— BlogDailyHerald

Senior Send-off: On growing up

By: Ariel Pick / May 12, 2013 / 1 Comment /

Then + Now… yeah, I’m one of those “same face in every picture” people

When I first got to Brown in September 2009, I was lacking all kinds of life experience. Never been kissed. Never been drunk. Never gotten anything less than a B+ in a class (screw you too, AP Euro). I can say with confidence that none of those statements apply to me anymore (screw you too, Math 35). Milestones aside, though, it’s kind of astonishing to look back and see just how far I’ve come. At the start of my freshman year, I may as well have been thirteen years old for my lack of maturity. Now, well, I probably don’t always fit my parents’ definition of how a 22-year-old should act, but I’m pretty sure I at least match Taylor Swift’s.

The thought of graduating and entering the “real world” is terrifying. I’m one of the lucky ones with a cushion under me, what with my moving back home and going to grad school and all, and it’s still scary. I’m not going to have to deal with broken appliances in some crappy apartment and I’m not futilely searching for jobs, yet I’m still fighting the urge to look at May 26^th like the Mayans were off by five months and the world as I know it will end. Continue Reading

In case you haven’t realized, Arrested Development comes back on Commencement

By: Ariel Pick / May 5, 2013 / 1 Comment /

As pretty much anyone who knows me can testify, I’m a crazy-huge Arrested Development fan. So when I heard that a fourth season was actually, finally happening, I reacted something like this:

I immediately started to plan what I’d do when the episodes were released all at once. I saw myself curled up on the couch for seven hours straight with nothing but my suitemate’s Netflix account and a giant thing of candy beans. And then Netflix announced the release date: May 26th, otherwise known as the same day that I’ll be walking through the Van Wickle Gates and graduating from Brown. And it felt a lot like this:

In these days, spoilers are everywhere the second new episodes go up (see Thrones, Game of), which makes it a lot harder to accept that I won’t be able to watch them right away (#firstworldproblems). Of course, there’s always the option of pulling an all-nighter to watch them before Commencement – since they’ll be up on Netflix promptly at 12:00 a.m. – but I’m pretty sure that would leave me walking through the gates feeling like this.

As the class of 2013 moves on to become activists, actors, and analrapists, at least we can watch Arrested Development post-ceremony and after our awkward family dinners to feel better about the fact that college is over. After all, happy tastes kinda like sad.

Images via, via

Celeb Watch: Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana somewhere in the vicinity of campus

By: Ariel Pick / April 12, 2013 / No Comments /

A week ago, Eastside Marketplace’s Facebook page posted this picture, inciting collective flailing from those of us who both “like” Eastside Marketplace on Facebook and can’t resist the allure of celebrity culture (I can see the MCM class titles now…).

Apparently Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana will be in Providence for the next month and a half or so, filming a movie currently titled Infinitely Polar Bear. Luckily for us, there’s just about a month and a half left of the semester and Providence is not a very big city. We’re planning on keeping our eyes open for the pair – word on the street is that they were filming near Keeney this week.

If you’ve spotted Mark and Zoe, tweet @BlogDailyHerald using the hashtag #ruffwatch (sorry, Zoe – it just flows better!). Here’s to six weeks of ~~sketchy~~ photos that will make all your friends at other schools jealous!

Last Call: Chris Fitzsimmons

By: Ariel Pick / April 4, 2013 / No Comments /

Until the class of 2013 grows up and leaves us, BlogDH wants to highlight all the interesting things the class has been up to. Each featured senior will tag another senior for the next installment. Find this year’s other “Last Call” chain here.

Then + Now

People might know me as… a few different things I think. It depends on whom you ask. For some, I’m the guy who went to Russia to study acting. For others I’m that guy who played Tomtom in PW’s production of Goose and Tomtom. And then of course there are those who know me as the guy who wears plaid shirts a lot and big sweaters.

In my time at Brown, I am most proud of… all the friendships I’ve made. I know, a lot of seniors have already given this answer, but I think that’s a testament to how spectacular our student body is. I really couldn’t have asked for more supportive, loyal, honest and entertaining friends. I’m proud to have such great people in my life and to have shared four fantastic years with them.

On a Friday night, you might find yourself… going to an opening show at PW or the GCB. Actually, most of the time I’m doing both. However, back when I lived on campus, and before I was 21, I was usually playing Bananagrams, Slap Cup, or laser tag in the outside courtyard of Grad Center. And how can I forget the Gate and Jo’s? I spent far too many Friday nights closing out both those places. Continue Reading

Last Call: Ben Freeman

By: Ariel Pick / March 21, 2013 / No Comments /

As the semester progresses at the speed of light, the senior class is beginning to make peace with that fateful day in May: Commencement. Until the class of 2013 leaves us, BlogDH wants to highlight all the interesting things the class has been up to. To this end, we are (re)starting the series, Last Call, featuring seniors reflecting on their experiences at Brown. Each featured senior will tag another senior for the next installment. Find this year’s other “Last Call” chain here!

Then + Now

People might know me as… that guy in the Bear Necessities who sings that song at Christmas, probably!

In my time at Brown, I am most proud of… I think that I have taken the injunction to sort of cultivate one’s inner life really seriously, and I’ve always been an introspective, reflective sort of person but I think that element has greatly enlarged itself since being here – sometimes to a fault, frankly, and sometimes in a sort of debilitating way. But generally I do think that I make an effort these days in a way that I didn’t before coming to Brown to just be mindful as much as I possibly can with as many things as possible.

On a Friday night, you might find yourself… I’m often thinking about having a glass of wine, but then I usually just fall asleep instead – I’m too tired to actually follow through on that action! Or I’m at a party and I’m significantly less drunk than anyone else. Basically, the thesis is that I’m really old. Continue Reading

A Valentine’s Day pep talk

By: Ariel Pick / February 14, 2013 / No Comments /

Hey, you. Yeah, you. You, sitting there reading this with tears rolling down your face as you gnaw at a giant Hershey’s Kiss your mom sent you. Okay, that’s not you – that was me, Valentine’s Day 2010. Trust me, I of all people know how much it sucks to be alone on Valentine’s Day. I wrote a whole post about it last year, too. But here’s the first thing you can feel better about: your Valentine’s Day probably won’t be anywhere near as pathetic as mine was three years ago.

I know that it’s easy to feel like you’re the only single person on a campus full of couples, whether or not that’s actually true. Three of the seven serenades that will inevitably happen in City Politics this morning might be jokes sent between friends, but you don’t know that. On Valentine’s Day, it’s easy to put on those black heart-shaped sunglasses and see romance everywhere.