Nailing the Perfect Treatment
The craze for organic products shows no signs of slowing down. It started with our food, popping up in everything from cranberry juice to potato chips. Then it moved to clothing, as companies scrambled to churn out organic cotton tees and cashmere sweaters. Now the trend has come full circle. About a year ago, Priti, an organic, non-toxic spa, opened its doors in the East Village to nature-loving pilgrims all over Manhattan.
When I opened the door, I was greeted by a whiff of geranium. The strength of the scent and the classical sound of Nina Simone…
What a Tease
The LES salon offers anything but
Troye Evers owned a salon on the corner of Canal and Orchard before closing up shop to work at Kropps and Bobbers, where he met stylists Jackie D and Margie. But Troye was fated to be master of his own domain. That’s where Tease comes in. Troye, Jackie, and Margie left Kropps and Bobbers and moved into an intimate space in the burgeoning scene of the Lower East Side. And what a sweet move it was.
As Troye recounts his history, his scissors fly through my long hair in seemingly haphazard strokes. I’m a little nervous, and…
Letter From the Editor—022207
For Lent I was going to give up my Blackberry.
I’ve called it the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Got a lot of e-mail? Check your Blackberry. Uncomfortable in public? Read the Times on your Blackberry. Can’t remember what block the bank is on but you’ve already spent $50 this month on 411? Google from your Blackberry. There are all types of rules about how long you should wait before you respond, so people don’t come to rely upon immediate response. I subscribe to none of these.
In the Winter 2007 issue…
Web Only: Interview with Art Spiegelman
A full-length interview with Art Spiegelman
The first set of questions I have, you talked a little about this in class, but the conflicts you’ve seen and that you talked a little bit about, comics being brought into the institution of the museum and that versus the underground and also how you feel about comics being taught as classes. Is there any conflict there?
I think it’s all good because it creates a structure that one can rebel against. I think I mentioned in one of the earlier classes that the process of canonization being beckoned into the hallowed halls of bookstores, museums,…
Who’s Afraid of Superman?
Stripping to the Core
On the first day of his class, Art Spiegelman, without his habitual cigarette, sits with a handful of eager, shy students in one of the more remote basement rooms in Columbia’s Heyman Center for the Humanities. Dressed somewhat anachronistically in a vest and no tie, he quips a little with some students and furiously tries to arrange library reserve books before he starts his lecture.
He confesses that his primary motivation for teaching Columbia’s new seminar, Comics Marching into the Canon, originated from the recently closed “Masters of American Comics” art exhibit. “Masters of Comics” toured across…
Speaking the Same Language
Garth Hudson on pedagogy and "old" music
As I sat outside Landau Grill, waiting for a 2004 Saab sedan to pull up into the restaurants parking lot, “The Weight” blared from the restaurant’s outdoor sound system. The song choice was hardly immediately noteworthy, considering this particular establishment in Woodstock, NY, had played a steady stream of classic rock the past hour. But it wasn’t until this moment that I realized what I was about to do, and with whom I was about to spend the entire afternoon. Part of me hoped his car would pull into the driveway right then, with his band’s—The Band’s—most recognizable song…
God or Monster?
Virtuoso guitarist Gary Lucas compartmentalizes pop
There’s a man in the back, bedecked in all black, smiling like a maniac. A surf green Stratocaster upon his lap, his fingers dance across the fret board urging out blissful tones, his trademark “avant-pop,” with effortless ease. Unable to keep up with the feverish pace or add anything new to the sonic mix, the other players fall out one by one, save a brave guitarist and drummer. All the players look at each other with the same big grin that says, “Damn, this guy can play!” The man in back—still with that knowing smile—is conjuring such a maelstrom…
Snap, Crackle, Pop
Photographer Poppy de Villeneuve has quite a pedigree. Her dad once dated the infamous Twiggy, and her mom is a model. She and her illustrator sister Daisy have garnered a reputation as socialites, and are often spotted out on the town in their native London. Enthralled with glitzy photos of Poppy on WireImage and what I thought was an ad campaign featuring her beribboned backside, I was prematurely intimidated by her cool. Instead, Poppy was genuinely friendly, and very “real deal” with regards to her work. Far from snapping haphazard shots at hip parties, de Villeneuve emphasized the slow,…
Taking the Cupcake
A survey of the seven wonders of the world
In a city of eateries dedicated to almost anything (Hummus Place, Dumpling Man, and Peanut Butter & Co., to name a few), it’s no surprise that many a bakery has dedicated itself to the art of the cupcake. Small, sweet, and portable, cupcakes are the perfect confection. They even have a measure of nostalgia about them: who doesn’t love the childish pleasure of biting into your own personal cake topped with sugary frosting?
