Everybody was supposed to be there for the fashion, but all eyes were clearly on a considerably pregnant Ashlee Simpson during a Monday morning press conference for Chicago's Fall Fashion Week. Simpson was there—front row, no less; in a long hippie dress and a simple neck scarf—to support hubby (and North Shore native) Pete Wentz, who has just opened a store in Lake View called Clandestine Industries...

In Auburn, Alabama, where I went to college, one of the best places to get fried chicken was inside a gas station off of Highway 280. The place was "country-fied" with a K and always smelled freshly mopped with Pine-Sol—a scent that I personally find revolting. But the chicken was tasty, and the Coke was cold.

In all those years that I patronized the fuel pump and the chicken fryer, I overheard lots of conversations. The unknowingly elite college students talked about their...

I rallied an office crew to the midnight premiere of Sex and the City at Webster Place, which means that right now I'm sort of fried. The movie didn't start until way after midnight, it lasted two-plus hours, and then I had to circle my 'hood desperately looking for a parking space at 3:30 a.m. It was all worth it, though, to come to the office and threaten the ladies at work with my ability to spoil the ending. Both Web editor Esther Kang and I are running on three hours of sleep, but we couldn't resist IM'ing about the film—and about the Trixies who turned out in droves. Don't worry: No spoilers here...

The New Zealand comedy duo Flight of the Conchords landed at the Chicago Theatre Wednesday night for a sold-out show. Associate editor Nora O'Donnell and I tripped over ourselves to get tickets, then tripped over ourselves to rehash the show over IM today. Here's an excerpt from my chat with Nora, in which the main point of contention is a debate over Bret or Jemaine. Where do you side?

Cassie: What did you think of the show?
Nora: Awesome, with a small pang of disappointment when it came to the crowd.
Cassie: Yeah, I wanted to silence that one dude who kept shouting "Take Off Your Pants!" Although, admittedly, I wouldn't have minded if someone did...

Composting with worms is sooooooo outdated. That's but one of the conversational threads I picked up last night on a preview tour of the new Smart Home at the Museum of Science and Industry. I went in expecting to see the typical "eco" flourishes—bamboo flooring, energy efficient windows, dual-flush toilets—and I came out geeking over the interior design with my pal Heather Blaha, who edits Apartment Therapy Chicago...

Sometimes, something so perfect crosses my desk, that I feel compelled to stop, inhale ... and immediately put it on my blog. This press release from Simon & Schuster is one of these.

"Recently, I sent you a copy of HOW TO DUCK A SUCKAH: A Guide to Living a Drama-Free Life (February 2008) by Big Boom, author of the Essence bestselling book, If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs (2007). . . In HOW TO DUCK A SUCKAH, Boom explains his controversial past and why he has decided to take a stand against suckahs by guiding women out of the 'sitting duck syndrome.' Big Boom was once a player/pimp/hustler and...

A few playful catcalls greeted the architect Louis Sullivan last week at the Union League Club. Actually it was a photo of Sullivan flashed on a movie screen, a preview of an upcoming documentary by the Chicago filmmaker Judith McBrien about the architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham. The movie, called Make No Little Plans, is slated to premiere next year in Millennium Park, part of a summer-long centennial salute to Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. You can see the film's trailer here...

Art Chicago descends upon us this weekend, and, along with it, that age-old question of "What is Art?" For every awesome Jaume Plensa sculpture or Tony Oursler video, there is something raggedy, like a twisted old rope mounted in a canvas or an ugly naked lady holding a dead flower. You try to act polite and not stare and whisper to your friend, What the hell??? But then you drink too much Grolsch at the opening party and end up wearing a trucker hat and getting all vocal about things and the “shushing” starts and …

OK, enough about last night. Between beers, I managed to take some photos for a little game called Art—or Not Art?...

After seeing Laurie Anderson in concert last night, I have to say that I'm a convert. Anderson's blend of performance art isn't for everyone. Even Anderson herself will admit as much. But in her latest work, Homeland, it's clear that she's let go of some of the visual gimmickry of years past. The topics are serious (national security, global warming), but the delivery is, actually, kind of funny. It's almost a bit Jon Stewart, if Jon Stewart were a pixie-haired, 60ish art rocker...

Just saw Sarah Ruhl's latest, Dead Man Cell Phone, at Steppenwolf. I loved the Edward Hopper-inspired staging (one of many suggestions that Ruhl makes in her script). The premise isn't that earth-shattering—a woman answers a stranger's cell phone and pieces together his life post-mortem—but Ruhl injects enough of her brand of whimsy and magical realism that you're quickly steered beyond the predictable. OK, so some weird and pretty unlikely things happen (a delish-looking make-out session in a stationery store; a monologue from the grave...