Entertainment - Friday, November 20, 2009 15:02 - 0 Comments
Twilight: New Moon Makes Us Wish For an Eclipse
My predictions about the demographic make-up of the Twilight fan base turned out to be eerily accurate. Forever drawn in by the campiness of teenage zeitgeists (Miley Cyrus! Taylor Swift! HSM!), I bought New Moon tickets for midnight on opening night only half out of irony. I was out of the country when the first movie opened and the craze hit: I remember coming back from Paris and asking our old Entertainment Editor, Joe Coscarelli, “So… what the hell is Twilight?” I believe his response was along the lines of, “Dude, where have you BEEN?”
Well, I had been abroad where vampires were only slightly cool, but once back I got down to plugging into the psyche of high school girls, something I am scarily good at (perhaps because I used to be one, or perhaps because I genuinely adore Taylor Swift). The first Twilight’s overwrought love arcs and sweeping side-glances were a welcome departure from the “serious” cinematic endeavors that made up my Netflix queue. Twilight is good in the same way that Gossip Girl is: because its enjoyment hinges wholly on your ability to suspend disbelief and just not think.
But you see, the thing about New Moon is that, despite the hype and the trend pieces and the okay-ness of the first movie, it pretty much… sucked. Spoilers after the jump.
Entertainment - Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:49 - 1 Comment
In Which We Become Screaming Teenage Fangirls
In case you’ve been living under a rock, part two of the Twilight Saga, New Moon, premieres tonight at midnight. I’m doing my duty as a good Entertainment Editor and braving the inevitable line of hysterical fangirls to see the movie at the AMC Loews Village on 3rd ave at 12:15am. I want to witness for myself who exactly in NYC is willing to buy tickets two weeks in advance for a midnight showing of this generation’s Harry Potter. (See what I did there? I pretended I don’t actually like Twilight and that this is all some big editorial sacrifice. Heh.) I can’t be the only NYU student unironically excited for this premiere (or can I…?). Let this serve as a warning, though: anyone who lives at Third North or Alumni should probably avoid walking by the 3rd avenue cinema for fear of having your ear drums exploded by the excited shrieks of 13-year-old girls.
In the spirit of teenage fandom, below is a clip from SNL mocking Twilight, starring Taylor Swift.
Entertainment - Thursday, November 19, 2009 9:28 - 7 Comments
Lady Gaga’s 2005 NYU Talent Show Performance
Of all of the impressive and talented people to attend our fine university, Lady Gaga is undoubtedly the weirdest… but also the most currently buzzworthy. Popcrunch uncovered this video of Gaga performing at a lowly ol’ NYU talent show back in 2005. I can’t tell where it was filmed from the footage, but let us know if you have an idea.
UPDATE: It seems this performance was from Ultraviolet Live. See their 2005 Facebook group (with a Gaga mention) here. Thanks to commenter Meb Byrne for the heads up.
Featured, On Campus - Monday, November 16, 2009 12:07 - 13 Comments
How to Save $10k Your Final Semester at NYU
Are you a senior graduating in May 2010, with only a few more credits needed to meet the 128 credit requirement for graduation? Then listen up! I’m going to tell you how you can potentially save about $10,000.
A lot of NYU students (read: overachievers) came to NYU with a few credits already under their belts, either due to college courses taken in high school, or transferable AP credits. As graduation creeps closer, you probably have more credits than you realize (check your Degree Progress Report on Albert to see how many you have). If you have 117 credits or more, you’re eligible to enroll as a part-time student for the spring semester, which will make your tuition a lot less expensive. I’ll use the numbers my parents and I crunched to demonstrate just how much you can actually save.
On Campus - Thursday, November 12, 2009 14:52 - 2 Comments
Sexton Named #2 Best College President by Time
In a predictably glowing write-up about our very own school president, Time ranked Sexton #2 on their list of the 10 Best College Presidents. Sexton falls just behind E. Gordon Lee, OSU’s president, whose picture makes him look charmingly hyper-professorial. Among Sexton’s accomplishments, Time cites his commitment to teaching despite his busy schedule, and the global (read: imperialist) vision that has lead to NYU’s much-debated expansion into the Middle East. Unfortunately, Time fails to actually question any of Sexton’s initiatives, and seems happy to grant him the #2 spot based on surface accomplishments alone. Perhaps we question too much, but it seems Time may question too little. They also didn’t mention Sexton’s penchant for hugs, which is actually one of his most endearing traits.
