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...

Saturday, the House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Highway, will host its Second Annual Halloween Bash. The premise: all the bands will perform as other bands, including playing their songs. The event begins at 8 p.m. and costs $6, or $5 with a costume. This year,...

Exit Clov is strange. First off, what does it mean? And secondly, what are the members doing? The first question is easy to answer, once the information is tracked down — "Clov" is a character in Samuel Beckett's play "Endgame," so presumably "Exit...

Setting aside fashion lines, reality show talent searches and marathons, Diddy most importantly still knows how to drop a beat. Four years have passed since Sean Combs released an LP and he has a lot to say. "Press Play" is an encouraging, well-executed...

"Comfy" is, as most of the literate world are aware, a shortened form of "comfortable." Something familiar, something that fits just right. As such, there is no more perfect name for the way this band sounds. These seven songs are soothing to the nerves,...

Pedal steel prince Robert Randolph suffers from a common problem among great instrumentalists - mediocre songs. In the past, even Randolph's soulful melodies and greasy feel could not hide the fact The Family Band's songs were little more than vehicles...

After a string of sub-par movies, Robin Williams has returned to prove he is not funny. "Man of the Year" starts out like a bad comedy and then moves to a bad suspense film. Williams plays Tom Dobbs, a comedian hosting a fake news show a la Jon Stewart's...

"The Grudge 2" picks up where the first movie ended. Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) learns from her bedridden mother (Joanna Cassidy) that her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has not only been hospitalized in Japan, but is also under investigation...

The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was admittedly kind of scary, as were the original "The Exorsist" and "The Omen." But the shock factor in all three franchises has worn off by now. Yet, because teenagers can still sneak into R-rated movies, sequel...