Chicago, Illinois

[Bode]

Sad sam bio malo napolju i nije bas toliko strasno... samo -20

[Lucky]

Te temperature i duzina zime su skoro jedina stvar koja me odbija od selidbe u Chicago. Narocito iz tople Floride.

[dragonn]

Pa kad to uporedish sa -39 u Coloradu nadomak Denvera i nije toliko strasno, cak je i "toplo" )).

[dejancic]

Lies we tell ourselves: We rely on these classic Chicago fibs to make the city more livable.
By Erin Ensign, Time Out Chicago

"This is our year."
Repeat a lie often enough and you start to believe it. But sorry, Cubs fans, the fact remains: Our lovable losers have the longest championship drought on the continent. Self-delusion has gotten us nowhere—let's kick off the season with a truer prediction: We're gonna choke!

"Spring starts in March."
If by spring you mean the revelation of litter and dog (poo) that were formerly cloaked under piles of snow, then yes. But March weather stats for Chicago are hardly springlike: The average high temp is only 47 degrees, and average days of snowfall are 4.6, yielding an average of 6 inches.

"We're okay with being the Second City."
Chicagoans love to go off on why they would never move to New York. But let's be honest: Aren't we all secretly a little peeved that just about every overseas fashion brand launches its first boutique in NYC? That most restaurant trends start there, then eventually trickle to Chicago? That our most talented artists and musicians inevitably leave to make it big in New York? Let it out; it's okay to be a bit jealous. At least we don't live in shoe boxes.

"UGGs and puffy coats are totally in style."
Scottish adventurer and celebrated smart-ass Sir Ranulph Fiennes famously said, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." We'd argue that there is such a thing as bad—in fact, beastly—weather. But he's right on one count, and that's why fugly $200 boots and a North Face sleeping bag—cum—winter coat are our de facto winter uniforms.

"Wicker Park is still cutting-edge."
Wicker Park circa the 1990s: The Smashing Pumpkins played a secret show at the Double Door under the name Audio Vanguard Association and Rainbo Club was an obscure dive. Wicker Park today: sports bars, chain stores, fro-yo shops and baby boutiques. Some change is good (we'll trade Pontiac Cafe for tacos at Big Star), and there are still plenty of reasons to visit, but its rep as the hippest 'hood is as over as the Pumpkins.

"This is a green city."
Chicago may be a leader in green roofs (there are more than 400 in various stages of development and our own City Hall boasts a 20,300-square-foot rooftop garden), but we're breathing in more pollution than other cities. The outdated Crawford and Fisk coal-fired power plants (in Little Village and Pilsen, respectively) are two of the oldest and largest single sources of deadly particulate—forming air pollution in the country. The EPA wants them upgraded, but no dice as of yet.

"It's easy having a car in Chicago."
The average auto-insurance rate for Chicago residents is $1,290 per year. Factor in your Illinois license and registration ($99), City of Chicago sticker ($75) and residential parking permit ($25), and the annual tab's raised to $1,489. That's not including variables like car payments, meters ($1.50—$5 per hour), gas (well over $4-per-gallon), a reserved spot, tickets and repairs. The annual cost for a CTA monthly pass: $1,032. Now that's easy.

"I like Midwesterners. They're all so nice."
If nice means knowing your neighbors or chatting up strangers while waiting for your dry cleaning, we have room for improvement. And actually, only two Midwest cities made the top ten of Travel + Leisure's 2009 list of friendliest people: Minneapolis/St. Paul and Kansas City (Chicago ranked 19). Go figure.

"This is a postracial city."
While Illinois leads the nation in electing African-Americans to statewide office, we're actually the third most segregated urban area in America. Among the reasons for the concentration of blacks on the South and West Sides, and whites to the North: historical (and now illegal) housing and lending practices, the concentration of impoverished blacks in public housing towers and the Interstate Highways Act of 1956, which resulted in expressways like the Dan Ryan being routed through African-American neighborhoods in Chicago, further dividing black and white enclaves.

[Magelan]

E Dejane, svaka cast Oooodlican clanak

A kad mi nasi (koji nikad nisu mrdnuli dalje od Schaumburg-a) kazu kako je Chgo najbolji grad na svetu i krenu da mi u prilog tome navode xyz razloga dodje mi da popenim.

Chgo zaista jeste od onih gradova u kojima je start najlaksi ali ruku na srce, (bar po mom misljenju) daleko zaostaje od NYC ili tople Kalifornije...

