Metal singer Aaron Lewis finds second home in country music

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Aaron Lewis stands as one of the more unusual crossovers into country music, but the singer of the metal band Staind believes it was a fit made in the cradle.

“It’s been quite the pleasant eclectic mix of tattoos and black eyeliner, and Stetsons, cowboy boots and big shiny buckles,” Lewis said in an interview after the release of his first full-length country studio album, “The Road,” this week.

Lewis, 40, was raised on what he terms his grandfather’s country music: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Daniels and George Jones. He collaborated with Daniels and Jones on his country EP, “Town Line,” released last year.

This made the transition from the angst-ridden world of metal to the laid-back country scene an easy step for him, but perhaps not so much for his head-banging fans.

“A few fans are really having a hard time with it,” Lewis said. “I can’t make everyone happy. Music is about making me happy first. For those who wish I would stick with Staind, they’ll get what they want, too.”

Lewis, who sold seven studio albums over a 17-year career with Staind, says he has two musical careers because he is “creatively bipolar” and suffers from attention deficit disorder.

“I need to switch it up a little bit,” he said. “It’s kind of nice to write a song about taking my daughters to the beach instead (of) about something that’s tearing me apart from the inside.”

For Lewis, each song on “The Road” is the opportunity to explore his creativity in music, while winding down a road filled with new country listeners and taking Staind fans along for the ride.

“The Road” includes “Forever,” a thoughtful song of life on the road, and “Endless Summer,” a simple track about digging up clams and casting for striped bass with his daughters.

“If we catch a keeper we throw it on the grill,” he says. “The beauty of the adventure that I’m on now is I can write songs about stuff like that. I could never bring a song like that to the table for Staind.”

He describes writing “Endless Summer” as a “refreshing and a nice change” from his metal past.

“I remember having a big smile on my face the whole time I was writing it,” he said. “In the past, what’s usually coming up for lyrics is not smiley material. The song wrote itself in 10 minutes.”

In contrast, “Party in Hell,” which has fans up and dancing, was the last song Lewis wrote for the album and was inspired by a stint in Las Vegas.

“Las Vegas really is, in a metaphorical sense, a party in hell; you can get into anything you want to,” he said. “It was like well, ‘OK, I’m going to hell, who else is going to be there? We might as well have a party with it.’”

SAME PROCESS

His previous country EP, “Town Line,” featured the gold-selling single “Country Boy,” a collaboration with Daniels and Jones that hit the top of the “Billboard” album charts and topped off at No. 7 on the Top 200.

“That’s crazy, right?” Lewis asks, shaking his head. “It was pretty amazing for me, pretty surreal. I was actually in the studio with Charlie, which was a lot of fun. We have become good friends.”

The writing process for country or rock is the same, according to Lewis.

“The music is always first, then the melody, and the lyrics third,” he said. “I need the music to know what the landscape is that I’m singing over, and I need the melody to fit the words in, and then the words come last.”

But the lyrics do not come while he is writing on a piece of paper. “They come with me standing in front of a microphone with the song playing in the background and singing,” he said. “It’s total improv, right off the cuff.”

As with recording, Lewis does not approach a rock performance differently from a country performance.

“I go out on stage and perform those songs I recorded to the best of my ability to sound just like the recording,” he said. “I have always tried to approach every show like it’s the only show that I have. That’s kind of how I’ve gone about this crazy career I’ve had now coming up on 15 years.”

(Reporting by Vernell Hackett; Editing by Christine Kearney and Lisa Von Ahn)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Novelties: Single-Incision Surgery, Via New Robotic Systems

SURGEONS once made incisions large enough to get to a gallbladder or other organs by using conventional tools they held in their own hands. Today, many sit at a computer console instead, guiding robotic arms that enter the patient’s body through small openings not much larger than keyholes.

But even this minimally invasive surgery usually requires multiple incisions: one for the camera system showing the way to the surgeon at the console, and others for each of the robotic arms that do the cutting and stitching.

Now there are robotic systems — one on the market, others in development — that are even less intrusive. They require only a single, small incision through which the robotic arms and camera enter.

This could lead to faster recovery, said Dr. Michael Hsieh, a Stanford professor and a urologist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford Hospital. “There’s only one wound to heal with this procedure, rather than three,” he said.

Dr. Hsieh, who performs abdominal surgery on small children, uses minimally invasive techniques that typically now require three incisions. His patients generally go home a day or two after surgery, he said, “but I think they would recover more quickly if I could reduce my multiple incisions to just one,” he said. “And there will be less scarring, or even no scarring, if you enter through the navel.”

