Blogs, Chicago Reader

The funniest, weirdest, and angriest Best of Chicago reader votes

Drew Hunt — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:45:00 -0500

When it comes to our annual Best of Chicago issue, we at the Reader strive to be as democratic as possible. That's why we give you, the readers of the Reader, free rein to voice your opinions on everything from Best Alderman to Best Bike Shop, by way of a wide-open write-in ballot.…

Street View 103: Flashy sunnies in Wicker Park

Isa Giallorenzo — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:31:54 -0500

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest style seen in Chicago.

A look is not just about the clothes. Accessories, hair, and makeup are also an important part of the deal.…

Check out Yeezus's roots

Miles Raymer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:05:34 -0500

I realize we are six days into the Internet transformation into round-the-clock Yeezus coverage, but I promise this will be the last Yeezus-related thing I post here, at least for the rest of the week. (Unless something really interesting and Yeezus-y happens between now and then.)

Gianni Lee and Mike Blud are a couple of DJs who have a pretty compelling side hustle as sample trainspotters.…

12 O'Clock Track: "Tofi," Auto-Tuned madness from Kannywood

Peter Margasak — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:00:00 -0500

The idea that music is a universal language is beyond cliche, but behind every cliche is truth, and the Nigerian film industry known as Nollywood provides a particularly fascinating case in point. Back in the early 60s Lebanese merchants began importing the music-laden films of Bollywood, India's sublimely prolific film industry, into the country.…

Did you read about bonobos, Michael Hastings, and Yeezus?

Reader staff — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:19:00 -0500

Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.

Hey, did you read:

• That after being dismissed as unnecessary because pregnancy after rape is "rare," a rape exemption has been added to a Republican-proposed nationwide ban on abortions after 20 weeks—but only in cases where the rape has been reported? —Kate Schmidt

• About the guy who went from fighting the Taliban to navigating gangs as a CPS principal?…

Reader's Agenda Wed 6/19: Thai Festival, Bronzeville art, and Psalm One

Tosten Burks — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:12:33 -0500

Looking for something to do today? Agenda's got you covered:

Thai Festival takes over Federal Plaza today until Friday to celebrate and showcase the culture's boxing, dancing, music, fashion, and of course, food.…

Best of Chicago is coming soon (even sooner if you pay attention)

Gwynedd Stuart — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:56:00 -0500

As you might have gathered from this shoddily shot Vine we posted to Twitter, on Monday night we finished up our 2013 Best of Chicago issue and sent it off to be printed and stapled somewhere closeish to the center fold.

Nestled within its pages: 264 of your picks for the best things in Chicago, plus 164 of our critics' picks for Chicago's best things.…

NeverWet: Today's science mind-melt

Kevin Warwick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:29:22 -0500

Finally, an excuse to squirt copious amounts of yellow mustard onto your fresh white pants or drop your iPhone into the toilet without any consequences. Be dazzled.…

VICE magazine tries to find the glamour in suicide

Sarah Nardi — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:46:00 -0500

Camus wrote that there is only one truly serious philosophical question—and that is suicide. "Judging whether or not life is worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy," he writes in The Myth of Sisyphus.…

Jeremy Scahill on Dirty Wars and the global battlefield

Dan Massoglia — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:14:00 -0500

Understanding America's foreign policy can be an impossible task, even for those in the know. Yet state secrecy is being eroded daily, and Dirty Wars, now playing at Landmark's Century Centre, makes transparent what was once clouded.…

The unstoppable Pharrell Williams

Miles Raymer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:39:31 -0500

Pharrell Williams is having a fantastic year. Right now "Blurred Lines," which he produced for Robin Thicke (who's starting to look and sound increasingly like a more Vegas-y James Murphy), is sitting at the top of the Hot 100.…

Outdoor film series sponsored by the Latino Cultural Center begins tomorrow

Ben Sachs — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:09:11 -0500

Starting tomorrow the Latino Cultural Center will bring back popular movies from this year's Chicago Latino Film Festival for a weekly series of free outdoor screenings. The first, a revival of the Venezuelan film The Blue Apple Tree, takes place at Harrison Park (1842 South Wood Street) and begins around 8 PM.…

Just illin' with the New York Times

Steve Bogira — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:57:00 -0500

I like Well, the weekly two-page spread in the New York Times, but I think it is misnamed.

