Smile Politely

With school, work, family and thawing out your extremities, who has the time to find out about the best shows happening in Champaign-Urbana?  No need to fear, because the editors at Smile Politely have taken care of it....

With the first decade of the 21st century now in the history books, we can begin culminating our hopes for what the new decade will bring. And if the Mayans turn out to be wrong, and the world doesn't end in 2012, maybe Champaign-Urbana will have some improvements to look forward to...

The guards passed around the arc, finding no cracks in Northwestern's defense. And thus Illinois' first two possessions yielded no fruit. On the third possession, a big touched the ball. And lo, there was a basket. On the fifth possession, a big touched the ball. And there was a basket...

Unless you were at ScotTrade on Wednesday, you don't know the highlight of the night was Cathy Cox's rendition of the national anthem. The Star-Spangled Banner has sounded better, but rarely more meaningful...

Well, this is no longer very timely, but Butterfly Assassins was among the Fall Semester Showdown bands to which we sent interview questions. They responded in a timely manner, but I (Joel) completely dropped the ball...

The National Invitation Tournament is one of life's neato, quirky sporting events. You get an extra home game or two, and then a weekend in New York! So why the long faces...

We're humans, us folks at Smile Politely. And as such, we too need a rest here and there to celebrate holidays and take a breather. We'll start publishing again regularly on Monday January 4, 2010 (2010?!)...

(Originally posted on December 21, 2007 — it is an annual tradition at Smile Politely to repost this article. Enjoy!) Last year on Dec. 22, I relayed a basic recipe for peppermint bark that was created by my paternal grandmother Maizie. ...

We're bombarded with so much information on a daily basis that separating the wheat from the chaff is more than a full-time job. According to a new study from UC-San Diego, the average American consumes 34 gigabytes and 100,000 words over the course of 12 hours each day...

‘Tis the season to be jolly. And what could be jollier than a seasonal cocktail? Nothing. Except maybe a seasonal cocktail that won’t weigh you down while you deck the halls! Believe me, I love eggnog, grasshoppers, and coffee with Bailey’s. But ...

And so it begins. For months now, arguments have been hurled back and forth like a mud-slinging match between political parties, and I've tried to stay away. The fights have erred on insulting, and both sides have angered me with their accusations...

When I first agreed to interview Sanford Hess, I admit I was a little anxious at the prospect of meeting the successor to Greg Boardman—after all, the Art Theatre is considered one of downtown Champaign's greatest independently-owned treasures—if not the most coveted; the thought that I may be com...