Sleazy

Humor is Dead

Pigs didn’t fly, but swine flu (or How I spent my summer vacation)

Salvation! Or so I wanted to proclaim as I dashed out of my final-final last semester and into the crisp pre-summer air. I was experiencing that remarkable lightness only students feel at the end of a term, when all things fact-related are purged from our book bags, binders and brains, and we can enjoy blissful […]

This review for humans only: Classified report of “District 9”

Can someone explain to me why a flick about extraterrestrials invading South Africa has more humanity in it than most recent homo sapien-centric Hollywood heartstring pullers? “District 9” is this summer’s unlikely science fiction hit by writer/director Neill Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson (The Lord of The Rings trilogy). And what’s drawn most people’s attention […]

First Year

Junot Díaz inspires doe-eyed freshmen

It’s Wednesday night in the Spingold Theater and the air is charged with anticipation. The crowd of students who had only arrived on campus three days ago were pulsing with excitement and even administrators sat on the edge of their seats. Believe it or not, this extraordinary show of enthusiasm was for none other than […]

Summer tunes from ‘Ye, Jay, and the gang

Summer music releases are oddly tied to the season; there’s a sense of lightness and fun in the best summer singles, a time of endless days and, for my summer, absurdly large amounts of sunshine. Summer is also the time of novelty songs, of disposable songs that breeze in with May and fade out with […]

A seder in Berkeley: How a newly minted Marxist-humanist came to live with his Republican parents

When I told my parents that college had turned me into an atheist and a pothead, they were unconcerned. But when I told them I was left-wing, they got angry. They spent quite a few nights diligently repeating talking points, somehow relating the case to free markets to my ancestor’s flight from Poland. But I […]

Stick to the trailer: Indie flick “Paper Heart” disappoints

Michael Cera has indie credibility. We were first introduced to him on the small screen in the cult-tv show “Arrested Development” and two years ago, he charmed the big screen as the adorable-if-hapless baby-daddy Paulie Bleaker in “Juno.” Riding the wave of “Juno,” we saw him roam the bars of the East Village and Williamsburg […]