What do The Gap, American Airlines, the main titles for Little Miss Sunshine and Royal Bank of Scotland have in common? They all use the same typeface: Helvetica. Born in 1957 its clean, "neutral" look was revolutionary. 50 years later, and it's omnipresent. If you keep your eyes peeled you'll see it everywhere around you, on practically every city street, in every newspaper and magazine and, most of all, in advertising. Why? As Finlo... more ›

Perhaps it is the image of Jennifer Hudson walking down the red carpet at the Academy Awards, but we've been getting inundated with talk of the event. The barrage has had its affect though, we have some Oscar related events for you this weekend, well except for one that involves vintage beer drinking, but we all need a break some time. We are all about gluttony and package deals this weekend, enjoy! We would suggest... more ›

In two short days the 79th Academy Awards will be presented, and this will cause two things to happen. First, people will immediately start whining about what won and what didn't win. Second, our list of Oscar predictions will probably look ridiculous. Since hindsight is always 20/20, undoubtedly we have made some stupendous blunders. (Where's Karnak when you need him?) But it's all in good fun. Unlike predicting the Super Bowl or election results, our... more ›

Now that the Super Bowl is finally over, we can at last turn our attention to things which are truly important ... like The Oscars. Really we wanted to talk to you about this last week, but a hunch told us that it just wouldn't register. The Oscars are now less than three weeks away. Speculation is flying fast and furious. Maureen Ryan at the Trib is whining about how Hollywood "seems to have gone... more ›

Oscar fever has got us doing cartwheels all over the Chicagoist offices, as well as placing more than a few friendly wagers over who will be taking home those expensive doorstops come February 25th. But that’s not the only thing going down in the film world at the moment. A little gathering in Park City, Utah called the Sundance Film Festival has been underway since last week. And lest you shrug your shoulders indifferently just... more ›

Oscar nominations are out, and for the second year in a row, there were few surprises save for one notable exception. Confounding the experts and flying in the face of several critics’ awards, Dreamgirls did not pick up nominations for either best picture or best director. The film was a victim of an underdog victory by Clint Eastwood’s film Letters from Iwo Jima. It may also have been a pre-emptive strike on the kind of... more ›

An unfortunate side effect to the blustery and icy wind is that our mailbox jams for the postal worker. We normally get started in the morning by popping in a movie to get the wheels turning and drinking exorbitant amounts of coffee to shake off those gin and tonics from the night before. We imagine our postal worker is still carrying around those Netflix movies in her pouch, because this morning we've got nothing. So... more ›

In the movies, traveling around with a dead guy makes for great comedy (see Weekend at Bernie’s, Little Miss Sunshine). In real life, it’s just, well, kinda gross, and sad. But that’s exactly what a Grayslake woman did this weekend when her 80-year-old father died on a cross-country Amtrak trip. Daniel Stepanovich of Hammond, Ind., passed away somewhere around Glenwood Springs, Colo., but he wasn’t officially pronounced dead until just after midnight on Tuesday, seven... more ›