Hedy Weiss: For years now, this city has dubbed its showcase of hit shows imported from New York the “Broadway in Chicago” series. So by all rights, New York producers should now consider returning the favor by dubbing the 2009-10 season in their city “Chicago on (and off) Broadway.” All they need do is consider the list of Chicago-originated or Chicago-influenced productions slated for New York openings in the coming months.

Cindy Pearlman: Ashton Kutcher needs a lot more than 140 characters to tell you about love. Hollywood’s reigning Twitter king — married to Demi Moore since September 2005 — is explaining why he isn’t feeling the four-year itch. “You can’t ever relax in a relationship. The work should never stop,” says the 31-year-old native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Bill Zwecker: If director and writer Max Mayer hadn’t been in his car and tuned to National Public Radio a few years ago, chances are ”Adam” might never have been written. ”I turned on the radio in the middle of an interview with a young man with Asperger syndrome. I was struck with how this person dealt with the struggles he faced in life and in social interactions,” Mayer said. ”I was really moved. I think partly it reminded me of being an only child.”

“Cavalia,” the multimedia equestrian spectacle that brings together horses and riders, acrobats, aerialists, dancers and musicians, all under a White Big Top pitched in the West Loop, will give its final Chicago performance Aug. 23.

“G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” is a 118-minute animated film with sequences involving the faces and other body parts of human beings. It is sure to be enjoyed by those whose movie appreciation is defined by the ability to discern that moving pictures and sound are being employed to depict violence.

If your kids think that milk comes in a carton, corn comes in a can and chicken comes in a cellophane-wrapped package, it’s time for a visit to Wagner Farm in Glenview. So says the farm’s director, Todd Price. The 85-year-old working dairy farm is a re-creation of a 1920s farm, featuring historical interpreters dressed in period clothing. The interpreters re-create the daily routines of farm life in the early 20th century.

We’d like to forget much of the ’80s — the decade of big hair, Flashdance shirts and Ollie North.

Chris Daughtry didn’t realize he had vocal talent until he was in his early teens.

Even before the Beastie Boys were forced to drop out as Adam Yauch battles cancer, the six headlining slots at Lollapalooza 2009 were overall the least impressive that the weekend-long musical smorgasbord has mustered during its five years as a reinvented “destination festival” based in Grant Park.

It’s not likely that the words “vegan cooking” have ever been associated with Art Smith, chef-owner of Chicago’s Table 52, but the onetime personal chef for Oprah Winfrey gave it his best shot on this week’s episode of “Top Chef Masters” on Bravo.