Put This on Your iPod: MC Lars’ The Graduate

[Sarabeth here, back with some more jams to add to your iTunes library! Every Wednesday, I'm bringing you music suggestions - could be something new, old, hugely popular or fairly unknown -  to awesome-ify your  collection.]

This week’s artist is someone who’s totally inspired me growing up. While most people spent their college years drinking and dreaming about what they’ll be after they graduate (guilty!), MC Lars was doing something about his dreams. He spent his years at Stanford doing what he loved, making music in his dorm room. The Graduate is just one of many examples of this work.

About the Artist:
MC Lars, or Andrew Robert Neilson as he’s legally known, grew up in Berkley, California. He started his musical career in high school in the punk band Amphoteric. He then went on to Stanford University where he worked at the school’s radio station. He started making music on his laptop in his dorm, and still makes music that way to this day. Read More »


The Weekly Ten: It’s All Over

[Don't worry, peeps. I'm not going to spoil the ending of Lost for those of who who haven't dedicated 16 hours of your Sunday to the big event. I can't promise you the readers/commentors won't, though.]

I admit it, I am not a LOST junkie. I watched the first few seasons and then tuned in and out for episodes for the rest of the series. However, I did commit (what felt like an eternity) to Sunday night’s finale. I have to say, I wasn’t in tears nor was I pleased. Of course, there’s no way the show could’ve been wrapped up neatly with all the answers and it’s not like SVU where you can just tune in and out and still have any inkling of what’s going on.

Despite my lack of connection with the show, though, it got me thinking about endings, the great finales of our generation, last call, the ending of eras. But mostly, great finales. So I bring you, the top 10 most memorable television and movie endings. In my opinion. In no order. Post 1980s (except Dr. Strangelove). Oh and SPOILER ALERT? Read More »


Here’s to You, Professor Robinson

college-professor-with-class1

What is it about professors?

Usually, I’m not the kind of girl to find much older men attractive. I guess I just like ‘em bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I know it’s perfectly normal, and even expected, for women to date older men, but I don’t see the appeal of it. I’ll take Zac Efron over George Clooney any day of the week.

I just don’t get it when my friends talk about how hot George Clooney is. Isn’t he, like, 50? I mean, come on. His skin is so leathery I can almost smell it. And when Monica dated Richard on Friends, I cringed every time they kissed. Mostly because Tom Selleck looks like my Uncle Dennis, but still. Am I really supposed to find the bushy mustache sexy?

But then all that changed a couple months ago as I sat taking notes in class…

Maybe it’s his bifocals. Maybe it’s his silver hoop earring, or his penny loafers, or the fact that he bears a striking resemblance to Benjamin Bratt (with wrinkles and gray hair). But I’ve got a serious thing for my over-the-hill film professor. It doesn’t help that his name is Mark Robinson, which has inspired more than a handful of before-bed daydreams featuring myself murmuring the phrase, “Are you trying to seduce me, Professor Robinson?” as he slowly reveals his argyle knee socks.

The way he lectures is just so…passionate. I have honestly learned more in his class than I have in any other one this semester, and it’s not just because I show up to every class and hang on his every word.

The class meets every Tuesday night from 6:00 to 10:00. First we (passionately) discuss readings, and then we watch a film together. So in my deranged and perhaps delusional mind, Professor Robinson and I  have already been on several dates. What? … He turns off the lights, and he sits in the row RIGHT next to me! It counts. It does.

Shut up. Read More »


5 Reasons to Rob The Cradle…er…Date a Younger Man

robinson.jpgDating a younger man may be taboo, but people have been doing it for years. Mrs. Robinson? Donna Martin and David Silver? Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher?

Obviously, they are doing it for a reason.

Got a younger dude? Friends making fun of you for robbing the cradle?

Ignore them and keep that boy around! Here are 5 great reasons why:

1. More energy.

Okay, so this isn’t true for all younger guys, but they generally DO have more energy and enthusiasm than their more aged counterparts. That means they’ll usually be happy to try new things, they’ll expend a lot of energy doing things to impress you, and they won’t necessarily be as quick to complain as older guys will.

2. Youthful exuberance and enthusiasm.

Remember: to a younger guy, you are “the older woman.” Even if they deny it, the relationship will always be a little bit like The Graduate to them. They’ll be happy to have you, and they’ll brag to all their buddies that they’re dating you. Instead of being just another girlfriend, you’ll be a point of pride. Read More »


Lyndsey’s Top 5 Movies That Capture the Spirit of Summer

aprilwethotamerican-1.jpgAfter weeks of pouring over lecture notes and banging out papers, school is (more or less) out for summer, and, holy crap, you’ve got some free time on your hands.

You could spend it wisely by volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or fully exploring James Joyce’s literary canon or doing some other douchey bullsh*t that people who fancy themselves to be exceptional individuals would do, OR, you could kick off summer properly by cracking a beer and watching Lyndsey’s Top 5 Movies That Capture The Spirit Of Summer. As my name is in the title of the list, I think we all know what I’ll be doing.

Pass the PBR, bitch.

Dazed and Confused

Dazed and Confused is every great summer of my life, captured on film. Set in the 1970s on the last day of school at Robert E. Lee High, freshman, seniors, jocks, and nerds alike breeze through the day, interacting with each other and hanging out in a way that only people who have experienced summer in a small town can appreciate.

Funny and honest, insightful and hopeful, this endearingly life-affirming movie perfectly captures the vibe of summer vacation, and culminates in a dusk-till-dawn party that makes you never want to age past 22. Read More »