Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Woodlawn Cemetery, which shares its land with Busey Woods in Urbana, houses many folks who once walked the streets of our two towns. Illegible tombstones from the pre-Civil War era flock the grounds — but one lesser known fact is that this cemetery has a few sections lovingly referred to as "babyland" by the groundskeepers. Large rows of tiny worn down grave markers, like the ones above from the oldest "babyland," can be found on the southeast side of the cemetery marking the deaths of many children who died from various illnesses in the early 1900s. Another interesting grave marker, for Isham Cook, is one from the first body buried at this cemetery. Although his body is not directly under his tombstone, it is "still around somewhere under the grounds," according to a groundskeeper. Click "Continue Reading" to see Cook's marker.

Lucky for Lee Marvin fans and thanks to films such as No Country for Old Men, along with movies such as The Proposition, and television shows such as Deadwood, the Western is currently undergoing something of a mini-renaissance.

Like any genre, the Western remains malleable and ubiquitous enough to reflect contemporary themes and concerns, while the elements remain the same; unshaven men baking in the desert sun, looking to kill one another for various motivations of revenge and/or justice.

If you like Jack Black’s School of Rock or happened to catch the indie documentary Rock School, chances are you’ll love Young@Heart. While it focuses on the other end of the age spectrum, Stephen Walker’s documentary is a real charmer as it recounts how a chorus composed of senior citizens from New Hampshire, overcome various setbacks to get ready for a concert in their hometown of Northampton. Oh, did I mention they sing nothing but rock classics? This premise may sound like a cheap gimmick that panders for good-natured chuckles, but the singers, whose average age is 81, win us over with their tenacity, good-humor and the vigor with which they perform these songs, some of which take on different shades having been sung by these spry seniors.

Filmgoers probably first became aware of English actor Chiwetel Ejiofor in Love Actually. While his scenes as Keira Knightley’s husband were few, the actor made a definite impression on viewers and filmmakers alike as he has appeared in a series of high-profile films. Lending solid support in Four Brothers, Inside Man, and American Gangster, Ejiofor is now stepping into the spotlight with David Mamet’s Redbelt, a character study in which he portrays Mike Terry, a jujitsu master who’s forced evaluate his moral code when he finds himself plunged into the corrupt worlds of Hollywood and Mixed Martial Arts fighting. While in Chicago, the actor graciously sat down to talk about the film, his career and what is was like to work with playwright David Mamet. After breaking the ice with a discussion about the recent Edward Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute he had seen, Ejiofor gamely answered a question that had been on my mind since I had seen Redbelt.

Taking a plunge into soothing waves of the ocean? Lame. Buying ice cream and savoring it under the warmth of sun? Overrated.

Haven’t you guys heard of quality summer entertainment?

We're talking about the rolling repertory season that serves up romance, suspense and comedy. It’s the one and only Summer Studio Theatre Company.

In it’s 18th season, SSTC continues to look onwards with three meticulous plays: Talley’s Folly, The Last Five Days and The Turn of the Screw.

What does it profit a man to be the last honorable person in a corrupt world? That’s the question at the heart of David Mamet’s Redbelt, a meditation on honor and loyalty set against the backdrop of the world of Mixed Martial Arts and Hollywood. That there’s more than meets the eye comes as no surprise to those who have been following the filmmaker’s work. So often, his plays and movie have dealt with deception and misdirection and while these elements are at play in Redbelt, they don’t take center stage. Instead, Mamet and his star, Chiwetel Ejiofor, concentrate creating an in-depth character study rarely seen in movies today: that of a man who understands and maintains his own moral code while those around him regard him as a fool for doing so.

In the center of Parkland's Staerkel Planetarium is their projector: the Zeiss model M-1015 projects about 7600 simulated stars, the sun, the moon and five planets onto a dome-shaped screen which is fifty feet across. Parkland's projector was the first of this model to be installed in the world.

Visit their website for a listing of events happening in June.

However bad circumstances become in the poverty-stricken, war torn landscapes of developing countries, it's important to remember that conditions are often much worse for the girls and women of these societies. The oppression and impoverishment of half the world’s population is rarely addressed in the media, but it’s real and all the more insidious for its ubiquity.

Tonight, the Krannert Art Museum, will host a private screening of A Powerful Noise, a documentary following the lives of three women from disparate countries dealing positively with issues of oppression and poverty in their cultures.

