Give the most banal moving image enough time, and it will become fascinating. Just offering a peek into a long-lost world is enough to hold our interest, which is why we were excited to see that the Chicago Film Archives is joining the collections of moving images at the Internet Archive, where they can be either streamed or downloaded and where they are sure to find a wider audience. more ›

Digital incarnations notwithstanding, film is a fragile, even ephemeral thing. It is commonly observed that 90 percent of all American silent films and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 have already been lost forever. The great majority of those that have survived continue to suffer woeful decay and neglect. The vaults of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, with a big, dedicated staff and a 220,000-title collection that makes it second in size only to the Library of Congress, are xenon arc lamp of our burgeoning enlightenment about the need to restore and preserve our cinematic heritage so it can be shared with future generations. Throughout September, treasures plucked from that vault will be available at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and we recommend you take as much of it in as you can. more ›

We've been growing so many radishes in our garden plot, we haven't been able to eat them all! We also made a minor mistake with our lettuce-to-radish ratio, so we have a lot of radishes but no salads to put them in. We had plenty of jars left over from our infusion experiments, so pickling was clearly in order. We plan on showcasing a few different ways of processing and preserving some of the bounty of summer over the next few weeks - this is just the first! more ›

When we were wee lads growing up in Highland Park, we dreamed of owning this one particular home in our neighborhood, which was only fitting given our love of exotic cars and modern architecture. And while riding bikes with our friends one day, we watched a film crew drop a red Ferrari out the back of its glass garage. That, of course, ended up becoming one of the most famous scenes in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," but the home's cinematic legacy may not be enough to save the mid-century masterpiece. The Rose House and Pavilion is included on Landmarks Illinois' latest list of endangered architectural landmarks in our state. Home to Ferris' friend Cameron in the film, the sleek glass house with its own car museum -- cantilevered over the ravine below -- was Designed by A. James Speyer for textile designers Ben and Frances Rose. Completed in 1954 (Pavilion in '74), the Highland Park home remains in relatively good shape for its age. So why is it threatened? more ›

Preservation Chicago placed the Richard Nickel House at 1810 W. Cortland on its "Chicago 7" list of architecturally significant buildings slated for demolition. Nickel, a photographer and architecture preservationist, dedicated his life to preserving Louis Sullivan's classic architecture as Sullivan's buildings were being torn down rapidly during the 60's and 70s. Nickel's home often store rescued artifacts from buildings before being sold to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where they remain on display. more ›

Last month, we told you about the state's endangered landmarks list, which included the famed Michigan Avenue Streetwall, the nearly one-and-a-half mile stretch of skyline that runs from 11th Street to Randolph St. Now, the Streetwall is hitting the national scene after being added to the D.C.-based National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the nation's 11 most endangered historic places, which comes out tomorrow. (Again with a list of 11!) more ›