Results tagged “stewart”

Whew, thank goodness that's over. We were beginning to think that our planned big-ass Oscar preview would be falling on deaf ears. But now that we know there's really going to be a show, it's time to play catch up. Jon Stewart certainly is. In fact there'll probably be more glitz than ever this year if only to overcompensate for the lack of a proper build-up.

Valentine's Day is nothing but a pre-fab holiday designed to get consumers to spend money on crap for each other ... especially if you're single. Instead of battling the hordes for a good table at a restaurant this evening, why not just order out from Art of Pizza, rent a movie and enjoy a few hours of twisted romance with one of these:

We know, we know, we're hard on the Trib today, but...did you read this advice about staying home?

We're referring of course to the Golden Globes ceremony, which has been axed because of the writer's strike. It was announced today that Instead of the long-winded, smarmy fashion show we've seen in the past, the Sunday NBC telecast will instead be a bare-bones press conference padded out with lotsa clips (all the better to separate the commercials with, my dear). Says Jorge Camara, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: "We are all very disappointed that our traditional awards ceremony will not take place this year and that millions of viewers worldwide will be deprived of seeing many of their favorite stars celebrating 2007's outstanding achievements in motion pictures and television." Oh, the sacrifice! Yup, we here in the Chicagoist offices are shedding tears right alongside you.

We reported on Wednesday sales have been sinking at the flagship State Street store--nostalgic epicenter for Field’s lovers. Meanwhile, Field’s Fans continue to protest. A group of concerned Field's Fans showed up on Saturday to “protest against Macy's business practices here in the Chicago area.” They have scheduled special “leaflet” events on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, as well as another rally “Under the Great Clock” at noon on Saturday, December 2. Wednesday’s Trib...

This week Chicagoist bought pork tenderloin with the plan of writing about making it into a dish for the site. The only slight set-back we faced was that we had no idea what we were actually going to cook. We'd already done tenderloin this, rather classic, way and felt, at least at first, over-inspired. When cooking, we often start ourselves off with a main ingredient (often enough meat) then research all the ways others...

While the evil empire from New York City (Macy’s) served complimentary slices of Frango Mint Ice Cream pie to the some twenty guests dining in the seventh floor Walnut Room, about 100 hard-core Marshall Field’s fans staged a protest underneath the the historic clock on State Street below. Today marks the one-year anniversary of Macy’s changing the name of Field’s after after gobbling up May Department Stores, which Field's had been a part of. Organized...

A tentative contract deal was announced yesterday between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union. Although the details were not discussed publicly, our sources tell us that nothing too radical was agreed upon. The teachers are expected to get around 4 percent each year of the deal. CTU President Marilyn Stewart suggested to Crain's Chicago Business that the CTU managed to restore some of what was lost in the previous contract, which was...

Chicagoist freely admits that most of our NASCAR knowledge comes from the movies including the 80's classic (we use that term loosely) "Stroker Ace", the recent animated film "Cars" and, of course, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". So we decided to do some research for this post and learned that Chicagoland Raceway is actually a perfect track for some fast shake and bake racing action. The Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5-mile, D-shaped tri-oval...

File this under "chutzpah." An antitrust lawsuit (Adobe PDF file) filed by the Federal Trade Commission this week against Whole Foods, which seeks to block the organic food giant's purchase of its closest competitor Wild Oats, revealed that anonymous postings to business and financial forums criticizing the price of Wild Oats stock were actually authored by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. Mackey's postings, made under the name "radoheb" from 1999 to 2006, consistently criticized the...

We've struggled long and hard on just how to approach this review of last night's Police show at Wrigley Field. On one hand, we are unabashed fanboys who believe the core trio of Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, can do no wrong. On the other hand, there were obvious chinks in the band's armor. So let's get the negatives out of the way first. For most of the show, The Police seemed to be...

We think even our grandfather knows The Police are playing Wrigley Field tonight, and he lives in South Texas. Their two-night stand in Chicago certainly wins the award for most hyped show of the year (and we've definitely been guilty of adding to the pre-show buzz). Even though tickets have long been sold-out, enough people bought extra tickets ahead of time in hopes of making a profit that the re-sale market for tonight and tomorrow's...

Last Friday, 775 teachers in the Chicago Public School system were given the ol' heave-ho. All involved are Probationary Appointed Teachers, or PATs, those who have been in the system less than five years. Unlike last year, these firings are not budget-related; they were let go for "various reasons," with the emphasis on teachers that were not performing well.

We're used to the Reader throwing out a curve ball now and then and rubbing some people the wrong way, but nevertheless we raised our eyebrows after reading its four-star review of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. If nothing else, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to put a Cartoon Network-derived feature right up there with A Woman Under the Influence or even A History of Violence. Despite the controversy...