He will soon have a chance to try out the new method on his patients. Stanford Hospital is buying a system from Intuitive Surgical called Single-Site that requires only a single incision of about one inch. The system, approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for gallbladder removal, is used as an add-on to a basic robotic system from Intuitive, known as the da Vinci Si.

The Si costs $1.3 million to $2.2 million, said Angela Wonson, a spokeswoman for Intuitive, based in Sunnyvale, Calif. The Single-Site can add $60,000 or more to the bill, or far less, depending in part on the equipment that hospitals might already have.

The East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, La., has bought a Single-Site system. Seated at a computer there, Dr. Joseph Uddo Jr. can control the instruments, which can enter the body by way of one incision in the navel. Surgical instruments like scissors are at the ends of the robotic arms. “To change a tool, you take out one instrument and load in another,” he said.

ANOTHER surgical robotic system, now in development, enters the body through a remarkably small incision — six-tenths of an inch, or 15 millimeters. The robot was designed by Drs. Dennis Fowler and Peter Allen of Columbia University and Dr. Nabil Simaan of Vanderbilt University. Once inside the body, it unfolds to reveal a camera system and two snakelike arms that perform the surgery. The system has been licensed to Titan Medical in Toronto.

Minimally invasive surgery through a single incision can also be performed with long, thin laparoscopic tools that surgeons wield as they watch a video monitor. But single-incision laparoscopic surgery with hand-held instruments can have problems, said Dr. Adrian Park, chairman of the department of surgery at the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., who specializes in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery. One difficulty is its ergonomic challenge to doctors, while another is the pressure that the tools place on tissue during single-incision operations.

Robotic systems, by contrast, are likely to ease single-incision surgery, said Jeffrey J. Tomaszewski, a fellow in urologic oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

“Robots are an extension and multiplier of our own surgical hands,” Dr. Tomaszewski said. He has done traditional laparoscopic surgery with hand-held instruments, including operations through a single incision. “But you can be working at constrained angles,” he said. “A robot can improve the angle of workability.”

Robotic systems, though, have yet to show that they are always worth the extra money they cost. Such proof will take time, said Allison Okamura, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford who directs the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine Lab. “The jury is still out because of the longevity of the studies that are required,” she said.

Dr. Tomaszewski agreed. “We surgeons love using the robot,” he said. “But the question is, and what we all have to fight hard to do, is to determine for what procedure the robotic approach provides the best benefit.”

Dr. Hsieh says he hopes that single-site robotic systems will someday bring a benefit he’s long dreamed about.

“We may get to the point where we do outpatient, scarless robotic surgery,” he said. “That’s what I’m shooting for.”

E-mail: novelties@nytimes.com.

Read More..

Best October in 6 years for area home sales

The Chicago area's housing market last month regained the momentum it lost in September, resulting in more homes being sold than in any October since 2006.

Sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums in the nine-county Chicago area totaled 8,326 properties in October, according to figures released Monday by the Illinois Association of Realtors. While below some of the monthly sales totals recorded earlier in the year, the volume was an increase of 11.3 percent over September and 44.1 percent higher than the 5,776 homes sold in October 2011.

Within the city of Chicago, 2,009 homes were sold in October, an improvement of 8.8 percent over September and up 53.1 percent from October 2011. Condos accounted for 60 percent of the city's sales volume.

The strong sales continue to remove excess inventory for the market, which is necessary before price appreciation can truly begin. The number of homes listed for sale is at its lowest point in five years, according to Midwest Real Estate Data LLC, the local multiple listing provider. 

Meanwhile, the number of pending home sales in the Chicago area, meaning properties that are under contract but the sales have not yet closed, totaled 10,364 in October, the highest it's ever been except for April 2010 when home sales were affected by federal homebuyer tax credit programs.

For the Chicago area as a whole, the median price of a home was $153,000, the lowest it's been since March but still ahead 2.1 percent from October 2011's $149,900.  Among local counties, DuPage County was one of those that saw double-digit, year-over-year monthly appreciation, rising 11.4 percent in October, to $195,000.

Within the city, the median price rose to $175,000, up 8 percent from a year ago but again, the lowest monthly price recorded since March. In the condo market, the median price fell 8.7 percent from September, to $210,000. However, that sum was a 13.5 percent increase from October 2011.

