It’s that time of year again! While we salute those of you who partake in March Madness in the traditional sense, sometimes bringing the bracket a little closer to home is nice. (The Quakers aren’t in the tourney this year, are they?) Regardless of whether or not you made your predictions in the DP’s Bracket Challenge, UTB has an eclectic assortment of eateries, emails and A-Guts to battle it out to the bitter end. This is strictly biz, we don’t play around – a winner will be crowned within mere days. (Will it beat the Fling announcement?) Click the jump to meet our glamorous contestants and cast your votes for Round 1! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of year again, the DP’s Bracket Challenge is back. If you submit your bracket by this Thursday at noon, you could win prizes to Copa ($100 for 1st, $50 for 2nd, and $30 for 3rd).

Also, be sure to bring in a printed copy of the bracket from the DP into Copa for $5 nachos. Even if you’re not a huge fan of NCAAB, you’ve got nothing to lose, and even if you don’t win, you’ll definitely be happier than this guy.

We want spring and we want it now. Penn’s Facebook page offered a mysterious sneak peek yesterday into Van Peezy’s new rooftop lounge located on the sixth floor. The DP reports that the lounge will have a grand opening April 18, with a select few being allowed entrance as early as March 4. We have high expectations for this new space: a place to absorb both some vitamin D and all of the reading material we know we will forget to do over spring break. Plus, we’re hoping that third VP elevator will finally shed its fear-inducing construction look and resume normal elevator appearance.

If you haven’t heard already, 1979 Penn alum Matthew White was tragically stabbed to death by his wife on Monday. The 6’11” White played on the Quakers’ Final Four men’s basketball team, because that was a thing that occurred.

Our friends at the DP have reported new details on the shocking act of violence, including that White was asleep when he was fatally stabbed in the neck by Maria Rey Garcia-Pellon, and that the homicide was not quick and painless. The horrific story has already been picked up by outlets like The Daily Mail and The Huffington Post.

The kicker: his murderous spouse’s explanation is that White was looking at child pornography (unverified) and claimed she “had to do it” because she loves kids. We don’t think that one’s going to hold up in court.

In other news, one of the featured obituaries in this past Sunday’s New York Times was that of Penn alum James DePriest, a legendary orchestral conductor. DePriest, who died on Friday at 76 (of natural causes) Read the rest of this entry »

Because he spoke there last night, according to this sign at the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts. If you say they’re dreamers, you’re not the only one. We guess he’s a LEGEND in his own right?

We may groan endlessly about Penn’s dining options (that shudder you’re now experiencing comes courtesy of Houston Market), but as West Philadelphians, we’re actually very lucky when it comes to food. In fact, some of our Philly favorites (White Dog, Sabrina’s, Marigold Kitchen– to name a few) are just a short walk away, and for the next two weeks, they’re cheap, thanks to Uni City Dining Days.

Starting tonight and running through July 26th, and sponsored the neatest Philly organizations like the DP (ever heard of it?), Metro, and the local Jewish newspaper, Dining Days really just mean one thing: cheap, good food.

Three-course menu options will be offered at 34 local restaurants for the fixed price of $15, $25, or $30 per person. All in all, a pretty sweet idea. (Except for these three promotional vids.)

Last semester, the University discussed the possibility of creating a Penn branch of the Confucius Institute– think of it as Epcot’s China Pavilion but in West Philadelphia– through its Center for East Asian Studies, having previously rejected the proposal back in 2009. The Confucius Institute has been growing in power and popularity for the cultural education and cold, hard CA$H it provides, with outposts at Stanford, Columbia, and the London School of Economics, as the Times reports.

Penn, however, said no to the Confucius Institute. For the second time. As international relations professor Arthur Waldron points out, “Once you have a Confucius Institute on campus, you have a second source of opinions and authority that is ultimately answerable to the Chinese Communist Party and which is not subject to scholarly review.” Hear, hear! Sounds like as good reason as any for the CEAS’s unanimous opposition the Confucius Institute.

Sophomore Rachel del Valle’s “Duly Noted” column this week discussed her propensity for fitting music into every aspect of her life. In fact, she quite literally explains her music selection for even the most mundane experiences:

I’d be folding laundry and think, “Wouldn’t this be so much better with some Frank Sinatra?” I’d be buttering toast and imagine how good Belle & Sebastian would sound combined with the scraping of the knife…Brushing my teeth? I’m going to need some Hall & Oates to make the Crest go down smoother.

We’d be lying to say we’ve never done the same (such a toast song!), but this perfectly demonstrates why we keep iPods in our pockets and Spotify profiles on private.

Freshman class President Ariel Koren took to the press over the past week to discuss the “female leadership issue” and what her status as a female leader on campus means. After the obvious Penn15 joke, Koren goes into a talk about the visibility of women in high places at Penn:

She is usually easy to identify: hair windblown, heels clanking, eyes aglow and mind a-storm, at work on her new plan of attack: how else might she shake things up on campus?

Windblown hair? Heels? A menacing glint in her eyes? Oh no. Oh… oh no. This comes to mind. Not surprisingly, a lot of Penn women had something to say about President Koren’s piece. Eek.