We'd just like to point out that for the price of one Hannah Montana ticket, you could feed a starving indie rock band for a year. For reals. Conrad Black got a 6 1/2 year sentence today. Oddly enough, we're not feeling sorry for him. Cheryl Lavin continues to dispense awesome advice. In this case she tells a woman who is upset at only having sex 4 times a week to tell her boyfriend......

Where Can I Go Sledding?...

Listen up all you single residents of Chicago: Andy Eliason, of The Canadian, "Canada's new socially progressive and cross-cultural national newspaper," has some dating advice for you in his piece, "Things to do when you are single in Chicago." He says if you are single in Chicago, the first thing you need to do is "find someone else who happens to be single in Chicago, and you have to be willing to take the steps......

What's the Speed Limit?...

Wonder where "celebrities" shop in Chicago? Expensive places. Ask Ellie gives some tough-love advice on how to get over a work crush. "This is getting beyond a crush to an unhealthy obsession." Burn, lady! How about something a little nicer? Sheesh. If you've been working on writing an episode of CSI or Bones (which...is secretly great), have we got a mystery-solving method for you: A Canadian scientist uses isotope analysis on teeth and bones......

There are lots of places to get advice in this town. Ladies, are you wondering what to do with jewelry an ex gave you? We say wear it — it's a necklace, not a sex promise — but Ask Ellie says to talk about it with your new fiancé. What should you do if you spot someone else's potentially cancerous mole? Tell them — discreetly, obvs. And hey, how do you put on a......

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and......

How Cold is Too Cold?...

In an interview in today's Sun-Times the Reverend Donald McGuire, who was convicted of molesting two boys at Loyola Academy in the 1960s and now faces federal charges of traveling overseas with a minor to engage in sexual conduct, said that he's appealing an expulsion decree levied by Chicago Jesuits to the Vatican and that, regardless of Rome's final say, he will "always be a priest." This despite criticism from numerous people, including a nephew......

Listen, we've kept mostly quiet about the daily newspapers' coverage of the online world. We love and thrive off our paper brethren. And for the most part, aside from every story about an online trend being about 13 months behind the actual trend, we think they get it right. Hell, we actually miss James Coates, since we found his computer advice to be direct, engaging, and idiot-proof. But Steve Johnson must be stopped. When we......

Today the Reader is holding a book swap. At the Cubby Bear. We think books should be, in a way, like toys. There are the collectible kinds and the kind meant to be played with and read over and over again until they are too well-loved to live. Then there's the kind you like for a while but ultimately don't need to keep forever and ever; this is when it's time to heed mom's......

This is your first movie. One of your co-stars was supposed to have the lead, but you got it instead. The resentment is as thick as pea soup (which, incidentally, is the color of your wardrobe). The director refuses to let you leave the set, insisting you inhabit the role 24 hours a day, and his production supervisor lords over everything with an iron fist. On top of all that, you have to spend a......

Jean Sliwinski was convicted of reckless homicide today and was also deemed mentally ill. She'll be sentenced November 26. George Ryan is supposed to report to prison November 7...unless Judge Posner's emphatic dissent is enough to convince the 7th Circuit to extend Ryan's bail until his case can be appealed to the Supreme Court. There are people who enjoy Ricky Henderson jokes. There are people who enjoy Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me jokes. Then......

Where Do Cows Go to Retire?...

It may have been delayed, but fall is finally upon us. What better way to celebrate it than to put on comfy slippers, elastic pants and a heavy sweater whilst slurping a rich and hearty soup? Even before the temperature dropped Chicagoist was gearing up to make a creamy mushroom soup. It was fortuitous that the day we made it was also the day that the median Chicago temperature fell by a whopping thirty degrees.......

We don't think much of eating food a couple of days past its sell-by date. To us, those little numbers are an approximation, not a hard and fast rule. Glencoe residents Ross Marks and Charles Farinella also followed this logic, but on a much larger scale. They bought 1.6 million bottles of Henri's salad dressing that were about to expire, re-labeled them with a new expiration date, and tried to re-sell them. Not surprisingly, they......

That steady wailing sound you may have heard this morning is 45,000 runners freaking out about Sunday’s forecast. For the 30th Chicago Marathon, Tom Skilling is promising record heat with a generous dollop of humidity. Runners, it’s time to dig deep and summon the strength that got you through that 14-mile training run in August or that sweaty half-marathon you conquered last month. To the thousands who fear death or worse this weekend, we say:......

Good news, women of Illinois: We're in good company! Four of the top ten most powerful women in business are based here (or run companies that are). Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, comes in at number 5, thanks to acquiring a $7.2 billion "global biscuit business." Pat Woertz, chairman, CEO, and president of Decatur–based agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland, follows her at 6 because she brought in $44 billion in revenue. Number......

ORD Terminal Mystery?...

Kitty Adopted!...

Between bullies, queen bees and questionable gymnastics moves, school playgrounds have always been dangerous places. This might take the cake, though. The Woodstock Early Learning Center recently had 12 truckloads of mulch delivered and spread over their playground to keep kids safe while playing and fighting and falling on the ground ... except the mulch contained 3,000 nails. Welcome to Tetanus Land, kids. There's been lots of back-and-forthing between the school, who wants a full......

Home for Kitty?...

In case you hadn’t noticed, Chicagoist was a little cranky yesterday morning. After our second full day of the Green City Market Localvore Challenge, with our ‘allowed’ food pretty much gone, we were feeling a bit deprived. Once again, the feeling of only wanting what we can’t have was rearing its ugly head. Plus, we couldn’t shake the fact that if we knew how to really cook (sorry mom!) our localvore lives would be a......

More on Parking Meters...

Parking Meter Zones?...

Quirky Places to Take Kids?...

You know, all these food posts today made us hungry around the offices. If they've done the same for you, here's some reading material for you while you we ourselves a plate of something. Just the kind of publicity BP needs right now. The source of an oil leak that made its way to Munster, Indiana's storm sewers Monday night was one of BP's seeping, inactive pipes. In addition to jurors getting to view......

With all of the rain we’ve had recently, Chicagoist has been forced to abandon our nightly summer ritual of grilling for indoor cooking. While we don’t mind cooking indoors, it tends to heat up the whole Chicagoist pad no matter how high we turn up the air conditioning. Thankfully, the rain has also helped our basil plant grow beyond our wildest expectations—and the best thing we can think of to do with a whole load......

- Say hello to Cuppy's. Another coffee chain opens its first Chicago location. - Taking parenting advice from Britney Spears, a 26-year-old woman left her kids in the car with the windows up and hot air blowing while she went to Cook County Criminal Court on the south side. - Oak Park/River Forest High School alumni Charles Simic was named poet laureate by the Library of Congress. - Keep drinking your beer, Cubs fans.......

The city's biggest music festival of the summer kicks off tomorrow, and you can feel the excitement building in the Chicagoist offices. However, we've had to put our cub reporters through some summer festival basic training, since this one blows all the others out of the water in sheer scope and size. The bands are the draw, and the primary source of fun, but there are a few other things you -- and our cub......