Miscellaneous: July 2009 Archives

Between the Pitchfork Music Fest of a few weeks back and the approaching Lollapalooza marathon next weekend, it's sometimes easy to overlook the lesser known local music stars of our city. One such auteur? Jan Terri. We've posted Jan's videos before and she's actually well known about town and on the interwebs, but Friend of Chicagoist Griff sent us a collection of her videos which included a feature on her from the Daily Show from nine years ago (my God, Jon Stewart has been there that long?). Check out the interview below and after the jump, check out a few more of Jan's videos.

Mesmerizing! [via]

          

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We've gone on and on about it being such a cool month - the coolest July in 67 years - but man, it's days like today that make us not mind. Highs will tip out right at around 80 and skies will be sunny, sunny, sunny. It'll be a gorgeous day to eat lunch outside, take the kids to the park, or just, you know, shove off work early (we won't tell). Partly cloudy skies remain in place tonight with lows in the mid 60s. It looks like there's a chance of rain tomorrow and temps will warm a bit through the weekend.

          

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So long, Mr. Sun. You'll be hidden behind clouds most of the day though we could see a peek here and there. There will be a 40 percent chance of rain today and highs will reach all the way up into the upper 70s and maybe, just maybe, nudge 80. Clouds stick around this evening and as we move into the nighttime hours with lows around 60. Tomorrow, though, is looking like a nice day to play hooky.

          

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Starting Monday morning River North residents heading to the Loop have a new option for their weekday commute. The Water Taxi will be making a new stop along the River Walk at the edge of Erie Park between North Larrabee and West Erie, in addition to the stops at Michigan Avenue and Union Station. Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) plugged it as the “first ever residential-oriented stop” and told the Tribune it would “ease downtown congestion at no cost to the city.”

As an encore to last Thursday's perfect game, Mark Buehrle remained unhittable well into Tuesday night's game against the Minnesota Twins. In the process, Buehrle set the MLB record for most consecutive batters retired. By taking another perfect game into the sixth inning, Buehrle ended up retiring 45 consecutive batters without one reaching base, going back to his July 18 start against Baltimore.

Today is going to be another spectacular entry in Chicago's Coolest Summer In 67 Years. Skies will be blue and sunny today as high temperatures top out in the upper 70s. Tonight could even be a bit cooler than usual as lows reach the upper 50s under partly cloudy skies. And because you need some useless trivia, it was 28 years ago today that Prince Charles married Lady Di.

The trailer for Tron 2 leaked over the weekend. It didn't take long for someone to figure out how well it mashed up with the Michael Jackson hit, "Beat It." This, folks, is why the Internet was made.

Sometimes, we here at Chicagoist get emails. Oh, we get emails all right, and every now and then, one of them piques our interests to the point where we'd like to know more. When one of those emails crosses our inbox with the perfect storm of plagarism, white supremacy, IP address tracking and Wheaton College, well, we thought we'd like to find out what was behind all of this.

          

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Scattered clouds will be overhead and scattered storms will be popping up around the area. Highs will reach around 80 with the chance of rain standing at 50/50. It'll remain cloudy tonight with a low in the lower 60s.

Any Chicago sports fan knows the lengthy time that Wrigley Field spent as home to the Chicago Bears' football team (1921 until 1970 when they moved to Soldier Field). But now Wrigley could once again host a football game if several people, including University of Illinois coach Ron Zook, have their way. The story's been bouncing around for a while now, but Zook raised the issue again at today's Big 10 Media Day, asking for a game against Northwestern next year at Wrigley. During the media day, Zook appeared on ESPN 1000 where he said:

In case you were wondering why things have been so haywire on the tech end today.

When Chicagoist caught up with environmental expert Danny Seo last Thursday afternoon, he was sitting by himself at a table just outside the doorway of the Anthropologie clothing store in Lakeview, quietly examining the contents of his new box of assorted candies. Dressed in jeans and a buttoned-down shirt, he looked like a regular guy just out for some casual Southport shopping -- not at all like a someone who is often referred to as "the Green Martha Stewart." But while Stewart provides counsel on how to make "creative cupcakes" (if such a thing can even exist nowadays) and scrapbooks, Seo pushes his passion for eco-living: getting his message across by developing super-organic bath and beauty products and his own mattress line sold at JCPenney; writing books on environmentalism, green living and home decor; and partnering up with green companies such as Method, which sells eco-friendly personal care and household cleaning supplies. Among other things.

Controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has finally begun to open about his relationship to Michael Jackson in the wake of the pop star's recent death. At a service at Mosque Maryam yesterday morning, Farrakhan said, "I told Michael, don't be angry with your father, because even though you didn't have pillow fights and sleepovers, those who had pillow fights and had sleepovers - they're the ones buying your records and they're the ones coming to see you. You had a purpose for your life." Jackson had a few ties to the Nation of Islam, including his brother Jermaine, who was a member, and his use of Nation of Islam guards at his child molestation trial a few years back. [CBS 2]

          

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It's going to be a glorious summer day in Chicago with highs in the mid-80's and sunny skies. Lows tonight dip into the mid-to-upper 60s. Rain moves in tomorrow, though. Also, our friends in Finland are celebrating Sleepy Head Day. So...there's that.

A fire on the west side of Joliet destroyed a four-unit condo and left two couples homeless Saturday morning, according to the Herald.

Well that was quick. President Obama's response to South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint's comment that the GOP could "break" Obama by debating health care reform has already made its way onto a made-in-the-USA, 100 percent cotton t-shirt. Now you have the perfect compliment to your Ivan Drago "I Must Break You" t-shirts. [via Gapers Block]

For the Cubs fans among us, if you're already getting tired of the wall-to-wall Buehrle front page coverage in the wake of yesterday's perfect game, cast your gaze backwards to 1922. After a perfect outing hurled by Charlie Robertson on April 30th, the Chicago Daily Tribune rates the accomplishment as deserving only a single column, despite "Robby" being carried off the field in celebration - while on the road.

          

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That's kind of what we feel like here while Marcus takes a much-needed respite from maintaining this here site for a few days. He's more than earned it, folks. Here's hoping he comes back next week not sounding so chippy.

File this one under the "How Are We The Only Ones Not To See This" folder, but we're going to share anyway. Tomorrow morning, I'm flying back to Home Swampy Home New Orleans for the weekend and I can only hope my flight attendants are half as entertaining (and have as good a flow) as this guy.

Sure, our summer has been cooler than usual and the beach-mongers among us are a bit miffed, but if El Niño impacts us enough to give us a warmer than usual winter, as Skilling Says it might, we can deal.

          

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It's going to be another good day to eat lunch outside, no matter if you're stuck in an office today or you have a bit more freedom. We'll see partly cloudy skies with highs in the upper 70s. There could be some scattered storms later this afternoon. Tonight, lows reach the lower 60s.

There are no words to describe this clip. Just watch.

          

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We've become accustomed to this unseasonably mild weather. Today, mostly cloudy skies will hang overhead and the milder temps will remain in the mid 70's though today will feel ever so slightly more humid, but just a smidge. There may be a few passing showers and slight chance of a storm or two, especially after lunch. Lows tonight will be in the mid 60s.

Chefs in town sure seem generous with donating their time to charities and event. There was last week's Green City Market BBQ, of course, and this big ticket fundraiser Friday night at the Peninsula Hotel (108 E. Superior St.). Proceeds from the "Chefs and the City" event will support Vital Bridges, a non-profit providing housing, food, nutrition, case-management and prevention services to HIV-positive Chicagoans.

If you're still having a rough start to the week (like we are), consider taking just a few minutes to enjoy this soothing, amazing video of the second largest aquairum tank in the world. According to the video's author:

          

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President Obama got some folks - including us - talking last week when he threw out the first pitch at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game wearing a White Sox jacket - even though MLB didn't want him to - and a large, oversized pair of jeans. But what does President Obama think of the Mom Jeans accusations? Well, in short, he doesn't care. In his interview with NBC's Today Show, Obama admitted being "frumpy" and said, "Here's my attitude: Michelle, she looks fabulous. ... For people who want a president to look great in tight jeans, I'm sorry." Well, at least he owns it. [via Newsday]

Everyone remembers the legendary Jordan vs Bird video game. But do you remember His Royal Airness's other video game? If you didn't, we can't blame you. But our friends over at Tremendous Upside Potential recently dug up and revisited Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994, Super Nintendo, and yes, it's real). The objective: to rescue other basketball players who have been taking captive by Maximus Cranium. The weapon: basketballs. The enemies: zombies. There's nothing left we should have to say.

