Giorgio Mammoliti finally triggers mayor into raging talk-radio host mode. In response to the clown prince councillor’s latest stunts, which included a “HONK for NO TORY TOLLS” sign over the Gardiner, John Tory went hoarse shouting back. (Mercifully, the media didn’t have to pixellate any middle fingers.)

“You have to bleed before the taxpayers bleed.” Former mayor Mel Lastman gave his road tolls commentary in a chat with Joe Warmington. (Lastman has been pretty quiet about politics since he left office, but he now says he wishes he were asked about stuff.)

Ranked ballots are now a fully lost cause. The anticipated death blow to Toronto electoral reform came with a 17-22 vote, despite years of pro-ranked-ballot advocacy. (Edward Keenan said of the reform opponents: “All are useless or actively bad city councillors.”)

The Revenge of Analog gets added to one newspaper's bookshelf. David Sax’s study of an artisanal media renaissance, filled with examples from Toronto, made 2016's top 10 list from chief New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani, following a rave review. (But then it got a more ambivalent look in the NYT Book Review.)

Prime minister shares article about ravaged-earth art. Edward Burtynsky’s New Yorker profile merited an enthusiastic link from @JustinTrudeau. The piece tells the story of the photographer's rise from a blue-collar childhood in St. Catharines, to founding the Toronto Image Works, to finding a wealthy patron willing to encourage his focus on industrial landscapes.

Alan Thicke takes the fast track to a scandalous afterlife. Whether or not he really took swinging sex scandals to the grave, the National Post recaps his stint as the pitchman for predatory debt settlement in Canada. TMZ, meanwhile, ended its streak of accurate death reportage by being pranked by a street artist who pretended to be Michael Vartan. (He apologized after realizing that fake news spreads pretty quick.)

Party starts in a second. Look for another email today if you signed up for the 12:36 year-in-review chat. (If you didn’t RSVP, better luck in 2017. We might do more!)