Knut is a Publicity Whore

So apparently Knut, the cute little polar bear we all know and love, gets whiny when people don't pay attention to him. Check the link for a CLTV video.

St. Patrick's Day Recap

They exist! After a ton of build up, The Field Museum finally walked in Chicago's 53rd annual St. Patrick's Day Parade yesterday. To sum it up quickly, it was AWESOME. The unicorns rocked, and we passed out a ton of postcards for Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids. People were crazy excited to see the unicorns and they seemed psyched to read the handouts. So in short, it was a great day.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Celebrate the holiday right by checking out the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Where else can you see the Chicago River dyed green?! It'll be broadcast live on WGN and yours truly will be in it. Why's that you say? Because there will be unicorns in this year's parade. Oh yes, unicorns. The Field Museum is promoting our new exhibition Mythic Creatures and I get to pass out flyers on it. hooooray.

Image courtesy of unicorns.com

I Heart Daylight Savings Time

I walked home tonight at 7:00 and it was still light out. I've never been happier :) The pic was taken last year, but I feel spring coming.

Slacker

I've totally slacked lately in the blogging world, and that's partly because work has been absolutely crazy. We are getting ready to open a crazy cool exhibition called Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids here at The Field Museum and my office is in full force, all hands on deck mode. The show is all about mythic creatures (duh) and how they've existed in the world for generations. It talks about how people found mastodon bones, and decided giants existed and how a dwarf elephant skull made people believe in the cyclops. All very cool. Check it out, and waste time there instead of here. Because I'm obviously sucking at updating :)

Image: © D. Finnin/AMNH

Blizzard in Ohio

This weekend Ohio had a huge blizzard. My hometown got 12+ inches while, Columbus got like 20 inches. I hate to say it, but I'm a little jealous. Not that I want a million inches of snow, but if it's going to be as cold as it's been, we should at least have some snow on the ground. I found this picture in a slideshow from the Springfield News Sun and thought it was pretty funny. Poor Big Boy all covered in snow. The photo is by Marshall Gorby.

File this under...

scary things that I really don't want to know about. Thank you, but I'd just prefer to stay in the dark on the fact that Southwest is flying cracked airplanes.

Chicagoist Trivia Featured in NewCity

Two of my favorite things NewCity and Chicagoist, together at last. The newspaper features Chicagoist bloggers getting together at Sheffield's for trivia night (which, by the way is awesome--you should go.) Check out the article which is a nice little commentary on the world of blogs and anonymity on the web. Plus, my friend Patrick is famous now for being Trivial Pursuit champion of the world. It's nice to have a famous friend.

Death at a Funeral

Ah, how I love Netflix. My mailbox, which is usually brimming over with bills, shines on the day I get that little red envelope.

Yesterday, I watched Death at a Funeral where "chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family." (courtesy IMDB) There are a number of character parts who add to the flick. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't quite as funny as I had hoped. While definitely some entertaining bits, it seemed a little too over the top at times. If you're into British comedies, I'd still recommend it. It has one of my favorite actors, Peter Dinklage,who I just saw in Penelope. You've probably seen him in things and if he doesn't seem familiar, then rent The Station Agent. It's a fantastic film.

Sick Puppy

Started to feel a sore throat yesterday, and now, it's a full blown cold. Something I haven't had in a hundred years. Loaded up on chicken noodle soup and OJ and am now headed to bed. Oy, what a day.

If Pets Could Vote

In keeping with today's theme of politics, I thought I'd give my theories on what would happen if my cat (or dog back home) could vote. Because I'm so liberal, I think Sophie is more an Alex P. Keaton. While I talk about a woman's right to choose, Sophie is all for fetus rights. She also believes in small government and proudly voted for Huckabee.

This was a pic of Sophie sleeping during the Clinton/Obama debate.
Murray on the other hand is like me, a staunch Democrat. In fact, he's been working for Governor Strickland since he was sworn in--Shelties for Strickland.com This is a pic taken right before he went to protest our loss of civil liberties.

Mini Super Tuesday

Everyone's looking to Ohio and Texas today to see what happens with the Democratic primaries. Listening to everyone predict what's going to happen and then analyze what that means is getting to be a little annoying. Once again, I wish the media would just back off a little with their coverage and let the people decide on their own.

I have to say though, being from Ohio, it's always a little nice to see everyone looking to us. Just a little Buckeye pride I guess. :)

Just as something fun, thought I'd take a look at Clinton and Obama in their high school days. I think it's always fun to think of these people before they were a name.

Book Review

I just finished a great book Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris which is about an ad agency in the late 90s. I thought it was written in a clever way, and seemed very true to life as far as office life/relationships go (though some of it is more of a caricature than anything). In a review in the Washington Post, James P. Othmer stated "The people with whom we spend the most time are those we know the least. And yet, somehow, they're the ones we know better than anyone else" which really sums up the entire book. I highly recommend.

As a sidebar, I also really love books that are set in cities that I know. Sammy's Hill, one of my favorite contemporary books is set in DC and Ferris' novel is set in Chicago. There's something fun about reading about the places you know.

Johnny Depp Out and About

So Johnny Depp is/will be in town filming for this new John Dillinger movie. Apparently he took a tour of the Art Institute on Saturday. Maybe he'll stop by The Field this weekend?

Casimir Pulaski Day

Being new to Chicago, I'd never heard of Casimir Pulaski, but apparently he was awesome enough to designate a state holiday for him. So...yay Pulaski (Even though I'm at work.)

Blue Skies Reflected

My friend PB and I went to the "After Dark" event at the Art Institute to see the new Edward Hopper exhibition. The show and the event were both great but as we were walking to the Art Institute, we headed over to Millennium Park. The sky was a really weird blue, and the city was reflecting in the Cloud Gate. Everything was just looking AWESOME.

Celebrating Women

A new photography exhibition called Celebrating Women opened at The Field Museum yesterday, and to kick it off, there was a festival for Women's History Month. First off, the festival was pretty awesome, and I'm usually critical of our festivals. One performance group was Deeply Rooted, a dance troupe here in Chicago. If you haven't seen them, I'd highly recommend. Took a little video, to give you an idea. I was balancing a walkie talkie, press releases and a camera, so sorry if it's shaky!

Sophie the Coolest Cat EVER

Not to be confused with a "crazy cat lady," but I'd like to take a moment and point out that I have the coolest cat--Sophia Francesca. She goes by Sophie though. I think at some point in her life, she must have spent a lot of time with a dog, because she definitely seems to have a canine personality. She actually likes people, which is rare for cats and she also tends to steal food off people's plates, which I think is leftover from the days when she was living on the hard streets of Chicago. Anyway, was looking for her today, and found her perched on top of the radiator just kinda saying "Hey Mom, what's up? Still hungover?" I then slapped her for getting sassy.

What Boredom will Do

© The Field Museum

Inspired by looking at LOLCats every day, my friend Patrick and I came up with our own LOL Lions with the Tsavo Lions here in Chicago at The Field Museum.

Oddities

Today, while waiting for the 22 bus I saw a young mom pushing a stroller. As she passed, I looked in and saw the baby, or at least what I thought was the baby--it was covered in multiple blankets (and rightly so it was wicked cold this morning). There was no smiling face, or little fingers, just a mess of afghans. I'm obviously not a mom, so I don't know how this works, but what is the point of taking a baby out in this type of weather? The mom wasn't running, so it didn't look like an exercise thing...it just looked weird. The baby can't possibly be enjoying a walk with its face smushed up like that.