Posts by Esmé Ricciardi

Because this concert is gonna be a WORKOUT.

Welcome to the 12 days of Spring Weekend. ‘Tis the season to listen to Kendrick Lamar on repeat, to follow the exploits of Furby, and to drink beer at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday. But most of all, it’s the season to wear tanks. A lot of us feel the need to get in killer shape, fast. After a long winter of bulky sweaters and heavy coats to cover up our scrawny, weak arms, some of us are slowly starting to panic about the prospect of taking off our sleeves. If this is you, never fear! Blog is here to help you get in shape, while still you keep in the Spring Weekend spirit. Check out some Spring Weekend-themed workout suggestions after the jump. [Read more →]

Before campus gets completely overrun by nervous high school seniors for ADOCH, unwind a little at the Brown Folk Festival. Perfectly timed with this bizarrely sudden start of spring, the festival is this Saturday, the 13th from noon until midnight. Assuming that the weather stays as lovely as it has been, the festival will start on Lincoln Field Simmons Quad and move to Sayles at 6 p.m. Beyond the awesome music and the opportunity to show off your folksy dance skills, there will be local food and craft vendors, awesome student designed t-shirts on sale, and jam circles.

Check out what acts from all over New England this FREE concert features after the jump. [Read more →]

Even Marcus Aurelius thinks you should be getting involved with the Folk Festival.

If you’ve ever dreamed of growing up and becoming the person who designs the official 2013 Brown Folk Festival T-shirts, you’re finally in luck. This annual music celebration is being held on April 13th, and those organizing the festival are looking for a talented artist to help them out this year.

The requirements:

• Pick ONE background color
• Use up to TWO additional colors for the design itself
• Include the terms “Brown Folk Festival” and “April 13″
• Submit a Photoshop or Illustrator document, color-separated by layer
• Submit to brownfolktee@gmail.com by March 23

If you’re feeling a little lost, go ahead and check out some past winners at the Brown Folk Festival website.

Folk yeah!

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Heavy Petting is back and it’s not just adorable dogs this time; it’s a full-out petting zoo. Taking a cue from our friends in Canada, the University knows that there is no better cure for stress during midterms than adorable animals, so they’ll be bringing baby pigs, bunnies, and other cute fluffy creatures to Wriston Quad from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Enjoy!

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Love is in the (virtual) air

I think we can all agree that Valentine’s Day is usually much more depressing than it is enjoyable. When you’re a kid, you’re sad because that girl with the blonde hair and 10 Tamagotchis got more cards with Spongebob or puppies on them than you. As an adult, you’re in a relationship and experiencing some sort of a crisis about whether or not you should be together. It goes something like this:

• Does he really not believe in commercial holidays or does he not respect me enough to celebrate with me? And do I really want to date the pretentious cheapskate who doesn’t believe in commercial holidays?

Or like this:

• Does he really think that a V-Dub cupcake is a substantial gift?

Or you’re horribly, horribly alone.

Maybe that’s just me. But it’s universally acknowledged that February 14th can lead to pretty nasty feelings. Perhaps one of the worst situations to be in on Valentine’s Day is in a long-distance relationship. LDRs are tragically common among college-goers and if you, like many, will not be with your significant other this Hallmark holiday season, never fear! Blog is here to give you some suggestions on how to make this Valentine’s Day less lonely:

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If you, like me, arrived home this Thanksgiving and realized you have a) gained a few pounds, b) caused your cholesterol to shoot up by 60 points by eating late-night Jo’s, and/or c) not really been keeping up with the whole “eating your vegetables” thing, you’re probably one of many college students who fails to eat well without your mother on campus incessantly nagging, “for the love of god, eat some green beans.”

We know that it can be hard to know where to start with eating healthy, so you might want to hit up Eating Healthy at Brown, a panel by MEDLIFE. Brown nutritionists, Anne Buffington and Gina Guiducci, will be in Wilson 102 today at 3:30 p.m, to talk about why you shouldn’t be eating Jo’s salads that consist entirely of cheese, how to work some vitamin A into your diet, and what you can eat now that you’ve become one of those liberal Brown hippies that doesn’t eat animal products.

