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Now that we’re knee deep in finals commotion wouldn’t it be nice to take a break and hear a wildly successful Brown alumnus talk about his eyeglass business? Of course it would! Andy Hunt ’04 will be leading a discussion in Petteruti Lounge tonight at 6:30 p.m.on his various experiences as an entrepreneur. His coolest role is undoubtedly that of co-founder of Warby Parker, an online eyeglass company that emphasizes retro frames (think Don Draper/Truman Capote/Gatsby swag) and affordable prices. If you’re looking for another good study break today, take a minute (or an hour) perusing the company’s many styles. Glasses porn may not be a thing, but this site comes close enough. While the specs surely attract the young adult crowd, they’re also familiar enough to appeal to just about anybody, which is probably why the business recently expanded with its first brick and mortar location. As the talk is sponsored by Brown and RISD entrepreneurship groups, Hunt will surely have plenty of advice for how to get a promising concept off the ground. If you need further proof that your 20-page final research paper on [_insert esoteric topic here_] means nothing, be sure not to miss this cool thing. Once more: Today (Tuesday, May 7) in Petteruti at 6:30.

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For many of us, reading period and finals are a stressful time of papers, exams, all-nighters, and little else. And though, as we posted about last semester, it is important to give yourself a little self care, you can’t afford to blow off steam like you may have earlier in the semester. Getting drunk and going out seems nearly impossible when you’re pulling consecutive all-nighters trying to get your shit done. You can’t afford the day-long hangover, nor can you stomach a diet of Powerade and Pepto-Bismol.

If bodily destruction isn’t in the cards right now, you need an alternative. Instead of hurting your liver, why don’t you give a gift to your body this time around? Why not do it while simultaneously enhancing your studies? We know that sexual activities have all sorts of stress reducing and health beneficial properties (that don’t include destroying any internal organs), and you can do them while still being productive.

So here are Caitlin’s ‘creative’ methods for studying and being sexy:

Strip paper: We’ve all heard of strip poker, strip monopoly, strip crazy eights (okay, maybe some of us haven’t heard of that one)—now it’s time to welcome strip paper! All you need is any form of a written assignment to work on, and the concept is simple: for every paragraph you write, you remove an article of clothing.  For all you kids out there with ten-page papers: things are about to get sexy. [Read more →]

Finals have rolled around again, which means our cravings for scruffy dogs’ luv are at an all-time high. Unfortunately, we can’t literally give you dogs to cuddle, but we hope this installation of DogDH will tide you over until you track one down yourself. Keep the pics coming to blog@browndailyherald.com, and keep killing it in your end-of-semester shenanigans. We love you and you’re magnificent and you’re all doing great. (That’s what we imagine dogs would say if they could talk.)

John’s dog, Lach.

John Qua ’13: Both Lach and JQ “have long flowing blond locks, can devour inordinate amounts of ice cream, and prefer to be laying in people’s laps.”

Mary-Evelyn’s dog, Puppy.

The story of Puppy’s arrival in Mary-Evelyn Farrior ’14′s family is the best: “He showed up on our doorstep two years ago and has just stuck around ever since. He is the love of my life. This Halloween costume always kills me. He was also ironically stung by a bumblebee and had a severe allergic reaction on that very day. Although we lack great physical similarities, Puppy and I share an affinity for sleeping and snuggling that makes us rather alike in character.” [Read more →]

Then + Now

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.

People might know me as…
The funny guy who studies math and says “dude” and “bro” and “sick” way too much.

In my time at Brown, I am most proud of…
Coming out of my shell, and learning how to relax and enjoy life. I’m still trying to figure out the right way to measure success, but I definitely got it wrong my first two years here. I was afraid to try new things, to meet new people, and to focus on anything other than schoolwork.

My friends taught me to balance work with fun, step out of my comfort zone, and smile a little more (a lot more). They keep me grounded! [Read more →]

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.

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The ever joyous and festive Cinco de Mayo tends to fall during a not-so-festive reading period for Brown students. Sure, this timing may be less than ideal, but engaging in the Cinco de Mayo festivities is a welcome break from the tedium of studying. Need a study break? Here are six reasons why you should check out the 3rd Annual Cinco de Mayo Block Party, taking place today from 12-6 p.m. on Westminster between Eddy and Clemence.

