Events

McSweeney's channels Lovecraft—at Olive Garden: Cheese Ravioli A homogeneity characterized its flaxen cast. Bubbling sacks of slime upon a platter scorching. Beware! Doused in the pureed remains of a dozen orbic fruits, I feel my breath quicken and hands tremble as I pen its likeness as well as I might. My own mind conspires against me when presented with this frightful entrée. To dine? Or will my own visage mirror its sickly jaundice? I have touched with too much haste the vessel of Hades, a burn be my...

A line of thunderstorms just blew past my office about 3 hours ahead of schedule, which means I might get home at a reasonable hour without drowning. Of course, we might get more storms: Scott Lincoln, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The first storms are expected to hit Chicago as early as 1 p.m., but that could vary — and more storms will be possible throughout the afternoon, he said. Some parts of the city could get 1-2 inches of rain or more if they’re hit by strong storms, while other...

When I visited Hailstorm Brewing in March 2021, I chose not to walk along the sidewalk-free 80th Avenue and instead, after Froggering across the aforementioned stroad, I went through one of the most depressing subdivisions I've ever seen. I had to repeat that stretch in order to visit Soundgrowler Brewing last Friday. And since Banging Gavel Brews is just over 3 km away (directly, anyway), I decided to walk from one to the other. The walk did not go as planned: Most of that trip, until well past the 4...

Cassie, on Thursday night, not letting me go to bed: You're welcome.

I posted this last night on Facebook: It's so interesting to me that we're having a (manufactured) political argument about canceling $10k in student debt while all the countries we compete with are horrified that people even have to pay $10k to go to university. Even privatization-happy Brits flipped some constituencies to Labour in the last general election because the Tories raised university fees to £9,250 ($10,900) per year. The outrage isn't that we forgave a token amount of Federally-held debt....

Welcome to stop #77 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Banging Gavel Brews, 6811 Hickory St., Tinley ParkTrain line: Rock Island District, Tinley ParkTime from Chicago: 35 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 100 m The owners of Banging Gavel Brews opened a beer garden at the historic Vogt House in Tinley Park to get people interested in their beers while they restore the house. Since they have an abbreviated beer list at the moment, and they expect to open the brewpub proper next spring, I have...

Welcome to stop #76 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Soundgrowler Brewing, 8201 W. 183rd St., Tinley ParkTrain line: Rock Island District, Tinley/80thTime from Chicago: 37 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 1.4 km When I visited Hailstorm Brewing in March 2021, I really should have gone to Soundgrowler next, as they're just a short walk from each other and I'd never have to go to their industrial park in Tinley Park again. They're both great in their own ways, don't get me wrong; but now...

One of my favorite local breweries, Urban Brew Labs, will close when it runs out of beer in the next week or so: Owner James Moriarty announced on Instagram the brewery and taproom, 5121 N. Ravenswood Ave., will close by the end of the summer. Moriarty did not give a specific end date for the business, but thanked fans, neighbors and employees for keeping the business going for so long.  “We’ll keep the lights on as long as we have beer to serve, but this will be our final summer season,” Moriarty...

I mentioned that I went to Ribfest Chicago this past weekend. In years past I have reviewed the vendors and posted photos, but I didn't this year. Simply put, the fest hasn't recovered from Covid. Two things especially disappointed me: first, the festival of ribs had only 5 dedicated rib vendors, not the 15-20 of years past. Wrigley BBQ closed during the pandemic; Fireside, Piggery, Q, and Smoke Daddy didn't bother to come; and Smoque, one of the best rib places in the city, has never bothered because...

So I'm going to have to postpone reading all of these: Isaac Chotiner interviews UT Law professor Steve Vladeck about whether former presidents deserve special treatment. Does the Republican Party even have a message this election cycle? Julia Ioffe argues that Vladimir Putin's "triumph of the will" turned out better than most people realize. Your mental model about what causes traffic is almost certainly wrong. From 2016, author Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem) examines contemporary Chinese science...