Klima je GROZNA. Kisa lije vec danima, i iako je kraj aprila, ja jos nosim dugacke gace kad krenem napolje. Malo malo, pa od magle ne vidim sta se dogadja dole na zemlji. Zimus je sneg bio jeziv. Prosle godine sam 15.05. isao da kupim jos jedno cebe jer je toliko duvalo i bilo hladno da je to bilo za nepodneti.

Ljudi su, generalno, neljubazni i nadrndani konstantno. To cak i sami amerikanci priznaju. Ali cim malo zadjes van grada vec se oseti ljubazniji pristup (zato volim da odem do Michigan City cim mi se isprazne baterije). Mozda je to zato sto je previse imigranata pa se svi po inerciji laktaju da bi uspeli ili je nesto drugo u pitanju - ne znam, ali cinjenicno stanje je takvo...

Ako izuzmemo predgradja, segregacija je preostra i jako je malo cetvrti koje su lepe i sredjene (po default-u najskuplje), a mnogo vise onih koje su unistene. Ne znam da li je takav trend i po ostalim velikim gradovima, ali ovde od 77 cetvrti - neighborhoods, vredne pomena su samo ovih 10:
- North Loop - Near North Side (Streeterville, Gold Coast, River North)
- Lincoln Park (najlepsi) - North Side
- Lakeview - North Side - ("Beogradjanka" & Sv Sava)
- West Town (Bucktown, Wicker Park & Ukrainian Village) - West Side - dejancic
- Hyde Park (South Side) - Barack Obama i ja
- Beverly Hills (South Side)
- Bridgeport (South Side) - Major Daley
- West Loop - Near West Side (Oprah Studio)
- Forest Glen (Edgebrook & Sauganash) - far North Side
- South Loop - Near South Side

Ostali delovi lice bukvalno na selo (sad da li je sredjenije ili ne zavisi samo od toga da li su tu poljaci ili meksosi) i nemas utisak da si u desetomilionskom gradu... A o (ne)bezbednosti po getoima (sto crnackim, sto meksickim) da i ne govorimo...

[dejancic]

Prvobitno poslao korisnik Magelan

West Loop - Near West Side (Oprah Studio)

Tako blizu, a tako daleko... Uzmi me k' sebi Oprah, dok me nisu oteli neki dusmani sa NBC-a, CBS-a i ostalih tv stanica koji ti nisu ni prineti po humanosti

[Magelan]

@dejancic

Mogu da ti kazem da su vrlo profi kod Opre

Bio sam pre dve nedelje u publici Organizacija im je odlicna

[dejancic]

Prvobitno poslao korisnik Magelan

@dejancic

Mogu da ti kazem da su vrlo profi kod Opre

Bio sam pre dve nedelje u publici Organizacija im je odlicna

Mogu da zamislim kakvi su. Ja nagovorao moje sefove da me ubace na poslednju emisiju, ali ne u publiku nego u kontrolnu sobu. Rekao sam ne trebaju mi njeni pokloni samo da vidim sa cime rade. Mrka kapa, misle pobeci cu kod teta Oprah-e
Nego kazi ti meni, jel si se u publiku ubacio na klasicnu prijavu preko neta ili veza vrti gde burgija nece? I da li si mozda video da li postoji mogucnost da u jednom momentu, na samo meni svojstven nacin, pobegnem iz mase i odem u master sobu axaxaxxa

[Magelan]

Marija, exKomsinica iz Hyde Parka, dobila pozivnicu posle 6 meseci upornog prijavljivanja (legalni nacin - srocis esej e-mailom pa te mozda nekad odaberu) i pozvala mene jer je pozivnica za dvoje Prihvatim, posto je to bila jedinstvena prilika jer se sam verovatno nikad ne bih baktao oko prijave, i... odemo...

Organizacija je zaista vrh, slicna onoj koju sam video na Eurosong-u u BGD (mada sam ja ipak laik za sve te stvari), sve se odigrava munjevito, al' gosti bejase neki bzvz...

Od poklona - nista Dobili smo kao po $1000 ali da napravimo donaciju (znaci ne mogu da doniram Mladenu, tebi ili sebi) nego kao neka kerefeka i tu ti se potpuno razocaram

Sve u svemu, simpaticno iskustvo

[Magelan]

A ovo je nasminkani prikaz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5F6...eature=related