In a few weeks, the a capella groups will be having their fall shows. But a few weeks is Such. A. Long. Time. So what to do to sate your need for watching groups of people harmonize in semi-cirlces? Why, read about the people who make up those semi-circles, of course!
The Pennchants, whose repertoire includes such classics as “Jessie’s Girl,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” and “Play That Funky Music White Boy,” have just started a blog to keep its members and groupies aware of the latest happenings in the world of all male, classic rock a capella. This is the window into the world of the Pennchants that you always dreamed you could climb into, with info on their shows, CDs, and other a capella-related issues (like “Where’s the Pennchant?”). Perhaps one of these post will even explain the genesis of their bodacious costumes (see below).
The Pennchants featuring Parisa Montazaran from Real World Sydney:
PS- Bonus points to the blog for including an amusing “Joke of the Day” thing on the side.
Our intrepid etiquette columnist intones: there’s a time and place for P.D.A. But when! And where? Read on for a moral compass beyond W.W.J.D.
This weekend, at an unnamed fraternity party, I saw yet another drunken hook-up. This time, however, I noticed two minor deviations from the norm: One, instead of being freshmen, these people appeared to be older (see attached picture). Upperclassmen recklessly engaging in minor sexual deviance at a frat party? Weird. Shouldn’t these two have been at Smoke’s or, even better, in private?
Don't let this be you!
And, two: Instead of standing in a dark corner or on the side of the room, this couple decided to engage openly in their acts of barely restrained passion between the exit of said frat and the bar. This was a relatively well-lit area, and they were surrounded by the 21+ (or the card-carrying majority) who were trying to get their beer. Read the rest of this entry »
During the fall of junior year, many eager Penn students leave the coccoon of Philadelphia for the unknown shores of Europe, South America and beyond. For these members of their own little temporary “lost generation,” starting an abroad blog (or abrog, if you will) is as much a rite of passage as the journey itself. In this occasional feature, we will spotlight one such blog.
Our first abrogger is once (and future?) Street editor Annette D., currently studying in Padua, Italy. Her blog, Annette Abroad, chronicles her adventures discussing American politics with Italians, drinking lo sprizz (the city’s special drink) and watching episodes of CSI Miami dubbed in Italian. Here’s a choice excerpt, in which she describes hiking on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea:
While the four of us debated whether or not we wanted to try to open the fence, a pair of hikers happily passed by us, exclaiming “Scusa!” and proceeding to easily hop the fence and trek down to the rocks. That made our decision for us—a friend and I hopped the fence (although not quite as dexterously as the hiker) and headed down, where we hopped (read: tiptoed and/or slipped) across rocks from ledge to ledge and dipped our feet in the ocean.
Some cardinal rules of abroad blogs is that they’re usually on blogspot or wordpress, they’re usually called something like “[Person's Name] in [City/Country]“, and they’re usually really well-maintained for the month of September, and then increasingly sporadic after that. Will Annette’s blog go the distance? Will her Italian meals continue to be delicioso? Bookmark her blog and stay tuned. And if you know of (or write) an abrog we should feature, let us know.
Sadly, there don’t seem to be any events involving <3ing the female orgasm this week, but there’s still plenty going on around campus, especially if you’re Jewish or Greek.
Rosh Hashanah began Monday at sundown and services continue today and tomorrow. Hillel’s got the scoop on times and locations for reform, conservative and orthodox services. How inconvenient is it, by the way, when you realize that none of your Jewish friends are the same denomination as you? Best to befriend a wide array of Jews to avoid this issue in the future.
On top of the high holiday festivities, this week is also Greektober Fest. Last night was Greek Bowling at Strikes, today is a Greek Blood Drive (because Greek blood is the most virile!), Friday is a Greek Powderpuff football game, and Sunday is a Greek Academic Bowl emceed by Amy Gutmann’s right-hand-woman and Penn’s resident socialite Leah Popowich. The full calendar is here.
Not Greek or Jewish? The ICA welcomes one and all at Penn First Wednesdays, at 7 p.m. on October 1st, FREE with Penncard! There will be free coffee, desserts, a meet-and-greek with artist Odili Donald Odita and a performance by DJ Spooky. More details here.
Your parents write them tuition checks every semester, but other than that, what do you really know about “the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania,” if that is in fact their real name? Well, one of them is on the cover of fancy-schmancy business magazine Conde Nast Portfolio this month, so we decided to read the story and see if it might teach us anything about the scary group of men (and a few women, yay!) who boss around Amy Gutmann.
