"I was 27 years old the first time I died," says Jack Starks (Adrien Brody), who is shot within the first five minutes of the time-thriller "The Jacket." In the beginning of the film, Jack is a soldier in Desert Storm who survives a near-fatal wound and...

Gold Coast Refuse will take the stage Friday night at Otto’s Niteclub and Underground, 118 E. Lincoln Highway, in preparation for the March 26 release of its album "Yours From Ascentia." Weekender talked with guitarist/vocalist Brian McDonnell about...

Mike Pospeshil’s band is currently searching for a new name and a new singer, but doesn’t need to look far when it comes to naming his 10 favorite rockers of all time. Pospeshil, a junior general studies major and bass player for the band formerly...

"Human ashtray" isn’t a widely known job skill, but bouncer Jason Parada can proudly tout that experience on his next resume. Parada, a junior sociology major, has dealt with fake IDs and drunken combatants since 2001, when he was hired by Molly’s...

What could Pat Kaiser, a freshman marketing and psychology double major, possibly have in common with world-famous movie stars Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas? Besides breathing oxygen, the trio all date younger women, although the gap isn’t nearly...

Every two weeks, Sweeps will take a look back at NIU decade by decade. This is in no way a rip-off of that VH1 series we’ve never seen and certainly never bought the DVDs of. Television in the 1990s was all about "Beverly Hills: 90120," while college...

What do you get when you combine Kevin Williamson, Scott Baio, Craig Kilborn, Shannon Elizabeth, Carrot Top, an animated dog and Wes Craven? Yes, a bad joke. But also, a bad movie. In movies like "Teen Wolf" we had a teenage monster hitting the game-winning...

Whoever said that ‘70s rock is dead and long gone is wrong. Plug in the lava lamp, grab a spot on the faded shag carpet and get ready to flash back a good 30 years, because the spirit of heavy ballads and swooning vocals lives on in Dead Meadow. The...

"Man of the House" is next in the long line of not-so-prestigious films that juxtapose archetypal (or cliche) action heroes upon a typically mundane setting. Purveyors of this tradition include "Kindergarten Cop" at best and "Suburban Commando" at worst....

Chris Shim, a 2002 graduate of Harvard University, won Weekender’s 2005 Oscar contest by correctly predicting 19 of the 24 winners. The Seattle native came across the Northern Star’s Web site while searching the Internet for Academy Award competitions....

From the signs on the door to the patio bar turned desk, anyone can tell that 528 Grant South Tower B is a bachelor pad run amok. "Neither of us brought anything to decorate with when we moved in," said Patrick Weaver, a freshman business administration...

Omar Lopez and Cedric Bixler constantly reap the benefits of their At The Drive-In days. Even the 2003 debut, an experimental masterpiece, profited from the kneejerk reaction to recall the past. But what that debut had and this follow-up lacks is a rallying...