One of our favorite comic strips makes a weather prediction for Illinois.......

Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly......

Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly......

If you have a chance to see Patton Oswalt live, take it. A few months ago at the Lakeshore, we saw him do the best stand-up set we've ever seen — and lo, Chicagoist sees a lot of stand-up. Ever since, we've been dying to see him again, and tonight is our opportunity and yours: The Comedians of Comedy are doing a show at the Vic tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $29 and aren't......

The US House subcommittee on highways and transit will conduct a hearing here on October 29 to determine what kinds of transit improvements Chicago would need before we could host the Olympics. Why yes, October 29 is a mere 6 days before our public transit system starts collapsing into itself like a dying star! "Mayor Richard Daley, Blagojevich, officials from the Regional Transportation Authority, the three transit agencies and the U.S. Olympic Committee will......

On a June morning in 1918, a circus train stopped on the tracks in Ivanhoe, Ind. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was scheduled for a show in nearby Hammond later that day, but for the time being, an overheated wheel bearing box impeded their progress. Despite warning lights and a frantic flagman, another train slammed into the back of the idling troupe. Fire erupted throughout the wooden cars, sending 86 people to their deaths and injuring 127......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts......

Chicago’s comedy scene is more than a small world, it’s a densely knit web. Everyone’s leaning on someone for something, from professional improv instruction to drunken 2 a.m. inspiration for the next routine. And with fame comes increasing gratitude for close friends and casual online “friends.” Comic, writer and all-around Big Man in Chicago Robert Buscemi is celebrating, with a little help from his friends, the DVD release of Robert Buscemi, (t)wit!, capturing his sold-out......

Now that Spidey 3 and Transformers have opened and iPhone mania is starting to subside, it’s time to find a new place to direct all that geek-out energy. Enter Chicago Tap Theatre’s latest storybook show, The Hourglass in the Stop-Time Chronicles, a CTT collaboration with comic-book artist Andrew Pepoy. Fans of the genre don’t need to be reminded that local boy and Loyola grad Pepoy has inked Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and The Simpsons comix, among......

Movies in the summertime. Comic book heroes? Check. Cuddly computer animation? Check. Bloated running times? Check. MOTS? SOS? Double-check. With scads of movie franchises so stale yet so expensive they give McDonald's a bad name, it's no wonder that we'd rather catch up on our reading than check out what Hollywood has deigned to fob off on us this season. (We do confess to being excited about Ocean's Thirteen however; director Steven Soderbergh always keeps......

Having stayed up last night to watch the midnight showing of Spider-Man 3 with all the other nerds, we enjoyed ourselves but came away feeling more than a little nostalgic for the good ole days of paper comics. Lucky for us, many Chicago-area comic book stores are participating in the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day, tomorrow, May 5. FCBD’s website is full of information if you’re new to comic books or a returning......

As we tucked into yesterday’s new batch of comics (Solomon Grundy vs. The JLA!), we were reminded that two local podcasts help us to get our fix of comics, regardless of the day of the week. Around Comics is hosted by three guys named Chris, Tom and Sal. The show features panel discussions of the latest comics and news from the industry as well as interviews with legendary artists and writers like John Byrne. Wordballoon......

In case you weren't paying attention earlier, the Chicago Humanities Festival begins tomorrow. Really, we’re not kidding. Judging by the long scroll of sold-out shows in the website’s festival updates section, advance ticket sales have been brisk. And at $5 a pop to see the likes of General Wesley Clark, Garry Trudeau, and Paul Krugman, are you honestly surprised? This year’s theme, Peace and War: Facing Human Conflict, speaks to growing apprehension about America's military......

Chicagoist loves itself some comics, whether they feature the heroics of the Big Blue Boy Scout or the tales of a little girl growing up in Iran. We’re still kicking ourselves over how long it’s taking us to get through the stack of goodies that Short Pants Press sent us a while back. * So it follows that we also love comic creators and by the transitive property would also love The Hero Initiative (formerly......

As if 130 bands, overpriced food, kids’ shows, an art exhibit, and people watching weren’t enough, Lollapalooza 2006 will serve up afternoons of interactive entertainment on the Mindfield Stage. Good to see three local comedy offerings on the bill but, with all due respect, they’re pretty much the opening act everyone’s sitting through to get to the headliner. To any of our readers coughing up $60 or more just to see Chicago comedy in Grant......

Chicagoist isn't one to really point out other people's typos and spelling mistakes, since we're pretty well known to make more than a few ourselves.. still we had to kind of snicker at the latest spelling snafu over at the Chicago Public Schools yesterday. About a hundred CDs that contained information for math teachers to prep students for the ACT were passed out with the title "ACT TEST PERPARATION" . It's not preparation.. it's not......

Now that the British consulate has been checked for grenades, the city can be declared safe for our visiting rockers from the British Isles: Coldplay and their older brothers U2.* Since both shows are sold out, you might be looking for some alternatives and Chicagoist is happy to oblige. We’re not really sure what classic post-punk bands are left to reunite at this point. With Gang of Four taking up the cause again and Shellac......

We admit it—we're trendy bitches. We waited until Father Dave, king of all literati, heralded comics as the new hip literary genre with issue 13 of his "McSweeney's Quarterly Concern" (edited by Chicago's own Chris Ware) before we allowed ourselves to peruse the comics section at our local bookstore. Well, at least peruse without shame. We always thought comics were just exaggerated muscles, fantasy tits and the defeat of evil. Anyway, we was ignant and......

Now that the fall has arrived, it’s time to put away all those memories of summer fun like laying out on the beach, road tripping across America and cruising on the Chicago River before getting pooped on by the Dave Matthews Band. If you read between the lines of this brief Chicago Tribune article, it’s obvious that DMB have finally owned up to their role in the incident and are trying to find the least......

Chicagoist stumbled upon Bueno the Bear and his comrades a few days ago, and ever since, we�ve sent the link to everyone we know. Sharing the love seemed like the thing to do. Bueno, Giovanni the Giraffe, and Penelope Piddlebug are achingly adorable�the kind of cute you feel right in the ovary. We highly recommend the Forever Comic, especially installments six and seven, but we have to warn you: You�re going to do that annoying......