It's starting to feel a lot like summer again as temps are edging their way north of that 80 degree mark. We should hit right on it today under partly cloudy skies so you may just sweat a wee bit if you're outside eating lunch. And, really, you should be. Need a reminder of why you should be? How about this? Or this? Or even this? Yep, we thought so. The energy from today's sunny weather may translate into some storms later tonight with a 40 percent chance of thunder, mostly after midnight; lows will be in the mid 60s. Tomorrow's looking like another unseasonably cool day but the rest of the week should warm back up.

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Enjoy some archival footage below and after the jump.

Remember the CTA's Brown Line experiment using cars with fewer seats that would allow more people onto each car? It seems, per the Trib's Jon Hilkevitch, the CTA deemed the project a "failure" and have quietly decided not to expand the experiment to other lines as originally planned. The cars that are on the Brown Line trains now - two per train - will remain.

          

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It's really hard for us to describe anything to do with Monday as jolly but that's what today's weather is. We'll see sunny skies and highs in the mid-to-upper 70's, continuing the string of cooler, drier weather we're not used to at this point of the summer. Lows tonight will be in the mid 60's under partly cloudy skies. It looks like things will warm a bit this week with a chance of showers throughout, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.

• Gothamist found out that "heroin-addicted hobos from around the country" are camping out in trendy Williamsburg. One deli owner complained to a local newspaper, "They could take a nice hot bath. One kid comes in and the whole store will be smelling for hours."
• Torontoist considered the ramifications of Tim Hortons—the coffee and donut chain synonymous with Canadiana—arriving in New York City.
• Bostonist exposed Yelp's geographic confusion while pondering the history of hipster hatred.

We know Oscar Mayer’s first and last name, but do we know his insurance policy number?

Today's weather won't deviate too much from the path laid out by the previous days. Partly sunny skies and highs in the lower 70s are in order, so it should be nice if you're heading to Union Park for the Pitchfork Finale or if you're doing anything outside today. Lows tonight drop into the mid-50s. And it looks like things will warm up a bit in the week ahead.

By now, you've heard the news that legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite has passed away. Below is perhaps one of Cronkite's most memorable moments, announcing the death of President John F. Kennedy.

       

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Things got a little chilly last night and there were a whole mess of jackets at Union Park. Today's not going to be much different. Highs might not even crack 70 and skies will be overcast with a few passing showers possible. Lows tonight will drop to around 60 again.

It's time for President Obama to once again look for change, and this time it's in his closet. [Ed's Note: In Obama's defense, I'd like to reitirate my point that he's wearing more body armor under those "mom jeans" than Robert Verdi or Jessica Simpson could ever dream of. - M.G.]

          

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The Chicago Blackhawks did some unveiling yesterday, first unveiling two of their bigger free agent signings this offseason to a crowd of fans at a press conference at the United Center and then unveiling their 2009-2010 schedule. New 'Hawks GM Stan Bowman introduced Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, two big free agents that the 'Hawks swept from the Stanley Cup finalists Detroit Red Wings.

       

This morning's ceremony to rename the Sears Tower to its new name - The Willis Tower - has come and gone but the argument over what to call the building will linger for a long time. Still, these pictures don't lie: it finally happened.

          

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Today's weather seems awfully familiar. Mostly because it's almost exactly like yesterdays. Just a smidge less heat. Sunny skies and highs in the lower 80s are the rule of the day and it's gonna be a bit breezy, too, with northwest gusts over 15 mph at times. Tonight, it'll cloud over with a slight chance of rain. But your Forkcast? Still nice.

         

Here's one more round of the All-Star visit of Pres. Obama, courtesy of the White House Flickr Stream. [see our previous set here and check out SI's collection here (thanks, Chris!)]

