| Special Summer Issue Chicago culture contains concerts, museums, movies Kori Bowns BUSINESS MANAGER IIT students have the fantastic advantage of living in Chicago, one of the greatest cities in the world. Whether you’re a Chicago native or this is your first summer in the city, there are tons of things to do around the city within the first month of classes this upcoming semester. Be sure to check off a few before classes get too hectic: What: Chicago Air and Water Show When: August 17 8: 18 Cost: Free The Chicago Air and Water show is centered on North Avenue Beach, but parts of it can be seen from many places along Lake Michigan. With the city skyline as its backdrop, the Chicago Air and Water Show is the largest free exhibition of its kind in the United States. What: Chicago Iazz Festival When: August 29 to September 1 Cost: Free This year marks the 35th annual Chicago Iazz Festival, which showcases some of Chicago’s Iazz artists alongside both national and international talent. What: Navy Pier Fireworks When: Wednesday (9:30 p.m.) and Saturday (10:15 p.m.) nights through August 31 Cost: Free Through the end of August, a fabulous fireworks show takes place on Lake Michigan off the end of Navy Pier. Be sure to end at least one of your days in Chicago with this spectacular display. What: MLB Baseball Games When: Anytime Cost: Free, up to $30 Chicago is home to two Major League . Baseball teams: the Cubs on the North Side, and the White Sox on the South Side. Occasionally, organizations on campus will give out free Sox tickets to students; be sure to keep a lookout for those! What: Find an authentic pizza place When: Anytime Cost: $5— $25 Deep dish pizza is a delicious Chicago specialty, so grab a few of your classmates and find your new favorite pizza place in the city! What: Museums When: Anytime Cost: Free, up to $30 Chicago is known for its various world class museums, and every IIT student should be sure to hit up a few of them during their time in the city. From the Museum of Science and Industry, to Adler Planetarium, to the Field Museum, to the Art Institute, there is a museum in Chicago for everyone. Several of them also offer free entry to Illinois Residents or Students on special days! What: Movies in the Parks When/Where: Several Times / Locations Cost: Free The Chicago Park District sponsors showings of free outdoor movies throughout the summer at a ton of different parks throughout the city! Visit http://bit.ly/16EFZEi for the full schedule of movies and their locations. In order to make the most of your time in Chicago, mastering the Red Line is an important skill. For those of us who haven’t spent the entirety of our summers around campus, navigating the city via the Red Line might appear to be a little confusing. Starting on May 19, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) began much—needed construction on the south end of the Red Line, the train line that has a major stop a block west from campus. This construction, scheduled to end sometime in October, is focused on rebuilding the tracks between the Cermak-Chinatown and 95th/Dan Ryan stops, will result in better reliability, faster travel times, and improved station environments. In order to complete this construction, all of the Red Line stops south of Roosevelt will be inactive for the duration of the project. In order to not disrupt service, the CTA is moving the Red Line southbound route to share the elevated Green Line tracks that already run through campus. Southbound trains leaving Roosevelt switch over to the elevated tracks, and then run south along the Green Line route. At Garfield, Green Line trains continue to the Cottage Grove stop, and Red Line Trains go to the Ashland/63rd stop. The movement of Red Line trains to the Green Line tracks helps cover most of the turf that is losing coverage due to the construction, but in order to still get riders to their regular destinations, CTA is also offering free 24-hour shuttle busses between Roosevelt and Cermak-Chinatown and between Garfield and 69th, 79th, 87th, and 95th. For most IIT students, this construction turns out to be an advantage more than an inconvenience. During construction, the Red Line is continuing to run 24-hours a day, so we now have trains servicing the 35th Bronzeville—IIT stop at all times, as opposed to having a longer walk from the Dan Ryan late at night. IITers can also get from our campus to the Red Line stops on the North Side without transferring. Having the Red Line run on the tracks through campus also means that trains will be stopping at our stop much more often, meaning less time waiting on the platform for students. All in all, this Red Line construction might not be such a bad thing after all; many of us might even miss it when things go back to normal in October. Chicago’s culture is rich, diverse, and close.I So don’t waste time, and get out into the city as soon as possible. Movie Review: Summer blockbuster guide Fernando Mier TECHNEWS WRITER Summer is finally here and with it marks the time of year when the movie studios release their most important, or, at least, the most spectacular movies anticipated by their audiences. This year has started roughly; with a decline in ticket sales of more than 13 percent, compared to last year. According Box Office Mojo, in order to counterbalance this trend, movie studios are releasing ‘A’ rated movies almost every weekend until August. Whether you love science fiction, romance or comedy, there’s a film with a potential to become a blockbuster for everyone this summer... or a terrible commercial failure. In order to survive this overwhelming season, Lights, Camera, Action!!! (LCA) IIT’s own Film Society (or club) has a liSt of 10 must-watch summer movies, taking into account various factors like the popularity of its actors, the general expectation levels and why not, the personal opinion of this writer. LCA’s films that mustn’t be missed . include: “Iron Man 3,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Pacific Rim,” “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” “World War Z,” “The Lone Ranger,” “1’ m So Excited,” “Kick Ass 2,” “Yeh Iawaani Hai Deewani,” (yes, we also recommend international movies, it’s quintessential Bollywood) and “Man of Steel.” Of course, we know we neglected many, like all animated productions that are for sure going to be the general blockbusters for the summer thanks to the kids factor, but their trailers really don’t show anything new. Still if you’re into animation, films like “Epic,” (an animated version of Avatar) “Monsters University,” (the seemingly unnecessary prequel to “Monsters, Inc”) “Despicable Me 2,” “Turbo,” (basically “Cars” by DreamWorks), “The Smurfs 2,” (no comment) or “Planes,” (Disney’s unofficial sequel for “Cars”) are also scheduled to be released this summer. As for the big sequel fans, some others movies like “The Fast and the Furious 6,” “The Hangover Part 3,” “Red 2,” “Grown Ups 2,” “The Wolverine,” and our favorite “300: Rise of Image courtesy of collidencom an Empire,” will also be what everyone will be talking about this summer. 80 with a summer full of blockbusters, creating that top 10 list wasn’t easy, but these movies are guaranteed entertainment. Remember to go and watch few other films like “After Earth”, starring Will Smith, Shakespeare’s classic “Much Ado About Nothing,” by loss Whedon, director of The Avengers,” “The Heat,” marking the return of Sandra Bullock, “Two Guns,” with Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, and “Paranoia," with Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. Even if they aren’t your typical blockbusters, they are creative alternatives to the summer blockbuster genre. If you don’t have the time or money to watch any of these, remember to come to our LCA meetings during the semester because we plan to have many of them on campus next semester. Also, remember that you can buy gold passes from the Front Desk on the MTCC to use at AMC Theaters. Student discounts for the win!