Some of My Favorite Sites

• Maybe The Greatest Photo Ever

• Matt Schwartz's Bing Bang Blog

Video games, CD covers featuring Larry King and more! Matt interviewed the musicians behind "Pac-Man Fever," who apparently wrote other songs about video games. Anyhow, read Matt's blog.

• Chromatome

The beautiful digital photos of Luke Adams. Check out the archives, particularly the September 9, 2004, entry. It's the best photo of a nut you'll ever see.

• Down Beat magazine

The authority on jazz, based, naturally, in Elmhurst, Illinois.

• Down the Line Band

Terrific Chicago-based band with a new album arriving any day. Or in the event that I forget to update this, an album that came out several months ago.

• Schadenfreude Sketch Comedy Group

Sketch-comedy group, with a radio show on WBEZ, Chicago's NPR affiliate. But if you, like many people in the world, don't live in Chicago, the show's online., too.

• John Green's Sparks Fly Up

Young-adult novelist whose works appeals to adults, too, as long as they're immature. No, seriously, "Catcher in the Rye" would be considered "YA" today, too. So, for that matter, might Bob Uecker's memoir, "Catcher in the Wry."

• God's Pottery

If only MTV Unplugged wanted to help people as much . . .

• Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody

Michael Gerber writes affectionate parodies of the Harry Potter books. I found Barry Trotter funny, and I've never even read the Potter books, or any other other books.

• Joshua Moses' Gingerbread House of Pain

The assorted humorous writings of a man who wrote Jamie Foxx's Oscar speech. No, wait, he just interviewed Jamie Foxx once.

• Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Funny Chicago-based writer who recently wrote a great memoir in the form of an encylopedia. Is that the right way to spell encylopedia, or is encyclopaedia, or something insane like that?

RedEye

The paper you may have seen one or two or 3 million people reading on the El.

Ben Bass and Beyond

Ben Bass's blog. How can you not read a site called that?

• Neil Steinberg's columns

A curmudgeon, and proud of it. God, I hope he doesn't read this, or he'll have something curmudgeonly to say.

• Zulkey.com

A blog, funny or interesting every day, that's not interested in sharing what kind of toothpaste was used by the author this morning.

The Spoonbender

A blog by a real teddy bear of a man.

Eugene Mirman

A funny comedian who can converse in Russian with my wife, which makes me nervous. He's currently touring the nation, just toured it or is about to.

Beachwood Reporter

No-punches-pulled media, political, cultural and Cubs commentary.

The Bastion

The unofficial official blog of the Chicago comedy scene.

 

• The Kowloon

Authentic Chinese food.