Click on each thumbnail for the full article.

Metro Minute with exploring Toronto We’ve reached our final Metro Minute.

Metro Minute at Raindrops Tomorrow is the first day of April, and you know what that brings, right?

Metro Minute with Jukari You know what fitness classes need? More flying. And we’re not just talking about your serotonin levels.

Metro Minute at The Four Seasons’ anniversary Due to its presence everywhere on the planet, many of us forget the hotel that forever changed customer service got its start right at the corner of Bloor and Avenue.

Metro Minute with cosmic bowling They can fill our streets with as many Lucky Strikes as they wish, but they can never duplicate the teenage nostalgia of glow-in-the-dark 10-pin at Newtonbrook Bowlerama.

Metro Minute with Seekers Books If you’re looking for an obscure title on the esoteric, you won’t find a better selection anywhere beyond this mortal coil than Seekers Books

Metro Minute at Spring Fling Your kids have been bored since yesterday afternoon.

Metro Minute at Bi Bim Bap By now we’ve sampled the kimchi, savoured the rice cakes, and even graduated up to moderately spicy.

Metro Minute with cab history Thornton Blackburn designed, built and operated the horse-drawn cab, eventually paving the way for your 2 a.m. weekend ride home.

Metro Minute at Bloor Cinema If there’s a film festival in town that doesn’t begin with the words “Toronto International,” chances are you’ll find crowds lined up around the block of this historic Annex gem.

Metro Minute with yerba mate In South America, where the coffee grows wild and free, drinking a cuppa joe is, like, no big deal.

Metro Minute at Cool Hand of a Girl Man’s existential search for a killer plate of eggs.

Metro Minute with Oscar party at The Drake By the time Sunday rolls along, we have become desiccated cornhusks of philosophical ruin.

Metro Minute with the FYI Collective Ever since texting came along, acronyms have become slightly less difficult to decipher than Vedic Sanskrit.

Metro Minute with Neha Dhupia When you think of cars the first thing that springs to mind is Bollywood, right? No? Let’s try that again.

Metro Minute with Roll Up The Rim The campaign that taught Canadians how to awkwardly trill their R’s has been around long enough to see both your kids through grad school.

Metro Minute with Family Day For many of you, an extra government-commissioned day of running after your children feels like anything but a holiday.

Metro Minute at The Rock Oasis You’d love to someday scale Everest, plant a flag with a giant silkscreen of your face on the summit, and let your crazed laughter ring through the Himalayas.

Metro Minute with yoga-dance fusion Oh, don’t get your Lululemon in a bunch, yoga snobs.

Metro Minute with last-minute lingerie Originality? We’re afraid you don’t have time for that anymore.

Metro Minute with ballet in drag We prefer our ballet a little more Ms. Swan and a little less Black Swan.

Metro Minute at the Book Lovers’ Ball Its most important social function is to demonstrate that book lovers do not conform to the mousy, bespectacled stereotype.

Metro Minute with Victoria’s Secret Hey, guys, your instinct was right. She is trying to tell you something.

Metro Minute at Downsview Market’s food court Sadly, Toronto’s average food court pickings are about as tasty as the Styrofoam containers in which they’re served.

Metro Minute with Chinese New Year So long, tiger! It’s time for something a little cuter and furrier.

Metro Minute at The Knit Cafe It’s what your cosmo-loving girlfriends have secretly been doing on Saturday nights while they regale you with fake stories about the club.

Metro Minute at Robarts library Its imposing, fortress-like exterior has always reminded us of the Starship Enterprise.

Metro Minute with Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids When we were 14, we kept an elaborate, illustrated diary about all the minutiae in our day-to-day existence and it was, like, THE MOST IMPORTANT STUFF IN THE WORLD, ever.

Metro Minute at IDS ’11 You would love a sleek home interior, but despite your best efforts, your living room appears to have been assembled by a pack of anxious chimpanzees.

Metro Minute at the Drake Sure, its reputation as a hipster watering hole has (unfairly) haunted the Parkdale establishment, but The Drake has much more depth than that.

Metro Minute at the Maharaja festival You look outside the streetcar window at the maudlin tableaux of ice, slush and human popsicles.

Metro Minute on the PATH system This past week has led many to question the wisdom of our ancestors, who chose to settle here when Miami really wasn’t that far from the Halifax ports.

Metro Minute with Mozart’s genius It’s one of the idiosyncrasies of human nature that we tend to treat our artists posthumously with the reverence they deserved in life.

Metro Minute at the Bloor Viaduct The Bloor Viaduct has sadly gathered more notice for its tortured history than its architecture.

