Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker [10/7 EDIT: link corrected], my current CTA read, is hilarious. After picking it up and putting it down many times over the past decade or so I've finally embraced its Douglas Adams stylings. Read it if you haven't. ASAP.

The gubernatorial race here in Illinois is pretty entertaining, especially when one views the candidates as caricatures (and truthfully, I think it's somewhat difficult to gain a broader perspective, so why not embrace caricature?) . First there's the straight-out diction: Blagojevich, Topinka. Then there's the negative campaign ads: long-zippered-shorts-clad-nodding-Judy-Baar v. the-mysterious-$1,500-check-writing Blago. And lastly, there's Rich Whitney, the Green Party fulcrum of the scales, if you will. Antics ensue.

And here are some pictures from the cee-tay. One is of a mural in the Glenwood Arts District of Rogers Park (on the right), and the other is a pre-Japanese-lesson eastern facing view of the Michigan Avenue at Sunset. Enjoy.