Below are your search results. You can also try a Basic Search.
The unpaid internship. Like many undergraduate rites of passage, it makes no sense to outsiders. Outsiders consider working for no money unlawful. They believe an unpaid intern should at least receive academic credit. Naturally the powers-that-be at Penn translate "academic credit" to mean "a happy face on your transcript that does not help you graduate."
It's the 40th anniversary of Woodstock this weekend. You know that. You can't not know that. The only way to be unaware of this fact would be to crawl underground with your eyes squeezed shut and your fingers jammed in your ears. On one level it's kind of annoying; after all, we're talking about arguably the greatest party in the history of parties, a free free-for-all with iconic performances by real deal rock stars and an audience of half-a-million-strong slathered in mud having sex and taking acid/getting stoned/popping pills like tic tacs/etc. etc. The ultimate musical cultural experience... and we all missed it.
Viral Vocabulary. You use it all the time, even if you don't know what it is. (That is, if you've ever said "epic fail" or "F My Life".) It's that thing you say at first as a joke and then completely by accident. In fact, you can hear yourself use and abuse the term as it makes the inevitable evolution from "hilarious addition to the lexicon" to "most annoying saying on the planet" in a matter of months. Our current favorite viral vocab word? "Awesome."
Was "The Nightman Cometh", last season's finale of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a success? It depends on your definition of success. If by "success" you mean "Charlie finally scored with the coffee shop waitress he's been stalking all this time," then you'd most likely consider the thirty minute musical a classic, epic failure, like that other Charlie's futile attempt to kick a football. However, if you're thinking that selling out the Troubador twice back in April with a live rendition of said episode is a success, then the Sunny cast is very, very successful. So successful, in fact, that they're pulling a Kerouac and taking their musical on the road. The Times reports that the tour is set to kick off in Boston on September 15. The season premiere of Sunny is two days later, and by the end of the month the gang from Paddy's will have entertained Philly, L.A., New York, San Francisco and Seattle. To get caught up on the singing, dancing, spandex-attired performance that inspired the traveling show, check out a video clip here.
We didn't want to have to write about the recession again. We're tired of hearing about graduates from our fine school entering the jobless world, looking at a forecast of unemployment with a chance of hiring freeze. All this exclamation-point-punctuated madness — Economic crash! Hundreds Laid Off! Aaahh Real Monsters! — reminds us to be very, very happy that we live in a collegiate bubble, insulated from the outside world by our vehement denial of its existence and protective beer goggles. This willful ignorance of the universe beyond University City, however, can no longer go on. The Inquirer reports that a sacred Penn institution is suffering from the big bad economic crisis: The Food Cart. Featured in the article is Rami's, a Middle Eastern food cart at 40th and Locust where for less than $4 a person can enjoy delicious falafel goodness and Sami Dakko's charming, thick accent. Read the full story here, but only if you are prepared to find out just how tough times are for Rami's and that Sami actually says "Hello beautiful" to everyone, not just you.
Last week, when the campers from Creative Steps Day Camp showed up to take advantage of their swim privileges at the Valley Swim Club (for which Creative Steps had paid a not-insignificant $1900), club president John Duesler was pissed. Apparently Creative Steps had neglected to give him a heads-up that the campers were black. As we read on Gawker, a camper's parent reported that "When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool...The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately."
What's the latest story from the never-ending saga that is the circus surrounding Michael Jackson's death? MJ's dermatologist denies being the father of Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket... but, oh wait, now that he thinks about it, he did donate sperm that one time so it's actually a legit possibility. While Dr. Arnold Klein vehemently insisted the topic should not be discussed on national television, he didn't seem to have a problem expressing as much to People. Why do we even care about this? Besides the fact that the Street staff love to moonwalk (demonstrating one's ability to moonwalk is part of the application process to be an editor, FYI), we also think you should know that Klein went to Penn undergrad AND Penn Med. Anyone have details about his time here at Penn? Let us know in the comments!