There is that old maxim that you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Apparently Harry Allen (Chris Cooper) has never heard this or he discounts it out of hand thinking that this saying pertains to others, not him. You see, his situation is unique. He has a lovely wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson), who helps him run their tidy suburban home and plays the role of faithful wife at every turn. Problem is she’s a bit too sexual for Harry. While she equates the act with the feeling of love, he would like a deeper, emotional connection she simply can’t provide. Harry, however, thinks he’s found just that with Kay (Rachel McAdams). Though much younger than him, he thinks he’s found true love with this wonderful woman with the only hurdle between them being his pesky wife. Harry’s solution to this is quite simple – he decides to kill Pat, knowing that there is no way she’ll survive the ordeal of a divorce and reasoning that “I can’t stand to see anyone suffer.”

Tonight at 7 p.m., the insanely popular NPR radio show "This American Life" will be broadcasting live from New York via satellite to select movie theatres nationwide — and Savoy 16 is one of those selected. The broadcast, a two-hour event, will preview the second season of the television show, featuring show outtakes, answers to viewer questions and all-new "extraordinary, funny and true stories from everyday life."

Tickets are very limited, so get to the theater (232 W. Burwash Ave., Savoy) early. Visit This American Life for more information.

11:45 a.m.: After being absent from the organ yesterday, Warren York is back and all is right again. As I look around and hear the organ’s jaunty tune, I feel a little bittersweet. It’s the last day of Ebertfest and I am extremely cagey from sitting in a movie theater for five days straight, yet this festival is a pinnacle of my year and I always hate to see it end. Warren plays “I’ll Be Seeing You” and I feel a little mushy inside.

11:00 a.m.: Chaz Ebert wastes no time in introducing the director for the first film of the day, the much-anticipated guest, Ang Lee. Mr. Lee is greeted by a chorus of U of I boys who sing the school song in his honor. “I am proud to be a Fighting Illini,” says the award-winning director of such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.

Director Patricia Riggen sets out moving you to tears from the very first moment in her Under the Same Moon, an independent film that has become something of a hot button issue for paranoid conservatives with too much time on their hands. Given the relatively slow and limited release this film has had (at its height it’s played on 450 screens and has grossed a little over $10 million), it’s likely that this movie could have come and gone with little notice. Pundits, however, have gone out of their way on slow news days to point out that Riggen’s movie gives a decidedly one-sided view of the illegal immigration debate and that she should be ashamed of herself for not dealing with the greater social complexities of this issue.

8:00 a.m.: I arrive at the Illini Union, searching in vain for the Pine Lounge that will hold the panel for “Today’s Writer/Director — It’s Not Just Business, It’s Personal.” It’s serendipitous I get there an hour ahead of time; after I locate the locked-up room and acquire a chai from the Courtyard Café, I run into Joey Pantoliano. Long story short, he ends up buying me a yogurt and we discuss his organization, “No Kidding, Me Too,” and the dour state of indie film distribution over breakfast. He promises to introduce me to Eclipse Award-winning former Sports Illustrated writer William Nack, whom I’ve come to the panel to see. Joey treats me like an old friend and fulfills his promise. I am indebted to him forever.

12:15 p.m.: The doors open even later than yesterday’s seven minute delay. It seems the Powers That Be are weaning us on a shorter diet of festival fun by adding heat to the decathlon. I am parked on a residential street on the opposite side of West Side Park to escape the voracious appetites of the new parking meter rates. Seventy-five cents my ass. There should be special festival parking slips for patrons, because paying $4.50 for six hours for parking in Champaign is a crime. Some of these people I know have gotten here earlier than 10 a.m. to wait in the Fest Pass line just to get in, and the first film doesn’t start until 1 p.m.

5:45 p.m.: I arrive and the line is wrapped around the historic Virginia Theatre down to the light pole at the end of the block. The lawn chairs, laptops and headphones have been broken out by the diehards sitting in the Virginia’s motherly shade. Each one of these people is sporting their festival pass, hanging from a lanyard like a gold medal. Technically, all these people need to do to get a seat is walk in a few minutes before showtime, because the Fest Pass guarantees you a seat to each showing. But oh, no, these people have been waiting in line for at least 45 minutes already, just to be able to grab the best seat once the doors open and the 10th annual Ebertfest kicks off. As this blog will detail, the experience of Ebertfest is a little bit of an endurance test, in some respects, a decathlon.

The actor, writer, and supervising producer of The Office, B.J. Novak, will be performing stand-up comedy for free on the south side of the Illini Union this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. What better way to celebrate a week of working than with someone who perfectly conveys the pain of doing just that in a cubicle? Sponsored by the Illini Union Board, the show is quite possibly the best reason one could ask for to brave campus town on a Friday night.

