Although Chicagoist has some photographers on staff, we don't always "get" modern photography. Something about many trendy fine art photographs can seem too "snapshotty" in nature, a bit too sterile, or somewhat void of emotion. As such, we were thrilled to find the current Jeff Wall show everything we hoped for in a photography exhibit: beautiful, inspired, intriguing and unique. After selecting his "Outside a Nightclub" as our unequivocal favorite piece at the Museum of... more ›

The Chicago Fire have named Juan Carlos Osorio as the third head coach in their history. Osorio leaves Colombian club Millonarios to join the Fire mid-season. Prior to Millonarios, Osorio was an assistant manager for Manchester City in the English Premier League. He also was an assistant coach and conditioning coach for the New York Metrostars of Major League Soccer for several seasons at the same time Fire President/CEO John Guppy was serving as V.P.... more ›

When we were ages three to 12, the worst local field trip we were dragged on was to the Chicago Botanic Garden. For one thing, there are flowers in the backyard. For another, it's in, like, Glencoe. Also, the magic of anything we got our first glimpse of zooming along on the Edens is pretty much nonexistent. But we're older now, and things like free admission are less inherently lame, and more inherently awesome.... more ›

Although Chicagoist would never advocate you go all Niles Crane on us, you might want to bring a clean handkerchief with you the next time you dine out, to check for dust and polish the cutlery. Fran Spielman writes in the Sun-Times today that Chicago has only 46 Health Department sanitarians and 12 supervisors to keep 15,500 restaurants in compliance with health code regulations, prompting aldermen to question just how efficiently those inspectors are doing... more ›

No, we're not talking about the DIY Trunk Show. Although Chicagoist has a love/hate relationship with the "crafting a revolution" movement, we must admit that we do get excited over handmade goods, especially the affordable kind. We know that creating something by hand is time-consuming, and it's better to buy something made locally than some mass-produced crap made by a small child in Korea. We craft, too. We get it. But we often cry "bullshit!"... more ›

If you're in the know (like Chicagoist here), you might have heard the blogosphere blowing up yesterday amidst rumors that Jerry Weller was the next local politico to go down in the Congressional Pages sex scandal. But now the latsest (unofficial) word out of Illinois' 11th District is that a report that a page had been hit on by a Congressman had spun wildly out of control in the overheated election coverage. It got so... more ›

We all know high heels can be hazardous, but it seems that what you wear can actually impact your ability to respond during an emergency situation. Yesterday, the city conducted a mass rush-hour evacuation. Nearly 3,000 participants took part in the drill, the Tribune reported. The drill took less than an hour, but emergency planning chief Cortez Trotter said things could have moved faster were it not for some pointy toed, spike-heeled hindrances. Trotter told... more ›

As if spending the afternoon at Navy Pier weren’t punishment enough, visitors were also subject to religious propaganda. According to CBS, last Saturday, Philadelphia-based evangelical Christian organization Repent America was handing out promotional literature at Navy Pier. A police officer told the group to stop or else face arrest. When the group returned on Sunday, they were told to demonstrate in designated “free speech zones.” Five members of Repent America have filed a suit in... more ›

There's a longstanding quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin that states, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Although Chicagoist's belief in a higher power is suspect, we agree with the rest of Big Ben's wisdom. Beer - and other malt beverages - is also a much discussed subject among the Chicagoist staff. One staffer is obsessed with the alcoholic energy drink known as "Sparks"; just can't get enough of... more ›

Jessica Hopper, aka DJ Coco Le Roc more ›

Chicagoist has been waiting for the right moment to write a primer on bourbon. With the Kentucky Derby nine days away, and with the recently reported news of Churchill Downs serving a one-thousand-dollar mint julep on Derby Day, we figured the time is nigh. Chicagoist loves bourbon. It brings to mind images of Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Colonel Harland Sanders, and the blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek. Spend an extended amount of time... more ›

A couple of our favorite political bloggers, Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos and Jerome Armstrong of MyDD, will be in Chicago tomorrow evening to discuss their new book, Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics. Crashing the Gate examines how political consultants are damaging the Democratic party by charging exorbitant rates to deliver substandard advice that alienates candidates from the voters, and how the internet is changing the political landscape by... more ›

Last night Chicagoist, along with about 40 other people, attended "Author's Roundtable: On Authorship, Blogs, and the Changing Literary Landscape" which was moderated by Andrew Huff and featured Chicagoist's own Erin J. Shea as well as Wendy McClure, Kevin Guilfoile, Kevin Smokler and Claire Zulkey. Although Chicagoist is friends with all but one of the featured authors, it was really insightful to hear the panel talk about their experiences. .. because you know, when... more ›

Chicagoist loves first-day-of-school weather. We love the first sweatshirt day of autumn, the first day you can't wear flip flops, the first morning you step out of your house and aren't worried about getting sweaty. In case you didn't notice your nipples cutting glass yesterday, attention: it's way too cold for August. In fact, yesterday's high of 61 degrees made it the coldest August 11 since 1903, and Tuesday's high 67 degrees made it the... more ›

Chicagoist was about to write a post about our bucking the national trend of rising syphilis rates when we noticed on Gapers Block that Chicago ranks really low on the list of the most literate cities . So now we must sit back and ask ourselves: "What's more important? Being able to read or being clean? The University of WI - Whitewater released "America's Most Literate Cities 2004," a report that ranks 79 US cities... more ›