The entire city has been abuzz with the news that famed food writer Michael Ruhlman is coming to town this week to promote his new book, Ruhlman's 20. Several events have already sold out (including one that sold out the day it was announced) but there are a few great ways you can still meet up with him. more ›

It's that time of year again! Chicagoist would like to add several more people to our staff to fill in some gaps in coverage and make the site even better. Specific positions are listed below. If you're interested in any of them, meet the qualifications, can make the time commitment, and would like to join the Chicagoist team, email applychicagoist(at)gmail(dot)com with the position in the subject line. In the email, tell us about yourself and why you'd be good on that beat, and throw in a sample post if you like. No need to send us resumes though ... writing positions are unpaid for now. more ›

Acclaimed novelist and essayist David Foster Wallace was found dead in his California home on Friday from an apparent suicide. Among his more renowned tomes were Infinite Jest and A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. Wallace spent part of his childhood in Urbana; his father taught philosophy at the University of Illinois and his mother was an English teacher at Parkland College in Champaign. Wallace was teaching at Illinois State when Infinite Jest was released, earning him wide acclaim. Wallace and his wife were currently living in Claremont, California, where Wallace was a professor of English at Pomona College. Man, we are seriously bummed. more ›

Cubs fans are nothing if not loyal. They have 99 years of practice keeping a stiff upper lip, insisting “you gotta believe” this year will be the one in which the lovable losers finally break all the curses and become the center of a World Series victory ticker tape parade. more ›

We've always wanted to have a Russian Writers Party, wherein everyone has a typewriter, a shot glass, and a bottle of vodka. We still think it's a good idea, but have decided it's best left unrealized. more ›

Major League Baseball's annual election results will be announced today, and a couple of former Chicago players hope to cross the magic threshold from paying customers to inductees in Cooperstown. Voted on by the Baseball Writers of America, players become eligible five years after retiring and must receive votes on 75 percent of ballots. more ›

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

We love us some Xmas movies; but frankly there are plenty of swell, non-Holiday movie events coming up as well: more ›

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and... more ›

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the... more ›

Well, it's finally happened: the Writer's Guild of America declared a strike early this morning after midnight negotiations stalled. Naturally there's been plenty of finger-pointing, with writers claiming that the producers broke off talks while producers say that the writers were the ones who walked out. Regardless, the strike will have some very immediate effects, which the Trib has handily put in chart form. Daily shows will suffer the most at first, with programs like... more ›

Ugh, finally: 28 aldermen are filing a petition to U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow demanding the City release the names of the most-complained-about police officers. The Sun-Times's spot-on editorial is completely degraded by heinous illustration that accompanies it, from the same "artist" who also did yesterday's ricockulously bad Stroger drawing. The Book Cellar is hosting "Chicago’s Wittiest Women Writers" tonight. We deeply resent not being invited to participate, but cannot deny the wit of Stacey... more ›

It looks as thought the Amy Jacobson story continues to have legs (this might be the first in a series of unintentional puns, so bear with us). First, the Plainfield police department finally announced yesterday that they're considering Craig Stebic as a "person of interest", and not just because he throws a memorable pool party. It turns out that Stebic has refused requests by police to take a polygraph test and to let the cops... more ›

We can't believe we never heard about this before, but it took us years to hear about this, so we definitely miss things. There is a free monthly interview series called Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman. It's a live interview hosted by Victoria Lautman at the Lookingglass Theatre and takes place Sundays at noon. more ›

The defending Arena Football League champion Chicago Rush travel to Kansas City this weekend to kick off their 2007 campaign. The Kansas City Brigade went 3-11 last season. The Rush must be happy to start their season off against a team that is generally not expected to be a contender for the title. more ›

We're guessing that The Daily Southtown's Paul Ladewski was following his mother's advice when he decided to submit a blank ballot for baseball's Hall of Fame voting. While many players with Hall of Fame numbers eligible for election were passed over because of steroid allegations — yes you, Mark McGwire — Ladewski decided to just forfeit the whole era. more ›

