The beginning of the night I didn't remember

Colin went as Charlie from Always Sunny, complete with Riot Juice that
proved to be both of our downfalls.

Missing Photo!

WOAH, I don't think we ever snapped a shot of our secret Mansuite squares behind the bathroom door (!?!??!) A beer on me to whoever (Mansuite or not) can first get a photo of these bi-colored quadrilateral remnants of manly nirvana that was EC H1006 2008-2009 to the following address:

winstoncb@gmail.com

Mansuite lives

Like one of those flatworms which you cut apart in 8th grade science class and then somehow all the pieces you butchered remained alive and began to regrow into individual worming wormy things--that's the parable of mansuite's members.

Summer is over. One year ago to this date we were crashing over the rips in a small motorboat off the coast of Cape May, NJ. Now we may all be in separate boats, but we all exist on the same sea--the sea of life. And before this gets any more corny, a recap of what all of us are doing.

Jon--Couldn't get enough of beautiful California, and despite all his pleadings, he unfortunately was torn away and forced to march onwards to France, since he had already paid astronaut tuition and they'll be damned if he's not getting on that spaceship now.

Tom--Got tired of his morning-til-night backbreaking internship of laying bricks in Switzerland and built a robot who will do it for him. The robot is coming to New York to lay bricks in an exhibit there. He now returns to Philadelphia for a Salabol selling marathon.

Winston--Packed up his belongings, caulked the wagon, forded the river and headed for the desert. Nobody has heard from him since.

Jordan--Surfed and lounged in the sun for 10 weeks straight in Papa New Guinea. On the last day he wrote an 8 page paper (double-spaced, 1.5 inch margins) about surf culture in paradise, thus fulfilling his obligations as an anthropology major. He heads to Australia now to hope to do it again.

Colin--Began his acting career running puppet shows in small-town Minnesota. Soon he was discovered and began featuring in independent films in the area. Now he is big-time living in New York and becoming a star. And it only took 8 weeks!

Michael--Picked a name out of a hat and moved to Boston randomly. He deletes porn for a living and basically deals with the 9-to-5 drudgery of life. He also wrote an ebook and learned that his website will rank higher in search listings if it has other websites linking to it. The book is a resource to help prepare students for succeeding on their exams and the website is http://www.examstudytips.com . Putting that link here may or may not have been the entire reason for writing this post.

The Beginning of a New Chapter

Whitewashed, dismantled, disfigured, H1006 has regressed to its primitive, sterile, initial state. But infused within two particularly colorful hidden squares, all of the memories persist (picture to come). 

VIVE LA MANSUITE

Yes we know!

Here's the plan for SEAS class day tomorrow morning.

Order of Events
-Procession
-Welcome Remarks
-Salutatory Remarks
-President Bollinger’s Remarks
-Presentation of the Class Gift by Senior Fund
-Dean Navratil’s Remarks and Presentation of Faculty Awards
-Alumni Remarks and Presentation of Faculty Teaching Awards
-Presentation of Student Awards and Prizes
-Valedictory Remarks
-Keynote Speaker Remarks
-Class President’s Remarks
-Reading of the Names and Presentation of Class Pins (Give your name card to the Advising Dean stationed to the right of the stage. You will then process across the stage to be congratulated by the Dean and the President, and to receive your class pin. Please return to your seat for the remainder of the ceremony.)
-Singing of Stand Colombia and Roar, Lion, Roar
-Recession

Men of letters

We will soon be them, so we'd better start acting like them.

Study break, extreme edition

A couple of us felt like we had been studying for too long on Friday, so we decided to take a little study break. No, this wasn't cupcakes on the Lerner ramp or an a capella concert; we had something a little more exciting in store for our weekend.

Saturday, 7:45am: Load skis in car, depart Lyme, NH



8:50am: Stop for Andrew to pee.

10:55am: Arrive Pekham's notch, Mt. Washington, NH 103 miles later.

11:15am: Gear up for the trail.



1:20pm: Arrive at base of Tuckerman's ravine, 2 miles and 1700 feet later.



1:34pm: While booting up at rocks at base run, watch a bloodied man with a broken nose tumble 800 feet to our location.

1:35pm: Scream for medic.

1:36pm: Have doubts about whether this is a good idea.

1:45pm: Begin ascent

1:49pm: Andrew: "Is this going to be one those times I regret following you, MC?"



