The summer is finally here!—well, almost here. Recently I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite things to do in the summer, and many of those things are specific to my home state of New Jersey. That’s right, I’m from what the rest of the country calls the armpit of America, but what I know to be the greatest state in the Union. I’m sure everybody in every part of the country has summers filled with pool parties and barbecues,…
Vietnamese food has been a part of the diverse American food scene as far back as 1975. Undeniably, pho has always come up as that OG orgasmic dish that appears on the menus of literally all Vietnamese restaurants in the States. The name also probably represents the entire Vietnamese cuisine in most foreigners’ mind. However, as someone who grew up in the country, I have a different perspective on this treat. Pho is not as big as you may think it…
As a self-proclaimed gourmand and MasterChef (they still won’t return my calls), I’ve spent a fair bit of time behind the handle of a frying pan. Growing up in a home where the kitchen was as much an art studio as it was a place to prepare food, I accrued an appreciation for cuisine that was more than stomach-deep. More recently, living in senior housing has provided me with the opportunity to flex my palate and cook up a…
Very rarely does an episode from a mediocre TV show appear out of nowhere and change your life. Even more rarely is that episode a bottle episode. However, season 4 episode 6 of Fox’s New Girl aired years ago and completely changed everything I thought I knew about comedy. This episode, called Background Check, starts with Winston (Lamorne Morris) warning everyone in the loft that, in order to pass police academy, his supervisor is coming over to perform a routine…
I was never a fan of Japanese horror. For a scaredy-cat like me, it takes a lot of courage to take on movies like Ringu or The Grudge. Although I am aware that there usually is a close connection between movies and comics as they are both under the umbrella of culture, my perception of Japanese manga is completely isolated from that of movies and bound to more lighthearted series like Doraemon, Naruto and Avatar. I never thought of trying…
Vassar always seems like a place that brings different fields together or highlights the diversity within a certain field. As a college that began as a women’s college, Vassar always seemed like a place that welcomed intellectual exploration in different fields regardless of what the social norms and expectations are for people. This week I had the privilege of listening to Hope Jahren, a woman who studies plants, while she shared some of how she came to be in her…
Welcome back, intrepid adventurer and slayer of all things draconic! Last time, we looked at Ability Scores and class features, and how best to combine to two into a solid character foundation. In this post, we’ll be picking a race for our character, choosing an appropriate background, and spinning a backstory worthy of the mightiest of heroes. Without further ado, let’s jump right in. Step 2: Picking a Race and Alignment The list of Dungeons and Dragons races is a…
Midterms Week. That simple phrase which strikes students with a fear second only to the dreaded Finals Week. Many of us just went through one of the toughest weeks of the academic year. It’s that time which has been designated by all professors to do heavily weighted assignments at once. Just great, isn’t it? I’m sure there have been sleepless nights, lots of coffee, papers, tests, final projects, the list goes on. I for one will need Spring Break to…
So you want to kill a dragon. Good, I like your enthusiasm. But hold you fantasy horses. Before you go delving into dungeons, rescuing townsfolk, and looting shiny trinkets, you’re going to have to figure out who you are first. How do you fight? What do you look like? Why do you do the things that do you? These questions and more are all answered during the first and most essential step to any Dungeons and Dragons campaign: character creation….
Characters: Will Self Edger Allen Poe Hilary Mantel Kazuo Ishiguro Margaret Atwood Setting: A dark cellar. Will Self stands by a small bare bulb. He has just finished putting the final masonry on a walled up section of the cellar. Margaret Atwood floats 5 feet of the ground in a Jules Verne inspired dirigible. Kazuo Ishiguro stands somewhere in the room dressed as a knight. Hillary Mantel points a sniper rifle out the only window in the cellar, staring intently…