Metro Minute at Wilson 96 Bringing your own food? That’s something new.

Metro Minute with banjos If you want to impress the ladies, best trade in your old-news guitar for one of them twangy circular things.

Metro Minute at Zoinks! Ultimately, what it really comes down to is that we love the name. They could be selling kitty litter and we’d still shop there.

Metro Minute at Station 312 Like many of the local residents, Yorkville’s Station 312 has had extensive restoration work performed on its exterior.

Metro Minute with Kiva’s bagels It’s hard enough to have a conversation about Toronto bagels without someone making a smug throwaway remark about the superiority of Montreal bagels.

Metro Minute skating at Mel Lastman Square Based on our infallible scientific observations, we have concluded that there are two types of people who like winter in this town: Those who are experiencing snow for the first time and those who partake in winter sports.

Metro Minute with Toronto’s fashion blogs We know you don’t have heaps of spare time, but hey — you’re online anyway, so you may as well make it worthwhile. (FYI: Farmville doesn’t count as worthwhile, and your friends have all secretly hidden your status updates on their newsfeed.)

Metro Minute at Cubeshops We try not to advocate mindless consumerism here at Metro Minute, but if there’s one area to which we invariably fall prey, it’s Awesome Japanese Stuff.

Metro Minute with Body Conditioning by Dancers Hear that? It’s the sound of your New Year’s resolutions laughing at you.

Metro Minute with low-budget New Year’s Eve After a thoroughly enjoyable year tracking the city’s gems, our idea of New Year’s Eve heaven involves a chilled bottle of bubbly, a space heater and stacks of crappy movies.

Metro Minute at Soma Chocolate Bar If part of your New Year’s resolution involves cutting down on your chocolate consumption, well, good luck to you, brave one.

Metro Minute with alternative Christmas Life in this big, beautiful multicultural stew we call home means having a number of great options this weekend for those who don’t celebrate Christmas.

Metro Minute with the Telus taxi You’re laden with bags on a snowy, crowded Toronto street and you realize you haven’t called your grandmother in Victoria since last Christmas.

Metro Minute at the Outer Layer You’ve got your gifts for the folks, your co-workers, and you finally cracked the matrix code the significant other has been leaving since summer.

Metro Minute with the winter solstice Today is officially considered the shortest day of the year, which we’re sure means a great deal to you as you sit there watching the night sky infiltrate your office window at 4:30 p.m.

Metro Minute with snowshoeing Because there’s no better way to feel like a true Canadian than stuffing your frozen tootsies into a pair of inverted tennis rackets.

Metro Minute with Cookie Cutter Day Whether it’s all a Hallmark conspiracy or not, your grandma was right: There really is a holiday for everything.

Metro Minute with The Grinch We love the holiday season. We truly do. All the lights and candy canes and snow and good cheer make us feel magical.

Metro Minute at Acoustic Soul Tuesdays If you have ever seen HBO’s Def Poetry, you’ve experienced how spoken word performances manage to be both powerful and entertaining at once.

Metro Minute with a Fashionably Kate Until they made the official announcement, we know you silently clung to the hope that just maybe, maaaaaybe Prince William would grow tired of his ladyfriend, Kate (I mean, eight years, right?).

Metro Minute at a barbershop All this talk about Movember has us thinking about barbershops, the last places on Earth where the mid-20th century is still flourishing.

Metro Minute with John Lennon Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary since we lost beloved pop troubadour John Lennon.

Metro Minute with an indie coffee passport Most of your coffee requires a passport to get to you, so it’s only fair you should try to reciprocate.

Metro Minute at a belly dancing class Admit it. That one time you went to the restaurant where they had live belly dancing you were totally into it, weren’t you?

Metro Minute with finding the perfect bra Ladies, hold this copy of Metro up discreetly and take a quick peek down at your chest.

Metro Minute at Twister Karaoke There’s a stretch of Yonge, just below Finch, where it’s impossible to throw a penny without hitting three karaoke bars.

Metro Minute at a cooking class Cooking classes have that terrific multifunctional element of providing you with both a critical life skill, and a person to inevitably perform that skill for you in the event you prove incompetent.

Metro Minute at Delta Bingo There’s the bingo your grandma plays in the community centre basement, and then there’s Delta Bingo, which is just a tad less competitive than amateur boxing.

Metro Minute at Winter Woofstock It’s good to be a dog this weekend, and not just because it means you’re adorable and everyone loves you and you’re a seriously efficient chick magnet.

Metro Minute with Engaging You Toronto stacks up pretty well when it comes to charity, but sometimes generosity goes down even better with a smooth glass of Chardonnay.

