Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“We’re concerned about preserving the unique culture of our ballpark,” the Tribune lawyer currently acting as Cubs chairman, Crane Kenney, says. “Fan backlash is certainly something we’re thinking about.”
Of course they are. They thrive on it. It’s part of the brand.
Posted on March 4, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
“The brouhaha over Sam Zell’s plan to sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field obscures a far more significant issue,” Blair Kamin warns in the Tribune this morning.
“By arguing that the City of Chicago should ‘relax’ landmark restrictions on the ballpark, proponents of a deal that would have a state agency buy and renovate the park would undermine decades of carefully structured protection for Chicago’s architectural treasures.
Posted on March 3, 2008
With Weekend Desk Editor Natasha Julius on assignment this week researching potential new markets for the Beachwood and the Weekend Desk B Team feeling all icky and congested, today’s report will be brief.
1. Peace efforts in the Middle East continue to make progress. We’ll stay on this story for another 1,000 years to bring you the latest breakthroughs.
Posted on March 1, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
“The phrase ‘natural born’ was in early drafts of the Constitution,” the New York Times reports in “McCain’s Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out.”
Q. Would a President McCain appoint strict constructionist judges who would then rule he is not eligible to be president?
–
“The anti-McCain litany is the list of bills he has co-sponsored with Democrats: McCain-Feingold (campaign finance restrictions), McCain-Lieberman (greenhouse gas restrictions), and McCain-Kennedy (illegal immigration).”
Jeez, McCain’s passed more Democratic legislation than Obama.
Posted on February 29, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
1. Jim DeRogatis names the top 10 Chicago bands to watch in 2008, including some psychedelic shoegazers from Bridgeport and a group he says has the “spiffiest suits since the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.”
2. “In its campaign to revive the intimate, friendly feel of a neighborhood coffee shop, Starbucks orchestrated the closing [Tuesday] of 7,100 of its American stores at precisely 5:30 p.m. for a three-hour retraining session for employees,” the New York Times reports.
You mean to revive the friendly feel of neighborhood coffee shops that Starbucks drove out of business?
Posted on February 28, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
I’m sorry, I know I missed a couple columns last week but I’m really behind today on a bunch of other matters so I’m not going to make it today either. I will be back on my regular daily schedule starting tomorrow, I swear. In the meantime, we have a terrific new installment of Mystery Debate Theater 2008. There’s no way you can convince me that anyone covers debates better than we do. And there’s plenty to read elsewhere on the site. New material all the way around tomorrow. Bless you, my readers!
Posted on February 27, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
Our very own Tim Willette reports that sequels to Oscar-nominated films are already in the works:
– There Will Be More Blood
– An Even Worse Country For Considerably Older Men
– Much Further Away From Her
– Elizabeth: The Metal Years
*
Rejected titles:There Will Be Transfusions; See? I Told You There Would Be Blood; There Will Be Sweat, Tears; Hemophilia.
*
More Beachwood Oscar coverage!
Our illustrious TV alum Scott Buckner returns with witty observations and wonderment.
And Mystery Oscar Theater 2008! is updated with more red carpet snark (did you know that John Travolta, GI Joe, Curious George, and the Seinfeld Bee all have the same barber?) from Bethany Lankin.
Posted on February 26, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
* “Did anyone just see Gary Busey grope Jennifer Garner and Laura Linney on the red carpet on E!? Talk about Darwin’s waiting room,” our very own Julia Gray writes in her Oscar roundup. If you didn’t, you can catch up via the video.
* “What was that sound? It couldn’t be fireworks could it? In the middle of February? Nope, it was the sound of Bears fans’ heads exploding,” writes our very own Jim Coffman in SportsMonday.
* “If the Straight Talk Express is rockin’, don’t come knockin,'” is just one of many slogans we’ve learned the McCain campaign is considering.
Posted on February 25, 2008
By Natasha Julius
For the first time in a great while, Chicago doesn’t have the worst weather in the country. You get out there and enjoy it; we’ll keep our eyes on the news.
Market Update
News broke this week that Americans are packing $2.2 trillion in credit card debt. Which is, like, four Iraq wars. Not that we’re trying to give anyone ideas or anything.
Posted on February 23, 2008
By Steve Rhodes
We have a really funny new Mystery Debate Theater today. Check it out, I implore you!
Now I’m off to tape Week in Review, which you can watch tonight on Channel 11 at 7 p.m., so there won’t be a new Papers column until Monday. The inimitable Natasha Julius will be in this space tomorrow with her Weekend Desk Report.
And Ferdy on Films is really rockin’ these days, make it a habit.
Posted on February 22, 2008
