There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with... more ›

Yawn. That’s our initial response to the free music at the Taste of Chicago this year. We know not every concert should cater to us alone, but should we suffer because of the need to cater to the balding, khaki-wearer’s bland taste in music? Thanks, XRT, for taking this to a new level of disinterest. Who’s having the BBQ? That’s where we’ll be instead of Grant Park. The Taste of Chicago has released the Fourth... more ›

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's big 'ol bump and Kenny Rogers bad plastic surgery (in LAist Carolyn's words: "Kenny Rogers doesn't know when to fold 'em!" Ha!). Despite such bizarre sightings in LA, LAist interviewee Vanessa Grigoriadis chose to move there (to be with her fiancee, awww). Somebody ask Vanessa if they have record release parties as fun as the ones for LA based bands Languis and Spaceland in New York! Bostonist has the best local papers! While The Globe reports on a baby shower gone bad, the 'Herald coins a gruesome new term. They put down the paper long enough to comment on an election that has gone to the dogs, and, speaking of dogs -- check out this personal ad. Of course, it wouldn't be Boston without baseball, and, speaking of balls, here's why same-sex marriage can be outlawed for out-of-state couples. This chick we read about on Houstonist should talk to Phillyist's sexually active teen -- we think that they could find some interesting common ground. Or maybe not. A million dollars worth of pot would have us finding common ground with a lot of folks (and, hey, since we might get arrested for being drunk in a bar, weed's looking better and better to us), but maybe not Tom DeLay. Speaking of common ground, they also debated the need for a "record labels", and followed that up with an interview with the founder of Pandora Miamist reminds us not to wear a thong to our Dolphins cheerleader tryouts, but we're more worried about getting busted for driving with a suspended licence. Other crimes we won't be committing: bird theft, misspelled hate speech, and...well, if it's not a crime to do the "Gator Chomp" on the lawn of the White House, it should be. Torontoist warns us that downtown Toronto isn't that safe. First falling billboards, then self-immolations in donut shops and now falling bricks! Maybe you'd better escape to the safety of Montreal. We'd really be psyched if that train served dandelion salad, but we'll settle for Coke Blak. (We've had some and we LOVE IT.) SFist is one step closer to getting free citywide wireless, but until we get the internet ported straight into our brains we'll still have time for sex. Foodies seem to dig food-reality show Top Chef, and Barry Bonds probably wishes people had thrown food at him in San Diego instead of syringes. SFist also spoke to the producer of , a movie that's so good that our glibness escapes us. And it's back! You know what brought it back? Gothamist telling us about balls of heroin! Thank you Gothamist, for restoring us to our jerky glory. You know what else makes us feel jerky? The Times redesign. We'll say nothing jerky or glib about the reaction the trailer for is getting. Finally, Gothamist does their damndest to top DCist's rioting over women's basketball with a Hasidim protest. Is it riot week and no one told us? Chicagoist readers had a lot of time on their hands and thoughts in their heads about Wal-Mart, bicyclists, and dumb criminals. Chicagoist writers previewed Chicago's upcoming baseball season, made a tasty bowl of clam chowder and scratched their heads in wonder at the wrestler/public speaker/caveman known as The Warrior. Austinist gets all smug because they're third safest big city in America. Yeah, from crime, maybe, but what about the endorsed spread of disease or outbreaks of pillow fighting? But if you're a guy, thank goodness that now there's a place to deal with those outbreaks of the dermal variety. Fresh from an evening of fashion fun Shanghaiist rips Kristie Lu Stout a new one. Maybe someone needs to send her a copy of Dave Liang's "Shanghai Restoration Project"? For the more mainstream tastes, the Rolling Stones are coming to town, but it seems too too coincidental that they're also reporting on body parts that keep turning up in Gansu. The two news items are unrdelated, we're sure. more ›

Saturday night at the Park West, Chicagoist was entertained by Mike Doughty and his band of the same name. Trying hard not to pummel one another with our actual glass bottles (how nice to be treated like an adult at a concert), we settled into an evening of Mike creating a very intimate experience for the 900-person capacity venue. Jumping right into “Tremendous Brunettes” from his latest CD Haughty Melodic, the former Soul Coughing... more ›

Major League Baseball announced its All Star rosters over the holiday weekend, and at least five Chicago players will be in Detroit for the game on July 12th. Representing the White Sox will be Paul Konerko, Jon Garland and Mark Buehrle. Konerko was a bit of a surprise, considering his .247 batting average. But it's kind of a make-up call for last year's snub when he was hitting close to .300 at the time. Garland and Buehrle clearly deserve their selections. In fact, one or the other is likely to be the starting AL pitcher for the game. Having already earned $15,000 bonuses for making the team, each have an additional $10,000 bonus riding on starting the game. more ›