Photo: untitled by jakemartella, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

Welcome, Summer! Early yesterday morning marked the official beginning of summer. Take advantage of the longest days of the year, warm weather, and a city thriving with events and culture and excitement. If you're having trouble getting motivated, think for a moment what things will be like six months from now.

For breakfast this morning, we're serving the essence de garbage omelet with a side of pureed children who have nowhere to go today because unionized city workers are on strike. Run to your local hardware store and buy a bunch of clothespins for the noses of all your loved ones!

Workers at the Globe & Mail are also poised to go on strike, meaning that one of Canada's leading newspapers might not be able to very well report on the strike by city union workers in Canada's largest city. See the pattern here? A recession is proving to be a good time to be part of a union.

With private sector funding running dry, the Bell LightBox (the future home of TIFF) is poised to open for the 2011 festival but is still nearly $50-million short on required funding. How much work will be required to squeeze more drops from the city, provincial and federal rocks; and how TIFF can juggle other monies is being looked at now.

OMGWTFBBQ! Celebrity reporter and drama queen Perez Hilton claims to have been assaulted by Black Eyed Peas member Will.I.Am last night in Toronto. Rather than calling the police, he sent out a plea for police help on Twitter, which suggests to me that he's either full of shit or he's totally stupid. Publicity stunts work though. You're reading about it right now.

Someone has been running projector-based ads on the sides of buildings (using a gas-powered generator) in the evenings around the city. Is this legit? Some good discussion is happening over at Spacing.

And for those of you who were not online all weekend (with all that was going on in the city, I can't blame ya!), here's a quick recap of what blogTO was up to:

• Jessica Napier filled us in on the rain-soaked by resilient community spirit at the Big on Bloor street festival in Bloorcourt.
• Jerrold and his umbrella attended the inaugural Toronto Wine + Spirit Festival in the Distillery District.
• Peter reported on the closure of Queen St. furniture store Rumah.
• Briony filled us in on the anniversary party for Sydney's menswear store in Queen West.
• Roger reviewed the No Doubt show at ACC, and included some awesome photos of Gwen Stefani.
• Tanja checked out the opening party for Pride Toronto 2009. Lots more pride to come this week!
• Derek introduced us to a home turned permanent art gallery at 107 Shaw St.
• And Christopher and some friends briefly got buck naked out at Hanlan's Point Beach.