Candy Dish: What Happened to Cabbage Patch Kids?

bebe_gloton

A breastfeeding baby doll? Ew.

What does Lauren Conrad know about modeling?

Tim Tebow. Muscles. Sweat. Droooool.

Oklahoma really likes Angelina Jolie.

Is Penn State really the best party school?

Lay off the spray tan, Channing Tatum.

Love Your School? Now You Can Smell Like It, Too.

pennstate-prod-perfume_1.jpgI love Fordham. L-o-v-e it. I’ve got my school t-shirt and my string bag and, yes, that might have been me you saw at the basketball game singing along to The Ram. If you asked me to describe the essence of Fordham, I could tell you about the Jesuit education tradition, or the hard-working student body, or the thrill of studying in New York. Or I could just buy it for you.

Thanks to a new company called Masik Collegiate Fragrances, you can now purchase the scent of your school in perfume form. If scent is the sense most closely tied to memory, the kind folks at Masik have now made it possible to capture the memories of the best years of your life with just a whiff of their product. Want to show off your school pride in a stylish, subtle way? Buy a bottle of your school’s perfume!

I know what you’re thinking: how did they capture the distinctive smell of public-bathroom-disinfectant and Natty Light with just a pinch of mildew? And who on earth would ever wear that? But their methods are much more creative than that. Masik creates specific fragrances based on a variety of factors, such as school colors, traditions, and flowers found on campus. The goal is not to recreate a scent with which students are already familiar (i.e. spilled laundry detergent and leftover pizza), but a new scent that students can adopt and wear and begin to associate with their college memories. Not a bad idea.

Currently, they have developed fragrances for UNC-Chapel Hill and Penn State, with Auburn, UF, Tennessee, and others on the way. (Note to Masik: anytime you want to get started on Fordham’s, be my guest.) So if you’ve got any Tar Heels or Nittany Lions fans on your holiday gift list this year, $60.00 will get you a bottle of their school perfume/cologne. And be on the lookout in case your school is next; perhaps you, too could be spritzing a bottle of Eau du Alma Mater in the near future!

Candy Dish: Kim Kardashian is More Than a Big Booty

kardash.jpgKim Kardashian a UN Ambassador!?

Divorce rates aren’t as high as we all thought. Hooray!

I think this might be the hottest gift of the season.

Britney’s GMA performance was big.

Pop culture phenomena we hope don’t return in ‘09.

8 tips for frugal fitness.

Lindsay Lohan loves blogging (and is more than welcome to joing the CollegeCandy team! Linds, call us!)

Someone’s stalking Kirsten Dunst.

Penn State students love two things: football and sex.

The best tips for acing finals.

Beautify yourself and support the AIDS cause at the same time.

Student Debts are About to Get Deeper

24980958.jpgOur economy is crumbling, and things just got worse for Bachelors degree-hopefuls, especially those in Massachusetts. Last year, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority secured over $500 million in educational loans. This year, they’ve announced that they will not be offering loans for the upcoming academic year.

None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They didn’t cut their $500 million budget to, say, $250 million. They exed the loans altogether.

MEFA secures loans for 40,000 students who live in Massachusetts, or who attend school there. Unfortunately, this year, the financing authority could not secure the money. Executive director Tom Graff blames “disruptions in capital markets.” So, just like that, 40,000 students are sh*t out of luck.

MEFA is the first to make headlines, but any financing authority could also be treading on thin ice. Which means that students across the country could be forced to drop out of college, or sell their souls to finance a degree that can cost upwards of FORTY GRAND per year at top-notch schools like Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, NYU, and Notre Dame.

When I was in college, I played my cards right, and managed to get through my degree with almost no debt, and decided to pursue a Master’s, rather than join the work force right away. With our declining economy, I am currently paying dearly for that decision. Read More »

Cookies When You Need ‘Em Most

cookiejar.jpgMaybe it’s that time of the month, and you don’t really care if it’s 2 in the morning—you just really want a freaking cookie. Now.

Maybe you’ve had a little puff of some wacky tabacky and you’re feeling pretty hungry. And even more lazy.

Used to be that these were major problems. Unless you live in a major city—ex that—unless you live in New York, there’s not a chance you’re getting that cookie at such an ungodly hour. In my Connecticut town, the police pull people over who are out after 10 PM. It rocks where I live…

For a select few cities, late night munchies are no longer a problem. Well, if you want cookies that is. Some brilliant students from UPenn have brought us Insomnia Cookies—a delivery service that will bring freshly baked, warm cookies right to your doorstep between the hours of 8PM and 2:30 AM.

Students from University of Syracuse, University of Michigan, Illinois, UMD, UPenn, Penn State, and of course, NYU can indulge in chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, a cake sized cookie, a cookie with three different flavors… the possibilities are endless. They’ll even bring you milk to dunk everything in. Yuuuuuummy. Read More »

I See London, I See — Your Shenis?

shenis• As if popping and squatting isn’t awkward enough, now we have — the Shenis! Impressive, no? (Jezebel)

• For 3 hours this Saturday there are going to be a lot of angry fat kids. We should probably be a little nervous. (MSNBC)

• Who needs a masculine jock-y boyfriend when you can just drink man-flavored sweat soda? Mmmm. (Business Week)

• Penn State is bullying little kids out of using their logo. Cause you know, using a dangerous looking animal as a mascot is an original PSU idea. (Fredericksburg.com)

• Going to attempt to cram 50 dressed-up classmates into your dorm this Halloween? Of course you are! Here, we did a little shopping for you! (NerdApproved.com)