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.

Top 3 Tracks:

Download This Song

Generic Crunk Rap

Ahab

Why You Should Listen to It:
Like I said, MC Lars is a huge inspiration to me for doing things that I love, and hopefully he’ll be the same to you. But the music itself is also pretty rad. It’s hip hop/rap that doesn’t take itself seriously, even sometimes making fun of the whole genre. It’s a great album, and come on, where else are you going to hear rhymes about Moby Dick, Sartre, and Kurt Cobain?

Want more awesome iPod suggestions? You got it!

[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?

10. The Sopranos
Come on, you’ll always wonder what happened when that screen went to black. Did Tony get shot? Who were those guys near him? Was it just a manifestation of his constant paranoia? And what better song than “Don’t Stop Believing” to end on? Just like every bar’s last call…

9. The Sixth Sense
Ultimate twist of all time?

8. The Graduate
Simon and Garfunkel + Epic wedding runaway + fear of the future? = instant classic ending.

7. Scarface
Who doesn’t love a big violent ending with drugs, money and guns in a huge Miami mansion? I’ll take it. And watch it 400 more times. The world is yours.

6. Fight Club
Who doesn’t want to hold hands with their true love while the city explodes around them? If that’s not romance, then frankly, I don’t know what is.

5. Back to the Future
Roads? Where we’re going, we won’t need roads.

4. Dr. Strangelove
Or how I learned to stop worrying and ride the bomb down to an apocalypse.

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Two words: hell mouth. Two more words: bad ass. Last set of two words: slayers galore.

2. Six Feet Under
Now that is how you end a TV series with death. Haunting, fitting and permanent closure.

1. LOST
Yeah, no, not really… but I know you’re all itching to talk about it. I still want an explanation for those damn polar bears. Anyone?

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.

I’m not the type to flirt with professors (young or old) simply because I’m paranoid they will assume I’m trying to suck up for a good grade, so I just hide my love away while other girls talk to him. Although on the last exam, I dotted the ‘i’ in my last name with a heart. Hopefully he’ll get the hint and ask me out. Then we’ll spend an evening caught up in intellectual conversation and laughing about the younger, less civilized college boys in my class as I run my hands through his thinning gray hair.

Until then, though, I’ll be sitting front row at the showing of my imagination’s production of The Undergraduate, starring myself and the Silver Fox. I can’t help it; I’ve fallen head over the hill for this guy.

I know you guys have sexy professors. Are any of you as hopelessly in love as I am?

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.

3. You can take the lead.

Sometimes, it’s true that the older you are, the more experienced you are. You can take that in whatever context you want, but it’s true for a variety of things. If you’re a college graduate and your guy is still in his senior year, you can give him great grad-school or job-searching advice. Basically, the lead is there for you to take in the relationship.

4. They’ll be loyal.

This is also an arguable point, but especially if you’re a lot older than the guy (say, five years or more), you can bet he’s not dating you just for kicks. Odds are, there’s something about you (yes, the essence of you—not your looks, and not your cash or job security) that he likes, and that’s important for building loyalty in a long-lasting relationship.

5. They die later.

Is this morbid? Because it’s true. If you’re dating a younger guy and you feel like there’s a possibility the two of you might stay together for a long, long time, you won’t necessarily have to worry about being a widow at the age of 50 because your dude was 20 years older than you. Women live longer than men. Date a younger guy. ‘Nuff said.