But the street wasn’t the only place that was full of working girls. There were a number of walking pinups hanging around the Mandalay Bay hotel and the Four Seasons. I couldn’t this one wasn’t from the “20 minutes or less” crowd, but something told me that she was a cut above the run of the puppy mill sex farm. She was tall, blond and wore a low-cut, sleeveless, red satin cocktail dress that told us she was no one’s wife. If looks could kill, we’d all be six feet under. She looked like she came right out of Central Casting, right down to the stiletto heels played up the tie-me-up/tie-me-down look on her face. There was something deeply menacing about her: behind all of that made up beauty, the Pygmalion fantasy, come to life, there was a look as cold as ice, of a person who would just as soon kill you as do you.
It is a scientific fact that every other person under the age of 30 in Chicago (and every server at every restaurant) is a member of an improvisational comedy troupe. Comedy is one of Chicago’s top industries; besides the big dog in town, Second City,…
A.O. Scott of The New York Times has a brief review of a new documentary about Spalding Gray, the man we borrowed the phrase “bark, bugs, leaves, and lizards” from (yes, that’s his serial comma):
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILER MATERIAL ABOUT THE MOTION PICTURE SUNSET BOULEVARD. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN SUNSET BOULEVARD, BUT PLAN TO DO SO, THIS IS NOT THE PIECE FOR YOU. THE MOVIE IS SIXTY YEARS OLD, FOR GOD’S SAKE. IT’S A CLASSIC. WHY HAVEN’T YOU SEEN IT? IT’S YOUR FAULT I HAVE TO WRITE THIS DUMB SPOILER ALERT. YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY THE TYPE OF PERSON WHO SPENDS ALL OF HIS OR HER TIME PAINTING TINY CERAMIC UNICORNS.
This summer, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens suspended his latest book tour to undergo treatment for esophageal cancer. He wrote of making a journey “from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady.”
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Nothing speaks to decadence and excess like the Mandalay Bay; this hotel is a freak of nature. It has its own private beach and an “ocean” that takes a million and a half gallons of water to fill. Moreover, despite the fact that it’s in the middle of the desert, the hotel has created its own sandy beach, for the thousands who come to sun bathe. In all, there are three pools, a machine that creates a wave at two-minute intervals, a lazy river pool with a waterfall, and a so-called European-style pool where women can go topless. But this is the point: like the Tower of Babel, Las Vegas is there to prove to God that we Americans can do what he couldn’t do.
married a long time
work takes me on the road
for a few days
and nights
get home
stomp in the house
say, “I am very glad to see you, baby.”
I woke this morning to the first snowfall of the season. Big deal. It snows in Chicago.
Here’s someone who did make something big about it. PRFer Rodabod filmed his mum’s reaction to what he built in the front yard after London’s snow storm.
To be warned, I consider this PG-13.
Harmony Korine’s latest film, Trash Humpers, is probably not coming to a theater near you – unless Chris Crofton makes it happen.
In the summer of 1990 I attended the annual Chicago Comicon. I brought along Xeroxed copies of two finished stories to hand out to publishers. I ran into the Caliber Press table and met Gary Reed (publisher), and handed him the samples. One year later…
This is the traditional season for everyone to spend money on things nobody really needs or wants. And I am no exception. Last Friday I electronically transferred $289 from my bank account to that of the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the State of…
I’ve been reading since I was four, or so they tell me. I can’t remember not reading. Words have always been my friends, and it didn’t take long for me to hop over Millie and the Cowboy (70s version of Dick and Jane) to Little…