Recent Posts

• Bob Dylan Brings the Blues: Rock Legend Keeps Fans on the Edge of Their Seats During Patriot Center Performance

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 5:04 pm Comments are Disabled

  Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief When you’re songwriting deity Bob Dylan, praise comes without try. So despite the fact that his tunes are a-changin’ and these days “Like a Rolling Stone” has morphed into a much mellower melancholy anthem without all the triumphant vocals of the original recording, fans remain loyal to the 68-year-old frontman. On Wednesday night, Dylan took to the stage with a devil-may-care attitude, delving deep into his vast pool of music to give Patriot Center patrons an eclectic 100-minute set that sampled only a handful of folk favorites reincarnated. These days, Dylan is much more blues than he is folk, but fans didn’t take issue with the freewheelin’ Dylan’s approach to his music — even the classics, which, save the lyrics, are nothing like they were in their heyday. He didn’t play “Blowin’ in the Wind” or “Mr. Tambourine Man,” everything was electric and if you didn’t know anything about Dylan, folk music wouldn’t have even crossed your mind. But folk be damned, it was really Bob Dylan. Knowing full well there is a lot of great music Dylan wasn’t going to play, the crowd was enthralled with the tracks he did choose which came from almost every […]

   

• Playing House: Artist Peter Marcus Displays Prints at Mason

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:55 pm Comments are Disabled

  Marian McLaughlin, Staff Writer “The house serves as the portal to metaphors of the imagination,” said Jon Stilgoe in reference to Gaston Bachelard’s philosophers on architecture. This same idea is reflected in Peter Marcus’s work, as seen this month in the Fine Arts Gallery on campus. Marcus, a printmaker whose style is anything but limited, has a series of collaged collagraphs on display alongside the colossal, assembled sculptures of Joan Hall. Together, the two create elaborate, large scale structures that encompass a variety of printmaking techniques. Whereas Marcus dabbles by marrying digital images with intaglio ink, Hall uses handmade paper and pulp to create emerging, organic images. Houses are the dominant subject matter in Marcus’s prints. His canvases, often times longer than 10 feet, are homes for homes. Growing up in St. Louis, Mo. and Jamestown, R.I., Marcus recreates the imagery and unique architecture from these towns through his work. Yet, there is something slightly off-kilter about his representations. Although they are realistic and drawn to scale with punctual perspective, these houses seem to be situated in a surreal scenario. Perhaps this feeling is due to the lack of boundaries, roads and other elements that create ideal neighborhoods and real […]

   

• Changing the Textbook Biz: Website Offers Affordable Alternative to Expensive School Books

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:52 pm Comments are Disabled

  Patrick Wall, Style Editor It has bankrupted some. For others, it has forced them into jobs working long hours. No, it’s not Wall Street. In fact, to some, it might be even worse. Textbooks. Of all the routines students go through at the beginning of each new term, book buying is easily the most dreaded. Parents groan as they empty their bank accounts and students lament having to carry what often feels like a bag full of bricks to class each day. But students across the country and across campus have found a new way to get the books they need and save money at the same time. Enter Chegg.com. Founded in 2007 by Aayush Phumbhra and Osman Rashid, Chegg started as a classifieds site for college students but quickly took its current form. The site refers to itself as the “Netflix for textbooks,” an apt description. The site allows students to rent the textbooks they need without having to purchase a book they might not otherwise use after the semester ends. Students can search books by title or by professor. From there, they are shipped via UPS. The savings are eye-catching: Phumbhra said that the most popular book rented […]

   

• Food in the Bedroom: These Snacks Will Get You in the Sack

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  Katie Miller, Staff Writer When used appropriately, food can do more than just satisfy your stomach. Touted as sure-fire performance enhancers, aphrodisiacs have ignited sexual desires for centuries. The sexual power of certain food’s tastes and textures can bring new flavor and excitement to any relationship. Sadly, most of the beliefs about aphrodisiac’s ability to improve your libido are simply myths that have survived centuries of oral tradition (pun intended). So if foods like chocolate, chili peppers and oysters– three of the most well known aphrodisiacs –are simply placebos, why have these rumors survived? The reason? We give these foods their sexual power. If we think something is sexy, it will be. But there are other misunderstandings about aphrodisiacs that further reveal why they still thrill and excite us. First misconception: they are not just foods. According to the Discovery Health website, health.discovery.com, anything sensory that enhances sexual pleasure and prowess qualifies as aphrodisiacs. Most arousal ultimately comes from a person’s own association with the item’s taste, smell or symbolism—not just with the food’s chemical composition. Ultimately, without understanding what you and your significant other find appealing, there’s no way to find that particular food that fulfills your fantasies. But […]

   

• Second Time Isn’t a Charm: The 10 Sequels You Wish You Hadn’t Paid to See

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:44 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ross Bonaime, Staff Writer This Friday, much to the chagrin of the many people who don’t want their eardrums to burst from screaming, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is set to be released, looking to be packed with not only vampires, but werewolves as well. Also released this month was the sequel to cult classic Boondock Saints. Because of these unfortunate sequels, here are the top ten worst sequels of the decade. 10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull When audiences went to go see the fourth film in this groundbreaking action franchise, they hoped for more of Indy killing Nazis and discovering lost treasure. Instead, Doctor Jones found himself in the middle of a broken family, with Shia LeBouf as his lost son, Indy finding alien lifeforms and even surviving a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator. With the latest installment, Indiana went from a pulp comics action hero to a baby daddy having adventures too ridiculous to believe, even for Indy. 9. Big Momma’s House 2 It’s bad enough that Martin Lawrence is still making comedies, but for him to make a sequel to one of his most terrible comedies is even worse. In […]

