IN DEEP

Chicago’s ‘Gang Of 3’ Dominate At The ‘Games’

WONDER FULL

Chicago: Where The Wild Things Were

By Elizabeth C.

A CROWD PACKED THE MUSIC BOX IN CHICAGO TUESDAY NIGHT FOR A SNEAK PREVIEW OF SPIKE JONZE’S HOTLY ANTICIPATED NEW MOVIE, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

Audience members laughed, they sighed, they applauded wildly — and that was all before watching the film.

That’s because the special showing was a fundraiser for 826 Chicago, a literacy nonprofit founded by wonderboy Dave Eggers, who was there in person to thank supporters. Last year alone, 826 provided free tutoring, writing programs to more than 4,300 Chicago public school students.

“It means a lot at this juncture when we can use every penny,” said Eggers, author of the New York Times’ bestseller, A Hearbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius. He said the event raised enough to pay a year’s rent for the building 826-Chi rents at 1331 N. Milkwaukee Avenue.

Eggers, who co-wrote the movie’s script with director Jonze, also brought along a small surprise: Max Records, the Portland, Ore. boy who plays the naughty Max in the adaptation of Maurice Sendack’s perfect children’s book.

Before the movie, the real Max and Eggers bantered back and forth on stage, with Eggers revealing a list of indignities (sprained ankle, nausea, dog bites, seasickness, snowball in eye, near suffocation by Wild Things, sand in iPod) the young actor endured while filming in Australia.

And there was time for a short Q & A. When asked if he was familiar with Sendack’s picture book, Records said that he “was probably obsessed with it until the age of four.” And when someone asked if he expected to continue acting, he deadpanned, “It depends on the project. If the right thing comes along.” The crowd erupted in laughter.

Then it was time to see the movie, smartly written by Eggers and Jonze, and a cinematic wonder to behold.

“I like the way you destroy stuff,” one monster tells Max after one wild romp on their island. “There’s a spark to your technique.” As the collective motley crew considers eating Max, another says, “I hope you don’t taste as selfish as you look.”

Records’ creative Max winsomely captures the freedom, confusion and pain of being a tween.

SCIENCE-TOLOGY

A ‘Musical Tribute To Two Great Men of Science’

By Staff

ELECTRONICA COMPOSER JOHN BOSWELL‘S RECENT YOUTUBE VIDEO makes astronomer Carl Sagan even more accessible — and Stephen Hawking less scary — with the help of auto tune.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch , you must first invent the universe,” begins the mashup.

This funky, far-out shit has been watched more than 320,000 times in a week.

We concur with the video’s fan rotocon who wrote on YouTube, “Great job! Now do Noam Chomsky!”

ATTENTIONS DIVERTED

While Daley Chases Olympics, The City Suffers

By Elizabeth C.

THE DEATH OF CHICAGO TEEN DERRION ALBERT COULD NOT COME AT A MORE INOPPORTUNE TIME FOR MAYOR DALEY AND CRONIES WHO ARE OFF TO COPENHAGEN TO BRING THE 2016 OLYMPICS TO THE CITY.

That sounds cold, doesn’t it? It’s also the truth.

Violence among the Chicago’s high schoolers has become a constant in Chicago’s media. But you can read headlines all day long and still not be aggrieved in the same way that witnessing a murder on tape will unsettle you.

Derrion Albert was the sixth Chicago child to die in three weeks. There’s been a lot of din on Chicago chat boards about the horror of showing this video, how rude and exploitive it is. Yet none of last school year’s 36 murders of Chicago students has brought the calvary like this one.

“This isn’t the first time a child has gotten killed around here, but this is the first time all of these people have come out,” Marquita McAlister told a Chicago columnist.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF

This Is Cool: ‘MyParentsWereAwesome’ on Tumblr

By Elizabeth C.

DIDN’T YOU KNOW?

Your parents were awesome before you were phat.

They used to be pimped out in fros’, party hats, white tuxes, square sunglasses, team captain sweaters, formal gloves, polyester, mini-shorts and love beads. Mostly before you were born.

They drank, smoked, fell down, drove fast, played hard, lived, loved, frolicked, wore too much makeup, pumped iron, traveled, kissed, dressed in drag!

Then, as creeto commented on Fark, (where YPWA was provoking even more parental flashbacks), “Your parents’ lives came to a screeching halt when they had you.”

We predict this latest web project by self-described “visionary” Mirza (who’s also “lazy,” doesn’t like dogs or vegetables and who spends “way too much time thinking”) will be the next breakout website to go viral and have publishers twitching.

Go now! Submit a snap today! Maybe you’ll meet the cutoff before it’s once again verboten to see parents as humans.

EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL

Mad Men Monday: Seven Twenty Three

By Miz J

SILLY ME. I THOUGHT THAT NOTHING ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE COULD POSSIBLY JOLT ME OUT the leftover cupcake and sangria haze I was in. But I was wrong, people. Very, very wrong.

