A List Of 2012’s Best “Best Of 2012” Lists

December 21st, 2012 by Ben Murray

It’s the end of the year, which means it’s time to reflect. Stop dwelling on how many calories you ate, how many finals you failed, and how many nights you can’t remember. Instead, let’s reflect on the rise of the list-maker in 2012.

2012 may have been a great year for gays, stoners, and Nate Silver, but end-of-year list-makers really had the best year ever. These lists have always been popular, of course. TIME started its Person of the Year award in 1927. Trans Atlantic pilot Charles Lindenbergh was the first winner, while our mega adorable President, Barack Obama, topped this year’s list. But Obama didn’t win every award this year. Let’s count off some of 2012′s best “best of” lists. Read more…


While You’re Gone: NYU During The Summer

May 10th, 2012 by Olivia Loving

However nice it is to leave the city and get away for the weekend, winter break, or the summer, there’s often that ever-present fear that you are missing everything all the time. Though NYU does have summer events, these are mostly for high school students. The park, thankfully, will be here for you when you get back.

1. What There Won’t Be: CAS has cut its summer orientation program, so your orientation leaders will work just as cheerfully at the beginning of the year instead. Apparently, there were cost issues, but we can think of some unwise ways NYU is currently spending its money.

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Five Books To Watch For In 2012

January 25th, 2012 by Olivia Loving

2012 promises to be a good year for books. A few established writers -Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Tyler- will be releasing new works this year, but we also recommend you seek out new authors and see what their debuts have to offer. Of course, new books also mean more upcoming readings and signings. Check back here for events around the city or follow up with independent bookstores, which often host writers.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

Though we’re not such fans of this title (are too many authors borrowing from Raymond Carver?), Nathan Englander’s latest work seems promising. The eponymous piece in this book of short stories first appeared in The New Yorker earlier this winter. Englander is releasing another book this year with co-editor Jonathan Safran Foer: a new translation of the Haggdah, titled, appropriately, the New American Haggadah.

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New Books To Read and Make You Feel Kind of Cultured

November 4th, 2011 by Zach Sokol

NYU Local has been busy holding down our internet turf and studying for midterms. We’ve barely had time to read the shortest of tweets, yet alone read a full-length novel in the midst of so much course work. Well, it’s getting colder, and soon there will be an easy excuse to miss that concert/party/court date and stay inside (thank fucking goodness!).

If your retinas have not been fully burnt by the Medusa-like glare from your Macbooks, there is a wide range of epic book releases that have been getting enough press attention to convince us that people still read books – sometimes even literal, three dimensional books (!). There will undoubtedly be traffic as you return home for Thanksgiving. In case your iPad runs out of battery, here are some excellent releases worth buying in hardcover.

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Are You “That Guy” in the Elevator?

October 13th, 2010 by AJ Marechal

Elevator culture pervades most buildings at NYU. In between classes our personal space bubbles are rendered null and void as we are packed into elevators in a way that I can only describe as reminiscent of that time I thought moving towards the stage at a Terminal 5 GirlTalk concert was a good idea. Inevitably, “that guy” (or girl) shows up in the elevator. We all know him. We know the signs. Here’s a helpful list to help you identify which one you’re riding with:

1. Screw The Stairs! guy:

Screw The Stairs! guy sees that floors 7, 8, 9 and 11 are pressed, but presses 10 anyways — because, well, screw the stairs! He hits an elevator button that inconveniences other elevator riders (poor 11th floor guy) by making others stop on a floor that could have been accessed via the stairwell. Usually he hesitates before pressing the button — 5 when 6 is pressed, 11 when 12 is pressed — questioning himself…should I take the stairs this time? But that fleeting thought passes almost immediately (what was I thinking, screw the stairs!) as his fingertip makes contact with the button. While the inconvenience is small, the stigma associated with being Screw The Stairs! guy is a powerful force in NYU buildings thanks to signs in dorm room elevator lobbies. Read more…