Metro Minute at TSO Afterworks Be honest. What did you really have planned today after work?

Metro Minute at H.C. Sanders Back when we were in grade school, riding on that early morning bus all bleary-eyed and groggy, we used to wish the world was made of pillows and blankets so we could simply roll over and go back to sleep.

Metro Minute at Snakes and Lattes There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the word “gamer” had nothing to do with technology.

Metro Minute with the Swarovski Crystal Wish Tree Now for the part of winter we actually like: Christmas in the city. It all turns into grey slush and frozen digits after the holidays, so let’s get rolling.

Metro Minute with beer and cheese Seriously, who doesn’t love cheese? Even the lactose intolerant risk their stomach lining to nibble on a gorgeous Gouda, and then double over in merciless, but worthwhile agony.

Metro Minute at JOEY’s restaurant It’s a rare honour for a chef to be invited to cook for New York’s James Beard Foundation, and even more rare to be invited twice.

Metro Minute with a library for children The best way to get your kids to crack open a musty old book? Make it seem like it’s all about them.

Metro Minute with winter tuques Just wait, Toronto. It may be unseasonably warm this week, but once that barometer drops, boy … your nose is going to start growing icicles all over again.

Metro Minute with Remembrance Day If you haven’t already picked one up, find your closest legionnaire and sport your poppy proudly.

Metro Minute at 100-Mile Child Now when you see Junior slobbering all over his Ukoonto Building Blocks, you only have to worry about his nascent architectural genius.

Metro Minute with the Four Seasons piano Ask anyone who spent their dating years in the city, and they most likely have a story that involves an enthusiastic suitor and the Four Seasons piano.

Metro Minute with your pulmonary health On the scale of public attention, our lungs often take a back seat to the overexposed Kardashian sisters of vital organs: The heart, brain and liver.

Metro Minute with pumpkins We know you spent hours carving that dramatic gourd tableau of the Chilean miners’ rescue, but your neighbours are too polite to tell you your yard is starting to smell funny. And not ha-ha funny either.

Metro Minute at Shopgirls Boutique Owner/curator Michelle Germain has made it her mandate to create a hub for artists and designers, both of the established and up-and-coming variety.

Metro Minute with Sketch Comedy Fest Your post-Halloween waistline has you weepy, your blood sugar levels have finally filed for divorce, and there are another 363 days until you can dress like a freak with impunity.

Metro Minute at Organic Oven Organic Oven Bakery and Café at 3189 Yonge St. is dedicated to everything you’ve ever loved about life, but in a variety of flourless, dairy-free, eggless and low-glycemic options.

Metro Minute with the White Elephant of Yarmouth Road Gather round, children, as we tell you the story of the giant white elephant and the front lawn.

Metro Minute with bubble tea A decade ago, it was the coolest drink in a glass. Now, bubble tea has quietly taken its place among the cultural landscape.

Metro Minute with Halloween prep Halloween creeps up again this Sunday, and if nothing gets your blood flowing like the idea of rigor mortis, you can keep the festivities, er, alive all week.

Metro Minute at wifi hotspots Nowadays we’re so plugged in, there are actual medical symptoms related to Internet withdrawal. Allow us to be your enablers.

Metro Minute at Smoke’s Poutinerie It may look like something the dog threw up, but poutine — that decadent cornucopia of fries, gravy and cheese curds — is also the most culturally recognizable Canadian food outside our borders.

Metro Minute with Bixi TTC delays. Traffic up the wazoo. Yes, Toronto. Our commute time has deservedly been ranked among the worst.

Metro Minute at The Beguiling Want to engage in an impassioned debate? Ask a manga fan about the best place to pick up a volume of 20th Century Boys.

Metro Minute at enRoute Film Festival We may moan and groan about Air Canada, but one thing it does spectacularly is entertain us at 30,000 feet.

Metro Minute at Annex HodgePodge Sure, we had a gorgeous Thanksgiving weekend, but a return to cooler temperatures is as inevitable as turkey leftovers.

Metro Minute at Dark Horse With all the superb java percolating in our city, it’s a shame that so many amongst the caffeinated class choose convenience over quality.

Metro Minute with Camros Eatery Lunchtime at Yonge and Bloor. You forgot to pack your sandwich (again). Or perhaps you are staring at it right now and can’t physiologically force yourself to eat it for the 16th day in a row.

Metro Minute with graffiti artists Whatever your take on the subject, there’s no question the graffiti lining the walls around Keele subway station grabs your eyes — and holds them long past the tunnel.

