SPlog

If you haven’t secured a place to live for the 2015-2016 school year, there are two possibilities why. One: you never saw Matt Foley’s motivational speech, and are unware of the dangers of living in …

The Illinois Athletic Department saga continues as CNN’s investigation promted the University to reopen their own investigation into the scandals plaguing the department. This is a great read and you might remember the investigative reporter, …

Skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are vital to young people as the world continues its progression towards being overrun by computers. Okay maybe the last part of that sentence isn’t serious, but …

Next Thursday, July 16th, Champaign Center Partnership is hosting a mini-pub crawl next week in Campustown. This is a pretty great idea to get non-students to check out bars that they normally might not stop …

The 6th Annual Pride Festival, Love Wins, will take place between September 18th-20th, 2015. Attractions include pride swag vendors, LGBTQYA informational booths, local business booths, kids area with a petting zoo, putt-putt golf and carnival style …

Do you love reading about music on Smile Politely and want to be a part of it? Do you hate reading about music on Smile Politely and think you can make our section better? Either …

Neutral Design Studio, an offshoot of the Neutral Cycle Workshop, posted a video on its Facebook page today featuring an interview with Flying Machine Coffee owner Josh Lucas. See the footage of the Urbana coffee …

In the summertime, we’re not always interested in hot drinks. Some of us need coffee to function in the morning, and when it’s 90 degrees out, sometimes it’s more of a chore than anything to …

According to a News-Gazette article, Strawberry Fields will reopen on Thursday under new ownership. Mohammad Al-Heeti, who owns Champaign international grocery store World Harvest, bought the store and renovated it. Many of the same employees …

Whaaaa…? If you’ve headed east on Green Street, just past Neil, it’s likely you’ve encountered this concrete monstrosity. There’s construction (obvs) and then there’s really hard material that juts out into the road with no …

It’s a nasty day. Thank the heavens for dumb action movies. And they don’t get much action-y-er than Furious 7 (I leave the dumb part up to you). The Summer Quad Cinema Series is screening Furious 7 …

C-U has a vibrant comedy scene, and this this Friday is no exception. On Friday Andrew Voris returns to The Iron Post with a comedy showcase featuring Ross Kelly, Prateek Srivastava, David Rader, Kenny Kinds, and, of course, Andrew Voris himself. …

…on July 13th, and you should totally check it out, especially if you like having yummy vegan options in town.  From the press release: Historic, Non-Profit, Vegetarian Restaurant Kicks Off Grow Campaign With Fundraiser   …

The City of Urbana Public Arts Program recently announced the artists for the new cycle of Murals On Glass, where works of local artists are displayed as enormous vinyl decals taking up entire windows of …

Local emcee Klevah needs your help to fund her Gold Quarter Tour this summer. Donate to her Indiegogo campaign here, and listen to her album Golden to remind yourself why you did. As of now, …

On this Independence Day weekend, let us think about the simple freedoms that we have in this country. Most of us have things pretty great here, though of course, as a white man, I don’t …

SP’s own Sam Logan, the mastermind behind The Basement Gallery and photographer extraordinaire, joins us tonight to discuss the gallery and how its first show fared this past month.  PLUS Sam will announce the artist for …

Bacaro’s Sunday brunch endeavor, The Gravy Train, will be closed Sunday, July 5th and Sunday, July 12th. Sunday brunch will resume July 19th.

Triptych Brewing has released a brand new collaboration with Columbia Street Roastery, called Golden Oatie, into the local C-U market. The beer came together after the sides had suggested working together over the course of …

I walked out of Aroma Cafe the other day and found the fellows working on what I thought was an R2D2-traffic-cone-robot. It wasn’t. They were actually testing out a new way to radar cars using …

From the press release: CU Woodshop – Habitat for Humanity Tool Donation, Sale and Swap Saturday, August 1 from 9 am – 3 pm CU Woodshop is partnering with Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore to host …

If you are a male human, there’s a chance you grow facial hair. Discussions about transgenderism notwithstanding, there is something absolutely mindblowing about getting a shave with a straight razor, at a barber shop. Preferably, …

Today, the Art Theater begins showing the film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, while its late-night show remains Mad Max: Fury Road. These films prove to be quite thought-provoking, reflective pair. Me is a Sundance-sweeper filled with …

Today, it was announced that due to the budget stalemate created by Governor Bruce Rauner’s extreme proposed cuts, Lincoln’s Challenge Academy, a school in Rantoul for at-risk youth, will be forced to shut down — …

