Archive for January, 2010

When it came to the Capitol Steps’ Saturday night performance at the State Theatre, I didn’t entirely know what to expect. I would consider myself a fan of both musical and political comedy, yet I had never heard of the group, despite the fact they’ve been performing since 1981. So, for the uninitiated, I did my best to summarize the group's act. Imagine America as a summer camp. Government officials are the camp counselors. The Capitol Steps are the kids that put on the skits to lampoon said counselors. That description doesn’t necessarily do their show justice – it’s not comparable to the insipid J.C. Penney gag – but there are distinct stylistic parallels. Is your interest piqued? Find out my other thoughts on The Capitol Steps after the jump.

THON is less than 19 days away.

We're gearing up at Onward State to make sure you have access to the best THON coverage anywhere. Traditionally (meaning last time we did this), THON weekend means our site becomes THONward State (follow us on Twitter). Since Mitch worked so hard on our redesign, we thought you all could help give him a break. So here's the contest.

Task: We'd like you to create our new THONward State logo!

Rules: The logo must be 567px by 82px. There must be a 5px border around the main image that is solid color so that we can make sure it fits our background. That solid color will dictate our background color.

You must submit your design to community@onwardstate.com.

The deadline is 11:59pm February 14th. Prize: The editors and staff will choose the winning logo and that logo will become our logo for the weekend of THON! Pretty cool eh? Our THON production manager Stefan will donate $25 in the winner's name. And, as an added bonus we'll even take a screenshot of the site and have Davis autograph it for you (I know! I can't believe it either!)

Here are our logo files in one PSD along with guidelines so you can align your design properly. [download]

Good luck!

Dear SPA, Thank you for bringing good music to the HUB for once. After Pitbull, I was a little bit skeptical about the music taste you had. Selling out Motion City Soundtrack in a couple of hours helped your status tremendously. Tonight was phenomenal. Set Your Goals really psyched up the crowd. The range the vocalists had was surprising, but enjoyable. At one point in time, however, I thought a girl had come on stage to sing. I was wrong. It was one of the male vocalists. He really tricked me! They also told you that you were in their top five favorite shows! Congrats, guys! We can crowd surf and circle pit better (but not the best) than other places. Put that on your resume! Now, I was skeptical when I listened to My Dinosaur Life (Motion City Soundtrack's latest album) for the first time. Something just wasn't right. It was a little bit after that that I heard they were coming to Penn State. I said to myself, "I shall investigate." I was very worried that maybe Justin had blown out his vocals. He, in fact, did not. I suppose I just dislike most of the new album. However, they did play "@!#?@!," which happens to be the one song I dig on My Dinosaur Life. Also, when they played "Let's Get Fucked Up and Die" I peed myself a little bit. Oh, SPA, how I adore you when you bring good musicians into my life. Thank you so much. I hope all is well, and everyone had as much fun as I did at the show. Sincerely yours, Melanie

Jeff Dunham and his posse of puppets brought the house down on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center with their Identity Crisis Tour. Deftly mixing classic jokes with new material, Dunham had the crowd roaring throughout the entire show. His cast of puppets created a wide variety of jokes ranging from redneck jokes, to a bit about Angelina Jolie’s breasts, to Asian jokes.


Featuring an almost certainly unscripted section with Dunham’s opening act Guitar Guy, the show slowed down a bit, but Dunham was able to incorporate that into later parts of his show, with great success. Dunham stated during his encore, after discovering that the audience knew all of the punchlines to his jokes with Bubba J., that the show was “one of the weirder shows we’ve ever done.” Weird in a good way.


Dunham’s style has been criticized for being too politically incorrect, but still had the BJC filled and the crowd in hysterics. Dunham appears to enjoy performing here and the BJC seems to like having him. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes another appearance here in the upcoming years. My recommendation: If he comes back, go see it, you won’t be disappointed.


Check out pictures after the break.

If this goes down, would you go? I hear she's rumored to be a big deal.

Hey readers! Are you creative? Are you talented with a camera? Do you want an opportunity to win $500?! Then do I have just the thing for you!!!!

The Rock Ethics Institute is holding a competition open to ALL (yes that includes you too, grad student) Penn State students at ANY Penn State campus who are or have been enrolled full-time in the 2009/2010 academic year. The competition itself, you ask? Why, it is to create a short film about ethics. The Rock Ethics Institute attempts to promote ethical awareness across the University (in public and professional sectors) through teaching, research and outreach. More information can be found here.


Find out more about the contest after the jump.

This is awesome that a celebrity tweeter is spreading the word! Give her some love and thank her for her help, as we try to spread the word even more about the amazing things that we can accomplish together.


Khloe has also posted on her website about THON! It’s also nice to know people were heeding our @THONwardState tweets… right?

As we round the turn into a new decade, the federal government is starting that tradition again of making you fill out the Census. To take care of the delinquents who don’t, the Census Bureau is hiring census takers this spring. It’s really a great job for college students; it doesn’t involve dealing with crazy government bureaucracy as you might think when you hear the words “government job.” It’s a steal, really, because you get paid (in State College, at least) $11.75 an hour to go around to certain houses who didn’t fill out their census forms and ask them the very same questions, but at the same time, it looks great on a résumé. You pretty much make your own hours, too, so you don’t have to adjust from college time to working world time.


