October 2010
7 posts
The 2010 Atlanta Braves
April 2, 2010 Get ready to enjoy seeing exactly how elastic the time-tested “out with the old, in with the new” phrase really is.
LADIES BRACKET
March 26, 2010 Did you forget to fill out a women’s bracket again this year? Do you know anybody who organized an office pool for the ladies’ day-late, many dollars-short version of March Madness?
MUCK FICHIGAN
March 26, 2010...
The 2010 Atlanta Braves
Art Department Weekly
Originally published: April 2, 2010
Get ready to enjoy seeing exactly how elastic the time-tested “out with the old, in with the new” phrase really is. The programs sold at Turner Field last season featured a cover story about manager Bobby Cox’s 50 years in baseball, but then he announced that this 2010 campaign as the team’s manager after a half-century in the game will be...
FIRE PROOF
Art Department Weekly
Originally published: March 19, 2010
A poorly-placed, unattended candle claimed the lives of many paperbacks I owned early one morning about two years ago. Some were salvaged (autographed copy of David Sedaris’ “Barrel Fever” … [phew]), but about two dozen had to go into the trash. Many were assigned reading titles from college that I couldn’t really pretend to miss if I...
OSCAR RACE
Art Department Weekly
Originally published: March 5, 2010
One year after Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” shattered box office records only to be snubbed in the Best Picture race, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences expanded the number of nominees to 10. Keeping in mind the last year there were that many nominees was when “Casablanca” took the top prize in 1944, the Academy...
LADIES BRACKET
Art Department Weekly
Originally published: March 26, 2010
Did you forget to fill out a women’s bracket again this year? Do you know anybody who organized an office pool for the ladies’ day-late, many dollars-short version of March Madness? Or perhaps more telling, do the brackets to the right there now make you wish you’d paid closer attention?
The, ahem, “real” version could hardly compare...
MUCK FICHIGAN
Art Department Weekly
Originally published: March 26, 2010
Players come and go every year in college athletics, so I’ve always found it difficult to work up the enthusiasm so many others seem to have for any regular season matchups in any sport. While I understand the friends or family I know that have their alma maters of their own or perhaps their parents that they’ve rooted on for as long as...
March 2010
15 posts
Douchebags of the Week: Mark Whicker and the editors at the Orange County Register
September 15, 2009 It’s shocking that after more than two decades in the business, Whicker didn’t have the common sense to realize how terribly inappropriate and shameless this would strike every rational person as being; it’s even worse that none of the editors above him had the decency or respect for their...
Douchebag of the Week: Rick Santelli
LOL, Douchebags
Originally published: February 28, 2009
It’s a wondrous thing to watch, one’s 15 minutes of fame coming and going right before your very eyes. And such was the magical case last week with one Rick Santelli, CNBC on-air editor turned heroic champion of men’s locker rooms in country clubs everywhere across America.
No, it wasn’t a golf tournament Mr. Santelli won. Rather, he...
Douchebag of the Week: Leon Lott
LOL, Douchebags
Originally published: February 7, 2009
Maybe you saw the much ballyhooed photo in the news recently and thought the same thing as us: “Imagine the lung capacity that guy has!”
But this is America we’re talking about, so naturally the photo (taken in November, by the way) caused the usual outrage from the group of individuals that can typically be relied on to cast judgment on...
Douchebag of the Week: Joe Torre
LOL, Douchebags
Originally published: February 3, 2009
On Friday evening, Larry King had a night he’d “been excited about for weeks.” Indeed, King had the first TV interview with Los Angeles Dogers manager Joe Torre “about his controversial new book, The Yankee Years.
While King failed to make mention of it at any point during the entire interview, Torre did note early that the book was...
Douchebag of the Week: Crane Kenney
LOL, Douchebags
Originally published: January 24, 2009
Curses and superstitions are, in many ways, the best things that could have ever happened to the Chicago Cubs. For years, silly beliefs about goats and black cats have provided excuses for relative futility when most any layman could see there was either a better team in the opposing dugout or the “Lovable Losers” simply weren’t very good.
...
December 2008
1 post
Outside shooting woes hurt Nazareth in close...
By Derek Strum
The Doings - link
Originally published: December 18, 2008
Close hasn’t been good enough for the Nazareth boys basketball team lately — whether you’re talking about the score or from where the Roadrunners are taking their shots.
Nazareth dropped its third East Suburban Catholic Conference game in five days Saturday by falling to Carmel 48-41 in LaGrange Park...
October 2008
1 post
Hornets face must-win situation to reach playoffs
By Derek Strum
The Doings - link
Originally published: October 9, 2008
The Hinsdale South football team’s playoff chances have come down to this: Win the final three games or turn in the equipment after the regular-season finale.
The Hornets (2-4, 2-1 in Gold) ended up in the must-win situation after suffering a 42-0 loss to Downers Grove South (4-2, 3-0) in a West Suburban Conference...
September 2008
20 posts
New life in death penalty debate
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: December 12, 2005
In 1981, Stanley Tookie Williams was convicted of murdering four people during two robberies in California and was sentenced to death in San Quentin State Prison. Since then, Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles in 1971, has maintained his innocence. He is scheduled to be executed Dec. 13, and now pleas for...
Oprah’s self-righteous book club
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: February 6, 2006
Last year, James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces was second only to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as the best-selling book in the United States. The memoir’s success could be attributed to a number of strengths, such as the immediacy of telling the story in the present tense, or stylistic appeal like the absence of...
Bermuda, Bahama ... Columbia?
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: February 13, 2006
The old adage in real estate is “location, location, location.” And a huge part of what makes Columbia’s campus attractive to prospective students is its location: the urban setting of Chicago’s South Loop area. But The Chronicle’s analysis of the buildings owned by Columbia raised a few questions about plans for the school’s...
