Hey folks, Harry here... Our notorious Chicago contributor, Capone, got dealt a heavy blow this week. He hit me with the news through an IM just a few days ago - but even still... the weight of having your roof randomly removed and instantly having to move... well... it's a nightmare. The jokes about living in the "windy city" instantly lept to mind - but I imagine they're about as funny as a kick to the nards. Capone asked if I'd put this up... 1. to explain his future absence. 2. to let friends he's made world wide through the site to know what exactly has happened to him. I also suggested he give an address or a way for people to help. We here at AICN are going to do our part - I just saw Capone and met his gorgeous wife at my wedding. And I saw a side of Capone at my bachelor party that I never needed to actually see... and perhaps that is why he was dealt this blow. Whatever, he's a friend that has tirelessly provided reviews and interviews for 9 years. I've always enjoyed his wit and contribution to the site - and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Right?

Well, here's Steve Prokopy alias Capone... There's a lot of people with alot of problems in the world - but here's one you read...

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. You know how sometimes you hear about some natural or man-made disaster in a place where someone you know actually lives, and you immediately want to know how the people you know were impacted by said event? I had friends in New York on 9-11, and I had a hard time sleeping until I knew they were alright. My sister- and brother-in-law live in New Orleans, and my wife and I had were in a mild panic until we knew they'd gotten away from Hurricane Katrina safely. Is seems unreal that almost two years to the day after Katrina, another weather-related disaster had impacted a member of my family. Only this time, the impacted person is me.

Last Thursday afternoon at about 3:30pm, something called a "microburst" hit my neighborhood (just north of Wrigley Field). It's kind of like a tornado, but with less warning. It tore the roof off of my three-story condo. Since we live on the second floor, the roof disappearing didn't hurt us as bad as it did our upstairs neighbors (who could see the sky through their kitchen ceiling), but then the torrential rains began. It was like watching a water hell open up in the back half of our condo. I was actually downtown when this happened, and my poor wife was the only one in the building when the winds hit. She was scared out of her mind, but she's OK.

So the steady rain on that first night and early into the next morning basically sent water through all the walls of all the units in the building. Just on the surface of things (at least for now), we have the least about of actual property damage (to personal effects or even anything of sentimental value), but there was water coming down the walls and from light fixtures, etc. most of Thursday night. It's just too soon to know exactly the extent of the damage to anything (include my sizable media collection and home theater set up), but we've spent most of this weekend trying to pack our undamaged goods so we can move most everything to a storage unit. There's no electricity, so our packing tends to wrap up around 6pm, when it gets too dark in the unit to really do work.

We were lucky to a degree, we had a roof repair crew build us a temporary roof beginning very early the next morning, and since that was done, no additional water has come into our place, but that hasn't stopped the smell of mold from starting to set in. The paint is peeling, and the ceiling in a couple of spots is looking scary--like they may drop down on our heads at any minute. This is the same for all of the other units. As a result, everyone in the building has to move out. The contractor's estimates keep changing as to how long we'll be out of the building while they essentially gut most of it and rebuild. At first he said three months, but lately, he was saying possibly six months, maybe more. Our insurance company should have an extended-stay place to stay by Tuesday or Wednesday. We're staying with friends now in the suburbs.

Our friends have been unbelievably gracious. We had about 15 people out at our place on Saturday to help us pack up everything. We couldn't have done it without them, and we'll never forget it, or be able to repay them for how generous they were with their time, sweat, and supplies. The last few days have been physically and mentally exhausting, depressing, infuriating, and frustrating. But we're luckier than some, including our neighbors and other people on our block who are going through exactly the same thing.

I asked Harry if I could write this to you guys, partly because it's sort of what we do at AICN. We don't just review films, we also let you peek into our silly lives. This annoys the piss out of some of you, I know, but if Harry's wedding coverage proved anything to me, it's the readership, more often than not, seems to enjoy the personal touches this site has to offer. But more than anything, it just feels good to get all of this out and straighten out the events of the last couple of days in my head. In my entire nine years as a writer for AICN, I've never felt the need to get quite this personal. But extreme times call for extreme measures.

Some local readers that I'm friendly with have been asking me if there's anything they can do to help, and I'm certainly not coming to you guys with hat in hand. But if you feel compelled, my wife has set up a PayPal donation button at her website ChronicBabe.Com, so if people want to help, they can do that. Neither of us will be able to work for a while so any pennies will help. But make no mistake, good thoughts are a big help too. The Paypal button is a photo of a nice lady saying "We can't run this site without you, young lady!" and if you click it, you'll go right to the donation page at Paypal. Harry also suggested that I include my P.O. Box, so here it is:

Steve (Capone) Prokopy
c/o Ain't It Cool News
3712 N Broadway Ave., #628
Chicago, IL 60613

For the next few months, this is our only mailing address. I'm not sure what Harry thinks people might send, but I guess it could be fun finding out.

Our main objective right now is getting into our new place ASAP, and setting up our home offices right away. We both desperately want to re-establish some sort of routine to our daily lives again--me with my screenings, reviews, and interviews; and my wife with her freelance writing. So if you don't hear from me for a little while, hopefully I've explained why. But I can't wait to get back in the swing of things and suffer the abuse of Talkbackers in the very near future. Thanks for indulging me, everyone. See you soon. I've got one more interview to send your way in the next day or two that I completed just before this nightmare started. I think you'll like it. Until then...

Capone

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