Earlier we told you about Bob Hercules'a documentary Senator Obama Goes to Africa, which had been scheduled to show at the Siskel but was canceled earlier this month. We've just received word that a new venue has been found. The Music Box will host two screenings; first on Wednesday, January 30 at 7:30 pm and again on Saturday, February 2 at 2:00 pm. Co-Producer and D.P. Keith Walker, editor Melissa Sterne and Hercules all......

Barack Obama took the first step in cooling off the war of words between his campaign and Hillary Clinton's. "I've been a little concerned about the tenor of the campaign," Obama said in a press conference called yesterday evening in Nevada. "We've got too much at stake at this time in our history to be engaging in this kind of silliness," Obama said. "I suspect that other candidates may feel the same way." Acknowledging the......

Thanks in part to huge voter turnout partially driven by bonafide grassroots excitement, Barack Obama cruised to victory in Iowa, and is expected to do well again today in New Hampshire. Yet the Siskel Film Center has quietly cancelled screenings of the new documentary Senator Obama Goes To Africa, which were scheduled for later this month. Why? We just told you why. Marty Rubin, one of the programmers at the Siskel, declined to comment, saying......

This week, more than before, we have a veritable cornucopia of presidential news. After how many years of Southerners and Westerners in the White House, it seems only fitting that we dedicate this week's Hump Day Political News Roundup to all the cowboys that have ridden off into the sunset that is the Beltway. Let's take a look back: George W. Bush Is a Bad-Ass Cowboy. As his term dwindles away, his approval ratings circle......

The death of storytelling has been predicted at least since the dawn of the Industrial Age. And in 1936, philosopher Walter Benjamin declared, "the art of storytelling is reaching its end." It's nonsense, of course; even if storytelling itself has taken on some "new" forms, it's still as prevalent as ever, perhaps even more so with the rise of the blogosphere and the millions of people unfurling their own personal narratives. Even after a hundred......

Discussions about Black History Month have become as complex as discussions about race. Debating the labels ‘black’ and ‘African-American’ lead to debates about biracial identity and, recently, whether Senator Obama, Joe Biden’s “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” friend, is actually African-American. In the same vein, Black History Month has increasingly been relabeled African-American Heritage Month and African Heritage Month, terms emphasizing the present and future as......

Senator Obama and former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards will be on WakeUpWalMart.com conference calls this evening at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. respectively. Sign up here if you want to hear what your esteemed Senator thinks about unions and Wal-Mart. Chicagoist already signed up; they told us to call -888-801-1510 using pass-code 849485. According to WakeUpWalMart.com “Wal-Mart’s recent policy changes are the most anti-family, anti-worker changes in this company’s history.” The evening’s calls will......

Spend enough time on the Internet and you’ll find someone making a Nazi metaphor, typically a flip comment about anyone inspiring enough wrath: strict parents, obtuse politicians, that guy who disagreed with you in an online chat. We can’t fathom how a blowhard political commentator or grandstanding Congressman merits comparison with a regime that killed millions of people in concentration camps, so we were relived when Senator Obama denounced this type of rhetoric in the......

It seems that whenever anybody meets Senator Obama they act like a smitten schoolboy who just discovered he has “special feelings” for the girl sitting next to him in class. Heck, it even happened to America’s second richest man, investor extraordinaire Warren Buffett. The Tribune delivers the set-up: Warren Buffett sits on the edge of a soft brown sofa, closely watching as Barack Obama navigates the well-appointed living room. He moves his square glasses......

When travelling in other states, it can be shocking for Illinois residents to open a newspaper and find no mention of Senator Barack Obama! But the Chicago media is doing its best to track his every movement, and thankfully Senator-Elect Obama will be sworn-in as Senator Obama today in Washington, D.C. Chicagoist expects only a couple more weeks for the media honeymoon, as the anticipation of greatness meets with the experience of ordinariness. Even the......