Hawaii

**1/2 (out of four) George Clooney goes to Hawaii in “The Descendants,” but no one should expect a movie as light and amusing as “George Clooney Goes to Hawaii” would be. (Memo to studio heads: I expect a producer credit when you move forward on this as-of-yet non-existent documentary idea.) Rather, director/co-writer Alexander Payne's first feature since 2004's “Sideways” takes place against a beautiful island backdrop where the family drama has all the stress-free glamor of Cleveland.

Craft beer fans generally make it a point to "drink local," but the newest beer on Chicago shelves hails all the way from Hawaii's big island.  Kona Brewing, the largest brewery in Hawaii, has expanded its distribution to Illinois and will hit shelves and taps in January and February. Kona's flagship beer, the light and malty Longboard Island lager, will be available year-round along with Big Wave golden ale and Fire Rock pale ale. The brewery also will distribute the seasonal creations in its Aloha Series, beginning with spring's Koko brown ale. Chicagoans can find bottles of the...

Yes, she really asked George Clooney that. “I was like, 'Are you happy? Do you like everything you have?'” recalls Clooney's “The Descendants” co-star Shailene Woodley. “And he said, 'No one wants to hear you complain when things are going so well. But at the same time, sometimes I wish I could just go to a baseball game with my buddies and watch it in the middle of the crowd and not have to be in a special area.'” Woodley, who has been known only for ABC Family's “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” is about to get more recognition thanks to...

**1/2 (out of four) George Clooney goes to Hawaii in “The Descendants,” but no one should expect a movie as light and amusing as “George Clooney Goes to Hawaii” would be. (Memo to studio heads: I expect a producer credit when you move forward on this as-of-yet non-existent documentary idea.) Rather, director/co-writer Alexander Payne's first feature since 2004's “Sideways” takes place against a beautiful island backdrop where the family drama has all the stress-free glamor of Cleveland.

Craft beer fans generally make it a point to "drink local," but the newest beer on Chicago shelves hails all the way from Hawaii's big island.  Kona Brewing, the largest brewery in Hawaii, has expanded its distribution to Illinois and will hit shelves and taps in January and February. Kona's flagship beer, the light and malty Longboard Island lager, will be available year-round along with Big Wave golden ale and Fire Rock pale ale. The brewery also will distribute the seasonal creations in its Aloha Series, beginning with spring's Koko brown ale. Chicagoans can find bottles of the...

While filming  ABC 's supernatural thriller "The River," the actors had to pretend to be frightened of ghosts and other entities lurking around them when nothing was actually threatening them. That was not the case when they filmed at the former Waimano Training School and Hospital outside Pearl City on the island of Oahu. It's reportedly one of Hawaii's most haunted locations. "The place was haunted to the point that the security guard left screaming the first night we were there," star Leslie Hope told me recently.

The fight to legalize same-sex marriages in the U.S. came a step closer today when Washington State passed a bill to make it the seventh state to legalize the union. The battle for marriage equality began in the U.S. in the 1970s, according to FreeToMarry.org , one of many grassroots gay marriage advocacy groups.  Here is a timeline outlining the small victories and let downs through the years. (This information was sourced from FreeToMarry.org , LambdaLegal.org and MarriageEquality.org )

As "Falling Skies" closes out its second season Sunday, the 2nd Mass already has discovered that Charleston isn't the new home they had hoped it would be. But that may not be worst problem the freedom fighters face. "I guess we can just say that characters turn in many directions, and that there's always something new lying ahead," Jessy Schram, who plays human-turned-alien-mouthpiece Karen, told me last week. "The finale definitely brings so many different stories [together] and leaves you in this place of like, 'What the hell?

Given how much "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner, who directed Sunday's two-hour premiere, hates spoilers, the task of reviewing "The Doorway" ( 8 p.m. Sunday, AMC; 4 out of 4 stars ) seems akin to walking on some late 1960s eggshells. Fortunately, these eggshells smell like hibiscus blossoms and marijuana. Here's what I can tell you: Don and Megan's trip to Hawaii, which we already knew was happening, is a hell of a lot more fun than that time he left her behind at a HoJo in upstate New York.

Ask Shawn Rosenblatt where he's living these days and the sole creative voice behind shape-shifting indie-pop crew Netherfriends might simply say, "Nowhere. " He's not exaggerating either. The singer-songwriter, who last kept a full-time residence in Bucktown in early 2010, has now spent almost two years living on the road. The endless tour started when Rosenblatt drew up plans to write and record a new, original song in each of the 50 states over the course of a single year.

Yes, she really asked George Clooney that. “I was like, 'Are you happy? Do you like everything you have?'” recalls Clooney's “The Descendants” co-star Shailene Woodley. “And he said, 'No one wants to hear you complain when things are going so well. But at the same time, sometimes I wish I could just go to a baseball game with my buddies and watch it in the middle of the crowd and not have to be in a special area.'” Woodley, who has been known only for ABC Family's “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” is about to get more recognition thanks to...

Maybe it was the bottle of Bacardi you helped drain in college. Maybe it was years of ordering Captain and Cokes that did it. Or maybe it was the experimental fruit punch you mixed. Whatever the cause, at some point you probably stopped drinking rum. And Paul McGee wants to change that. McGee, best known in Chicago for his years spent shaking craft cocktails at Logan Square's The Whistler, is set to open an as-yet-unnamed River North tiki bar this summer and if you aren't drinking rum now, you certainly will then.

Editor's Note : This story from the Tribune archives was originally published in the Chicago Tribune on Thursday, June 27, 1996. RedEye has reposted it to accompany our story about an episode of Investigation Discovery's "FBI: Criminal Pursuit" that examines the infamous Catherine Suh case. Maybe for a moment Wednesday, out of the corner of her eye, Catherine Suh glanced at the relatives of the man she contrived to kill. When Cook County Criminal Court Judge John E. Morrissey asked the former fugitive to turn around and face the family, she...