Results tagged “topten”

Foodandwine.com just announced their "Go To List 2008," where they list their top ten restaurant cities in the world, ten up and coming restaurant cities, and 300 dining destinations around the world. It should come as no surprise that our broad-shouldered city ranked #8. That's behind Tokyo, Paris and New York, but ahead of Stockholm and Vancouver. Credit where credit is due, Vancouver still has better skiing and gentlemens clubs.

And we're wearing Milkbone underwear. (Maybe our favorite Normism ever. Er, anyway....)

Photo Credit: Malingering

• 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.

From the "things are tough all over" department: As if the folks at Jays didn't have enough to worry about with its recent bankruptcy filing, now two former executives of parent company Ubiquity Brands filed a lawsuit Friday claiming that they were fired in a corporate restructuring "without cause". Former Chief Financial Officer William McManaman and Chief Information Officer Gary Rietz claim their terminations are a violation of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection...

A jury of science professionals unveiled their picks for the top ten most important scientific achievements in Chicago history. The list, from most to least important: The first controlled nuclear reaction The invention of the first portable cell phone The development of hormone treatment of prostate and breast cancer The invention of magnetic recording The discovery of malaria treatment The creation of the modern skyscraper The proof of the existence of the top quark The...

Good news, women of Illinois: We're in good company! Four of the top ten most powerful women in business are based here (or run companies that are). Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, comes in at number 5, thanks to acquiring a $7.2 billion "global biscuit business." Pat Woertz, chairman, CEO, and president of Decatur–based agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland, follows her at 6 because she brought in $44 billion in revenue. Number...

A.O Scott’s review of the new Michael Moore movie begins with a very astute observation; namely, that whenever Moore’s name is brought up it is inevitably attached to adjectives such as “polarizing,” “controversial,” “provocative,” and “muck-raking.” And that it is the media itself which perpetuates the use of these adjectives. Would one describe Steven Spielberg as “polarizing?” Spielberg has two films in the top ten highest-grossing films of all time and no one describes him that way. Yet (among documentaries) Moore has two films in the top five. How “controversial” can a filmmaker be and yet sell so many tickets? We just think he’s a filmmaker possessing a keen instinct for issues that get people riled up, which is a good thing.

Back in February, the Chicago Park District imposed a ban on bringing your pup to piddle in south Grant Park near Magdalena Abakanowicz's $3 million "Agora" art installation. Not only was this a popular spot for dogs to do their business (purportedly due to the bark-like color and texture of the sculptures) but has also become the subject of quite a bit of amateur photography, one such photo even appearing in Chicagoist's Top Ten Photos of 2006.

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network." It was a week of bizarre, embarassing headlines at DCist. The trial of the local administrative law judge who sued his cleaners for $54 million over a pair of missing pants left everyone shaking their heads. Then the capital city was nearly brought to its knees, twice, by...

We know this is blasphemous and all, but we've gotten a little tired of hearing about global warming lately. Each passing day bombards us with another article about switching incandescent lightbulbs for the ones laced with mercury that can be disposed of as easily as, say, batteries, another "green issue" of Jane or Bop or whatever and another quote about the dire situation from a presidential candidate, we're terribly sorry, probably don't even recycle. That's...

Somebody alert the IOC – Chicago’s got another feather in its civic entertainment cap, but did anyone here even notice? Last week at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, the South by Sundance Break of the club and electronic music world, our very own SmartBar collected the 2007 Club World Awards honor for “Best Club.” Guess that winter makeover really paid off, as Club Awards representative Kerri Mason put it: “When SmartBar revealed its new...

Usually, we tend not to take the side of those in sports demanding more, more, more money. And in many ways, it's hard to feel too sorry for a guy who already has a contract that'll pay him more than 20 times Chicagoist's salary. But in the case of Lovie Smith, we just do not understand why he hasn't gotten a new deal yet and why the Bears ownership doesn't just agree to pay what...

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend...

This week, the Chicago Film Critics announced its nominations for the best films and cinematic performances of the past year. Babel picked up nine nominations, while The Departed and The Queen followed with six. As usual, the CFCA made some unconventional choices: Maggie Gyllenhaal picked up a nod for her work in the largely ignored Sherrybaby, and an adapted screenplay nomination went to A Prairie Home Companion. The CFCA also fueled the comebacks of Ben...

If you asked Chicagoist to recall our top ten fondest memories from grade school, nine of them would come from recess. Not that we didn't like school, it's just that our best times came during our time off. That's just the way kids are. But perhaps having those good times mixed in with the academic parts of school encouraged us to submit to the hard work too. Why not do some phonics, we knew we...

The Chicagoist offices are alive with the sounds of schadenfreude as we turn our attention to television’s biggest losers. The first bit of news that had us chortling with glee was the mercy killing of that ersatz-Chicago Fox sitcom “Happy Hour,” which we ranted about last week and has been cancelled. Technically it’s only been put on “hiatus,” so it’s more life support than euthanasia. But we all know what that means. It’s the approximate...

While we know that murder is a very serious subject, and we don’t want to make too light of it, we almost spit out our coffee a little at a recent headline involving the top ten sin: “Woman says ‘rough sex’ led her to kill landlord.”

Small and smallish theaters routinely provide some of the best entertainment value in the city. Seems like no one understands that better than the side project, who has turned one of Chicago’s most intimate performance spaces, the side studio, into a Rogers Park destination. Opening in 2000 as a 20-seat venue that would expand to 32 seats a year later, the studio has hosted a steady stream of imaginative productions for a mix of friends, friends of friends, and theater nuts who read deep into the performing arts listings. The side project helps perpetuate this city’s reputation for immediate, in-your-face theater. Late night and off-hours, the space hosts spirited, cash-strapped groups, often on the experimental side: this was where the world (and Chicagoist) first saw Sock Puppet Showgirls.

Last week saw the release of local pop critic Greg Kot's Top Ten List for the last year's entire recorded output and it was a tad -- okay, a lot -- on the safe and predictable side. At least he tried to mix it up a bit in today's Tribune with his Top Ten Local Releases from 2005.

Set your TiVo or tune into The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight at 10 PM on Comedy Central to catch Stewart interview Senator Barack Obama.

If you wanted proof that you're a lazy hack that sits your butt too long and too often, this weekend was happy to oblige. Forty thousand (that's a 4 followed by four 0's) runners from all fifty states and all over the globe got together early last Sunday morning to run the 2005 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. The race began at 8:00 AM at the intersection of Columbus and Monroe downtown. The runners ran as...

It�s a good week to be a movie geek. Tickets went on sale at 9 AM today for Spamalot, �the musical lovingly ripped off� from one of the movies most-quoted by guys you went to high school with: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Chicagoist covered the 411 on this back in July but it�s worth noting here that the opening of the box office featured an appearance by the Spammobile along with free cans...

For movie junkies, one of the most entertaining reality shows over the last couple years has been the Matt Damon-Ben Affleck brainchild Project Greenlight. It�s too bad that while the show features plenty of gripping behind-the-scenes drama and great real-life characters � someone really should just follow around producer Chris Moore with a camera, Barack Obama-style � the movies it has produced haven�t been as interesting. (Remember Stolen Summer or The Battle of Shaker Heights? Exactly.) Hopefully, that will change with this year�s installment, now with the commercial breaks and bleeped swears of the Bravo Network. Five Chicagoans made it into the top 250 finalists, with two local talents even entering the top ten. Cheer them on tonight at Excalibur, where they will all talk and show their work. Thanks to Ryan for the tip!