(Image via)
On Campus - Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:30 - 0 Comments
We Want to Make You a Digital Campus
When I applied to NYU in the fall of 2005, I distinctly remember that one of the essay questions on the application forced me to ponder, “Why, aside from its location, do you want to attend NYU?” I’m sure I’m not the only one who struggled with coming up with an answer to that one. NYU’s convenient Greenwich Village location is no doubt one of the main attractions of the university, but an intimate, traditional campus environment is automatically sacrificed when your school is located in the heart of an overpopulated city. President Sexton has described NYU as “a large community made up of smaller ones,” but sometimes it feels like even those smaller ones aren’t small enough. We at NYU Local want to change that… at least online.
If you’ve given in to the Twitter craze, hopefully you’re already following our account. Yesterday our City Editor, Kenny Hsu, introduced a new list that seeks to organize every NYU student, organization and professor with a Twitter account into one easy-to-follow list: in short, we want to create an NYU campus on Twitter, a one stop shop for all tweets NYU. We hope it’ll successfully render a sense of community–at least digitally–that students can join and follow, so that our school can stop feeling so fragmented and start feeling like a real university. Find it, follow it, love it–and if you want to be added to the list, just @ or DM us.
On Campus - Thursday, November 12, 2009 9:30 - 0 Comments
New Media Incarnate to Discuss New Media at the J School
Few people embody the internet more than NYU Professors Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis Clay Shirky. Rosen, who is basically NYU Local’s professorial mascot, is an unabashed Twitter enthusiast, going so far as to coin the term “mindcasting” and functioning as a New Media King in his own right. Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody tackles grassroots organizing and social media. Together, the two are really an unstoppable force of new media, and–lucky for us–they’re teaming up for a discussion at the J school at 20 Cooper Square. According to the press release, “They will discuss the latest ideas in new media: what’s working, what’s dead, and where the medium is headed.” The event will take place Thursday December 3rd from 6-7pm and is free and open to the public. You can call 212.998.8044 for more info.
UPDATE: Original post accidentally interchanged Jarvis and Shirky because I was reading Buzzmachine while I was writing it. Apologies! Luckily, all three are awesome new media gurus.
Featured, National - Monday, November 9, 2009 11:05 - 30 Comments
Health Care Reform Bill Passes in the House, But at What Cost?
What were you doing at 11pm on Saturday night? Were you bar hopping around the East Village, or waiting an absurdly long time for the L train? Well apparently while you were out, the US House of Representatives was making history. History is rarely made on Saturday nights, unless you count getting laid or puking in a cab as doing so, but two nights ago something a little more serious happened: the House passed H R 3962, better known colloquially as the Health Care Reform Bill, with a vote of 220 to 215.
In terms of universal health care–something I definitely champion–this is no doubt a tremendous step forward. The Public Option returned from what seemed to be inevitable extinction and, should it be signed into law, will provide 96% of Americans with affordable health insurance. Unfortunately, this health insurance is not nearly as comprehensive as it should be, most notably for a major section of the American population: in terms of women’s rights, the bill passed on Saturday night was a depressingly giant step backwards.
National - Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:52 - 4 Comments
Gratuitous Pictures of President Obama Doing Cute Things
It’s been a rough week for the NYU community, so let’s attempt to remember the lovelier side of life with a little G rated Presidential pornography. The White House Flickr stream hosts an epic collection of photos of our outrageously photogenic First Family, and it never fails to leave me swooning. Below is a gallery of some of the most “awwww!”-inducing photos. Babies and puppies!
On Campus - Thursday, November 5, 2009 8:30 - 1 Comment
Matt Damon and Howard Zinn Coming to NYU
In an effort to drum up publicity for their joint-film venture The People Speak, Matt Damon and Howard Zinn are coming to speak at NYU on November 12th at 2pm at the Cooper Union Great Hall. The film is a dramatic and musical reenactment of historical US documents and speeches of “Americans who spoke up for social change throughout US history,” and is based on Zinn’s widely-acclaimed The People’s History of the United States (a book a high school history teacher of mine once deemed “too liberal” to include on a source list). For US history nerds, it’s a dream come true, but for those of you who didn’t spend your junior year in grueling study sessions striving for a 5 on the APUSH exam, several celebrities (aside from Damon) are also affiliated with the project–Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Josh Brolin, to name a few. The event will consist of live performances, audience discussions and preview clips of the film. Registration is free, but you have to RSVP here, so make sure you do it soon since space is limited. The People Speak premieres on The History Channel on December 13th at 8pm.
