Cubs Slide Continues Once again, the Cubs' pitching staff got shelled and the offense failed to produced as the Cincinnati Reds slammed the Cubs 10-2 Friday night. Starter Ted Lilly only lasted two innings, giving up five runs before being relieved by Jon Lieber who gave up a grand slam to Jay Bruce. If you're counting, that's six losses in a row for the North Siders. Manager Lou Piniella said, "We're going to have to......

We’re usually level-headed about other people’s opinions even if they don’t correlate with ours, and normally hold a live and let live attitude. But then something like this comes along so foam-at-the-mouth-inducing that our fingers tremble with all the rage we must type out. Deerfield high school will continue to offer Angels in America, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, as an “opt-in” book for their Advanced Placement course for graduating seniors. The piece, performed on......

'Tis the season for free champagne tastings. Get started tonight at the Artisan Cellar (located on the first floor of the Merchandise Mart) with a sample of some rare bubblies from 4-6 p.m. Learn all about the history of smothered foods from author Wilbert Jones, the author of Smothered Southern Foods. Jones' lecture, "Smothered - Southern Style" is being held Saturday at the Chicago History Museum, sponsored by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. The lecture......

Chicagoist certainly doesn't envy White Sox GM Kenny Williams and the difficult task he has to rebuild a team that lost 90 games in 2007. On Tuesday, he once again was overmatched by the opposition and missed the ball on potential help for his club. Recent reports suggested that the Sox were close to landing third baseman Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins — a player that Ozzie Guillen referred to as his "fourth son."......

The White Sox traded starting pitcher Jon Garland to the Anaheim Angels on Monday in return for shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera, 33, hit .301 with 86 RBIs for the Angels while also winning his second Gold Glove award for his fielding. Garland, 28, went 10-13 for the White Sox while posting a 4.23 ERA in 32 starts. This move creates as many questions as it does answers for the Sox. We wonder what Kenny Williams......

Ah, it's like shootin' fish in a barrel over at Chicagoist EOYW headquarters. We know how passionate you guys can get about these things, so we'll cut right to the chase: If you've never at least tapped your foot along with the vapid faux-angst anthems of Avril Lavigne, you may have been living in a mall-less town in, say ... Canada. Oh, wait. We've seen her in concert before under the guise of "journalism," and......

Waaaay back when we were still aspiring animators, just getting over our Disney / WB phase and into our Fleischer Studios / Ralph Bakshi / Nelvana phase, Bill Plympton's early MTV cartoon shorts made a really big impact on us. We specifically remember "How to Kiss" and "25 Ways to Quit Smoking," two cartoons filled with dark whimsy and a loose line style allowing a freedom of movement, and a realistic mimicry of the absurd......

Angels will get their wings this Saturday night at Custom House. From 6-9 p.m. Shawn McClain's South Loop steakhouse is hosting a fundraiser to benefit Blue Sky Inn. Frequent shoppers at area farmers markets might be familiar with Blue Sky Inn for the work they do with their transitional work program, "A Taste of Success." The program hires and trains homeless youth in baking pastries, which are then sold at farmers markets and through catering......

We’ve already been involved in a tumultuous love/hate relationship with the new Dominick’s on Chicago Avenue in Ukrainian Village, so we thought we were perhaps not alone in finding a love connection at the ole grocery store. So today, we bring you this grocery edition of the Monday Missed Connections, with all sorts of accounts of people making eyes at or around the meat counter. Paging jeans and T-shirt guy: missed connection in aisle four.......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own......

That's how many people are working illegally in this country, at least according to some estimates. Others put it closer to seven, depending on who you ask, and when. It's hard to get a handle on the actual number because most undocumented workers aren't too keen on standing up and being counted. Yesterday afternoon Elvira Arellano was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency charged with, among other things, keeping people from washing......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In other......

Download the original attachment We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment......

From the sound of things, White Sox GM Kenny Williams has been a busy man recently. While the Sox have yet to make the splash during the off-season their North Side rivals have, media reports suggest the White Sox may be close to making a very big trade with the Los Angeles Angels. While additional players could be involved, the key players seem to be third baseman Joe Crede and pitcher Freddy Garcia in return......

The Target Corporation has had as much red as it can stand, apparently. They're dissin' the Salvation Army ringers again this year. It's not to say they're going entirely AWOL, though. They set up a site where you can purchase virtual angels and donate to the Salvation Army. We are pretty neutral on this whole thing, to be honest. Sometimes, we're in a great holiday mood, and we hear the bells, and it's just the......

Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry annouced on Sunday that the team had agreed to new contracts with free agents Aramis Ramirez and Kerry Wood, answering two questions about the Cubs' 2007 roster. To be honest, Chicagoist was surprised that either one is coming back, let alone both of 'em. Ramirez had been demanding a significant raise from the $11 million per year his current deal had been paying him before filing for free agency. In......

Last year at this time, Juan Uribe was busy gunning out Red Sox, Angels and Astros at first base as the White Sox plowed through the playoffs on their way to the World Series title. With no playoffs this year, Uribe's home in the Dominican Republic and apparently up to no good as he's accused of having a role in a shooting that took place on Friday. Uribe was questioned by Dominican police yesterday after......

Anyone working downtown realized today that the 48th Annual Air & Water Show is this weekend. Aircraft participating in this year's event started roaring up and down the lakeshore today in preparation for this weekend's show. Chicagoist had the opportunity fly with the AeroShell Aerobatic Team this morning to check out the pilots to ensure they were ready for the show. The AeroShell Team is comprised of four T-6 Texans and four planes used to......

Corteo is Cirque du Soleil’s fourth engagement at the United Center, and the company returns to Parking Lot K a worldwide sensation, one of the most formidable stage entertainment empires in the world. Its six touring shows will, by year’s end, be seen in four continents by hundreds of thousands. Cirque has staked out a small chunk of Las Vegas with LOVE, their Beatles tribute premiering at The Mirage last month, joining three other resident......

We here at Chicagoist have pretty much checked out of the whole reality TV thing. But we still support the home team, which is why we ended up watching Chicago burlesque performer Michelle “Toots” L’Amour on last night’s "America’s Got Talent." Toots L’Amour performs locally with the Lavender Cabaret and was the subject of a Chicagoist interview once upon a time. And speaking of once upon a time, L’Amour took to the NBC stage last......

While Mark Cuban remains busy cheering his Dallas Mavericks through the NBA Finals, others interested in buying the team have been quietly meeting Tribune Company execs to inquire abou their availability. Last month, Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, met with Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons to discuss buying the team. Two seperate groups have approached Banks, the Hall of Famer who played shortstop for the Cubs from 1953-1971, about participating in efforts to buy the Cubs.......

Nominations for The Joseph Jefferson Awards Citation Wing, recognizing the finest work from scrappy but brilliant non-Equity theater companies, were announced this morning. A local, less insufferable version of New York’s Tonys, the Jeff Awards recognize excellence among productions that opened between last April and this March. Click here to learn (and possibly understand) the nominations process. Queen Lucia rules the musical nominations; Lifeline’s original adaptation of E.F. Benson’s operatic rivalry tale leads all productions......

David Cowan made his name writing a book about a famous Chicago fire. No, not that one, but the 1958 fire at the Lady of Angels School that killed 92 students and three nuns. The book, To Sleep With the Angels, has been on Chicagoist's to-read list for a long time, but now we probably won't be able to read it with the same reverence. On Monday, its author plead guilty to setting fire to......

The biggest off-season question on all White Sox fans' minds was whether Paul Konerko would return or not. With his MVP performance through the playoffs, Konerko expected to receive a number of huge contract offers. While there were a couple offers from other teams, Paulie chose to stay with the White Sox, signing a 5-year, $60 million deal. Initially wanting to sign Konerko to a 4 year deal, Sox GM Kenny Williams matched the contract......

In their second statement game in as many weeks, the Bears proved once again that they are a force in the NFC as they beat Tampa Bay 13-10 in Tampa. Both teams entered the game with 7-3 records, and again the Bears proved that their defense can win them games almost single handedly. A forced fumble on the 1-yard line during Tampa's first possession set up the Bears lone TD, which along with two field......

Friday marked the opening of free agency for Major League Baseball. Coming off a 40 Homer, 100 RBI regular season and a huge post-season capped by the White Sox World Series Championship, Paul Konerko is one of the hottest commodities on the market. As soon as the ball hit his mitt for the final out, questions came about whether the Sox could retain their offensive star. While Konerko personified the no-ego, play-hard type of player......

A little word association. When we hear "knitting" we think "ball of knots." Hot glue gun? Burned fingers. Handsaw? Lost limbs. Chicagoist is not a crafter. But luckily, many people in Chicago are. This weekend they'll be selling their goods at the DIY Trunkshow at the Pulaski Park Auditorium. But don't be mistaken. When we say that this is a "craft show" we're not talkin' bout country blue, ceramic angels, snowman poop, or wooden......

For the first time since 1959, Chicago will host a World Series game tomorrow. And actual World Series game. Right here in our city! The White Sox and the Astros square off tomorrow night at the Cell in the first game of the seven-game series. Chicagoist feels pretty good that within the next 10 days, the City of Chicago will be applauding our newly crowned World Champions. But the Sox have some believers, some......