Cars have been blowing up, guys have been jumping off buildings and the Magnificent Mile was even closed off. No, we aren't under attack here in Chicago. It's justthe effects used in the current filming of the newest installment of the Transformers series.

A week or two ago I went downtown on the way to meet friends for dinner to get a quick peak of the action. After wandering around the financial district with no luck finding the shoot location, I saw a large explosion out of the corner of my eye.

Found it.

LaSalle Street looked like a war zone. The pavement appeared to be ripped out of the ground and cars were on fire. It looked awesome. Unfortunately I could not get any pics of this due to the set security prohibiting it.

Luckily, the semi used as Optimus Prime came driving around the corner. Photos of that were allowed, so I along with a ton of other people obliged.

I've seen one other movie being shot in my neighborhood already but it's cool to see these things in person. It's one of the perks of living in a very photogenic city.