A true Columbia pioneer
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: November 28, 2005
The Chronicle, the Journalism Department and Chicago journalism as a whole are forever indebted to the contributions of Les Brownlee, who died at the age of 90 on Nov. 21. Brownlee had been fighting to live since being diagnosed with cancer in April, but he had been fighting his entire life to break down racial barriers and make...
Sticky solution to clear problem
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: May 2, 2005
Who better to determine the solutions to our nation’s energy crisis than industry lobbyists? Well, nobody, according to the House of Representatives.
In fact, Representatives felt so confident about this answer that they were willing to attach a $12 billion price tag to H.R. 6, a bill passed on April 21. It’s all about more production...
Chicago gets painted black
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: October 24, 2005
A prediction made not so long ago was that the city of Houston could soon eclipse Chicago as the third-most populated city in the U.S., but few people could have predicted what we experienced this past weekend.
Indeed, the Chicago White Sox hosted their first World Series contest in 46 years, with the American League champions...
Our national 'Parks'
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: October 31, 2005
Rosa Parks will forever be remembered as a historic figure in the American Civil Rights movement. Her Oct. 24 death causes us to reflect on her Dec. 1, 1955, refusal to move to the back of a segregated bus in Montgomery, Ala.
But it also makes us take a closer look at how Parks’ story has been told in the half-century since she...
The bleak future of the Internet
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: May 1, 2006
Gun owners and librarians are not exactly two groups that regularly unite on hotly debated issues, but the two factions of both the far right and far left ends of the political spectrum are agreeing in the debate about “net neutrality.”
Net neutrality involves keeping Internet content free from the control of major telecommunication...
‘Plan B’ deserves better
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: June 7, 2005
Increasing the accessibility of emergency contraception (EC) is an important step in dealing with reproductive issues in the United States. Advocates of EC claim that approving over-the-counter sales would help reduce the country’s abortion rate by offering women another option to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
Opponents, however,...
Rush to an end in Schiavo case
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: April 4, 2005
In rushing to push a bill designed to keep Terri Schiavo artificially alive, Congress and President Bush have managed to disregard years of Florida’s judicial rulings and overturn decades of constitutional precedents.
Few political developments could be more frightening.
The case of 41-year-old Schiavo has been thrust into the...
Will NHL’s return finally generate interest?
by Derek Strum
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: October 13, 2005
Oddly enough, the first thing that came to my mind upon learning of the passing of Ronald Reagan on June 5, 2004, was the fate of hockey.
More specifically, I thought of that year’s Stanley Cup finals, in which two small-market teams were entering a sixth game the same night of the former president’s death. Anybody...
IC knocks off top-seeded Westminster Christian
By Derek Strum
The Doings - link
Originally published: May 24, 2008
Just like he had done exactly one month ago, sophomore Matt McMahon came into Elgin and led Immaculate Conception past Westminster Christian Saturday with a strong pitching performance.
The major difference this time was the No. 5-seeded Knights (14-18) defeated the No. 1-seeded Warriors (25-10) to claim the school’s...
The 2010 Atlanta Braves
April 2, 2010 Get ready to enjoy seeing exactly how elastic the time-tested “out with the old, in with the new” phrase really is.
LADIES BRACKET
March 26, 2010 Did you forget to fill out a women’s bracket again this year? Do you know anybody who organized an office pool for the ladies’ day-late, many dollars-short version of March Madness?
MUCK FICHIGAN
March 26, 2010...
Upcoming Video Releases
May 2002 It’s enough to make you long for the days when people thought the Farellys went off the deep end.
The Alternatives …
May 2002 The real treasures of the summer, gems like Run Lola Run, The Blair Witch Project and Wet Hot American Summer, require a little more word-of-mouth. That in mind, here’s a brief list of possible alternatives to seeing an intergalactic...
Rigid Stone fails to turn on critics
February 4, 1999 “Gloria” is a reminder of the nagging genre of films that doesn’t want to leave: overly sentimental melodramas that have become about as appetizing as swill milkshakes.
Smart thriller more than ‘Simple’
January 28, 1999 A new year always starts off with studios dumping as much trash as they can (1998’s first major releases? “Hard...
“Intervention”
April 24, 2001 The group quickly confronts her about sex with Spike, and far too many good lines are rattled off for me to keep up with.
“Forever”
April 17, 2001 Xander and Anya lie in bed in some terrible scene with soft music in the background, talking about their sex being intense because of what they’re feeling. Very Dawson’s Creek. Xander being single...
The bleak future of the Internet
May 1, 2006 Gun owners and librarians are not exactly two groups that regularly unite on hotly debated issues, but the two factions of both the far right and far left ends of the political spectrum are agreeing in the debate about “net neutrality.”
You bet your life (insurance)
April 17, 2006 In my first grade-classroom, I made the decision one day to see how far...
Outside shooting woes hurt Nazareth in close losses
December 18, 2008 Benet sophomore Dave Sobolewski and senior Joe Morris made Nazareth pay for every foul in the fourth quarter as the duo sank all 10 free throws they attempted.
Hornets face must-win situation to reach playoffs
October 9, 2008 The Hinsdale South football team’s playoff chances have come down to this: Win the final three games...
August 2008
65 posts
Derek Strum
1203 South 6th Street St. Charles, IL 60174
PHONE: 630.988.9876
E-MAIL: murtskered [at] gmail [dot] com
2010 – Present
Contributing Writer
Art Department Weekly
Brooklyn, NY
Wrote feature stories about various topics including film, books, and sports.
2008 – 2009
Contributing Writer
LOL, Douchebags
Naperville, IL
Wrote weekly humor column for blog with 20,000+ pageviews.
2007 –...
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