Found Footage Festival co-host and founder Nick Prueher is happy that he's been able to share his weird hobby with the world for seven years by extracting all the best moments from VHS tapes in garages and thrift stores across the country, and to face off against FOUND Magazine tomorrow night at the Music Box in a "bitter, bitter fight to the death" for the championship of found media. more ›

There are those Chicagoistos among us who didn't want me to me write this post. They didn't want me to let the cat out of the bag, instead wanting to grab all the best deals for themselves. "Isn't our 2010 Gift Guide good enough?" they carped. But, in the spirit of the season, I'm ignoring those objections. more ›

One of our very favorite pop culturists, for more than a decade Nathan Rabin has been head writer for The Onion A.V. Club. He's equally at home writing about Epic Movie or western swing, and you don't want to be on the receiving end of his wicked sarcasm when it's time to mete out a takedown. more ›

Earlier this week we had a rather wistful experience. One of our all-time favorite Christmas movies is Remember the Night, written by Preston Sturges and starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. We were anxious to see it again but unfortunately it's never been released on DVD. Luckily Specialty Video still rents out tapes, and amazingly they carry it. We happily brought the box to the counter and handed it to the clerk. He looked at it quizzically and said, "You know this is VHS, right?" more ›

If you need something to take your mind off the weakening economy, the Palins, and other depressing stuff, consider paying a visit to the Lakeshore Theater this Friday for the Found Footage Festival's latest showcase of VHS wackiness. (Judging from the FFF's recent trailer, expect a lot of mullets and beards.) Festival founders Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett have been collecting bizarro video since 1991, and have released two DVDs of their favorite gems. Recently we spoke with Prueher about the FFF's Oct. 24 showing here in Chicago (at Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, at 8 p.m.) and what we might expect. more ›