When you enter the “real world,” you have to get used to a few things. Signing up for a 401k, for example. Setting an alarm clock for a time only previously observed by ambitious creatures such a birds and coke addicts. And — our favorite — the hour-long lunch break.

In jobs that don’t enjoy the luxury of an hour-long break, employees are often forced to suffer the thirty-minute rush, in which there’s just enough time to grab a sandwich and wolf it down before it’s time to clock back in. But when you have an hour, you’re likely to spread your gastrointestinal wings and seek out some deals. You might find that Cafe Kopi, for instance, offers a mean Thai tempeh sandwich, and that with KoFusion's lunch sushi deal, you get nine pieces of sushi and a bowl of miso soup for under ten dollars and in under thirty minutes.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg lettuce (we couldn’t resist), and we know there are plenty more praiseworthy lunchtime deals around town. So, all you grown-ups out there with hour-long lunch breaks and ten bucks to burn: Where do you go for lunch? Where can you get in and out within an hour, and without paying more (or much more) than ten dollars?

Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, and we’re certainly not insulated here in Champaign-Urbana. As of this morning, gas at most stations in town is going for $3.75–$3.79 a gallon.

With fuel prices skyrocketing and no relief in sight, drivers are beginning to look for ways to save a buck. In a report last week, ABC News offered a handful of tips, such as keeping tires properly inflated, removing junk from the trunk and sticking with slower speeds.

The one remedy not mentioned, however, is the simplest of all: Find ways of getting around that don’t involve a car. Take the bus. Bike. Walk. Stay home.

Whichever “solution” you choose to embrace, chances are good that gas will affect the transportation decisions you make this summer.

Sugary sweet confections aren’t something folks generally turn down. So, when a little storefront opened up proclaiming “Cakes on Walnut,” it was only natural that Champaign residents threw their scales out the window and gave the new cupcake shop a try.

Smile Politely loves when new businesses pop up in town. Cakes on Walnut, at 114 N. Walnut Street, was certainly bustling during last week’s Ebertfest, as movie-goers bopped around downtown with white boxes — large and small — or sat at the outdoor bar indulging in the sugary grub.

So now that the dust has settled, what did you think?

Owned by the sister duo, Trisha Bates and Amanda Bates, the interior boasts a pleasantly-modern setup, but with magazines galore, a sitting area, and wireless internet access to boot. The former shoe repair shop offers a cozy enough invitation to hunker down with a cupcake for an afternoon sweet treat.

Guided by the staff at Bacaro, the Bates’ sisters concocted an array of fancy sandwiches such as turkey apple quince and white bean and Parmesan, so “Cakes on Walnut” is no one-trick pony. Cupcake flavors include red velvet, vanilla, chocolate, classic yellow, salted caramel, strawberry balsamic — and Smile Politely has heard raves and jeers about the offerings.

Is a cupcake habit (at $2.75 for a small and $3.50 for a large) something you can afford? Will you carve out a new column in your budget to include the saccharine delights?

Every year, Urbana High School and University of Illinois alum Roger Ebert shows up in town with about dozen canisters of film, a cadre of mildly known actors and, often, at least one Hollywood superstar. This time around, that superstar is Ang Lee — himself an Illinois graduate and director of megahits such as Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Lee movie featured at this year’s festival is Hulk, which Ebert gave three out of fours stars when the film first hit the screens in 2003. Ebert’s final assessment: Hulk is “a comic book movie for people who wouldn't be caught dead at a comic book movie.” In other words, it’s got a big green guy in it, but it also tends toward the sentimental.

If this were your film festival, and if Ang Lee weren’t coming to town, would Hulk make the bill? What else would? Below is a list of what Roger Ebert came up with. Then we want to hear what your recommendations would be.

Wednesday, April 23:

Hamlet (1996)

Thursday, April 24:

Delirious (2006)
Yes (2004)
Canvas (2006)

Friday, April 25:

Shotgun Series (2007)
Underworld (1927)
The Real Dirt on Farmer John (2005)
Mishima (1985)

Saturday, April 26:

Hulk (2003)
The Band’s Visit (2007)
Housekeeping (1987)
The Cell (2000)

Sunday, April 27:

Romance and Cigarettes (2005)

Keep scrolling down for updates from Ebertfest throughout the weekend!