Metro Minute at Hugh’s Room No matter how great the show, there’s nothing quite like cloaking yourself in the intimacy of a small venue; the kind where each note lingers in the room like a shifting mood.

Metro Minute at Cameron House The Cameron House began its first incarnation as a flophouse, where it served up Prohibition-era beverages to a ragged collection of neighbourhood eccentrics.

Metro Minute with didgeridoos You may have seen the guy who occasionally sits at the corner of King and Simcoe, blowing into that long, cylindrical musical instrument that sort of sounds like a bovine mating ritual.

Metro Minute with Toronto Babel Remember that time after undergrad when you tossed a few pairs of shoes, pants and an iPod into your beat-up backpack and headed across the world to that country you’d always wanted to visit?

Metro Minute at the TIFF Bell Lightbox If the Toronto International Film Festival is your Christmas, New Year’s and Halloween all rolled up into one, this news will have you reaching back into your confetti bin.

Metro Minute with street book sales Bargain hunters and lit lovers know where to find unofficial purveyors of all things prose come the warmer months.

Metro Minute gazing for stars Locals know that film festival time means one giant Yorkville fan cluster.

Metro Minute at Revue Cinema TIFF fever starts tomorrow, and with all the lip flapping about premieres, parties and celebrity stakeouts, it’s easy to forget what the festival is about: The love of cinema.

Metro Minute at The Grindhouse A few weeks ago, Grindhouse chef Tim Pettigrew watched a grown woman cry tears of joy over one of his hamburgers.

Metro Minute with a game of cricket No getaway plans for Labour Day weekend? Why not take a trip to balmy England via Sunnybrook Park and get your cricket on.

Metro Minute at The Mad Italian Finding a gelato bar run by actual Italians in this city can be as tricky as finding sushi prepared by an actual Japanese chef.

Metro Minute with rare books Yea, all ye denizens of the 21st century: Books still come in paper form.

Metro Minute with a tea leaf reading Palms. Coffee dregs. Entrails. What do these three things have in common (besides being key menu items at the last Sarah Palin fundraiser)?

Metro Minute with youth jazz musicians We’re used to ignoring the sounds made by teenagers, but here’s one time when you’re going to want to sit down and take a real good listen.

Metro Minute with High Tea If we can’t beat ’em, we may as well join ’em … for tea — high tea at the Windsor Arms.

Metro Minute with Chinos Locos It’s hard to walk two blocks without bumping into a burrito joint. Sadly, most are about as authentic as that fake ID you bought on Dundas Street in Grade 11.

Metro Minute at The Little House Plug 128 Day Ave. into your iPhone Google Maps, and head over to Toronto’s Little House: You’ll feel positively huge.

Metro Minute at Philosopher’s Walk Walk a mile in your own shoes — just make sure you’re treading on the hallowed ground of great minds.

Metro Minute at Magic Pony We’ve all had a rough ride these last few years with the economy, job market, bosses with displaced anger issues … Why not let loose for a minute and indulge your inner child?

Metro Minute at Soundscapes Soundscapes exists for the same reason Kindle will never bury the paperback: The joy of holding a physical copy in your hands.

Metro Minute with Lyme & Tings Now that American Idol has lost both its judges and general human interest, those who need critical commentary to bolster their enjoyment of live musical performance need not despair.

Metro Minute with Alexander Winfield Take a stroll along Queen Street West on a summer day and you will likely stumble upon a small, homemade puppet booth, whose furry denizens would like nothing more than to sing you a song. About cats.

Metro Minute at Xococava Take three things that have no business being put together, add a dash of culinary alchemy and you have the most original — if not tastiest — ice cream flavour in town.

Metro Minute at Tequila Bookworm Your favourite neighbourhood book nook may have moved to larger digs, but Tequila Bookworm remains one of Queen Street’s most relaxing places to curl up with a great read.

Metro Minute with an apple soda It’s the Sprite of South America, but little known north of Mexico.

Metro Minute at Shkank Mothers, don’t let the name throw you off.

Metro Minute at Aroma Espresso The Ice Aroma is like the Frappucino’s smarter, better looking, Harvard graduated older sibling.

Metro Minute at R.C. Harris Plant Lake Ontario isn’t the only water source around The Beach.

Metro Minute at Arepa Cafe Burrito fatigue? No problema. Eduardo Lee and Marc Lukacs have you covered.

Metro Minute at Yorkville’s Rock Sweaty, dusty construction along the main artery of Bloor Street can make it feel like you’re fighting your way through a pebbly labyrinth.

Metro Minute with GC Bespoke Remember driving through the carwash as a kid, wishing you could open the door and roll around in the suds?