Just as a heads-up: The rules don’t apply on December 9th. Sometimes you just need to stuff yourself with cookies.

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Ahh, Halloween. Cady Heron was right when she said that it’s the one night a year when girls (and boys. Don’t be so heteronormative) can be more scantily clad than usual and no one can say anything about it. And thanks to Halloween falling on a Wednesday, we get to experience two weekends chock full of bear-it-all costumes. Although the “which weekend should I go out” question might be bothering you (the answer is both, by the way), here’s the REAL question that should plague your every thought: “How am I supposed to come up with a different, hot costume EVERY night?” Have no fear, we have prepared eight simple and oh-so Brown-related costume ideas that will totally make you the hottest Brunonian around. We’ve even added a pick-up lines! Take a look after the jump. [Read more →]

When I say Chatroulette, you say sketchy. The creepy folks of the internet (and be honest with yourself, you’re probably one of them) absolutely love the concept of being able to anonymously talk to random strangers without any personal accountability. Maybe it’s because we like being able to do and say whatever we want (and I mean whatever). Maybe it’s because we like being another person for a little while.

Regardless, now you can have random nameless/faceless conversations with other Brown students. Brown juniors (who wish to remain anonymous) have created the rapidly growing “Convos“. Just click the link and you can sign up via Facebook (you need to be in the Brown network, which is how it’s kept within Brunonia only) and input your phone number in order to receive a text from the service. From there, you get connected with another Brown student, who gets matched to you according to your Facebook interests. You’re told the gender, class year, and interests of your chat partner… and from there, it’s up to you. You can end the conversation or start an additional one (you can have more than one going) at any time.

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When RI resident Lynne Taylor and her former husband, Craig Fontaine ended things, they, as many divorced couples do, moved into separate houses… 50 feet away from each other. Healthy? Not even close. Shockingly enough, the situation did not lead to a pleasant, neighborly relationship or a sitcom.

It appears that Taylor, who lived alone with her pet cockatoo, trained the bird to scream obscenities, including “f*cking whore” and “f*ck off,” and then apparently allowed the bird to direct these remarks toward Fontaine’s new girlfriend, Kathleen Melker. This is not the first problem to arise between the neighbors. There is a three-inch binder of police reports and complaints, including an incident where someone spray-painted a mural of a cockatoo on the side of a structure near Taylor’s house.

The defense lawyer (sporting a cockatoo spangled tie) failed to convince the judge that Taylor should not have to pay the $15 fine issued to her for violating animal noise laws. Melker was pleased with the outcome and told reporters that, ”the evidence spoke for itself. The bird spoke for itself.”

The bird was not available for comment.

You’ve made it through a horrifyingly awkward dance. You’ve carried your mini fridge up four flights of stairs. You’ve survived the anxiety-ridden experience that is registration. Now it’s time to march into battle and win the ultimate prizes: glory, victory, bragging rights, and gift cards to that movie theater that you’ll only go to when you’re trying to show the person you’re dating how “cultured” you are. Clad in your tribe’s colors with passion in your heart, you charge the field  casually wander onto the field and wonder why the majority of your unit isn’t here yet. (Answer: they’re hungover.)

Eventually, after an extended period of waiting around and trying to maintain awkward conversations with people you’ve only really known for six days, the tension mounts. Your RPLs make efforts to pump you up and when they fail, some over-hyped and over-excited fellow freshman will end up jumping on a table and letting out some guttural war cry. You’ll inevitably hear the ever-classic and somehow competitive phrase “This is Sparta” over and over and over again. You will half-heartedly join in, but someone will notice your lack of enthusiasm and force you to get up on the table as well… and this is not the first time you will be embarrassed today, so get used to it. The Brown Band marches by, playing Top 40 songs and you awkwardly hum along before you realize that everyone else at this school listens to really “underground” music and that they’re probably judging you for knowing an entire Taylor Swift song, so you quickly stop.

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