Happy Halloween, Georgetown. For the first time in five years, Halloween is on a weekend night – so it should be one for the ages. I hope it is: it’s my last Halloween as a college student – my last, in a sense, as a kid. I’m sure future Halloweens will be good, but they’ll lack the pure, unadulterated licentiousness that one is allowed as a young person. So I really hope this Halloween is a great one.

I’m almost afraid that it won’t be.

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Have a

Spoooooky Halloween!

from The Daily Monthly

• Costumes get political

• What’s going on in the District

• Creepy drink ideas

• Costume ideas

• Monster Mash

More Pundit Kitchen goodness here

Yeah, this is one day late. What of it? Here’s your weekly goodness.

• MTV has put a treasure trove of music videos online, old and new. Wang Chung fans, rejoice.

• It was only a matter of time: Baconnaise is born.

• Want to look up the campaign donation records of famous people? Look no further. Hey, since my dad’s in there too, does that make me the son of a celebrity?

Hit the jump for the Presidential campaign as a Pokemon game and a sad story about a man and a bus.

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Maybe its just me. Maybe its the humor of a fat-funny-dopey guy and a sarcastic-hot-savvy  girl making a porno together. Maybe it’s the ludicrous plot line. Whatever it is, the Zack and Miri Make a Porno trailer is bangin’. 

The premise: two roommates, who are secretly crazy about each other, can’t make the rent. So they decide to make a porno. This logic is so twisted, yet amazingly funny.  Clearly porn is the first solution that comes (no pun intended) to mind when you’re broke.

The plot of the trailer is defiantly hit or miss. In fact, I would say “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” had the potential to be the worse movie trailer ever made.  However, it was tasteful, not tacky,  and cute rather than trashy. Maybe “porn” isn’t exactly synonymous with “romantic”, but the Zack And Miri trailer manages to create a soft-core romantic comedy. A-.

Dear Indy,

My boyfriend is coming to visit and is going to meet my friends. I really want them to like him…what do I do?

–Awkward!

Hey Awk,

Don’t worry about a thing. Your boyfriend is coming to visit YOU, not your friends. If you have a good time with him and if you show him how fun your friends are to hang out with, there’s not going to be an issue at all! I understand wanting your friends to like your boyfriend–they’re the most important people in your life! But, if you really want your friends to like him, just tell him to be himself. Clearly you like who he is, and your friends like you. Thus, hopefully they’ll like him too! But most importantly, just relax and have a good time! Good luck…have a fun time!

Dear Indy,

My boyfriend’s ex hates me but the’re still friends. I really want to get to know her because she seems sweet.

–Help!

Hey Help,

First, assess your motives. Do you really want to be friends with her? Or do you just want to get to know her because her ex is now your boyfriend? Keep in mind that though he may still be friends with her, he’s DATING you. Don’t stress out about it too much. If you really do want to be friends with her, though, it may not be as easy as you think. The ex probably doesn’t like you, on the surface at least, because you’re dating the person that she’d been dating–but consider how long they were dating. If they were dating for a while, it’s clear that she’s still hanging on to this relationship or might not want to think about it-thus, she might not want to be friends with you (yet). Play it cool, at least for a little while, and see what comes of this. For now, just hang out with your boyfriend and don’t worry about any crazy exes.

Dear Indy,

My boyfriend has facial hair. I hate it. How do I get him to shave?

–Ew

Hey Ew,

I’m not really a big fan of facial hair either. I have two suggestions. First, ask him straight up to SHAVE! If he’s too attached to his stache/beard, though, there’s always option number two. If/after he refuses, you can cultivate an equally annoying habit/facet. For example, does he hate it when you whistle? Then whistle away! Does your puppy hate him? Bring your puppy with you whenever the two of you hang out! If he brings it up, tell him “If you didn’t want to shave for me, why should I do this for you?” Depending on the level of annoying activity, this should do the trick. Good luck!

from bandweblogs.com

Hump Day is about celebrating the near-end of the week. It’s also about randomness, and that’s pretty much what this post is about.