Theaters typically sell subscriptions on the strength of tried and true stories, and no story is more tried and true than the unhappy family. Writers write, and actors play, what they know or can easily research. Patrons take comfort, or catharsis, in seeing characters who have it worse. This week, three Chicago companies opened the the 2006 season with Tolstoy’s overquoted observation about unhappy families in mind. more ›

Most of the time we still feel like we’re sixteen. We still have no answers, we’re just as awkward with the opposite sex, and we continue to wish someone would ask us to prom. more ›

We’re not scared of big books. In fact, we love big books, the bigger the better. It’s like those restaurant contests where you win something if you eat that big, huge cheeseburger. We always know we can eat it and we see it as challenging more than daunting. more ›

Chicagoist needs to pull its corduroy jacket out of the closet, our elbow pads are looking a little too new. Good thing it's Story Week so we can start rubbing some elbows. Story Week is Columbia College’s week of lectures, readings, panel discussions and performances, from authors large and small, local and from away. There’s way too much cool stuff to list here, so we’ll list some of the highlights, but make sure to check... more ›

One of the coolest things we love about The Lookingglass Theatre Company, besides its stage adaptation of Stuart Dybek’s The Coast of Chicago, is its new literary series Writers on Record. Every month or so, Victoria Lautman, a contributor at WBEZ, interviews authors in a free event at the still-newish Lookingglass space in the Water Tower. This month, Lautman will host Margo Jefferson to discuss her book On Michael Jackson. Jefferson, a Chicago native, is... more ›

Rarely do World Champion teams have as few candidates for major post-season awards as the White Sox. Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland finished 5th and 6th in the voting for Cy Young. Paul Konerko is unlikely to break the top 5 in MVP voting. That just goes to show how the White Sox won as a team rather than riding some superstar's coattails. more ›

We here at Chicagoist just get all tickled inside, if a little bit conflicted, when we get to tell you about multiple great literary events happening in the same evening. Tomorrow night gives the local literatista (why yes, we do love making up words!) not one but two opportunities for some non-traditional literary edification--both lubricated with a little bit of beer and and a lot of the sweet, sweet pleasure of philanthropy. more ›

This week Chicagoist will be making a couple appearances on panels on blogging. If you're interested in hearing more about the blogging process and a bunch of nerdy mumbo jumbo (not to mention watching us try to be serious and not make fools of ourselves), you should check it out. First off, tonight, we'll be participating on a discussion about Writing for Blogs. This is a showcase of the Independent Writers of Chicago (IWOC) meeting.... more ›

Stuart Dybek, Author more ›

Note: This is Part 2 of an occasional series. Part 1 can be found here. Theater companies have been working overtime lately, killing a forest to print their brochures and flooding inboxes with exciting emails—You Just Can’t Miss This Season!, We’ve Got Stuff You Can’t See Anywhere Else!, and Its’ Our Anniversary! Are You Going To Stand Me Up On Our Anniversary?!?! It’s a lot of clutter and noise, but it’s far more interesting than... more ›

Some of you may know that way back in 1904, Chicago was supposed to host the Olympics... until St. Louis stole the games away! So Chicago has yet to host the Olympics. more ›

Former Cubs 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today, in his third year of eligibility. He received a total of 393 votes, a slim six vote margin over the 387 necessary to reach the 75% threshhold. more ›

Hot scribe of the moment Susanna Clarke is scheduled to speak at the Lookingglass Theatre on Dec. 19 as part of WFMT’s most excellent “Writers on the Record” series with host Victoria Lautman. more ›

We kind of thought we'd be hearing more about this, but for some reason it's been pretty quiet. Susan Orlean will be in Chicago on Sunday as Victoria Lautman's guest on "Writers on the Record," a radio interview show. more ›