If you can find a futon, a bicycle or a date on Craigslist, why not a relief pitcher? more ›

If you haven't bookmarked Bad Lip Reading, you need to. more ›

With the Spider-Man musical being revamped, an unlikely actor throws his hat into the ring for consideration in the title role. more ›

The Oscars weren't the only film awards handed out this weekend. The Razzies were also held. Check out their red carpet. more ›

Sometimes it pays in spades to keep an eye on the Chicagoist Twitter feed, which is what tipped us to today's Diversion. It has so many things to love about it - political satire, a "Tron" send-up, Lady Gaga, the Rahmformer riding around a virtual reality on a hot dog, and Oprah as the ruler of the universe. But you already knew that last part, right? more ›

Well, that was slower than expected. The Carol Moseley Braun "strung out on crack" remixes are starting to trickle in. This is an early candidate for best of the lot, given its splicing of an embarrassed Jerry Springer and the dubbing of the crowd chanting "Jer-ry! Jer-ry!" at the end. more ›

Carol Moseley Braun may have had a problem releasing her tax returns, but not 53rd Ward Alderman Ed Bus. Bus released his returns Friday as part of his ongoing campaign. As you can see from the numbers, representing the 53rd Ward has been very good to him and his. more ›

The news that Wilco is launching its own record label on top of everything else they've been slapping their name on lately (not to mention Jeff Tweedy's mayoral endorsement) smacks a lot of a branding strategy. We got together over the virtual water cooler and came up with some other products Wilco could possibly endorse. Check it out. more ›

The ongoing saga regarding Rahm Emanuel and his residency issues received the attention of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. Look past the obvious references to Emanuel's demeanor and see how Stewart and John Oliver distill the fight for Emanuel's place on the ballot to its essence. more ›

Ted McClelland has posted probably the best piece of satire to come out of this mayoral campaign over at NBC Chicago, on the self-destruction of Carol Moseley Braun's campaign. The premise of the piece is the Braun Campaign fires Braun herself and brings aboard Patricia Van Pelt Watkins, who “all of Carol’s assets and none of her liabilities,” all over a cheese plate and beers at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap. more ›

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The tumblr site Rahmen Emanuel popped up on our radar earlier this week. While the two photos that were on the site piqued our interest, we decided to wait until they built up a nice portfolio of the Rahmformer with ramen noodles photoshopped onto his pate. Our personal favorite is the pic above, which takes an out-of-context shot of Emanuel canoodling with Nancy Pelosi and gives it an appropriate dose of absurdity. more ›

Rob really loved Christopher Nolan's Inception. The film even made his year-end best-of list. more ›

We have a chat with the local creator of the online comic strip dedicated to skewering the Russian leader. more ›

We know that the "Mayor Emanuel" twitter feed is a hit with locals. But what does the Rahmformer think of it? “I think it's hilarious,” Rahm Emanuel told Crain's Shia Kapos, noting that his staff follows the account. more ›

Anthony Daniels, who played C3PO in the "Star Wars" movies, calls the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special 'the horrible holiday special that nobody talks about." George Lucas apparently hated it more than casual "Star Wars" fans hated Episodes 1-3. more ›

From the heart of the 53rd Ward comes an unlikely mayoral candidate: Alderman Ed Bus. You can check his ongoing campaign through Election Day 2011 here. more ›

"This film understands jihadists as human beings and understands human beings as innately ridiculous," Morris said in a recent interview. "Within that context, terrorism is about ideology, but it's also about imbeciles." more ›

If everything is better with a song, maybe President Obama should have started out singing his agenda post-inauguration. more ›

It's part of our national schizophrenia as Americans. Every year we bemoan the exploitation of Christmas, and every year we spend more and more money that we really don't have to buy crap to give to each other "in the spirit of the season." There's a great movie to be made about the overcommercialization of Christmas; What Would Jesus Buy? is not exactly that movie, but it still offers a lot of food for... more ›