We learned that Robert Toll, Penn Law ’66 and chairman of Toll Brothers, is one of the main people to blame for the McMansion fever of the last few decades. But even rich people like him have problems–for example, this whole subprime something-or-other crisis has not smiled upon housing developers. No wonder Penn’s endowment is in the tank, with people like that overseeing it! (Just kidding, we know the economy sucks for everyone right now.) The profile seemed overall really positive, a bit of a handjob if you ask us, but we did take away from it that one day we too might be really rich development overlords. The more you know!
College can be stressful. That’s why it’s important to take some breaks every once in a while, say, watch an episode or two of some good TV. Over time, if everyone follows the recommendations in these posts, life at Penn will grind to a complete halt, but everyone will be blissfully entertained and relaxed.
This week, there are two shows you must watch: Pushing Daisies and Friday Night Lights. By the way, 1 in this post can be equal to any number between 1 and probably 14. I’m not so good with the numbers.
Note: This is supposed to tempt you, not disgust you.
You’ve probably seen the stickers on the backpacks of the cyclists that call west of 40th home: ”University City is a marketing scheme. This is West Philly.” Profound stuff, really.
And all that may be true, but UCNet.com, the Web site dedicated to promoting the businesses and services of University City (and occasionally Center City), has a listserv that sends you COUPONS EVERY WEEK. I’m talking deals like 10, 20 and even 30% off merchandise from The Marvelous, and pasta bowl + glass of wine for $14.99 at LT’s on Mondays. There is even a coupon for free dumplings from New Number One — granted, you have to order $25 worth of food and it has to be a Tuesday, but you get the point.
Check out the site (don’t let the shitty design bother you) to sign up. Ignorance may be bliss, but missing out on free dumplings the next time you order a moutain of Chinese food on a Tuesday is not something to be desired.
In this very special blog post, Columnist Carlin is back to riff on contraception, hormones, and every college girl’s gripping fear of getting preggo.
For the last four years, I have happily been taking the same birth control pill. In the beginning it scared me (as it would any seventeen-year-old) to be putting a hormone into my body, but as I myself was a whoremone, my mother and gyno’s laws were laid down. Ever since I have had zero breakouts, no one can predict when it’s coming since I don’t get cyclically bitchy, and every four Tuesdays at 4:00 pm, I excuse myself, and know I’ll be sexually frustrated for three-and-a-half days.
This morning, for this first time since my pill in July, 2004 in Almagro, Spain, something extraordinary happened: tired from the night before, I popped open my packet to see my “Saturday” ricochet straight into a large heap of trash (primarily old Metro coffee cups and myriad Band-Aids I wear as socks while in heels). I began to panic. Though I am not, nor have I ever been, obsessive compulsive, I have just enough attention span to have remembered every morning for over four years to take the fucking thing, and have been ecstatic to have had only one pregnancy scare, which was silly since I hadn’t actually had sex in three months. Read the rest of this entry »
Apparently the boys of the ATO house on Locust celebrate a muggy Saturday night by a naked run, as this blogger discovered last night as she walked by. Two brothers, two laps around the chapter house: the quintessential college moment. Now, the cell phone camera evidence:
Yes, it’s blurry. He was fast. Use your imagination.
When it comes to being eco-friendly, Penn beats Princeton, according to the just-released College Sustainability Report Card. In other words, things are just as they should be.
Penn boasts a respectable 6 A’s, whereas Princeton has only 3 A’s AND an embarrassing D! And Princeton is in New Jersey. I mean, how hard does the Garden State Ivy have to try to NOT be green? True, Harvard takes the cake from all the Ivies with 7 A’s, but c’mon, their endowment is bigger than the GNP of most small countries.
Update, 10:30 9/28: Alas, we just heard that Zach and Drew canceled! Was it a hoax? Did they get a better offer from a school in a real swing state? WHY, DREW, WHY!?
Ok, WHAT? We just got an e-mail that Zach Braff and Drew Barrymore will be at Penn Monday to stump for Obama. Last year we had Kal Penn, a few weeks ago it was Kate Walsh, and now these two? The DP is starting to look like Us Weekly!
The two, who were kind of rumored to be dating at one point but have more recently moved on to Chuck Bass/Ed Westwick (her) and, um, every female in Hollywood that isn’t macking John Mayer (him), are set to appear in Houston Hall at noon on Monday. We’re not really sure how effective all these movie star visits are, considering that most of us are already planning to vote for Obama, but can we just say, Drew Barrymore is our favorite actress ever, and aside from being a bit of a player, we also like Zach Braff very much. Go dems!