FightingIllini.com was re-launched by Illini Athletics today and it’s pretty great. The site is way cleaner than the old incarnation and, wisely, they’ve added social media links for each team.  It’s worth exploring and maybe …

On July 11th, Crossroads Corner Consignment North shop is hosting an event that will benefit Feeding Our Kids. The program feeds students at elementary and middle schools without weekend and school holiday food programs. The …

More evidence that Illinois’ wheelchair athletics program is badass: Matt Buchi, the Head Coach of the Illinois Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team, has been selected to lead the USA Developmental Team competing in The Kitakyushu Champions’ …

Legendary singer and notable curmudgeon Morrissey is performing at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts on July 11th. The former Smiths frontman has been all over the place in 2015, including a performance last …

Here’s some exciting news for Rithmio, a company which started at the University of Illinois and is still partially based in C-U: News was just released that the gesture recognition platform raised $3 million in seed …

It’s not fun reporting when someone is closing their local business, but Cafe Zojo posted on their Facebook page this morning that their last day of business will be July 12th. From their page: After …

Finally!  Triptych Brewing is expanding its hours, and will now be open until 11 p.m. on Thursdays and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, starting this Sunday, July 5th.  On Friday, July 3rd, Dragon Fire …

Houlihan’s promotion of their newer items in 2015 have been pretty charming to say the least. Back in the early Spring they garnished their hurricane with a pair of gigantic glasses — which was absolutely …

There’s a number of big performances coming to the Virginia Theatre over the course of the next year including Paula Poundstone, Bill Maher, Million Dollar Quartet, and of course, Ebert Fest. See the full lineup …

If you didn’t venture out to Blues, Brews, and BBQ on Saturday night you missed out on one of the neatest collaborations of C-U musicians in 2015. Kenna Mae played a set on the smaller …

Get active with Champaign Surplus & Ahnu at this special event. Come out to Champaign Surplus on Saturday, June 27th for our Ahnu Trunk Show & Event. Enjoy yoga on our outdoor deck! There will be …

This seems ridiculous, but according to the Huffington Post, Champaign is the fifth most difficult city to spell in the United States. The survey used to compile this list claims that Champaign was misspelled 63% of …

We get it: Shaka Smart didn’t want to come to Illinois to be the head basketball coach once upon a time for one reason or the next. That’s fine. He kept coaching at VCU, and …

Jason Kohlmann has some digital photographs displayed at Aroma Cafe that are quite interesting. he has taken old photographs of the airefoce base in Rantoul and combined them with current day photographs. The result is …

Champaign Ladies Amateur Wrestling‘s first show is July 11th. They’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to make sure the show is top notch. The goal is to raise $2,000 and you can check out the full …

Chambanamoms.com just put out a really fantastic read about the Heumann family, who will be featured on PBS’s feature Growing Up Trans on June 30th. Head over here to read the full article and get …

More announcements are coming through for this year’s Urbana Sweetcorn Festival: Berlin will join The Psychedelic Furs as headliners for the festival, as announced by the festival this morning. Check out the lineup below, and …

Ordering clothes online is sort of a crapshoot — it’s super convenient and if you’ve ordered from a website before you typically have a pretty decent idea of what your size in certain items are. …

Unit 4 is hosting an ESL Academy for parents. It’s a great way for parents who are non-native English speakers to learn the language so that they are better equipped to help their children with …

Congrats to Mayor Prussing and the City of Urbana as they were given an honorable mention in the United States Conference of Mayors ENERGY STAR Challenge. Mayor Prussing helped push local buildings and businesses to …

Media: “Mike, how have the investigations into your athletic programs’ misconduct been going?” Thomas: *points* Media: “HEY EVERYONE LOOK OVER HERE DEE BROWN IS BACK!” #Illini about to announce the hiring of @IlliniMBB great @deebrown11 …

If you haven’t already been to the Prairie Fruits Farm Wednesday open house, you’re missing out. Check out this afternoon’s line-up (hello, sangria sorbetto!): We’ve got some new gelato and sorbetto flavors for you to …

Per the News-Gazette, there’s a new restaurant coming to Downtown Champaign sometime later this year. Situated between Cowboy Monkey and Jane Addams Bookstore, the space once occupied by Carrie’s (which now exists in Crossroads Corner …

This might be a pipe dream, but we can dream, can’t we? It was announced today via the Chicago Tribune that the new CEO of Portillo’s is University of Illinois alum Keith Kinsey. He’ll take …