The Trib has a reader update page for Black Friday craziness but things seem...relatively tame. Police were called early Friday morning (like, 2:40 a.m. early) to Gurnee Mills Malls to take care of a rowdy bunch of shoppers waiting on the early morning store openings. Still, nothing can compare to the tragedy in Long Island where a Wal Mart worker was killed in a stampede of early morning shoppers and a crush of customers at the same store also injured a pregnant woman. Earlier reports said she suffered a miscarriage but those have been retracted. more ›

If you've been reading Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week" series from its inception, you'll remember that one of our primary rules of alcohol consumption is if you're old enough to legally order something like Sparks, Long Island iced teas, vodka and Red Bull, frozen cocktails, any drink that ends with the word "bomb," or any cocktail containing Southern Comfort, you're old enough to know better. So where does that leave all you folks who... more ›

There's a longstanding quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin that states, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Although Chicagoist's belief in a higher power is suspect, we agree with the rest of Big Ben's wisdom. Beer - and other malt beverages - is also a much discussed subject among the Chicagoist staff. One staffer is obsessed with the alcoholic energy drink known as "Sparks"; just can't get enough of... more ›

There’s very little left to be said about how batshit insane Sharon Stone has become. Luckily, there’s plenty to say about how batshit crazy the film Basic Instinct 2 was (and we use the past tense here quite purposely as it's clear its 10th place showing last weekend will have it in your local video store by the time you leave work on Friday). more ›

If only they’d had iPods in Spinal Tap’s heyday. more ›

It sounds like a Johnny Cash song: a convicted felon, escaped from prison and wanted for a string of bank robberies, walks into a bar to have a few drinks, then lays his gun on the bar and turns himself in. Randy Rencher did just that, giving himself up four months after escaping the Cook County Jail. He had been watching a news report about himself on the bar's television, and asked a stunned waitress to call the TV station and alert the authorities. The kept him calm by talking to him and serving him drinks until the FBI led him away. more ›

We’re not sure why it took so long for the Asbury Shorts touring festival to make it to Chicago but we’re glad it’s here in time for the 25th Anniversary of the fest. Born on Asbury St. in Long Island, NY, Asbury Shorts gets its Chicago premiere this Thursday night at the Vic at 7:30 PM. Reserving tickets ahead of time saves you three bucks although tickets can still be purchased at the door on... more ›

Oh, they are definitely peeing in their newspants over at the Tribune right now. Information about the inflated numbers started surfacing after April 1, when the Sun-Times raised prices from 35 cents to 50. more ›