Toronto

photos by David Andrako Mikal Cronin We already posted pictures of the Mikal Cronin/Shannon & the Clams show from day 3 (6/15) of Toronto festival NXNE, and that same day we also caught Mikal on the annual M for Montreal / Panache Bruise Cruise during NXNE with Toronto locals Odonis Odonis, Montreal's We Are Wolves, and rapper Fat Tony (who also played Yonge-Dundas Square). PIctures from that Bruise Cruise are in this post. Mikal Cronin and Fat Tony both play NYC soon too. Mikal Cronin is currently in NYC and will be playing live at the Pitchfork offices at 3 PM today (6/19) which will be webcast live. WATCH IT BELOW. If you haven't been keeping up with our NXNE coverage, check out pictures of day 1, day 2, more day 2, day 3, and day 4. More pictures from the Bruise Cruise on day 3 below... Continue reading "Mikal Cronin, Fat Tony & more played the Bruise Cruise during NXNE (pics); watch Mikal Cronin play P4K offices today" at brooklynvegan

Fellow Fools, when I run across a company I might be interested in as an investment -- one that I know next to nothing about -- I typically start my investigation by just jumping in and taking a quick look around. And that's how I've designed this "7 Things You Need to Know" series: a quick scan of the facts, in no particular order, that gives you -- the potential investor -- a mix of high- and low-level takeaways. TD Bank ? I've heard of it, but I know next to nothing about it. So here's the start of my personal investigation into TD. 1. TD Bank is Canadian Toronto-Dominion. That's what the "TD" in TD Bank stands for. TD is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and was founded in 1855. So it's important to remember that an investment in TD is an investment in a foreign-owned corporation. But we are talking about Canada, here, which has a far more regulated banking system than that of the U.S. This is one of the reasons Canada's banks didn't get into the same kind of trouble ours did in the financial crisis. 2. TD Bank is bigger than you think A visit to the Federal Reserve's National Information Center tells us that TD is the 14th largest bank-holding company in the U.S., farther up on the list than American Express or SunTrust . TD has a big American operation, so this isn't surprising; it runs 1,315 brancs from Maine to Florida, almost as many as SunTrust in its region. Used skillfully, a bigger bank can generate greater revenue and profit than that of a smaller rival. 3. Eye-popping return on equity Return on equity, or ROE, is a measure of management efficiency, and it gives you some idea how much profit a company generates with shareholder money. TD's ROE is an eye-popping 14.04% trailing 12 months. Lean, mean comrades-in-banking JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have ROEs of just 11.55% and 13.07%, respectively. Go, Canada. 4. Eye-popping profit margin Is there any greater measure of management efficiency for a corporation than how well it converts revenue into profit? TD does this extremely well, with a profit margin of 30.64% TTM. Again, JPMorgan and Wells only manage 24.90% and 24.82%, respectively. 5. A mixed quarter For the most recent quarter, TD grew its revenue by 4.10% and its income by 1.80% year over year. The revenue growth is actually impressive. For its most recent quarter, JPMorgan only grew its revenue by 1.20%, though it did squeeze 32.60% income growth out of that. Wells did a similar trick, squeezing 21.70% of income growth out of revenue growth of just 2.00%. Those tricks, though, are undoubtedly the result of heavy cost-cutting, as all the big American banks are currently slimming down from their 1990s and 2000s bloat period. Big earnings growth out of small revenue growth just isn't sustainable. 6. Solid share-price performance Over the past year, TD stock has gained 4.97%, enough to keep up with the S&P 500 on an annualized basis. This is actually good performance for a bank, though it's not what we're used to seeing here in America of late. Since the financial crisis -- which again, Canada and its banks didn't experience like us -- American bank stocks have gone through the roof. They also had fallen farther, both in monetary value and in reputation. In some respects, the big American banks had nowhere to go but up. So, sure, Bank of America stock has gained 70.23% over the past year. But as American banks become more stable, and therefore get back to being boring in the style of their northern cousins, it's unlikely those kinds of returns will continue. 7. A great dividend TD currently pays an annual dividend yield of 4.00%. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo pay 2.90% and 3.00%, respectively. Healthy, but not TD Bank healthy. B of A pays 0.30%, and Citigroup pays just 0.10%. Foolish bottom line TD Bank is big enough to matter, Canadian enough to be stable, has eye-popping efficiency metrics, and pays a nice dividend. From a share-price appreciation perspective, it's no B of A, but it doesn't face B of A's