2:35pm: Arrive at top of ravine, 1200 feet later, witness house-sized chuck of ice crack off on opposite wall and crash down to the Lunch Rocks.



2:39pm: Look down near-vertical cornice at top of headwall. Feel like vomiting and defecating simultaneously.

2:41pm: Telemarker suiting up at the top: "You climb up here over those icy rocks, you see avalanches and ice crash down over out there, you look down at this huge expanse of mountain and get the sensation of it all being really epic. Don't let the mountain get to you, at the end of the day-- it's just fucking skiing."

2:44pm: Jump off first. Enter couloir.

2:45:36pm: Exit couloir.

2:46pm: Reaffirm value of living. Relegate stresses of life within larger perspective of the everlasting universe of the sublimity of infinite nature.

2:47pm: Decide to do it again.

2:48pm: Watch Andrew charge down.



2:52pm: Watch George lose an edge entering the hourglass. Watch George slide towards rocky precipice. Watch George get caught by mercy of the bushes on the outcropping.

2:53pm: Hike up to retrieve his equipment.

3:01pm: Make George film me skiing out partway out of couloir into bowl.

3:02pm: See sky. See snow. See sky. See snow. See sky. See snow. See snow. Evaluate body diagnostics.



3:04pm: Recover only to see George lose balance and fall right at me. Jump out of way at last second.

[3:04pm at ravine floor as related by Andrew: Become the laughing stock of the lunch crowd at our Marx brothers routine.]

3:10pm: Hike up and make George film attempt two.



4:15pm: Hike out to car with everybody relatively intact.

5:15pm: Arrive at parking lot right as torrential downpour begins.

5:25pm: Pull off road to permit rain to pass.

7:42pm: Stop at Wal-Mart to let George get flowers for mother's day.

8:15pm: Arrive at driveway, nearly drive over downed live power lines across driveway. Save everybody's life by shouting.

8:17pm Pick way around downed power lines, encounter 5 blown-down trees on driveway and destruction at the house. George becomes severely frustrated.



9:10pm: Begin chainsawing trees.

10:45pm: Finish chainsawing and hauling. Get beer and enter hot tub. Sweet, merciful hot tub.

Needless to say, we didn't get back until Sunday. 1200 miles of driving, 6 miles of hiking and 7000 feet elevation change, all for 1 minute and 30 seconds of bliss. Can we consider it a "ski day"?

Prioritizing

Nothing like a monsoon-scale rainstorm to help you prioritize your studying.



And nothing like an extra couple of warm bodies to make the shower better:

Colin is king!

On Quigly's throne.

And I declare myself king of this blog because nobody posts anymore.

Relevant to my Interests

Thank you google adsense, for your deft insights into my consumer purchasing habits:


Contrary to popular belief, you can actually click on photos to make them larger

The Roman Forum! A Chance to Learn

Today, we are talking about the ancient Roman Forum, the core of the thriving republican and imperial city that once stood at the center of the entire universe. Some, of course, may argue that it still does, but the city we will be talking about today--that of 2000 years ago--certainly did.

Today's lecture will focus on the Roman Forum! The Roman Forum, nestled in between three of the seven original hills of Rome--the Capitoline, Palatine, and Esquline--was the center for all public matters. It contained architectural and public spaces that supported political, religious, economic, judicial, and honorary social functions. As such, the forum grew to be an incredibly diverse space characterized by an equally diverse set of new architectural inventions. The ruins we can see now mark the physical footprint left by the values and principles of an incredibly complex ancient world, one that marked the beginnings of much of the western values and systems we know today. The forum, even in its crumbled state, challenges us to imagine how so many of our contemporary social practices were in fact built into a world that thrived so long ago.

Plan of the Forum. The Black dots represent columns.

So, what did this place look like? Good question. The earliest developments of the forum occurred around VI-V BC, when the first urbanization came to the cradle in between the three hills. During this early stage Via Saccra, the road that slices through the forum to this day, was planned and mapped. The Palatine Hill to the south, which is now marked primarily by the ruins of a much later Imperial palace, was populated by Etruscan style homes during this early stage of civic development. The presence of residential architecture at this early stage marks the primitive level of Roman development at this time; the population was small and centralized, with the earliest inhabitants living on the land that would later become solely public and imperial space.

This cornice once stood 75 feet in the air--maybe even higher, but it still had to be perfect.