No word on when/if Chuck Norris will descend on campus to campaign for McCain. We’ll keep you posted.
Remember our sassy columnist Carlin? She’s back to narrate a night at Smoke’s…through Gossip Girl’s eyes.
Just another Thursday at Smoke's
Last week I wrote about the in-class crush. For the sake of contrast I wanted to chronicle for you, my dear readers (i.e., my housemates and lineage), a recent night at Smoke’s so you can see that we Penn students are not unlike those we love to watch. As I am not an anonymous writer, all names have been changed. Consider me your Serena Van der Woodsen du jour. Until Monday night, that is. Boker tov, my little rodents!
Spotted: J, thirsty as usual and reminiscing at Smoke’s, eyeing former fling Carlin. Could it be a rekindling of flames? Or has C left him in the dust of his alum ashes?
It seems the two are okay as they say hello. Doesn’t J have a girlfriend? Didn’t C move on a week later? C sees her friends have arrived, drinks in hand, swaying to Rihanna. Better offer, C? I think so. Read the rest of this entry »
God bless America! Photo credit: The New York Times
The first presidential debate was last night. And rather than live-blogging it like every other blog on earth, we’d like to talk about where you were when you were watching it. Samantha Jones once said, “I don’t believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties,” and that’s a philosophy we take to heart. (Except not really, ’cause we’re obviously Democrats like 80% of the students at Penn, haha.)
So, where did you watch the debates? Below, a spectrum from coolest to most loserly:
Messianic: From Obama’s campaign headquarters.
Super Chill: At Smoke’s.
Endearingly Nerdy: With members of Penn Dems/College Republicans/Penn Parli.
Respectable: On your couch/in a common room with your friends.
Kind of Weird: In the nearly-empty cardio room on the second floor of Pottruck, while sitting on a stationery bike you weren’t even peddling. (This may or may not be where we were. Is this whole blog just an excuse to brag every time we go to the gym? Maybe!)
Pathetic: In your room, alone, while flipping to America’s Funniest Home Videos during commercials.
*By the way, the title of this post doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; it was intended to be a parody of those banners for frat parties that say stupid things like “18 to vandalize, 21 to scandalize,” as if any party would turn away nubile not-yet-18 pre-frosh.
It’s overcast, and it’s probably going to rain all weekend, and Penn sucks when it’s raining. Locust Walk has really bad drainage, the wind tunnel eats umbrellas, those stupid rain boots girls wear are hard to walk in. Life sucks! Or does it?
There may or may not be a presidential debate to watch tonight. They only around once every four years, and there are only three, making them even rarer than Michael Phelps’s Olympic swims. Suit up in your Penn for McCain/Penn for Obama gear and tune in.
Nights in Rodanthe comes out today, but it’s not playing anywhere near here, so go see Eagle Eye or some other crappy-but-probably-reasonably-entertaining movie at the Bridge. Sidenote: why is High School Musical 3 listed on that page when it doesn’t come out until October 24th? Ugh.
And finally, our favorite thing to do when it rains is try to think of as many songs as possible involving rain, and walk down the street singing them like a crazy person. Herewith, some suggestions to get you started: “Have you ever seen the rain?” (CCR), “It’s Raining Men” (The Weather Girls), “Blame it on the Rain” (Milli Vanilli), “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (Missy Elliot version).
You can stand under our umb-er-ella button anytime.
If you were anywhere near the Compass while you hustling to get to DRL before noon, you likely noticed the mob of people pummeling each other with pillows. Needless to say, I was there, camera in hand, watching the chaos (oh, the things one does for journalism).
Our first abrogger is once (and future?) Street editor Annette D., currently studying in Padua, Italy. Her blog, 
For the last four years, I have happily been taking the same birth control pill. In the beginning it scared me (as it would any seventeen-year-old) to be putting a hormone into my body, but as I myself was a whoremone, my mother and gyno’s laws were laid down. Ever since I have had zero breakouts, no one can predict when it’s coming since I don’t get cyclically bitchy, and every four Tuesdays at 4:00 pm, I excuse myself, and know I’ll be sexually frustrated for three-and-a-half days.
Update, 10:30 9/28: Alas, we just heard that Zach and Drew canceled! Was it a hoax? Did they get a better offer from a school in a real swing state? WHY, DREW, WHY!?
It’s overcast, and it’s probably going to rain all weekend, and Penn sucks when it’s raining. Locust Walk has really bad 