The 16th annual Artists Against AIDS exhibition and sale kicks off on Friday evening, April 25, at the Orpheum Children's Science Museum. The museum's theatre is transformed into a gallery space displaying a wide variety of media from paintings to wearable art. As always, the event is fully operated by volunteers, and features submissions from over two hundred and fifty local artists. All the work can be purchased and proceeds go directly to the Great Community AIDS Project (GCAP), a local not-for-profit agency providing support services for those affected by HIV/AIDS and their families. GCAP also provides information and education to the community about HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness.

The events will be held Friday, April 25, 6–10 p.m.; Saturday, April 26, 1–10 p.m.; Sunday, April 27, 1–7 p.m.; and Monday, April 28, 1–7 p.m.

Be sure to stop by Ebertfest this weekend, and while you are there, pick up a copy of C-U Confidential, the brainchild of Jason Pankoke. The Virginia will be giving them away for free all weekend long. The magazine is dedicated to exposing the film community that lives and works in the greater C-U area.

Roger Ebert is set to host his 10th annual film festival and among the subjects to be viewed at Champaign’s Virginia Theatre will be a big green monster, a serial killer, underworld thugs and a mad housewife. At first glance, one might think that the Central Illinoisan critic is focusing on B-Movies or pulp-fiction fodder. Upon closer inspection, however, the slate of films to be shown is, as usual, an eclectic collection that casts a wide net over the world of cinema, covering a variety of genres and formats that are often neglected by the average filmgoer and movie exhibitors.

When someone says that there is a new film based on the Holocaust that you just have to see, most potential viewers equate this with their reaction to having to eat their broccoli as a kid — yeah, it might be good for me, but it’s far from pleasant. Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters contains all of the troupes we’ve come to expect from films of this sort. It does focus on a group of persecuted Jews in a concentration camp, it does effectively recreate the inhumane treatment inflicted upon these prisoners and it does remind us of the dehumanizing effect this had on both the prisoners and its captives. And at the center of it all, is a charismatic anti-hero and contains a compelling human story that poses intriguing moral questions regarding personal safety versus sacrificing oneself for a larger cause.

Four months ago, before he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz was hanging out in my hotel room in Key West. There were a number of us there — younger, aspiring writers, lounging on the teal sofa-bed and leaning against the Formica bar, listening to Díaz tell the story about a reading with V.S. Naipaul in Australia. (“Yo, that cat hates black people,” Díaz said of the former Nobel Prize winner, who had refused to read directly after Díaz and a Russian writer, and would only come on stage after the audience had left and tickets were collected a second time.)

But nothing comes close to the shot in the arm the bard's "Comedy of Errors," a tale of mixed-up identities, received when playwrights Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ, and Erik Weiner flipped the script and birthed "The Bomb-itty of Errors," a hip-hop adaptation.

Anna Peters is usually the one behind the camera. The photo on the right is a part of her collection and it is how she is seen by others when taking photographs. But starting tomorrow, you will get to see a part of Peters that isn't always on display: her art. Art Coop will be hosting a show displaying her paintings, photographs, sculpture and installation, including other artists Maria Verdos-Petrou and Ryan Michael Fraser.

And now Smile Politely brings you a little more of Peters:

Consumed by: Constantly trying to stay on top of project deadlines while also being able to make time for my own work and sleep.

It’s the return of the world’s best buttered popcorn! That’s right — grab your car keys, it’s drive-in season once again in Gibson City, and that means the scent of summer is on the wind. About a forty minute drive away from Champaign and well worth the trip, the Harvest Moon is a twin drive-in movie theater on the outskirts of Gibson City on Route 47 South. In a time when over 80 percent of the nation’s movie-going public have only faceless multiplexes to house their films, the drive-in is not only a dwindling rarity in America, but a necessary novelty. Those who have never experienced a drive-in movie are cheating themselves from a wealth of memories.

Did you know Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis? Here at Mack's Twin City Recycling, you can always find a tire or forty. They have a self-serve auto parts yard on site. And next time you think about throwing away unwanted metal, bring in your scraps and they'll pay you.