Last month, 43 percent of sales within the city were either foreclosures or short sales.

The median is the point at which half the homes are sold for more and half for less.

"There's a great deal of end-of-the year excitement," said Zeke Morris, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors. "Typically our numbers are down in the fourth quarter but we're beginning to catch up to other markets in Illinois."

Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, a University of Illinois economist, attributed the improved sales performance to a slowly improving economy, stronger consumer confidence and continued low mortgages rates.

The monthly average commitment rate for the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage in the Chicago area was 3.36 percent in October, compared with 3.49 percent in September and 4.07 percent in October 2011, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Last week, Freddie Mac said average mortgage rates hit a new all-time low in its weekly survey, of 3.34 percent for a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage.

mepodmolik@tribune.com | Twitter @mepodmolik

Read More..

1 dead, 4 hurt in Dan Ryan crash that closes some lanes

Emergency vehicles at the scene of a fatal collision on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Video by Stacey Wescott.

Staff report

9:02 a.m. CST, November 18, 2012

Illinois State Police have closed the inbound express lanes on the Dan Ryan Expressway from 51st Street after a fatal collision this morning.

Local lanes remain open.

The accident occurred on the expressway near 26th Street at about 4:30 a.m., Chicago Fire Department spokesman Kevin MacGregor said.

One person was pronounced dead on arrival, and fire officials transported four people to area hospitals in critical condition, MacGregor said.

All of the injured had to be extricated from their vehicles, MacGregor said.

Two of those injured were taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, and two were taken to Northwestern Memorial, MacGregor said.

Check back for more information.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

Read More..

So, Here’s That ‘Big Bang Theory’ Flashmob You Wanted

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

RELATED: Beating Novak Djokovic: Never Forget Three-Fingered Steve

Psychologist Richard Wiseman has an interactive game for you to let you know you’re just predictable. To be fair, a couple of us tried it out and were not as predictable as Wiseman thought we were going to be. But without further ado, here it is (have some screen cleaner ready):

RELATED: A ‘Mad Men’ Rickroll and the Man That Destroys Carnival Games

RELATED: It’s Sort of Fun Watching Pippa Middleton Squirm

We too are very excited for the Disney installments of Star Wars. New movies, Ewoks, whatever count us in. We’re just not this excited: 

RELATED: A Video to Restore Our Faith in Humanity and a Glacier Tsunami

RELATED: Myspace Hopes Its Sexy New Video will Bring You Back

If you don’t know, The Big Bang Theory is basically a show about a bunch of really smart, really nerdy dorks. Now when it comes to the actual cast of The Big Bang Theory, we’re only pretty sure (and happy to be proven wrong) only one of those things apply:

And finally, do you have $ 37? If so, would you mind donating it to The Atlantic Wire robot fish aquarium fund? We promise, it’s totally a great cause. Thanks in advance!

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

“Partners” Canceled by CBS

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – CBS’s freshman comedy “Partners” has been canceled, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap on Friday.

“Partners,” which starred Michael Urie and David Krumholtz, and centered around the “bromance” between two co-workers, one gay and one straight, premiered September 24 and occupied the Monday at 8:30 slot.

Its most recent episode scored a 1.8 rating/5 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic – down 14 percent from the previous week, and its poorest showing to date. While the show had strong network support, it proved to be the weak link in CBS’s Monday night comedy lineup, the rest of which – “2 Broke Girls,” “How Met Your Mother” and “Mike & Molly” – has been on an upward trajectory.

“Partners” was created by “Will & Grace” writers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick and was loosely based on their own lives.

A “Two and a Half Men” repeat will air in the show’s former timeslot next week.

This makes the second cancellation for the network so far this year, following “Made in Jersey.”

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

The Neediest Cases: Emerging From a Bleak Life to Become Fabulous Phil

For years, Phillip Johnson was caught in what seemed like an endless trench of bad luck. He was fired from a job, experienced intensifying psychological problems, lost his apartment and spent time in homeless shelters. At one point, he was hospitalized after overdosing on an antipsychotic drug.

“I had a rough road,” he said.

Since his hospital stay two years ago, and despite setbacks, Mr. Johnson, 27, has been getting his life on track. At Brooklyn Community Services, where he goes for daily counseling and therapy, everybody knows him as Fabulous Phil.

“Phillip is a light, the way he evokes happiness in other people,” his former caseworker, Teresa O’Brien, said. “Phillip’s character led directly to his nickname.”

