The listed events were chosen by the editors of Chicagoist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla. Film Have you heard the new place to play hooky is the Portage Theater's classic Wednesday matinée series? Last week it was the Marx Brothers at their most anarchic. This week Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald star in "I Married an Angel." This classic 1942 fantasy features some classic Rogers and Hart songs sung beautifully......

This is the first photo emerging of Stephen (we're also seeing it spelled Steven, but NIU announced it as a ph) Kazmierczak, the gunman in yesterday's shootings at NIU. Reports this morning were that a sixth victim had died, but that apparently was a miscommunication between all the hospitals: five victims and the shooter have died. According to NIU, the victims are Daniel Parmenter, age 20, last of Westchester, Ill. Catalina Garcia, age 20, last......

Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

The foggy mist that hung over Chicago Monday night seemed a perfect backdrop to a mystical experience with local psychic Patrick O’Brien at RoSal’s Restaurant in Little Italy. O'Brien visits RoSal’s twice a month to hold mini psychic readings for the pasta-loving crowd. Even those of us intrigued by psychics are often put off by the dozens of 900 number-type, big fat fakers out there. But there’s hope. Anyone seeking a more worthwhile experience than......

As every committed localvore knows, the best way to get fresh local produce (aside from a farmer’s market) is to join a CSA. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a farm that has decided to sell directly to the public. By investing several hundred dollars in the spring, you can receive deliveries of fresh produce throughout the summer and fall. However, some of us aren’t ready to commit several hundred dollars up front to the......

Love fades. Existence kills our dreams. It’s all shite in the end anyway. Conor McPherson’s characters pull few punches in Shining City, the young Irish master’s latest offering, where two generations come to terms with the past in a “new” Ireland. Provinciality is out, WiFi is in, as national and personal identity face a low-grade crisis. To his credit, McPherson addresses these issues with subtlety and humor in a script that shows growth from The......

The above study in irresponsible parenting, "CARMICHAEL & shane" by Alex Weinress and Rob Carlton, is just one of the finalists to make it into the Chicago Short Film Brigade's Best of 2007 lineup that will be screening tonight at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Thirteen films have been selected from the 52 shorts that were screened in the Short Film Brigade's four 2007 episodes, and one lucky winner will walk away at the......

--The Midwest Independent Film Festival starts a new season on Tuesday with the world premiere of Osso Bucco, which was produced in Chicago. The comedy revolves around disparate types stuck in an Italian restaurant during a massive snowstorm. Doesn't sound like such a terrible situation. The movie stars Illeana Douglas, who we've had a sort of crush on ever since Grace of My Heart. Several other cast members as well as the filmmakers will......

Grapevines, like everything else in nature, have a limited life span. The older a vine becomes, the less fruit it produces. But the fruit that these vines yield is bursting with flavor and character that like fruit from younger vines lack. It takes a patient winemaker to make a quality wine from this fruit. The Gnarly Head vineyard in Lodi, California is highly regarded for the quality of their old vine zinfandel. Before trellising......

Major League Baseball's annual election results will be announced today, and a couple of former Chicago players hope to cross the magic threshold from paying customers to inductees in Cooperstown. Voted on by the Baseball Writers of America, players become eligible five years after retiring and must receive votes on 75 percent of ballots. Andre Dawson, a Wrigley favorite during his time with the Cubs, anxiously awaits today's announcement. Will "The Hawk" finally be admitted......

With the proliferation each year of "best of" lists, you'd think that the human mind divided up its cinematic experiences and memories in tidy, discreet yearly blocks of time. It ain't so. Great movies do not have "sell by" dates; instead, they're as fresh as whatever day you end up seeing them for the first time. It applies equally to brand-new films you've been anticipating for months and unearthed treasures you never expected to......

This was a good year to be a large cultural institution. If cuts in state arts funding and unstable financial markets made a dent in Chicago’s largest museums, they sure weren’t letting on. The Art Institute remained one of the city’s prime attractions, attracting hordes of frugal visitors on free Thursday nights to piece together Richard Misrach’s disorienting beach photography and William Pope.L’s naïvely charming travelogue, or to enjoy Jeff Wall’s mind-bending photography — his......

Combine kitschy decor, deliciously moist cupcakes and a heart-warming tale, and what do you get? The most adorable bakery to hit Chicago in recent memory. Molly's Cupcakes, located at 2536 N. Clark (between Wrightwood and Deming), opened just a week ago. Combining the right blend of food, hospitality, and kitsch, we don't envision it having any trouble finding a warm spot in the hearts of Lakeview denizens. Although they also offer brownies, mini-pies, and other......

It's another big week for Oprah. Oprah has a new reality show in the works. She's planning a film version of the stage version of the film version of the book "The Color Purple." She went to the premiere of her movie, "The Great Debaters" with Denzel, and best of all, Oprah's been fugged.......

Besides free booze at office parties, too much rich food, and the stress of gift buying, the holiday season also brings a couple of music-centric certainties: "Best Of" lists and benefit concerts. Keep an eye on Chicagoist for the former, and break out your taste for lutefisk tonight for the latter. Schubas will play host to a show benefiting the Swedish Covenant Hospital and featuring a lineup ripe with Chicagoist faves, playing both original music......

