Week Around the Ists, August 30 – September 5

Photo by Andrew Louis / Torontoist

• Torontoist covered the aftermath of a horrifying cyclist-car confrontation—between a bike courier named Darcy Allan Sheppard and Ontario's former Attorney General Michael Bryant—that left Sheppard dead: they covered a mass memorial and mass ride for Sheppard that brought out hundreds of mourning cyclists, as well as tried to think about what change would be necessary to help prevent anything like it from happening again.

• Chicagoist played tourist in its own city by spending half an hour on the famed Michigan Ave (with magical results) and then scoped out the crumbling architecture of Gary and East Chicago, Indiana towns that stand in the shadow of Chicago.

• DCist asked whether the design of a new public library by famed British architect David Adjaye was ugly or not.

• Bostonist considered the implications of an "Idiot" like Curt Schilling running for Senate.

• Shanghaiist was appalled by extremely racist comments on main Chinese internet portals about Lou Jing, a half-black contestant on an Idol like show, especially when we saw how much of a sweetheart she was.

• Gothamist was disturbed at a Brazilian ad agency's 9/11-inspired concept for a WWF campaign, which included a terrifying TV ad. The agency and WWF's apparently approved the terrible idea.

• LAist watched the massive Station Fire devour over 140,000 acres but wondered where the heck the TV news was all weekend.

• Phillyist was taken aback when Britney Spears opener Kristina DeBarge only performed three songs during her Philadelphia set and surprised that she actually appeared to be singing, rather than lip-synching.

• Londonist wondered if it was really necessary for a local council to smother a vintage piece of Banksy art/graffiti in black paint, prompting accusations of vandalism.

• Seattlest prepared for a UW-LSU game, examining the strengths of the UW home team and the weaknesses of LSU.

• SFist posted a simple photo of an out-of-order emergency phone on the Golden Gate Bridge, which sparked a heated discussion over suicide and the famed bridge.