World AIDS Day event at Belmont Harbor: The Chicago Parks Foundation will hold a World AIDS Day event on Dec. 1, 9-10:30 a.m., at the Belmont Harbor Yacht Club.
Antonio King, LGBTQ health and outreach liaison in the CDPH's HIV/STI Bureau, and AIDS Foundation Chicago President/CEO John Peller will comment on the current status of the fight against HIV/AIDS. Other scheduled speakers include Ald. Tom Tunney as well as AIDS Garden Chicago Board President and former Illinois state Rep. Yoni Pizer.
Attendees will also get a sneak peek of the AIDS Garden Chicago, which is nearing completion. RSVP at wlang@chicagoparksfoundation.org .
Benedetta at Movie Box Theatre: Director Paul Verhoeven's latest controversial filmthe religious drama Benedettawill air at Chicago's Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., beginning Friday, Dec. 3. Based on a true story, a 17th-century nun in Italy named Benedetta (Virginie Efira) suffers from shocking and disturbing religious and erotic visions that threaten to shake the Church to its core. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a forbidden romantic love affair. The movie also stars Charlotte Rampling and Lambert Wilson. For more information, see https://musicboxtheatre.com/films/benedetta.
True Identity: Cracking the Oldest Kidnapping Cold Case and Finding My Missing Twin: If you don't think truth is stranger (and more fascinating) than fiction, you will after reading this book. When he was 10, Paul Fronczak (who wrote this book with Alex Tresniowski) found newspaper clippings in his family's Chicago home that showed he had been kidnapped from a hospital when he was one day old. However, a DNA test he took decades later showed that he wasn't that boy at all.
True Identity is about the hunt for the real Paul Fronczak; the search for the author's missing twin sister Jill; and finally, the investigation intoyeshis true identity.
The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science: Confronting Myths of the Health and Fitness Industry: How many times have you watched infomercials about so-called revolutionary sports- and fitness-related products and wondered if they're too good to be true? In The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science, Nicholas B. Tiller confronts the claims behind the products (from supplements to training programs) as well as the evidence behind those claims. Tiller also delves into psychology, as in why some people are so predisposed to trying shortcuts.
Licence IV Blanc (www.licenceivwine.com ): Wine in a can? Why (or wine) not? Licence IV recently launched canned offerings in the United States, aiming to change the idea that French wine is intimidating. You can kick back with Licence IV (the wine with a Miller Lite attitude) while watching football or a rom-com.
Andrew Davis