Celebrity chef Ted Allen, formerly of Chicago Magazine, teaches how to make "the most obnoxious, contrived meals for your dickhead foodie friends." more ›

In the last two editions of their weekly feature "Weakside/Strongside," The Onion has broken down two Chicago sports figures: Lou Piniella and Scottie Pippen. We dug through the archives and came across a few others that are pretty entertaining in their own right with a Chicago connection. more ›

Have concerns about privacy issues and Google? There's a solution for you. more ›

Michelle Obama looked pretty dang good at last night's State of the Union address, so we're glad this legislation has been introduced. more ›

We've long been fans of the books put out by the folks from The Onion and the newest book from The AV Club is no different. Inventory is a collection of lists. That's all it is. But it's a pretty damn funny and comprehensive, if a bit random, collection of lists and it's the randomness that we dig. In a sense, it's the perfect coffee table (or bathroom) book that you can pick up whenever you feel like and read through in any, well, random order. From the profane ("16 Tragic Instances of Movie Masturbation") to the auteur ("15 Moveis With Great Dialogue-Free Scenes") to the just plain warped ("9 Classic Instances of Animal Snuff for Kids"), the lists keep us turning the page to the next one. more ›

One of our very favorite pop culturists, for more than a decade Nathan Rabin has been head writer for The Onion A.V. Club. He's equally at home writing about Epic Movie or western swing, and you don't want to be on the receiving end of his wicked sarcasm when it's time to mete out a takedown. more ›

Funny Ha-Ha is a guaranteed good time. Tonight's edition at The Hideout features a host of writers, but seems to be "headlined" by Eric Zorn. We love Zorn, but find it kind of funny his credit is "Chicago Tribune Columnist & Blogger" while Claire Zulkey's is "Blogger & TV Critic for The Onion & Los Angeles Times." more ›

Local outfit Coudal has unveiled a betting pool for the 2008 Tournament of Books. Place your bets with Coudal, and all the money goes to First Book, an organization that gives new books to kids. Other companies are offering matching contributions, so bust out your wallet and lay some dough on the literary line. more ›

With four basic ingredients, you can put together a flavorful, healthy soup to sip during the deep freeze gripping Chicago. Skip the pre-made, boxed versions of butternut squash soup and opt for a very easy to prepare, from scratch version, instead. Also, no one is sure what the hell else you can do with a butternut squash. more ›

If you're looking to add a little mystery to your holiday repertoire, this month's local author night at the Book Cellar is mysterious. The writers will be on hand after to sign books for last-minute presents and answer questions. more ›

Today is the first day/second night of Hanukkah, the festival of lights (or as we like to call it, Jewish Christmas). In addition to lighting the menorah/hanukkiah, playing dreidel and getting presents, Hanukkah is about oil. And while there are all types of oil, our preference is for the hot bubbly kind in the pan. We cooked up two kinds of latkes last night. The first kind we made was from Fine Cooking magazine,... more ›

Who doesn't love the Onion? God knows we do, and hey — even Neil Steinberg sort of likes it. And that guy knows funny! Anyway, there are two big reasons to love the Onion even more: First and foremost, their Google map layer — go ahead and play around with it, above — is twenty kinds of amazing. And the company announced today that they're moving their HQ here. Well, business HQ. While the... more ›

Issues, shmissues. The real story is that the terrorist madrassa-taught, non-black, freedom-hating Barack Hussein Obama doesn't wear an American-flag lapel pin. We were startled when last night's TV news tag line said, "Why is Obama's patriotism in question? Tonight at 9." Though we have been suckered into watching the news based on these tag lines before, we were again let down when it was all about a pin. Those awe-inspiring pins are a standard among... more ›

...for Frisbie’s New Debut. Masters of the turn of phrase and worshippers at the altar of harmony, Frisbie is back in full force. Things look a little different, and the elements have changed. The local band that seemed destined for stardom had some things to work out. Through all of the uncertainty and doubt, the growing pains and a very pregnant pause – Frisbie has come out better for the wear. But they haven’t remained... more ›

Earlier this week, accompanied by armed guards, and carefully escorted onto American soil, the first shipment of iPhones began to arrive. The creator of the ubiqitous iPod, has the PR buzz (or Reality Distortion Field) in full effect, and we can't remember so many people ever caring so much about a cell phone. No one really got excited about the new Blackberry (even if they are promoted by John Mayer), and when an updated TREO... more ›

The Onion's A.V. Club has leaked the line-up for Lollapalooza one day early, and you can read it here. If it's legit, Chicagoist is one happy camper! Many of the bands were already suspected, but a couple surprises do pop up. (Juliette and the Licks? Fuck yeah! Silverchair? Well, considering that their latest is actually good, we're even looking forward to seeing them too!) Chicago represents with acts like Rhymefest, Lupe Fiasco, Chin Up Chin... more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into... more ›

