With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. more ›

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take her medicine and offered their own suggestions to how the city should capitalize on the local music scene. And everyone thinks that a suggested tax on bottled water is a great idea. more ›

"I wanted to believe. More than most I wanted to believe. I wanted there to be something more than this awfulness that surrounds us every day." This poignant statement of yearning and soul-gnawing dissatisfaction comes just before the climactic series of events in Lady in the Water, and it sums up why audiences flock to the films of M. Night Shyamalan: the hunger to connect to something beyond what we can see. If only... more ›