About six months ago, with Ms. O’Brien’s help, Mr. Johnson started an event: Fabulous Phil Friday Dance Party Fridays.

One recent afternoon at the agency, 30 clients and a few counselors were eating cake, drinking soft drinks and juice, and grooving for 45 minutes to Jay-Z and Drake pulsating from a boom box.

Mr. Johnson’s voice rose with excitement when he talked about the party. Clients and counselors, he said, “enjoy themselves.”

“They connect more; they communicate more,” he continued. “Everybody is celebrating and laughing.”

The leadership Mr. Johnson now displays seems to be a far cry from the excruciatingly introverted person he was.

As an only child living with his single mother in public housing in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, he said, he tended to isolate himself. “A lot of kids my age would say, ‘Come outside,’ but I would always stay in my room,” he said. He occupied himself by writing comic books or reading them, his favorites being Batman and Spiderman because, he said, “they were heroes who saved the day.”

After graduating from high school in 2003, he worked odd jobs until 2006, when he took a full-time position at a food court at La Guardia Airport, where he helped to clean up. The steady paycheck allowed him to leave his mother’s apartment and rent a room in Queens.

But the depression and bleak moods that had shadowed him throughout middle and high school asserted themselves.

“My thinking got confused,” he said. “Racing thoughts through my mind. Disorganized thoughts. I had a hard time focusing on one thing.”

In 2008, after two years on the job, Mr. Johnson was fired for loud and inappropriate behavior, and for being “unpredictable,” he said. The boss said he needed counseling. He moved back in with his mother, and in 2009 entered a program at an outpatient addiction treatment service, Bridge Back to Life. It was there, he said, that he received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and help with his depression and marijuana use.

But one evening in May 2010, he had a bout with insomnia.

He realized the antipsychotic medication he had been prescribed, Risperdal, made him feel tired, he said, so he took 12 of the pills, rather than his usual dosage of two pills twice a day. When 12 did not work, he took 6 more.

“The next morning when I woke up, it was hard for me to breathe,” he said.

He called an ambulance, which took to Woodhull Hospital. He was released after about a month.

Not long after, he returned to his mother’s apartment, but by February 2011, they both decided he should leave, and he relocated to a homeless shelter in East New York, where, he said, eight other people were crammed into his cubicle and there were “bedbugs, people lying in your bed, breaking into your locker to steal your stuff.”

In late spring 2011, he found a room for rent in Manhattan, but by Thanksgiving he was hospitalized again. Another stint in a shelter followed in April, when his building was sold.

Finally, in July, Mr. Johnson moved to supported housing on Staten Island, where he lives with a roommate. His monthly $900 Social Security disability check is sent to the residence, which deducts $600 for rent and gives him $175 in spending money; he has breakfast and lunch at the Brooklyn agency. To assist Mr. Johnson with unexpected expenses, a grant of $550 through The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund went to buy him a bed and pay a Medicare prescription plan fee for three months.

“I was so happy I have a bed to sleep on,” he said about the replacement for an air mattress. “When I have a long day, I have a bed to lay in, and I feel good about that.”

Mr. Johnson’s goals include getting his driver’s license — “I already have a learner’s permit,” he said, proudly — finishing his program at the agency, and then entering an apprenticeship program to become a plumber, carpenter or mechanic.

But seeing how his peers have benefited from Fabulous Phil Fridays has made him vow to remain involved with people dealing with mental illnesses or substance abuse.

He was asked at the party: Might he be like the comic-book heroes he loves? A smile spread across his face. He seemed to think so.

Read More..

U.S. Cellular exits Chicago market to signal strength elsewhere

Two years before U.S. Cellular's 2002 entry into Chicago's wireless carrier fray, Jack Rooney, then its chief executive, said his upstart enterprise would never "be a big gorilla" but rather "a little chimpanzee that runs around stealing bananas and having a lot of fun."

It turned out there weren't enough bananas in this particular jungle, and fun doesn't do much for investors.

So monkey see, monkey go. Its corporate headquarters will remain on the city's Northwest Side. But U.S. Cellular has said it is selling its spectrum and consumers here and in other underperforming markets. Offloading about 10 percent of its customer base to Sprint Nextel sometime next year should enable it to better concentrate on places where it has found more low-hanging fruit.

"Jack was right," Mary Dillon, U.S. Cellular's CEO since 2010, said in an interview. "We're not trying to be the biggest. We're trying to be the best at what we do, and this puts us in a position to continue to do that."

