The Gavel Online

My Mother is on Facebook

Emily Akin — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:36:59 +0000

We’ve all dealt with it. It’s a widespread epidemic. Yes, you all know what I’m talking about. Your mother is on Facebook, and she’s finally figured out how to work it. That’s right. Nothing can prepare you for it, but one day your mother will call you up on the phone and ask you about your “it’s complicated” relationship status. Or she’ll post a seemingly harmless comment on one of your photos from finals week:

Or she’ll message you commenting that your profile picture doesn’t send a “positive message to potential employers.” It’s a total invasion of your cyber social life, and you’ll need to censure yourself accordingly. The infiltration starts slowly, with your mom casually cracking jokes about some funny link that your friend posted on your profile. This may seem harmless, BUT DON’T BE FOOLED! She’s just warming you up, trying to let you know that she’s onto you. She’s discovered your secret identity, the “you” that you are with your friends. And she’s finally figured out a sure fire way of contacting you while you’re living it up in college:

In the good old days before Facebook Timeline you could get away with blocking her from your wall. “Oh Mom, I just have my privacy settings really high. No one can see my wall!” Not anymore though! There’s no hiding from the posts, the photo comments, the messages. And there’s NOTHING like a “mom-post” on Facebook. Moms have mastered the art of turning a post into a letter. The language is formal, and each post is signed “xoxo Mom”. You are all familiar with this phenomenon; we’ve all had older relatives contact us on Facebook at some point. Well on this blog I am going to do the unimaginable. I’m lowering my privacy settings. My mom, aunts, even my grandfather will all be able to see everything. And I mean everything. The tagged photos, the unfortunate status updates, the profile hacks, they’re all fair game. I’ll collect the comments here throughout the summer. So go ahead. Laugh at my pain, and just be glad it isn’t yours.

Here’s just a sample of what I’ll be dealing with this summer. All just for your entertainment.

Donna Summer dies at 63

Jenna LaConte — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:09:18 +0000

Donna Summer, who will forever be remembered fondly as the Queen of Disco, passed away today from cancer. Her legacy will live on through her upbeat tunes that have lasted the ages.

As summer approaches, listening to the singer’s hits is the perfect way to celebrate her life.

1. Last Dance- Don’t be fooled by the slow beginning. Once this song picks up, you are guaranteed to be on your feet!

2. She Works Hard for the Money- Nothing sums this song better than the top comment on the YouTube video: “Imagine being a bike messenger in manhattan in the 1980′s zooming through the streets of midtown, downtown hustling for the commission with this record blasting in my ears from my panasonic headphones. That was me.”

3. Hot Stuff- Need I say more?

4. Bad Girls- Toot toot, heeeey, beep beep!

5. On The Radio- She really shows off her pipes in this classic pop ballad.

For more information, check out her commemorative article on The Huffington Post.

Video: Our Favorite Short Films

Lauren Rever — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:24:01 +0000

The Video Department might not be able to bring you news stories this summer, but we can still provide you with great video entertainment! This week I bring to you four of my favorite short films. Happy viewing!

Divorce Lemonade
A young girl finds her dad passed out drunk in front of her mom’s house. So much is done with so little in this film, it’s truly great. (I apologize for the YouTube pauses, it’s the only version I could find!)

Kiwi!
The little bird who just wanted to feel the thrill of flying!

Dead in the Room
You know Patrick J. Adams from Suits, but he’s also in this suspenseful 9 minute short which keeps you guessing ’til the end. Did you see it coming? (Oh, and this was made with only $99. Crazy!)

Bottle Rocket
Wes Anderson’s first film Bottle Rocket started off as a short. This is also Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson’s first major work as actors. Definitely one of my favorites.

Pinterest Recipes – S’more Cupcakes

Jillian Timko — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:54:32 +0000

I have to make two disclaimers before I do anything else on this blog. The first is that I am OBSESSED with Pinterest. So when I found out I was responsible for writing a Gavel blog over the summer, I decided to cook and write about some of the recipes I have pinned on Pinterest. Unlike all the clothes I have pinned that I can’t afford to buy, the gorgeous houses that I will probably never live in, or the cute puppies I can’t bring into the Gate next year, cooking some of the recipes on my Pinterest is something I can actually do (meaning all the hours I spend pinning are not a total waste of time).

