Chicago: customers are advised to allow extra travel time

We are learning a lot about life today.

Everyone is different, and that's ... ok.

jordan when u come to chicago?

You can't talk about the increased attention being paid to teenagers without discussing the delayed adulthood issue: the extension of the "teenage years" into college, past college and almost pushing 30 is a pretty strange phenomenon and a luxury most people the world over can't afford.

Very true.

I don't know! Maybe on a weekend in Sept. or Oct., after I'm done moving and stuff.

he extension of the "teenage years" into college, past college and almost pushing 30

I'm shooting for 40, myself. PROGRESS

OMG, I was at Broadway Antique Mart the other day and found an issue of Chicago magazine from April 1979. I spent like 20 minutes just reading the restaurant reviews, which were fascinating. I mean, restaurants in Chicago open and close all the time, so it was interesting to see what was around 30 years ago. There were only a few that I recognized: Geja's, La Creperie, and Nick's Fishmarket, maybe another I'm forgetting. But the rest have been lost to the sands of time. I liked being able to see that where Chicago Ale House now stands (at Lawrence and Leavitt) there was a Serbian place. Also several Japanese restaurants around Belmont and Clark. Unsurprisingly, no reviews at all for restaurants in Wicker Park/Bucktown/Logan Square.

I was actually surprised that there were several Thai and Indian restaurants in 1979 (actually, Gaylord's was another place that's still around), but reading the descriptions made it clear that the cuisines weren't quite known quantities yet. Almost all of the reviews of Indian places highlighted the Mullagatawny soup, which made me wonder if that was one of the only Indian dishes Westerners were familiar with back then. One review mentioned "a thick puffy bread called nan." A review of a Japanese restaurant cautioned diners to "avoid the seaweed, unless you're already familiar with it."

Prices were amusing, too. The prix fixe at Geja's (which nowadays is around $50) was "between $10-$15." Another review, of what looked like a relatively moderate place, noted approvingly that all entrees were "under $4.25."

I'd have bought the magazine, but it was like $15. :(

I just finished The Little Friend by Donna Tartt and now nothing else sounds good. I normally avoid "quirky Southern family" books like the plague, but this one was worth it and I was able to overlook the "bunch of crazy aunties" theme for the most part.

Have you read The Secret History? Because I loooooved The Secret History but have been avoiding The Little Friend because I heard it wasn't as good.

I keep confusing The Secret History with that Diane Ackerman book I loathed. At least, I think I do . . . I'd should see the cover.

JORDAN! Come to Chicago the weekend after labor day! I will buy you a beer!!!

At our party!

I loooooooooved the Secret History and did the same thing with the Little Friend, but then I gave in and am very glad I did. It's not a book about privileged college students, but it has the same engrossing quality and perfect balance of plot and character. I loved it!

that would have been cool to have ... my parents were living in chicago then

xxxps to john's magazine post

currently reading: DFW, <I>Consider the Lobster</I> (the big essay on the politics of dictionary-making is interesting but sloggy)

on deck: Ian McEwan, <I>On Chesil Beach</I> (just loaned to me, looks short)

want to read: the new Samuel Delaney novel (looks like an alternate history autobio?!)

xpost

Where is your party? That is actually a free weekend for me.

so many movies in our generation, especially over the past five - 10 years that are about how horrible it is to be a teenager (ie Squid and the Whale, Kids, even Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

These movies are, respectively, 2, 12, and 25 years old.

You can't talk about the increased attention being paid to teenagers without discussing the delayed adulthood issue: the extension of the "teenage years" into college, past college and almost pushing 30 is a pretty strange phenomenon and a luxury most people the world over can't afford.

This is a very good point, and I wonder if the focus on teenagers comes from adults still trying to live like teens but growing nostalgic for a time when that kind of lifestyle was still fresh and unburdened with actual adult responsibilities. In the past, adults may have been wistful for their teenage years but understood them as a necessary stage on the path to adulthood.

September 8th - a Saturday - and Sarah's birthday is the night before. It could be a GIANT PARTY WEEKEND.

on a totally unrelated aside: wii boxing is a phenomenal workout. I am sore today from kicking ass.

that would have been cool to have ... my parents were living in chicago then

What neighborhood were they in? I'm really fascinated by what Chicago was like 10, 20, 50 years ago. Just thinking about how streets that I walk down every day must have looked totally different not even that long ago.

