Patrick Cooper: Greetings from Evanston, Ill.

March of Time, waiting for no TV viewer

Patrick Cooper — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:04:07 +0000

If you missed TCM's Sunday airing of eight March of Time newsreels, I'm sorry. I am, really. There are no more airings planned, and HBO screenings end tomorrow at the Museum of Modern Art. You should hope for a DVD release or a streaming online archive. I know I am. Why? Because these episodes are [...]

Coolest morning in a while

Patrick Cooper — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:48:42 +0000

Quarter of 7. Chilly. Am I ready for fall? Not ready? More than ready? Update, evening: Ready.

10 odd things about a Nats game

Patrick Cooper — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:02:57 +0000

Good-looking August we've got here. Join us as we step back in time. After months of delays, dating back to even before her move to town, friend Melissa and I made it to the Nats. The hometown boys beat the Cards, 14-5. But this much was normal. Let us chronicle the oddness. Looks normal, right? [...]

Top five things that probably aren't in the movie version

Patrick Cooper — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:50:21 +0000

Having not seen The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, but having just read the inspiration — Jeffrey Eugenides' 1996 Baster: 1. The abortions. 2. Dan Rather. 3. Mirabella. 4. Letters delivered through the mail. 5. Norman Schwarzkopf. Also Was it a thing with Tina Brown's New Yorker to make the cartoons and poems thematic [...]

Pix: Hunting the lobster roll truck

Patrick Cooper — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:11:20 +0000

I'd been following the lobster roll truck on Twitter for weeks, but friend Hilary beat me to realizing how close it was coming to our workplaces. She put out an alert. Colleague Sondra and I hustled to Metro Center. As we waited on a street corner and then in a mysterious line, the Red Hook [...]

For the first day of school: The lesson of Cookie Monster

Patrick Cooper — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:22:06 +0000

Posted as I rush little Madison and Skylark to the bus stop. In reporting for Labor Day about strange offices and cubicles, the New York Post talks to Louis Henry Mitchell, the associate director of special projects at Sesame Workshop, about his "Cookie Monster Shrine." The video — and office — are great, but here's [...]

This kid Espinosa, I say we keep him

Patrick Cooper — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:53:04 +0000

Danny Espinosa is 23 and has been in the majors since Wednesday. In his debut, he was 1-2 with a RBI double. In his second, he was 2-4 with a double, homer and two RBI. In his third, he was 2-5 with a RBI. In his fourth game, today, he bobbled the first ball hit [...]

Celebrating Labor Day! Last week's non-work

Patrick Cooper — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:58:18 +0000

There is much to recap in the blog. All will be recapped in time. In the meantime, let us celebrate a week where heat, for once, didn't win. Monday: With a Specialicious deal, truffled deviled eggs, sweet potato fries, duck spring rolls, and chocolate cake at Eleventh Street Lounge with Sheri. She is starting grad school [...]

Isn't it cool when…

Patrick Cooper — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:57:54 +0000

You come across all kinds of Threadless designs you forgot existed?* The indie retailer's new Shoppe6 store was a nice Internet surprise. I didn't remember half the stuff. Maybe because Chicagoans of various attractiveness weren't wearing the designs for us? Who knows, really. Clockwise from top-L: Han Solo Pop, Clip Art No. 2 Behemoth!, Cosmic [...]

My favorite fact this week

Patrick Cooper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:39:23 +0000

Raspy-voiced Selma on Night Court grew up selling her cartoons and humor essays to The New Yorker. Like it was nothing! On Google News, with some work, you can find a description of one of the cartoons. Two little girls attend another girl's party, and one says to the other, "She never discusses her age, but [...]

The Sound of the Sun

Patrick Cooper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 12:00:12 +0000

It makes one all right, though you hadn’t thought of it, Rest of the poem by George Bradley. The other good things about this morning? The actual sun. The reason I couldn't take Green Zone as seriously as I wanted last night (because the love of Michael Scott's life is no one to trust with [...]

Midnight sink

Patrick Cooper — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:56:22 +0000

What I keep doing this summer is putting water on my face. Wherever I am, into the bathroom, flip the lever or turn the knob, turn the knob the other way when the plumber made a mistake, hear the water rise in the faucet, just a second, down into the basin, and then I can [...]

Is not Chicago, is Chicago

Patrick Cooper — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:57:39 +0000

The Facebook news feed, where your world comes together.

In Soviet Russia, cupcake eats…

Patrick Cooper — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:40:44 +0000

I've tried. I really have. But, via Meghan, I can't beat this. Long live the single-topic Tumblr. Sincerely, exhausted Patrick.

A little traveling music

Patrick Cooper — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:44:31 +0000

I'm tempted to embed the Barry Manilow song here, but I can't. I love Copacabana and the phone booth scene in Can't Hardly Wait, but that's where the love ends. So, music-less, sorry for the minimal posting this week. My team at work is launching a new publishing interface we've been building for the past [...]

What did The Wilderness Downtown do for you?

Patrick Cooper — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:00:53 +0000

So this is the house — please don't misunderstand me — this is the house I've continued to live in. I mean mentally. I ranged all through these rooms from childhood on. Until they reflected who I was, as a mirror would. I don't mean merely that its furnishings displayed our family's personality, our tastes. [...]

Even the prettiest girls in Chicago…

Patrick Cooper — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:38:45 +0000

The Chicago attitude is straightforward and unpretentious, smart and direct, opinionated and funny. We're tough, but we've got heart. Approachable to strangers. Even the prettiest girls in Chicago eat hotdogs and drink beer. What more could you want in a town? GloNo ("Rock and Roll Can Save Your Life") chief Jake Brown moves.

Mad Hatter hot dog party

Patrick Cooper — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:37:24 +0000

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, how I wonder where you're at, up above the… "Some of the city's best hot dogs," Tasting Table said. It was enough to go. I got the Lewis Carroll dog, with coleslaw on top and a side of mac and cheese, and friend Melissa got the Wonderland dog, topped with mac [...]

Hoping the storm one day loses interest

Patrick Cooper — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:24:17 +0000

A blink of lightning, then a rumor, a grumble of white rain growing in volume, rustling over the ground, drenching the gravel in a wash of sound. Drops tap like timpani or shine like quavers on a line. It rings on exposed tin, a suite for water, wind and bin, plinky Poulenc or strongly groaning [...]

A beer for my people

Patrick Cooper — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:27:01 +0000

If you write "LEFT HAND" on anything, I may buy it. If you write "LEFT HAND" on beer, I'm bound to buy and drink the beer with my left hand. Laura, Amy, Shakti, and I tried the beer garden at Arlington's Westover Market yesterday afternoon, and we had a good but confused time. We had [...]