Ernie at little. yellow. different. links to an interesting article that explains why many Asians turn red when they drink. Huh. I’m technically a quarter Korean, yet I’ve never had any problem with al-kee-hol. Can’t even think of anybody in my family who does, for that matter. Of course, I’ve never gotten my Grandma blitzed.

Princeton can do it; why can’t we?

Don’t have time to read whole books? Try Book-A-Minute! Actually, their reviews are pretty damn hilarious, especially the sci-fi and fantasy. My favorite, though, has to be If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss:

Morris McGurk: “If I ran the circus, I would make Mr. Sneelock do lots of dangerous things, because I have repressed Freudian feelings of hatred for him as a father figure, because he made me clean up the yard.”

More vagina: a Morrissey guys writes a really excellent letter about SMC’s stance on the play.

More hard-hitting journalism from the Observer: bar owners worry that getting busted might cause them business. No duh. The most disturbing part of this article is the quote from the owner of the establishment formerly known as “Bridget Maguire’s Filling Station”:

“I went in there with a bottle of disinfectant and a putty knife. It took nine months, and voila, Molly’s came. It was like giving birth.”

*shudder*

It seems a group of ND and SMC women staged an un-official reading of “The Vagina Monologues” at Regina Hall. Publicity was strictly word-of-mouth, yet over 150 people came! I have hope for our campus yet.

Is it just me, or does this murder case sound exactly like the plot of the Gus Van Sant film To Die For? Except that in the movie, Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon didn’t have any kids.

I remember walking out of our campus screening of To Die For thinking, “Man, Max from Space Camp got creeeeepy when he grew up.” Little did I expect he’d go on to play the loathsome Commodus. *shudder*

I just got an e-mail from my college friend Matt Curreri, who has a new album out. You should order it. I saw him perform several times back at ND and I guarantee you’ll enjoy his work. (His label says he appeals to fans of “R.E.M., Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith, Velvet Underground, and the Beach Boys,” if that helps.) I’m curious to see how this album turns out, because on his website it sounds as if he’s changed direction from the “silly” stuff he did at school. That’s fine with me… I always liked the sincere stuff better anyway. Give him a listen.

Suddenly that trip to Australia in March isn’t looking so good. Mir could fall on us. Great. And that blurb about there not being any “biological nasties” on board isn’t reassuring… Wasn’t there something in the news a few months ago about it being covered in space fungus? Oh yeah, there it is.

Everybody today’s talkin’ about the third-grader whose race-related science fair experiment was banned. You know what my third-grade science fair project was? The Solar Heated Home of Tomorrow. I got my dad to build me a house out of plywood and cut a big hole in the roof, which I then covered with plastic wrap. Then I taped Ziploc bags full of water to the inside walls. A carefully aimed desk lamp and a stick-on thermometer completed the set-up. No offense to my dad’s excellent craftsmanship, but it was seriously the worst “experiment” ever. The whole thing was just an excuse for me to decorate the house with markers. (But since not many kids even bothered to try, I did get to go to Regionals!) What I’m sayin’ is, this kid actually conceived of a legitimate experiment with a purpose. Why are they censoring her? The school system should be giving her research grants.