On Campus - Friday, May 1, 2009 16:57 - 0 Comments
Strawberry Fields Forever and Justin Spees’ Day 5 Free Food Diary
And what better way to close out the most exhilarating week of my NYU Local experience than with a crowded party centering around strawberries. So many things there are that strawberries can mean! And I indulge in all of them in one quick moment before lunch in what is, I believe, the last school day of my life.
1:30 p.m.—I stand in line next to the longest shortcake in New York, which is in fact about as long as the line for it. I consider certain things, like what is keeping me from taking my piece and running, and what will happen if there isn’t a staff keeping the peace. Somehow this is my first Strawberry Fest, and I’d love to stick around but its crowded and I drop my fork on the ground and Obama has warned me about public places.
2:30 p.m.—I meet my friend Ramil at Hayden. He has a meal plan, but we’ve agreed using it counts as a school subsidy because he’s an RA and his meals are provided for. The meal reminds me of how good the dining hall is. I think, of all the things I will miss about NYU, I might miss its sandwiches the most. Continue…
Entertainment - Friday, May 1, 2009 14:31 - 5 Comments
The Rise to Prominence of the Senior Class and the Parting Words of a Retiring Blogger
Editor’s Note: I woke up this morning to the following email: “Joe, I’ve written my parting post. I do hope you like it, because I had fun writing it. But in any case, despite its self-indulgence, I ask your permission to run it. Call it a graduation present.” Now, being that my time at NYU Local is also over, I can understand the sentiment expressed, and would never dream of denying Mr. Spees. So here are his final college musings in their rawest form. Parse them for meaning and take what you will, but don’t forget what Justin has brought to the site in the past, from warning us about WSN’s shady partnership with Shopper Select, to chronicling the decade in pop music, to his latest opus, a week’s worth of free food.
It’s been real. 3000 out. -Joe Coscarelli
This, along with the final day recap of the Free Food Diary, is going to be my final post for NYU Local. Because of this, I’m fairly sure my editors won’t quibble over whatever the post happens to be about. So I’ve decided to make my final piece, my love letter, if you will, to endings and NYU Local and Cody Brown and especially you, the reader, as rambling and incoherent and self-indulgent as the circumstance allows. And if reading this (supposing you do), leads you to believe I am a pretentious hackneyed dick, let me say first that I had a supremely enjoyable year writing for NYU Local, and the loyal constituency that followed. Especially the ones who were here before TBNYU! made it cool. Continue…
On Campus - Thursday, April 30, 2009 7:46 - 6 Comments
Law Students Abound in Justin Spees’ Day 3 Free Food Diary
First sign of difficulty today, when the NYU homepage has nothing to offer other than a Sex and the City screening, (it’s not like I haven’t seen it), but things work out for the best when I somehow wind up in a room full of pre-law students (and Lucas!) and learn about Lawyers Without Borders. Its like Doctors Without Borders, but with more kicking ass and taking names.
12:30 p.m.—Commuter week hosts a town hall meeting in Kimmel I slip into. Nothing but bagels and what I’m going to call danishes; I take one of each and leave. Boring. Breakfast was hours ago.
5:00 p.m.—I learn for the first time that even the fantasy play-out of the Sex and the City movie finale invokes feminist ire; a girl with short hair lets it be known that these “independent women” serve merely as frivolous extensions of their emotionally manipulative, hierarchically domineering, upper-class men. Then we get to the part where Carrie tries on dresses, which is of course a separate bag of issues. I am exposed to the following terms: capitalist morality, corporate bohemia, heteronormative white fantasy, and Vera Wang pays their laborers 6 cents an hour why can’t their dresses be cheaper? Did I mention we didn’t even watch most of the movie? Did I mention it’s not even a good movie? NYU begins to falter in my eyes. Oh, and they have Thai food. Highlight.
On Campus - Wednesday, April 29, 2009 6:36 - 2 Comments
The Hindu Connection and Justin Spees’ Day 2 Free Food Diary
Day two was on an equal measure of success as day one, and once again, keep sending in suggestions for places to go. As the week starts to take itself more seriously (finals, I guess), the abundance of obvious choices goes down. And if I go to your event I’ll give you a shout out.
12:30 p.m.—Recognizing that my 15 minute commute to campus qualifies me as a commuter, I meet Joe (relishing his 12 minute commute) at the end-of-year commuter luncheon on the tenth floor of Kimmel. Somebody plays a Ratatat video on YouTube on a projection screen, and we gorge. Awards are handed out (Fastest commuter! Most willing to live in New Jersey!) and people filter out quietly. No real fanfare is made. Ratatat makes fine music. Continue…
On Campus - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:56 - 4 Comments
Justin Spees’ Day 1 Free Food Diary
What follows are notes from my exploits from the first day of my eating-for-free-at-NYU project, which overall, was a remarkable success. In fact, as I type this, I feel more well-fed than I usually do.