What about Chicago kept U.S. Cellular from being the best here? Its strategy under both Rooney and Dillon has been to stress customer service — "the totality of many things," she said — an area in which it has believed it could outperform rival carriers, particularly lumbering giants such as AT&T and Verizon.

And, according to Consumers Union and others, U.S. Cellular delivered on that promise, even among its customers here. Certainly, some have pined for Apple iPhones and iPads not available through U.S. Cellular, but it offers the popular Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II.

The thing about customer service, however, is you have to be a customer to actually appreciate it, which is why it's easier to satisfy customers in markets where it already enjoys a strong base.

That's part of the rationale for continuing to serve 5.2 million or so customers in areas including Joliet and Rockford, Iowa and Wisconsin, where U.S. Cellular is among the top three wireless carriers in market share signal strength, while getting out of places such as Chicago and St. Louis, where Dillon said the company was a late arrival and is "around No. 5" in share.

"For us to be able to have the kind of scale that we need — and that's in all the things that our customers love and need now and in the future — we have to have bigger market positions," she said. "In the most macro way, it's really about that."

Take the cost of upgrading here to a more efficient 4G LTE network, on its way to becoming de rigueur among wireless carriers, for example.

"In Chicago, we would not be able to get the kind of return to justify that investment," said Dillon, who previously was global chief marketing officer and executive vice president at McDonald's. "Believe me, I love Chicago. I'm a Chicagoan. I grew up here. I love this city. I don't think there's anything so different about (this market), except for the fact that the competitiveness of this city is such that we needed to say, 'How can we put our investments in the places where we can get the best return for the future and deliver the great kind of customer experience that people expect and want?'"

It's the gardening paradox of pruning to promote better, stronger growth. Faced with a sluggish, unforgiving economy, some companies with big-fish ambitions are deciding the best bet is to swim in a smaller pond and as lean as possible in hopes of realizing the kind of trends and margins investors often covet.

Glenview-based Illinois Tool Works, whose share price is up more than 25 percent so far this year, has not only pared low-margin operations but shed assets and narrowed its focus, reversing a massive acquisition spree from 2004 to 2008 that added 200 companies to a portfolio that peaked at about 800.

U.S. Cellular's reductions have yet to generate the same enthusiasm among investors, however, even as the $480 million sale of its service in Chicago, St. Louis, parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio to Sprint promises better margins for its remaining markets spread over 23 states.

A share price drop of almost 11 percent since the announcement may be partly blamed on the paring being paired with third-quarter results that showed its net income from July through September plummeted 43 percent compared with the same stretch in 2011, even though revenue was up 3 percent. But the fact that the move may strengthen U.S. Cellular also may run counter to what some on Wall Street want to see.

"While some look at this as a prelude to selling the whole company, we fear that management may see its resulting structure as more sustainable and continue to fight it out in the very tough wireless market," Philip Cusick of JPMorgan wrote in a note to investors. "We believe that (it) would be worth more broken up than as an operating asset."

Dillon's unapologetic take: "I would say this does absolutely set us up for future continued success."

The transition, pending government approval, is expected to take up to nine months. In time, scaling back U.S. Cellular will mean elimination of about 980 jobs from a national workforce of about 8,400, including roughly 640 jobs in the Chicago area, 160 of them in the city itself. But it will continue to employ more than 1,400 people in the Chicago area, with 860 of them working at corporate headquarters.

"We're going to remain a top 40 Chicago public company," Dillon said. "We absolutely plan to stay committed and involved and visible in the city and really work with the city in terms of opportunities around workforce development."

Calling Chicago home predates its launch of branded service for callers here a decade ago this month following the acquisition of PrimeCo's operations in parts of Illinois a few months earlier for about $610 million. "We live in Chicago, and many of us were born here, so this is something we've wanted for a long time," Rooney said at the time.

"I would not say it was a mistake," Dillon said of trying to compete in Chicago. "I'd say the industry is quite different and as we are focused on how we continue to make sure that U.S. Cellular is profitable and growing in the future, we have to sometimes look at the business at different points in time and make decisions."

Taking care on the way out to avoid the banana peels the 800-pound gorillas leave behind.

philrosenthal@tribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal

Read More..

20-year-old killed in Little Village; 6 injured in separate shootings

A 20-year-old man was killed in the Little Village neighborhood and at least eight people were injured in shootings across Chicago early Saturday, police said.