A few months ago, some bitter chick at UCLA started a Facebook group to prevent underachieving Z-lister James Franco from being the school's commencement speaker. We don't want to seem ungrateful; we had a great time hearing John Legend the night after we got drunk with him at Blarney, and we were entertained enough by Amy's pomp and circumstance remarks to blog about her. However, neither our favorite Ordinary Person nor our esteemed prez quoted R.L. Stine or flew around with a jet pack, and that's exactly what we would have enjoyed had we been treated to Franco's words. Lucky for us, he posted highlights from his rejected speech on FunnyorDie.com! (And, lucky for you, we've posted the video below.)
There are all kinds of "authorities" out there claiming they have the power to determine which school is the best school in the country (or, to narrow it down to our own playing field, which Ivy League school is awesomer than all the rest). We, however, choose to only trust the source that has proven its ability to discern excellence— like one that knows how to decide who had the Best Week Ever. VH1 stepped up and hosted an Ivy League smackdown. A few proud Quakers represented our fine university on VH1's The Great Debate and proceeded to dominate the competition, kicking the asses of Harvard, Yale and Columbia. We declare this demonstration of excellence definitive proof that Penn is, in fact, The Best School Ever. Watch the clip below to bask in the glory:
You remember Kalpen Modi? He used to get high and satisfy his munchies at a famous fast food emporium in the Garden State, and then once the buzz faded and he got sick of playing doctor he thought, "Hey, you know what would be more fun than trying to get laid at Princeton? Teaching kids at Penn!" After a brief stint in academia, the Prof decided to trade up. He announced his plans to swap Dr. House for the White House to work with the Obama administration, where they're makin' change and takin' names and throwing the occasional luau. Modi has ditched his screen name (which, what with it being "Kal PENN" and all, we really liked) for his birth name just in time for his first day on the job in Washington. Now this is all very exciting news; even though we're unemployed, we can usually find it in our hearts to be happy for people with jobs. The only catch: Warner Brothers put out the word that we could be looking forward to A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas in November 2010, and Modi is already signed on to at least a year of service in the Obama administration. Since we're sort of in crazy times right now — war, economic insanity, global warming, Michael Jackson's death — it's not like Kumar can take a few extended vacations to steal back the stoner crown from Judd Apatow. We aren't really sure how he's going to work this one out, but we're thinking he's got a cyclical career path going on. Maybe we can expect to see him back in University City?
It turns out we were a bit cavalier when we first presented you with our Summer Approval Matrix, letting you know just how cool you are, or aren't, based on your June-August occupation of choice. According to the New York Times, the hottest thing to do this summer is... nothing. The powers-that-be at the Styles section inform us that our generation's latest challenge, following years of over-involvement, is coping with underachievement. We're not judging these victims of the recession. (We're familiar with them. We ARE them. This post is being written in Mom and Dad's kitchen, located smack in the center of Jersey suburbia.) It's more that, keeping in the theme of the past week or so, we want you UTB readers to know that you are not alone. Also, we especially like the staging of the photograph, which depicts the following slacker activities: slurping milk from a cereal bowl, sitting on your ass watching YouTube videos/Facebook stalking/reading TextsFromLastNight, and floor-sniffing (oh wait, that's just the dog).
Check out The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation's new ad campaign for our glorious city. This one is oh-so-cleverly addressed to World Champions (we like to be reminded of this fact again, and again, and again...) which we obviously love. The other ads are victims of the Goldilocks Paradox: some aim too big (Dear Great Big World) and others too small (Dear Powdered Wig Lovers), but this one is just right.
The last time we checked in on Emma Watson's plans for post-Hogwarts higher education, our trusty sources had her set to slum it with bulldogs in New Haven. She'd gone on this Ivy League tour last year to scope out potential colleges and somehow managed to skip our own stellar institution. (It is possible she confused us with Penn State. We hear that happens sometimes.) But now it appears that Watson is headed to Columbia in the fall. Now we didn't actually do any of this recon ourselves - we're on vacation, obviously - but the trustworthiest of sources reports that there's a Charlotte E. Watson in Columbia's directory, Charlotte being Emma's middle name. (Sneaky!) Ordinarily this sort of news would depress us, but we still have hope! Columbia wasn't even on Emma's original list of schools; she only visited Harvard, Yale and Brown. We've got 70 days until NSO begins. She has plenty of time to come to her senses and ditch the Hudson for the Schuylkill.