The second disclaimer is that I have no idea how to cook. If it goes beyond boiling pasta noodles, mixing together a salad, or making cake from cake mix, I’ve probably never done it. So bear with me as I try out recipes and put my non-existent cooking skills to the test.

My family has a fire pit in our backyard, and over the summer my friends, family and I make a lot of s’mores. So in honor of the beginning of summer, my friend and I decided to make s’more cupcakes. Here is the recipe I found on Pinterest, originally from Martha Stewart.

We tweaked the recipe a little bit by adding graham cracker crumbs on the bottom. Mix together 1-3/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup of melted butter, and 1/4 cup of sugar (a standard recipe for a graham cracker crust). Line the bottom of each cupcake liner with a layer of the graham cracker mixture, then pour the cupcake batter on top.

The cupcakes were absolutely delicious. My only complaint is that the marshmallows did not melt as neatly or brown as nicely as the recipe portrays. We used toothpicks to make sure the marshmallows didn’t fall over, and even then it got messy.

Keep reading for more delicious recipes!

Photo By Jillian Timko / Gavel Media

St. John’s Revelations

Kenny St. John — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:09:33 +0000

This is the first in a series of weekly summer blog posts from yours truly, Kenny St. John. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the Opinions Editor of Gavel Media. I mostly write political op-eds during the year, but that is a bit too heavy to digest over the summer. So I’m switching gears to write about my second passion: sports. I will highlight several sports stories from the week, and provide some analysis, commentary, predictions, and whatnot. Without further ado, let’s jump to my favorite sport: baseball.

This past week saw Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton solidify his case as the best player in baseball, and for his next contract. A free agent after this season, Hamilton hit four home runs in a game against Baltimore (only the 16^th player in MLB history to do so), and is currently hitting an absurd .400/.456/.854 triple slash line for the year. To cap that off, he has 18 home runs, and it’s only the middle of May. At that pace, he could very well surpass the record for most home runs in a season, set by Barry Bonds with 73 back in 2001 (with an asterisk, of course). He also could win the first baseball Triple Crown (highest average, most home runs, most RBI’s) since Boston’s own Carl Yastrzemski back in 1967.

There are several concerns, however, that may set Hamilton back from getting a record-breaking deal in free agency. He has a history of drug addiction that almost derailed his path to the major leagues. Granted, he has been mostly clean since making the majors, but he has had several minor relapses with alcohol over the past several years. Still, soon to be 31 on May 21, no one is sure whether or not his past addictions have permanently damaged his body. His next contract will definitely surpass $100 million, but as to who will sign him and for how much is still anyone’s guess.

Some good Boston College sports news, and no, unfortunately, Coach Spaz and/or Gene DeFilippo did not get fired: an anonymous donor gave $5 million dollars to endow the men’s ice hockey head coach position. This is the largest donation BC Athletics has ever received. According to a press release, “the donor cited a long love for BC Hockey, admiration for Jerry York and his leadership, and the commitment that BC has to student-athletes as demonstrated by its high graduation rates as the catalysts for his gift.”

This is great news for BC hockey. Coach York deserves this prestigious honor, not only for his 913 career wins and 4 national championships (3 at BC), but also exemplifying a commitment to excellence and integrity throughout his collegiate coaching career.

(Editor’s Note: This blog is being hijacked by Managing Editor Robert Rossi)

When Kenny volunteered to cover sports for our Gavel Summer Blogosphere, I told him it was under the condition that he cover basketball and hockey in addition to baseball. He responded simply with, “You do it,” which I now realize was not insubordination, but a wise suggestion because:

I’m from Boston
He’s from New York
People from Boston know more about sports than people from New York (why do you think there’s never a writer from the New York Times on Around The Horn?)

Now that these biases are well established, I’m gonna give you some bold, bullet-point-size predictions and insights you won’t find anywhere else, BUT I personally guarantee will be more accurate than anything you hear on ESPN.

