With California's Prop 8 likely en route to the Supreme Court and poll after poll revealing ever-broadening support for same-sex marriage, bordering on majority support in more states than ever, one would expect the country's most visible socially conservative talking heads would be frothing at the news. But, it turns out, they're not. And one suburban Chicago group is really, really not happy about that fact. more ›

Hopefully, everyone who's planning on pouring into the Chicago Theater tonight to watch Bill Maher and Ann Coulter face off will take the time to read the reports from the appearances over the last couple nights - so they'll have an opportunity to head over to the box office and request their money back. more ›

A few weeks back, we looked at the 2009 Speaker Series that will bring a set of political talks to the Chicago Theater. Full of intriguing pairings, we were most enthused about the debut set of Ann Coulter and Bill Maher. Now, in the midst of all kinds of economic turmoil, we're happy to report we have a pair of tickets to give away to the March 11 event featuring Coulter and Maher. They'll either kill each other or wind up making love on stage. Either way, it's going to be a fun night so enter after the jump for your chance at a pair of tickets. We'll be accepting entries through the end of the day. more ›

2009 will not only bring us a new President (and hopefully a new governor), but a new speaking series at the Chicago Theatre and boy, does it look awesome. The series features an evening of conversation with the 'Stars of the Political World' at The Chicago Theatre, Radio City Music Hall in NYC and The Wang Theatre in Boston. The lineup is pretty strong and we can't take our eyes off that first one: Maher vs Coulter? It's like every Macho Man vs Hulk Hogan grudge match from our childhood amped up on amphetamines. If you see a rip in the space-time continuum somewhere around State & Lake that night, at least you'll know why. Our one caveat? No Soledad O'Brien. Man, we love her. more ›

Former art teacher Dave Beckham was sick of “traditional liberal bastion coffeehouses” so he opened Conservative Café an uber-conservative, "pro-American" coffee house in Crown Point, Indiana more ›

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist... more ›

According to a new study done by former grad students at UIC, students who received candy prior to filling out teacher evaluations rated professors higher than those who didn't offer candy. We know...totally shocking, right? Benjamin Jee and Robert Youmans studied 100 students in three UIC psych classes. Students who completed an evaluation sans sweet encouragement gave the professors an average rating of a 3.85 out of 5, while those who received mini Hershey’s bars... more ›

Wikipedia has truly grown into the little public encyclopedia that could. After six years of existence, the collaborative site has a myriad number of articles in 250 languages and is one of the top information destinations on the Web. Chicagoist swears by it ourselves, often using it as a research hub for unexplored subjects or to expound on facts and trivia we already knew. But using Wikipedia as cold, hard fact in a legal sense?... more ›

Where's Bakken when we need him? This is tailor-made for his unique wisdom. This story is fresh in our minds mainly because we saw Wrestlemania last weekend. Jim Hellwig is best known by his wrestling moniker "The Ultimate Warrior". Hellwig takes that a bit too seriously, having legally changed his name to "Warrior" years ago and posting his life philosophy on his insane website. These days Hellwig and his angry inch travels the campus lecture... more ›

Seattlest saw a house party get senselessly attacked with a shotgun and end in seven dead. A local senator is debated and their version of the big dig is investigated. To truly get to the bottom of it they interview the writer Jonathan Raban. Bostonist has its first birthday party and investigates how to attach more gambling dollars to the Red Sox. Benjamin Franklin is celebrated and Johnny Damon is not. Image by Ethan Bagley... more ›