Find out more about the job and how to apply after the jump.

The Staff Profile series is a new feature at Onward State. Each Friday, we will provide a window into the life of one Onward Stater. Readers: meet our writers.


Our senior writer, Andy Goga, has shared his skills with Onward State since January 2009. He radiates brilliant ideas like fireworks and has written about nearly every topic imaginable.


Andy hails from New Kensington, a small city north of Pittsburgh, and he graduated from Burrell High School in 2008. A sophomore, he majors in Community, Environment, and Development, with a focus in environmental economics. In addition, he minors in English and geography.


On campus, Andy participates in Eco-Action, the Vegetarian Club, Fresh START, and is a member of the Schreyer Honors College. He enjoys reading books, riding bikes, growing beards, and talking to strangers. On a daily basis, he contemplates society, nature, and the universe, as well as his position within these aggregates.


Andy is completing a service learning project in India this summer and hopes to study abroad in South Africa next spring. He may attend graduate school, and he strives to gain knowledge and improve the world.


Some words of wisdom: “Hello, this is a message from the past to the future.”

You read correctly. Local public media outlet WPSU will be auctioning off an autographed pair of JoePa's signature glasses at its Connoisseur's Dinner and Auction on February 20th. The event, which will be held in the Alumni Ballroom at the Nittany Lion Inn, is the place to be if you want to rub shoulders with the elite of the local public broadcasting community. In order to bid on and possibly win the famous specs however, you need not attend. Bidding will begin online this Monday for the glasses as well as for a signed Derek Jeter baseball bat. In the past, WPSU has auctioned off other JoePa memorabilia including autographed khakis and socks, but this is the first time his iconic glasses will cross the auctioneer's stand. If you want to go to the dinner and help local public broadcasting, be prepared to pay for it. Tickets are $180.00 per person and can be purchased here. Though, I suspect that if you are in the market for JoePa's glasses, $180 is small potatoes.

Rachel Petkac, 19, passed away on Monday night after sustaining severe injuries from an automobile accident. A commuter, Ms. Petkac was driving back from Penn State on Friday, January 8 at the time of the accident.


She lost control of her vehicle in the snow on Route 550. Her car collided with a utility pole. After 18 days of hospitalization, she died at Geisinger Medical Center. See this CDT briefing for more details.


Ms. Petkac was a Schreyer scholar majoring in Community, Environment, and Development. She graduated from State College Area High School in 2008. She was a member of the Good Shepard Catholic Church and planned on joining the Peace Corps after college. For more information, see her full obituary and commemorative Facebook group.

Penn State's Songwriters Club will be hosting an concert next Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Heritage Hall in the HUB to benefit THON. The concert will feature several members of the club playing original songs with a few covers thrown in for good measure. Tickets will be $5 in advance, $6 at the door, and all the proceeds will go to THON. The concert will feature six acts including the "motive core new age alternative rock persuasion" bands A Day Without Love and In Other News, acoustic guitarists Jeremy Fretz (which, awesomely, is his actual name) and Maura Westerlund, rock duo Patrick Troester and Isaac Bishop, and Funk band West of Babylon. If you're interested in going, advance tickets will be sold in Pollock Commons February 1-2 and in Waring Commons February 3-4. I got a chance to hear several members of this club last November at their Open Mic Night, and I'm guessing the concert will be worth the donation. Worst case scenario, you kill two hours before you can go out Friday and support THON. Best case, you get to hear some great original music made by Penn State students.

Multiple times each year, Student Affairs Research & Assessment conducts a Penn State Student Drinking Survey as part of its Pulse program. The most recent solicitations to take the survey began coming out last week.


On January 19, IFC President Max Wendkos sent out an email to the list of University Park fraternity chapter presidents discouraging Greek participation in the survey.


I contacted Max to ask for more context regarding his opinions on the survey. Read his response and my analysis after the jump.

After a fun fact about squirrels was posted on the Penn State Facebook page, nuts got smashed. Apparent Notre Dame students/supporters with not a whole hell of a lot else to do on a Tuesday afternoon caused a ruckus…via Facebook.


Penn State students began sharing their personal stories regarding the large presence of squirrels, when a certain kid who shall be referred to as “Gus” (oh, wait, that’s his real name) began attacking Penn State’s football team (the initial comment has since been deleted). So much for squirrels.


Clearly he didn’t shift his eyes toward the bottom left of his screen where he would have found this set of Page Policies:

Penn State’s Facebook page encourages active discussion and sharing of information and thoughts. However, content that includes profanity, personal attacks, commercial promotions, election campaign materials or is otherwise deemed inappropriate will be deleted by the page administrators.

Unfortunately, some don’t follow the rules, destroying what would otherwise be a great tool for Penn State to receive student feedback.


How does a discussion about squirrels lead to a series of nasty comments from a prepubescent diehard Notre Dame fan? Surely I don’t know.