Let’s begin with a statement nobody else has the stones to say: The Miami Heat are absolutely screwed without Chris Bosh. The dirty little secret about them is after Bron Bron, Arthur’s Little Sister and the Velociraptor, they have far less talent than the supposedly talentless teams that LBJ won 60+ games with his last two years in Cleveland.
Going off that, Indiana now goes from “nobody acknowledging their chances because everyone wants to see Heat-Celtics” to “this wouldn’t really even be an upset if Bosh doesn’t come back.” All Indiana has to do is win its home games. Don’t think they’re good enough? Where were you when they were winning the fifth-most games of any team this season?
After the shellacking the Boston Celtics just put on the 76ers Wednesday, is there any doubt that they are the favorite to win the East now? Since the All-Star break, they have the best record of any team in the East (and went 2-0 against a full-strength Heat team during that span) and showed that when they have the motivation, they can have three different guys go for 20 points and a double-double. And Ray Allen can basically take the night off to boot.
The myth of Kobe Bryant may have just been shattered during an absolutely horrendous fourth quarter that should go down on his Hall of Fame plaque right after “5 rings, 2 Finals MVPs and shot 6/24 during Game 7 of the 2010 Finals.” Here’s how Kobe’s crunch time went: threw the ball to Kevin Durant for a breakaway dunk; dropped a pass that went out of bounds; missed a contested three with five seconds left on the shot clock; couldn’t get open on an inbounds play, forcing the Lakers to burn their last timeout; got the ball with 16 seconds left on the clock and stupidly let it run down to five seconds while OKC still had one foul to give, allowing OKC to foul and force another inbounds pass while LA has no timeouts; couldn’t get open on the last play, forcing Ron Artest (will not call him anything else) to pass to Steve Freaking Blake for the last shot. This deserves bold and all caps: KOBE BRYANT IS NOT CLUTCH.
Russell Westbrook almost cost the Thunder the game by forgetting to guard Steve Blake on that last play, just in case he doesn’t catch enough flack for it from the rest of the world.
Oh, before I forget (as people tend to do when discussing the Spurs), San Antonio looks even more unstoppable than OKC. Anything besides a Celtics-Spurs Finals will surprise me.
There’s also apparently hockey going on. I kind of forgot once the Bruins got bounced. It’s okay for me to say this though, because everyone in LA will still be too miserable about the Lakers losing to give a crap when the Kings win the Stanley Cup.

That’s all until next time, sports fans! (Yes, that’s a Backyard Sports reference).

This Week In U.S. History: Jim Henson

Lauren Rever — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:24:33 +0000

This Week in United States History: War shapes the country, landmarks for equality, and a man who captured the country’s heart passes.

May 13th 1846 – U.S. declares war on Mexico, a successful but extremely controversial war which gave the U.S. tremendous amounts of land in the southwest, making the United States a two-ocean country. Ironically, gold was found in the territory days after the treaty ceding the land was signed.

May 14th, 1804 - Lewis and Clark leave Missouri on their expedition. They would return over two years later after unlocking many mysteries of the American West.

May 16th 1918 - The Sedition Act is passed during WWI, a grave violation of the Constitution aimed at protecting the United States during the war. The act was unfortunately aimed specifically at socialists, anarchists, and pacifists and made things like insulting the government punishable by law.

May 17th 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in Massachusetts, a proud day for those who support marriage equality. Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to issue same-sex marriage marriage licenses and only the sixths jurisdiction in the world to do so.

May 17th 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education decision is handed down, ordering all schools to desegregate under the decree that “separate is inherently unequal” but included the line that desegregation should commence “with all deliberate speed.” Some schools remained segregated until 1970.

May 18th 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson decision is handed down. The ruling declared that segregation in public places is legal given that the facilities are “separate but equal.” It would take 58 years to overturn the ruling in Brown v. Board.

May 16th 1990 – Jim Henson, America’s favorite puppeteer, dies at age 53. Jim Henson was known and loved for his creation of the Muppets and their role on Sesame Street.

