The Music Box is the only place in the Country where audiences can enjoy this classic's in its sparkling, rejuvenated form. With a week-long run starting today and multiple showings each day, Raiders will surely make a good cinematic excursion for the holiday week. more ›

Archaeologists, students, and volunteers from Illinois have discovered a Native American settlement in Illinois, just south of Jerseyville (which is dangerously close to Missouri). The excavation sites near Jerseyville hint that this Native American settlement could be around 1,400 years old. Moreover, there is a four-lane highway being built through the area of the excavation site, so the dig is scheduled to conclude before the completion of the highway. In an effort to complete the dig before the highway becomes viable, archaeologists have discovered that regions east and west of the pending highway have different characteristics in terms of what sort of archaeological evidence they hold. ">From NBC 5: more ›

Authorities discovered an artifact find worthy of Indiana Jones. But rather than a cave or an ancient temple, this collection was found in a house in Berwyn. Over 3,500 artifacts - including terracotta figurines, letters from popes, and a handwritten manuscript by Benito Mussolini - were discovered at the home of John Sisto when he died over two years ago. And now, after an extensive investigation, federal authorities have determined that around 1,600 of the artifacts - valued at between $5 million and $10 million - had been stolen in Italy and shipped to the U.S. to be sold. FBI spokesman Ross Rice said the stolen artifacts will be returned to Italy and added no criminal charges related to theft, transportation or possession of stolen artifacts would be filed against the Sisto family by U.S. authorities. Since the items were shipped out of Italy in violation of that nation's Cultural Property Laws, charges related to those violations rests with Italian authorities. The other 2,000 artifacts - which were of indeterminate origin - were returned to the Sisto family. According to the Tribune's report: more ›

In the first three movies, the university where Dr. Jones teaches is scrupulously unmentioned. In fact, the university scenes in Raiders were shot in California and England. However the movie does tell us that Jones attended University of Chicago as a student. There were even a few episodes of the TV series that took place in Chicago (with cameos by historical figures like Elliot Ness and Ernest Hemingway). Might the new installment make the Hyde Park connection more explicit? more ›

Monday night, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star Shia LeBeouf humorously recounted on The Late Show the circumstances behind his November arrest at a Chicago Walgreens last November. He told David Letterman how the trouble began from having too much of the ol’ “magic sauce,” then thrice marching from his hotel to Walgreens (we remember it being the one at Michigan and Chicago Ave.) to buy cigarettes, getting distracted by acne cream and gummy bears, and his swelling drunken frustration, which ultimately led to a scuffle with the Walgreens security guard and a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge. more ›

We know the Cubs have upcoming games against Padres and Pirates... but aarcheologists? more ›

Most of us watched the Oscars last night, while others of us found something else to do, but either way, we were happy to see another Chicago-area native bringing home an award. Writer Diablo Cody, author of the excellent year-as-a-stripper memoir, Candy Girl, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the teen-pregnancy comedy Juno. While it was the only Oscar for the critical darling little-movie-that-could, it's another addition to the growing list of awards both the film and Ms. Cody have racked up so far. Diablo, accepted the award from Indiana Jones and was on the verge of tears during her acceptance speech (see below). Giving props to her fellow nominees and the cast and crew of her film, Ms. Cody seemed genuinely shocked, excited, and overwhelmed by the award and recognition. We wish Ms. Cody luck on her skyrocketing career and can only imagine the heights of cinematic excellence that could be reached if she were given a crack at something like, say, the next Harry Potter movie. We might actually pay to see that. more ›

The official trailer for is out. more ›

Shia LaBeouf, whose work on Even Stevens we still remember fondly, was arrested early yesterday morning for refusing to leave the Walgreens at 757 N. Michigan. Sigh. That's a good Walgreens. A security guard asked LaBeouf to leave the store because the actor appeared drunk, but LaBeouf refused, and eventually the police came and arrested him on charges of criminal trespassing. LaBeouf is in town filming a movie. According to IMDb, LaBeouf only has two... more ›

Ring the alarm! Beyonce's on the lookout for a whopping 40 back-up dancers, and she's coming to Chicago on her search. She searched in Atlanta and Los Angeles before stopping in her hometown of Houston, TX, on Saturday for another round. New York and Chicago are her final two stops. Thirty dancers will be chosen from each city and flown to L.A. or New York, where the final 40 will emerge. The open call for... more ›

Chicago has three new certified geniuses. Field Museum naturalist Steven Goodman, University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy, and U of C oncologist Funmi Olopade received so-called "genius grants" from the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation. Each of them was named a MacArthur Fellow, the coveted prize that nets them $500,000 over the next five years, "no strings attached," to continue their work. No word as to whether the prizes will be awarded by Ed McMahon in the form of giant cardboard checks. more ›

Two decades of work studying animals in Madagascar paid off for local Field Museum biologist Steve Goodman. You see, German and Malagasy scientists discovered two new species of lemurs and named one of them after Goodman. more ›