Pacino, the sometime mentor
Al Pacino is a role model for any actor, and he occasionally finds himself in the mentor role in his characters. Two for the Money has ignited criticism that he plays that role too often. Wouldn’t you want to learn from someone who does it so well? Movies such as Donnie Brasco and The Recruit…
Resident Zinn
When local indie-rock band Resident Genius formed more than three years ago, its members put working with social activist/historian Howard Zinn on their wish list of band projects. Jason Perry, the band’s singer/songwriter/guitarist, originally contacted Zinn for words of wisdom for a master’s-degree project, then pitched his idea of a spoken-word/music recording. “We traveled eight…
Giving fellow artists a boost
When Rob and Michele DeLong ventured downtown for the celebrated Old Capitol Art Fair, they saw something that sparked their interest: a “For Lease” sign. After some thinking, the married photographers decided to take down the sign and replace it with their own, advertising the RMD Gallery. The 2,000-square-foot art space and framing studio on…
Quicktakes
THE BEST OF THE PRESS Illinois Times staff writer Dusty Rhodes has won first place for best investigative-enterprise reporting in the Illinois Press Association’s annual journalism contest. The award, presented Friday, was given for “Precious medals,” published on March 31. The story showed how military records contradict claims by Joe Wilkins that he earned a Silver…
Plant your spring surprise now
Bulbs are a good way to add color to the garden from Feburary into June. Most gardeners are familiar with such spring bulb flowers as the tulip, daffodil, and hyacinth, but there are many more to choose from. Often the first sign of spring is the appearance of snowdrops, winter aconite, crocuses, glory-of-the-snow, netted irises,…
Hard to label this Apple
Like Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine comes with a juicy backstory about the big, bad recording industry. Wilco, as everyone knows, pleaded artistic integrity when its label charged that the band’s recordings weren’t sufficiently commercial; bolstered by tons of press, Internet buzz, and a big-screen documentary-cum-hagiography, Wilco prevailed. When YHF was eventually released…
Earth Talk
Dear “Earth Talk”: Is it true that converting crops such as corn into ethanol actually uses more energy than is produced? — Leslie Foster, Eau Claire, Wis. Recent revelations by University of California, Berkeley, researcher Tad Patzek have fueled vigorous debate about the wisdom of using fuels such as ethanol to reduce our reliance on…
No fire in the Country
OPENING Doom ShowPlace West [1:10, 1:50] 4:00, 4:40, 6:40, 7:20, 9: 10, 9:50 ShowPlace East 1:50, 4:50, 7:20 (Fri-Sun 10:00) Dreamer ShowPlace West [1:30, 2:10] 4:20, 5:00, 7:00, 7:40, 9: 30, 10:10 ShowPlace East 1:30, 4:30, 7:00 (Fri-Sun 9:20) Grizzly Man Parkway Pointe [1:30] 4:40, 7:20, 9:50 Kids in America ShowPlace West [2:40] 5:20, 8:00,…
American Life in Poetry
In this lovely poem by Angela Shaw, who lives in Pennsylvania, we hear a voice of wise counsel: Let the young go, let them do as they will, and admire their grace and beauty as they pass from us into the future. Children in a Field They don’t wade in so much as they are…
