The Complete (Chicago) Beer Course: Cream Ale
When COVID-19 closed taprooms and cancelled festivals, I looked for ways to still engage with Chicago’s craft beer scene. I therefore decided to finally work my way through The Complete Beer […]
Review: Barely a Saw Movie at All, Spiral Disappoints Across the Board
My brain is still attempting to understand how Spiral is a Saw movie at all. Okay yes, it takes place in the same universe as the original Jigsaw killings. And […]
Dialogs: Michio Kaku and LeVar Burton Bring Joy and Excitement to the Solar System and Beyond
What do junior high school science, science fiction, string theory, the God equation, and Elvis Presley have in common? They all played a starring role in physicist Michio Kaku and […]
Review: Lefse, Lutefisk, and Other Norwegian Things, For the Love of Cod, by Eric Dregni
For the Love of Cod: A Father and Son’s Search for Norwegian Happiness Eric Dregni University of Minnesota Press Eric Dregni is only partly Norwegian but that hasn’t stopped him […]
Review: Small-Town Ghosts, Spoon River America, by Jason Stacy
Spoon River America: Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town By Jason Stacy University of Illinois Press It’s ironic that Spoon River Anthology—perhaps the most famous […]
Review: The Killing of Two Lovers Goes Deep Inside Its Character’s Trauma, Heartache and Struggle
This is a good week for films with captivating opening sequences. In the latest work from Robert Machoian, The Killing of Two Lovers, we open with an image of David […]
Review: In Profile, an Undercover Journalist Embeds in a World of Extremism and Human Trafficking
From frequently kinetic action director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter; Wanted) comes a film that is much more about igniting your synapsis from anxiety and dread than […]
Review: Angelina Jolie May Be the Weakest Part of an Otherwise Often Thrilling Those Who Wish Me Dead
A B-movie disguised as something more grandiose, Those Who Wish Me Dead is a work with great dramatic potential but far too many instances of false emotions and the wrong […]
Johari Noelle Wants to Find Peace and “Get Free”
Back when Johari Noelle released her debut EP Things You Can’t Say Out Loud (or TYCOL as it now appears on spotify), I was immediately hooked on her incredible voice […]
GALLERY: Spring Fling–The Chicago Botanic Garden is in Full Bloom–Get Out and See It!
Spring is in the air–even if there’s sometimes a pretty stiff breeze coming with it lately. It’s beyond time to fling open the windows and start to get moving again, […]
Your #StaytheFHome Curated Weekend: 5/13 and Beyond
It’s another week closer to a fuller reopening of the city! More venues are opening up now with limited capacity, shows scheduled for the near future, and a new normal […]
Review: A Massive Cast, Countless Zombies and Even Father-Daughter Drama in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead
A brief introduction that involves a super-zombie escaping from a military convoy leaving Area 51 establishes that this latest cinematic zombie outbreak is somehow contained to the city of Las […]