Champaign-Urbana knows a thing or two about healthy writing scenes. After all, the University of Illinois is home to one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious creative writing programs as well as one of the nation’s leading journalism schools. A top-shelf literary magazine is housed here Ninth Letter and a recent National Book Award winner lives here (Richard Powers) and one of America’s most esteemed poets teaches here (Brigit Pegeen Kelly) and an authorial authority on U.S. media hosts a local radio show here every week (Bob McChesney) and — and the list could go on for pages.

But C-U isn’t the only writers’ haven in this neck of the woods. Tonight at 6:30 p.m. the Rantoul Public Library will host a local author panel discussion featuring nine area writers and a representative from Mahomet’s Mayhaven Press.

The Central Illinois Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters will re-establish a local public space by hosting a student art show. Decades ago, Robeson's held an annual show at their store in Champaign and this year, the NSAL committee, headed by Dale Steffensen, a self-proclaimed art enthusiast, hopes to pick up where Robeson's fine tradition left off.

Sometimes the cornfields can get you down. I have many antidotes (several involving vodka and olives), but when my liver needs a break and my soul longs for tranquility, C-U provides me a surprising sanctuary: Japan House.

Located in the University Arboretum at the south end of campus, in Urbana, and boasting an aura marked by Japanese tea, people strolling and rock gardens, Japan House offers all comers an oasis of calm in the midst of our bustling Midwestern burg. This weekend, Japan House puts all its charms on display during its Spring Open House.

Produced by the Illini Union Board with an ensemble of 28 students and the despite it's absurd name, the award-winning play, Urinetown: The Musical is well worth the watch. It is a satirical comedy-musical about a community's struggle during a 20-year drought. Here in Urinetown, water consumption is curbed by a single capitalist company, Urine Good Hands, who takes away the town's potty privileges; private bathrooms are banned and citizens are forced use and pay for the public facilities provided. The conflict, however, brought upon this town leads to a revolution. Now this notion isn't completely ridiculous, seeing as how some places in Europe require a small fee to use public restrooms. Urinetown's creator and lyricist, Greg Kotis, was actually inspired by this concept while traveling in Europe and having to pay-per-pee.

Three performances of Urinetown: The Musical will run at 7:30 p.m. on April 11 and 12, and a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. at Assembly Hall, 1800 S. First St. in Champaign. Tickets are on sale through Illini Union Ticket Central and Assembly Hall Box Office. They range in price from $13-$17 and a $3 discount is available for those with a valid UIUC Student ID.

In a day and age in which so many films are as disposable as yesterday’s newspaper, Cristian Mungui’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a work that haunts you long after its final credits roll on the shattered lives of its two young protagonists. Set in Romania in the late 1980s, it examines the crushing effect of living under a Communist regime, focusing on two women who finds themselves gradually sucked into a situation, in over their heads and compromising their values in ways they never contemplated. While Mungui puts the issue of abortion front and center, the movie also speaks to the oppression of being forced to live with antiquated notions and the inability to free yourself from a society in which opportunities to start a new life are nothing more than a sham.

Both in and out of the office, Damian Duffy and John Jennings have an unbridled passion for graphic novels. One might call them fanatics, but really, they're professionals. Coming this Saturday, April 12, the two gentlemen will be at the Urbana Free Library, 210 W. Green St. in Urbana, for the library's Big Read series from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.




Interviewed separately, their answers are oddly similar in style and content. And perhaps that's why they have decided to collaborate on a number of works, including their newest graphic novel, which...well, I'll let you read for yourself.

And now, without further ado, Smile Politely would like to introduce you to Duffy and Jennings, for the longest "Consumed by Creativity" we will possibly ever run.

Every Wednesday night, for $15 per family or $5 per person, Skateland in Savoy hosts "Family Night." Traditional skates can be rented for an additional $2 or you may opt for speed and inline skates for $4. They also have meal specials available during Family Night at the snack bar. Skating from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. will most likely wear your kids out and make them fall asleep like babies again, just make sure the kids don't load up on too many of the sweets they sell. You can thank Skateland later.

"An Artistic Discovery: The 2008 Congressional Art Competition" is currently on display at The High School of Saint Thomas More, 3901 N. Mattis Ave. in Champaign, and it's almost coming to a close. Students from thirteen high schools in Illinois' 15th Congressional District have entered this year's competition which allows students to display their artwork locally, but also gives them an opportunity to be recognized on a national level for their artistry.

Central High School will present Jonathan Larson's Tony and Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical, RENT, tonight, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. RENT is a modern day rock opera inspired by Puccini's classic opera "La Bohème." It follows a year in the lives of seven friends barely making ends meet with their Bohemian lifestyles in New York City's East Village.