics, the philosophy of beauty and art, is what I’ll explore to answer these questions.

In ancient Greece Aristotle developed the theory that art mimics life. Examples of his theory are now found everywhere from films to still-life paintings. It is applicable to many creative mediums, although it is criticized for excluding the value of abstract art.

Will Toronto’s new look reflect the Toronto life? Well for starters, the ROM’s crystal is inspired by the crystal exhibit inside, and the new street cars and street furniture (with the exception of proposed public washrooms) are updates of existing features of our city. But this does not address the value of having a more beautiful city.

Fast-forwarding to the Twentieth Century, we come to Maslow’s Hierachy. The psychologist published it first in 1943. It is a pyramid scheme with physiological needs (from food and water, to shelter and safety, moving up to love and caring, and sense of achievement) starting at the bottom and psychological needs at the top. The best a person can be on Maslow’s pyramid is self actualized. He believed that one reaches this level after managing the physiological needs. Self actualization can be achieved through creative endeavours, problem solving, and having a sense of unity and being moral. Seeing as self actualization brings a happy state of nirvana, it would be nice to realize this state.

Coming from an arts school and a creative family, I can safely say that being in a creative environment can be a great boost to the soul and the ego. I love to visit our city’s attractions like the ROM, AGO, and the Science Centre (problem solving, anyone?). Not that I’ve experienced nirvana, but I’m a generally happy person. As for unity, the TTC streetcars have been a Torontonian symbol for as long as I can remember and long before that. Besides, public transit does bring people together. Sometimes even too close for comfort, in the case of rush hours.

So from ancient times and from recent times, philosophy agrees that pretty things are good for us. In celebration of this revelation, take yourself out to shop for some pretty new clothes in Queen West and become a credit to our city

See the accepted plans for new Toronto street furniture here.