Is Groupon's baby steps into offering products online a challenge to online retailers such as Amazon and Overstock? Or is it business as usual? more ›

The state expected the Amazon tax to bring in $150 million, but lack of enforcement and the online retailers' closing of local affiliates leaves little money for the state to pick up. more ›

Online retailer Amazon barely waited for the ink to dry on Gov. Quinn's signing of HB 3659 into law by dropping its Illinois-based affiliates. HB 3659 requires all online retailers with a business presence in Illinois, like Amazon's affiliate program, to collect state sales tax on online purchases. In a statement to its Illinois affiliate owners, Amazon said, “We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.” more ›

Gov. Quinn today signed into law House Bill 3659, which will require all online retailers with a physical presence in the state to collect state sales tax on all online purchases. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Chicagoist. more ›

The Cool, Lupe Fiasco's much-anticipated follow up to Food & Liquor, dropped on Tuesday to a cloud of bittersweet press. Some critics have blasted the album for its darker sound, wishing for the breezier days when Lupe's rhymes were all about meeting cute girls and skateboarding. Others question if the change in sound is a move in the right direction. more ›

In his new memoir/cookbook Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home, author and playwright Eduardo Machado spins a nostalgic account of the Cuban exile experience, framed by meals he remembered as a child in Cuba, as an exile entering the States during the Peter Pan airlifts, as a young actor and writer and, later, on return visits to Cuba as an adult. "All my life I've been trying to get food to taste like I remembered it as a kid", Machado told Chicagoist in an interview last week. "To me, the smell of food like roast pork and tamales is my childhood." more ›

The talk of the "indie rock diet" that's been tossed around the blogosphere this week is ripe with irony; any of us who have hung out with a band for even a night know that the stereotypical indie rocker replaces food with alcohol whenever given the chance. And when on tour, anything goes. A friend of ours, who happens to drum in a band coming to Chicago next week, once told us about how the... more ›

Sometimes, in the world of blogging, mistakes are made. In the rush to publish, we obscure the occasional fact and allow our less-than-reliable memories to run away with the truth. more ›

Chicagoist has a dark sense of humor. And, we’ve got a hardcore caffeine habit. Lucky for us, the two now come in a controversial 8.4-ounce can. Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages recently rolled out their marketing campaign for the new energy drink Cocaine. It compares in calories to Red Bull (only 70 vs. Red Bull’s 80) but weighs in with 350 percent more caffeine (280 mg, about the same as four espresso shots). The drink also boasts an instant rush with no crash. more ›

Remember the movie Ghostbusters II? We’re a bit fuzzy on it ourselves, but most of it seemed to revolve around a guy in a painting that looked like the Highlander. But what does stick out in our mind is the climactic scene at the end when the Highlander-looking dude was defeated by the Statue of Liberty coated in some pink “mood ooze” while millions of New Yorkers threw out good feelings by singing Jackie Wilson’s "Higher and Higher." more ›

Sometimes you need to clean yourself up, get serious, and move in with daddie for a few months before you head to Latin America for a new gig. The District bid's Jenna Bush adios. D.C.-based television shows have an elderly audience and DCist has some suggestions to fix that. They're also throwing Butterstick the panda bear a birthday bash. Yeah, we may have a few issues with our World Cup broadcasters here, but this guy... more ›

As more than 8,000 athletes prepare to head to Chicago to participate in this summer’s Gay Games 2006, a new book touts Chicago as a “thriving gay capital.” "The Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago" (Lake Claremont Press) by Kathie Bergquist and Robert McDonald, says the city is often overlooked by gay-friendly travel guides, and those that mention it usually focus on the bar scene. McDonald argues that authors of other guides have only... more ›

Oprah's decided to throw a bone to authors who are like.. uh.. alive. For the past 2 years her popular book club has only featured classic books, but now she's returning to the present, announcing yesterday that her book club will now feature all books, including contemporary works. She made this announcement as she told the world her latest book club pick - James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," which is a memoir of his substance abuse. This book is both current, being published only a couple years ago, and it's also a work of nonfiction. more ›

Frequent are the days, especially in summer, when Chicagoist finds ourselves struggling to make a decision between two or more fabulous things to do. Of course, we're usually deciding between work and sleep, but tomorrow night is something special. We know what we're doing, mainly because our roommate has never in her 24 years seen Star Wars, but we also really wish we could go to the Bookslut Reading Series at the Hopleaf. It's the second of a monthly series put together by the fine folks at Bookslut--we heard the first was awesome, and tomorrow's reading promises to be swell as well. And entirely free of light sabers! (We assume.) more ›

earlier this week, and we admire her eloquence and thoughfulness about her writing. She reads--both in her writing and her spoken reading--like a poet, which makes for a great bookstore event. See for yourself at Women & Children First tonight at 7:30. more ›

Man oh man do we wish we'd been able to observe the Illinois House floor today when the Predator Accountability Act came up for discussion. The act, Rep. Constance A. Howard's (D-Chicago) bill HB1299, will allow "persons who have been or are subjected to the sex trade to seek civil damages and remedies from individuals and entities that recruited, profited from, or maintained them in the sex trade." These damages include, among other things, financial... more ›

In a cut scene from Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega that there are “Beatles people and Elvis people.” And while some people can like both artists “nobody likes them equally.” Chicagoist isn’t sure if the same holds true for Nirvana people and U2 people but a pair of release parties for Nirvana’s With The Lights Out boxed set and U2’s How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb are making it seem like it’s 1991 all over again. Can a boxed set by C + C Music Factory be far behind? Lord, we hope so! more ›

School's just around the corner, and that means book reports. For everybody. Yes, even you. more ›