Only the biggest of dreamers gave Illinois a chance of beating the semi-professional USC Trojans in yesterday's 94th annual Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, USC beat the Illini like the proverbial red-headed stepchild 49-17. The academic conclusion to the game also led to some wonderful entendre-laden headlines in the dailies: "Case of California Creamin'", "Too Much Booty Puts Illini on the Defensive", and "Trojans Pull Out All the Stops" are some of our favorites. The loss also provided Jay "the Joke" Mariotti with another opportunity to pen his now-patented "sports in this state really suck" columns, complete with desperate stabs at modern cultural relevance and creating lame-ass nicknames, this time referencing "Knocked Up" and calling Illini head coach Ron Zook "Zooker." more ›

We've been digging SceneUnseen's photos all week. Al fresco dining during a free Pritzker Pavilion show (a.k.a. stuffing your face while the Joffrey Ballet grooves) On any given weekend, there's always something new and worth seeing on a Chicago stage. Tried-and-true shows like Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and Improvised Shakespeare, perfect for treating out of town guests to a laugh. Friendly, helpful people are running the tawniest art galleries. Free... more ›

NBC5 is trotting out a sweeps special they've named "The Woman Who Knew Too Much" (video), an exclusive interview with Anne Lockett, a key witness in the 1993 Brown's Chicken massacre. Lockett waited nine years to tell police that her ex-boyfriend James Degorksi and his friend Juan Luna told her about committing the crime, and in these interviews attempts to explain what took her so long. Degorski is still awaiting trial, but his alleged accomplice Luna was convicted and sentenced to life in prison earlier this year. Degorski's trial is scheduled to begin in February. Lockett was 17 in 1993, and was in the hospital following her fifth suicide attempt when the murders occurred; she says Degorski was abusive, but she was so depressed she stayed with him for two years. more ›

Super Bowl Sunday will be a bittersweet day for Chicago actors who happen to be Chicago Bears fans … or Bears fans that happen to be in a show. They’ve been waiting over two decades for the Bears to return to The Big Game but likely have been honing their craft even longer. That conflict was too much for the Neo-Futurists, who have cancelled Sunday night’s performance of perennial favorite Too Much Light Makes the... more ›

Anyone who's seen The Neo-Futurists’ weekly show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind knows the purveyors of this evening of rapid-fire entertainment regularly rely on the audience for seriocomic inspiration. We've seen these performers take up a collection for a poor college kid, treat random ticket holders to ice cream treats, start an impromptu dance party, and enlist the entire room in silent protest against the invasion of Iraq. The Neos also produce... more ›

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on... more ›

Now that Santa’s returned to the North Pole and Hanukkah Harry has commenced his rounds, it’s time to focus on New Year’s Eve. Maybe you’ve already ponied up your $100 or more to celebrate that sharp new desk calendar. Or maybe you’ve sworn off Saturday night as an overblown, overhyped, overpriced holiday. If you’re in that second category, consider spending 2005’s final hours at the theater, a more reasonably priced alternative where you leave the... more ›

We’re at the halfway mark of the Chicago International Film Festival. If you’re not attending because you don’t know how to separate the good flicks from the crap flicks, then you’re just not trying. No matter how you like your movies—arty farty or just plain entertaining—there are plenty of ways to find movies to suit your tastes. more ›

This week we endured the nasty heat wave, the sniping local politicos, and the weiner wars. This weekend, Chicagoist just wants to have fun. Lucky for us, three shows promise to deliver with a capital F: Sandbox Theatre Project’s Where We Live puts the courtship ritual and all its awkwardness under the microscope, as Jenn and Brandon come home to his apartment over and over again until they get things right. The results are engaging,... more ›

One of the best weekend activities in Chicago is watching experimental theatre troupe the Neo-Futurists perform their weekly, ever-evolving show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. With the help of some raucous (read: drunken) audience participation, they miraculously put on 30 plays – comedic, political, and dramatic sketches of varying lengths – in 60 minutes. These crazy geniuses even determine your admission price based on the roll of a die and order pizza for audiences at sold-out shows. For good reason, it’s Chicago’s longest running theatre tradition. (Late Night Catechism be damned.) more ›