Ghosts of unpopular decisions past come back to haunt Blagojevich
For the past six years, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has rarely missed an opportunity to make an enemy, many of whom have been regulars in Room 114 of the Capitol since the Illinois House’s special investigative committee met for the first time on December 16. Aside from considering the charges contained in the federal criminal complaint…
IT Picks
DANCING | Salsa nights This New Year’s Eve shake your hips to the mambo, move your booty to the rumba and get spicy with salsa at the National Image Inc. Central Illinois Chapter New Year’s Eve Salsa Night. The event benefits the organization’s scholarship funds, but like most parties is has a ripple effect. After…
A Hanukkah Story
Untitled Document Andy leaned diffidently against my office door. “You got a student room to rent?” “Yeah,” I said. “Aren’t you living somewhere now?” “I don’t like my landlord.” “You might not like me.” “I’ll chance it.” So Andy moved in, a couple duffel bags and books. He was getting his master’s in biology at…
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Untitled Document Having knocked around Hollywood for more than a decade and once garnering the attention of Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button finally arrives on the big screen, courtesy of director David Fincher. The filmmaker responsible for such disturbing modern classics as Seven and Fight Club might seem a…
The ‘corruption tax’
Being a national laughingstock has been bad enough. Sadly we’ve gotten used to the leadership vacuum that exists among state elected officials. But now Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s most recent legal troubles are really starting to hit Illinoisans where it hurts: in the state treasury. Long before Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were…
Confessions of a film fanatic
It all started with my father. He loved the movies, particularly those from Hollywood’s Golden Age. When I was a kid, movie stars like Clark Gable, James Cagney and Gary Cooper became more familiar to me than relatives I would see twice or three times a year. My passion for films has never abated. I…
Valkyrie
Forget the negative hype, get over your feelings about Tom Cruise and don’t get bogged down about absent German accents; Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie delivers suspense and edge-of-your-seat thrills far better than the first two Mission: Impossible films and most other pieces of Hollywood fodder. The audience can’t help but get caught up in a kind…
Bush gives lump of coal to Appalachia
Let’s say that you’re CEO of a coal corporation, and you want to get at the deposits of black gold deep inside the beautiful, verdant mountains of Appalachia. You have a choice. You could adopt modern methods that combine industrial ingenuity and environmental finesse to extract the coal. Or, what the hey, why not just…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document Old-school mentality I agree completely on the phrases that I hear quite often [see “No, it’s not like this everywhere,” Dusty Rhodes, IT, Dec. 18]. I have lived in Springfield all my life. I cannot stand that phrase, “That’s the way we’ve always done it.” I have many examples of this same phrase…
An interview with director Danny Boyle
When you look at the work of director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions, and Sunshine), the recurrent theme that emerges is their focus on characters seeking redemption. That they’re granted a second chance is in keeping with the filmmaker’s optimistic way of thinking. His latest, Slumdog Millionaire, continues to focus on this theme as it follows…
The Emerald Underground makes a ruckus
“Ruckus” is defined in my dictionary as a “noisy and unpleasant disturbance,” similar to a commotion, a rumpus or a hubbub. As used by local Celtic fusion/rock band The Emerald Underground in the title of their latest CD release, Ruckus at the Shamrock Hotel, the word takes on a somewhat different connotation. It pops up…
A radioactive governor and the fallout
From the very beginning, Gov. Rod Blagojevich sought to centralize the operation of state government as much as possible in his office. A cadre of deputy governors have overseen daily agency operations with an iron fist and reported directly to Blagojevich’s chief of staff or to the governor himself. But Blagojevich is now under siege…
Marley and Me
I was prepared to hate Marley and Me. This is probably something a film critic shouldn’t admit, but the trailers for this adaptation of John Grogan’s bestseller features all the telltale signs of being a shameless, manipulative tearjerker. Truth be told, by film’s end, I had shed a tear or two. But that was only…
FUN WITH FRITCHEY
One way to track the impact of the bombshell that hit Blago is, oddly enough, through the Facebook musings of StateRep. John Fritchey, chair of the General Assembly’s judicial committee and a leading member of the impeachment committee. Before Dec. 9, his Facebook friends heard a lot of boring whining about his apparently nasty cold.…
First impeachment witness testifies administration broke rules
Despite the media’s hobby of grasping for any thread to connect President-elect Barack Obama to the scandal surrounding Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they passed up the chance to connect Obama to the first live witness at the House impeachment hearing last week — director of the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Vicki Thomas. During…
Slumdog Millionaire
Barely on the radar screen months ago and, at one point, not even scheduled for theatrical release, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire has become a darling among film critics and is poised to be the dark horse winner at this year’s Oscars. Thankfully, all of this hype proves to be well deserved. The film is a…
Make fuel-efficient cars legal in Illinois
Suppose you’re feeling patriotic. Maybe you’d like to finally do something to help America reduce its addiction to foreign oil. Perhaps you’ve thought about buying an extremely fuel efficient or electric vehicle as your second or even third transportation choice, just to run all of those endless daily errands around town. Wouldn’t it be nice…
Memories of Christmases past
Candles and popcorn strings on the tree, and the rare fruit treat in your stocking — they were all part of Christmases past. And they’re so removed from our modern lives, which often feature electrically-lit, artificial Christmas trees and fruit every day of the year. Here, for your enjoyment, are reminiscences of Christmases long ago,…
State finally has to pay
On July 3, 1994, Lisa Weisser was raped by another patient at McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield. That fact has never been in dispute: the rapist, Bryan K. Noel, pleaded guilty to sexual assault. Weisser, however, believed the rape never would have happened if McFarland had handled Noel properly. She sued the hospital for…
Cleaning up at year’s end
Thank goodness I have a word limit for my columns. Yes, I’ll admit that it’s sometimes frustrating, especially when it’s something I’m particularly enthused — or occasionally upset — about. But if I didn’t have that word limit, I’d probably ramble on endlessly, boring you and annoying my editor. Then there’s the deadline. I’ve never…
The War Years
Untitled Document We were fishing down at Rawlins’ off a sandbar that extended into a bar pit near the Illinois River. It was an autumn day with puffy clouds in the sky placed just right. We were watching the lazy current move the willow leaves back and forth. Leaves from the cottonwood trees fell on…
It’s the stupid economy
The national economic crisis brings a sense of foreboding to a small city like Springfield. Sometimes the nation’s worst weather bypasses here; the coasts get the hurricanes, fires and blizzards, while we sit cozy, contending only with the aftereffects of others’ storms. So far here we’ve largely escaped the housing bust because we never had…
