More fascinated by Kelis' milkshake than Daniel Plainview's? Is the only Oscar you'll watch living in a garbage can? Then this Sunday probably means nothing to you. You're burnt out on the "glitz" and "glamor" of the night, not to mention the drama surrounding that writers strike. Of course, it's never too early to make alternative plans! While all your friends and compulsive gamblers are setting up their Oscar pools and getting ready to check......

Chic-a-go-go Host Mia Park ...

There has been a (baby) rash of Nativity crime in Chicagoland over the past few years, and this year’s organizers of the Nativity scene (known as the “God Squad”) in Daley Plaza have taken steps to help curb the thefts--the baby Jesus is chained down like a toddler on a leash. The God Squad has faith he’s not going anywhere this year. A Tribune expose has revealed the Baby Jesus has been stolen numerous times......

Batman flew off to Hong Kong. Here's what he'll be missing: Coming up: As we’ve mentioned, Kumail Nanjiani is a funny, funny man. Now he’s ditching us for New York. Send him off Thursday night at The Hideout, where he’ll pay tribute to Jonathan Messinger and his new book. It’s your last chance to see Kumail before he gets mega-famous or chewed up by the Gotham comedy scene. The young performers at Thirteen Pocket Productions......

Having attended the Printers Ball in the past, we knew that the free-to-all-comers event would attract more than its fair share of people. We also hoped that having Bridgeport's Zhou B Center host this year's model would allow for more accommodation of guests. We had intended to show up as the Zhou B Center is practically in our backyard, but decided to first pay our respects to the recently departed. Unfortunately, as we were making......

Chicagoist doesn't think about poetry much. Oh, sure, we acknowledge its timeless beauty and reason for being, mostly through the cramped pages of our high school notebooks. And we recognize its innate role in the magical media of music — after all, "my hump" and "my lumps" rhyme sublimely, do they not? Surely it must be Fate. But we jest. Overall we take poetry for granted, preferring instead the down-to-earth words of novels and stories.......

It doesn't seem fair when talented up-and-coming theater companies struggle to attract time-starved critics focused on more established institutions and touring shows. Recently, we’ve been part of the problem, reviewing the same productions covered by virtually every other media outlet in town. So now we ask you: what have we been missing? Next month, Chicagoist will turn its attention to performers still craving attention and respect from the MSM. Email us and explain, in 200......

You’ve won a Grammy with Kanye West, you’ve bested Eminem in a freestyle battle, you’ve even got a recording contract and your own Crank Yankers puppet. That’s all good, Rhymefest. But how will you fare in Chicago’s super competitive theater scene? We’ll soon find out. The rapper born Che Smith will premiere Che, a hip hop musical/concert/performance art piece based on his Jeffrey Manor childhood, right around the time his next album drops. He’s working......

Most of us know Crispin Glover from the role which he will be forever associated with: that of Marty McFly’s dad in Back to the Future. (His most famous line of dialog, of course, “Get your damn hands off her!”) But aside from the dozens of quirky performances he’s given over the years (the Christmas-obsessed weirdo in Wild at Heart being our favorite), Mr. Glover is also an accomplished artist, writer, musician and filmmaker. He......

College is a time of experimentation. You take some classes that have no discernible real-world applications and listen to bands that smell like patchouli. Maybe you cozy up to someone you wouldn’t otherwise get to know. Or maybe you cover yourself in tomatoes and call it art. On Sunday, ten people at UIC took part in a performance art piece that involved throwing 3000 pounds of stewed tomatoes at each other. It was part of......

No, we aren't referring to the NSA, or to the Cubs' talent scouts. We here at Chicagoist feel that it's never too early to get into the Halloween spirit. And that's why tonight you'll find us at the wonderful Siskel Film Center for the 6:00 screening of the original 1956 classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It's the next feature in the Tuesday night Fall Lecture Series; this semester the theme is Science Fiction Movies.......

Sara Wookey’s dance performance pieces aim to demolish the wall between artists and audience that too often has us scratching our heads at performance art. On her website, she talks about rejecting “a specific insular dance language that often excludes the public,” and achieves this by merging everyday experiences like waiting at the airport or looking in the mirror with a slate of strong, physical choreography. Wookey studied dance in Illinois and, like so many......

Chicagoist usually thinks of artists as quiet, sensitive types not prone to guerilla-style tactics. But this weekend, a few of those QSTs are gonna get sneaky. In an e-mail we received today, we learned that after a show at Butcher Shop/Dogmatic gallery (3rd floor of 1319 W. Lake) tomorrow night, a group of artists will take to the El and stage an art show on the train. What train? What kind of art? All they’ll......

Now in its fifth year, Columbia College’s Manifest Urban Arts Festival has grown larger than most of us could ever have imagined. Then again, it's run by arts students. Their imaginations are larger than most. We’re sure someone’s done a study to prove it. Manifest is an arts festival good enough to rival any summer street fair and a graduation party large enough to make students from more conventional schools jealous. We’ve already told you......

By the time you read this, Chicagoist will be in a New York state of mind. We'll be catching up with old friends, eating a slice of "Original Simply Famous Really There Can Be Only One" Ray's pizza, gawking at David Blaine's "douchebag in utero" performance art piece - "douchebag" being the word of the week around here - and sniffing out a bar with a wide selection of premium tequilas. This week's primer on......

Maybe it's your first time visiting Chicagoist. Maybe you've been asleep. Maybe you've been on a month long bender. But perhaps you haven't heard about this little thing we're doing called Ctrl-Alt-Rock. Really. Look to the left of your screen here. There's some information. It's happening this Thursday. At Schubas. We're excited. Well, one of the bands that is going to bring the music, May or May Not, has a variety of talents. Including whipping......

No sooner had Chicagoist read this article in NewCity on the art of the celebrity musical side project than we found ourselves at a party on Saturday night arguing the merits of both William Shatner’s cover of Pulp’s “Common People” and Leonard Nimoy’s treatment of “Both Sides Now.” Shatner's ditty was one of our favorite tracks from last year (and revived the spoken-words-as-singing technique popularized by Jack Nicholson in the movie version of Tommy) and......

Chicagoist really tries to stay on top of what’s happening in the city. Sure we’re a little behind the curve sometimes but mostly we try to keep our finger on the pulse, you know? So please forgive us for not writing about this sooner: tonight at the Metro, Die Warzau is playing their first proper live show in almost a decade. For those that are steeped in Chicago’s industrial scene, this is a revelation and......