Eventually, the rebels become accepted by the Establishment. Even in culinary circles. Twenty-one years ago, the fixed price menus Charlie Trotter was offering from a converted home on Armitage made some longtime chefs regard the brash upstart as a "reckless fusionist." Today, he's touting the TurboChef 360° oven, capable of cooking four racks of lamb perfectly in six minutes. Honestly, Trotter's demo makes me want one of those bad.......

Holy dodging bullets, Batman! This YouTube video shows where a bullet entered and exited a family’s room at the Hotel Blake on Dearborn. The video was apparently shot the day after the shootings after the July 3 fireworks display.......

Today is the birthday of one Louis Terkel. Parroting Michael Sneed, "Studs" would be ageless and priceless. Actually, he's 96 today, but still priceless.......

Chicagoist hasn't been out to the UC to see a Bulls games this year, but they apparently show this video on the scoreboard during halftime at some games: Who came up with that brilliant idea? Is this really how low the Bulls have to stoop to distract their fans from the train wreck of a season? We pray this is the only Chicago mascot/Chicago-based talk show tie-in we're forced to endure. Is there anyone who......

First item: there's a new website called Super Cook that allows users to find recipes based on what ingredients they have at hand. This will come in handy when you have, say, those porcini mushrooms that are on the verge of turning. we've been fooling around with the site for a couple days now and haven't been disappointed. More online recipe goodness: Sun-Times writer Dave Hoekstra gets his own "Bachelor Pad Royale" going by......

Had he moved to New York to seek his fame and fortune, Oscar Brown, Jr. would have been a superstar. Instead, the wildly talented singer, songwriter, poet, playwright, and activist stayed in Bronzeville, married, raised a family, and charted his own course. Anyone who had the honor of speaking with the man, however brief, left with a renewed sense of hope. Still, Mr. Brown's influence crossed lines of race and gender, and even musical style;......

There's a special shout-out at :44 to whoever stole my purse last night.......

One of the more contentious races in Tuesday's election is at the Cook County Board of Review, where incumbent Joe Berrios is facing a stiff challenge in trial lawyer Jay Paul Deratany. For many homeowners throughout Cook County, the Board of Review is their best chance at finding relief from both the monster property tax increases proposed by Mayor Daley and the County Board and the skyrocketing assessments of County Assessor Jim Houlihan. The......

Photo by MMayesPeople sure seem grumpy today. Maybe you just need a cookie. A homemade treat based on the Girl Scout cookie Samoas. We have heard people argue that Thin Mints are the best Girl Scout cookie, but that is hilariously wrong. Samoas are the best. Maybe a party would cheer you up? How about a Clue party? We are so, so jealous. A weather Channel correspondent got frostbite on air last night, reporting......

Local filmmaker Steve Delahoyde and sketch comedy team Schadenfreude make a series of short films together called Regrets. The first one in that series is called "Boxes." Last week, a Montreal-based printing company Pazazz made a web commercial. Look familiar? Warren Werbitt, president and CEO of Pazazz (and star of printing version), says he'd never seen "Boxes" before, and that the guy who created the Pazazz version is on vacation until next week. Werbitt wouldn't......

With all the bad news out of newsrooms recently--and new Tribune owner Sam Zell not making any friends this week (unlike a few weeks ago)--we got a kick out of this email he sent to Tribune employees today: From: Talk to Sam Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:03 AM Subject: Censorship, the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate Everyone, I learned on the first leg of our tour of Tribune’s business units that some of......

To complement the raccoon post, we did some digging (well, not much, but digging was involved) and found video of Homaru Cantu and company creating the twisted roadkill plating. It exemplifies why we love dining at moto.......

ABC-7 hasn’t missed a beat in their 10 p.m. broadcast, despite a minivan crashing through their glass-front studio. Their Web site says the news team was startled, and police arrived on the scene shortly after. By the sports segment at 20 minutes past the hour, the crew was joking that it was chilly in the studio like a Bears game. No further details or photos are available yet. Update 10:34 p.m.: Witnesses say someone......

You know that thing you never do? Now it will cost another 25 cents if you start to do it. Yes, the Tribune is increasing its newsstand price to 75 cents for Monday-Saturday editions, but the Sunday edition remains $1.79. The memo sent out from Tony Hunter, the Trib's senior vice president of circulation and operations, said: Starting Monday, December 31, Chicago Tribune will raise its Monday - Saturday newsstand price from 50 cents......

Oh, sweet teensy tiny baby Jesus, words really don't do this justice. All we're gonna ask is: When exactly did Jake Busey dye his hair and start fronting Survivor? OK, OK, one more thing: Wouldn't it be awesome if, in fact, Survivor had a dude who did nothing but play tambourine? Ah, in a perfect world.... Thanks to Lauren for the tip-off on this one.......

Winter Depression?...

Today we take you back to Friday, April 18th, 1980. The anchors on our evening newscasts were giants like Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson at Channel 2, John Drury at Channel 9, and the bow-tied Fahey Flynn at Channel 7, where the above clip comes from (big thanks to Fuzzy Memories for this clip). In the clip, anchor Diane Allen reports on the top stories of the day, including a proposed CTA rate hike......