The first artist to know is D.C. and Baltimore-based Tittsworth, who is currently taking his Bmore-influenced dance musicall over Europe. His track “WTF (Nadastrom on Drugs remix)” is even better with Dave Nada’s influence. From an interview with the two of them, it sounds like their parties are unmissable.Order the single if you like what you hear.

Pitchfork really didn’t like our next artist, Noah and the Whale, but their little ditties are pretty catchy and cute. You may recognize “Five Years Time” from a Saturn commercial. Come to your own conclusion.

Finally, here are two singles off to Kanye’s upcoming release,”808s & Heartbreak.” “Robocop” gave me high hopes in the beginning and quickly lost my favor, and Kanye goes a little too R&B for my tastes on “Coldest Winter.”  What do you think??

"Guys, I feel like I'm forgetting something..."

Last seen in Red Square on Sunday morning. Come on, ladies…keep your wits about you.

Ballet Folklórico, I want your outfits to be the new Georgetown school uniform. ‘Til next time, peace out.

This evening’s Past the Page is brought to you straight from the Indy office, where we’re working hard to bring you our November issue. As all of you probably already know, Matt Ivester (Duke 05), founder of JuicyCampus, is on the Georgetown campus tonight to answer questions about his website. Tierney Sneed wrote a commentary about JuicyCampus last month, so this is the obvious tie-in.

I was lucky enough to have Ivester visit my Celebrity and Spectacle class this afternoon, so we were able to have more of a genuine conversation than what’s going down in the ICC tonight. The highlights, below the cut:

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Photos from “Around Town.” Georgetown, that is.

Shake those poms.

Photos will be added regularly…enjoy.

In a Congressional hearing last Thursday (October 23, 2008), former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan – once hailed as the “Maestro” of the economy – admitted that his deregulatory policies were misguided. Greenspan was reluctant to regulate the markets for derivatives and high-risk mortgages during his 18-year tenure as Fed chairman. Moreover, he chose not to put a stop to predatory lending practices - even though the Fed has had the power to do so since 1994.

Predatory lenders’ wrongdoing is obvious; Greenspan’s is less so . He was appointed by Reagan as a proponent of laissez-faire economics, at the beginning of a bull market that would endure for the better part of two decades. It seems we have Greenspan to thank for the economic high times of the Nineties – politicians and pundits were only too eager to anoint him as a market wizard. When he resisted calls in the 1990’s to regulate derivatives markets, policymakers acceded. Greenspan was seen as the engineer of America’s reemergence as an economic powerhouse, and he could do no wrong.

As we’ve learned, though, no one is infallible.

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With Nov. 4 less than a fortnight away, the 18 percent or so of U.S. voters who remain undecided must be comparing the candidates in earnest. On the one hand, we have Barack Obama, the“paragon of change” and, on the other, John McCain, the “paragon of ethics”. Great. But what is a paragon, and what does it mean to be a paragon of something?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word paragon comes from Ancient Greek para- “on the side” combined with akone, or “whetstone” — the Greeks had a verb that meant “to sharpen, whet.” The word passed into Italian where it became “paragone,” which referred to various things including a type of black marble and a touchstone by which to test gold. Middle French also adopted the word from the Greek and used it to refer to many things, including jewels, fine Venetian silk, and touchstones for gold or “models of excellence.” However, the meaning of “touchstone,” and the metaphorical use “pattern of excellence” which resulted from this sense, became more and more established as time went on. Read Full Post

I’m Meredith Ponder, and I’ll be taking you “past the page” of our print edition, keeping our stories fresh all month long. I’ll be making connections, drawing comparisons, and linking you to related
content.

Since we’ll be unveiling a new issue next week, I decided that this first post should be pretty simple. Our editorial for October, We’re All Poor Together Now, highlights the fact that those of us on the Indy were, for the most part, not counting on high-paying jobs straight out of college anyway. Read Full Post

Some people ride horses. Kenzie Donovan (NHS ‘11) rides horses and wins national competitions. Competing at the Verizon Center Wednesday, October 22, she and her noble steed, Max, won the adult jumper class at the Washington International Horse Show. Awesome.