I acquired a pair of shades over Thanksgiving break. Since then, they’ve been making their way around from face to face. Here’s some proof!
Colin: Classic
Sebby: Meow
Antoine: Double-Shading
On 01.03.10, In Uncategorized, By Riley
On 01.01.10, In Pics & Toons, By Riley
It was about a year ago that I was leaving the sixteen-degree wind and snow of New England for Los Angeles. There was a beautiful pool at the end of my building, a convenience store stocked with beer a stumble away, and the first week welcomed us with a heat wave of eighty- and ninety-degree afternoons. These were obvious perks of the ICLA program. The apartments were nicer than any students deserve, and there was just something about those counters.
They were about waist-high (for someone who stands six foot two), with white tiles and a large counter space below it. Remember the pull-out cutting board? We didn’t find ours until April! Social gatherings centered around these counters. Bottles of rum, pens, cell phones, keys and old copies of the Ithacan’t were common.
Looking through old cell phone pictures from the past year, I’ve been reminded of the fun we had around the counters.
similar colors about the counter
truly, a work of art
These creations atop the counter are the result of tinkering, malt liquor, and wonder, really.
Three cheers, this new year, to an unsung hero of Los Angeles – the Oakwood Apartment countertops!
On 12.27.09, In Food & Drink, Pics & Toons, By Riley
Californiacker
Looks like Southern California put on a few pounds over the Holidays…
Not a Goldfish
Come to the surface, ya little fishy!
On 11.15.09, In Food & Drink, By Riley
Any Ithaca resident with a sweet tooth knows of Wegman’s Scoopy Snack section in the back of the store.
“Please don’t mix different priced candies.”
“No Sampling!”
“Use tongs, please.”
But next time you’re there, take a look around and notice the walls -
wall of candy
The whole damn wall, all the way across the Scoopy Section is made of tubes FULL OF CANDY. Which got me thinking, yeah, this is awesome, there is so much candy here, but damn, what a waste. I’m not one to bitch about wasting and feeding hungry children, but there is SO MUCH CANDY along these walls. The tubes are about as big as a roll of paper towels, and six-ish feet tall. Dozens and dozens of tubes, full of Starbursts, Tootsie Rolls, Dubble Bubble, and lesser-known, non-brand-name candy.
I was assuming, “they must just re-use all of this candy to replenish the bins of Tootsie Rolls once it runs out, right?” But no. This candy has been in these tubes since the Scoopy Section first opened. I mean, look at the Starbursts above – the pinks have faded. What a waste.
And another thing, some of the gummy candies use tongs and others have scoopers. What’s the deal? Scoopers are fine for Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids (SPKs), pastel mints and Skittles, but gummy spiders? You expect me to scoop gummy spiders? I’m bound to take a leg off and maybe get three with each scoop. These require a tong.
On 10.29.09, In Food & Drink, By Riley
I’m walking around Wegmans the other day, and naturally, I’m drawn to the beer displays. A huge stack of Budweiser Select 30s stick out to me. Black cans with red type and whitish/silvery designs.
bud select
The label of Bud Select, Budweisers newer, low calorie product, is eerily similar to that of Coke Zero; Coke’s newer lower calorie product.
coke zero
See what I mean?
Budweiser, the original, and regular Coca-Cola have not-so-different labels themselves. Classic red and white, as seen in Labor Day cookout coolers seen growing up.
What does that mean? The weaker of each of the Bud and Coke family. Bud Light and Diet Coke. They’re labels aren’t similar. Blue and silver, with a little bit of red on Bud Light, silver and red for Diet Coke. They’re the “other” in each of the families. The black sheep. Ugly duckling. And what can we say about their drinkers? Women who work in offices, rationalizing the half-dozen eclaires they have at lunch by the Diet Coke they had as a mid-morning snack. “You want a salad?” / “No, I’ll have a Diet Coke. And the rack of ribs.”
think this, but more arm pudge
And the Bud Light drinkers. “Bro, you want a beer?” / “If by beer you mean Bud Light then hell yes Broseph!”
