Better Call Bob
That slimy lawyer on Breaking Bad? Well, he's getting his own show. Chicago follows Bob Odenkirk from Naperville North to Vince Gilligan's new Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul.
Transient Tunes
Why is an unknown local record label keeping its music off the Internet? The Reader dives into digital ephemera.
Low-Budget Landmark
Public-access staple "Chic-a-Go-Go" filmed its 1,000th episode last weekend, and the Tribune was there for the action.
He's the Mann
Ahead of Michael Mann's new film Blackhat, Slate's Daniel Engber watches every flick the Chicago native has ever made. (His conclusion: Mann is "Hollywood's greatest hack.")
Mini-Masterpieces
Broad City and High Maintenance have lately cemented Web series as the go-to medium for stoner Millennials, and Chicagoans are all over it. Chicago picks six to binge on immediately.
Serially Snubbed
In light of Steve James's third Oscar brush-off (for Life Itself, following Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters), the Trib asks the director himself: What gives?
Ghost Story
Scott Blackwood's much-hyped third work of fiction See How Small hit shelves Tuesday. Chicago explores how a real-life tragedy inspired it.
Fringe Fest
Curious Theatre Branch's 26th-annual Rhinofest—"a seven-week convocation of shows nobody sent for"—is in full swing, and the Reader's canvassed it for must-sees and stinkers.
Documentary Mess
John Maloof and Charlie Siskel's documentary Finding Vivian Maier, about the legendary Chicago photographer, just nabbed an Oscar nomination—and Slate's Dana Stevens has some critical words for all parties involved.
Review Revue
After months of delays, Lupe Fiasco's fifth LP, Tetsuo & Youth, is here—and it's reportedly his best effort in years.
Chicago Reader: "On the album's best material Lupe speaks levelheadedly and lends a sympathetic voice without much finger-pointing. His language can still be pointed, but the MC softens it with perspective; his politics are still in play, he's just left the soapbox."
A.V. Club: "Tetsuo & Youth is a tapestry of experimental ideas and sounds that avoids delivering heavy-handed sermons by putting on an apolitical front and letting the commentary play in the margins."
Pitchfork: "If Tetsuo & Youth is any indication, something has shaken loose in Lupe, because it's the most focused, thoughtful, and satisfying project he's offered since The Cool…he dives back into rapping for its own sake like it's a big dusty novel he's been waiting to pick back up for years."