Edward Lee has had some pinch-me moments over the years. The Korean American chef opened successful restaurants in New York, Louisville and Washington, D.C. Plus, he’s been a frequent judge and competitor on American cooking shows, including winning a variety meats showdown on “Iron Chef America.”
Superfans, in particular fangirls, are nothing new. Think of the photographs of young women screaming and fainting at the sight of the Beatles or Elvis. In her exuberant historical romp, “Swoon,” Bea Martinez-Gatell goes back even further, to the overheated admirers of the attractively unavailable Lord Byron.
Suburban painters, crafters and other artists who want to show off their skills can apply for the 2026 maker-in-residence program at Wheeling’s Indian Trails Public Library.
It has seemed a little tougher to muster up the holiday spirit this year. Reflecting on Christmas traditions and seasonal events may help to get us in the right frame of mind.
SpongeBob SquarePants just wants to be a big guy. For our bubble-blowing, Bikini Bottom resident, that means reaching the coveted height of 36 clams tall so that he can finally ride the big roller coaster at Captain Booty Beard’s Fun Park in “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.”
Stand-up comedian and Naperville native Vik Pandya comes home for the holidays to headline a show at Batavia’s Comedy Vault.
You can almost smell the sweat in “The Secret Agent,” a stylish, slow burn thriller about radicals and mercenaries in 1977 Brazil. Filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho begins his film with the note that it was “a time of mischief.”