I was reading the letters to the editor in today’s Boston Globe about BC‘s move into Brighton, and residents’ resistance to it.
And this line in the letter by Maria Guadalupe Rodrigues struck me as particularly telling:
“Many residents of the neighborhood have links to the area that go back more then three generations.”
Hmmmm … it seems Maria made the common then/than switcheroo.
Perhaps having some academia closer to home might do her some good?
It’s embarrassing to think that when I was in college, I used to really like a cappella music.
I liked it so much that freshman year I actually went to other campuses to see various groups in concert — Tufts’ Beelzebubs, for example.
Thankfully, by junior year I came to my senses and realized that a cappella was not all that. I suppose the same can’t be said for those who were actually in those groups.
Well, those people (not me) are the likely target audience of Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace, a movie about a group of friends who were all in an a cappella group in college and who reunite 15 years later to sing at one of the guys’ weddings. Continue reading
I’m happy to report that my 10-year reunion has come and passed.
And while I only went to the barbecue on Saturday afternoon (which was moved indoors because of the weather), that was clearly enough. Continue reading
My umbrella broke today.
It happened right in the office as I was about to leave to go home.
The top — the umbrella part, the part that opens up — separated from the pole, and I was unable to reattach the two parts.
So as of 7:30 p.m. this evening, my umbrella is dead.
Long live my umbrella. Continue reading
Headed over to the ole U last night for the award ceremony of the annual SunDeis film festival. Mostly, it was because Jesse L. Martin and S. Epatha Merkerson were going to be there; she was being recognized as the “Entertainer of the Year,” and he was presenting the award to her. Given that I hadn’t seen a single film in the festival, the ceremony was hit and miss for me as far as entertainment value. There were the expected (and bad) Brokeback Mountain jokes, and other expected jokes, like when the music director was presenting an award and he kept getting “interrupted” by the orchestra. But some speeches were genuinely good, including the Best Actress winner, who made hysterical reference to Martin and Merkerson sitting right in front of the podium. Others ran the gamut from low-key student humble, to cocky “You’ll all be working for me soon” ego, which was a bit of a buzzkill, since some of these folks didn’t even go to Brandeis.
When it was Martin’s turn, he didn’t disappoint. The festival coordinator introduced him by saying what award he was there to present, but really, “how do you measure … measure a year?” And then Martin just riffed for five minutes on his good friend, talking about her unparalleled ability to curse, about her having been on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (as Reba the mail lady), and about their car accident earlier in the day — making sure to show off that he was fine. Then Merkerson took the stage and the two became a classic comedy duo. There was a winking admission that she always brings her “brother” Jesse L. Martin with her because she only seems to get press coverage when he’s with her. And Merkerson also revealed that 
she initially thought she was getting an award from Barnard College, which is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But she and Martin were excited to arrive in Boston and to have a white stretch limo waiting for them, courtesy of the festival. “I said to Jesse, ‘We’re going to the prom!'” she recalled. She did her S. Epatha Merkerson thing, which we all saw when she won the Golden Globe, the SAG award, and the Emmy, only here it was looser and more profane, and just plain funny. Clearly, both felt like this was the most random thing they’d done in a long time. I’m sure there’ll be a video clip on the SunDeis web site soon.
Also in attendance were Anita Hill (left), now a Brandeis professor, who acted as official ambassador for the university before the show began, and lifetime achievement award recipients Celeste Holm (Gentleman’s Agreement, above) and Margaret O’Brien (Meet Me in St. Louis). For a student film festival in Waltham, Mass., it was an impressive evening.
I’ll admit, I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to current affairs — especially those dealing with Washington, D.C. Still, I got a big laugh out of George Clooney’s joke last night at the Golden Globes about how Jack Abramoff‘s parents were cruel for naming him Jack when his last name ended with ‘off.’
I got an even bigger jolt when I flipped through the online edition of my alma mater‘s student newspaper today to learn that Abramoff was not only a fellow alumnus — he’s class of 1981 — but that he was being called “the most wretched alumnus” in the school’s history because in the nearly 25 years since he graduated, he has donated a grand total of $50 to Brandeis, and that was in 2002. I guess that’s pretty wretched (all things considered), though I can think of some worse things he could have done. I mean, at least he gave something. Does that really make him “wretched?” If this is the barometer The Justice is using, then I wonder who the second-most-wretched alumnus is. I know one thing: it’s not me.
Well, the good news is I’m not too old.
Ventured over to the Hynes Convention Center today for College Fest. It’s well-documented that I am a sucker for free stuff, and there’s usually plenty of it at College Fest, but this year I was there doing research for a magazine I work on for college students. I wanted to see what the students were into, what companies were promoting, what music was hot, etc.
So what did I learn? Nothing concrete, but based solely on the anecdotal evidence, companies just aren’t trying as hard these days to reach the college audience — or at least they’re not doing it at events like this one. Back in the day, when I was still a student, and even as recently as five years ago when I used to go to College Fest as part of the marketing efforts for my previous employer, the event stretched out over two halls at the Hynes, with the place bursting at the seems with companies and students. This year, only one smaller hall with fewer companies than ever.
I got to the Hynes around 1pm, and after going up and down the aisles twice, I left about 45 minutes later. Sure, the doors had just opened up at 12, but back in my day the kids were lined up to get in soon after it opened, and hung around to meet celebrities and get autographs (Jon Stewart was there one year, cast members of The Real World usually were in attendance, etc.) and of course, pick up all the free schwag. This year, the biggest line was to get an autograph from a Playboy model, and even that didn’t have people lined up around the corner.
I guess nowadays college students are more effectively reached on the Internet, and they know it. Or maybe they’re just too smart — or too lazy — to go somewhere to get marketed to, and more companies are targeting the students in other ways. In short, I thought this year’s College Fest was lame.
But back to my original, or at least my second statement, the one about the free stuff. I found it remarkably easy to clean up this year, despite being 31 years old and looking nothing like a college student. A grad student? Maybe. (At least that’s what I was telling people when they asked.) Regardless, I took home a bag full of stuff. For example:
* 9 t-shirts (3, maybe 4, that I could wear in public)
* 5 CDs of music
* 3 magazines (including the one I work on)
* 2 guides to Boston
* 1 guide to South Beach, Miami
* 2 plastic cups
* 1 pint glass
* 1 sports bottle
* 1 wiffle ball
* 1 block of post-it notes
* 1 mouse pad
* 1 copy of today’s Boston Globe
… but only 1 magnet.
I also won some Play-Dough, but I gave that back.
Still, I was struck by how lame College Fest had become. I expected to be there for at least a couple of hours, to learn some valuable stuff, and come home with two bags bursting with stuff, just like I used to. I mean, despite all that, I still had room for a bit more. Oh well. I guess times have changed.
Martin's Musings 