This Week Will Be Good

This Week In É (8.15 to 8.22)

It's not easy taking over This Week In É, but since it was such a great feature it needs to be continued. I am going to discuss the five biggest stories of the past week:

5. Making science/technology readers happy, I did a post about a Hadron Collider being constructed in Geneva.



4. My article College Presidents Seek Debate On Drinking Age allows for a little dicussion regarding this topic.



3. Ben concludes his Picking The President segment by selecting Barack Obama.




2. Big Foot.




1. Ben Tan says his goodbye to the Étudiant after nearly two and half years of service.

All This Week in É

Got a friend named Glen
Strange to Boston men
Prays to God and catches cod
As fishes swarm again
His politics are bait
His victims just can't wait
To disagree and say that he
Is stiffer than a plate
But he just laughs and harnesses
The power of their hate
All this week in É
Athletes went to play
Swimming man got one more fan
And much more golden pay
All this week in É

See another star?
He's returned from afar
Walks so long to share his song
'Cause he don't have a car
Man who loves Pink Floyd
Left a mighty void
Even though a former foe
Said he must be destroyed
He used his punk rock spirit
With dissenters he toyed
All this week in É
War was here to stay
Do believe that death won't leave
Much to our dismay
All this week in É

Old friend plays the bass
Freshness in his face
Be impressed that he's obsessed,
His words, with this place
Man with perfect grades
Joins our escapades
Lit or math, don't know what path
He'll take when high school fades
Quite nice that we admins
Have such folk as aides
All this week in É
Battlefield's okay
Things improve, but we won't move
For many a day
All this week in É

Me, I'm almost done
Won't forget the fun
I have had, and I'm so glad
To know everyone
My time here must end
To it, others tend
And I must give them my trust
For I am a friend
Hope that I'll move upward
That I don't pretend
All this week in É
Readers yelled hooray
We broke news and sang the blues
Updates every day
All this week in É
Readers yelled hooray
We broke news and sang the blues
Updates every day
All this week in É

In a Better World...There Would Be More Good News

Ever wonder why the Étudiant is so sarcastic all the time? We writers have become so disillusioned and skeptical of the people in power, and have turned this site into a place to vent and joke - to deal with it by writing. You know, a blog.

Not that we're a bunch of sad sacks - in fact, Glen and DeCarlo must be Morrissey's most upbeat fans - it's just that the news media's top priority is to turn all its consumers into Holden Caulfield. Bill O'Reilly gets you to hate Bin Laden's driver while the FOX News ticker constantly reminds us that the terrorists might strike. The corruption in China has made this year's Olympics the most controversial contest in a while.

The media has taught us how to look at the good grass on the other side of the fence and wonder why the grass on our side is a grayish shade of brown. The nation of Iraq is making so much progress, making us wonder if the mission is truly accomplished and if we can withdraw. Barry continues to inspire the world with his favorite words - hope, change, and unity - only for his chief opponent to compare him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Harsh, John.

Our cynical society doesn't want us to look forward to the future, but we try anyway. We try to help each other by writing what not to do at an airport, or by adding music to the day. We try to remember that whether things get better or things get worse, we'll always have our friends around to cheer us up.

All in all, we just have to remember that, no matter what the news media would rather have us believe, life is good. There's good people all around, and plenty of good things happening, and we Americans are especially lucky to be here. In a better world, the media would remind us of that.

Top Tan List: Weird Things That Happened This Week

Either the planets have aligned, the world is coming to an end, or God just picked this week to toy with us. Whatever the cause, this was a very strange, though very enjoyable, week. In fact, instead of the usual This Week in É format, I've put together a post of the ten weirdest moments of the past few days.

10) Confirming a few of the rumors, the Boston Red Sox traded one of their stars, Manny Ramirez, to the Dodgers. The weird thing is all the former Red Sox stars are becoming Dodgers - Manny joins Nomar and Derek Lowe! Four years ago, that was OUR lineup!

9) As you should know, I'll be leaving this site when I move in to Emerson. Subsequently, Glen dared me to reach 1, 000 posts before I depart - and I did, by tagging older, previously untagged updates. Hooray for tags!

8) On this blog, you hear a lot about a famous linguistics professor/author/political aficionado named Noam Chomsky. This week, Professor Chomsky became aware of our little site AND had a little talk with our own Glen Maganzini. Good work, Glen.

7) Chris Mogni...yes, THAT Chris Mogni...made a splash, as he tends to do, with his first work as an Étudiant - two posts about his summer homework. Don't worry, incoming juniors - the required reading doesn't get worse than Walden. You'll like some of your required reading. You really will.[/foreshadowing]

6) Chris DeCarlo makes this list not for any post he made this week, but for any post he didn't. After a couple Daily Recommendations, he disappeared from the blog to focus on his homework. Congratulations to Chris for getting a life!

5) Glen's been posting videos for a while now, but the content of those clips has gone in a direction far from the daily newscast format. This week saw the darkest, most personal, most introspective video yet, besides, of course, Rex Lam's return to Wakefield. Joking aside, check out Glen's look back on the last three years, in a video that just might destroy any chance he might have had of getting a girlfriend THIS year.

4) New Étudiants aren't too unusual. This week, we welcomed a few new additions, Mike Brisbon, Brian Hickey, Rob Reinold, Petar Todorov and...Chris Mogni. Yes, THAT Chris Mogni.

