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CULTURE

World-renowned Sexpert on campus today and tomorrow

Take a former prostitute and porn star, add an advanced degree, stir in over three decades of research, lectures, performances, films, workshops and life experience, and you're sure to have one of the most interesting guest speakers to appear in East Central Illinois in a long while. Annie Sprinkle has been on the sex-positive and feminist scenes for longer than I've been alive. In fact, upon hearing she would be in town this week, my father excitedly asked me to …

CULTURE

Stand-up spectacular

The C/U Stand Up Spectacular: A Night Of Stand Up Comedy takes place Friday at 9 p.m. at the Canopy Club. Cover is eight bucks. Eight stand-up comedians (Trey Mowder, Ryan Nallen, Sirifax, Lane Pieschel, Drew Michael, Ryan Walker, Sam Norton, and Collin A. Bullock) will do their best to make you laugh. In the interest of introductions, Pieschel, Bullock, and Nallen answered a few of our questions below.

CULTURE

A decade of independence

It's easy to forget (now that you have been named the "Person of the Year!" for blogging about your exotic life in Marrakesh and filling out your Facebook profile and we can watch videos of any spectacle, political or not, almost immediately after it happens) that things weren't always like this. When the GEO strike happened a few weeks back, videos of the picketing were published online almost instantaneously, all without waiting for the mass media: the News-Gazette or local …

CULTURE

Freeway rolling through on Thursday

Rick Ross has had quite a life, and he's coming to Champaign on Thursday to share some of his experiences with local young people. In a free event in conjunction with Chicago-based Hip Hop Detoxx, Ross will be appearing at the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club (201 E. Park St., Champaign) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice organized the event "in the wake of the police shooting of Kiwane Carrington and part …

CULTURE

Art and bikes try to get along

Ever since Italian neo-realist director Vittorio De Sica decided that art could only exist if it made bicycles disappear, bikes and art have had a mutually hostile relationship. The few times they've met since then have been disasters: recall Sears's in-house bicycle brand "Free Spirit" (named, evidently, for the impulse wordy philosopher George Hegel believes art embodies), or Breaking Away, the state of Indiana's greatest "artwork," or the countless pictures of unrideable fixies and project bikes posted by their "curators" …

CULTURE

Pecha Kucha in C-U

When my friend Amy first told my about a new kind of event that was being organized in Champaign-Urbana, it took me a while to understand the concept. "A what?" "Pecha Kucha," she explained, "it's a sort of show where designers present slides on their work. You should find out more about it, maybe you could present." Which is how I ended up meeting Christina Tapp and Madelin Woods, the organizers of Pecha Kucha in C-U. A rapid-fire format for …

CULTURE

Tracing sweet corn to the source

The Urbana Sweetcorn Festival kicks off this afternoon at 5 p.m. in downtown Urbana. The festival is taking place from 5 to 11 p.m. tonight and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. tomorrow. There's entertainment available on three stages, with headlining acts War, 33 Miles, and Days of the New, as well as other interactive activities. You can download the full entertainment schedule flier here. However, in this preview I'm going to focus on the festival's namesake: sweet corn. Namely, …

CULTURE

Let Us Plan Your Weekend for You

There's more going on around town than you may realize. As much as some of us former big city-dwellers like to bemoan the lack of anything worthwhile to do here in Champaign-Urbana, that's just simply not true. What we lack in terms of massive art museums, slam-poetry readings, open-air concerts, and professional sporting events, we make up for with elbow grease and ingenuity (otherwise known as the DIY spirit), as evidenced by this selection of offerings to add to your …

CULTURE

A Winter War for Gamers

In 1969, a notice was posted in the Daily Illini seeking to form a group to play wargames. A meeting was held shortly thereafter in Altgeld Hall with about a dozen men in attendance. That day, the Conflict Simulation Society was chartered. Alan Conrad's memory of the circumstances behind that first meeting are a bit fuzzy. He recalls that all in attendance were students at the University of Illinois with an interest in board games, specifically wargames created in the …

CULTURE

Listen Up: Speakers in C-U, January 19–25, 2009

You live near a major university and a community college. There are smart people that come here every week to talk to the general public about interesting topics. Perhaps you were not aware of this fact, or were overwhelmed by the sheer number of opportunities for possible enlightenment. If that's the case, Smile Politely understands and is here to help. Here are four events going on in town this week, and three of the presenters took the time to answer …

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Most Recent Culture Comments

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I’ll agree that Gordy tolerated a lot of crap, but his patience wasn’t infinite—hence the banning of the nutcase übertea Wayne Johnson, exactly the kind of guy who gives libertarians the reputation for droolin’ batshittery they have. Gordy was also unwilling to pretend that gaybaiting was a…

Mark Laughlin avatar

Bobo was amazing; she threaded right through opponents in front of her like they weren’t there.  I think the bout could have easily gone the other way if she hadn’t been skating for the Dames. 

{username}

OHNO BOBO definitely made her mark with the Damgin’ Dames!!  Great bout Friday night at Savoy Rec Center!!! TCDG is doing a great job bringing Flat Track Derby to the area!  Keep up the good work and the crowds will come!

{username}

Mark, your first paragraph is mostly wrong. The second paragraph is true, though. Hulten has been a conflict of interest from Day One. The Champaign City Council made a big mistake in appointing him. The other two candidates were a lot better, a lot more intelligent, and far less biased.

{username}

I regularly commented at IP.com several moons ago, and I didn’t get the same impression of Gordy Hulten as the commenter above.  While there were times when his conservative bias incapacitated his reading comprehension skills, for the most part he was a patient and kind moderator who…

{username}

“Glock 21, an IlliniPundit regular has described the new incarnation of the site as “dead blog walking”.“ Glock21 is an example of “brain-dead man walking.“ “The site had its strengths and weaknesses ...“ Mostly weaknesses, though. The main strength was tipping us off there are many, many…

{username}

Glock 21, an IlliniPundit regular has described the new incarnation of the site as “dead blog walking”. The activity and updates have come to a stand still. The site had its strengths and weaknesses, but was a good barometer of what the landed gentry were thinking. They…

{username}

If you liked last week’s SameSexSunday—you’ll love this week’s! http://bit.ly/91zLi0

{username}

“ChampaignPundit” is a pretty broken site—effectively, you can’t sign up for an account, because there’s no way to specify or change a password. That means you either do the email “reset my password” thing to get a temporary password every time you want to make a comment,…

{username}

I think the nutballs knew that all their crazy theories would be accepted and embraced. That parade argument was a great example. Never mind that unsafe conditions created a hazard to participants and bystanders—IT WAS A TERRIBLE DECISION TO CANCEL IT!@!!!!!!! Or at least that’s what the…

Most Recent Comments

{username}

Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win. 

Dan Schreiber avatar

Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is.  But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…

{username}

Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…

{username}

I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get.  I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library.  None of those activities…

{username}

These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…

{username}

(speaking as a Savoy resident)  By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc.  This is how library systems work.  The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…

Rob McColley avatar

I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“

{username}

I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?

{username}

Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.

emma reaux avatar

I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…

Dan Schreiber avatar

And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.

Dan Schreiber avatar

The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.

Timbo avatar

Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.

Timbo avatar

What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…

{username}

Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.

{username}

Thanks for the article, Ben.  I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar.  A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…

{username}

Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…

Joel Gillespie avatar

@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.

Ben Valocchi avatar

good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…

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