THE PHOTOGRAPH is a love story, in fact it is two love stories connected by a photograph.

When Christine Eames (Chanté Adams), a renowned photographer dies she leaves her daughter Mae (Issa Rae) a photograph and two letters.  One she has written to her and one to be given to her father.

Christina and Mae were never close, in fact, Mae was never sure if her mother really loved her. As she reads the letter, she finds out so much about her mother and why she was the way she was. Through the letter we are taken back to view the life and love of Christina and her boyfriend Issac (Y’lan Noel – young Issac).  They loved each other but Christina needed more and Issac was content to be where he was.  She wanted to see the world and tell a story through the eye of her camera while Issac just wanted to be devoted to her and live out their lives in their small Louisiana town. Their love story is deep, somewhat predictable but draws you. 

After Christine’s death, journalist Michael Brock (Lakeith Stanfield) has the assignment of writing a in depth story about her. He meets Issac (Rob Morgan – older Issac) in Louisiana to get apart of the story of her past. He then comes back to New York and meets Mae and is immediately attracted to her. Their love story begins here. 

It was refreshing watching a true love story of color that didn’t have any violence, jail time, cheating or affairs. These were two love stories that any one of us may or could have no matter our circumstances or upbringing.

There are a lot of insecurities, commitment issues, and awakenings portrayed in this film.  Writer/Director Stella wrote a heart felt story of two women who loved but had to make hard decisions.

While I found the love story between Christina and Issac a little more interesting than between Mae and Michael.  It felt that Mae and Michael’s story dragged some with the long lingering looks and a few heavy sighs.  I also found the parallels between Christina’s mom and Christina eye opening with the choices they both made at almost the same time of their lives.

THE PHOTOGRAPH is worth spending the money to see it theaters.  I give it 4 out of 5 winks of the EYE.

Until next time, keep your EYE to the sky!

Over the last few years, Mugen! The Human has undergone one of the most profound artistic evolutions of any artist I have covered on CoW. From the lo-fi sad rap of projects such as Before You Go to the jazz-tinged boom bap of tracks like “No More Sad Songs,” Mugen has proven that he is not one to stay in the same place for too long. Mugen continues his ongoing metamorphosis with his new single, “Freaking You//IGOR,” where he is sounding more mature as an artist than ever before.

As the title implies, this track is a double-serving of sorts. The production on “Freaking You” is a melancholy trap banger with a soulful vocal sample reminiscent of something that would land on one of Mugen’s earlier projects. The beat on the second track is actually the instrumental to “New Magic Wand” by Tyler, The Creator, hence the title, Igor. This instrumental is an aggressive piece of hardcore hip-hop, something that is meant to be blasted at full-volume.

Lyrically, “Freaking You” sees Mugen diving into a situation with a love interest who he’s trying to pursue. Later in the verse, he flips it back on to himself when he starts questioning himself more and more. By the end of this cut, he is drowning in his own self-doubt. On “Igor,” Mugen completely flips the script, similarly to how the beat switches up. He drops a series of bars that are confident and braggadocios, showing that he’s more hungry than he’s ever been. The contrast between these two tracks is really something.

If “Freaking You//IGOR” is symbolic of anything, it’s the fact that Mugen! The Human is always turning over a new leaf. In a lot of ways, he is still the same melancholy sad boy he’s been from day 1. However, given how much his pen game has improved, it’s  clear that Mugen puts every bit as much care into making his bars sharp as he does into crafting a hit. With how much he has been leveling up lately, he is an artist you will want to keep on your radar for the foreseeable future.

“Freaking You//IGOR” is out now on Soundcloud. Stream it here: https://soundcloud.com/mugenthehuman

Follow Mugen! The Human on Instagram @mugenthehuman

After enjoying Ciders throughout Chicago, we have a week of Mardi Gras and then… well, for many of us, it’s Lent. But it’s still okay to indulge. Beer was enough for the monks, after all.

I am still having issues with my calendar server sometimes not showing up in these articles. I’m trying a few little alterations. If you can’t see the schedule, please let me know.

Monday, February 24

Tuesday, February 25

Wednesday, February 26

Thursday, February 27

So here I am, years down the road from the start of my journey to redemption. It took a while, but I’ve confronted and mostly overcome the obstacles that stood in the way. My white knuckle grip on the wheel has eased and I’m coasting comfortably in cruise control.

