Apparently, UPSIDE-DOWN CHRISTMAS TREES are trendy this year. You can either mount your tree to the ceiling so it hangs, or buy an artificial tree that’s designed to stand upside-down. Pretty much every store sells them now, from Home Depot to Target and they can get expensive in a hurry!
More on the upside down tree HERE.
Our neighbors to the north, Canada could have legal recreational weed coast-to-coast by this summer. The House of Commons voted 200-82 to approve the measure, and it now moves to the Canadian Senate where some elected officials want to hold it up. Conservative officials prompted a vote for a delay of implementing marijuana legalization which was voted down 199-84. According to CTV, some of the provinces (it’s Canada’s versions of states) say they would not be ready in time to implement legalization in time for the government’s planned legalization in July.
Canada’s recreational pot legalization has been in the works for months now. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been pushing ahead for the weed legalization for some time, with polls across the country supporting the move.
The Washington Post covered all the arguments to legalize in Canada here.
So you know some people who are already planning a trip up north, already right?
(from altpress.com)
In one of the more surprising beauty launches we’ve seen, 7-Eleven has officially launched its own cosmetics brand. If you’re stopping for a slurpee, you might as well pick up a concealer while you’re at it, right?
One step closer to getting my line of ‘SNL like’ prop wigs in stores…DREAMS!!
(from deadline.com)
Dwayne Johnson and his San Andreas director Brad Peyton are back on the big screen for Rampage, the movie adaptation of the video game that New Line Cinemaand Warner Bros are prepping for an April 20 release. Check out the trailer below.
Chicago evacuation? What? Nooooo!!
(from rd.com)
Have you ever spent an entire weekend watching Stranger Things 2 or finally catching up on Breaking Bad? Turns out that 61 percent of TV streamers regularly engage in binge watching, according to a recent survey conducted on behalf of Netflix. The survey, which defined a binge as viewing between two to six episodes of a show in one sitting, found that a majority of people had positive feelings about their level of consumption. But some experts aren’t so sure binge-watching is a healthy habit for your brain or body. No cliffhangers here; read on to find out why you might want to savor (rather than devour) your new favorite show. (MORE HERE)
(from mashable.com)
The holidays are a time for family, and for escaping family time for a good ol’ Netflix break. Use the time off to mercifully catch up on peak TV and peep the new originals coming to Netflix in December.
ALSO: Word came in October that Netflix would be raising their prices, and people are starting to see it. It’s kind of working out like a reverse Xmas gift. (MORE HERE)
(from instyle.com)
You definitely have a friend (or 10) who binge-watched the entire first season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. The original series—which debuted in July on the streaming network—quickly garnered a cult following of fans obsessed with all things Eleven, Barb, and the Demogorgon. But seriously, what about Barb?
Here are a few Stranger Things-inspired gift ideas for everyone on your list who’s ready to return to the Upside Down (and still wondering if Barb will ever come back). Check them out below.
(from wired.com)
AMAZON ECHO AND Google Home—and other devices that have Alexa and Google Assistant built in—are some of the most promising new technologies to come along in years. And they’re genuinely useful to have around, whether it’s to settle a bet or help out with a recipe. But it can also feel a little creepy to have a speaker in your house that’s always listening. What exactly is it doing with that info? Where does it go? (MORE HERE)
What I do in the privacy of my own home with my Echo should be between me Alexa and the delivery driver!! Yes, I ordered a large pizza. Yes, it’s just for me!!
Word came in October that Netflix would be raising their prices, and people are starting to see it. It’s kind of working out like a reverse Xmas gift.
Nice timing, @netflix, to tell your customers prices are going up on Thanksgiving. Didn’t even bother to thank us for being your customers. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/IUk9Nvf7YH
— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) November 23, 2017
It’s only going up $2 at most. Standard will now be $10.99. Premium is jumping to $13.99. Basic will stay at $7.99.
More on this from Mashable.
I know more and more of you are becoming parents…or plan to in the future. Give a piece of alternative love to your spawn in the form of this nifty story: Susie Lee goes to school, does some show and tell, and even….[wait for it]…even makes a new friend. We’re Going To Be Friends, the children’s book from Jack White!
Beats another….whatever from Doc McStuffens. — [eric]
When Wao Bao opens its newest Chicago location on December 1st, it will be quite a departure from fast-serve restaurants:Â no human interaction, thanks to technology first implemented by the chain Eatsa…and now being applied elsewhere.
According to Eater magazine, you will enter the restaurant, order your food on tablets, and then pick up the grub from a bank of shiny glass-windowed doors. Like this:
Number of intentional interactions with another person: 0.0
Despite a handful of this style restaurants closing already, Wao Bao says it’s pushing forward with the concept in all of the new stores they open.  A number of food establishments are also pushing forward with “self order and pay” technology at restaurants.
This isn’t new technology by any means:Â automat restaurants were popular for decades, and likely went by the wayside when the nuisance of coin-only payment and the rise of drive-in restaurants drove the popularity into the ground.
So, is this a passing phase? Or does this spell the end of an era? — [eric] Â
To say we are excited to see Rise Against come back home to headline Night 1 of the Nights We Stole Christmas on November 30th at the Aragon would be an understatement, we are electrified for this show. The bond between RA and Chicago is real. This is where they started, and they have grown into a worldwide success. This connection was very evident in 2015 when the band was crushing it on stage at the Hunnington Bank Pavillion at Northerly Island and the power went out mid-song. Right as ‘Give it All’ was building to a crescendo, the power went kaput but the crowd, the CHICAGO crowd kept the proverbial power on by singing every word, sustaining the spiritual momentum until the band fired back on with full power.
Lauren and I watched this in the crowd. She caught the video of it and it is still something that I recall as one of the best moments in a rock concert I have ever witnessed. It’s things like this that make the hair raise on my arms as we wait for the 30th to see our hometown heroes take the stage under that majestic hand-painted sky of stars above the ballroom floor of the Aragon.
When Tim McIlrath of RA was in the LOUNGE this past summer, Lauren asked him about that moment and how when they seemed down the crowd bounced them back.
Check out Tim’s LOUNGE performance here
