David Rauch is a Northern Star employee studying abroad. "An American In Paris" will chronicle his studies and adventures in France. There are frustrations, to be sure. I've been told they are normal and that they might come and go. But they will last...

"A Time To Burn" will start its second run on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and will play through Sunday at the Players Theatre. Tickets are available at the box office in the Stevens Building weekdays from 12:20 to 4:30 p.m. and are $14 for adults, $8 for senior...

Singer/songwriter Damon Gough — known as Badly Drawn Boy — has released a concept record about being British. Wait, what? Okay, so "Born in the U.K." might not literally be about being British, but it is to Gough, as to all British people. "Do you...

In 2004, New Jersey's My Chemical Romance released its sophomore album. "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge" went platinum and sent youngsters to cosmetic counters. The dark quartet has released a 13-track album in support of a slight image change. Now everyone...

Strip away the excessive pyrotechnics, makeup and extreme chauvinism and Paul Stanley is just another 1970's rocker looking to outshine the stigma of his band KISS. "Live to Win" is Stanley's first solo release since 1978 and a far cry from the Neanderthal...

Boys Like Girls was given a career jump-start by touring with Butch Walker and having an album produced by Matt Squire of Panic! At The Disco fame. And while there are certainly bands less deserving of such opportunities, Boys Like Girls hasn't exactly...

Critics and audiences have been drastically polarized by Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette." It was nominated for a Golden Palm Award at The Cannes Film Festival, where it had been booed during its screening days before. People seem to either love it...

"The Prestige" is the story of Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), two up-and-coming magicians who become locked in a bitter rivalry —driven by the need to outshine the other and to keep their audiences in constant awe....

One would be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks war is a great thing, even with protection as people's most primal instinct. "Flags of Our Fathers" is based on James Bradley's book of the same title. Bradley is the son of a Navy Corpsmen in one of...

Through patience and hard work, a band might just last From Here On After. Illinois' optimistic quintet is ready to tour and spread the word to music fans galore. Similar to other bands, From Here On After started with a group of friends inspired to cover...

"Blue Sky, Black Earth: Meditations on the Meeting of Sky and Land" opens in the NIU Art Museum in Altgeld Hall at 5 p.m. today. The reception will end at 7 p.m. with an informal talk at 6:30 p.m. This exhibition is free and will run through Dec. 16....

A wind of change is in the air. Northern France — Normandy to be exact — is getting the apple harvest in full gear selling old, unlabeled bottles of fresh, murky hard cider in Paris' open markets. The trains to the sunny South are getting bloated...