Steppenwolf’s Broadway offering went dark this weekend thanks to the Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employee strike, now in its third day. August: Osage County, a rousing critical favorite and the company’s best received show in a long time, was in its second preview week at the Imperial Theatre, drawing 800-900 patrons per night to the 1,400 seat house. In a move largely overshadowed by a certain other strike, the stagehands......

Chicago is the 23rd greenest city in the world. Did you take your dog to church yesterday? Visit the Museum of Stuff Left on the Sidewalk. Here's a You Tube Video of legendary soul singer Syl Johnson live in Chicago from 1975. Unfortunately, the song isn't the classic "Is it Because I'm Black?" But it's still choice. Prosecutors in the Family Secrets Trial played on the paranoia of Frank Calabrese, Sr. Really? "Never Stop......

Here's something to cleanse your palate after checking out this afternoon's diversion. We were checking out the weblog of the Illinois Winemakers' Alliance and came across this YouTube clip from Alton Brown's "Feasting on Asphalt." In the clip, Brown visits Baxter's Vineyards in downstate Nauvoo, where he and owner Brenda Logan (whom we interviewed yesterday) proceed to get Brown's cameraman feeling good on some of Baxter's selections. The kid's just pounding them back, God bless......

Here at Chicagoist, R&B superstar and alleged water-sports enthusiast R. Kelly has given us more than our fill of laughs and head-scratching moments. Now it looks as though the "sexasaurus" has discovered the power of YouTube. His completely staged "Real Talk: Behind the Scenes" is the best meta singsong since Screaming Jay Hawkins had the "Constipation Blues." It's also loaded with profanity, so if you're at work, keep the volume low. "Profanity represents how real......

The Cubs couldn't help themselves Wednesday night, as they dropped their second straight game to the lowly Florida Marlins, losing 7-4 in Miami. However, that weird sensation for Cubs fans of actually cheering for the Cardinals worked, because St. Louis did help the Cubs by knocking off the Brewers 7-3. The losses by both the Cubs and Brewers mean that the Cubs magic number is now three. The Cubs have one more chance to reel......

To paraphrase an old Simpsons quote: In a way, all the Impress These Apes contestants were winners. But more accurately, Kristen Studard (pictured) was the champ, earning the accolades of primates and peers along with $250 in cold hard cash. The competition was fierce and the "anything goes" format yielded some of the contestants’ best work. But “Desperate Houseflower,” Kristen’s penetrating multi-media exploration of the secret lives of houseplants, brought the audience to its feet......

If you were at last night's Estrojam (warning: makes noise) opening-night Panty Party at Funky Buddha, it's likely you're familiar with the festival. You're also probably a) hungover from all the $1 beers and mango vodka shots, and b) searching for your face on Last Night's Party, hoping for a new MySpace photo. The five-year-old, woman-centric music and culture festival continues all over the city this week with a bevy of concerts, films, workshops and......

Brazil's national soccer team arrived in Chicago on Friday for their Clash of Champions match-up with the United States National Team at Soldier Field on Sunday. Brazil did not wait long to entertain fans. On Saturday they held their one and only training session prior to the match with the United States and they did it in front of a crowd of a few hundred die-hard fans at Toyota Park. Chicagoist has always enjoyed watching......

Only one link this evening, besides this wonderful aerial shot of Castaways from RUNFAR. But it's a beauty. Found via You Tube, here are the Dead Boys from 1978, with native son John Belushi sitting in on drums during the second song in the clip, "Hey Little Girl." The first song, "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth," we're dedicating to Idaho Senator Larry Craig. See you tomorrow.......

The cast of Family Guy will hit Chicago next month to present, live and uncensored, a “classic episode” of the animated series. Perhaps you love the show but would rather see it delivered by actors on book accompanied, Rocky Horror-style, by hundreds of Stewie groupies reciting their favorite punchlines. If so, get your butt down to the Chicago Theatre box office tomorrow morning in time to nab the close-enough-to-smell-Seth-Green’s-mousse seats. A hit at Montreal’s Just......

Note: This post has nothing to do with Lollapalooza. Tonight marks the return of Impress These Apes, the comedy octathalon demanding creativity, versatility and a wicked sense of humor. Eight contestants face eight different performance challenges over eight weeks. We missed last year's competition but, thanks to YouTube, are still getting a good chuckle from the dance routines, videos, and goofy spectacles it produced. Now eight new contestants are vying for the most impressive crown.......

We got the privilege of attending last weekend's Blogher conference, and in an ironic twist of fate, our two computers went on the fritz. However, it was an experience we still wanted to share with you. Blogher is a conference geared directly toward women bloggers. It was filled with lots of interesting and useful sessions aimed at helping women in the blogosphere. Whether you hadn't yet started a blog or you were looking to really......

Chicagoist loves the folks over at B News Update and read them regularly for their refreshingly candid take on things in our neighborhood from the perspective of those born in Bridgeport. So when they linked to the You Tube clip above (language NSFW, unless you're a prison guard, a mechanic, a pimp, or a union organizer, apparently), we just had to share it with you. It's an old PSA sponsored by the Amalgamated, uh,......