Events on Thursday, September 4

<em>Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind</em>

Film

Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

Washington Irving once remarked, "History fades…the inscription molders… the statue falls… Columns, arches, pyramids... but heaps of sand; and their epitaphs,... 

<em>Wait Wait&hellip;Don&rsquo;t Tell Me!</em> Live  in Millennium Park

City Gems

Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Millennium Park

Before John Stewart & Co. revitalized the political-humor art form, Chicago Public Radio's nationally syndicated news quiz Wait Wait… Don't Tell... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Collecting for Chicago: Prints, Drawings, and Patronage</em>

Art

Collecting for Chicago

Thursday 9/ 4 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

You may not have noticed, but the Art Institute's Department of Prints and Drawings has been running in stealth mode —... 

<em>Eight Miles High</em>

Film

Eight Miles High

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Music Box Theatre

German model/actress Uschi Obermaier could have been dismissed as a classic '60s groupie — running away from her Bavarian parents to... 

<em>A Declaration of Immigration</em>

Art

A Declaration of Immigration

Thursday 9/ 4 @ National Museum of Mexican Art

It may be a country founded by those who arrived from elsewhere, but the United States arguably has a long way... 

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

City Gems

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Escape the roaring cars on Lake Shore Drive and the crowds at Lincoln Park Zoo by slipping through the unobtrusive entrance... 

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

City Gems

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into... 

<em>Fake Lake</em>

Theatre

Fake Lake

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Welles Park

What do you get when you combine a Lincoln Square swimming pool, a dam in Utah, and the alternative theatre of... 

<em>Bottle Shock</em>

Film

Bottle Shock

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

In 1976, British oenophile Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hosted a much-ballyhooed blind tasting between France's finest wine and California's — including... 

Jeff Koons

Art

Jeff Koons

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Museum of Contemporary Art

It's easy to forget that art star and auction darling Jeff Koons made his name as a provocateur. His Made in... 

M&oacute;nica Herrera: <em>Strings</em>

Art

Mónica Herrera: Strings

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Hyde Park Art Center

For her interactive sound installation at Hyde Park Art Center, Mónica Herrera transforms the gallery into a giant musical instrument and... 

<em>Hamlet 2 </em>

Film

Hamlet 2

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Various locations

With a name like Hamlet 2, a movie is bound to be either the worst piffle to be hurled down the... 

<em>The Axe in the Attic</em>

Film: Documentary

The Axe in the Attic

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Facets Cinémathèque

Directors Lucia Small and Ed Pincus cut their teeth on the old-school concept of documentaries: filmmaker as fly on the wall.... 

<em>Sunday Painters: Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs</em>

Art

Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Whereas most found-art exhibitions make aesthetic objects out of forgotten knick-knacks, the focus of this exhibition is, more literally, fine art... 

<em>Elegy</em>

Film

Elegy

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Elegy is what happens when a female Spanish director (Isabel Coixet, My Life Without Me) adapts, of all things, a Philip... 

<em>Are We There Yet?</em>

Art

Are We There Yet?

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Hyde Park Art Center

Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, Are We There Yet? is a group show of lens-based work that touches on issues of... 

<em>Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures</em>

Art

Scavenger Constructs: Site-Specific Sculptures

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College Chicago

Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans turned mass-produced objects into meaningful art. With this transmutability in mind, Scavenger Constructs features five artists... 

Smart Home: Green + Wired

City Gems

Smart Home

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Museum Campus

Just admit it, you've ogled the sleek modern houses you pass on certain streets and wished you could peek inside. The... 

<em>Campaign Supernova!</em><em> or How Many Democrats Does It Take to Lose an Election?</em>

Comedy

Campaign Supernova!

Thursday 9/ 4 @ The Second City e.t.c.

From the director of the recent hit Between Barack and a Hard Place comes another election-season winner, Campaign Supernova!, performed by... 

<em>Brideshead Revisited</em>

Film

Brideshead Revisited

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

For fans of the book and miniseries, it's hard to imagine how Brideshead Revisited could conform to a two-hour feature-film format.... 

<em>Chances Are the Comets in Our Future: A Visual Introduction to Drag City</em>

Art

Chances Are the Comets in Our Future

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Gallery 400

Music may come first for Chicago-based Drag City — the record label has championed singular talents like Bonnie "Prince" Billy and... 

Bill O'Donnell: <em>Elevations</em>

Art: Photography

Bill O'Donnell

Thursday 9/ 4 @ City Gallery

Bill O'Donnell's color photographs offer a world of spooky little vacation homes, troubling the eye with mixed-up scales and half-focused views.... 

Art

Light from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Chicago Cultural Center

For those whose impressions of prisoners have mostly been shaped by watching Oz, this exhibition provides a look at prisoners' creative... 

<em>Tell No One</em>

Film

Tell No One

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

Herein lies living proof that the French can spin a gorgeous existentialist drama in any genre. Pediatrician Alex (François Cluzet) has... 

Gore Vidal's <em>Weekend</em>

Theatre

Gore Vidal's Weekend

Thursday 9/ 4 @ TimeLine Theatre

Gore Vidal's cutting political satire Weekend was written (and is set) during the fraught 1968 presidential campaign. Weekend follows a Republican... 

<em>On an Average Day</em>

Theatre

On an Average Day

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Greenhouse Theater

Route 66 Theatre Company's production of John Kolvenbach's On an Average Day sold out its inaugural run in Los Angeles, where... 

Art

Book and Paper Arts Triennial

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago

This juried triennial exhibition, dedicated to paper preservation and innovation in an increasingly paperless world, opens today at Columbia College Chicago's... 

Garfield Park Conservatory: Flower Power

City Gems

Flower Power

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Garfield Park Conservatory

If the concrete trek and throngs of spectators at Friday's Fourth of July festivities leave you pining for something a little... 

Art

Panorama of Modern Brazilian Architecture: From the 1950s to the Present

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Crown Hall

This exhibition provides a thorough visual survey of Brazil's modern architecture. Photographs, drawings, and design concepts profile the work of well-established... 

The Improv Match Game

Comedy

The Improv Match Game

Thursday 9/ 4 @ The ComedySportz Theatre

Although Improv Match Game panelists concoct impromptu answers to broad questions, it's less an exercise in traditional improv comedy than a... 

<em>The Dark Knight</em>: The IMAX Experience

Film

The Dark Knight

Thursday 9/ 4 @ Navy Pier

The Dark Knight might go down as Heath Ledger's final film, but it would be a shame if the actor's tragic...