By Steve Rhodes
I hate promoting my TV appearances because I don’t really like the idea of people actually watching me; I can’t bear to do it myself. Some shows don’t really play to my strengths. But if I don’t do it, all sorts of folks get mad so . . . you are hereby notified that I’ll be on Joel Weisman’s Week in Review tonight (WTTW, 7 p.m.).
Among the topics discussed: Drew Peterson, Todd Stroger, and Manny Ramirez.
Here’s my tease: Stick around for the whole thing and you’ll see me credit one of my views to Neil Steinberg.
Now, on to the news.
1. Mine That Bird still sucks. Beachwood horse racing correspondent Thomas Chambers explains why.
2. Jon Langford’s Chicago. In Bloodshot Briefing.
3. Is someone really trying to assassinate Tony Peraica?
4. I wonder if I could get a grant to study Facebook studies.
5. “New Corvette buyers got the magazine for free for three years. Others paid $33.95 for a three-year subscription.”
6. John Doe is at the Double Door on Tuesday. Did you know he played Pat the bartender in Road House?
7. Tortoise has announced summer tour dates.
8. Elizabeth Edwards didn’t do herself any favors in her Oprah interview. I saw it last night and I was struck by a few things:
* She doesn’t know if John fathered Rielle Hunter’s baby, and doesn’t seem to care. How could you now want to know?
* She says that even if the baby is his, that fact would have nothing to do with her life. How in the world could she believe that? Your husband would be responsible for another child. That would impact you. And your finances.
* The only condition put on the interview was that Rielle Hunter’s name not be used. What? Why – because that might humanize “the other woman”? I don’t get it.
* She called Hunter’s baby “it.”
* She undoubtedly took part in John’s fraudulent campaign. She lied too.
They should both go away now.
9. Today’s Worst Person In Chicago: Cook County Commissioner Joan Murphy.
10. Remember: Unlike his father, Todd Stroger is not a Cook County commissioner. He’s just the board president. His father also held a seat. Todd does not; that seat went to Bill Beavers in the scheme that put Stroger in the president’s chair.
11. The Life and Times of Willie Nelson this weekend on Sound Opinions.
12. “What does Google know about TV? Well, that women watch more ads than men; that about 5% to 15% of TV audiences flip channels during the ads; and that virtually no one records cable-news programming on DVRs,” Ad Age reports.
“None of these revelations will set the TV business afire, but they’re among the first insights Google is drawing after analyzing more than a year of from 13.7 million Dish Network set-top boxes.”
13. Who would you rather work for, Eric Schmidt or Sam Zell?
14. “Komyatti was 17 the night he held his dad’s legs down while his brother-in-law stabbed him more than 30 times with a fishing knife,” Erika Slife writes in the Tribune. “Komyatti was sentenced to 100 years in prison – 55 years for murder and 45 years for conspiracy, to be served concurrently. Good behavior and education credits are leading to his early release.”
15. “The sale of the Chicago Cubs has taken on the timeless quality of a baseball game,” Ameet Sachdev writes in the Tribune.
16. Bedtime Disturbance.
17. From the May/June issue of AAA Living:
“Tragedy was averted in October when Sauk Village, Illinois safety patroller Hunter Turner pulled a fellow student from the path of an approaching SUV. For his actions, Hunger, a fifth-grader at Strassburg Elementary School, was nominated by AAA Chicago for the National AAA Safety Patrol Lifesaving Award – the highest award given to members of the AAA Safety Patrol.”
And:
“Mary Gorski, a fourth-grade safety patroller at Arbury Hills School in Mokena, Illinois, earned the Illinois and Northern Indiana AAA School Safety Patroller of the Year award from AAA Chicago.”
18. Illinois Is For Idiots.
19. The Hartmarx Hustle.
20. Chicago Wilderness/National Geographic
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Wild at heart.
Posted on May 8, 2009