I am completely creeped out by the Polar Express trailer. Forget slasher films, I think digital animation voiced by Tom Hanks is terrifying and perfect for the Halloween season.

Apparently at some point on Tuesday the Chicago Tribune printed a story in Wednesday’s Women News section without the knowledge of senior editors. When the editors heard about the story, they led a massive effort to pull the section out of the paper by hand, however a few copies apparently slipped through.

Crains explains that the story, headlined “You C_nt Say That (Or Can You?)” did not actually contain the offensive word but rather referred to it. I mean, who at the paper thought that would be ok?

I had breakfast this morning with my friend Jayne. As always the conversation was good and we had a nice time catching up over coffee and eggs.

It was raining and after breakfast we decided to walk for a bit. We decided to walk despite the rain and even though I had an umbrella in my backpack, I didn’t use it. It wasn’t too cold and there was something just nice about walking in the rain.

I love the rain. Isn’t it great to just sit inside and listen to a thunderstorm? And it’s so nice to just walk and let the rain wash over you. I felt like we were five years old again.

Britney has written to her fans. You simply must read her epistle. I won’t spoil it by giving away too much, but know that you can look forward to these gems:

The phrase “the reason being is so”

Her mom is “running behind my sister like crazy” (what the hell does that even mean???)

She’s going to “just chill & let all of the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment… GOOD LUCK GIRLS!!”

…and so much more. Honestly, I nearly spit my coffee out from laughing while I was reading it.

Screw it, here it is in full-

Dear Fans,

So, I spoke with my friend Edo last night and he pointed out that this blog is kind of boring right now. I love that he can be totally honest with me. Anyway, for the couple of you who know about this site, a note:

Eventually there will be a more formal “Blog” section to this website with more in-depth, and hopefully interesting, entries. There will also be a “Reviews” section that will contain my thoughts on restaurants, hotels, books, movies, etc.

This “weblog” section will always be for random links, thoughts, quotes, events, etc. Much more on the fly.

Anyway, so stay tuned as the other sections will go live soon.

Google SMS is my new favorite thing. Thanks to Gaper’s Block for the tip. I am absolutely addicted to their SMS service.

You can use your mobile phone to get information by text message direct from Google. As Google explains, “Send your query as a text message and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product prices and more. Just text. No links. No web pages. Simply the answers you’re looking to find.”

For example, send a text message (called an SMS) to 46645 (GOOGL) that reads “China Garden Chicago, IL” and you get a message back that says “China Garden 2256 North Clark Street Chicago IL (773) 477-3219.” You can even be more general and send “Chinese food 60614″ and see what they recommend.

My friend Mike has several friends in Chicago’s improv comedy scene and she and I have been talking about going to see some of her friends’ shows for months. Well last night we finally got around to it. I went with her and some other friends to two shows.

We went to pHamily, an improv comedy show at Stage Left theater. It’s an hour-long totally improvised show about a year in the life of one character and his family. The show is completely interactive, very funny and surprisingly original. The cast is extremely talented; I was literally aching after the show from laughing so hard. The smaller venue gives the show an intimate feel. I’d recommend this as an edgier, funnier alternative to Second City (which can also be lots of fun) and as an especially appropriate place to take visiting friends looking to experience Chicago’s improv scene. ph Productions does several other shows as well.

I’m a bit of an NPR junkie. I also love food. So when NPR does a story about food – well, you can imagine.

In any case, Fresh Air interviewed Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet Magazine and the excellent Tender at the Bone. She was also the former restaurant critic for the New York Times. Not a shabby resume, eh?

This is a word-for-word transcript of a voicemail message I received from my friend Simon. I swear to God I am not making this up.

I had this epiphany, like, you know we could write a theme song for you. And I’m thinking about it like, ya know sorta a la Shaft. Ya know, the first opening chorus could be:

Who’s the bad-ass banker that makes all the women swoon? And in the background we’ve got like an Isaac Hayes-kinda guy goin’: Gerakasae. And you can be like: Daaamn Straight. And I think it could be really cool and I’m thinking that maybe it’s something that, like, on first dates and stuff like that you can just play in the Z3 you know while girls are with you and stuff. I think theme songs are really under-rated and more people should have ‘um.

So in the past couple weeks several people have emailed me links to articles about Cereality, a new “cereal bar” that will soon be arriving in Chicago. The concept? Three to four bucks gets you one of over 30 types of cereal served in a wi-fi enabled environment by pajama-clad employees. It’s sounds like a potential train wreck, but like a train wreck, I can’t take my eyes off it. Or won’t be able to take my eyes of it, you know, once it opens.