On 10.26.09, In Rants, By Riley
The Gannett Center. Ever heard of it? That’s because it’s what 99% of students call “the Library,” and I’m sick of all this confusion with “what floor am I on?”
Libraries serve as meccas of information, hubs of learning on campus. The library is a place where random groups in class often meet to do projects, but how can any work be done if there is a huge dilemma with meeting up in the first place.
“Where are you? I’m on the second floor.”
“The second floor or the first floor?”
“The second floor. Well the main floor.”
“So, the first floor…”
“I’m on the floor marked 2, the one you come in when you enter the library, with all the computers, and the desks – the main floor!”
elevator signage
In the elevator, this red sign is the only thing helping us out. Next to the “2″ button, the sign reads, “Library 1st floor.” Thanks.
Library First Floor, Gannett Second Floor
This is the Main Floor.
Library Second, Gannett Third
Next floor up.
Library Third, Gannett Fourth
Floor after that.
shaft
And the fifth floor, so deserted, quiet and overlooked that it doesn’t even get a sign. All it gets is this original-issue “Quiet Study Area” sign.
So where are we? When in the Ithaca College Library, keep in mind, you are in a building much greater than just that – you are in the Gannett Center; home of the Handwerker Gallery, the Art History Department, the Anthropology Department, and, of course, the library.
Thanks to Brian Ivory for the phone pics, and the shared angst.
Fall Break has come and gone. But it was a great time for us to stray away from campus and create or find our own art. Let’s see what’s been done in the Thursday and Friday we students have stretched into a five-day bender…
Medium: Chalk on Iron
I found this angry chalk monster on the metal bridge on E. Clinton Street. If you’re leaving the police station after paying an exorbitant ticket for having a party at your apartment, or coming home from the Commons, keep your eyes open.
Medium: Spray Paint on Wood
Don’t know what this means or why it was created. “Chee Dung” it says, with the former word’s letters taking the shape of a pile of the latter word. Looks homemade, though. Rock on!
Medium: Paint on Cement
Junior TV-R major Anthony Palma sent me this “fresh” graffiti straight from East Brunswick, New Jersey. If you can’t read it, I’ll help you decode; NF&ES^>TZ@,{ *.
Medium: Caution Tape on Wood and Air
The least conventional art I came across was Thursday night, when I enter a Grandview basement to find Nate Scull meandering a spider web of caution tape. Cheers to you Scull.
Fall Break is a mere two days off from classes, not even enough time to warrant my five-hour drive back home. Thanksgiving break is just over four weeks away, and oh, the art we’ll come across with nine days away from campus.
On 10.19.09, In Food & Drink, By Riley
Sometimes stuff that sucks can do something cool once in a while. Like when that loser from fifth grade has everyone from the grade over for a huge pool party. His parents hope he’ll make friends that way, but you’re just there for the diving board and Ruffles chips. Bud Light Sucks, I maintain that.
I walk into Wegmans last night and get the usual barrage of Bud Light advertisements. BL Lime, there’s even a new BL Golden Wheat, whatever the hell that is. But this one ad caught my eye…
and the love below
This “tailgate-approved” 24-pack has speakers and an MP3 connection. Ideal for pre-gaming in a parking lot, grilling burgers outside stadiums, or being a bro.
bom bom beedo
I guess this is pretty cool. Still doesn’t compare to the Natty Caddy though.
get our your nattlas
I was warming up to the idea of testing out this speakerbox. Then I got home and, while watching Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” per my Sunday night routine, noticed that some pervert brought 12 condoms, flowers, a corset, and you guessed it, a 12 of Bud Light to some potential rape victims house. Perverts: 0, Bud Light: -1, Natty: 1up.
On 09.09.09, In Rants, By Riley
I, like many seniors, was born in 1987. The year the first Simpsons episode aired, when a postage stamp cost 24 cents, and U2 was still young. I doubt that any member of the senior class was born in 1986, so this makes me, and anyone else born in ‘87 among the oldest students on campus.
