We appreciate the concern — and the patience — of our readers, many of whom are anxious for more content. Rest assured, we at Smile Politely are not simply draining the batteries on our many Christmas gifts and watching countdowns on VH1. We're busy at work behind the scenes to bring you a brand-spanking new website, complete with some new features we think you'll be pleased to meet. So hang tight for one more week, and we'll see you on Jan. 12, 2009, when we'll return to our regular publishing schedule.
Another year bites the dust, leaving behind some relevant questions to ponder. With the destruction of the Metropolitan building in the Great Downtown Fire of '08, should we soon expect new construction in its place? And when will southbound thru-traffic reopen at the intersection of Neil and Church? (The City won't commit to a timetable, leaving us to wait for the building owners who suffered losses in said fire to clear the way for progress.) What of our once height-challenged skyline? Will it continue to rise upward in 2009?
Will new local businesses like B. Lime, Bella Bambini, Cakes on Walnut, Bombay Indian Grill, Howbowda Bagel and BookGlutton grow stronger in 2009, or falter during troubling economic times as happened to Papa George, Murphy's Deli and Kafe K? Speaking of economic woes, are significant layoffs at the city's largest employer, the University of Illinois, on the horizon? And will the layoffs at big-time employers like Hobbico and ACH Food Companies (formerly HumKo) send the city's job market into further disarray?
Some people will, unfortunately, have more time to catch a movie in 2009. But can any of the new year's offerings surpass The Dark Knight? And will Milk have a strong showing at the Oscars? (It's showing here in Champaign-Urbana after the New Year.) And what's this we hear about a new season of Lost?
After bringing Wu-Tang Clan, Robert Pollard, Yo La Tengo and Girl Talk to town in 2008, what will local music venues do for an encore? The Fighting Illini men's basketball team wasn't requested for an encore after last season's dismal performance. But this year the boys are off to a 9–1 start, and many orange-clad fans are wondering: Will Alex Legion's long-awaited entrance into an Illini basketball game propel the men's team into the Top 25? Those sporting blue want to know: Will the post-Kerry Wood Cubs ever make up their minds regarding Jake Peavy, and will Year 101 be any different than Year 100?
The most pressing thing on most people's minds: How long before the walls of Mike & Molly's new men's restroom — that's right, new — are covered in graffiti? Oh, and maybe this Obama guy. While we ponder the potential impact of our reigning state politicians, some also look forward to finding out whether Obama can really change anything. As we twiddle our thumbs in anticipation, what do we do with the lump of coal that is Rick Warren giving the invocation at Obama's inauguration?
As 2008 comes to an end and Smile Politely prepares for Year Two, all of these questions (and more) are on our minds. But we'd like to hear from you, so let us know what topics you'd like to see us tackle next year. Whatever is near and dear to your heart, please spill the beans.
Last year on Dec. 22, I relayed a basic recipe for peppermint bark that was created by my paternal grandmother Maizie. For years, I told myself that I would learn how to do make peppermint bark by going over to her place and having her show me how, step by step. I wanted to make sure that even if she were to pass away, the recipe would live on, and could be enjoyed by my family for generations to come.
On January 13 of this year, less than a month after I published her recipe, Grandma Maizie went into the night, with a smile on her face. I miss her now especially, as she was a fixture unlike any other during the holidays: her presence, her paper-thin skin and most definitely, her peppermint candy.
Ever yearn for a pancake house neither “international” nor “original”? Or some more interesting egg combination than you can get at Merry Ann’s? With 2009 brings a new column series here at Smile Politely dedicated to the celebration of some favorite Champaign-Urbana brunch spots of new and old.
Believe it or not, the road to the 2009 Kentucky Derby has already begun. Even before the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, horsemen were whispering about who the early favorite for the Derby would be. It’s already passed hands a few times. At first, there was Azul Leon, the winner of two graded stakes races; then Vineyard Haven, who opted out of the BC Juvenile and let his stable mate, Midshipman, have a share of the spotlight; and now it’s Old Fashioned, whose mind-boggling easy win in the Remsen Stakes still has fans raving. And while three of these four will not be present for the Grade I $750,000 Cashcall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Saturday, Azul Leon must put forth a stunning effort to regain his foothold as one of the top juveniles in the division.
I haven’t kept up with current music.
Yet, there are times when I get dragged along. Sometimes the hype is just too big, too many hip kids ranting, blog posts everywhere and I find myself sneaking around the Internet.
Often times the bands are entertaining, nothing special. Yet there are those odd moments where I just can’t understand why. And from that comes this list.
