Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Chicago'

The Unbearable Lightness of the Kilogram, Universes Next Door, and the Occupy Movement

November 29th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Books, Chicago, Culture, Essays, Fringe, Journalism, News, Performance, Politics, Science, The Economy, Stupid, TV, Writing

Context: This essay was written for, and performed in, the November 19, 2011 edition of The Paper Machete, a weekly showcase for Chicago journalists, comedians, and other writers, hosted by Christopher Piatt. I’m just getting around to posting it now because, well, my own universe is fairly chaotic and other deadlines prevailed. You are encouraged […]

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Not Zero: The Fukushima Litotes

April 1st, 2011 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Chicago, Climate Change, Culture, Energy, Environment, Essays, Fringe, Journalism, Language, Media, News, Nuclear Power, Performance, Politics, Science, Writing

A little context: The following piece was written to be performed in the March 26, 2011 edition of The Paper Machete, a weekly showcase for Chicago journalists, comedians, and other writers, hosted by Christopher Piatt. The Paper Machete has posted the audio of the performance as a podcast. You can listen to it here: The […]

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The Partly Dave Show: Please Mister Postman (at the Rhino Fest, Friday Feb. 20)

February 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Music, Neo-Futurists, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

So, here’s some of that “other news” I mentioned in my previous post: Partly Dave is back! Oh, yes, you read that right, Mabel. The Partly Dave Show has been unpacked from its wooden chest, mothballs brushed away, and is ready to flatter your figure again just like the old days — and it’s happening […]

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Roundup: Maracas and Purple Pants Edition

June 24th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Doctor Who, Fantasy, Grammar, LGBT, News, Politics, Science Fiction, Terrorism, TV

Just a few things that are on my radar at the moment … • First up, I just found this interview with Gore Vidal from May, in which he gives his current takes on Obama and McCain. Vidal says he’s a fan of Obama now, but it took him a while to get there (hey, […]

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Wordslingers Appearance Now Online, and Poem of the Week on Deep Dish

June 4th, 2008 · Comments Off on Wordslingers Appearance Now Online, and Poem of the Week on Deep Dish · Blogs, Books, Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Lit, Performance, Poetry, Politics

For those of you who didn’t hear it on the public airwaves a couple of weeks back, because you were busy painting your toenails or defending the earth or something, my appearance on the Wordslingers poetry radio show from Sunday 5/18 is now online in the Vox Cafe archive on the Wordslingers Web site — […]

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Saturday, May 24: The Relaunch of Planet Earth Chicago at Subterranean

May 15th, 2008 · Comments Off on Saturday, May 24: The Relaunch of Planet Earth Chicago at Subterranean · Chicago, Culture, Music, New Wave, News, Nightclubs, Planet Earth Chicago

Here’s another very fun event on the horizon: What are you doing next Saturday night? Feel like going New Wave dancing with some of the most flamboyant and fabulous Earthlings in Chicago, at a groovy new location? Here’s what I’m talking about: Some of you know that over the last eight years I’ve been heavily […]

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Sunday, May 18: Wordslingers Poetry Radio Show

May 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Lit, Performance, Poetry

This Sunday evening, May 18, I’ll be appearing on the radio program Wordslingers. Wordslingers, hosted by Michael C. Watson, airs on the first and third Sundays of each and every month, and features Chicago-area poets reading their work and being interviewed live on the radio. You’d think there’d be a law against that kind of […]

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Capes and Crumpets with Roz Kaveney

May 4th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Blogroll, Blogs, Books, Chicago, Culture, Doctor Who, Journal, LGBT, Lit, Science Fiction, TV

Speaking of people on my blogroll: Pop culture critic, blogger, and transgendered activist extroardinaire Roz Kaveney of Silence Exile and Crumpets was just in town, promoting her new book Superheroes!: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films — which I’m hoping to crack the covers of eventually. Roz is brilliant at analyzing the various mechanics […]

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After Hours Press Poetry Reading at DvA Gallery, Friday May 2

May 1st, 2008 · 3 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Journal, Lit, News, Performance, Poetry

I’ve been meaning to mention for ages now that I have a poem in the latest issue of the Chicago poetry journal After Hours … and I’ll be reading it in public this Friday night. I’ve always been really bad about actually submitting my poems for publication — I always think, here I am fussing […]

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With Six You Get Blogroll

April 22nd, 2008 · 3 Comments · Blogroll, Blogs, Books, Chicago, Culture, Internet, Journal, Meta, Music, Neo-Futurists, New Wave, Politics, Vegetarian & Vegan

So yesterdoodle, as part of my ongoing efforts to get the Ocelopotamus back to full health and vitality, I finally got around to overhauling the blogroll (that’s that tall snaky thing over to the right that looks like a list of nonsensical words and phrases!) with some links that I’ve been accumulonimbusing for a stoat’s […]

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B-52’s Funplex Roundup

April 9th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Film, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, TV, Video

So the new B-52’s album Funplex has been out for a couple of weeks now and is getting hot-pink rave reviews everywhere. Of course all during the recent period when I was busy not blogging I was wanting to post all sorts of breathless updates and links about it. But the truth is Astralwerks seems […]

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Schadenfreudian Hillarity

April 8th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, News, Performance, Politics, Video

In case you haven’t seen any of these yet, my pals at Schadenfreude (who I love despite the fact that they terrify me sometimes) are doing a good job of capturing the current logic of the Hillary campaign in video.   These are turning up all over Greater Blogistania and one of the other installments […]

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Andy White at the Celtic Knot, 3/30/08: Follow-Up

April 6th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Culture, Journal, Lit, Music, Performance, Reviews

Well, the Andy White show I posted about last Sunday was lovely. It was a shockingly intimate setting, a cozy and beautifully decorated back room at the Celtic Knot where Andy played for a group of about 20 of us, and he was just as charming and entertaining as any Andy fan would expect. He […]

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Welcome Back, Otter

December 12th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Illinois, Nature, News, Science

Forget about the possums, the raccoons, even the coyotes turning up in our urban environment. There are now officially otters in the Chicago River. Thousands of commuters were walking past Union Station on the day that Chris Anchor happened to see a dream made flesh. Furry otter flesh, to be exact. I know, I know. […]

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