It's summertime, and you might be wondering just how great your gig is for the season. Sure, you know if it's what you wanted to do, but what good is that when you aren't sure how it compares to what everyone else is doing? We understand, which is why we're bringing you the UTB Summer Approval Matrix. The grid, inspired by a feature in one of our favorite magazines, can help you figure out where you stand in the hierarchy of summer.
Graduation weekend is a weird time, a weekend during which two totally separate worlds collide. There is the world of college and all that entails: your frat brothers, your girlie housemates, those guys and girls whose names you can't remember ("Oh hey... you!") . Then there is the world of your family, one of sibling rivalries, crazy grandmas and occasionally embarrassing parents. When these worlds meet on Locust Walk, awkwardness ensues. Along with the inherent awkward that arises when, say, your dad bumps into your one night stand outside ABP, there is the awkward that is captured in a glorious 3x5, forever to be on display in your parents' house: the family photo. UTB is here to remind you that, no matter how awkward you think your family is this weekend (and you will feel very, very awkward) there are families out there who are Way More Awkward. Who have awkward oozing out their pores. The lovely folks over at awkwardfamilyphotos.com have compiled all these hilarious faces for your enjoyment, like in the awesome picture below!
Here at UTB, we're already pretty jealous of Josh Bennett, what with the whole performing for the prez and MObama thing he's got going on. It's a jealousy we could handle; it's not like he got to play on Malia and Sasha's swingset or rub Bo's belly. But last night, our envy spiraled out of control when we saw Bennett on the Most Awesome News Program Of Our Time: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. See the clip below for the latest 3 minutes and 29 seconds of Bennett's fifteen minutes of fame.
Now that the semester is over, you might actually have the time to expand your eatery horizons beyond the vast selection of burritos offered by Chipotle. We've already showed you how to find food right around campus, but we have a feeling you're a little bored of the Penn Bubble. We're going to trust that you've read Street's oh-so-official Dining Guide so many times the pages have worn thin and it's no longer legible. Well, worry not, because someone must have told Philadelphia Magazine about our love of lists (see also: things that are the best, people we envy, sex histories, bad metaphors) AND our need for... feed... because they have compiled The Philly Mag 50: the top fifty restaurants in Philadelphia. We give their list the Street Stamp of Approval (especially because we've recommended some of their top choices before!) so if you're in the market for a new place to satisfy your munchies - or, you know, take a study break - be sure to scope it out.
Our friend Brian Hwang writes in with some observations on the Penn student body.
Not just anyone can get into Penn. We have a super serious selective screening process. Accepted students were in the top whatever percent of our graduating class, in honor societies... or maybe we were just Varsity athletes... look, the point is, there's no way someone who has, say, a history of "institutional vandalism and felony criminal damage" could possibly get in. Especially when said history has been documented in the Chicago Maroon. Oh wait, actually, he did, and his name is Neil Gajare. And just in case you thought you hadn't yet seen the work of this Northwestern transfer/swastika-spray-painting-all-star, you may or may not have noticed that Rodin caught on fire last night. That was him! No worries; no one was injured, and boy got arrested (charged with arson - surprise!) The details of the incident - not the least disturbing of which being VP of Public Safety Maureen Rush's keen observation that "This individual could have killed up to 800 people in the high rises" - are in the DP.
You might be someone who always sees some YouTube video and thinks, "Damn, I wish I had that on my ipod!" Or maybe you're one of the seven or so people left on the planet who actually pay for their music. Either way, you're ready to make a change, so you could just push play whenever you needed to be motivated by Susan from that British American Idol, or when you want to set the mood on a hot date. Look no further than ListenToYouTube.com. Type in the URL, click download, and then magical internet elves will transform the video into an MP3 you can download straight to iTunes and enjoy.