Well, another municipal election has come in Chicago, and in many wards (but not all) it's gone. As expected, Richard M. Daley sailed to re-election, set to eclipse his father as the Chicago's longest-serving mayor, in spite of Ben Joravsky's best efforts. At the time of this writing, a few things are clear: there will be a few runoffs this year, including Madeline Haithcock - Bob Fioretti (2nd), Dorothy Tillman - Pat Dowell (3rd), Shirley...

We don’t get excited about reunion tours. We’re above that. Unless of course it’s The Police, in which case we jump up and down clapping our hands like a school bus full of those girls Gwen Stefani pays to follow her around. We had been told that the revered (by us) group would be playing Soldier Field this summer as part of their 30th Anniversary / Cashin’ In / We’re In The R’N’R Hall O’...

No shocker here: Oprah Winfrey tops Forbes' first ever list of the richest women in entertainment. Winfrey, whose media empire includes her namesake talk show, O Magazine, a book club, a satellite radio station called "Oprah & Friends," etc, etc, etc, has an estimated work of $1.5 billion. Forbes estimates that she pockets $225 million annually. She is also the only female black billionaire. The number two spot on the list is held by J.K. Rowling, with Martha Stewart coming in at number three.

Remember when we told you back in November about the special Secret Santa guy? The one who gives out $100 bills on the streets of Chicago for Christmas? He had finally revealed his identity after handing out large chunks of change for several years running. Well, what we didn't know at the time was that the reason he put a face to the kindness was because he was dying of cancer. On Friday, Larry Stewart,...

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...

We’ve experienced renters' guilt by throwing away our hard-earned cash each month instead of pouring it into a home we can call our very own. What with the staggering jumps in home values over the past few years, homeowners who bought a home before the peak of home costs seem to have it made. Higher home values! Tons of cash! Personal piggy bank right there on your lawn! Unfortunately for homeowners, along with the higher...

This weekend, we were in one of Chicago’s many fine drinking establishments, arguing with one of our friends about music. In the midst of a second glass of Maker’s, we lamented that the number of “crap” years in Rod Stewart’s career had now outpaced any cred he’d achieved thanks to Every Picture Tells A Story and his work with The Faces. Our friend – citing “the Stevie Wonder question from High Fidelity” – argued that Rod (and other rockers of his advanced age) had earned the right to “take it easy”, and it was perhaps asking too much for him to get his Celtic United-loving ass off his yacht to make some relevant music.

While Topinka and G-Rod tried desperately to link each other to convicted former Governor George Ryan in last night’s debate, the Executive Director of Chicago’s Board of Ethics was handing in her resignation. More time with the retiring husband, she says.

In an annual standard of living report, Chicago came in (tied with Washington DC) at 41st place. The study ranks the quality of life in the world's major cities. Zurich came in first, Baghdad last. The top US city is Honolulu. It's nice out and everyone's pulling out their bikes, but who needs a bike when you've got the LimoJet? The Bean is finally finished. Junk food in schools is still ok for now....

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced a plan to build more than 50 stores in struggling neighborhoods all around the country. The name for this initiative? "The Wal-Mart Jobs and Opportunity Zone." Does that even make sense? Wal-Mart plans to build these new stores in places with high crime and unemployment rates and on land that's either environmentally contaminated, in vacant structures, or in malls in need of revitalization. They say that these Zones could create up to 25,000 jobs, mostly for minorities, and could bring in more than $100 million in state and local tax revenue for the communities they're built in.

Seems that Bears management has finally realized that they might want to have a capable veteran QB on the roster, especially since Rex Grossman seems to be running neck-and-nexk with Mark Prior in the "who can get injured more" contest the two seem to be having. The past two seasons have forced Bears fans to witness a parade of overwhelmed rookies and career third-string QBs take the field. While last year's team went 11-5, in...

In the spirit of last night’s Oscars, we present this montage of thoughts: * Forget pimps: it was hard out there for Jon Stewart. Stewart is and was frequently hilarious, but what works on the Daily Show doesn't work for the Oscars. Like most unconventional hosts (Letterman, Chris Rock), Stewart was done in because he was expected to bring his sharp, cutting wit to a venue that doesn't appreciate it. An organization that rolls three...

Chicagoist hasn’t posted much about the Oscars this year, and we think we’ve figured out why.

Rarely do we get the chance, or feel the need, to redeem ourselves around here. Most of the time our readers point out our mistakes, second guess us, and basically call us idiots and we have to take it because, well, most of the time we are. But Chicagoist will indulge ourselves this one time. Ha! We were right: Gov. Blagojevich admits he had no clue what he was getting into on the Daily Show two weeks ago.

Roger Ebert is going to be a guest tonight on the Daily Show. How’s that for a slice of fried gold*? Mr. Ebert posted his Oscar predictions Saturday, and we’re but ten days from the Oscar ceremony itself, which is hosted by – wait for it – Jon Stewart. Chicagoist is a big fan of the Daily Show what with the high and low humor, so we’re looking forward to an intelligent discussion of how...