Things start to get really interesting in the forum during the republican revolution. Political functions are decentralized, ushering in the separation of the senate, the rostra, and comitium, and the basilica. Now, what were these things? Great question. The senate was, of course, the meeting place for magistrates. It took the form of the curia, the senate building located at the northwest corner of the Via Saccra. Then we have the rostra, the stage like platform where orators would address the public. Originally it was attached to the curia, but it was moved to the center of forum in years later. Finally, we have the basilica, which served a diverse set of functions. The basilicas worked as a meeting place where financial transactions, market shops/expos, and judicial trails could be held. There are two main basilicas in the forum: the basilica Amelia and the basilica Iulia. They differ in that the the Basilica Julia is much larger, with a central nave and two side isles on each side. You can see the scale difference in the plans:

The larger Basilica Iulia on the bottom, with a center nave area and two side aisles. A nice place to hang out.

The Forum was also populated with a number of temples and honorary columns. The honorary column was kind of a funny thing. It was basically a pedestal that held a singular column on top of which you would find a statue of the man being honored. More often than not these fellows were the ones rich enough to commission sculptors to make the honorary columns, not necessarily ones deserving honor.

Ruins from the Temple of Saturn. Nice.

Tabularium, the judicial building that set the architectural precedent for the Colosseum and many of the theatres of ancient Rome.

Arch of Constantine

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the Roman Forum. Go to Rome!

On a lighter note

We here at the Mansuite love presents, which is why we're so excited about blog reader Cody Widdes' fantastic tribute to the Mansuite. Though we'd consider ourselves all pretty attractive here, it appears that J-do's body just couldn't quite make the Chippendales cut.

Measures of Desperation

Low and behold, my inbox today was flooded with requests to donate to the senior fund. Most of them polite, one of them stood out from among the rest:

"hey guys,

So just in case you don't know, I am on the senior fund committee and we are on our last stretch to reach our goal of participation. Time is running short and for the sake of convenience and timing, I would like to give on behalf of you for now if you don't mind - I am doing this because I know some of you are off campus or maybe never got reached by our team. I know you all pretty well so I don't foresee this as a problem. However, if you do not want me to do this please email me and I will obviously refrain from doing that."

This act of usurping my agency crosses a line for me. There's a reason why these people are so adamant when they incredulously exclaim "It's just a dollar!" at your frugality. It's because it's not just a dollar, it's a tacit representation of your connection to the university and a symbolic acknowledgment of your agreement and satisfaction with your overall college experience.

Sure, I've had a great time here at Columbia and will in almost all certainty be donating to the university in the future (after I can afford the boat, and the helicopter, and the helicopter on the boat) but this sort of almost-underhanded opt-out scheme disappoints me. The goal is not to give because you feel obligated, but to give because you want to. If there's one thing that Columbia unambiguously and unequivocally cares about, it's money. It's a business that--unlike most other universities--doesn't try to hide that fact; as students you are its customers. In the market customers vote with their wallets, not through their student council or other marginally-empowered elected representatives.

There might be a reason why it's hard to reach the donation goal this year. Some students have realized that the best way to voice their dissatisfaction is to speak the only language Columbia truly understands.

This is the most influence I'll probably ever wield with a single dollar, and I intend to use it wisely.

Edit: Because sane arguments also have supporting evidence, find a page taken out of the 2008 Columbia Annual Security report below:

Campus Crusaders for Polyps

Exasperated by her unyielding case of laryngitis, mansuite local Sophie agrees to an exorcism of the Pink Polyp cult headed by non other than Shaman Keenan with further help and intervention by Kahuna Reich.

Given how much we've come to love that sultry, raspy whisper over the past several weeks it's a wonder why Sophie doesn't stop struggling to regain her prior vocal panache.

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.

MOVIE NIGHT: APRIL 26th

Tonight we'll be screening the theatrical masterpiece Army of Darkness (1992), starring Bruce Campbell as Ash--a man accidentally transported to 1300 A.D. where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home. Complications arise.



If you still aren't sure, check out these catchy taglines, most likely written by a pre-teen IMDb surfer:

-1 Man, 1 Million dead, The odds are just about even.

-They move. They breathe. They suck.

-Sound the trumpets, Raise the drawbridge, and drop the Oldsmobile.

-How can you destroy an army that's already dead?

-In an age of darkness. At a time of evil. When the world needed a hero. What it got was him.