Central Illinoisans and people from other surrounding areas were rudely awakened by the New Madrid fault line stirring this morning. Today's earthquake was rated as a 5.2 on the Richter Scale and hardly any damage has been seen at ground level. Fortunately for us, earthquakes are a rare phenomenon in Illinois, which is why many people have said they initially thought the quake was a truck rumbling by, a train derailment or — something else?

Few would deny that Champaign-Urbana is home to an actual "music scene." That we can even pose this question is proof enough. And let's not forget that our little community has spawned a band that sold the most albums in the United States in 1980. That's nine million or so, to be clear. The 44th most of all time. We even have a street named for them.

So yes, we have a music scene. That is true. And a lot of people care about it, relatively speaking.

Last week, we saw controversy manifest itself in the form of two shows next door to one another. One was the Local Music Awards, hosted by WPGU and buzz magazine at The Highdive. The other, a charity show that came to be known as the Anti-LMAs, was held right next door at Memphis on Main. Both shows were well attended, and both showcased a wide range of local bands. Within minutes of the Local Music Awards letting out, Memphis on Main went from being packed to beyond capacity. Just as fast, the crowd had to rush to the exit, coughing and tearing up in the eyes: Someone had pepper sprayed the crowd, and the sidewalk along REO Speedwagon Way looked like an impromptu party for respiratory-challenged hipsters. At the very least, this was an active evening for the C-U music scene.

And then we have the record labels (that's plural, mind you), festivals, touring bands, publicity companies, promoters, online and walk-up record stores, radio stations, magazines, blogs (all plural, still) and everything else you could imagine that makes this place a known quantity in the Midwest music scene.

But still, there is something missing. In the mid-1990s, people were heralding C-U as the next Seattle: a fertile breeding ground for the alternative music movement and a mainstay for the ears and eyes of major label record executives. As many as five bands walked into fairly lucrative recording contracts and many went on to tour in arenas and theatres regularly.

And with that, we leave it you, the community, to chime in and let us know: What can be done to improve upon what we already have?

In late March, Alderman Charlie Smyth introduced an ordinance to the Urbana City Council that resulted in a packed council chamber and so much discussion — a vote on the proposal was postponed until April 14.

During the next committee as a whole meeting of the city council, the members will revisit the ordinance that could potentially ban cell phone usage while driving in the City of Urbana. Although, some members were in favor of a hands-free cell phone ban — similar to ordinances in cities such as Chicago and New York City — Smyth's bill calls for a full ban on the use of cell phones, including Bluetooth devices, while behind the wheel.

Smyth argues that a hands-free ordinance would not be effective because there is no difference cognitively between using a hands-free set or a hand-held device; both options take the driver's mind away from operating the vehicle.

Most any driver has been annoyingly cut off only to pass the culprit, whom — surprise! — is talking away on a phone. However, with a comprehensive ban, questions arise about how to enforce a ban on hands-free electronic devices; how to educate the public about the new ordinance; and in two cities separate by name only, how to spread the word that when you enter the city limits of Urbana, it's time to end the conversation.

After much debate, the council opted to further the conversation and have City Attorney Ronald O'Neal draft a new ordinance addressing questions raised at the March 25 meeting.

Next Thursday marks the kick-off (pop-and-lock-off?) of the 6th annual Hip-Hop Awareness Week, organized by U-C Hip-Hop Congress and Floor Lovers Illinois. This event, which continues through next weekend, aims to both educate and entertain the public with the four "elements" of hip-hop culture:

• Dance (breakdancing/b-boy/-girling)
• Poetry (spoken word/rapping)
• Music (turntablism/deejaying)
• Visual Arts (graffiti)

In the meantime, tonight at 7 p.m., the one-man show Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop continues in Allen Hall (and closes after Saturday's 2 p.m. showing at The Armory Free Theatre), and showcases hip-hop culture as one of the ties that bind in a script of characters with cultural and social differences.

Hip-hop culture has been alternately celebrated and vilified — is it elitist, or welcoming? Is it sexist; is it racist? Certainly no movement is perfect, but the efforts of activists in our community this coming week bring to mind the positive potential available and active in hip-hop, as an energetic community unifier and a purveyor of poetry.

