There are two circus shows in town for the summer: Cirque du Soleil’s new show Kooza premiered last week, and that other Cirque circus show opened at Navy Pier earlier in June. So that got us to thinking, what if we're moved to join the circus? Where can we go to learn a skill like, say, the trapeze? Admit it, you've thought the same thing. Here are a few local options for expanding your trapeze......

If you're looking for some breezy fun on a big-ass screen, you could do a lot worse than Kung Fu Panda, which opens tomorrow at Navy Pier's IMAX. You can probably guess the story of this new 'toon from the title. Po (voiced by Jack Black) works at his dad's noodle shop until he stumbles upon his destiny: he is the chosen Dragon Warror and must defeat an evil kung fu tiger, or something. The......

Re-imagining any children’s story by author Roald Dahl is a shoo-in for a fun and lucrative undertaking, as Dahl’s stories are both beloved and well known. Adaptations of Dahl’s work have been fairly consistent in the Chicago theater scene, with the BFG running at DePaul University’s Theater School last year, the multi-media show done by The Annoyance in March, and the Emerald City Theater’s puppet production of James and the Giant Peach closing last month.......

The Green Festival, the nation’s largest green living event, continues again tomorrow at Navy Pier. Healthy and green, you won’t find any elephant ears to snack on, or have to rub elbows with fat folks in this crowd. Instead, you’ll find organic snacks made with fair trade practices and vegan lasagna. There are all sorts of fashion accessories hand-crafted from hemp, or elephant dung paper, and stuff for your home like thermal shades or rooftop......

The 44th annual Chicago International Film Festival, Cinema/Chicago, and Warner Brothers have teamed up to treat Chicagoans to an advance screening of the newest Batman installment, The Dark Knight. Well, more specifically, you will have to treat yourself, since tickets to the gala event are $150 apiece. The Dark Knight Gala will feature a tribute to director Christopher Nolan, and dinner following the IMAX screening, shown two days before the movie’s official release on July......

Last March, Wheel of Fortune came into town to tape three weeks of shows, and Navy Pier’s Festival Hall was gussied up to serve a dual purpose – half of the hall was transformed into a shiny Wheel of Fortune set, while the other half was roped off into a holding corral for the thousands that came to catch a free taping. The episodes filmed in Chicago have been airing since Monday, and since the......

Get excited, Chicago: entertainment mogul and the woman responsible for hits such as “Bug a Boo,” “Nasty Girl” and “Bootylicious” is coming! Beyonce will be spending time in Chicago doing research for her upcoming film Cadillac Records where she will not only take on the role of executive producer but will also star as legendary singer Etta James. No word yet on when she will actually arrive, but we’re certain well know as soon as......

Oh man, we almost forgot about the Children's Museum debate! Luckily, Alderman Brendan Reilly wants to keep it front and center, which is why he sent the Museum a list of 24 possible places it could relocate that aren't Grant Park: + Museum Campus + Northerly Island + Logan Square + Garfield Park Conservatory + Pritzker Park + Washington Park + Bronzeville + Calumet Park + Englewood + State and Van Buren + McCormick Place......

Wheel of Fortune is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and the gang is heading to Pat Sajak’s hometown, Chicago, to tape three weeks of shows. Shows will be taped afternoons and evenings at Navy Pier during March 7, 8, and 9. Request your tickets now. It will probably be similar to that one time we went to a Jerry Springer show: we'll probably have to wait in a long line, go through heavy security,......

If you’re lucky, your toddler will be asleep, blissfully unaware when the last minutes of 2007 tick by. An earlier bed time doesn’t mean that he or she has to miss out on the festivities, though; a handful of places in and around Chicago are hosting New Year’s Eve parties for the little ones, with dancing, snacks and party favors at an earlier countdown. Rosedale Park on the northwest side is hosting their third annual......

We love us some Xmas movies; but frankly there are plenty of swell, non-Holiday movie events coming up as well: -- The new Will Smith flick I Am Legend opens. Big deal, right? Well, if you're a fan of the Richard Matheson novel or of the previous cinematic incarnations like we are, then yes it is. To sweeten the deal we've just learned that a six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight will be shown beforehand,......

Mike Madigan made it seem like he was ready to deal this week, with a letter to state legislators saying that he'd endorse a bill to expand gaming in the state in order to fund roads and schools. In announcing his "compromise", he said he is "willing to embrace compromise and offer a sincere, serious proposal that will receive my full support and backing." That expansion may not happen, though, as some lawmakers have enough......

Listen up all you single residents of Chicago: Andy Eliason, of The Canadian, "Canada's new socially progressive and cross-cultural national newspaper," has some dating advice for you in his piece, "Things to do when you are single in Chicago." He says if you are single in Chicago, the first thing you need to do is "find someone else who happens to be single in Chicago, and you have to be willing to take the steps......

Even before we moved to Chicago we were aware of Poi Dog Pondering, thanks to a splashy ad in Rolling Stone for their album Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea. Their song "Thanksgiving," from the aforementioned album, always pops into our playlist this time of year; and it was really cool to see them open for David Byrne a few years back at Navy Pier. However, their newest foray comes as something......

We mentioned last week that Pinot Days hits Navy Pier this weekend. There are some auxiliary events in conjunction with the grand festival, running from 1 - 4 p.m. tomorrow. 312 Chicago is hosting a winemakers dinner this evening from 7 - 11 p.m. The $120 price tag allows diners access to sample 18 different award winning pinots, including a four-course meal (each course paired with two different pinots) and the chance to ask burning......

