"Third" - Portishead Rating: 9 / 10 After 11 years, Portishead, the best band to have never written a James Bond theme song, returns with its third album, appropriately titled "Third." You'd think with the simple title and artwork that the band is trying...

Jen Hance Staff Writer Look, we need to talk. I have been noticing a few things around "The Office" lately that I am not too pleased about. I just don't think that this relationship is going to work out for us. Look at what relationships like this have...

Some classes test students with excruciating tests, where they crunch numbers and answer endless multiple choice questions by filling out bubbles on a Scantron. For the seniors in the Time Arts program, the testing is a little different. The number crunching...

"Hard Candy" - Madonna Rating: 5/10 "Who is the master, who is the slave?" is one of the lyrics in the final track of the new Madonna album, and it leaves listeners with a question that resonates throughout the entire album: Who is really running the...

‘Stand By Your Man' - The Blues Brothers Many vocalists have sung ‘Stand By Your Man,' from Tammy Wynette to Carrie Underwood, often with considerably more "oomph" than Jake and Elwood did. But the Bros connect with this country standard in...

Rating: 8 / 10 When one first encounters The Patience, the all-female rock trio from DeKalb, there could be some low expectations. The three have rambunctious, sugar-high kind of personalities that, by all logic, should produce music of the same caliber....

As true as it may be that the weather has been insane, beyond the strange snowflakes, summer is on its way. As school wraps up, several people look forward to the summer jobs that will fill their empty pockets. So whether the job comes with a pizza delivery...

I have my summer vacation already planned. Yep, call me a nerd. Perhaps "overzealous" or "excited" are better words, but either way, summer vacation calls for a plan. The perfect summer adventure is a delicate situation. As portrayed in horror movies...

Once upon a time, I rolled my eyes at the very thought of anime. While slaving away at the Suncoast video store that I worked at years ago in Yorktown Mall, I'd fantasize about anime films and shows not existing, ensuring my release from the ill-fated...

"Wheel of Fortune's" Wheelmobile made a stop in Chicago, NIU alumnus Mark Grotto fulfilled a lifelong dream. Grotto originally planned to try out for the show with his sister for "Family Week." However, after numerous auditions, callbacks and a switch...

Here's what's coming out on DVD: "27 Dresses" The chick flick of the spring season is upon us and, like all the others, will be forgotten by September. Katherine Heigl, in another one of her roles as an awkward woman, commands a decent amount of laughs....

Most good country music is like fine wine; it should be sipped in small doses and can lead to depression if abused. However, for those who need a little honky-tonk in their lives without allusions to broken pickup trucks, there is Joe Diffie's completely...