Posts by Zack Mezera

Every year, the citizens of Providence gather together in Who-like fashion to self-consciously sing a love ballad to their city: Providence City Hall hosts the Fourth Annual “I Heart Providence” event tonight (2/9) from 6-8 pm.

While times may be tough – and times are tough – it turns out that there are still plenty of things to celebrate; those who venture down to City Hall tonight can be sure to find some of the best live music, food from local restaurants, people and organizations that Providence has to offer.

Who knows, maybe your heart will even grow a few sizes. Oh, and it’s free. 

Image via.

Come down to the Providence Performing Arts Center at 6 pm tonight to celebrate our quirky little city’s 375th! Rub shoulders with the politicians and local celebs, enjoy performances from local darlings Deer Tick and Area 401 (get it???), and vote with your pocketbook in the Food Truck Challenge!

Tickets are cheap, and all proceeds go to the Providence Public Library. More info here: HERE

It’s going to be a nice time. Hope to see you there!

Let’s face it, here at Brown there’s just not enough time in the day to waste it walking hither and thither. Your brutal schedule of Russian Lit and AMCV0190E demands that you methodically obliterate every single superfluous second of transit time. We here at BlogDH want to help: by availing of some “EPIC shortcuts” that, over time, could literally add days to your life, you can use the extra time to play Farmville, read Sartre, or refresh the Blog page to increase our hits! The insider tips [Part 2!] to navigating Brown’s campus at near-lightning speed are after the jump: [Read more →]

Let’s face it, here at Brown there’s just not enough time in the day to waste it walking hither and thither. Your brutal schedule of Russian Lit and AMCV0190E demands that you methodically obliterate every single superfluous second of transit time. We here at BlogDH want to help: by pointing out some “EPIC shortcuts” that, over time, could literally add days to your life, you can use the extra to play Farmville, read Sartre, or refresh the Blog page so to increase our hits! The insider tips to navigating Brown’s campus at near-lightning speed are after the jump:

[Read more →]

There’s a scary presence on Brown’s campus. It’s up in your dorm room interrupting your study time. It attacks classes by the dozens. It’s stretching its gangrenous arms into your daily conversations, your romantic life, your Facebook news feed. Try as hard you can, you can’t escape…

…from The Huffington Post. That’s right, HuffPost: Brown’s lowest common denominator. Its obnoxious green banner is ubiquitous — if you don’t believe me, just sit in the back row of Intro IR sometime. But why do we settle for HuffPost? Why do we put up with the sensational and bewildering headlines? How do we live with ourselves, seeing that right sidebar populated with such well-researched stories as “The Shortest Shorts You’ve Ever Seen“; “Verdict Handed Down in Pooper-Scooper Trial“; and “Pumpkin Bump” (yeah, click that one)? And those stories are all from Wednesday, by the way.

There must be a better way. There are. Check out these alternative default pages for news:

[Read more →]

Yesterday at 5 pm, in solidarity with Occupy movements all over the world, thousands of protestors met at Burnside Park next to Kennedy Plaza and proceeded to march around the city of Providence. Among them were a few dozen students from Brown University. With the help of the Providence police department, traffic was blocked off on certain roads so protestors could pass through. The march passed by Providence Place Mall, the State capital building, then ended up back at Burnside Park. People of all different ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds came together to show our country’s and our world’s leaders that people are fed up with the current political and financial system. The official occupation of Burnside Park began last night and will continue indefinitely.

(We apologize in advance for the blurriness of some of the photos, shit got a little nuts at times).  [Read more →]

Brown University is an eclectic place–like a hipster Hogwarts–so shouldn’t it have some cool secret places to match? Secret Sundays isn’t exactly going to break the news on a Brown ‘Room of Requirement’, but these are the kinds of places where, if you found them on the Brown University video game, there would be a little chime sound and some treasure. But we’re not going to tell you where they are…the photo’s just a hint–do some exploring on your lazy Sunday!

Our first secret spot is a room on campus where you’re not only allowed, but encouraged to paint on the walls. Just remember to clean off your brushes for the next set of explorers. Happy hunting!

I have a certain friend—let’s call him K—with whom I share an absolutely uncanny number of similarities. Recommending books that the other is already reading, having the same color Nalgene, things like that. So when we saw Ides early last night (of course we saw it on the same day), K texted me “For real don’t go”. Talk about conflicted: my doppelganger’s literally warning me not to see a movie, but I have this review to write… I watched it, of course. But K was right: for real don’t go.

Everything that I think Aaron Sorkin gets right, this movie gets completely wrong. The exaggeration George Clooney puts into Ides (he both acts and directs) is oriented in the absolute wrong direction: toward immense understatement. Real campaigns are a deliberately insane process, a full year of chickens running around without their heads. Yet somehow the candidate’s national media manager (Ryan Gosling) has the free time to go out for drinks nightly, sleep with the intern and question his broader morals. We get scenes of the campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) getting a haircut and lying on his bed smoking. Even the critical conversations between top-level staffers take place at a snail’s pace and everyone speaks in turn, as if they’re in a mid-level seminar rather than on the cusp of an election. Campaigning is the most exciting and stressful work in the world, and if they’re ever boring, it’s only because they’re so consistently thrilling. There’s very little thrilling here.  [Read more →]

Keepin’ It Reel is a weekly to biweekly movie column that aims to do reviews the Brown way: by waxing philosophical and perhaps using the word “hegemony.” If there’s an upcoming movie that you, gentle reader, would like reviewed, don’t only mildly hesitate to place your requests below.

Moneyball tells the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), manager of the Oakland A’s (whose mascot either is the letter “A” or a really tiny elephant) and controversial pioneer in applying statistical reductionism (“sabermetrics“) to America’s Favorite Pastime. Along the way, Billy befriends a Yale econ grad (Jonah Hill), has a falling out with his team manager (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), and even learns a little about being a father. If that sounds about as thrilling as, say, a “Facebook movie”, then you’re actually onto something: this little ditty was written by West Wing mastermind and recent guest of Brown Aaron Sorkin. But that doesn’t mean it’s anywhere near as good. [Read more →]

The Class of ’15 has been on campus for a few weeks now, and if you’re anything like I was at that point in my budding Brown career (i.e., adventurous, handsome, a lover of long walks, etc.), then I bet you’re growing weary of the offerings on Thayer Street. Sure, Thayer’s the most popular Brown stomping ground for a reason, and it definitely has its hidden gems, but one can only alternate daily falafel and pizza cones for so long. So, if there’s a single piece of advice I – in my Yoda-like wisdom – can impart to the incoming class, it’s something like, “Explore the city, you must!” This primer to Brown-relevant Providence streets is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a start. Bookmark this list, introduce yourself to these streets, seduce them and love them, and I promise each one will be worth the walk: [Read more →]