Lately, there have been so many stories in the news that are so horrific or absurd, that we're beginning to wonder if there really is such a phenomenon as the "End Times," or if we're just living in an issue of The Onion. This story qualifies as both and has left us completely reeling, baffled, nonplussed ... feel free to fill in a overwhelmingly clueless adjective of indiscriminate origin. Ruth Koening, an 86-year-old woman living... more ›

How many cops does it take to bust into a house and shoot a couple of dogs? 30? A Chicago man apologized for spreading his shit (literally!) around a courtroom during his trial. The Chicago teacher's union doesn't want public funds to be used for an online school. Remember those storms we had a few days ago? Some people still do not have power. It's Chicago's biggest blackout in 3 years. Mayor Daley announced... more ›

Fear no okra. Whenever okra comes up, people usually have one reaction – slimy, and okra is slimy, sometimes. We love Creole and Cajun food, but once the okra gets tossed into the gumbo, it’s a tragedy waiting to happen in the wrong hand. more ›

If life were a movie, would you be the dashing romantic lead or the one people think of as “nice” and “sweet”? If you identify with the latter, The Baxter may give you hope. The Onion and IFC Films present The Baxter, a romantic comedy for anyone who’s ever been dumped. It stars Michael Showalter (Stella) and co-stars Paul Rudd (The 40-Year Old Virgin) and Michael Ian Black (Stella, Ed). It’s the story of Elliot... more ›

Start hording those ImprovOlympic mugs, shirts, and ticket stubs, ‘cause “ImprovOlympic” is no more. The 24-year old company that gave us large blocks of the Saturday Night Live cast, much of the talent behind Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and “that dopey guy” from Scrubs has changed its name to I.O. Theater. In a story you’d expect to find in The Onion, I.O. Owner and Director Charna Halpern received a letter from the U.S. Olympic Committee ordering her to drop “Olympic” from the company name lest someone actually think the Wrigleyville club was qualifying people for Beijing ’08. Back in its formative years, the club was embroiled in a dispute with a stand-up comedy club owner claiming to have copyrighted “improv.” And since the club's been competition-free for decades, they've merely lost a bit of marketing cache. more ›

Coming off what amounts to a four-day weekend is hell. Sure, we at Chicagoist enjoy the time off as much as anybody but when we came back to work yesterday we were simply unmotivated, thinking about all the wonderful grilling and drinking we did over the holiday. That's why we're thrilled to know July is both National Hot Dog Month and American Beer Month. Knowing this Chicagoist is having a hard time keeping its inner Homer Simpson in check. (Mmmmm... beer). more ›

Stop by the Hideout at 8pm tonight where Claire Zulkey and NPR's John Green will be hosting Funny Ha Ha II, a second night of Chicago's funniest performers and writers. more ›

We couldn't be more jazzed up for this weekend, with some of our favorite folks hosting events. Let's get this party started, fools. more ›

Tomorrow night Claire Zulkey will be hosting a night of Chicago's funniest performers and writers at the Hideout. Titled, "Funny Ha-Ha" the night features sketch comedy from Schadenfreude, a short film from Steve Delahoyde, and readings from The Morning News' Kevin Guilfoile, The Onion AV Club's Nathan Rabin, RedEye's Mark Bazer, and more. more ›

� Happy Hour coming up! more ›

Chicagoist knows it's not original to say this, but man, we can't get enough of The Onion. Though based currently in New York, the paper hails from Wisconsin and it definitely has that indefinable Midwestern sensibility and sense of humor that we know and love. We have all the books (the brilliant Our Dumb Century, Dispatches from the Tenth Circle), a few of the T-shirts ("Your favorite band sucks"), the coffee mug ("Fuck off"), and can recite classic headlines for days ("There's no 'My Kid has Cancer' in Team"). We went to their Christmas party last year, and if your humor paper can get performances by David Cross, The Walkmen, and Yo La Tengo at such an event, you must be doing something right. Hell, Chicagoist even knows one of the writers, and he's a damn nice guy. more ›

If you haven't seen the Reader this week, there's an interesting cover story about a local college student, University of Chicago�s Loren Wilson, and his creation of a database that analyzes that Internet bastion of indie-rock coolness, Pitchfork. A Chicago-based website, Pitchfork is something of a guilty pleasure for Chicagoist. The site's staffers are pretentious, high-brow barometers of underground hype � the Rolling Stone of the indie world. (And they're just as easy to mock: Check out Popdork, indie label Sub Pop's hilarious parody of Pitchfork.) But their ability to write snarky reviews and expose readers to great unheard bands � their tireless cheerleading helped The Wrens, The Unicorns, and Broken Social Scene all achieve semi-fame over the past year � definitely appeals to our sensibilities. more ›