Smile Politely is looking for those interested in photography and videography to join our team as the Multimedia Content Editor for the magazine. The ideal candidate will not merely be passionate about these things, but more importantly, have a strong interest in engaging with the community via the magazine, producing hyper-local content, and more.

We're interested in bringing on someone to do the following:

• Create photo and video content for our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc)
• Shoot and edit video content pitched from Editors to accompany articles or stand alone as engaging features
• Contribute to the SPlog and Weekender each week alongside other Editors

The position is paid, and it is only considered part time — the hourly expectation per week is roughly 5-10 hours, though it varies.

If you're interested, please send us an email at info@smilepolitely.com with the subject “Multimedia Content Editor”, and we'll get back to you.

While I'm on the brink of losing it due to stir-craziness inside during the Champaign-Urbana (and beyond) freeze, Smile Politely contributor and Chambana Weather weatherhuman Andrew Pritchard is outside doing this.

Watch and enjoy, because simple things like this are still fun:

C-U ex-pat Janelle James has arrived, as we discussed in BEST Culture 2018, and she performed on Late Night with Seth Meyers the other night. She's not the only person with connections to this community to make an appearance on that same show recently — Nafissa Thompson-Spires did just that not too long ago. James' most recent visit to C-U was back in September to perform at the Iron Post for PYGMALION.

She's awesome. Watch her performance on the late night show below:

Top photo is a screenshot from the video

Stephen Larson, an Urbana High School grad, has been using old photos of UHS after it was first built to put together a digital "flyover" of the building. I did not go to Urbana High School and I've only been in there a couple of times, but I can still appreciate the work that he's done. It's kind of awesome. He's been blogging a bit during the process, which you can read here.

Many of you are probably familiar with NowThis News. Well, I've just learned that they have a series of videos entitled Apocolypse NowThis which examines various ways that we all could die and/or the Earth could cease to exist. So you know, interesting yet incredibly frightening. 

This episode looks at how important bees are to the functioning of our ecosystem, and it features U of I entomology professors Dr. Alexandra Harmon-Threatt and Dr. May Berenbaum. 

Check it out:

Poetic.

Video by Virgil Grider

Once again, Travis Wayne Hurt's Christmas Special has arrived, and the always-bizarre production features a variety of clips and components within the special. Urbana Public Television hosts the special, which features some familiar faces: Travis Wayne Hurt (of course), Lindsey Gates-Markel and Andrew Schiver (Broad Comedy, Station Theatre), Matt Campbell (of Common Loon), CLAW, music from Bookmobile! and The Dry Look, and many, many more. It is truly weird and that's what makes it great.

Watch it below:

The house show/DIY scene in Urbana looks like it is alive and well. Emma Sielaff has published a short documentary film, DIY in Urbana, which is worth a few minutes of your time. Sielaff speaks with many involved in the scene, show promoters, band members, show goers, and more. Watch a bunch of kids getting sweaty and having a blast in full below.

Relevator is a blues/rock/folk outfit lead by singer-songwriter Kenna Mae, and the band recently released this "home movie" from their show at the Loose Cobra a little while back. Recorded and shot live by JP Goguen (and friends, as they mention in the video's description on YouTube), you can watch some songs the band performed at one of their live shows this summer. 

If you're interested in checking out Relevator, they're going to be performing with Zecca Bom and Paul Kotheimer on New Year's Eve at the Iron Post, which is certain to be a good time. 

Our friend Erin Erdman has added Illini Hillel at Cohen Center for Jewish Life to the list of places you can find her amazing Page Roasting Co. coffee. Check out this fun video they shared yesterday to find out a bit more about her process and her background:

Champaign-Urbana's own, Anne Lukeman — co-owner of the awesome adventure room in Urbana, C-U Adventures in Time & Space — was featured on Jeopardy!'s "J!Effect: Homecoming feature. The spot showcased some previous contestants on the gameshow, and lo and behold, Lukeman was featured. Not only that, I had no idea she was a contestant on the show in 2005 (where she won $18,000!), so this is an awesome tidbit.

This isn't the first time people from C-U have been featured on the show, I remember a couple of years ago when some students were ringing it up.

Watch the video below, where Lukeman is featured right away in the clip:

Elsinore is back with a new single and visual, titled simply, “O”. The Police and David Bowie-influenced pop sounds of Elsinore supply some nice late fall-time, first-snow musical accompaniment. The track comes as a taste of their currently untitled new project, which is set to drop early next year.

Feel free to check out their video for recent single "In & Out" afterward if you’re vibing with it.