Category: Extracurricular Activities

  • For Your Consideration—Crystal Ball Edition Part II

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    by Jim Keller Admittedly, last month’s column was thrown together between health battles, and birthday and Oscar celebrations—oh wait, those last two were on the same day, no lie! Without further ado, I give you the remainder of a short list of films—some of which you might be hearing about for years to come as…

  • Natural Confections

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    by Carly Gelfond I think it’s safe to say that most of us have a “thing” about something. You’re looking at me funny, but I know that you know what I’m talking about: that feeling of distaste you get—the intensity of which is illogical—when confronted with that certain something, whatever it is, that you just…

  • CULTURE CORNER Book and Film Reviews: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald & Celebration Day featuring Led Zeppelin

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    by Bernie Langs I waited impatiently for five years to view and listen to the one-time concert of the 2007 Led Zeppelin Reunion performance, and immediately bought the film the week it became available in November 2012. Celebration Day, the video of the occasion, was well worth the wait. I would venture to say that…

  • For Your Consideration – Chasing Gold Edition

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    by Jim Keller Last month, I revisited my preliminary predictions in all of the major categories and offered up my final take on the season to date. Since then, the votes have been cast, the nominees announced, and two of the major awards programs came and went—all leaving in their wake a pile of bruised…

  • Natural Confections

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    by Carly Gelfond Let’s be honest: pretty much all holidays are better when you’re a kid. Really, think about it. Halloween: enough said. Hanukkah and Christmas: truly holidays in which children reign, their stacks of presents littering the carpet, with no obligation to reciprocate since the little rascals have no money (and probably wouldn’t spend…

  • It’s Christmas Time in the City

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    by Aileen Marshall Like the old song says, the “city sidewalks, busy sidewalks” are “dressed in holiday style.” Besides the hustle and bustle of this busy shopping season, New York has many time-honored holiday activities.  Here are just a few to help you feel that holiday cheer.

  • Improv Your Life

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    by Christina Pyrgaki Did you know that there is a Tri-Institutional improv group? Well, there is. A bunch of witty, quirky, and overall lovable improvers gather every Tuesday in the Caspary music room and, for an hour and a half, improvise their way out of their everyday life and into an imaginary, irrational world of…

  • On the Importance Of Fun

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    by Dan Gareau Everyone likes to have a good time and “laughter is the best medicine,” but for scientists, having fun may serve a greater purpose. Science is a creative process, and that creativity can be seen in glimpses that make it into mainstream culture. Bad Project1 got 3,000,000 hits, but Gangnam Style got 200…

  • Natural Confections

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    by Carly Gelfond Pretend something with me for a minute. You are 28 years old. It’s August and you’re standing in Bloomingdale’s, a department store you rarely set foot in except for the occasional free spritz of perfume in the cosmetics department. On this particular visit, however, you are on a specific mission.

  • Natural Confections

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    by Carly Gelfond For a food writer, fall can be a time of complicated emotions. Among the general population, fall is full of seasonal whimsy, all crunchy and leafy underfoot, smoke-scented, vested, and mittened. And to be sure, it is those things for food writers, too. Like normal people, we are susceptible to the irrepressible…

  • Take Me Out to the Ball Game

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    by Aileen Marshall In just one month, the World Series starts. Have you ever wondered why there were so many people gathered around television sets in the Faculty Club in October? What your co-workers were talking about around the coffee pot those mornings? How you won in the lab’s World Series pool?