Well runs in the Tuesday Science Times section, and it's also an NYT blog.…

12 O'Clock Track: Gunplay's ravey mixtape cut "Been Did It"

Miles Raymer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:06:00 -0500

Lately southern hip-hop's ongoing obsession with MDMA and ravey synthesizers has bled over into a serious interest in dance music. Waka Flocka Flame's working on a record with a bunch of straight-up EDM producers (including local boys Flosstradamus), and pretty much every good mixtape coming out of the south has at least one track that could work with the Spring Awakening crowd.…

Did you read about Brazil, Jimmy Hoffa, and Chief Keef?

Reader staff — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:10:00 -0500

Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.

Hey, did you read:

• The New Yorker's Jill Lepore on the history of surveillance and the loss of privacy? —Tal Rosenberg

That, according to a Fortune magazine analysis, Trib Co. may owe the IRS more than half a billion dollars?…

Where are the editorial cartoonists who take the side of the NSA?

Michael Miner — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:39:00 -0500

Each week the Tribune scans the nation's editorial cartoons for the handful it republishes in its Cartoon Gallery on Sunday. Last Sunday's gallery consisted of five cartoons—by Dana Summers, Signe Wilkinson, Walt Handelsman, Steve Kelley, and Michael Ramirez—reacting to the revelation that the NSA is vacuuming up data whenever we talk on the telephone or browse the net.…

The TIF wash—et tu, Bright One?

Ben Joravsky — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:37:00 -0500

Over the years I've heard just about every conceivable explanation and defense of the $450-million-a-year mayoral slush fund known as tax increment financing.

On Friday I heard a new one: it's "a wash," financially speaking, for the Chicago Public Schools.…

Reader's Agenda Tue 6/18: Millennium Park movies, One-Minute Play Festival, and Douglas Ewart

Tosten Burks — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:08:34 -0500

Looking for something to do today? Agenda's got you covered:

Millennium Park's summer film series is back.…

My favorite book about Chicago moviegoing

Ben Sachs — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:00:00 -0500

In middle school my favorite author was Daniel Pinkwater and my favorite book was The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, which he wrote in 1982. (Lizard Music, Pinkwater's first young-adult novel, was a close second.)…

Suddenly, it's summer: More alfresco drinking and dining

Kate Schmidt — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:12:00 -0500

Back in May, when we pulled together alfresco picks for our Summer Guide, we weren't expecting another month of gray skies, flash floods, and temperatures chilly enough to make you curse the weather guesser. But look—quick!…

The black power Burzum‬: A Gchat about Kanye West's Yeezus

Leor Galil — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:54:00 -0500

Kanye West's sixth album, Yeezus, leaked on Friday, and plenty of rap fans, pop critics, and Twitter users have had something to say about it almost immediately. Reader music critics Miles Raymer and Leor Galil recently hopped on Gchat to discuss their reactions to the record, the reactions to the reactions, and what they hope comes next.

Leor Galil: So it's been a few days since Yeezus leaked—what did you think of it during your first listen?‬

Miles Raymer: ‪Initially I was all shock and awe. There's nothing that sounds even sort of like it in hip-hop, or in pop music in general, right now.…

DryHop may not need a good review, but they're getting one

Philip Montoro — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:00:00 -0500

When DryHop brewpub threw a preopening party on Saturday, June 8, it sold 300 growler fills and 300 tasting flights to an estimated 400 guests in just two hours. When I visited on Saturday, June 15, two days after DryHop formally opened, I showed up around 3 PM, hoping to squeak in between the lunch and dinner crowds—but there was no "between."…

Best shows to see: East-West Collective, Shockwave Riderz, French-American Peace Ensemble

Tosten Burks — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:43:54 -0500

Maybe tonight you you'll watching the Hawks silence TD Garden. Or maybe you're feeling so cocky you figure that's a foregone conclusion, and you want to take in some jazz instead.…

How to eat radishes

Mike Sula — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:37:00 -0500

Radishes are some of the first things to pop out of the ground every spring, and they grow so fast and plentifully it's not uncommon for me to feel besieged by them. If I limited myself to eating the peppery little bastards raw I'd be able to breathe fire.…

12 O'Clock Track: Airport 5's (Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout) "Stifled Man Casino"

Tal Rosenberg — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:00 -0500

It's Monday: maybe you're back at work, maybe you're not. Either way, it's noon right now, and if you're in the doldrums, here's Airport 5's "Stifled Man Casino."…