It’s Friday. And not just any Friday — it’s Fall Weekend Friday. For those of us staying in the jolly ol’ Ocean State, there’s not so much to do this weekend since half of the Brown community booked it onto the first MegaBus to New York. So why not make your way down to Providence Place and catch up on new movies?

Specifically, check out the new Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen dramedy (emphasis on the dra-) “50/50“. Why this film (considering that the new non-Twilight Taylor Lautner movie is out, too…)? Maybe because it’s directed by Brown alum Jonathan Levine ’00! Thanks, @BrownAlumniMag, for letting us know. (Yes, they tweet.) So get your iced coffee float at the Blue Room, and walk downtown! It’s beautiful out, so take advantage of the sun. Trust me, freshmen, it might not come back for a while…

If you’ve walked by the SciLi in the past couple of days, you may have caught a whiff of the mouth-watering aroma coming from Thayer Street’s newest addition: Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ food truck.

Lines of students greeted Mama Kim’s last Friday on opening day, so much so that they emptied the truck of all the food it had stocked up for the weekend. After re-opening on Monday, the truck’s menu offers a wide variety of traditional and contemporary dishes, such as bulgogi (marinated beef), seafood pajun (scallion pancakes), spicy pork wraps and sliders. The truck also offers vegan options, such as kimchi pajun and yuba (marinated tofu) rice.

Run by Mama Sook Kim and son Hyun ’01, the truck’s website boasts of using locally grown produce and meats. So far, the response to Mama Kim’s has been predominantly positive, with many noting the lack of other Korean restaurants around Brown.

Mama Kim’s can be found on the corner of Waterman and Brook or outside of Barus and Holley during lunch and around the corner of Thayer and Waterman, outside MacMillan, for dinner. The truck also operates late night, but posts its location via Twitter and Facebook.

And with that, Mama Kim’s gets the award for being the most social media savvy food truck.

When Julie Sygiel graduated Brown in May of 2009, she graduated not only with a degree in Chemical Engineering, but as the CEO and co-founder of her very own company: Sexy Period.

The story of Sexy Period—a company that designs high-tech lingerie for women to wear without fear of stains during their periods—began right here at Brown University. And whether or not you experience a menstrual cycle (ahem, gentlemen), read on, because the story behind Sexy Period is one of some serious entrepreneurship and innovation. [Read more →]

Laura Linney in "The Big C" — Courtesy of Showtime

Laura Linney ’86 just won a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical, for her role in Showtime’s dark comedy, “The Big C.”  She plays Cathy Jamison, a woman grappling with the changed circumstances of her life after learning that she has terminal cancer. Linney was absent from the ceremony, due to a family situation.

Congratulations to a very successful Brown alum! You make all of us look good.

OK Go (The one that went to Brown is on the right)

Rising pop-rock icon OK Go, cutting-edge eclectic foursome Neon Trees and Rhode Island-based BRU favorite Fairhaven opened the WBRU Dunkin’ Donuts Holiday BRU-haha at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel on Friday.

The atmosphere was suspenseful — the merchandise desk was aggressively handing out 3D glasses in preparation for OK Go, whose performances are known to be (sometimes absurdly) experimental — as the opening act took the stage. Fairhaven demonstrated a standard indie rock aesthetic, broken up by a percussion-heavy interlude. At times, the self-described melodic alt rock band sounds slightly like a boy band, but subtly enough to be taken seriously. Lead singer Alan Connell’s voice has hints of Incubus’ Brandon Boyd in some numbers, such as the particularly infectious single “Worth it All.” The members are also gracious, taking time after the show to chat with fans before heading off with OK Go. Fairhaven’s potential has proven high enough catapult them out of their Cumberland, RI hometown. [Read more →]

Political and media consultant, Tad Devine (Class of ’78) aided independent Linc Chafee to victory this past Tuesday in the Governor race of Rhode Island. Devine, a Providence native, ran Chafee’s campaign, making memorable local televisions ads. He has also had significant roles in the presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, and John Kerry, as well as the campaigns of various Senate and House members. It’s comforting to know that at least one Brown grad is somewhat involved in Rhode Island politics.

Lost faith in Rhode Island (excuse me) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations? Maybe this video will cheer you up. Even though it was not made by Devine, it is still amazing.

If you’re a reader of ‘The New Yorker,’ especially of the fiction section, then you probably caught the story “Extreme Solitude” in a July issue by Jeffrey Eugenides. Eugenides, who wrote “The Virgin Suicides” and “Middlesex” (which, if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend), and an alumni of Brown, uses Brown as the backdrop for this story about two Brown students studying semiotics who fall in love–or something like it. The story is good, and that it’s set at Brown makes it even more interesting and fun for a Brown student to read. Though this story is set during the 80s, maybe it will inspire some of those who are looking for love to sign up for semiotics this fall.

Click here to read Eugenides’s story.

Sofia Castello / Herald

Marshall Miller ’96 and Dorian Solot ’95, who presented on female orgasms this March to several hundred Brown students, are on their way down south to Tennessee, and to some very mixed reactions!

“We have a tendency here on campus to be very structured in what we say and what we don’t,” Carol Oglesby, coordinator of student civic engagement and physical health education said. “These folks from Brown University speak the way the students do and they talk about everything from the female orgasm to a male erection, to how you entertain your significant other sexually. And these are things we haven’t ever been able to talk about on this campus.”

On the other hand:

Chris Cahill, a Memphis junior, said he has heard about the program, but is a little uncertain about it.

“I’m convinced that the whole presentation is a lie, just like Bigfoot and the 19th Amendment.” Cahill said. “I’m just going to have to see it for myself.”

Cahill said in some instances it is better for students to figure things out for themselves instead of attending sex education programs.

“Students in the wild are in their prime, and think much more openly about sex with their friends,” Cahill said.

Ted Turner ’60 never technically graduated from Brown, but the billionaire mogul is cool with it. According to Turner, he’s OK with having had financial trouble end his tenure at the University. In a Wall Street Journal article yesterday, he boasted, “I did everything I did without a college degree. … You can be successful without it.” While that may be true, he also was expelled from Brown after he was caught living with his girlfriend. Scandalous.

He didn’t need no Brown BA to recently take about 100 bison from Yellowstone Park. I guess he didn’t hear that Brunonians no longer use wild animals as mascots anymore.

Congratulations to Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen  ’67 LLD’98 hon., an Economics concentrator who is said to be Obama’s pick for the country’s next Fed Vice Chairman.