A big heart, a wild imagination, and a passion for making people smile, Jim Henson truly captured the heart of the American people with The Muppets. Inspired by Disney, Henson first envisioned the rag-tag group of furry friends in 1954 on the show Sam and Friends, but it wasn’t until The Muppets appeared on the new show Sesame Street in 1969 that they became the household names they are today. Jim Henson voiced many of his Muppets, including Ernie, but was first and foremost the voice of Kermit the Frog, ultimately creating one of the most recognizable voices in television. Jim Henson was passionate about his work and never stopped creating new projects like Fraggle Rock or the many Muppets movies we’ve come to love. The magic didn’t end in 1990 when pneumonia unexpectedly took his life, and Miss Piggy, Kermit, and Bert and Erinie continue to charm their way into our hearts today. Showing how light hearted and spirited a man Jim Henson truly was, no one wore black at his funeral, per his request.

Check out some Jim Henson clips below and (if you’re up for it) the Muppet’s final farewell to their beloved creator:

Be sure to check back next week for my top 10 most badass presidents list in honor of JFK’s birthday.

The BC Sartorialist moves on to new blog

Meghana Kuthyar — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:25:51 +0000

While Boston College has been aptly called a “J. Crew catalogue with a hangover”, there are certainly some students’ styles that stray from that description. One student made it a point to photograph and publish these unique fashion standouts on his tumblr, The BC Sartorialist.

We recently snagged an interview with Alex Lee, the sartorialist himself, and his business partner, William Thompson. The duo have started a new fashion line, XXBC, inspired by and created with vintage fabrics.

Check out the video here:

Recently, Lee announced on his tumblr that he is transferring from BC to FIT. While the sartorialist of Boston College will no longer be able to snap fashionable pictures of the students at BC, he’s created another blog for us to look forward to: wirdyblog.com. The blog which stands for “when in Rome, do you” (the XXBC slogan) will be focused on spotting the unique styles of New York. With a historically fashionable New York setting and Lee’s eye for fashion, the wirdyblog is sure to be amazing!

Black-and-White is so Tight Right Now

Meidema Sanchez — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:44 +0000

Before I proceed to write anything, I must first establish a crucial fact that will preserve my self-respect: I DO NOT LIKE THE KARDASHIANS. Despite the two pictures above that may make it seem as though I worship the shit out of them, or at least out of the two pretty ones (sorry Khlo-Khlo), I actually find them to be embarrassingly worthless human beings. However, even people who lack value deserve to shine sometimes, so I want to give a big shout out to both Kourtney and Kim Kardashian for rocking the black-and-white trend so magnificently in the two above photos!

Given all of the bright colors that have been so popular this season, I think it is refreshing to see more low-key pieces that still manage to scream, “Look at me, I’m a sexy young thang!” In fact, they even manage to scream some things that more brightly colored pieces don’t, like, “Look at me, I’m a mature, classy lady, who will knock your socks off!” If you disagree with me, and still feel like black-and-white attire is only mommy or grandma gear, keep in mind that you can always add some extra sexy to the black-and-white look with a pop of red lipstick like Kourtney did. She so smart!

Anyway, because I am arguably one of Boston College’s most diseased shopaholics, I want to give you a list of some great websites where you can find some wonderfully sexy, and wonderfully priced, black-and-white clothing! Now get to work.

1) Piperlime.com- Free shipping, amazing sales, fast delivery… what’s not to love? It’s my absolute favorite.

2) Asos.com- Amazing selection, easy to browse website, wide range of prices… just make sure to convert your American clothing size into your European one!

3) Dorothyperkins.com- Not well-known, amazing selection, reasonable prices… once again, just remember to convert you American clothing size into your European one. Oh, and delivery will take crazy-long, but it is worth it.

4) LuLus.com- Adorable selection, trendy styles, very reasonable prices… quality may not be the best, but for one-time party wear it is fabulous.

5) Forever21.com- Yes, trusty old Forever21 is a must. Its online site is so much more fabulous than the store with its overwhelming selection, and free shipping on orders over $50. Once again, the quality of the clothes may not be the greatest, but for one-time wear it is a retail paradise.

Happy shopping girlies!