This past weekend Juliette and I took a trek up to Chicago to meet up with my Dad and sister, and subsequently to meet with Juliette’s sis and boyfriend as well. We left right after work and arrived in Chi-town by midnight, just in time for the last train of the evening, which took us downtown at a record slow-speed, we made it to her sister’s apartment by 2am. We both agreed that Friday would be the “Day of the Sisters”.

Next morning I met up with Sarah and we experienced the obscenity of existence that is the Wicker Park neighborhood now. They haveSoaking my feet in Millenium Park gentrification down to a science there. Anyways, we decided to eat at a new place that’s opened since I lived there, called Crust. Apparently it’s owned and operated by chef Michael Altenberg, who also runs Bistro Campagne. We came away from Crust about $30 poorer and unsatisfied. We each had sandwiches because their personal pizzas ranged from $12 to around $18, not exactly what I’m looking to spend on lunch fair, organic or not. The thing that really irritated me (aside from the smoking ban on the city sidewalk) was that the ingredients were just not great. I was struck by how pretentious they could make something so cheap-feeling.

After that we had a better day though, I stopped at a cool comic book shop called Brainstorm (map). What can you say about comic book shops? Either they’re good or they suck and this one was good, if you’re in the area, I recommend you check it out. They had a lot of new comics that they kept current and the people who worked there were really nice (though still pretentious, and not in the Crust way, haha). Later we met up with Willis and his girlfriend Paola, it was really great to see him. The rest of the weekend flew by, Dad, Shedd Aquarium, bars in the Ukrainian Village, and boat rides on Lake Michigan. Fun!

Moving on to other goings on, Harry Potter (the book) comes out this Friday night! While I think the overall disappointment with the movie has tempered my enthusiasm a bit, I’m still looking forward to how it all ends. Everyone’s hedging their bets on Harry’s death, meh, he might… but I’m beginning to think that the Phoenix will bring Dumbledore back, whether he’s buried or not.

Also, continuing with my quickly spiraling dorkdom, I can’t wait for Beowulf to come out. In spite of the fact that Angelina Jolie (voice only) is in the movie, I’m looking forward to it. The actor that I’m hoping will propel it forward is John Malkovich as one of Beowulf’s early adversaries, and later a (weak) supporter, Unferth.

Lastly, anyone desperately in need of a psychedelic fix would do well to check out Austin’s The Black Angels. They’ve got a definite stoner rock feel, though some of the lyrics were a little annoying, worth the download.