The James Beard Foundation 2013 media awards presented Friday night in New York City included two notable recipients from Chicago.
Congratulations to WBEZ's very own Fear of Frying on winning best Radio Show/Audio Webcast with host Nina Barrett and producer Lynette Kalsnes.
Genre-based television shows suffer especially and the ignorance of critical bodies feels similar to reactions toward genre-based films or literature. Critics assume that because a work of art also fits within classifications of genre (such as horror or science fiction), it is no longer worthy of general praise. It is no longer respectable. But it is these works that audiences flock to and embrace. Genre-based works use high concept to address real-world issues. This is not deceitful; it is brilliant. Not every mind can do so and to do so successfully and well signals a true talent, one that appeals on a cultural and categorical level.
This is why Orphan Black, the new sci-fi television show from BBC America works so well. Orphan Black is the story of an orphan (Sarah, played by Tatiana Maslany) who witnesses the suicide of another woman (Beth) who looked just like her. Sarah assumes her identity and her problems soon escalate and unravel from there. Well, that is what it is like on the surface. Her journey reveals something far more complex and sinister: other women who also look just like her as well. Are they related, or clones, or something else?
Never mind the weather, here’s how I know that spring has really arrived. It’s the moment when I find myself inside a temporary tent set up in Millennium Park, perched on the edge of a long, white runway, seated next to my colleague and fellow fashionista, Natalie Moore.
Pens and cameras in hand, outfits tight and sharp, we were more than ready to review “The Walk,” the School of the Art Institute’s annual student fashion show.
Now in its 79th year, the show features the work of sophomore, junior and senior students. As you might expect of an art school, some of the looks are highly conceptual and absolutely unwearable. They’re explorations of an idea or theme or moment in history which makes for drama on the runway, but won’t translate into a street look — at least not without major refinements.
Natalie and I both appreciate experimental or cutting edge art and fashion. But face it, like most of you, we’re also just looking for something to wear!
The sophomores in some way face the biggest challenge.
I chat with a homegirl today, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs before moving to New York, where she spent a decade on staff at Entertainment Weekly, cofounded SexyFeminist.com, and now writes for several publications, including Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Writer’s Digest, Fast Company, and New York‘s Vulture. Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's history of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, is coming out on Tuesday, while her collaboration with Heather Wood Rudulph, Sexy Feminism, was released earlier this year. She has provided pop culture commentary for CNN, VH1, A&E, and ABC and teaches for Gotham Writers' Workshop.There were no vaccines strong enough to stop the Bulls from dropping Game 6 against the Brooklyn Nets 95-92. The Bulls didn’t get defeated by only the Nets, they were wiped out by the flu bug too. Luol Deng was sent home sick, while Taj Gibson and Nate Robinson (seen vomiting during the game) suffered on the court. And with Kirk Hinrich continuing to be sidelined with his calf bruise, it was a much-depleted Bulls team. Derrick Rose continues to watch the game on the bench in street clothes.
The Bulls were in the game and had opportunities to either tie or go ahead at various times late in the contest despite their setbacks.
The Nets flexed their offensive abilities and shot 57 percent and had a 60-54 lead going into the halftime. It looked like Brooklyn was having the type of game they enjoy playing.
What has been typical of this Bulls team, especially this Tom Thibodeau-coached club is that they don’t give up. They fought and clawed and did everything they could possibly do in the second half to make it the kind of game the Bulls prefer—a defensive struggle.
You would think without Deng and Hinrich the Bulls chances were impossible. Jimmy Butler played every minute of this game, scoring seventeen points with six assists and seven boards, and worked hard on defense too. Marco Belinelli played almost the same amount of time and played both ends of the court too.
You may have seen this tweet, or a variation, in the last few days:
Tim Tebow: I’m Christian.
Media: Keep it to yourself!
Jason Collins: I’m gay.
Media: This man’s a hero!
Oh, the self-pity, the false equivalency!
Both men became free agents in their respective sports recently, both making news, but that's about where the similarity in their situations begin and end.
Yet Tebow's fans seem all bent out of shape that their man—long known as a Christian—didn't get the kinds of love Collins provoked by revealing his homosexuality.
Can we just review?
Tebow is part of an American majority: A straight Christian male.
Collins is part of several American and global minorities: An African-American gay male.