Will you be attending the events this weekend and in the coming week? What has hip-hop done for you? What can our community learn from hip-hop?

Both Illinois basketball teams made valiant runs for a Big Ten Tournament title in 2008. Had either of them won the championship, they would have earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The women's team dropped a heart breaker to Purdue in the final seconds, while the men's team got shook down by a really strong Wisconsin Badgers team. Needless to say, both teams are left on the outside looking in.

Still, March Madness is everywhere. The first round of the men's tournament is under way, and the women's tourney gets started tomorrow. Sports Editor Seth Fein posted his men's bracket in the Big Ten Basketball Report this week, and now we'd like to know who you have picked for the Sweet Sixteen, Final Four and Champion match ups in either or both tournaments.

Downtown Champaign’s M2 building is slated for completion in late 2008. As home to the Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works, BankChampaign, four floors of office space and four floors of residential units, the building will draw increased traffic to the evolving downtown area. To accommodate this congestion and the anticipation of future development in the area, a 600-space parking garage will be erected by early 2009 at the corner of Hill and Randolph streets.

The garage is likely to find its most use at night (particularly weekend nights) when parking is in highest demand.

Though going up in tandem with the privately owned M2, the garage will be a publicly funded and operated facility.

“It’s a city deck, so it’s public parking,” Shirl Johnson, parking operations supervisor, says. Parking fees will be collected by an attendant or automated credit card machines.

The contract for construction will be voted on at the March 18 Champaign City Council meeting. If the current proposal is accepted, the contract will be awarded jointly to English Brothers and A & R Services for the construction of the $10,590,000 garage.

In the past few years, the University of Illinois campus has made room for a plethora of new restaurants, shops and other businesses. This week, workers broke ground on a County Market to be completed this fall at the corner of Fourth Street and Springfield Avenue. By the end of this summer, Urban Outfitters and the university's Office of Public Affairs will take up residence as well. And within the past year or two the campus has welcomed Pitaya, Noodles, Chipotle, an Apple Store and more. But what is campus still missing? What would you like to see within walking distance of Green Street?

It's springtime, which means students at the University of Illinois (and all their friends, who come in from campuses all around) are ready to get their drink on. And you know why: It's Unofficial, people. According to a recent letter from the university provost's office, the big U "does not support or condone" the "annual business promotion known as Unofficial St. Patrick's Day (USPD)." But it doesn't matter who condones it, because the "holiday" marches on. In fact, this year, for the first time ever, Unofficial is a two-day event. This means more drunks in the bars, more puke on the sidewalks, more trips to the hospital (last year ambulances escorted 90 students) — but it also means more money in a lot of cash registers, including the Champaign city coffers.

At a packed city council meeting on Tuesday, Chancellor Richard Herman delivered an urgent plea to do away with the non-holiday. He cited the death of Carolyn Yoon, an Illinois graduate who died at what Herman dubbed, "an occasion that has no meaning other than to soil our campus and lower community standards." Last year, 176 students were arrested at Unofficial, and according to Herman, that was a 71 percent jump from last year's statistics.

But, then again, parties throughout the years have been much bigger and rowdier than these Green Street festivities. Ever been to Bourbon Street?

WUNA, or the West Urbana Neighborhood Association, is known for its amazing ability to organize and engage its immediate community with relevant and important issues facing its neighborhood, one of the most economically diverse in the city. The association covers this area of Urbana.

Some of the issues that WUNA has brought to light at city council meetings include the number of people living in single residence homes, how to properly police the actions of the landlords and how to control college students who regularly throw parties in the neighborhood.

Despite the association's concerns, however, some of the transient residents in the neighborhood over the last few years have spoken about multiple instances of blatant voyeurism and outright disregard for personal privacy by WUNA members.

Tell us what you think.

lllinois American Water Company, provider of Champaign-Urbana agua, is currently building a new treatment plant on West Bradley Avenue that will pump out 15 million gallons a day. With a price tag of $51 million, the facility is slated to be up and running by December, and Champaign County residents will be asked to partially foot the bill by paying 60 percent more for their water.