Urbana native Nina Paley's animated feature Sita Sings the Blues found heaps of praise when it appeared in 2008, winning the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and garnering lots of Big Apple love upon its U.S. debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. Eventually the quirky labor of love found its most eloquent and highest profile champion in Roger Ebert, who penned a virtual love letter to the film. The reception has not been as warm this month in Queens, where a planned screening has run into protests from some in the Hindu community. more ›

If Reagan-era debates about tax cuts and "government waste" don't already have you feeling like D.C. has turned back the clock to the 1980s, how about some good old fashioned culture war, with bonus AIDS politics? more ›

One of the best late night tv bits is Jimmy Kimmel's "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship." It appeals to our more juvenile impulses. We especially love it wwhen the censorship is applied to "Sesame Street" clips, such as this one featuring the Count. more ›

There's more trouble brewing over the student newspaper over at Stevenson High. Already having been through one controversy last winter over a gossip edition - an incident which led to the resignation of the paper's adviser - this week's edition of the paper has been spiked by school administrators over more controversial stories that were to run. The trouble began with plans for a front-page story about the National Honor Society and freshmen mentors program which included references to students admitting they drank and smoked, behavior that's a no-no for members of those programs. Administrators threatened the paper's staff that they would seek the names of those students and discipline them accordingly. So rather than give up the sources, the staff decided to run a blank front page with a simple note explaining why the story had been pulled. But it didn't end there. The Trib explains: more ›

Thanks to the actions of a Chicago-based ex-gay advocacy group, many libraries nationwide have found themselves in a precarious position on the topic of reparative therapy - i.e. attempts to de-gay the gay. Opponents of pro-gay books have called for everything from public book burnings to tarred-and-feathered library directors. more ›

Earlier this week, the identity of the man behind the original Obama Joker photo was revealed: Firas Alkhateeb, a student at the University of Illinois. Now, Alkhateeb isn't responsible for those "Socialism" posters that have gotten everyone in a tizzy out in Los Angeles. But Alkhateeb did originally post his Photoshop experiment on image hosting website Flickr. Until recently, when Flickr decided to delete the image. Thomas Hawk has more on this issue, as well as a great overview on Flickr's statement on the matter. TechCrunch also has an interesting take and looks at Flickr getting delete happy by shutting down a forum dedicated to the topic of the image. more ›

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit against the CTA yesterday alleging the transit agency was infringing upon their first amendment rights by refusing to display ads for "mature audience" video games. Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, said in a statement: more ›

The adviser for the Stevenson High School newspaper will resign the post after changes were made to the program due to fall-out from the controversial sex issue that set tongues wagging a few months ago. While Barbara Thill will remain at the school as a full-time English teacher, she has said she will no longer teach journalism or be adviser to "The Statesman," the school newspaper. The issue that started this mess was published in January and centered around the topic of "hooking up." more ›

Barney Rosset is the most famous person you've never heard of. But you've probably heard of some of the authors he's published: Samuel Beckett, D.H Lawrence, Henry Miller, Jean Genet, Malcolm X and William S. Burroughs just to name a few. Born into a wealthy Chicago family, he grew up here in the city and attended the Francis W. Parker School (where one of his classmates was filmmaker Haskell Wexler). more ›

A Rolling Meadows jury recently determined whether kindergarten teacher and "cascade of golden blond curls" possessor Deborah Maybach should be found guilty of disorderly conduct for her June 1 protest of semi-nude art photography at the Promenade of Art festival in Arlington Heights. At issue was Maybach's manner of expressing her discontent with photos by Georgia photographer Jana Epstein, which Maybach worried were too provocative for children's eyes. In addition to raising First Amendment concerns, the case also focused on whether Maybach was "calm and reasonable" in her protest, as her attorney says, or "running back and forth like a goalie" in attempting to shield the photos from view, as asserted by the state. The jury, apparently sympathetic to Maybach's "what about the children?" stance, acquitted. more ›