7) M83
Comparing M83 with My Bloody Valentine would be a stretch. Admittedly, there’s a certain charm to each of M83’s songs. Yet it’s too structured for it’s own good. They seem to be on the verge of something big, but as of now, are more concerned with hip music videos.
Alex Legion is coming! Alex Legion is coming! Paul Revere could hardly have been more excited in announcing the arrival of the Redcoats. With no games for eight whole days Illinois basketball fans had nothing else to complain, argue or obsess about. But true believers have known for some time that late December, at a point around the winter solstice, would see the coming of a savior. Alex Legion is expected to descend from the right hand of Bruce Weber a few minutes after 7 p.m. on Saturday, against Detroit.
Mercy!
To intensify the anticipation, Legion skipped his own press conference Thursday afternoon, preferring to complete a final exam in preparation for NCAA eligibility.
Having knocked around Hollywood for over 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 strange choice for an odd love story, but he’s always been a capable visual craftsman, creating moments of existential dread and social chaos as well as any other modern director. Here, he achieves a sense of grace and in weaving this tale of a man who ages backwards as time moves forward, giving us a modern fairy tale that’s a testament to unconditional love and faith.
With respect for the time-honored tradition of end of year naughty/nice lists and all those pesky resolutions, I present my own list of several wines I enjoyed drinking in twenty-o-eight. These are in no particular order and range in flavor. Take these as a shopping list for next year.
Nort Noir NV
Kickapoo Creek Winery, Edwards, Ill.
Illinois may develop a reputation for producing top-flight dessert wines. This port-style wine really makes that a reality. It beautifully combines power and fines, harmony and grace, dense and ethereal … sun and moon. As good or better than 85% of wines of this style on the market, from anywhere, period. Dense with boysenberry, black cherry, slate, cola, cocoa, spice, licorice and tar notes. Keep this for a bit if you can keep you hands off it.
www.cuin20.ning.com Don Gerard was born completely devoid of musical talent and will die with even less. Despite the inhumanity of it all, he actually served three tours of duty playing bass with The Moon Seven Times (three albums on Roadrunner), as well as a tenure with the brilliant Steve Pride and His Blood Kin (the group from which Jeff Tweedy "stole" — his term — Jay Bennett), the amazing Great Crusades (albeit brief) and the stupefyingly astounding Greedy Loves ... and also the super-group mine (yes, small m, i-n-e period.), with Bennett, Adam Schmitt and Mike "the Bigg Rigg" Hazelrigg). If there were a god, mine would reform to perform a third gig at this reunion.
He currently resides in Champaign and is employed in a career for which he is even more mind-bogglingly unqualified than he was to play bass in the aforementioned rock combos. By most accounts he is not as big of a dick as he was 20 years ago and has, on occasion, behaved as a reasonably decent human being with minor contributions to society.
Last week, we weighed in on list making. Now it’s our turn to make them. A handful of our writers and editors contemplated their iTunes library and record collections to determine their favorite albums of 2008. See what made whose top ten list after the jump. Feel free to share your own or just severely criticize ours.
For just one, well two towns, Champaign-Urbana sure has a lot of music in and around its borders. Countless shows have been played in clubs, bars, churches and basements these past twelve months from a countable but large amount of artists who call this place home. A lot of it, thankfully, has been outstanding.
Bands like Common Loon and Organic Flow put on some of the best sets around town this past year and Smile Politely is eagerly awaiting their 2009 releases. “Commercial Paper” by Casados and “Landlocked” by Elsinore (both on their respective Myspaces) are also pretty good indications 2009 will be a good year for local music.
But since it’s still 2008, here’s a small sampling of some of the best stuff put out by local artists this past year. Enjoy.
Heading into the home stretch, the guys from Pittsburgh are making clear that they’re ready to make a post-season run. Illinois grad Carey Davis, the Steelers’ first team fullback, could see increased action in the weeks ahead as the team tries to keep its backfield healthy by spreading the ball around. Former Illini standout Rashard Mendenhall, whose season ended with a shoulder injury in Week 4, will have to wait till next season to help out Pittsburgh’s offense. How are other Illinois grads faring in the ranks of the NFL? Find out by checking out the Fighting Illini website for weekly updates.
If you're looking for a last-minute Christmas gift, then I would highly recommend More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman. You may not know Hodgman, a self-professed "famous minor television personality," by name, but his visage is well-known as the PC in the Mac commercials. More Information Than You Require may not be the deepest, most life-changing book available in your local bookstore, but it's endlessly entertaining and easily consumed in short bursts, if necessary.
