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

If tonight's your big night out on the town, make sure you know what you're doing, how you'll get around, what you'll wear, where you'll be dining and who you will smooch at the stroke of midnight in Champaign–Urbana.

Snow, freezing rain, mud, soggy boots, bitter temperatures and gray skies: Welcome to winter in Champaign–Urbana.

It’s true that this year we’ve enjoyed some uncharacteristic meteorological reprieves. (And with the mercury expected to hit the mid-40s on Christmas day, we probably have a few more in store.) But when the wind chill sweeps off the prairie at 15 degrees it’s officially time to consider protective measures. Short of hibernating, lying on the couch under a blanket with a large stack of DVDs is your best bet. If you have some good entertainment options (and a lackey to bring you your flicks), you may not have to leave the house until spring.

Read on for some DVD winter winners, guaranteed to keep your mind away from the ice age brewing outside your windows.

All the snow has melted. This year, the chance of having a white Christmas is slim to none. We were so close.

The pleasure of movie-watching as a sport is uncovering undiscovered treasures far away from the new releases section of your local video store. This task usually isn't too difficult with foreign films as many gems from other cultures don't even show up on our radar screens in the United States (which is really too bad because it's our loss). This is particularly true for popular Indian cinema, affectionately referred to as "Bollywood" movies (as in, Bombay+Hollywood). Even if you have Indian friends, Bollywood movie recommendations are hard to come by as some people seem surprisingly embarrassed by their love for this genre. High-brow conversations about Indian cinema usually center around Mira Nair's latest project or the classic films of Satyajit Ray. When That's Rentertainment's "employee picks" rack offered up a 1995 Bollywood film I'd never heard of, I eagerly rented it out of curiosity. The movie was called Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, loosely translated as "The Braveheart Will Take the Bride", and I was rewarded with one of the most unapologetically satisfying movie-watching experiences of my life.

Come out today, or even Thursday, for a thinly sliced Italian Beef sandwich (served on bread from Mirabelle) at Caffe Paradiso in Urbana. Order it with all the toppings: melted mozzarella cheese and giardiniera. Mmm delicioso!

When I first saw Gary Hustwit's new documentary Helvetica at American Institute of Graphic Arts' Intent/Content Conference in Nashville, I was skeptical. As a graphic designer, I had an opinion about the subject. I wondered how an 80-minute documentary about a typeface that I've been trying to avoid since the 1980s could at all be interesting. Was I surprised. Hustwit is such a good filmmaker that he can make watching water boil fascinating. But in this film, he didn't have to do too much because the people he chose to interview were so passionate about the topic that they poured their heart out for his camera. What Hustwit ended up with was more than a film about a font. Helvetica is the best film about the graphic design profession ever made (not that there have been that many, or even one).

Helvetica is a Swiss typeface that was developed in 1957 and became, arguably, the most used typeface in the world.

An ice storm makes its way through Champaign-Urbana leaving up to a quarter of an inch of ice accumulation. Exercise caution when attempting to climb up a tree.