Got a drawer full of old oversized and underutilized Ts that you’ve collected over the years? You know the ones – the jumbo concert shirts, the XL prize-pack freebies, the slogan-saddled top you once loved but just don’t wear any more? Put them to good use by remaking them into custom throw pillows for your pals this holiday season. Just match the T to your friend’s personality, from left-wing politico and kitschy hipster all the way to rocker babe.

Back in the day, if you wanted to get high, you had to walk down to the arcade to score from some guy in a Metallica T-shirt.

Arts and public space activists are not taking any chances. Despite a unanimous decision by council’s planning committee, they’re prepping for a nail-biter Monday (November 30) when council votes on a new bylaw to regulate and tax billboards to raise money for the arts. The sign lobby has launched a full frontal offensive, putting their names on the to-see list of practically every councillor in recent weeks. Council’s mushy middle may be getting cold feet on this one.

I’m squeezed in shoulder-to- shoulder at the Toronto Reference Library’s swank new Appel Salon on November 19, between a former military surgeon who served in the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 80s and a psychiatrist from Latvia who says he used to hate the sight of the peace sign but is now deeply troubled by the war in Afghanistan.

Producer Emmanuel Benbihy imports the concept of his 2006 production Paris, I Love You across the Atlantic, assembling another platoon of international filmmakers in a distinctive metropolis.

Young British band The xx just released their self-titled debut album on Young Turks this summer, and already the excessive hype and constant touring has taken its toll. In early November, the quartet became a trio when keyboardist/guitarist Baria Qureshi quit due to exhaustion. But the band sees this setback as an opportunity for growth.

Coming off his genre-blending debut, The Man On The Moon (Universal Motown), Kid Cudi is going through a quarter-life crisis. Like a recent college graduate, the Brooklyn-via-Cleveland rap upstart has some options.

To say that Stagehands have a flair for the dramatic would be an understatement.

Rated R is without question a very dark album, which should come as no surprise. After her breakup with Chris Brown following a vicious beating, it was assumed that she’d be addressing domestic abuse and heartbreak, but we were expecting a more introspective collection of ballads and tearjerkers. Instead, she’s delivered an angry and emotional album of goth R&B jams (new genre alert?) with heavy rock overtones.

Has Ossington jumped the shark? Sure, the city’s recently stuck the too-trendy strip with a ridiculous moratorium on new restaurants and bars. But haven’t these unlikely blocks already reached saturation point?