Our pal Gena was at the John C. Reilly/Dewey Cox thing yesterday (where she took the picture above and a hundred others), and she tells us Reilly-as-Cox was amazing, "never breaking character and ad libbing with the best of them, sweating like a rock star and gyrating like one, too." He also busted out a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab," which we want to hear so very badly. She adds, "The band was remarkably......

The Chicago Blackhawks suffered only their second back-to back loss of the season on Wednesday and the first one in over a month. Something Blackhawks fans are not used to. The Blackhawks' 3-2 loss to the Canucks came in the first of a four-game home stand that continues tonight versus the Anaheim Ducks. Eight of the next ten Blackhawks games are at home, which is good news. They could use some home-ice advantage to help......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

U.S. Soccer announced the selections for the 2007 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards and Chicago has several representatives in the competition. For Best Fan Atmosphere Chicago's Soldier Field gets two nods: one for this sSummer's Gold Cup Final in which the United States defeated Mexico and the other for the U.S. game versus Brazil in September. Chicagoist is voting for the Gold Cup game--it wasn't the most pro-U.S. crowd, but the fans filling Soldier field......

When Mission Of Burma reunited for a few shows a couple years ago we thought it was nice the old men were getting back together and getting some of the attention they certainly deserved. When we heard the reunion was going to be more or less permanent, we sort of prayed they wouldn't record a new album. They did anyway, and while we enjoyed it, we ultimately thought, "meh." Then they went ahead and......

Select Media Fest 6 (warning: flashy link) kicks off tonight and runs through November 17. Public Media Institute’s celebration goes sci-fi, transforming their exhibition space into the CPS1 space colony. This year’s interstellar gatherings include a Saturday night film screening at the Hideout, the SANDWITCH zine’s Sunday night launch, and weeklong discussions of democracy at Loyola. A festival pass is $25 and no program costs more than $10. Dance Chicago continues through early December at......

If comics are an addiction, Tom Seymour is our dealer. The manager of the Lincoln Park location of Graham Cracker Comics combines a passion for all things geek with an encyclopedic knowledge that manages never to come off as elitist. Now you can catch the best of Tom on his OnNetworks internet show, “Bif! Bam! Pow! Wow!.” The quirky title is the only thing forced about the show. Each episode features Tom’s rants and raves......

One of our favorite seasonal beers at Chicagoist was Goose Island Oktoberfest lager. Our major issue with the beer was that the brewery always ran out of it by early September, right before Oktoberfest celebrations were just starting to kick into high gear. Besides, Goose Island's forte isn't lagers, anyway. With the exception of 312, they're all about brewing bold ales and bitters. We were caught slightly by surprise when Goose Island retired their Oktoberfest......

Last night, over a hundred people filled the Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea roasting facilities on West Fulton for a tasting of La Esmeralda Especial, the Panamanian Geisha coffee that made headlines in May when Intelligentsia paid $130 a pound for the beans at the "Best of Panama" auction. For the event, both Intelligentsia coffee buyer Geoff Watts and La Esmeralda estate owner Daniel Peterson were on hand to discuss the coffee and why it's become,......

The October foodie calendar kicks off in a major way Monday night when Intelligentsia hosts a tasting of the fabled Panamanian Hacienda La Esmeralda at their Fulton Street roasting works. Last May, Intelligentsia made headlines for purchasing 100 pounds of La Esmeralda for $130 a pound at the Best of Panama auction (okay, carry the one … yeah! That’s a lot of money for coffee). It’s the highest amount ever paid for coffee. On October......

Let's start with a tough question: Who is Chicago's greatest filmmaker? When it comes to experimental film some might advocate for James Fotopoulos, whose output is both prodigious and relentlessly probing. When it comes to documentaries, Steve James is more than formidable. And on the narrative end of things although neither Andrew Davis nor John Landis quite make the grade, they've both had their moments. We would argue that the title should go to Tom......

If you’re not totally familiar with The Hideout, you’re not alone. It’s not called “The Hideout” for no reason – it’s tucked away amidst warehouses and a U.S.P.S. processing center in the gritty industrial neighborhood just south of the North Branch of the Chicago River. A hand-painted “Hideout Block Party, an unpretentious celebration of local, national, and international talent that ends in a nice donation to charity, and this year’s lineup challenges Pitchfork for the......

Note: This post has nothing to do with Lollapalooza. Tonight marks the return of Impress These Apes, the comedy octathalon demanding creativity, versatility and a wicked sense of humor. Eight contestants face eight different performance challenges over eight weeks. We missed last year's competition but, thanks to YouTube, are still getting a good chuckle from the dance routines, videos, and goofy spectacles it produced. Now eight new contestants are vying for the most impressive crown.......

Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." So it seems with Bucktown's Scylla. Bon Apetit's annual restaurants issue comes out this week, and according to "the Extrovert" blog at Metromix, Bucktown's Scylla merits inclusion (the only Chicago restaurant to do so, apparently). And even that is for their grilled lamb with curried vegetables and grape and pine nut gremolata, not the inventive approach to seafood that earned the......

While our White Sox managed to tie the KC Royals in the AL Central basement earlier this week, the Cubs are quickly closing in on the other end of the standings. Ted Lilly had another strong outing for the Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Wednesday night. With the win -- combined with the Milwaukee Brewers' loss -- moved the Cubs to within just two games of first in the NL Central. The......