1. Face painting. Everyone needs to regress a bit, especially during finals.
2. Mariachi de Brown. Bet you didn’t know we had a mariachi band.
3. Curious as to where all your favorite food trucks are? They may or may not be on dishing out on Westminster. Go say hello to Like No Udder, Sprout, Mijos, and PVD Pudding Pops, among others.
4. Writer’s block? You can write Happy Cinco de Mayo messages on a Mini Cooper courtesy of ZipCar.  Get those creative juices flowing.
5. Stressed? Smash a Pinata…or two.
6. If you’re of age, get your tequila fix at the Block Party’s outdoor bar. It’s a beautiful day, and margaritas are calling your name.

See you there!

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For those of you who haven’t heard about Lulu, it’s an app that lets girls rate guys. It’s advertised as ”the first database of men, built by women, for women.” The app is only accessible to girls with Facebook accounts and claims to be “as private as you want it to be.”  The app also has a counterpart for males, allowing them to see the general feedback they have received, in addition to receiving”tips and insights about the mysterious world of women.”

Let’s run down our opinions on it, shall we?

Charlotte:

According to Cosmopolitan, Lulu is is the lovechild of Sex and the City and Facebook. I am not so sure. Why? Because Sex and the City rocks and this app kind of sucks. Upon initially hearing about Lulu, on a scale of one-to-puke, I wanted run to the toilet and clutch my stomach for dear life. After cruising for a solid three hours twenty minutes, I realized, however, that this app has major trolling potential. I am going to share exactly how this app grinds my gears, but also why it’s mildly hilarious.

Prepare yourselves because I’m about to go all Upton Sinclair in the The Jungle‘s meatpacking district.

99 Problems and they’re all about Lulu– There are definitely some serious problems with Lulu. For example, the app is painfully hetereonormative (…can I graduate now?). Ignoring Lulu’s other problems, simply look at the fact that it only allows girls to access the app to only rate guys. A massive red flag should be going up right about now. We live in world where plenty of people don’t adhere the Lulu norm, but ladies, its all okay in the end because “Lulu gives [you] the power to be Taylor Swift,” according to its blog: “Enough said.”

Hold up… I’m sorry, what?

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As impending finals threaten to suck the humor and happiness out of our daily lives, the Brown comedy community is working hard to get in a few last laughs. Starla, Improvidence, Out of Bounds, and Brown Stand Up put on well-attended shows last weekend. The Brown Noser released its final issue of the semester this week. Tonight, the trend continues with a first-of-its kind event-a live show from Brown Barrel Radio.

The Brown Barrel is an umbrella organization that includes most of Brown University’s comedy groups. Every two weeks, members offer up a podcast of off-the-cuff comedy in their Radio Show. The episodes are packed with sketches, routines and–most importantly–jingles. Tonight, the Barrel Radio Show will be bringing their typically recorded antics to a live audience. They’ve never raised the stakes like this. Will we be introduced to a new jingle? Will there be live renditions of said jingle? Come to Wilson 102 at 7 p.m. tonight to see for yourself. And while you’re on the comedy grind, check out Improvidence and OoB’s 2nd Annual Freaky Friday show at 9:30.

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This is supposed to be “Paola.”

Ever notice how your cup at Starbucks has interesting phonetic variations of your name, but never quite the right one? Well I haven’t, because I don’t actually go to Starbucks. But Tumblr knows what you’re talking about. And so does Virginia. Ouch.

So why is this phenomenon so common at Starbucks? Well, maybe your barista actually has malicious intent, like this devil. Maybe you stuttered. Or, the most likely explanation: your name is just weird.

The solution to this serious problem appeared to me like a donut during finals period. If you provide your real name, you get a Starbucks-ified one on your cup. So if you tell your barista your Starbucks-ified name, they’ll mark down every Latin character of your name in beautiful black felt marker for all the world to behold! Flawless logic!

In any case, after tirelessly analyzing pictures of incorrectly-spelled names for many an hour, I have extracted the secret Starbucks name encoding algorithm and made it available to you — for free! You’ll never have to worry about some rando named “Berry” picking up the iced coffee for which you, Mary, waited so patiently. You need that overpriced caffeine to get you through finals, and you need it now, amirite? Check it out after the jump.

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