Perez.

He’s done a lot for us over the years. Taking down annoying starlets one vajayjay flash at a time, dragging certain stars out of the closet, giving us up-to-the-minute Lindsay Lohan rehab news, and forcing a bit of humor out of that self-important land called Hollywood.

After learning about his site a year ago, I find myself checking it almost daily, needing my fix of A, B, and C-list celebrities like a smoker needs that after dinner cig.

I can’t help it, Perez and his mysterious “sources” have me hooked.

Starting out from a nobody and becoming a giant somebody isn’t easy, and Perez (a.k.a Mario Armando Lavandeira) has certainly climbed his way from unknown to a celebrity in his own right. That being said, I can’t help but notice the irony of a guy who makes a living bashing the overexposed saturating the media himself.

He’s everywhere now. In magazines, in major newspapers, all over the talk-show circuit, even featured in a hideous-looking new show on MTV called Celebrity Rap Superstars. The man who used to be just like us—a regular person gawking at the famous people—is now more like the celebrities he draws penises on.

Far be it from me to begrudge anyone newfound fame, but you have to wonder what Perez would say about himself on his website. Read More »

I can’t help but wonder if there’s actually any point to writing a review for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I mean, it’s the seventh Harry Potter book. If you’ve read the first six Harry Potter books, I think it’s a safe bet that you’re probably going to read the seventh one, no matter what anyone says about it.

And if you have not read the first six books, there is no way you could possibly understand anything that happens in the last one. Not to mention, nobody really wants to know anything about a Harry Potter book ahead of time, anyway.

That didn’t stop The New York Times’ leading book critic Michiko Kakutani from posting a rather revealing review two days before the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Photographs of every single page were available on file-sharing websites as early as July 16, and I noticed plenty of mean-spirited, intentional spoilers sprinkled throughout Facebook like landmines, but I would have expected more from the Times.

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Or at least that’s what one professor in particular thinks.

A recent essay in The New York Times written by Joanne Ciulla, a University of Richmond professor, discusses the modern work ethic and how college students today have a somewhat warped view of the world.

It struck me as interesting, and I must admit, it is hard not to be offended by the characteristics she describes college students of today having:

ENTITLED TO A DO-OVER

“It has become common for students to ask to retake tests or to rewrite papers in order to get a better grade…While the apparent desire for self-improvement is admirable, usually the higher grade is what really matters. Sometimes a student’s second try is not much better than the first, but he or she still expects a better grade for the effort. This attitude leads to the second problem.”

So, we want to work hard to do the best we possibly can on an assignment and now professors are pissed about this?

CLOCK PUNCHING

“Students tend to take an industrial view of work. They commonly contest a grade by saying they deserve a higher one because they put so much time into studying or writing a paper. Such students see grades as pay for the time spent on the job, not the quality of the product.”

Don’t you think this might be a direct result of the college system and grading as a whole?

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Vera Wang is joining the ranks of celeb designers who create clothing for the common folk. Somehow, I am a bit surprised by this announcement. Sure, we are all used to Isaac for Target or SJP for Steve and Barry’s, but Vera Wang for Kohls? That’s like Prada creating a ready wear line for WalMart.

The New York Times reports Wang’s line will be available in September for cut-rate prices. This will serve as a rebirth of sorts for Kohls.

“Kohl’s intends to make Ms. Wang the public face of its reinvention. For her part, Ms. Wang says that her relationship with Kohl’s is more than a marriage of convenience. Like many successful entrepreneurs before her, she has reached a crossroads: her business has grown so rapidly and in so many directions that she lacks the resources — especially cash — to keep expanding it on her own.”

So, basically, nowadays, you almost have to create an inexpensive line that sells to the masses in order to survive as a designer. I guess that works to our benefit in the long run.

Will it be a success or not? Only two months till we find out.

Attending college in the Northeast after growing up in a small Midwestern town nestled in the cornfields provided many “culture shocks” to say the least. One of the most memorable was the prevalence of cocaine usage among students. I was surprised to find out that cocaine was the popular drug of choice for many girls my age. Whether it was for the weight loss affects or just the appeal of staying up all night to party, I still could not grasp that people were really into this drug that seemed so hardcore to me. Aw, my little naive freshman self. How cute.

We all know about the supposed celeb cokeheads like Lindsay Lohan. I mean, a picture says a thousand words, right? But, I would venture to say that cocaine really has become a staple among college nightlife scenes. The New York Times investigates cocaine’s popularity as well and suggests that it is now much more socially accepted.

“There seems to be less of a stigma about cocaine,” said Dr. Herbert Kleber, director of the division of substance abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute in Manhattan…“People don’t feel nearly as much the need to hide it,” he said. “They feel that they can use it in a more open fashion.” Read More »

I remember when this odd new website, thefacebook.com, first surfaced at the beginning of my sophomore year in college. I thought it was a weird stalkery thing that would never really catch on. Well, boy was I wrong.

At first, I was anti-facebook and refused to put a picture up and only opened an account so that I could see what all the broohaha was about. After a few months, I looked like the creepy one with only a question mark to represent me. So, I gave in and posted my first facebook picture.

In my mind, the aspect that made facebook legitimate at first was the fact that it ONLY for college students. Somehow that justified it to me and seemed to minimize the amount of creepy old men posing as fourteen-year-olds that could be on it.

But now, The New York Times reports that Facebook is heading towards a future more similar to that of Myspace, and that sucks.

“Some of the new features, demonstrated by software developers at a Facebook event, will allow members to recommend and listen to music, insert Amazon book reviews onto their pages, play games and join charity drives, all without leaving the site.

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After a month of good-bye dinners with friends, hungover brunches at the local diners following those last precious nights of college craziness, and constant drinking leading up to graduation, my body hated me to say the least. I was determined that the month spent at home would be for detox and include strict dieting and exercise to get my health somewhat back on track before venturing out into the real world.

I’m proud to say that I have kept my diet and exercise up for the past week and a half and am already feeling ten times better. While looking into all sorts of diets, I came across one that was particularly interesting, the Master Cleanse Diet.

Remember when Beyonce looked bangin’ for Dreamgirls? Well she lost twenty pounds in a matter of weeks doing this “cleanse,” so it garnered a lot of media attention and was even written about in The New York Times. To be honest, for 2 seconds I considered trying it for fabulous results, then realized what actually went into it. Read More »