YES!

Please, watch this panda video immediately.

This is the first YouTube video that rivals either the monkey-urine or monkey-frog videos.  The big bear’s all jacked up on Mountain Dew or something.  It had me laughing the entire time.  I could actually imagine my friend Mitch Mraz dressing in a panda costume and acting this exact way.

Champaign-Urbana’s Finest: EbertFest

Today marks the opening day of the 13th Annual Roger Ebert Film Festival.  I’m excited for my opportunity to host journalist, critic, and film editor Matt Zoller Seitz.

Where will it take us next?

Is that a pessimistic title?  I’m not sure Neil Postmann or Marshall McLuhan would phrase it this way.  Instead, they’d ask, “Where will we take this thing — this medium that is changing our lives in unforeseen ways?”

I’m talking, of course, of…

What I learned from BAMN

Peaceful approaches always prove superior to using force

An otherwise routine day of class last week became much more interesting when two representatives of By Any Means Necessary, or BAMN, presented their ideals to us. In my four years here, I’d never listened while such a politically-oriented student group fought for our allegiance.

A digression

Sometimes (right now)…

1. I wish I had a secretary.
2. I wish I could perform osmosis with text and my mind.
3. I wish I owned Hermione’s time-turner.
4. I wish a lot but barely ever do it properly (i.e. wishbones, shooting stars, drinking Felix Felixis liquid luck)

Beastie Boys’ version of Confessions

“OH MY WORD IS THAT ELIJAH WOOD.”

I’m currently watching the star-studded show Beastie Boys: Fight For Your Right Revisited.  I recently developed a love for these cool-ass trio of Jewish hip-hoppers and this show gives me even more reason.  It’s a completely brass self-atonement of the Boys’ past, featuring just about half the population of people usually featured in Rolling Stone magazine.

I could talk for days about how this video program is the Beastie Boys’ version of St. Augustine’s Confessions, but this blog is already a big enough waste of my time.

Stevie Wonderful

It’s not my fault I love soft pop/rock; I grew up on 93.9FM The Lite.  For heaven’s sake, my mother sang me to sleep with Bonnie Raitt.  Okay, I made that part up. 

Embrace the difference in majors represented on campus

A peer asked me this weekend the timeless icebreaker, “What’s your major?” I answered, “communication,” only to hear her scoff in response.

It wasn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last that I experience this derision because of my area of study. Too often, I have had to bite my tongue during conversation with strangers and friends alike when they act this way.

The Daily Illini weighing in on undocumented students

Imagine: University students gathering around something that would compel one student to leave her education, her family and her friends behind. The La Colectiva gathering at Ikenberry Commons on Wednesday moved me to find ways to help others more easily gain citizenship in this wonderful country of ours.

Best Scottish music

I don’t know much, but I do know this

My first knowledge of Scottish music was when I found out that The Proclaimers were from the home of my absolute favorite accent.  The band’s comprised of two of the goofiest-looking identical twins I’ve ever seen, rockers Charlie and Craig Reid.

St. Andrew's cross (here) + St. George's cross (England) = Flag of Britain!

To let their looks affect what they did musically with I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) would be wrong.  The lyrics are naive, sure, but I’m such a softy/idealist when it comes to such hopeful tunes that I can’t help but fall for it.