A few minutes walk from Bubba Gump, Shakespeare Theater and the IMAX is this weekend’s Exposition of Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago, bringing around 100 similarly eclectic galleries to Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. Considering the show’s artistic star power and the stacks of bills changing hands, Friday afternoon seemed positively mellow. Visitors seemed more intent on finding that perfect trinket for their living room or personal adornment than investing in the next Picasso.......

That last hour on Fridays always seems to take forever. At least there's plenty of cool stuff cooking this weekend: Don't forget: Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday. Get ready to fall back. Blade Runner: The Final Cut is playing at the Music Box. Local critics have been shitting their pants over how great it is. The SOFA Expo is in town. That's the Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art, and it's tickle your......

The November 10 dinner at Bonsoiree sponsored by the International Wine and Food Society's Northern Illinois Chapter we listed a few weeks back is now sold out. Shaw's Crab House will be serving Nantucket Cape Scallops beginning this month. The highly regarded scallops are only available for a limited time. Cyrano's Bistrot has just added a early bird/pre-theatre fixed price special for autumn. enjoy an appetizer and entree or entree and dessert for only......

Bottled water has become something of an unlikely scapegoat in recent months, with corporate watchdog groups pressuring major conglomerates to come clean about how their waters are sourced and our own city council looking at a tax on bottled water to help close the deficit in next year's budget. Tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. the watchdog group Corporate Accountability International, 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas (who proposed the tax on bottled water in August), members......

Working Mother magazine's annual Top 100 companies for, yes, working mothers includes eight Illinois businesses. Speaking of working mothers, congratulations to Lisa Madigan and her husband Pat, who are expecting their second child. The Pacific Garden Mission is leaving its spot on S. State and moving to 1458 S. Canal. Archdiocese of Chicago has to pay $19 million to a family whose son sustained permanent cognitive injuries after a TV set fell on his......

The debate over the Chicago Children's Museum plan to relocate to Grant Park has escalated since Monday’s neighborhood meeting at Daley Bicentennial Plaza. There, museum officials introduced plans for a more sunken, environmentally friendly design adjacent to the Plaza. The Museum’s growth has been remarkable. Founded in 1982 in two Chicago Public Library hallways, it’s since moved three times, most recently to Navy Pier in 1995. Twelve years later, they’ve apparently outgrown that tourist magnet.......

We intended to write a post this week on making our own tomato sauce as something to do with all the tomatoes in our garden, but we never got around to it. As you can see, it's pretty easy to do, and if you click here you'll see the recipe we used. We ran the sauce through a food mill to give it a coarse texture and remove excess water with the intent of using......

The most popular museum in the world is the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., which sees nearly 9 million visitors come through its doors each year. So it is no surprise that Chicago's Annual Air & Water Show is the largest two-day spectator event in the United States, with audience numbers reaching nearly 2.5 million. The free annual event is back for its 49th edition and has a great line-up ready to......

If you’ve played along Chicago’s lakefront this summer, then you may have noticed the 124 sculpted, painted globes designed by artists with the intent to inspire and empower the public to take action against global warming. Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet dots the lakefront north of the Field Museum and at Navy Pier. “Cool Globes presents a vast array of solutions with a clear message: We can solve the problem,” the exhibit’s......

The largest art gallery event in Chicago that doesn’t involve Navy Pier or the Merchandise Mart, Vision 12 kicks off tonight with more than 30 gallery openings in River North and River West. New shows, plenty of group shows, run the gamut from university final projects to more established portfolios. The two week celebration of gallery goodness is presented by the Art Dealers Association of Chicago, who have, appropriately enough, chosen “the business of Art”......

The Spire got zoning approval. Chicago Real Estate Daily is a new site from Crain's that covers ... you got it ... real estate. The closed down Esquire Theater is going to become a 120-room hotel. A teenager went missing during a field trip to Navy Pier yesterday. Juan Luna was found guilty of the Brown's Chicken murders. "Madre" via pantagrapher.......

A fire on the roof of the Heller International Building at 500 W. Monroe St. broke out just before noon today. We've been seeing lots and lots of smoke, but aren't sure how large the actual fire is. The Trib isn't reporting any injuries — yet — but that hasn't stopped the media from hurrying over. Between the sirens, the helicopters and the fire trucks racing around, it sort of feels like a war......

We have a slight obsession with chimpanzees, they are fascinating and mysterious animals and one of the premier scholars on chimpanzee behavior, Jane Goodall, just finished up the first conference on how chimpanzees think. She will be giving a sold out lecture at the Navy Pier later today. The conference comes at a time when the chimpanzee population in Africa is declining. According to Goodall there were approximately 1 million chimps in 25 countries across......

Last night, the American Institute of Architects’ Illinois chapter announced their “150 Greatest Places in Illinois.” And no, your bedroom’s not on the list. Commemorating 150 years of highlighting our state’s “built environment,” the AIAIL 150 is a what’s-what of places historically significant, uniquely designed, or really frickin’ cool. Chicagoland’s dominion extends beyond safe, popular choices like Wrigley Field, Sears Tower and Navy Pier to include the northwest side’s Schurz High School (a Prairie School......

Starting this Sunday, Snake Punch Union will play for 3 Sundays at The Playground Theater. Nicky Hilton is getting sued by a Chicago development group for breach of contract. Interficio (Mobile Assassins) are coming to Chicago. Knowing our luck, we'd be targeted by someone with a real gun! What else could we sell to make some money for the city? Oh, how about Midway airport? On March 25 from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.,......