Today's Toronto Star features a story about how a lesbian bride reacted to a wedding gift basket. As JMG reader David notes via email, perhaps the most interesting part of the story is how the bride's sexual orientation isn't even mentioned other than in a passing reference to her bride. Consider this: you attend the wedding of a casual acquaintance. You opt for your go-to gift — a basket filled with fancy salsas, oil, biscuits, marshmallow spread and more. You sign the card, “Life is delicious — enjoy!” Later, you get a text from the bride — “I want to thank you for coming to the wedding Friday,” it begins. “I’m not sure if it’s the first wedding you have been to, but for your next wedding … people give envelopes. I lost out on $200 covering you and your dates plate . … and got fluffy whip and sour patch kids in return. Just a heads-up for the future.” It sounds like a Miss Manners hypothetical, but this was the drama that played out at a recent Hamilton wedding. Kathy Mason and her boyfriend gifted a food basket to Laura (who declined to give her last name) and her bride. When Laura suggested Mason poll “normal functioning people” about her basket-giving blunder, Mason brought the question to The Spectator and the Burlington Mamas Facebook group, where it garnered more than 200 responses in less than 24 hours. Even those who agreed cash was a more appropriate gift thought the bride’s reaction was rude.A poll at the newspaper's site shows that by a 9-1 margin, readers feel the bride was in the wrong. Readers are evenly split as to whether the gift itself was tacky.

Chris Bosh has a message for the "fans" who filed out of their seats when the Miami Heat were trailing the San Antonio Spurs late in Game 6."For all those guys who left, don't come back for Game 7," Bosh said, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.Good for Bosh. He showed some backbone at the right time.More than a few of the Miami not-so-faithful fled from the AmericanAirlines Arena inside a minute to play when it was a two-possession game.Two possessions. Anything can happen at that point. The Heat were a pair of threes and a botched free throw away from tying it up—which is exactly what they did.LeBron James and Ray Allen knocked down a couple of treys to tie the game up at 95, and the Heat proceeded to win in overtime to force a Game 7.Meanwhile, those who began their journey home tried to get back in and ultimately couldn't.Serves them right, if you ask me. Down by 10 or more inside of a minute to go during a regular-season game, feel free to head home early. But this wasn't a regular-season game, and the Heat weren't down by 10. It's the NBA Finals; a time when a little hometown appreciation should be shown even in the face of a loss.Those outside of Miami would be free to call the Heat a failure had they lost Game 6. Alleged die-hard fans have an unspoken obligation to their team, though—the same team that was (and still is) battling through their third consecutive finals.You don't just leave. You applaud them, maybe offer up a "good job, good effort" if the mood strikes. Don't, under this particular circumstance, leave.For those who did, I, like Bosh, implore you to watch Game 7 from home, if at all. Plopped down on the couch is where you'll have control of the remote, leaving you free to remain loyal to your team when it's most convenient for you. Follow @danfavale

Here at Dread Central we have an insane amount of love for "Supernatural" star Jim Beaver. Having said that it's with great pleasure that we report that Beaver has signed on for active duty in Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak. Read on for details. The news comes from Beaver himself via his Facebook page. "Okay, I’m back again with that big deal that I couldn’t talk about but couldn’t shut up about either. Well, now I can talk about it, because today it came true. Guillermo del Toro, director of PAN’S LABYRINTH, HELLBOY, and the upcoming PACIFIC RIM, has cast me in one of five leading roles in his new film CRIMSON PEAK, a Gothic ghost story also starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessica Chastain, and Charlie Hunnam. We start shooting in Toronto in January.” He joins the previously announced Mia Wasikowska who will play a young author named Edith Cushing, who discovers that her charming new husband is not who he appears to be. Jessica Chastain also stars alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Charlie Hunnam. Plot details are unknown as del Toro and Lucinda Coxon work through a rewrite on a script del Toro and Matthew Robins originally penned. Del Toro previously described the film as “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love and at the same time subvert the old rules.” Legendary will produce and be a participating financing partner on the movie, with Universal Pictures retaining an option to finance at a later date. Look for more hopefully soon! VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Get spooked in the comments section below!

