Results tagged “santaclaus”

• SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others.
• Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list.
• Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island.

We promise we love many elements about the Christmas season: the festive decorations, the spirit of togetherness, the delicious foods ... but other elements make us want to stab our eyes out. At the top of our list are awful Christmas songs. While there are some songs that make us reminisce about our childhood (anything from the A Very Special Christmas album is fair game), there are others that almost induce involuntary vomiting. We polled the Chicagoist office to compile a list of the Worst Fucking Christmas songs, and here's what was said. (You can wage your own bets about which Chicagoist writer said what):

In order to avoid a very scary riot involving grown men dressed up in Santa Claus costumes, Oak Lawn school officials have backed off from their proposal to stop celebrating Christmas and Halloween in the classrooms. The Christmas controversy started when a parent brought to light the fact that Muslim holidays were neglected by the school system. In the spirit of Christmas, board members offered a compromise — holidays for no one! They decreed that...

This week's theme: soul food, y'all. We ate enough of it last week to pine for the days of Ms. Biscuit on South Chicago Avenue (located next door to Mr. Biscuit's Hand Car Wash and Auto Detail). Here we go. City Mouse: Chef Gilbert Langlois (Rushmore, SushiSamba Rio) describes his new North Center-based concept Chalkboard as "new American cuisine," drawing inspiration from French country, classic Southern, and the less spicy elements of Creole for his...

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-a-verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve. Austinist is...

The Chicago Cultural Center is one of those magnificent hives of activity that's so accessible that it's far too easy to take for granted. It's right there on Michigan Avenue, and impossible not to see; yet we often just rush right past it without giving it a thought. Well, we want to change that, especially after seeing the breathtaking Tiffany dome recently. Tonight at 7 p.m. the Cultural Center hosts an event sponsored by...

Is it just us, or can Santa be a little creepy? We obviously weren’t the only kid who didn’t want to sit on some old, strange dude’s lap. Especially when Santa was drunk. But we now have a little faith in Santa-kind after hearing about one from Missouri who spent yesterday in Chicago spreading good cheer. And by good cheer, we mean $100 bills. Known as Secret Santa, Larry Stewart, 58, has handed out thousands...

You'll have to forgive us if it seems like we've got a one-track mind when it comes to film lately: CIFF is one of our absolutely favorite things about Chicago, and every year brings the thrill that comes from attempting to see as many movies as possible in its two weeks. The Opening Night feature at the Chicago Theater last night was Stranger Than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) and starring Will Ferrell,...

If your inner Bad Santa is dying to get out and express itself then we've found the perfect event for you. Santarchy. Yeh, you heard us: SANTARCHY. Santarchy is a nonplitical, non-religious, not-for-profit (free), demented Santa Claus convention. A mass gathering of Santa Clauses that will spread a little disruptive, holiday cheer to everyone they encounter. It's part prank, part culture jam, part pub crawl. Santarchy events are worldwide. This year's 2nd Annual Chicago Santarchy...

Chicagoist loves the comfort of representative democracy, knowing that our elected officials are taking care of the important things for us, things that require the leadership and insight of our best and brightest like making sure we call Christmas trees the right name. That's right, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is on the case, sending a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, asking that he please call the decorated conifer on Capitol Hill a "Christmas tree" instead of "Holiday tree."

Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, strippers who really like you and television medical dramas. What do these things have in common? None of them are real (except for House. That shit’s all true. The woman from last season with a 30-pound tumor? Totally happened to someone at Northwestern).

"Kill Your Idols" never rang so true.

Chicagoist enjoys giving stuff away. You, the reader, get free movies or a Swatch out of the deal and we get a Santa Claus-like ego boost. That’s what the sales guys call a win-win situation.

Did anyone else catch Dennis DeYoung and Billy Corgan singing Christmas carols on WGN this morning? Wow. It was…a little awkward. While both are talented in their own right, they’re not exactly born to duet with each other as DeYoung’s vibrato drowned out the less robust vocal stylings of Corgan. But if two of the biggest egos in Chicago rock are able to peacefully coexist in the same studio then yes, Virginia, there is a...

Through Dec. 26

The first CTA pink slip has been doled out: Santa Claus and the fabled Holiday Train. The Chicago Transit Authority announced yesterday that they would not be running the twelve year-old Holiday train, which included a sleigh car, and other El cars bedecked with lights and elves. The train would ride the rails of each of the El lines every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Looking for some unique volunteer work to do this holiday season? How about this - The post office is launching its Chicago Letters to Santa program. The downtown office is looking for Chicagoans to pick up letters and sponsor needy children and families for the holidays.

Oh man. Monday, Monday, and the only way we can think of to cure our work-week blues is a tranquil moment inside our own cloud. You thought we were going to say Dunkies coffee, and normally we would have, but now that we know we can buy a cloud—for only $5,900, mind you—it's going to be hard to think about other things. Perhaps you'd like to donate to the Buy Chicagoist a Cloud Fund? Perhaps a beer is more in your price range? We are currently accepting either.