I don't consider myself too easily amused, but this book reduced me to giggling fits on nearly every page. Hodgman maintains a consistently amiable tone, despite his completely nonsensical subject matter. As in his previous book, The Areas of My Expertise, Hodgman assembles this volume in the form of a fake almanac. There is even a list of "Shitty Aphorisms," per the law that any book calling itself an almanac must contain at least four of them.
Back on Election Day, I was able to celebrate Barack Obama’s win with some choice brews from Magic Hat Brewing Company, an eccentric brewery located in Vermont. Their beers are flavorful and creative, although I liked some more than others.
In that review, I tasted their #9 Pale Ale, Circus Boy Hefeweizen, Jinx Strong Ale, and Participation Lager. My feelings were mixed, but the Jinx and #9 received good marks.
Magic Hat has decided Smile Politely should have a go at two more of their brews. In their “Odd Notion” for Winter 2008, the brewery opted to make a braggot style beer. This is perhaps one of the most interesting styles around, dating back to at least the fourteenth century.
Chaucer mentions the bragget in his Canterbury Tales, specifically in the Miller’s Tale. Via the Oxford English Dictionary Online (free to use if you are a UIUC student): “Hir mouth was sweete as bragot [v.r. braket] or the Meeth.” I can only assume “meeth” is old English for “meed.” The brew is made by combining mead and ale, with the option of adding spices. Point is - people have been making this beer for over 600 years, so you should probably try it.
When Sylvia Sullivan enters the room, she comes bearing a piece of her famous peach French toast, a laugh, or a story told in her soothing Irish accent — but she never enters a room without something to share. Sullivan, owner of the Sylvia’s Irish Inn Bed and Breakfast, 312 W. Green Street in Urbana, keeps herself far too busy for that.
Between running a bed and breakfast, putting in twenty hours a week at her second job with American Greetings, and working in her friend Jan Chandler's Heartland Gallery, Sullivan admits, "I’m one of those people that can’t sit and not do anything."
The American Geological Union is set to announce today that, among other things, Santa is basically screwed.
Technically, they are announcing that our northern ice cap is continuing to melt at an alarming rate. But since there is no land at the North Pole, it begs the question: What is Santa going to do when the ice beneath The Christmas Village cracks open and swallows up everything children hold dear?
Will Santa become like the Dalai Lama, forced to travel the world as head of state in exile, advocating for a return to his homeland in the form of emission reductions? Will he become an embittered expatriate revolutionary, vowing to use his magic powers to muck up any climate-changing wheels of industry? Or will he simply retire, get a time share in Barbados and enjoy some well-deserved rest?
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 best seller features all the tell tale signs of being a shameless, manipulative tearjerker. Truth be told, by film’s end, I had shed a tear or two, but only because the focus of the film was not on the title dog; rather the film dealt mainly with the ups and downs of an American family, sincerely delivered by director David Frankel and his cast.
I Refute Technology, the new EP from Peoria musician Jared Bartman, is an innovative exploration of how far the boundaries of a song can go. It’s important to note that the four track disc, recorded with Mark Rubel at Pogo Studios, isn’t a four song disc. Bartman and his collaborators retell the same song in three drastically different ways. The fourth track combines sounds from the previous songs into a concluding noise collage.
The concept sounds redundant on paper, but the sonic product is anything but. "I Refute Technology (Hypocrite Version)" opens up the EP. Electronic buzzing surrounds a simple beat box rhythm. A distorted bass line enters in a Flaming Lips fashion. The swirling Korg lines and synthesizer purrs also evoke Flaming Lips’ electronic folk sounds. Bartman does this, however, while still sounding original.
After parental complaints, Champaign’s Unit 4 School District recently compromised on allowing the reading of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner in its sophomore honors English classes. Controversial books are usually the ones most worth reading. One of the books I remember having to read was The Scarlet Letter. I suppose it was as good a book as any, but I never finished it. Within the last few chapters I gave up and went through the motions until the end of the unit. Losing interest in a classic book is not difficult. Its language may be antiquated, the sentence structure too hard to decipher and timely subject matter tends to lose its relevancy over time.
John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men may have escaped the curse of inconsequence for the same reasons it was banned from public schools for most of the 90s. It contains offensive language, racial epithets, sexual overtones, violence and death: the makings of a good story. While it has lost a bit of significance since 1937, the inherent loneliness of the major characters and their subsequent longing for companionship are always relevant.
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