In all seriousness though, this movie is amazing. See you at 10:00... and bring your 'boom stick'

In a row over robes

I'd like to take a moment to write about a serious problem which goes largely unnoticed outside of the robe-wearing community. It's not through any conscious apathy or uncaring on behalf of the larger disrobed majority, yet in some instances grievous issues concerning a small group should concern us all.

No one individual is responsible for the issue as it is a product of a myriad of factors. Robes are manufactured to extend below the knees to keep vulnerable areas warm. Toilets are constructed and raised off the ground¹ in order to decrease the distance between an individual and his or her business. Good intentions mark the presence of both facets, yet as they say, the road to hell is paved in good intentions.




Taken together, these features do not cooperate well with each other. The half-inch overlap almost always guarantees there will be some drag and your robe will leave the bathroom with a little more than what it entered with.

Currently, the only haphazard solution that exists is to hold the article wide open, yet such a task requires the faculty of both hands--leaving the most critical aspect of aiming up to chance and the forces of nature.

The only solutions I've considered as of yet have been supply side. The labor shortage in the bathroom can easily be met by the labor surplus in the suite, yet this will require some negative externalities such as undesirable migration.

There is an ideal outcome, but it requires a capital-intensive demand-side alternative utilizing a sledgehammer and a soldering iron. As of yet I have been unable to raise the necessary funds to procure these items. This is why community involvement is so important.

Open your hearts and your wallets. Please give generously.


¹ At least in our freedom-loving America. This isn't the norm for Charlie.

A Guitar and a Cello

Mansuite Lounge hosted its first gig last night, featuring a touring duo hailing from soCal! Auditions for next Wednesday's slot will be held tomorrow at 7am in MC's room.



A Guitar and a Cello Album

Groovin

Un bon weekend

Hola, brethren and brethrenitas of the PartyDuck! We sincerely hope you had as much fun as we did over the past few days. It was a wild marathon of good this weekend, beginning with the Bacchanal concert on Saturday.

After a long morning of drinking, a call was made for all units to report to the Steps for an afternoon of some serious fun in the sun. First up was Vampire Weekend, Columbia alums and Taqueria-y-fonda devotees, who put our backs out, they were so hip.

FUN! (where's waldo/tom with his sleeves cut off?)

Next up, after landing in NYC from LA at 2:45 and getting to campus 20 minutes before his set, Talib Kweli came out to get us jumpin and deliver some lyrical delights.

Always a fan of audience participation, PartyDuck was elated when he was invited to come dance on stage with Talib! Check out his fowl moves!

Featuring: The Apple Bottom

"apple bottom"


A Mansuite Case study:

CABO SPRING BREAK RAGER

Furniture displaced, dishes done, tequila chilled, solo cups purchased, limes in process of being sliced: 64 degrees F, brisk air, neutral scent.



Some besties arrive, chill latin grooves resonate about the common area, visualizer blasts psychadelic vortexing constellations on the back wall: 74 degrees F, air moisture rising.


Lights go out, blacklights on: 79 degrees F, noticeable humidity.


DJ Willie arrives, latin house music blaring, raging commences, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA FERENCI: 86 degrees F, sweat lingers--refusing to evaporate into the water-saturated air.


Music breaks loose into controlled insanity and the dancing follows suit: 97 degrees F, unbearably humid.


End result: raging uninterrupted until 1:52, a new suite record. CONGRATS AND THANK YOU TO ALL!


We're lacking in close-up photos! Send your shots from Cabo to thepartyduck@gmail.com!

Fried Egg Breakfast Burger on a Cornbread Bun

I don't know who got the cornbread that's in our kitchen, but I'm making the most of it!

JAZZ

Hello all. How was your weekend? Ours was GREAT. It still IS great. Hopefully you guys came to Cabo and enjoyed the beach with us.

I would like to invite you to please come to see my final Columbia Jazz performance of my entire LIFE. The Big Band is playing tonight at Miller Theatre. The Concert begins at 8 pm, and the Big Band will probably go on around 8:45/9. It would mean a lot if you guys dropped by. It will be about 45 minutes of music, and its great stuff. Lots of energy! It's a BIG BAND people.

And afterwards, Mansuite invites you all to our weekly movie night! With our Mansuite chocolate chip cookies to be served, of course.

Please join the fun tonight. Do work now so you can play later.

Graphical Evocations: Today

(notice the Jezzalian grin beneath Kweli's right arm pit)