Sometimes, I think my dog is just going through the motions of being a dog. Meanwhile, my Siamese cat is the one that wants to have her belly rubbed all the time. By the way, Kristen and I, if and when we own a beagle, have decided to name it Darwin, since it was Darwin who sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle. Take that, Kennel Club Creationists.

What? A new Badly Drawn Boy album was released mid-summer, and I don't hear about it until today in my belated Rolling Stone? Amy, does Butch Walker expedite your issues or something? Meanwhile, Wilco still hasn't announced any Chicago tour dates for this fall. When I applied to UChicago, I expected a certain amount of Wilco shows that I'd be able to attend in their hometown. All I have so far is some good views of the Marina Towers, featured on the album cover to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot--- which, by the way, made a few cameos in I, Robot. Speaking of Chicago in the movies, Batman Begins has been filming in the city: here's footage of the new Batmobile driving down State Street and underneath the L. Batman in Chicago? Are we coming upon a new golden age of Chicago on Celluloid, reminiscent of the John Hughes Era?

Tax-Free Weekend in Georgia is such a scam, but I salute American commerce for coercing me into purchasing an overpriced hoodie from J. Crew and new running shoes from Fleet Feet, which, for out-of-towners, is a semi-national store that videotapes the customer running on an in-store treadmill and analyzes their stride before selecting the optimal running shoes to buy. It's questionable just what kind of "expert" knowledge those salesman are referencing, but they're all so friendly and they wear T-shirts from races that are longer than I ever thought camels could go. Scam or no scam, Boy From Illinois endorses Fleet Feet Sports.

Finally, click here for a long-awaited but very boring ("Cameron, what's it like to go to Kentucky?") interview with director-mancrush Cameron Crowe. I'm out to go drop-kick The Human Stain into the return-box at Video Galaxy.