Last night’s episode started at the end and then worked its way back around. The first thing I saw was Peggy asleep beside an unidentified male, and I thought to myself, ‘Gee, this is really starting to develop into a pattern. I hope she’s learned a thing or two about protection.’

How naive I am, even after three seasons of Peggy Olsen shenanigans. But more on that later.

Since we’re only treated to a few telling snippets (Peggy at a hotel with a man; Betty lazily reclining on a chaise lounge; Don waking up on the floor of a dingy motel room with unexplained facial scars), attention to detail is imperative, and I’m already at a disadvantage having drank nearly a JUG of wine earlier in the day. I promise to do my drunken best, Mad Men and Women.

To start, Betty has joined the Junior League of Ossining, and her first task is to block the building of a water tower nearby. To help with the effort, she enlists the help of Henry Francis, the creepy guy she talked to at Roger’s painfully stale country club party (you know, the one where he sang in black face and his fiancée Jane got sloshed? Yeah, that’s the one). More on this as it develops, but it looks like Henry has designs on Betty, and he could give two shits about the water tower.

Roger’s party, poor taste and all, yields a strong business connection for Don too. Conrad Hilton was the guy at the bar, as you may recall, and now he is doggedly pursuing Don’s help, much to the delight of Bert, Roger and that British guy whose name I forget. However, while the relationship between Hilton and Draper remains a man-to-man sort of deal, the lawyers (and the agency) want Don to sign a very lucrative (and very binding) three year contract.

CONSPIRACY SPOILER ALERT

In The Bag? Evidence Mounts That Chicago Gets The 2016 Olympics

By Elizabeth C.

I SMELL PRODUCTION! AND PREDICT ORGASMIC JOY throughout Chicago’s ruling class when the official word comes down that the city has won the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Signs are suggesting that the ruler of the Western world and the Queen of all media will rendevous in Copenhagen this week. And bookies are favoring Chicago to wins the games.

The White House confirms that the President’s advanced ”security” team traveled to Denmark just about the same time that news leaked that Oprah would make the trek.

Yes, yes, we know that Mayor Daley’s fingernails have been chewed down to the nubs while awaiting news of whether the games would be awarded to his fiefdom. But this is also what’s known as a ‘tease,’ the ‘cliffhanger.’ And when the U.S. chief lobbyist shows up in Copenhagen to get the good word, that will be the shocking ‘reveal.’ It’s a common tactic in daytime and reality TV.

A REAL BUZZ FEED

Paranormal Activity Uses Audience To Feed The Fear

By Staff

HERE’S A MARKETING PLAN: HOLD A SNEAK PREVIEW OF AN UPCOMING MOVIE, TURN ON THE CAMERAS INSIDE THE THEATER AND CAPTURE AUDIENCE REACTION TO THE HORROR HAPPENING ON SCREEN.

The embedded comment cautions, “One of the scariest movies you will ever see. Do Not See It Alone!” Oh those Hollywood types know how to create a buzz, no?

Just check out the “official” trailer for the upcoming horror movie that’s being touted as this decade’s Blair Witch Project and which opened nationwide yesterday to limited release.

We caution the crowd: this is a gimmick, this is only a gimmick, albeit one that works pretty well.

ALTERNATE REALITIES

Comics Ready For Their Big Screen Debuts

By Marc Sakol

IT TOOK ALL OF FOUR YEARS FOR THE OBSCURE, LIMITED-EDITION comic The Surrogates to make it to the big screen. The futuristic crime drama starring Bruce Willis, based on the 2005 comic by Robert Venditti, explores the fictional future when humans use remote-controlled surrogates to avoid interacting with each other.

While Venditti has received critical acclaim, I can think of at least three other comics that deserve to make it to theaters. Here’s my list in case anybody in Hollywood is reading:

•Fables by Bill Willingham is one of the most imaginative fantasy worlds I’ve ever read. Forced to livein exile in New York because their own worlds have been overtaken by an evil empire, the characters in Fables are forced to eternally hide their true identities.

The series follows some of the biggest names in fairy tales as they adapt to their new lives in Fabletown; The Big Bad Wolf becomes Bigby Wolf, sardonic private detective; Snow White works as the mayor’s go-to administrative aide; the Count of Monte Cristo owns a fencing academy, and yada yada.

WITNESS TO CO-OPTING

White People’s Version Of “The Best Video Of All Time!” So What Would Kanye Say?

By Staff

WHO CAN LOOK AWAY FROM HER LIQUID GREEN EYES.

Who can resist the female half of Pomplamoose as she fuses hip hop with vanilla while singing Beyoncé’s Single Ladies.

Pomplamoose is the musical marriage of Californians and certifiable YouTube stars Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte, who describe themselves simply as a “one-woman-one-man band” on Twitter. The duo has become such a web sensation that they’ve been hired to do web commercials, and their “videosongs” are now available on iTunes.

Oh yes their music is playable and much more suitable to piping into coffee shops, dorm rooms and downtown hipster parties than Mrs. JZ’s feet-stomping version. We’ll take both.