That is not to say, however, that all cupcakes are created equal. In fact, as I traveled to seven bakeries around Manhattan (in the…
Rude Food
Global guide to teach you right from gauche
“Strong and able, keep your elbows off the table.” Sound familiar? For many Americans, this slogan may bring back memories of family dinners or evenings at cotillion class, recited by bland teachers preaching proper etiquette. But a walk through John Jay or Ferris Booth might call into question whether some of those mind-your-manners mottos were lost in the transition from child seat to adult table.
In a world of multi-tasking and meals-on-the-run, table manners easily fall by the wayside ... next to that napkin on the floor. But what may seem rude to some at the table…
Seriously, 8 Joints
Listen, okay, if we go next door, they will totally have eight joints lined up for us on the table and they’ll be all “go on, we don’t want to smoke this, we want you to do it.” I know this to be a million percent true.
Seriously. We have to go. Now.
Stop laughing at me. I know you’re doing that, so stop.
Think about it this way: if we don’t go, we’ll never have the eight joints. Now think about it this way, too: we go over there, they give us…
#1 Worst Alumnus EVER
History may be written in the lives of a few great men, as philosopher Thomas Carlyle suggested, but apparently Columbia students know next to nothing about history.
To be sure, the University has a storied legacy of sordid individuals. Hypocritical, fear-mongering lawyers. Icons of corporate malfeasance. A guy who poured napalm on people.
But look at Columbia in a different way and you’ll see a different thing. It’s a legacy of countless anonymous students who didn’t vote in our “Name the Number One Worst Alumnus” poll.
The mechanism that made this catastrophic apathy…
The Oscars According to Alma
Alma Mater offers her Oscar picks, with help from some flesh-and-blood students
It’s definitely a tough race, though there aren’t as many Columbia connections as there have been in years past. First, there’s The Departed — a solid, entertaining, and sharply-written story that brings us back to the mean streets of Martin Scorsese. And, of course, I hold a soft spot for the best film of the summer, Little Miss Sunshine and its adorable, Oscar-nominated star, Abigail Breslin — I’m still holding out hope to add her to my list of former child-star students in 2014. However, after much consideration, I have to go with Babel, though its large cast certainly…
Front of the Queue: Hillel Filmmakers Club President
Jason Schulman, CC '07
As president of the Hillel Filmmakers Club, Jason Schulman, CC ‘07, provides an opportunity for students to learn to watch and analyze films as well as express themselves creatively and cinematically.
Catch and Release—"The only Jennifer Garner movie I haven’t seen.”
Breach—"After a disappointing recent CIA movie, this FBI thriller could reinvigorate the spy genre.”
Click—"The message of this oddly insightful movie is perfect for midterm season: don’t get bogged down with work or you’ll miss those tiny, extraordinary moments that life is all about.”
Stay—"A solid thriller with a bold…
Reality Bites on the Big Screen
As biopics multiply, their available subjects diminish
What do Ray Charles, Truman Capote, June Carter Cash, and Virginia Woolf have in common? How about Queen Elizabeth II and Idi Amin? And no, this is not the start of some tasteless joke—unless, that is, one considers the Academy Awards a joke.
These people, while famous in their own rights, have the added distinction of being among the subjects of the plethora of biopics—or “biographical dramas"—that the film industry has started to churn out exponentially in the past decade. Furthermore, the actors who portrayed these people have all won Academy Awards for their performances—or are currently…