With the Jane Addams homes soon to be developed, John Lillig hopes Edgar Miller’s forgotten sculptures will have a part in the new optimism.
Tag: Vol. 31 No. 14
Issue of Jan. 3 – 9, 2002
Posted inArts & Culture
Gallery Tripping: a kind of, not really, almost totally Ukrainian show
When Ivan and Sophia Rabodzeenko touched down at O’Hare December 5, here to visit their son and his American family for a monthlong holiday, it was the first time the two Saint Petersburg artists had left the former Soviet Union. Ivan was looking forward to seeing the Art Institute and the Field Museum; Sophia just […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Def Harmonic
The focal point of Def Harmonic’s recent Travel Suggestions (Wobblyhead) is meant to be the jazz-slinky delivery of rappers Jason Todd and Lunaversol (think Digable Planets), but by far the most interesting thing about the record is Todd’s crisp, austere production. By mixing tough programmed breakbeats with live bass lines and a steady flow of […]
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Brightness (Yeleen)
Souleymane Cisse’s extraordinarily beautiful and mesmerizing fantasy is set in the ancient Bambara culture of Mali (formerly French Sudan) long before it was invaded by Morocco in the 16th century. A young man (Issiaka Kane) sets out to discover the mysteries of nature (or komo, the science of the gods) with the help of his […]
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Breaking Out Is Hard to Do
On the eve of pilot season and the annual actors’ migration to LA, Sandra Delgado looks back on last year’s weeks in the wilderness.
Posted inNews & Politics
City File
Psychedelic drugs in Naperville? It’s academic. Educational psychologist Tom Roberts of Northern Illinois University will teach a three-credit class at NIU’s Naperville campus dealing with “entheogens”–mind-altering substances said to enhance or create mystical experiences. According to “Northern Today” (December 3), the course will, among other things, “delve into the Good Friday Experiment of 1962, when […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Auschwitz from the Inside
The Grey Zone A Red Orchid Theatre Perhaps the reason so much has been written about the Nazi concentration camps is that it’s hard to find the right words to describe their satanic brilliance. Even a writer as accomplished as Primo Levi, an Auschwitz survivor, was reduced to despair by the task. Early in his […]
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Code Unknown
Aptly subtitled “Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys,” the fifth feature by Austrian director Michael Haneke (2000, 117 min.) is a procession of lengthy virtuoso takes that typically begin and end in the middle of actions and/or sentences, constituting not only an interactive jigsaw puzzle but a thrilling narrative experiment comparable to Alain Resnais’ Je t’aime, […]
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Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, Lifeline Theatre. Now in its 15th season, Lifeline has delivered yet another colorful, tight, professional, infinitely cute production that entertains kids without boring grown-ups. In Eileen Spinelli’s story, town recluse Mr. Hatch gets a new lease on life after receiving a mysterious package with a note saying “Somebody loves you.” […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
Would like some enlightenment on the following: (1) Which is the mountain depicted in the logo of Paramount Pictures? (2) Why do women laugh hysterically? –Rajeev Balakrishnan, Hyderabad, India I turned this one over to my assistant Jill, thinking to hone her skills on a couple softballs. She riposted as follows: (1) Mount Everest. (2) […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Sun-Times: Off With Their Heads!/Unsure and Uninsured/News Bite
Sun-Times: Off With Their Heads! Under cover of war, the Sun-Times editorial page is testing the appetite of its readers for contempt. Contempt is an ancient tool of rhetoric, not as often seen on editorial pages as it used to be, because today’s papers hesitate to alienate the readers they aren’t indulging. American newspapers–with their […]
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Calendar
Friday 1/4 – Thursday 1/10 JANUARY 4 FRIDAY “Notice: Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” So supposedly read Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ad in a 1913 London newspaper. In August of the following year Shackleton and 27 […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Roeper Lowers the Bar
Dear editor: Cherry Angostura’s harsh criticism of Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper (“That’s Rich!” December 21) was completely accurate and “richly” deserved, but unlike Angostura, I have found Roeper’s work both inspirational and reassuring. Back in 1999, after reading two weeks’ worth of Roeper’s columns, I realized that his inane conceptual ability and foggy writing style […]
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Les Miserables
Les Miserables, Auditorium Theatre. It’s best to approach this mega musical in the spirit of Oscar Wilde, who said of Dickens that it would take a heart of stone not to laugh at the death of Little Nell. You can overdose on compassion as Jean Valjean’s calamities mount, the major-key music mugs you with its […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Original Message
Dual Exhaust may be the only Chicago team with a better record than the Bears right now. Participating in ImprovOlympic’s Cage Match last fall, improv duo Zach Ward and Beth Melewski pummeled the competition in eight straight rounds before bowing out undefeated. And this crack team’s approach to improv works even better in a noncompetitive […]