Sunday night, I was fortunate enough to catch a short but sweet set from local band Melany Ether at The House, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. When I asked guitarist/singer Jason Jensen and bass player Brandon Welch how they would describe their music, they were...

This has been a stressful week. First, move-in day, then classes start,and you haven't even started unpacking. Am I right? Well, I'm sure that if unpacking is a distant thought, then so is decorating. Please don't fret. I have creative, yet inexpensive,...

"One Hour Photo" (Fox Searchlight, R) is a film about a sad man trapped in a lonely world of photo finishing and fluorescent lighting. The man finds refuge in a world where people only photograph their happy moments, the moments they want to remember....

During the course of a year, many movies are released and it's sometimes hard to keep track of them all. Every now and then, there is a movie that slips by movie-goers and is completely forgotten. "Super Troopers" is one of those movies. You might be...

Watching a surf movie near the end of the summer can be pretty depressing, especially if you live in Illinois. Walking out of the theater having been subjected to the estrogen-fueled "Blue Crush" (Universal, PG-13) has caused me to view the cornfields...

Michael Coakley quit smoking last year. Now he’s made sure all residence hall dwellers follow his lead - at least while they’re inside. Smoking will be prohibited inside residence halls starting next fall. After a positive recommendation from the...

Did you ever ask yourself what there was to do around here on weekends, or even during the week? I used to ask myself that question all the time, and usually there was nothing going on, that I knew of, and all my friends had gone home. Hmmm...what to...

Residence hall dwellers who need help with English assignments have only a few steps to take to find it. The writing center now is located on the lower level of Stevenson South’s B-Tower. "It is the only center on campus that is available to any member...

Now that NIU’s indoor sports teams will play in the Convocation Center, the Chick Evans Field House has plenty of extra space. The new vacancy will ease overcrowding at the Student Recreation Center. On average, the Rec Center draws more than 2,500...

Columnist, comedian and former NIU student, Ray Hanania, was told he couldn’t perform his regular comedy routine at Zanie’s, a comedy club in Chicago, because he was Palestinian. Last Tuesday, Hanania was scheduled to open for comedian Jackie Mason,...

Bill Cosby's grand opening event at the NIU Convocation Center generated a huge turnout. But what about future performances? The list of events for the upcoming school year is far from complete, said Joe Coots, the Center's marketing manager. Coots believes...