Along the way I wrote in my journal describing both the breakdowns and surges of power as I charted my emotional cartography. It made for a powerful story and when I reached the end of the challenging uphill climbs and perilous switchbacks that demanded my full commitment, I published the memoir as a way to share the adventure and perhaps help others with common backgrounds and enthusiasm for adding joy and meaning to the years that remained.

So what’s left to do? “Enjoy life,” you say, “With GPS laying out the route all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride.”

And therein lies the pitfall, confusing the satisfaction and contentment of “being in the moment,” as rationalization for merely marching in place.

When I am aware, focused, my antenna raised, taking in the energy that pulses through the universe, it is fulfilling and rewarding. But it is a two-way process. We transmit energy as well as receive it. I must be wary of sitting in front of the buddha, being mindless rather than mindful! It’s easy to use my meditation as an excuse for leaving the bed unmade and the dishes unwashed, postponing the start of the day rather than welcoming it with eager expectation.

For me, the danger is slipping into a do-nothing rut and allowing that groove to grow deep, until – alarm bells – I’m stuck in the last chapter of my memoir. Which is antithetical to what that chapter describes – the joy of turning anxiety into anticipation and overcoming fear with the lure of unknown adventures. Years of mulling over the past led to a conclusion about what was driving me, but the end of the biography is not the end of the journey. To the contrary; it’s the terminus for changes in how I manage my life and recalibrate going forward.

I’ve added dimension to my quest for personal peace having learned to accept both ‘what is’ and ‘what is not.’ My goal is a clearly defined boundary protecting me from my arrogance in thinking I have the power to change the behavior of others, and conversely keeping me focused on what I can do; mainly, tell my story whenever an audience appears.

I am not thinking about ‘performance’ when I refer to audience; rather my willingness to reveal the path of my life and offer its lessons, so painfully learned, to any takers.

All of us have within us, a light to shine. Not as gurus or sainted persons, but as the authors of the lives we live, using the tutorial of the past as syllabi for the way forward. The book is not closed.

Across the land in prison cells

Whose space would harden me.

The inmates are more courteous

And now say “Pardon me.”

Tired of waiting for summer?

Why wait?

The snow may be lingering outside but that hasn’t stopped Aba from opening up their spectacular outdoor patio.

Look up and you’ll see the heating elements above, Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

We stopped by, the popular Fulton Market hotspot on the final Sunday of Chicago Restaurant Week to sample their CRW brunch menu.
The “outdoor” patio, that is partially-enclosed for winter, was beckoning. 
I stepped “outside,” with tables adjacent the snow.  Surprisingly the temperature felt quite comfortable due to the blazing fire pits, heating elements in the ceiling and blankets in baskets nearby–just in case.
Let it snow! We were perfectly comfortable at our table adjacent the snow. Photo: Carole Kuhrt-Brewer

Updated local foreclosure data from ATTOM Data Solutions posted yesterday showed a surprising spike in Chicago’s foreclosure activity for January, hitting a 15 month high. As you can see in the graph below the trend has been fairly consistently down for the last few years but January actually came in almost 21% higher than a year ago and that’s the largest percentage increase in 3 years.

In their US foreclosure press release ATTOM Data Solutions did give the Chicago metro area special mention for having a 14% increase in foreclosure starts from last year. However, I came up with a 19.9% increase for the city. But that wasn’t even the biggest driver of the overall increase in activity. In reality that was bank repossessions which hit a 15 month high. At least those represent the final stage of the foreclosure process so they do provide some closure in contrast to those foreclosure starts.

The Chicago metro area also got special mention for having the highest foreclosure rate in the country – We’re #1! – and then Illinois got honored for having the third highest state foreclosure rate.

Chicago Shadow Inventory

Finally we saw a decrease in the total number of homes that are in the foreclosure process. After plateauing for 4 months it dropped in January by 431 units, crossing below the 5000 unit mark for the first time since I’ve been tracking the data. When you look at the graph below you’ll see that there is this recurring pattern of plateaus followed by large drops. This data also seems to be a bit out of synch with the foreclosure activity data that I report above. It seems to drop or stagnate regardless of how much late-stage activity occurs. It’s almost as if there is a data problem. Nahhhh.

Chicago’s shadow inventory of homes in foreclosure is about 1/5 of what it once was.

#Foreclosures #ChicagoForeclosures

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.