3) The other co-founder, Chris Morrill, is a bit of an insomniac. It's not weird for him to be out somewhere in another town long past midnight - but for me? Anyway, I had plenty of fun hanging with Chris and Brian Hickey on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning - and the strangest moment had to be when we were approached by the most insane stranger we've ever encountered.
She spent about ten minutes talking to us - each sentence having nothing to do with the last. It sounded something like this...
"Excuse me, but would you happen to know a restroom I could use? I like your haircut. You don't put sea kelp in your hair, do you? Because I do, and it costs 83 cents!"
I could go on, but any more would drive YOU insane.

2) Liz, Glenna Regan, and I danced the samba. This story began when Liz posted about a dance class at MIT and invited her fellow Étudiants to it. Unfortunately, only two of them went, because only two of them aren't pussies.

1) I went to a George Michael concert. I've always thought he was talented, and liked a few songs, but I never thought I'd actually go to see him at the TD Banknorth Garden. But when my cousin invited me to go, I asked, "Why not?" And you know what? It was a good show.

This Week in É: July 18-26, 2008

We've spent this week preparing for the big re-launch on September 1. É2.0 will take much more than six people to run, so we need all the help we can get. More details here.
Meanwhile, I've finally joined Glen and Chris in their video series, talking about a recent show and loudly covering favorite songs. We welcomed our promising new writer, Cameron Williams. Follow his lead and join the revolution!

This Week in É: July 10-17, 2008

Who had the best week here at the Étudiant? Perhaps it was Glen, who briefly saw Suzuki Smith on Saturday, leading me to create this tongue twister: "Someone saw Suzuki Smith Saturday." Say that five times fast. Chris and I can also brag of having gone to a great show this week. The big three of the Étudiant saw Palm, Abe Vigoda, High Places, and No Age on Monday, and will review the concert in an upcoming video!
Meanwhile, Fallon took a trip to the Union's most boring state, New Hampshire. Liz welcomed Rex Lam back from China in a video that defies description. Chris turned 18, I listened to some music, and Ryan Suh still hasn't posted since March. Come on, man.

This Week in É: July 3-10, 2008

I've realized something: the other writers are slowly, but surely, taking over. Not that that's a bad thing - I'm out of here at the end of August anyway - in fact, it's led to another big week here. Glen posted his AP History essay on Prohibition, drawing the attention of The Prohibition Era author Suzanne Lieurance. A few days later, Glen posted the hilarious viral video, "I'm Voting Republican", prompting a comment from one of the video's stars, Jason J. Baker, A.K.A. Rev. David Madison.
Meanwhile, Chris and Glen talked about Chomksy and the Minutemen, Fallon took some photos, and we all put our music players on shuffle. As for me, I'm just trying to stay tuned to the latest news. The fun never ends...and stay tuned for the much-hyped revamp, which Glen and I have been working on, along with a talented designer named Ed Vo....

This Week in É: June 26-July 3, 2008

Our writing staff got even stronger this week with the return of Liz Sullivan. Meanwhile, Glen announced some plans for a revamp. All in all, the future's looking bright...
But then again, this website is about the present, and what we, the young ones, make of it. The Étudiant marked its territory on YouTube while continuing to provide all the news that's fit to publish. Chris and Glen mused philosophically about society while Andrew Fallon bashed Hollywood's latest train wreck, The Happening. Glen criticized humanity as Chris warned us of the end, and I got a taste of a 1992 album still worth a listen today. We live in unpredictable, exciting, and slightly scary times, and the Étudiant will be here for all of it!

Half-Year in Review: January-June, 2008

2008 hasn't even ended yet, but it'll go down as a year full of news. Perhaps, years from now, people will look to our website as a time capsule of the year of the Patriots and The Love Guru. Or not.

The lack of incumbents made this year's presidential race the most unusual in recent history. John McCain won his party's nomination easily compared to the Clinton-Obama duel. Can you believe that, only months ago, the competition included people like John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson? The guy from Law and Order? My friend Glen has never been shy about his opinions, and I decided to take a stab at punditry as well with Picking the President. As both of us learned, sometimes, your favorite candidates don't make it to the final round. Gravel and Paul, we hardly knew ye. The much-hyped launch of U.N.A.M.I.D. proved disappointing for those hoping for progress in Darfur. Catherine Wagner summed it up nicely: "The guys changed their helmets from green to blue." Not much of an increase in manpower, money, supplies, or aid, and the violence continues.

April Fool's Day was quite a day for us. For 24 hours, we changed all our colors to pink, and covered the latest in celebrity gossip. We had lots of fun pissing on everything this blog stands for for a day. A little later, the death of one of the finest comedians there ever was, George Carlin, sparked many tributes from this site and beyond. Meanwhile, our own Chris DeCarlo filled the site with tributes to the object of his obsession, another great comic named Bill Hicks. These two greats continue to remind us Étudiants that, no matter how hard we try, we will never truly write anything humorous, so we should just stop trying. J.K. L.O.L.

Isn't it sad that this website has more music-related content than MTV? Who needs TV or the radio when you can stop by the Étudiant for a CD or concert review, recommended bands and songs, or even a Top Tan List? Whether it's the Smiths, Billy Joel, or Glen butchering "Bittersweet Symphony", we've got it all.
Our site's going stronger than ever, and we're looking to make the next-half year even better than the last! Keep checking us out for more politics, Darfur, Beatles worship, and dead comedians! Mahalo.

This Week in É: June 20-26, 2008

This proved to be a big week for us for a few reasons. We added two great writers to the team a few days before, Andrew Fallon and Matt Hurton, and they've already made excellent posts. Also, these guys boosted the amount of comments. We just need more people to join in the conversation!

This week will also go down as the week of Carlin. The staff is full of fans, particularly super fan Andrew Fallon. We've spent the week paying tribute to one of the funniest guys who ever lived, who's paved the way for every comic in the business. Rest in peace, George.