October 2009
2 posts
Thursdays at Doc Films: The Public Life of Charles... →
In addition to the Downtown 81 series, I am also presenting a retrospective at Doc Films of the work of Charles Laughton, one of my favorite actors, Thursday evenings at 7 p.m….
Thursdays at Doc Films: The Public Life of Charles... →
In addition to the Downtown 81 series, I am also presenting a retrospective at Doc Films of the work of Charles Laughton, one of my favorite actors, Thursday evenings at 7 p.m….
September 2009
7 posts
Tuesdays at Doc Films: Downtown 81 →
The Fall 2009 calendar at Doc Films begins this week, and there are two series on it that I programmed. The first one, which I put together with my good friend Hannah, is called Downtown…
Animal House, for realz →
I was reading about James Henry Breasted, the founder of the Oriental Institute and a fellow resident of my hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois, and I discovered that at one point his house…
Why is this kitchen different from all other... →
A new roommate has arrived at my apartment, which means it’s time for another ridiculously decorated room. We’ve begun to decorate our kitchen with a…
Why is this kitchen different from all other... →
A new roommate has arrived at my apartment, which means it’s time for another ridiculously decorated room. We’ve begun to decorate our kitchen with a…
Do you remember… →
…the 21st night of September?
This Thing Sounds Like That Thing #2 →
Buddy Holly - Everyday [mp3]
Pavement - Silence Kit [mp3]
This Thing Sounds Like That Thing #1 →
Tears For Fears - Broken [mp3]
The Clarissa Explains It All theme [mp3]
August 2009
6 posts
A classic conversation. →
Brian pulled out of the vault this online conversation we had several years ago. This is it in its entirety; nothing preceded it. Please note that Brian’s “heavy boxes” screen name predated the…
The Other Great American Songbook: an introduction →
The death of the era of the professional songwriters of Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building also meant the death of something else: the standard. Particularly in the pre-rock…
Awwww. →
Lauren Alane makes felted birdies and they are just plain adorabs. Feeling a lot like this li’l guy on this wet autumn day that we are having in August.
[via drawn]
aggression | accident →
Personas is a project by Aaron Zinman, a student in the Sociable Media Group at MIT, which turns your name into data-art by mining the Internet for mentions of it and visualizing the patterns…
A cinema goes dark in the cinema capital of the... →
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has operated a successful repertory cinema for many years. Michael Govan, the director of the museum, however, has recently announced that they will be…
Carpeted Afterhours @ O.I.N.K. →
Carpeted Afterhours, the comedy-ish group I co-founded, will be appearing at O.I.N.K. at the Playground Theatre on Wednesday, August 26. I won’t be in this show, at least not in the flesh,…
July 2009
11 posts
Fortunately, I had my Sexy Nurse outfit with me →
(On the window of the KFC across the street from work)
Hey! Cool! →
My friend Nicholas, currently doing an internship in Shanghai, sends me this note:
I thought you might appreciate knowing that there is a television commercial that I’ve seen several times…
Perfect style. →
The New York Times finally answers the age-old question of how to write the possessive of “White Sox”:
Perfect. →
[ap photo by jim prisching]
Girls: Their Cause and Cure →
- Good Housekeeping, June 1955, illustration by Al Parker
[via today’s inspiration]
Dave Eggers really really hates “Pluggers” →
I love daily newspaper comic strips, something that I am sure I will write about more in the future. I’m particularly drawn (hahaha!) to the serial strips, like “For Better or For…
Tonight was a Sausagefest →
Meanwhile, my dog increasingly resembles a sausage.
Keg in the Reg →
During my tenure at the University of Chicago, I was virtually alone in my attempt at total avoidance of the Regenstein Library. Despite being the social nexus of the entire school, I could not…
Coming soon to my roundhouse →
SNICK around….
White Levis →
I just discovered a song on my hard drive seemingly written just for me and my superb sartorial statements.
The Majorettes - White Levis [mp3]
And yes, I do find lampshades to…
The Chicago School of Television →
“All in all, Chicago has the ingenuity, the daring and the taste that will save television from the terrible fate that’s been Hollywood’s. If the day ever comes when television…
June 2009
6 posts
Perpetual nervousness →
When rock bands play free concerts in Millennium Park, generally a bunch of old people and tourists will wander in and populate a good number of the seats near the front. Though unfamiliar with…
In Memoriam →
His finest hour. I just happened to be watching this last night too. Spoooooky!