The 20-year-old, Freddie Hernandez, was gunned down at about 2:40 a.m. in an apparent drive-by shooting on the 2500 block of South Trumbull Avenue, officials said.

A neighborhood resident, 17-year-old Anthony Briones, said he heard about eight shots and the screeching of car tires from his home two blocks from the scene.

When police arrived, Hernandez was lying on the sidewalk with multiple gunshots to the head, authorities said.

He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

A van was seen leaving the scene, said police, who indicated the shooting may have been gang-related.

Area Central detectives are investigating, and no suspects are in custody.

In a separate shooting, a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old were injured in the Gresham neighborhood shortly after midnight, police said.

The shooting happened at about 12:15 a.m. on the 8600 block of South Loomis Boulevard, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.

One was shot in the shoulder and taken in good condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center, Gaines said.

The other was shot in the back and also taken to Christ, Gaines said. His condition was not immediately released.

Also on Saturday:

• At about 6:40 a.m., a 22-year-old man was shot in on the 6600 block of South Bell Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan said. He was taken to Christ, where his condition was stabilized.


• At about 4 a.m., a 17-year-old male was shot on the 4700 block of West Palmer Street in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side, Gaines said, citing preliminary information. He was taken to a local hospital in good condition.


• At about 2:35 a.m., a 27-year-old man was shot in the buttocks on the 5500 block of South California Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, Gaines said. He was taken to Mount Sinai in good condition. Police have a person of interest in custody, Gaines said.


• At about 1:38 a.m., a 21-year-old woman was shot in the arm on the 7500 block of North Hoyne Avenue in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the Far North Side, Gaines said. She was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston in good condition.


• At about 1:20 a.m., a man in his 20s was shot twice in his legs when a gunman appraoched him at a gas station on the 6700 block of South Jeffery Boulevard. He was listed in good condition.


• At about 1 a.m., a 32-year-old man was shot in the shoulder near the intersection of West 75th Street and South Eggleston Avenue in Gresham, Gaines said. He was taken to Christ, where his condition was stabilized.

asege@tribune.com

Twitter: @AdamSege

Read More..

At Washington’s James Bond exhibit, villains are forever

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fans of fictional super spy James Bond rely on the durable film franchise for must-have elements, such as jaw-dropping stunts, great clothes, sultry women – and villains who are drop-dead evil.

An exhibition that opened on Friday makes clear that the nasty types that 007 has battled for five decades have changed but one constant remains. The only true match for the world’s greatest secret agent are characters that moviegoers love to hate.

“Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains” at the International Spy Museum in downtown Washington, is dedicated to the most memorable bad guys and gals in the 23-film series.

From the eponymous “Dr. No” in 1962 to the just-released “Skyfall,” the exhibit shows links between fact and fiction and how villains have kept pace with an evolving world.

“Bond seems the same, but the villains have all changed. They have changed to reflect the changing times,” Anna Slafer, the museum’s director of exhibitions, told a news conference.

In “Dr. No,” the villain schemes against the U.S. space program. Probing the nuclear fears of the 1970s, tycoon Karl Stromberg plots genocide in “The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977).

The information age turns up with Max Zorin, who lusts to corner the microchip market in “A View to a Kill” (1985). In “Skyfall” cyberterrorist Silva tries to hack British intelligence computers.

THINK BIG

But some things have remained the same for the Bond villain, said Alexis Albion, a guest curator and intelligence historian.

They are highly successful, often charming, live in isolated places, generate fanatical loyalty, and think big, she said. “They are on a level that we have to send someone like James Bond after them.”

They also “are off physically,” Albion said. Le Chiffre in “Casino Royale” (2006) weeps blood, Dr. No has a magnetic claw in place of a hand, and the hitman Jaws in “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker” (1979) is a giant with steel teeth.

A galaxy of well-known actors – and a few actresses – from around the world have faced off against the six men who have played Bond, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig.

Yaphet Kotto, Max von Sydow, Sean Bean, Javier Bardem, Donald Pleasence, Christopher Lee, Michael Lonsdale, Lotte Lenya, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeroen Krabbe, Christopher Walken and Telly Savalas all have gone mano-a-mano with 007, and lost.

The International Spy Museum‘s show was timed to the release of “Skyfall” and done in cooperation with EON Productions, which makes the Bond movies.

The exhibit, which includes more than 110 movie and historical artifacts, including Jaws’ teeth, interactive stations, and videos, runs through 2014. General admission to the museum is $ 19.95.

(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Paul Simao)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..