   

• Dialogue Vs. Dynamite: Solving the Feud Between Explosions and Plot

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:40 pm Comments are Disabled

  Evan Benton, Staff Writer Last weekend, I was arguing with a friend from my high school who was in town for the night. I had just come out of a University Mall Theatres screening of Inglourious Basterds, and was particularly surprised and enthralled by the film. The strength of Basterds was its writing, as it is in every film Quentin Tarantino has ever made. He possesses a narrative style all his own, and writes dialogue so realistic that it makes even the most outlandish and fantastical themes seem plausible. The friend from my high school, Steve, has been my friend since the first day of school in eighth grade. And in those nearly eight years, half of every conversation Steve and I have ever shared has involved the topic of film. We bloviate on the best movies of our generation, dismiss certain actors and actresses and praise others, and generally consider ourselves the most luminous film aficionados of our generation. And when two people such as these discuss something they love, sometimes they high-five in concordance, but they mostly butt heads in discord, the latter of which applied to this particular argument, which occurred while Steve was about seven beers […]

   

• In Bed With Billy: Friends with More than Benefits

  Lifestyle November 17, 2009 at 4:34 pm Comments are Disabled

  Billy Curtis, Sex Columnist Relationships are meant to be complicated. Throughout life, as we grow and change, so do the associations we have with people in our lives. Maturity levels rise, lessons teach what previously wasn’t known and sometimes, even friends can end up being something more. I never really thought about dating a friend and the option never really presented itself to me. But after doing some extensive research on my close friends and relatives, I realized that most of their relations began as a simple friendship. I witnessed such an account with my friends, Catherine and Kyle, just last year. We all had been friends for quite some time and, after awhile, my friend Latham and I began to notice some peculiar behavior between our two friends. The covert stares that they thought no one was noticing, or secret smoochies that went on behind closed doors, were all clear indications that something was going on. My entire group of friends and I found it even more hilarious that we knew they were dating before they even did. After a couple of weeks, and after their realization that we all knew what they were up to, they casually came […]

   

• Oil for Blood: Energy Independence, a Major Concern for American National Security

  Editorials November 17, 2009 at 4:29 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brandon Minster Instead of watching television, which I can’t afford, I watch online clip shows that recap the socially important parts of the television programs that matter. That’s how I can have believable conversations where I say things like, “I can’t believe Kim sang ‘Don’t Be Tardy for the Party’ on The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” even though I don’t know anything about the show, Kim or the song. I’m also aware of the current status of Dancing With the Stars, thus satisfying Thomas Jefferson’s desire for a well-informed citizenry to manage the republic. Recently, as I was catching up on missed television shows, I saw Al Gore on The Daily Show, where he said, “Let’s take solar energy, just for starters. More sunlight falls on the surface of the earth in one hour than is necessary to provide the energy for the entire world for a full year.” A talking point like that is formulated to get the “that’s a crying shame” reaction. The idea is to make it seem like such a negligible suggestion that only heartless Satanists and Republicans (but wait, I already covered them with the Satanists, right?) can oppose it. I paused my browser and […]

   

• Social Networking: Gone Too Far? Or Is This Just the Beginning?

  Editorials November 17, 2009 at 4:22 pm Comments are Disabled

  Justin Lalputan, Broadside Correspondent A British firm is ready to release a camera that will revolutionize social networking as we know it. Known as the SenseCam, it is worn around a person’s neck and is able to capture images every 30 seconds without manual operation, effectively allowing a person to effortlessly put every minute of their life on the Internet. Is this an example of people taking social networking too far? This leads into the general debate about social networking sites: some say that social networking can be dangerous, others argue that it is beneficial and healthy to interact with others, even saying that there are positive aspects to social networking. Now, with an item like the SenseCam, I beg the question: when is social networking taken too far? The first problem that many people have with social networking is the issue of stalking. In this day and age, many sexual deviants find their prey not by prowling the streets, but rather by prowling social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. In the Internet world, these deviants can silently search for and look at the multitude of pictures of young children and teens that are available on social networking […]

   

• Mason Dominates the Lady Panthers: Defense Allows 27 Points as Mason Impresses in Exhibition Game

  Sports November 17, 2009 at 4:20 pm Comments are Disabled

  Jerry Holy, Broadside Correspondent Four days before their season opener this past Friday, the George Mason University women’s basketball team outplayed the Virginia Union Panthers en route to a 75-27 victory. The team received a great deal of contribution from each player. Freshman forward Amber Easter led the team with 14 points. Junior guard Brittany Poindexter added 13 points and four steals. Freshman forward Janaa Pickard also scored in double digits with 11 points and added eight rebounds and seven blocks. Freshman guard Rahneeka Saunders had five assists and nine points. From the start, both sides struggled to score. Rising junior guard Ashleigh Braxton helped Mason get on the board after the first two minutes of play. Her effort led Mason to an 11-2 run. Later in the first half, Mason went on the fast-break offense, exploding to a 25-11 run. Mason went into halftime with a 42-14 lead. During the first half, Mason shot 12-of-13 from the free throw line and forced 12 Panther turnovers. “The key plays in the game were the fast breaks we had,” said Poindexter. During the second half, Mason kept up their tempo as they jumped out to a 9-2 scoring run. “I think […]