Notes upon being midway through the first season... →
It’s hard to determine how much my appreciation of the show would change if it had a different theme song.
The closing credits music is strikingly similar to the closing credits music…
Q: Where’s the Love? A: The West Loop, apparently. →
The WXRT DJ introducing bizarro supergroup Tinted Windows at this weekend’s Taste of Randolph festival recounted the incredulous moment of discovery of the band. A group of girls in their late…
I bin dei Apfel, du mein Stamm. →
My Viennese friends introduced me to Rainhard Fendrich’s moving ballad “I Am From Austria,” a kind of unofficial national anthem, which apparently is also a classic and inevitable party foul….
The Holodeck gets an upgrade from some Bynars →
Last night I moved from my longtime rehearsal space (dubbed The Holodeck) into a more proper, amazing studio a floor above. Finally, we actually have both a live room and a control room,…
May 2009
6 posts
Terrible Yellow Eyes →
Terrible Yellow Eyes is a great new blog started by Cory Godbey featuring artwork inspired by Maurice Sendak’s beloved Where the Wild Things Are. I really like this illustration by…
Jay Bennett (1963-2009) →
Jay Bennett, the incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist / songwriter / producer and former member of my favorite band, Wilco, passed away yesterday in Urbana, where his studio…
Wrrresssstling… yayyyyy! →
Before Ring of Honor: The Homecoming II last month, none of us had ever attended a pro wrestling event. While en route to the venue in the south suburb of Chicago Ridge, we each expressed our…
Uke Zoologica →
The Uke Cabaret here in Chicago is always the highlight of my month when it comes around. On May 9 was the latest installment — titled Uke Zoologica, this time around all of the songs had…
I knew there was a reason I got those baggies,... →
The Sun-Times is reporting that the Park District is considering lifting its ban on surfing in Lake Michigan. It’s evaluating five beaches, including 57th Street Beach!
I’ve never surfed…
(Just Like) Starting Over →
I have not been nearly as attentive to this here site as I would like to be. I’ve been busy with a series of events and performances, and the weather constantly alternates my mood…
April 2009
21 posts
My life in Internet phenomena →
Monica sends me this censored-for-television version of the most famous line of 21st century cinema:
Though it’s not even three years old, I’m already gripped with…
Genie-soul perched on my shoulder →
“Here is Chicago. Now, exactly as twenty five years ago, the buildings are heavy and squarish and set down far apart and at random like monuments on a great windy plain. And the Lake. The Lake in…
Pop songs based on J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s... →
From Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147:
Margo Guryan - Someone I Know [mp3]
The Byrds - She Don’t Care About Time [mp3]
Apollo 100 - Joy [mp3]
The Beach Boys - Lady…
Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream, separate... →
Limited Edition Foods is a rather inexplicable blog that I love to follow. It provides news and reviews of various promotional foods released to super markets. When the blog started out, the…
2 much 4 words →
This photo set at The Big Picture makes me wish I had gotten a grown-up’s permission and called in during those tantalizing Zoo Books commercials that would come on between episodes of What…
Idea for a film →
Jim Carrey stars as Bert Headly, an associate professor of English at a small liberal arts college. Shy and reserved, he’s notorious among the student body for writing very little feedback on…
Girls just wanna have fun →
Illustration from Good Housekeeping by Lynn Buckham, who apparently nobody knows anything about. [via today’s inspiration]
And there’s my homeroom angel in the pages in... →
Whet Moser has revealed on the Reader blog one of my favorite secrets of the University of Chicago (introduced to me by MDM): the Playboy Playmates Database [uh, NSFW].
Maintained by an…
The Windows of Milwaukee Avenue →
A storefront in Logan Square:
Puppies on the grass alas →
So everybody knows now that the First Puppy had finally arrived at the White House, courtesy of Senator Kennedy. He’s cute. His name is Bo, which is fine. It’s also Obama’s initials, which is…
Corn’s-a-Poppin’ @ Doc Films →
WTF?: The God-damndest Things Ever Seen, my series of bizarre cinema at Doc Films, continues tonight with the crown jewel of the series: Corn’s-a-Poppin’. It’s an utterly mysterious…
Resume to normal condition. →
For the past ten minutes, the emergency lights in my office have been silently flashing. Finally, a voice recording began playing on all the speakers in the building, each slightly delayed from…