11:00 a.m.—I walk past a Vita Coco truck handing out free bottles of flavored coconut water; not an NYU event per se, but certainly catering to our needs, which in this case include natural rehydrants and low calories. I didn’t sleep much last night, so I take my enduring consciousness throughout the day as testament to the drink’s efficiency. Mine tasted like tangerine. Continue…
Featured, On Campus - Monday, April 27, 2009 8:38 - 13 Comments
Can Justin Eat On NYU’s Dime For A Week? An Exploration of the Cavernous Financial Ends of NYU Student Programs
I’m going to do something this week. Something fun. I am going to see if I can survive the entire week without spending money. This means no booze, no records, no street drugs, and no food, provided I have to pay for it.
I should make clear that this decision is only as voluntary as my poverty. Like most people who don’t work, I tend to subsist on the kindness of my friends and the institutions I pay heed to. One thing I’ve learned about NYU is that it has money. Like, a lot of money, and it allocates that money liberally. For instance, to clubs that nobody joins, speakers nobody goes to see, and organizations nobody knows exist. Take my word for it, there are a lot of kids at this school, which means a lot of different interests, and if you can figure out how to manipulate the school’s willingness to accommodate all those interests, you don’t need a lot of money.
So here’s the deal: for one week, I will spend no money at all, while trying to maintain an overall feeling of being well-fed. I will do this by any means necessary, provided those means are in some way connected to NYU. That means that I will attend every film screening, every club gathering, every semblance of social organization I can find that promises to serve some kind of meal. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 12:18 - 8 Comments
The 16 Greatest Pop Songs of the New Decade: The Final Countdown [1-4]
If this exercise has taught me anything, it’s that few things matter more than pop songs. Graduation? Not even close. And the inevitable post-graduation sex? I find myself in the peculiarly Nick Hornby tradition of paying more attention to the song that’s playing anyway. Just filing through my memory of the pop landscape over the past 8 years has been one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a single sitting. Of course pop music is a fundamentally social experience, hence the publication of my list, which in the end I realize was meant to inspire debate, excitement, and above all, parties.
The critical community, by which I mean anyone that fashions an opinion about any artistic endeavor, places a great premium on its own intelligence, and tends to operate under the assumption that it is privy to some kind of transcendent objectivity. I make no such claim; the songs on this list are an indication of my personal preferences only, and to the extent that they place higher on any level of objective hierarchy than anything else, I can say only that they provide me with a great deal of enjoyment, and hopefully for commendable reasons. If not, I think it’s safe to say that you can dance to all of them.
The final four songs, keys to pleasures vast, share in common both a certain joie de vivre, and also a fecund oddness; both symptoms of the greater notion of opulence that justifies and propels our culture. They come with the effervescence that negates the pain of obligation—a sense of freedom entwined with the conviction that even if Adorno, or gasp!, Debord were right, it doesn’t really matter. Like a particularly enchanting Austrian girl of late said to me, “I heard Britney Spears and I thought they were joking,” to which I respond: “They weren’t.”
The final four come down to an indie-hero anomaly finding meditative optimism for four disappearing minutes, an overt ironist with deep-seated passions, a heavyweight sellout with a flow of gold, and an orgyist made first famous by Dave Chappelle. The rest, as they say, is in the telling. Continue…
Entertainment - Friday, March 13, 2009 9:59 - 1 Comment
The 16 Greatest Pop Songs of the New Decade [5-8]
Welcome to the third installment of the Greatest Pop Songs countdown . In preparation for Spring Break I will make an attempt at brevity; presumably there are better things to do next week than read about pop songs. But if not, than I recommend taking a look at the previous installments (13-16 and 9-12) and making a mixtape of the twelve songs laid out so far. I can assure you it makes for very good listening.
So without further delay, I bring you numbers 8 through 5. Enjoy. Continue…
Entertainment - Thursday, March 12, 2009 13:18 - 22 Comments
A Fairly Friendly Instant Messenger Debate About Eminem’s “Crack A Bottle”
Editor’s Note: Instead of a straight-up track review, the Entertainment section here at Local is experimenting with a few new media methods to tackle the Eminem’s chart-topping comeback single. Let us know what you think of the song or the dialogue in the comments. The chat was editing for grammar and clarity (no emoticons, I promise).
Justin Spees: Let’s discuss Eminem.
Joseph Coscarelli: Well, convince me that “Crack a Bottle” is a good song… Continue…
Entertainment - Wednesday, March 11, 2009 16:07 - 5 Comments
Chris Brown and Rihanna Record Duet, Get Scolded by Robin Givens
In an effort to quash rumors that love doesn’t conquer all, Chris Brown and Rihanna have moved to the recording studio to cut a song about overcoming difficulties as a couple. I sincerely hope this will not be a successful single, as it’s roughly tantamount to Chad Kroeger recording a song about raping people, but I imagine a potential scenario in which her fanbase supports her staying strong and doing what she wants. Even worse are the people that remain in the Chris Brown camp, who support him… being a man?
This news follows a Good Morning America report from this morning on which Rihanna claimed in a taped interview that once on a plane Chris had told her he was capable of killing her because he was famous and everybody loves him. The story also followed Robin Givens, ex-wife of Mike Tyson, talking about how the year she spent married to the boxer had her living in fear. I do wonder if at any point in their relationship he suggested the two of them undergo a boxing match to show that people in love can overcome difficulties as a couple. Continue…