Miami Heat fans should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. The funniest part of the mass exodus out of the arena with 28 seconds remaining in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals was the Instagram picture showing one of the fans on the elevator in an old purple No. 34 Milwaukee Bucks jersey, where Ray Allen played once upon a time. So that fan and numerous others chose to give up on LeBron James and arguably the greatest three-point threat in pro basketball history. They should have immediately turned in their fan cards at the gates as they departed. After Ray “Jesus Shuttlesworth” Allen hit his game-tying three to send Game 6 into overtime, fans attempted to scurry back into the arena, only to be rebuffed by security. And what was the point by then? They had already missed history. You can’t simply wind the clock back five minutes and re-live it. Everybody knows that at almost every sports venue readmission is not allowed. A sizable percentage of Heat Nation threw in the towel, and good for security for standing firm and not letting them back in. I have a personal rule, especially if fortunate enough to attend a playoff or championship game/series: be in the building for the duration of the contest. It would be one thing to leave a regular season game where hypothetically the Heat trail the Atlanta Hawks by eight with about 45 second remaining. That would give you a good chance to beat the traffic, especially if you work the next day. If the home team manages to pull that one out you knew that risk when leaving, and it’s just one of 82 regular season games. For a playoff game – and especially an elimination game in a championship series – the situation is much different. For starters, you likely have made a significant financial investment to attend that game. Secondly, one of my rules of being a true fan of an organization is to be there at the time of death. I attended Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Miller Park in 2011. That game was over by the second inning, the St. Louis Cardinals already had an insurmountable lead on my Milwaukee Brewers and David Freese had crushed my team’s hopes by that point. But I stayed for the rest of that game, right down to the final out. Others left early that night, allowing Cardinals fans the chance to move up into choice field-level seats. It was painful to watch them celebrate on my team’s turf, but I owed it to the team I support to be there at that moment. After all, I was in the park nine days earlier when the Brewers won a dramatic deciding Game 5 in the previous round. I was there for the good times and had an obligation to be there for the end and thank my team for an outstanding year. I wish I could say I have never been personally guilty on bailing on a huge game, but I managed to do so two months ago. The Toronto Maple Leafs had taken a 4-1 lead on the Boston Bruins midway through the third period of Game 7 of their first-round NHL playoff series. I declared the series over on Twitter, and wasn’t even concerned when the Bruins scored minutes later. They still needed two more goals, then to win in overtime. It wasn’t going to happen. I switched channels and washed some dishes for a few minutes before deciding to turn hockey back on. I tuned back in right after the Bruins scored twice to tie the game after pulling the goaltender in the waning minutes. Despite not being a fan of either team, I was absolutely pissed because I had just missed out on history. But very few left the Boston arena that night, they were going to stay for the postgame handshakes and give their beloved team a final ovation, even after what would had been a devastating defeat. Heat fans should have done the same last night, especially if there was even a remote chance of a comeback. Even if there wasn’t, they should have stayed for the trophy presentation to give due props to Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and the rest of the San Antonio Spurs

