Arts

Part of learning from an art professor is understanding where they are in their own artistic journey. The faculty art and design show provides that context to the students, and gives us a peek as well.

Pretentious Book Reviews explores the juvenalia of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Wine, film, and Champaign-Urbana served as plenty of reasons to get together for area filmmakers and talk shop.

In this audio clip heavy article, Rob reviews one of the most daring books in a generation: The Late Bloomer’s Revolution.

Jessica Hopper is well known among those who have been paying attention to music over the past decade. Lilly Bralts-Kelly is 11 years old, in a band, and wants to know more. Here is their conversation.

Whether you hang on his every screen-written word, or cringe when he appears in his own films, Quentin Taratino provides us with enough fodder to fill pages. His new film, Inglourious Basterds largely succeeds.

Michel Gondry is likely the most innovative director in a generation, and he has a new compilation DVD that you should immediately watch.

Inherent Vice, the new mystery novel from Thomas Pynchon, fits with its genre as seamlessly as lettuce-flavored tortilla chips.

Read on as our resident DVD-ologist spills on the latest films out now for you to view.

Ms. TeeVee returns to sing the praises of the Sunday hours of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., i.e. True Blood and Mad Men euphoria.

Brian Hagy has been a fixture in the local performing arts community for nearly 30 years. In that time, he has performed with the Celebration Company based at the Station Theater, the C-U Theater Company, …

While some might refer to David Twohy’s work as glorified B-movies, Chuck cannot deny their overall entertainment factor.

This week’s new video releases include a modern bromance and World War II-era men’s men. Ah, progress.

Pat takes us on a trip down memory lane and asks what terrible television program from his childhood haven’t they adapted into an overbudgeted Hollywood film yet?

Deciphering Finnegans Wake is akin to un-jibbering “Jabberwocky.”

How could you slam a major motion release? Suzanne shows you how.

A smattering of movies that relate to comic books come out, to little fanfare, and the ire of our resident DVD guru, Pat Brown.

While the play has its funny moments, Absurd‘s second act falls short with comedic timing.

Celebrate Christmas in July with Station Theatre’s dark comedy Absurd Person Singular, which opens today, July 23.

After many straight Tuesdays of insipid crap, Pat’s article today is packed with notable new releases. And — what’s more — most of them are great. So today let’s get right into the eclectic group of DVDs out.

Former County Fair talent show winner Brittany Johnson strikes a balance between classical and bluegrass.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince retains all the good parts of the book and ups the tension through its visual presentation.

Battlefield 1943 is here and Justin gives you the scoop.

Like Michael Bay’s films, we thought this photo might grab your attention. Pat presents three Bay films he can get behind.

Chuck shines a light on Jones’ debut of Moon and the intense performance of its actors.

Thread by thread, Janelle Burns is making C-U a bit more fashionable with her Belle Noelle women’s clothing line.

In Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities, Jeff Mapes tries to discover why people ride bikes more in some communities than others.

Tyler Bergfield dreams his creations and realizes them on canvas. We asked him a few questions about about what makes him work.

Not only does Transformers 2 kind of suck, it’s also become a soapbox for director Michael Bay.

In life, there are few things that keep us whole, and put together. In Away We Go, co-written by U of I alum Dave Eggers, we learn that it takes little more than just good people.

Vacuum cleaner races, tupperware parties for men, NBA players who tear up at the thought of puppies: Yep, it’s Zoo Improv, C-U’s troupe of off-the-cuff comedians.

Amy admits to TV oversaturation this week, what with Jon and Kate craziness and the string of celebrity deaths.

Xbox’s Rocket Riot is fun as a multiplayer party game, but leaves you wanting more in its one-player format.

You’ve never seen Shere Khan and Kaa quite like this.

Chuck gives us the lowdown on the Transformers sequel and all of its destructive (did he mention, loud?) glory.

Matt Zagorski is still pretty new to the food scene. No bother, he’s got the leg up on more than a few locals with appearances on the Food Network, and award winning pies, to boot.

Take a tour of the newly opened Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.

With a whopping 18 percent on RottenTomatoes.com, Chuck gives us the heads up on this supposed epic journey.

For the Advanced Joycean scholar: Periodic loss of vision, migraine or stroke.

The PS3’s answer to Crackdown, called inFamous, attempts to install its own moral code in a clumsy fashion.

Pat’s opening up to disc-less online mediums, and this week’s new releases are awful, but he still has a couple of physically-manifested older films to recommend.

While summer blockbusters are trying to steal the spotlight, Boardman’s brings us yet another winner in Easy Virtue.

Chuck turns on the tube for some good ole fashioned country music. He suggests you give it a try too.

While taking liberties with the popular film, the Station Theater’s musical version of The Full Monty couples laughs with surprising drama.

As Amy impatiently awaits summer’s arrival, she has found a distraction in Mary-Louise Parker’s charming, marijuana-themed sitcom Weeds, which might just aid a few of you still nursing Arrested Development addictions.

Pat remembers the late, great David Carradine by looking back on his role in Death Race 2000.

Justin reviews a pair of Nintendo DSi releases, Pictobits and Minis March Again!, that will keep you entertained on the cheap.

In his new book, Intelligence and How to Get It, Richard Nisbett examines the factors that contribute to IQ.