I send you an evite, I believe (xpost to Jordan)... actually, everyone should have received one so let me know if you didn't.

they lived near belmont, my dad had his work in a gallery right at the belmont el stop

oh dudes . . . can you help me figure out if I did something horrible? so a friend of mine is going on a blind date on tuesday & yesterday we were discussing him over the phone & so i googled him. i didn't find any photos of him, but i did find an email address (he's a music producer) so I put his email address into my space to see if anything would turn up. i think what happened is that i accidentally invited him to JOIN my space. i quickly deleted his invitation, but i doubt that means that my space undid the email they send out. yes? no? also: how bad is that going to look?

ahahaha STALKER

;)

Doesn't seem too bad. Does he even know who you are?

Yeah, there's so much random myspace spam out there it's entirely possible he won't even notice.

he doesn't. i figure she could brush it off as "ah, my crazy friend" if it came up at all. hopefully it will just land in the junk mail & he'll not even see it.

When I heard Donna Tartt had a new book out, I thought about reading it, then re-read The Secret History instead. It's a darn entertaining book.

Nick, I read your IMM post and if you want I could send you some beats that you could try putting random home-recorded shit over? And then I could cut that stuff up? It might make me restart my own side-shit.

Argh, I hate when people unsolicitedly lend me books. I usually like to take things on my own time, read something only when I'm in the mood to read it, but if someone shoves a book at me and says "You just have to read this," I feel this horrible obligation. Even if they say "just give it back to me whenever," they always can't wait to know what you thought, if you liked it as much as they did. I mean, if I actually wanted to read the damn book, I'd have asked.

Anyway, this time, it was bought for me rather than lent to me, but it feels like the same thing. The book is some YA novel that the person swears I would love, even though I made a big deal about how I'm not really interested in children's lit. I think that's the point, actually -- she's hoping to change my mind about the genre, but it's a lousy gift, since there are dozens of books I'd rather read instead. And then today she sends me an e-mail that's all, "Have you started it yet??" I dunno, it just feels sort of self-centered. But maybe I'm stubborn, too.

dude, i hear you in some regard, but i think it's touching when someone is so excited about something that they want to share it with you. i think a simple, "i haven't started it yet but it's next on the list" can suffice. then if you don't actually get around to it in a couple of weeks you can return it & say that you never got around to it & you didn't want to hold the book hostage, etc.
be less crabby about it & more on the flattered side of life. that's all.

sorry, just realized you own the book. still, flattered side of life still wins.

also, i think it's lousy of you to call it a lousy gift since no one is obligated to give you anything. sorry to sound maternal here, but i think it sounds a bit spoiled to be so down on a book.

it's one thing to get garage sale leftovers from your nana as a gift, it's an entirely different thing to have a friend give you a book that they loved.

end of lecture.

sorry if i upset you, j. it got awfully quiet in here.

BOOBS!

sorry, just trying to break the ice

I feel bad. I wasn't trying to be bitchy about it but I do feel like it's just a book, after all.

I kind of know what jaymc is saying, it's weird when someone lends you a cd or book and pressures you to check it out, when you know the only response they're looking for is "I loved it, you have great taste!"

(I say this as a reformed "that guy")

Hi. I was over on the Freaks and Geeks vs. Undeclared thread.

You're right that it's uncharitable of me to call it a "lousy gift." I mean, I never expect gifts from random friends, so it's a nice gesture in that regard. It just struck me as more about her than about me, like she's giving it me just so that she can be vindicated when I report back to her that I liked it after all.

And I wasn't really bothered by it until she e-mailed me to ask if I've started it yet.

I think a lot of gifts end up being more about the person giving them in a way. I mean, lately I've been slathering friends with gifts that I've been sewing & that is certainly more about me than me thinking that they can't live without this hand-sewn purse.

I understand where you are coming from, by the way. I don't think you are a beast of a gift recipient or anything like that.

what book is it, anyway?

http://www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780517605257&height=300&maxwidth=170

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Brain-John-Fitzgerald/dp/0440430712

hmmm. i've never read that and i guess i would be hesitant to start now.

the golden compass, however, i loved & never read that as a kid.

oh, I read The Great Brain when I was a kid! I remember nothing about it at all.

Nick, I read your IMM post and if you want I could send you some beats that you could try putting random home-recorded shit over? And then I could cut that stuff up? It might make me restart my own side-shit.

Yes, do this. I imagine it will end up sounding like the Von Sudenfed album (Mouse on Mars + Mark E. Smith).

BTW, 25 years ago is arguably within our generation. And even if it isn't, I think by saying "even Fast Times at Ridgemont High" made it clear that I consider it an outlier.