Two weeks ago, in what was considered a rare act of humility, Japanese Emperor Akihito apologized to his countrymen, taking responsibility for a bluegill infestation that's wreaked havoc on Japan's ecosystem by bringing home a pair of the fish from a trip to the States nearly fifty years ago. "Bluegills are the ones I brought back from the U.S. some 50 years ago and donated to a Fisheries Agency research institute", Akihito said. "In those... more ›

Extortion is funny, violence is hilarious, and murder provokes a smirk in Bad Guys in Suits, Hobo Junction’s quirky late-night tribute to the hardest times our hard-time town has ever known. It’s 1933 and the mob rules Chicago with an iron fist. When you’re not waiting on a bread line or begging for work, you take solace in a radio voice urging you to keep your chin up. more ›

Last night, North Side/North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss her participation in the House Hunger Caucus' Food Stamp Challenge. After accidentally introducing her as Jane (and insisting on calling her such for the rest of the evening, not wanting to admit an error), Colbert dished out his usual satire, suggesting that the food stamp allotment be decreased to $2 to combat obesity. Although she had some difficulty getting... more ›

One of our favorite writers, Dawn Powell, once wrote, "Satire is people as they are; romanticism, people as they would like to be; realism, people as they seem with their insides left out." This explains why the documentaries of Frederick Wiseman, some of which are screening at the Chicago International Documentary Festival starting this weekend, often feel so scathing. They show people as they are, not how we usually see them, and in doing so... more ›

It looks like the Tribune has more than just money and stockholder problems these days. Glommed from the Reader's Food Chain blog yesterday is this article about the politics of modern eating. In her attempt at writing a humorous piece (vegetarians are acid casualties with their own bad eating habits, haven't heard that before), Emily Nunn comes across instead as obstinate toward and proudly ignorant of what we would know about where our food comes... more ›

Hey! Are you single? Really? Are you sad about Valentine’s Day coming up? Do you feel like you need a man to make you happy? You do? Well, guess what? Everything is going to be OK! Know why? Jen Schefft is here to tell you about her new book, Better Single than Sorry: A No-Regrets Guide to Loving Yourself and Never Settling. Golly, Molly, just even reading the name of the book makes us feel better! Right, ladies? Am I right? more ›

John McNally, author of “The Book of Ralph”, is a prolific writer. Originally a Southside Chicago native, McNally has written two novels; his short fiction has appeared in over 30 publications; he has edited five anthologies and has won countless awards and fellowships. more ›

An exhibit that makes you laugh sounds good enough. But we grew skeptical about the Chicago Cultural Center’s Situation Comedy: Humor in Recent Art, after reading this description from Cultural Affairs’ monthly e-newsletter: These works employ various strategies involving text and image using parody, satire, slapstick and practical jokes to inject humor into the normally staid art environment. We dreaded the prospect of seeing mildly funny work paired with belabored explanations draining what little humor... more ›

The quarterly comedy writing and performance showcase Funny Ha-Ha rumbles into the Museum of Contemporary Art tonight, the December offering of the MCA’s Literary Gangs of Chicago series. Chicagoist was lucky enough to catch up with the Funny people last spring and was treated to host Claire Zulkey’s Cosmo Quiz satire, Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s musings on everyday life, a revival of Aaron Friedman's before-our-time ‘Council Wars’ routine, and comedy troupe Schadenfreude’s equal-opportunity hating on FM radio personalities. more ›

A smorgasbord for the mind, the 2005 Chicago Humanities Festival has rolled into town. This year’s theme is Home and Away, concerning “the role that ‘place’ serves in the creation of our sense of rootedness and belonging.” Sounds like Pretentious-English-Major-speak, but an impressive slate of writers, musicians and performers are addressing such hot button issues as globalization, mobility, national identity, and bridging regional differences. Most tickets are $5, a bargain that ensures many sold out... more ›