I am inevitable thinking of the freshman on campus. Not only were some of them born in the ’90s, some of them were born in 1991. Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Dr. Suess died, a postage stamp cost 25 cents. Pee Wee Herman, whom I remember from Pee Wee’s playhouse, will be remembered by this generation for his arrest after masturbating in a Florida movie theater.
These children are young. I celebrated my 22nd birthday at the end of the summer. At a party last week, I noticed it was a freshman’s birthday. A freshman’s eighteenth birthday. That made me think that for two weeks, I was five years older than a freshman. Five years.
With the eighth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I am reminded of where I was on this tragic day. Eighth grade. Social Studies. Clusters of desks rather than rows, (ah, grade school). My Catholic school wouldn’t allow us impressionable students to watch footage on TV, but teachers went to a lounge to see the news.
But these children, who are now freshmen in college, were in fifth grade this horrific day. The kids I cut in the lunch line, made fun of at recess and threw snowballs at after school are now walking to Academic Writing as I’m off to to Senior Seminar.
Another I thought about this is a bit more grotesque. If you’ve read this far and thought to yourself, “they’re not that young,” listen up. For four years (maybe five, those of you born in ‘87 [represent!]) we had pubic hair when they did not. By the time their first pube sprout, we’d had ‘em for years. I bet most of us had already tried shaving them! Graphic, maybe even gross, I know and I apologize. But believe me senior class – these kids are young!
Finally, I’d like to show you something despicable I saw on my way to class the other day. It’s juvenile, it’s quasi-hipster, it’s ’90s. Consider yourself warned. I just don’t know why anyone would do this to themselves, (this coming from a kid who runs the campus in short running shorts).
wtf
jansport, north face, hell, even a messenger bag would be better
On 09.01.09, In Pics & Toons, Reviews, By Riley
In the midst of our first full week on campus, I’ve decided to share with you some things that may be overlooked as you walk back to your residence.
While I did see a campus cop ticketing a car in the parking lot at the backside of Park, I chose not to photograph for fear of the officer giving me a hard time. I’m over 21, I don’t have a car on campus. As far as I’m concerned, there’s not much they can do to me, that is unless I start photographing them.
The next thing to draw my attention was not an authority. In fact, it has no authority whatsoever. It was this turtle who met his fate when a car’s tires hit him. Perhaps this turtle died in his attempt to get out of the way of more traffic. More likely, some thoughtful pedestrian or remorseful driver kicked him to the side of the road.
a turtle, shell cracked
The next thing I saw, right across from ded-turt, were these ducks. I think they’ve got problems. On my way home from campus one night, I saw these guys wandering in the middle of the path next to the pond. I assumed they’d waddle away, being intimidated by a six-foot tall human. They didn’t. They just stood there like freak ducks. I also overheard some people talking about how they ushered the ducks into their apartment and let them stay there. While it was fun, they admitted, the ducks shat everywhere and they had to clean it up. What do you expect? You deserve it – they’re animals
ducks, cuddling along the banks of the pond
It being a nice day, I thought I’d take a photo of my shadow. This picture has some sharp fall-off. I think that’s what it is – I’ve only been in Media A&A for one day, but being one of the few seniors in the class, I thought I’d try to do the mature thing and apply some of the vocab. Also notice the mass in my left hand: A shirt, taken off during the day because, in traditional Ithaca fashion, the temperature rose from 56 to 73 degrees over the course of a few hours.
self-portrait
I saw these bumper stickers on a car near my house. As a TV-R major, I feel as though I should be offended by these stickers. I wonder what this person studied in college. Was it English? Was it Biology? Was it Women’s Studies? How would they like it if I displayed stickers on my car reading “KiLL BOOKS,” KiLL ANIMALS,” “KiLL… et cetera.”
If you have a problem with this, I know several TV-R professors who will refute your supposed claim that television makes you stupid.
an expression of angst
Finally, the last interesting object I saw on the ground before climbing the stairs to the place I call home. An empty Old Milwaukee can. Looks like somebody had a great weekend.
weekend debris
So what does this walk home tell us about IC? Bad drivers, dependent ducks, unpredictable weather, egotistical liberals, and cheap drunkards.