Featured, National - Friday, November 13, 2009 11:23 - 6 Comments
Purdue’s Librarian Should Be Fired. Period.
Purdue University in Indiana has recently been the site of a war over free speech and gay rights. It’s burnin’ up the blogosphere! What’s been going down? Basically, one of the school’s librarians wrote a blog post (on a personal site unaffiliated with the university) opposing “the homosexual lifestyle.” His arguments are, as you might expect, stupid and hateful; for instance, he argues that “money invested on AIDS research could be returned to taxpayers or transferred to more worthwhile areas of public health research.” Also, he conflates prison rape to any homosexual sexual activity. Ditto sex crimes. Wonderful.
City - Friday, November 13, 2009 9:00 - 0 Comments
NYU: Making Friends By Destroying Their Neighborhood
A column in neighborhood periodical The Villager penned by our school’s “Vice President for Government and Community Engagement” (ha) Alicia Hurley praises NYU’s alleged efforts to “map out a clear pathway forward that recommits the university to its surrounding neighbors and its city.” How is NYU committing itself to the community’s well-being? Let us count the ways:
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City - Friday, November 13, 2009 8:00 - 2 Comments
Get Drunk Off Pickle Juice
The Fatty Crab, if you’ve never heard of it (I’ve never heard of it, until now) is a fairly expensive Malaysian restaurant on Hudson at Horatio. This is not far from NYU! And it just became my new favorite let’s-get-wasted-after-class place, ever. Why?
On Campus - Friday, November 13, 2009 7:00 - 0 Comments
Stay Away From Broken Mirrors This Friday the 13th
Hey! I’m editing Fridays now, and it’s a great day to start because there is actually so much to do today, besides make lame references to Friday the 13th (like I did in the title.) Avoid bad luck, thanks to our fine university!
The finals of the 6th Annual Cyber Securities Challenge will be taking place at the NYU-Poly school in Brooklyn. Events start at 1:30. Bring your own Mountain Dew and Cheetos.
For 12 bucks, come witness Talk Like Singing, billed as the “first-ever original Japanese musical to premiere in the U.S.” It’s at Skirball, at 8pm. I don’t understand why this didn’t premiere in Japan, but good for us, I guess.
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City - Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:39 - 1 Comment
Newest Street Drug is Pot, Liquified
Man, wouldn’t it be great if Suri could give us a recipe for liquid marijuana? A dealer in Brooklyn was busted for selling the stuff, which is just fantastic. I don’t know what’s more outrageous to me, the fact that it’s liquefied pot or the fact that he mixed it with “180-proof alcohol,” only slightly less alcoholic than rubbing alcohol.
Damn, what else are you gonna use to pregame for the utter shitshow(s) taking place at Santos Party House tonight? Crowded between a sweaty Dim Mak DJ and a laid-off Oak employee, you’ll be thinking, “I wish I could drink some weed right now.” Don’t we all think that, from the time to time?
City - Monday, November 9, 2009 14:00 - 3 Comments
We’re Dangerously Addicted to Everything
Simmer down, America’s youth. You’re out of control.
At Penn State, kids are drunkenly entering people’s houses. Check it out: this letter-writer is upset that an intoxicated young man broke into her home, took a shower, and traumatized her daughter. She explains, “It may seem funny to think of a drunk person coming up to your porch banging on the door crying to be let in,” which actually doesn’t seem funny at all, just obnoxious and unsettling. However, “It quickly becomes unfunny when that person has their pants off,” which in my book actually makes it hilarious. Penn State students need to stop binge drinking; residents of the surrounding town clearly need better security systems.
And then there’s Adderall. Every few months, some tiny news outlet suddenly discovers that college students use stimulants to improve concentration, but this report takes it to the next level. “You’d find her in the same place focusing on the same thing, like a scratch on her knee or something … and she’d be there for maybe like five hours.” I don’t know how much Adderall you need to take to scratch your knee for five hours, but that’s got to be some good shit. Also, “a bottle goes from $3.00-400.” Please tell me where I can buy a bottle of Adderall for three bucks, NBC Affiliate-That’s-Like-Years-Late-To-This-Trend-Piece.
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City - Thursday, November 5, 2009 10:00 - 0 Comments
Technology for Old People Means Andy Rooney Memes
We all get confused with technology sometimes. For some of us, this means trying to upload photos to Facebook and not understanding the “server error” that pops up every third album or so. For others, it’s starting their own blog, switching to iPhones, or cross-dressing in front of poorly-rendered iChat backdrops. But the New York Times knows that one group of people just, heh, doesn’t understand!