The above picture is of 19,000 Gatorade bottles used to create a mosaic for an upcoming Gatorade commercial honoring Michael Jordan. The location is basketball court somewhere on the South Side. Looks pretty cool, no? You can read more about it over at Ball Don't Lie, one of the Yahoo! Sports blogs. [via Gapers Block].

Dedicated to former Chicagoist Editor-in-Chief Margaret Lyons, here's a video that combines her two favorite things: bad hip-hop and math. [via]

          

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It's only Wednesday morning and maybe it's the warm weather or maybe it's the impending weekend of music, but whatever the cause, we've already got a case of the Fridays. Luckily, there are batshit crazy videos like this one to get us through another day. [via]

The early morning thunderbumpers have moved on out and the sun is trying valiantly to peak through the clouds. There'll be a mix of clouds and sun and a decent chance of more rain and highs will be in the mid 80s. It's also a bit more humid than it's been lately, but it essentially feels like, well, mid-July outside. Skies should be pretty clear by this evening with lows in the upper 60s. And your Pitchforkcast? Still looking good.

          

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Yesterday was the kind of weather we wish we could bottle and save for late January. Today won't be too different to start off. Clouds will roll in throughout the day, sending us from a mostly sunny start to a partly sunny afternoon. Highs will be in the lowers 80s and there's a slight chance of a shower or two in the area. Tonight, though, the chances of rain go up to 70 percent and lows drop to around 70. While it looks like a warm mid-week bump, your Pitchforkcast remains the same: sunny and cool with highs in the low-to-mid 70s.

After a short summer vacation, the Chicagoist Podcast is back - did you miss us? In our absence, the food world saw its Superbowl event on the 4th of July, the hot-dog eatching contest at Nathans in New York. Patrick Bertoletti is a professional competitive eater and took 3rd in the event this year, but holds world records for devouring everything from pizza to PB&Js and is currently ranked #2 in the world. That's a long way from all-you-can-eat wing night.

If you're having the same kind of Monday we are - the blergh kind - then we'd like to suggest viewing this little clip of two robots blowing each other up. Because we enjoy robot on robot violence. It's from a 1990 film called Robot Jox. We've never heard or seen of it before. We're glad that's changed. And if you can't wait for Netflix, the movie is available on YouTube.

At first glance, this morning's Red Eye cover looks less like goofy-faced eggs and a lot more like...well, you be the judge. Then before we got to read the article, we started wondering when we were going to get to Toshi Station to pick up those power converters, and never really got around to it. After that, we couldn't stop imagining Chicago as a wretched hive of scum and villainy. We could keep making Star Wars/Chicago related quotes, but if you need us we'll be over here quietly photoshopping Mayor Daley's face onto screenshots of Emperor Palpatine.

          

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One negative consequence of being a Sox fan means having to endure Hawk Harrelson when watching our beloved team on TV. While Steve Stone's addition to he booth makes the broadcast tolerable, Hawk's ever expanding repertoire of catch phrases has become increasingly hard on our ears. There's only so much "can of corn" and "he gone!" we can bear. And yet Hawk keep on adding to his list and becoming a parody of himself. Or, as he put it, "'With this club, what I've noticed as I've gotten older is that my emotions get a little higher."

A gorgeous day for any time of year, but today will be especially nice for a summer day. Sunny skies and highs around 80, not too humid, and very very little chance of rain. Tonight, skies will still be clear with lows in the mid 60s. And, your Pitchforkcast remains sunny and pleasant.

Yes, it's the 30th Anniversary of that fateful day and we couldn't let it pass without saying anything (check out The Reader's cool feature on it). [via Deadspin]

Now this is a Running of the Bulls we can get behind. Or in front. Whatever.

       

NASCAR made its annual trip to the Chicagoland area with last night's Lifelock.com 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. Veteran racer Mark Martin took the checkered flag. Dick Trickle did not race.

If today's weather were an underrated '80s song, it'd be this. Absolutely solid and rightfully considered so, but too often overlooked in favor of other weather. Sunny skies and highs around 80 with a light breeze? Money. Lows tonight will be in the mid-60s with a chance of showers. An early peek at next weekend's Pitchforkcast gives us hope that maybe the fest will shed its "Sweatfork" nickname.