Of all the vague, creepy subject lines of e-mails from the Barack Obama campaign (“Last night,” “Hello,” “Tomorrow at midnight”), “Time for ‘The Talk’” — the subject of an e-mail I received last week — was probably the creepiest. Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve always wondered what cultivated Sarah Palin’s sophisticated worldview — Katie Couric has uncovered the answer:

I realize bars plagued by the college crowd may often be on the receiving end of generally inappropriate behavior: poor tipping, the occasional vomit-y bathroom, defacement of property due to Greek letters being etched into tables, a lack of appreciation of aged cheeses (this is more of a Velveeta crowd). But to the proprietors and employees of the Columns and the Delachaise — your dislike for the college crowd, which you will inevitably serve because of your location, does not justify poor service.
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Anyone who knows me knows my stance on Crocs — the footwear favored among Disney World regulars and the fashionably challenged. I believe they are among the most egregious sins in fashion history, right up there with fannypacks and denim cut-off shorts.

Why anyone thought it would be a good idea to take shoes worn by nurses and gardeners and foray them into mainstream fashion, I don’t know. What I do know is that they look ridiculous and manage to negate any decent outfit. And never mind that they’re “comfortable” — you wouldn’t wear a nightgown and bunny slippers in public because it’s “comfortable.”

But I must admit — while I struggle to forgive anyone remotely involved with the conception of this shoe, I can at least respect the company’s latest advertising campaign, which you can see here (I would have embedded the video, but it’s not available separate from the Web site).

Like I said, this is respectable. The company realizes that Crocs are polarizing footwear, and has attuned its marketing accordingly. And no, I would never think about wearing those horrid plastic heels Crocs has created presumably to try to assuage the “haters” like myself. But it’s honest advertising, unlike — for example — the current McDonald’s TV spots that are trying to convince me that Michael Phelps and company eat fried chicken sandwiches for breakfast.

(Also, if anyone wishes to make a case for Crocs, feel free to comment. I’m curious to hear exactly why these shoes are appealing.)   

As Kevin Allman mentioned in a previous post, Loyola and Tulane not-so-surprisingly snagged spots on the Princeton Review’s party school list for this year.

As a student at the less famous Uptown university, this is simultaneously hilarious and embarrassing, especially since the only other lists Loyola appears on are “Lots of Hard Liquor,” “Students Study the Least,” “Town-Gown Relations Are Great” (or, “Loyal Patrons of Area Bars”) and … “Best College Library.”

I can’t help to wonder if the Princeton Review people have ever visited to the J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library. Sure — in pictures it looks good, with its cool computers and large-screen televisions, but it’s really just a thinly-veiled trading post for Adderall around finals time. There’s also an entire Facebook group devoted to getting busy (and I’m not talking about studying) in the library’s “vast learning facilities.” It more closely resembles a crowded bar at times than it does a learning hub.

But when I’m not consuming excess amounts of hard liquor or not studying in our award-winning library, I’ve managed to get a pretty decent education. And because our classes are small (possibly because of low attendance…), I’m afforded an “intimate” learning experience and close relationships with my professors, who have provided useful job connections. Overall, I feel like I’ve had a quality college experience at the good value of only 30 thousand dollars a year.

(At least we didn’t fare as poorly as University of New Orleans, who only made the “Ugliest Campus” and “Dorms Like Dungeons” lists. Yikes.)

Our local ABC affiliate is proving that terrible summer television isn’t just making viewers stupid on a national level. ABC 26 is stooping to new lows — and allegedly, stopping crime —with its hilariously pointless feature, Wheel of Justice:

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One of life’s most awkward situations occurs after discovering a friend owns a non-iPod mp3 player.

The scene is common: friends in a casual setting, conversing in iPod vernacular (“Dude, I can’t sync my iTunes tracks from my Nano to my Shuffle because I already authorized them on my old MacBook”). A friend who has been unusually quiet during the conversation finally contributes:

“Well, I’ve got one of these things …” Friend then produces a bulky object bearing an unfamiliar logo. Is it a Texas Instruments graphing calculator circa 1999? No — apparently it’s an mp3 player. Read the rest of this entry »