See, we all think that old people only care about technology if it involves “medical monitoring and protection against falls.” I assume this is what the Times means. But old people actually share technological motivation with another often overlooked by Silicon Valley: babies. The Times recommends downloading software to simplify desktops, since “Changes like fewer buttons, color-coded commands and larger type ease the Windows experience.” Also, if you cut their American-cheese-and-ketchup sandwiches into funny shapes, they’ll gobble them up! Oh, you olds. What else can you surprise me with?
National - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:03 - 17 Comments
Evaluating the Causes and Effects of Maine’s Prop 1 Passage
Well, here we are: 0 for 31. That’s gay marriage’s track record when put up for statewide referendum in this country, which is to say, in 31 states that have put the issue of same-sex marriage up for vote, it’s been voted into illegality every single time. Maine was supposed to be different. So was California.
Some people are claiming this as a sign, as a resounding referendum on this nation’s views of same-sex marriage. You know what? It’s hard to argue with that. Gay marriage isn’t gay rights; it’s the thorniest splinter of the thorniest national social issue this side of abortion.
That’s an important distinction. Those who worry about the “silent majority” of gay rights opponents, the people you rarely meet in the city but see in the news holding signs and public prayers, have little to fear. America does not oppose gay rights. Or, to be more specific, a majority of this country does not oppose ensuring that queer citizens receive the same rights as anyone else. That’s a fact, yes.
I was really sad about Maine; in a way, sadder than California, because Cali was such a national moment, where God’s children screamed at San Francisco loud enough to bring fear back to the state. Coming on the heels of Barack Obama’s election, nobody really had time to feel sad about California. Sure, some of us were disgusted and appalled by the results, so disappointed to see California vote to deny its gay citizens the right to marry. But it was the dawn of a new day! Obama would walk into the White House, so many of us believed, and with a wave of that magic wand he used to rocket himself to victory in the election, he’d make this country understand that gays and lesbians were alright.
City - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:30 - 5 Comments
Defining the Autumn Look for the Seasonally Primitive
My friend Alex and I have said that we like autumn because you can, quote, “throw a sweater on it.” We came to this conclusion before the release of “Single Ladies” and the subsequent association of “putting things on it” with vague notions of marriage set to an R&B beat.
The comparison, however, works; autumn is the season for independence. If love blossoms in spring and sucks your dick in a kayak during summer, then you shed it in fall like a soggy bathing suit. You have school to worry about, and maybe a new job, and negotiating bribes for spending the night at your grandparents’ house in Long Island for Thanksgiving.
How do you project this sienna confidence to your classmates? Here’s one version of “The Autumn Look.” I encourage either a girl or someone gayer than me to make a ladies’ guide. This also assumes you’re on something of a budget.
- J. Crew’s sweaters are always wonderful, and this year, their “shawl popovers” allow you to stay warm while avoiding the far-too-prevalent V-neck or boring crewneck. Wear it over a toned-down button-down (you don’t need to buy a new shirt for this) and eschew the coat; you’ll be warm in the morning when it’s in the 40s, but still comfortable in the afternoon when the high hits 60 degrees.
- I’m linking to a generic shoe to prove a point here: you don’t need to break the bank on autumn footwear. A nice, clean (and brown? Brown is a fall color) Oxford looks casual but nice; more fashionable than athletic shoes, it doesn’t matter if your new Oxfords get a little wet in the rain or sprinkled with your roommate’s vomit after that crazy rooftop party you got crazy at because like it’s the last time you can party on a rooftop for a while: these shoes were meant to last. Continue…
City - Monday, November 2, 2009 14:50 - 4 Comments
Craiglisters Obviously Didn’t Find Love While Trick or Treating
In the post-Halloween haze of bad decisions and questionable costume choices, only that fleeting thing called love can make us whole. Well, that and clandestine hookups in public restrooms. Hello November! (NSFW.)
This recent NYU alumnus is looking for the Jew in you! Looking for a Jewish girl at NYU is kind of like looking for an Asian person in Bobst on a weeknight, which is to say, dude would do well to get a little more specific. Are you looking for: “spoiled Jewess from Long Island who still loves Coach?” or “Kind of conservative Jew who wears long skirts and keeps kosher, but has been known to get wasted to the tune of ‘Bicardi is not a shellfish’?” or “Girl who isn’t Jewish but has a Heeb grandma so she still celebrates Hanukkah?” There are so many choices in this, the city of dreams and Koreans who enjoy Stella Artois on tap.
This man is going through a divorce and will give you $10,000 to date him. He is strangely looking for either an “NYU/FIT co-ed” or a “MILF,” which are two totally different types of ladies. But who doesn’t enjoy walking out “with some spending cash or I can help with a payment on whatever”? Remember: you’re not a homewrecker if the house was already crumbling when you rang the doorbell.
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