Would the potential sale of the Chrysler Building to an “oil-rich sovereign wealth fund” be the metaphor for our time? As reported by the New York Post, “Sources say the super-rich Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating an $800 million deal for a 75 percent stake in the Art Deco treasure that has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930.” Somehow this news diminishes the cuteness of the seven-story toy building made of Erector set pieces that was unveiled in Rockefeller Center today. Meanwhile, back in the Middle East, “construction of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, has been delayed and will be completed only in September next year.” Time for Chicago to catch up?

It’s liquid warfare out there. This morning Senate Republicans blocked a proposal to tax the oil industry’s profits; Slate unveils a cure for bedwetting and also explains why Missouri is home to the nation’s cheapest gas prices; beware tomatoes; and USA Today explains why our thirst for bottled water unleashes a flood of environmental concerns. Stay hydrated, for a price.

“Jim McKay, the veteran and eloquent sportscaster thrust into the role of telling Americans about the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics, has died. He was 87.” (Associated Press) McKay was host of ABC’s influential Wide World of Sports for more than 40 years, starting in 1961, and was the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. “He won 12, the last in 1988. ABC calculated that McKay traveled some 4 1/2 million miles to work events.”

Looking to replace that vintage copy of Franny and Zooey that your ex-boyfriend stole? You couldn’t do better than to drop by Chicago’s Printers Row Book Fair this weekend, June 7-8 at 700 S. Dearborn Street. Launched in 1985 to draw business to the city’s bookmaking corner, the event has since become the largest literary event in the Midwest, attracting upwards of 90,000 book lovers each year. The festival features eleven stages for readings, discussions and book-signings.

Visitors are advised to take their time with the fair’s jam-packed schedule, but the event’s heavy-hitters — legendary man of letters Studs Terkel, expat author Aleksandar Hemon and Tribune journalist Rick Kogan — are sure to deliver. (And, incidentally, all three have all graced the STOP SMILING office for live events.) We also recommend checking out the idiosyncratic, Chicago-based indie publisher Featherproof Books, who are publishing Zach Plague’s much-anticipated boring boring boring boring boring boring boring in August.

You can find the full Printers Row Book Fair schedule here.

Just days before Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a “statewide drought after two years of below-average rainfall” in California, it was determined that “low water pressure and an overwhelmed sprinkler system” hampered the fight against the fast-moving fire that terminated portions of Universal Studios, home to historic back lots and attractions for films like Waterworld, Backdraft and The Terminator. Buried within the LA Times‘ expansive coverage of the blaze was this detail: “Some firefighters on the scene could get only a 10-foot spray from park hydrants and were unable to reach the vaulting flames. … Firefighters resorted to pumping water from two man-made studio ponds, including one that is home to the animatronic ‘Jaws’ attraction.” Across town, another theme park, Six Flags Magic Mountain, announced that it has “indefinitely canceled the nightly summer fireworks show due to concerns about brush fires and the statewide drought declaration.” Tourists and tour guides, beware.

For those of you in San Francisco this week, we highly recommend going to see Chicago artist Cody Hudson’s solo show, which opens at Fifty24SF on June 5th. Cody is an old friend of ours and one of the most prolific artists we’ve ever seen, from his fine art to his graphic design work under the Struggle Inc moniker. This solo show also coincides with a book of Hudson’s newer work that the gallery is releasing called Save My Life. Watch a clip of Cody’s segment from The Run-Up here (and here for a re-cap of the screening we did the director when that film came out).

“The French fashion designer who created a bold new dress code for women during the feminist revolution of the 1970s and helped launch the era of the celebrity designer with his jet-set lifestyle, died Sunday at 71.” (LA Times) The BBC has compiled quotes and tributes (including an acknowledgment from French president Nicolas Sarkozy). “He put humor and sex into good taste, but never the other way around,” writes Stephanie Zacharek of Salon. “It wasn’t his aim to make the great pleasures of life boring or dried out, but to bring them to the arena he loved best. Yves Saint Laurent saw what made women tick, and then thought up ways to help us dress for it. He’s one man worth dropping your pants for.

The great Bo Diddley, a true pioneer of rock music who hailed from McComb, Mississippi, has passed away at 79 in Florida. While we compile a more proper tribute, here we present accolades from the newspapers in Chicago, where Diddley made his name. At the Chicago-Sun Times: “Diddley appreciated the honors he received, ‘but it didn’t put no figures in my checkbook,’ he said.” And Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot writes: “‘I’m a man,’ [Diddley] declared in one of his more famous songs, and spelled it out slowly, ‘M-A-N,’ as if daring anyone to doubt that he was the toughest of them all.” More soon.