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford declared city hall had put the “final nail in the coffin” of the five-cent plastic bag fee after the city’s public works and infrastructure committee voted to maintain the status quo. Mr. Ford made an unusual appearance at the committee, and cast a vote alongside the majority of members to receive for information a report that outlined options for the bags. As mayor, he is entitled to vote on any committee. Last year, city council rescinded the bylaw that demanded retailers charge a fee for plastic bags, and at the same time imposed a plastic bag ban. Council later back-pedalled on the ban, which never took effect. The report from city staff outlined various options, including bringing the fee back, reinstating the ban and doing nothing. Staff said in the four years that the mandatory fee was in place, the presence of plastic shopping bags in the city’s waste stream dropped 53%. Audits after the five-cent fee was quashed determined that the use of plastic bags has increased by 26%, although more than half of that is going in to blue bins or to line green bins. RelatedToronto plastic bag ban on hold indefinitely until lawsuits settledToronto’s plastic bag ban should be scrapped: Canada Plastic Bag AssociationConvenience store group sues City of Toronto over ‘invalid’ plastic bag ban Darren Calabrese / National Post filesToronto's plastic bag ban was hotly contested. Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon described rescinding the bag fee “a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money” because it was achieving its objectives. “It changed people’s behaviour and it saved us money,” she told the public works committee. But others said they were tired of the debate. “This particular issue has been done, I thought, somewhat to death,” said Councillor John Parker. Retailers can still charge the five cents, but the city no longer mandates it. The city plans to spend up to $400,000 on a comprehensive education campaign that focuses on promoting the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastic bags. “We have to educate them. We have to get people out there and saying these bags can be reused,” said Mayor Ford. “I think people still believe they have to pay five cents. I go to stores almost every day and people still come up and say, ‘well is it the law? Do we have to pay the 5 cents?’ I say, ‘no you don’t.’” The mayor says he will not shop at stores that charge five cents. Mayor Ford also said he wants to move to contract out the rest of the city’s garbage collection. “I’m going to campaign on that in the next election,” said Mayor Ford. Right now, homes west of Yonge Street get their trash picked up by private haulers. National Post

As Archi Zuber mentioned in today’s The Morning After post, some intrepid businessperson on the internet– specifically, a site called Teespring– has been selling a t-shirt that appears to be a total fucking… um… homage to the little Edwin Taking The Parrot For A Walk GIF that blew up the internet (relatively) late last month, having been conceived and executed, as I noted at the time, by Zubes and fellow DJFer Scott Johnson way back on May 1st. No, really, I can’t possibly imagine where the idea came from: At the time of writing this person has sold more than $3000 worth of the damn thing, which serves as a lesson well-learned for our lazy asses, but is also… I don’t know… probably kinda bullshit. It’s not atypical, though, as it seems like knocked-off Jays paraphernalia is all the rage. Or… at least is kind of a thing. Witness, for example, these items I was alerted to the other week from reader Tristan, who explained to me that he “was down in San Francisco for the Jays’ mini-series and came across something weird I thought I’d throw your way. Got pulled into Urban Outfitters by my girl…and saw these hugely weird shirts riffing on the Jays’ logo (see attached). Some brand called Staple Pigeon. I’d never heard of it.” “Came home,” he adds, “looked it up and apparently it’s a thing.” That looks… uh… familiar. By which I, of course, mean, like another total fucking homage. And, to be perfectly clear, I have no idea what is in or out of bounds, legally, when it comes to stuff like this– nor do I particularly care. Knock-offs for all, I say! It’s just… weird. Tristan followed up his initial email with another What The Shirt? thing. “Not that I’m trying to avail myself to you as some go-to fashion tipster,” he wrote, “but I’m back in town and stopped in at the Drake General Store on Bathurst last night… only to see this (kind of awesome) montrosity:” The J. Peterman-esque copy from the Drake General Store site explains it thusly:  ”Stand apart from the fair-weather fans with our unique take on the classic Blue Jays logo tee. An inside-out print and Japanese characters add a dose of Drake quirkiness, and our supersoft Supima cotton means this top is as delightful to wear as it is to look at. Pairs well with peanuts and Cracker Jacks.” Ugh. Also… what the shirt? Maybe these sorts of items have always have been a thing and I’ve just never noticed. Or, at the very least, never been so bereft of content as to write a post about it. Gotta be one of those, right?

Now that an Aussie and an Englishman have won the year's first two majors, it's a wonder the Americans haven't yet gone back to wondering just what is wrong with their game.

Come on swing it, 1 - 2 - 3 - now we come to the pay off. Juan Nicasio (4-2, 4.86) gets the ball for Colorado. The Jays go with southpaw Mark Buehrle (3-4, 4.66) and his assortment of funk at 7:07 pm Eastern.