Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

This week we hit up the West Coast as we examine the two hottest schools in Los Angeles- the University of Southern California and the University of California- Los Angeles. Amidst the beautiful SoCal climate and a city rife with movie sets and superstars, private USC and public UCLA compete to find out which is most elite in the City of Angels.

1. Superior Sport

USC – The Trojans are known as “the football school” and have been awarded the NCAA national title in football eleven times, including back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.  They are perennially ranked in the Top 10 football programs in the BCS by ESPN, USA Today, and other publications. And Trojans have taken home the Heisman Trophy seven times.
UCLA - Meanwhile, the Bruins are known as powerhouses in basketball–also earning eleven NCAA titles. Seven of these championships were won consecutively, from 1967-1973.  UCLA is also the all-time leader in total NCAA national titles across all sports.

Meanwhile, the Lexus Gauntlet is an annual all-sports competition between the two schools sponsored by Lexus. Points are awarded for every victory (particularly in head-to-head match ups)  in NCAA-sanctioned competitions, with the school with the most points declared as the winner. (There is also a separate Lexus Gauntlet awarded to the winner of the Stanford-Berkeley rivalry.)  In the eight years of Lexus Gauntlet tradition, USC has walked away with five titles.

Three credits to: TIE.  The two schools pulled a draw in NCAA titles in their respective predominant sport.  On the one hand, the Lexus Gauntlet record gives the Trojans the edge, but UCLA also has the most NCAA titles of any school. Too close to call!! Read More »

Stupid grads. Now they’re gonna be bored.

Amy Sedaris teaches women how to clean downtown.

Albino animals are so cute!

We need this dress. Now.

Eminem is a really good actor!

Worried about your teeth? Worry no more…

We’re back with another edition of G.W.W.E. (Guys We Wanna Eff)!  This week, kick back and relax with a big cup of  Kal Penn.

Not many men can put a gun to their heads one day and accept a highly prestigious federal job the next, but leave it to Kal Penn to pull it off. Earlier this week, the scrumptious House star had fans in a tizzy when they tuned in to discover his character, Dr. Lawrence Kutner, had committed suicide. Turns out, Penn had his character on the popular show killed off so that he could accept a job as President Obama’s Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison! With the economy being what it is, for anyone to make a career leap at this time is impressive, but the (literally) show-stopping switch by Kal is infinitely effable. Read More »

If it’s one thing we’ve learned here at CC, it’s that all people are fascinating (Yes, even your econ professor). Let’s face it – people love to glimpse into the lives of other people. Disagree? Then please explain why you’re currently looking at your friend’s brother’s girlfriend’s cousin’s photos on Facebook. Or reading about the latest Chris Brown/Rihanna dramz in this weeks’ tabloids. Yeah we thought so.

Fact is we connect to others by learning about them. And everyone has something to share (even if it a story about a particularly embarassing fall…in a dress). So to give you yet another reason to procrastinate, we started ‘The Five Questions We Ask Everyone’ (and five just for that one person) because we know whether we’re schmoozing with an A- list celeb or your local bartender, you’ll be equally entertained.

Style expert and entrepreneur Ashley Thompson, 29, enjoys a life immersed in the international fashion scene as both a forecasting fashionista as well as the owner of New York City’s well-known shopping hotspot, Owl’s Lab.  Some of those sporting her goods include industry icons such as Mary-Kate Olsen, Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton, Mariah Carey, Maggie Gyllenhaal and more.

Owl’s Lab has been featured on TLC’s “What Not To Wear” and in publications such as Vogue, Teen Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, Lucky, US Weekly, In Touch Weekly, New York Post, New York Daily News, E! Online and Daily Candy.  It also holds the title of one of the Top 100 Boutiques in New York City (Lucky Magazine, August 2007) and is listed as one of NYC’s five “Best Bets” boutiques alongside Phillip Lim and other notable women’s fashion destinations.

Ashley knows fashion, so we wanted to get to know Ashley. Read More »

Such a sweet and talented boy (who loves puppies!) and how he’s in the clink.

Blink 182 is back together again!

Congratulations to new daddy, Tiger Woods.

Workout balls are dangergous.

Sure the music was great, but what about the Grammy hair?

2 UCLA students are on their way to the top thanks to Coca Cola.

The best lip balm ever?

An online support group for those of us with parents on Facebook.

Christian Bale takes kid to the dentist.

The Craigslist Free section is all you’ll ever need.

College campuses seem like these small, safe little bubbles. And we like it that way. We always feel safe leaving our windows open, talking to strangers at the bar, and walking places alone. We never question when our friends leave the party with someone we don’t know, or leaving that same party ourselves and stumbling home alone.

But maybe we should.

Last night a USC student was stabbed and killed after leaving a party on campus. Police are reporting that he got into a screaming fight with another student on the street that quickly escalated. The student, 23 year old Bryan Richard Frost, was stabbed in the chest before the suspect ran off. Frost was rushed to the hospital where he could not be saved.

It goes without saying that just because you are on a college campus, it doesn’t mean you are safe. Please think about this when you head out tonight and this weekend. Do not go home alone, remain aware of your surroundings when you are walking home with others, and do not do anything that might provoke someone to harm you.

Be safe, ladies.

Limited Brands, a Columbus Ohio-based company that owns Victoria Secret, has announced that their immensely popular lingerie store is going to come out with a line of logoed sweat pants, tank tops and panties for 33 colleges, including UCLA, Harvard and University of Michigan.

Apparently this idea isn’t going over too well at Ohio State, whose Buckeye logo we won’t see slapped on the ass of any Victoria Secret product any time soon. It probably wouldn’t have been such a big had not the company been based in the same city that houses OSU, or if OSU rival Michigan wouldn’t get the Vicky Secret treatment.

So why is Ohio State going to be deprived of that rarest and proudest of honors? Well, because the CEO of Limited Brands, Leslie Wexner (who is a guy) is on the board of Trustees at OSU and feared a conflict of interest. In fact, last Spring OSU president E. Gordon Gee, (whose initials, I have to point out, spell EGG) stepped down from the board at Limited Brands for similar conflict of interest issues.

It all sort of sounds dirty and incestuous to me, made more so by the fact that some old dude is the head of Victoria Secret. In my mind, Victoria looked a lot like Dynasty-era Joan Collins. Read More »

The most boring class I took in college was Statistics I.

It was boring and hard, which meant that no matter what I tried, I constantly fell asleep next to my computer and woke up completely lost.

If only I could have taken one of these classes compiled by Mental Floss Magazine, I’m sure my GPA would have looked much better. Instead of dozing off to the lulling sound of a professor droning on about ratios, I could have been studying muppets and watching Sesame Street.

All of these, at one time, actually existed.

The Horror Film in Context – Bowdoin – Watch people get their heads smashed in and then talk about why society likes to watch people get their heads smashed in.

Simpsons and Philosophy – Cal-Berkeley – How much does this popular show reflect society? Apparently enough to warrant a semester’s worth of lectures. Read More »