I realized that tomorrow, we hit our destination. It’s been a week. A full week in various cities and trapped in Beryl with two of my best friends and we still don’t hate each other. Last night I feel like we were all going through it a little, but like Steve said to me last night, it’s just so understandable for us to be absolutely exhausted at this point. You spend all day on the road, and then end up in a new city and feel the need to make the most of every minute, to do something as much as possible every second, and then you hit a wall and wonder why you’re such a crabby pants.

We did manage to have a hell of a lot of fun last night though. First stop in the Chicago scene in Lakeview was the ever popular Roscoe’s. Fantastic sprawling bar that felt like a cross of someone’s apartment and a modern saloon, the design of the place was fantastic from room to room, including a back dance floor and countless bars. The staff was phenomenal, and as I’m finding more and more with Chicago, the people are just effortlessly friendly.

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Today we got the hell out of Omaha as soon as humanly possible. We all pretty much woke up in a foul mood, scowled at each other, and hugged it out later. But we got the car, packed up our luggage, and drove as far away from the Econolodge as we could in the shortest possible time we could.

Let me explain something about Bruce the cat. He is a lovely mild tempered angel of a feline, and his only fault is, he is a runner and a jumper. No windows are to be left open, no doors are to be left ajar. I just think Omaha really got to him, as it did with all of us, and as we drove across our first bridge out of the city, I think he must have peeked over Steve’s shoulder to see that the window locks weren’t on, and decided it a good idea to just end it all and lean his tiny paw on the back window button. Down it went. His father’s first reaction behind the wheel was to swerve to the right, in “save the cat” mode. Faye, frozen in fear of pushing a bag towards him, in turn knocking him out said window, yelled obscenities, and I gingerly, heart racing, turned around and squashed him down with my hand like a spider under a bar coaster, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and throwing him into the front seat. I’m not gonna say we didn’t pull over, I’m not gonna say we didn’t have a good cry after the previous day we had, I’m also not going to say that we didn’t make ourselves feel better by belting Heart’s Greatest Hits at the top of our lungs until Des Moines. I will say Bruce is happy and purring on a window sill as we speak. And I am half a bottle deep.

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Typically, the musical numbers during the Oscar telecast are one big snoozefest. Even the producers think so and sometimes combine all the best nominated songs in one big medley to get them over with. Given the lame nominees in some years, I don’t blame them. That’s all about to change this year.

Craig Zadan and Neil Moran are producing the show and from the sounds of it, it’s going to be phenomenal. That is, if you’re a musical nut. They’ve already brought on Adele and Shirley Bassey as part of the tribute to James Bond’s 50th anniversary and enticed Barbra Streisand to perform at the Academy Awards after a 36 year absence. Now comes word a segment celebrating musicals from the past 10 years is on the program. That should come as no surprise given that Zadan produced the movie adaptations of Hairspray and Chicago, plus the classic Footloose and NBC’s Smash. Find out which musicals are being honored below.

find out what other musicals are being honored after the jump

While not as fantastic as last week’s Kiki Turkey Lurkey mashup, this musical number is pretty awesome in its own right. Kate Hudson is back with her deliciously bitter Cassandra July to show Rachel (Lea Michele) how it’s done. Not only did Cassandra seduce that insanely sexy Brody (Dean Geyer) from Rachel’s hands for a hot steamy session, but now she’s showing Rachel that she reigns supreme on the dance floor as well.

On the upcoming episode of Glee, titled “Swan Song“, Cassandra and Rachel perform “All That Jazz” from the hit musical Chicago. Dressed in their finest black dance attire, the ladies strut and shimmy their butts off while belting out the show-stopping number. As vocally superior Rachel is to Cassandra, I have to give the edge to the NYADA dance teacher. In this battle, the teacher definitely schools the pupil. Check out the jazzy battle below.

watch the battle after the jump

Jeff Hephner (with whom I work on Hellcats with) has had a rough pilot season this year. He originally booked a role in NBC’s drama pilot Playboy. However, after a table read with the network, the deal was pulled right from under him and he was replaced with Eddie Cibrian. As they say on Full House, how rude!.

Have no fear Jeff Hephner fans, a true talent will always find his spotlight. Jeff has signed on to do more than a pilot with network Starz. He will join Kelsey Grammer on an eight-episode series titled Boss. Coincidentally, this show will also be based and filmed in Chicago (just like Playboy).

The show is written by Farhad Safinia and directed by Gus Van Sant. The concept of the show is that Kane (played by Grammer) is the mayor of Chicago and is diagnosed with a degenerative mental condition that only he and his doctor know about. Jeff will play the role of the state treasurer who is a Chicago native, handsome and soon to be a powerful player in the Chicago political scene.

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Right away, I know I’m gonna get flack from my HUGE (hold the laughter n’ eye roll) British readership fan base for the publication of this statement, but I am LOVING Showcase‘s newest and greatest endeavor: “Shameless“. Quick plot summary: family of 6 kids livin’ in the white equivalent of the projects survive their day-to-day by working, stealing and tricking their way through bills and troubles alongside their chronically and epically drunken absent father. Based on the 7 season run-away hit in the UK of the same name and premise, this series is yet another in a long line of US attempts to mimic and hopefully one-up their imperial brothers on the other side of the Atlantic. Like “Queer as Folk” and “The Office“, “Shameless” is the Americanized version of a UK classic with our accent and location… and, like the others, it’s being met with some resistance.

Okay, admittedly, I’m not drawing the aforementioned “fact” from polled blogging sites or news articles, rather from cute friends of mine who are British and tried both out for themselves but to me that’s a lot more meaningful than a cover story by Wolf Blitzer ;) SO, being of fair mind I decided to give the em’ equal opportunity, and (lord, I’m gonna hear it from my Nottingham friends for this) I’m sorry, but the Yanks got this one right. Both stories are identical in their plot lines (save for location) but there is a wholly disparate tone in these mirrored works. The UK decided to spin theirs with a humorous and playful tone while the US- though mixing in hints of laughter-deserving moments- definitely took the darker spin on this one. And, I loves me some dark humor!

Click through to read the rest of my review and see the trailer

Forget “A Night at the Museum,” why not thirty of them. Sounds bizarre, but when you think about it, how cool would that be?! You could try and sneak into an exhibit at a museum and hope you stay still enough not to set off the motion detectors during the night, OR you could enter this contest. The museum is looking for “an adventurous, outgoing person with a strong interest in learning about science and the world around her or him, plus the ability to write very well about your experiences. Ideally, you’re also the web-savvy sort who can keep your thumb out of frame when taking photographs.” Sound like you? Then keep reading…

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is giving one lucky person the chance to spend a Month at the Museum (that’s right – no in and out priviledges). If the person manages to make it to the end of the 30-day period (From October 20 to November 18, 2010), they get a check for $10,000, a a package of tech gadgets, and of course you’ll be more smarter. :p

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This is great. Turning something so absolutely negative into a positive – instead of being negative back, or instead of doing nothing at all. Really inspiring.

The Westboro Baptist Church, in case you don’t know, is a hate group that made themselves into a church to be able to get away with their harassment of gays, Jews, military families and more. The group is led by a terrible human being named Fred Phelps. On March 8th, five of these haters hit Chicago.

UIC student Jason Connell used the appearance of the hate group to raise money for queer rights groups such as Human Rights Campaign, International AIDS Foundation and Chicago based Jerusalem Open House. Donations were named in honor of the Westboro Baptist Church and community thank you cards will be sent from the non-profits to WBC leader Fred Phelps. Connell called it a, “Lemons to Lemonade” situation.

Video after the jump…