Check out Google's homepage today...

They're celebrating Lucille Ball's 100th birthday. Click on the numbered dial and you will find several clips from Ball's classic TV series I Love Lucy. I remember the time she passed away, was creeped out by the very colorful pictures of her that aired on FOX 32 back in the day. Back in the day it was hard to get away from I Love Lucy reruns today I have a hard time getting away from reruns of The Simpsons, The Office or Seinfeld for example.

I have three other posts scheduled for today and all of them tech related. So consider this today's fun post. :P

Saw this about the Siskel Film Center...

I did lament that there isn't a movie venue downtown. It was known for many movie venues, but many of them have been either razed or converted to other uses.

For example down the street from the Gene Siskel Film Center (a marquee posted to the left) in either direction. Block 37 had been vacant for many years to the south near State & Randolph but there were a number of movie theaters there before that block was razed in the late 1980s. Then a little north was the old State/Lake theater which is now a TV news studio for Chicago's ABC affiliate.

Then directly across the street is the Chicago Theater. These days it's more of a live theater venue. Many years ago it played host to an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Anyway today I'm reading this Chicagoist post about the Siskel Film Center operated by the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a good read and while this venue mainly shows more art and specialty features it indicated how the film exhibition business is changing and attempting to adapt to the current climate.

Interviewed is Marty Rubin who is the Assistant Director of Programming at the film center. This is merely the second part of a series.

Chicago Tonight: Phunny Business

[VIDEO] This 11 minute interview on Chicago Tonight featured owner comedy club owner Raymond Lambert and John Davies who directed this documentary Phunny Business: A Black Comedy. It was the story of a Black-owned comedy club that once operated in Chicago's South Loop called "All Jokes Aside" that featured mainly Black audiences being entertained by Black comedians.

It was very successful while other comedy clubs in Chicago were closing for business. One thing that put this club on the map were the comedians who eventually went on to Hollywood such as Jaime Foxx or Steve Harvey. Will there be another incarnation of "All Jokes Aside" in the future?

It was mentioned that this film was screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center on the Saturday after this program aired on June 16th. I would've liked to check out this documentary!

FuturePundit: Olive Oil Cuts Stroke Risk?

Well I won't excerpt this one, but this is worth sharing. Cutting stroke risks is one thing, but I saw a news story on TV years ago that suggest that consumption of olive oil staves off some of the worse effects of aging. In fact this story had a 77-year-old man who said that he had taken up roller-blading. I just hope that we can all be so lucky and you out there as well!

Via Instapundit!

Two pictures of Amtrak locomotives

I was walking along Roosevelt Road and just so happen to see this Amtrak locomotive sporting an interesting livery. Then I saw the years 1971 and 2011 on the side of the locomotive with Amtrak's old logo. It hits me that Amtrak has been around 40 years already.

It was such a sight I only wish that Amtrak could have locomotives like this all the time. The current livery isn't as colorful but then again I do really like Amtrak's new logo. Still a fan of the old one and used to draw it all the time, but the new logo since the last decade is a really nice touch.

Let's hope Amtrak lasts another 40 years in some way!

Still thinking about that Star Trek movie...

[VIDEO] I intended to post this video over at the Shedd School blog. Why was it relevant there? Because my time there are the old elementary school was when I first became a Star Trek fan. Any this video was the music for the end credits from the 2009 Star Trek movie.

Between 6th & 8th grades I began to collect not only the first 6 Star Trek films, but also many of the books about the franchise as well as even motion picture scores. Now this was all before the internet and before everyone got DVD and Blue-Ray crazy. In fact, my movie collection still included VHS tapes with the first eight Star Trek movies on VHS tape. Only the eleventh Star Trek movie is on DVD.

It's also relevent at the Shedd School blog because this is the time to end the school year. Around that time Star Trek: The Next Generation was ending it's 7 season run. The next movie would feature the cast from the 2nd Star Trek series and also Captain James T. Kirk.

Another reason is that Star Trek has once inspired me to consider becoming an astronaut. Until I reached college my goal was to major in engineering. While that idea hadn't entirely changed by the time I reached the 8th grade there was another aspiration that still has a lasting effect.

After studying for the required constitution exam for both the US & state constitution, my interest in government was so great that I declared in class that I'd like to be President of the United States. The lasting effect was that my major at Morehouse College was in political science.

The "fried chicken rebellion" at the state house???

Apparently state house Speaker Michael Madigan doesn't want people to eat at their desks on the floor in the House of Representatives chamber and there are some members who wants to change that rule according to Ward Room:

On Saturday, though, one hungry politician rose to condemn that rule. Every year, Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, caters a fried chicken lunch for the entire Capitol. Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, wanted some of that chicken. But the House was in session, and being a conscientious legislator, he didn’t want to leave the floor for the designated chicken-eating room behind the chamber. So instead, he rose to make what is known as a “point of personal privilege” to criticize Madigan’s “Hey, this isn’t a diner” policy. The Speaker instituted the no-eating rule six years ago, after the House chamber was renovated.

“In the Illinois Senate, if you’re hungry and someone provides chicken, you bring it into your place and you sit down and you eat it like the grown adults each and every one of us is,” Sacia shouted, to the applause of his colleagues. “This is not a partisan issue. We all worked hard to get here. We go into the finest restaurants, and they don’t stuff us into a little room in the back and tell us, ‘Sit down and eat.' This is a shame, Mr. Speaker, when one non-elected person makes the rest of us act like children who can’t even handle a spork and dribble out of both sides of our mouth. This is a beautiful chamber. We should be allowed to eat in here.”

Sacia is correct. Senators are allowed to eat at their desks. I have personally witnessed Sen. Emil Jones III stuffing his face with something out of a white paper bag. I think it was popcorn.

Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, says the Speaker is only trying to enforce the same standards as the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, which also ban eating.

“There’s no reason to turn this into a mess hall,” sniffed Madigan spokesman Steve Brown to The Dome Blog.

Hard to argue with having the same standards at the federal counterparts in Washington. It shouldn't be that much of a problem to allow legislators during the course of a session to eat at least once at their desks in their respective chambers.