Yesterday the Institute of International Education (IIE) announced a new emergency grant program for Haitian students studying in the U.S. The grant, called Haiti-EAS (Emergency Assistance for Students), will provide $2000 to those who have been impacted financially by the crisis in Haiti, are studying at an accredited U.S. university, and are a citizen of Haiti. These funds, however, are only available to students if colleges and universities apply on their behalf. IIE requires a campus' International Student Adviser or equivalent administrator to submit applications by February 12. While the University Office of Global Programs here at Penn State is already working to help those affected by the earthquake, we hope they take advantage of this opportunity to help our own students. If you want to contribute to the IIE's grant program, donations can be made here. Where it says "Direct my gift to," fill in Haiti-EAS to make sure your donation goes to the right place.

Have you always wanted to rival the Creamery with your ice-cream-making prowess? Your chance has arisen! This weekend, the College of Agricultural Sciences is hosting "Ice Cream 101: Introduction to Frozen Desserts," a compact course that teaches the basics of ice cream composition, formulation, and processing. Taught by past and present Penn State faculty, the course involves both lectures and hands-on exercises. According to the website, ice cream lovers, small-business owners, and entrepreneurs are welcome to attend. When: Saturday, 7:45 am - Sunday, 5:30 pm Where: Agricultural Science and Industries Building Cost: $695 Yes, this two-day class actually costs $695. But if you truly love frozen flavored pasteurized homogenized bovine mammary secretions, it's worth every penny.

As I’m sure you all remember, the most important thing on students’ minds last spring was not finals, term papers, or tanning in the quad (ed. note: we have quads?). It was whether Asher Roth was the right choice to headline Wallypallooza.


This year, though the UPUA is determined to organize another pre-finals music festival, the name is very much undecided. Since Mike Wallace resigned from his position as UPUA Programming Chairman, naming the festival after him makes even less sense than it did last year. Though Leanna Usnik has taken over the position, Usnikpalooza just does not have quite as good a ring


What should the new festival be called? Read on to find out a few other people we could name it after:

Good news! If you are planning on getting season tickets for the 2010 football season, you’ll be paying less than you did in 2009. But that’s only if you buy tickets for all the games; single game tickets will cost more. Confused?

The per game price for public and student season tickets will remain unchanged at $55 and $29 per game, respectively. All season ticket holders will pay less in total for their seats in 2010, since seven games are scheduled for Beaver Stadium this fall compared to eight in 2009. Single game ticket prices will increase $3 to $67 per ticket for the 2010 season.

Who all is interested in going to this show? It's a shame it isn't on State Patty's Day, but who cares?

Update 11:30: Well what do you know! Both we and the Collegian had this one wrong. No new policy was passed at Tuesday's meeting. Rather, a resolution was passed that was meant to put on record the Senate's "opposition to the early dismissal of classes by teaching staff for anything besides legitimate professional reasons," according to Annemarie Mountz. The original column is below in italics. A new policy was passed on Tuesday by the University Faculty Senate which is now being moved to President Graham Spanier for approval. What is this new policy? To stop professors from canceling classes before break begins. College of Liberal Arts Senator Dennis Gouran put it best when he said, "It is unprofessional behavior on the faculty's behalf to cancel classes because they are simply giving themselves and students an early start home."

Do you have a band? Do you play more than just covers? If so, SOMA and Movin' On both need you for two events this spring. The organizations need bands for this year's Arts Crawl and Movin' On. This is a great opportunity for your band to be heard. Both groups are accepting CD and MP3 demos which will be due in the next few weeks. Here are the important dates:

• 2/12 - Movin' On Applications Due
• 2/21 - Arts Crawl Applications Due
• 3/27 - Movin' On Battle of the Bands
• 4/9 - Arts Crawl
• 4/17 - Movin' On

Whether you're a solo singer-songwriter or a nine piece ska band, this is your chance at glory.

There are some days that you just wake up at 8:45, have a 9:05 class, and just don't feel like going to class. We all have those days. I have those days every day. The question is, how do you know which classes to skip and which to suck it up and attend? Read on to follow Noah's simple point system for skipping class and you'll be a regular Ferris Bueller (and still get good grades) in no time.

A Facebook group is “officially petitioning” the Chick-Fil-A Express in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Marketplace to rename the nuggets “Chicken Zuggets.” They are currently 52 members strong.


I love Chick-Fil-A, and I love Penn State football, but I have no reservations in saying this is stupid. You’re welcome to disagree with me and join the group.


(ed. note: you can follow the chatter about the Zuggets movement on Twitter)

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses the evolution and incorporation of video games into the academic world, and their use as didactic devices.


The article markets the potentials of this relatively new medium with a discussion of how fun, yet educational games, could augment (or even replace!) the classroom.


In 20 years, are you going to remember anything you learned in English 15/30? Probably not. But you will have better teamwork skills because of the practice you received working in groups. Some of the most profound skills we learn here are how to listen to a presentation, how to interact with out peers, how to work in a group. Teaching through video games is certainly a new and revolutionary idea, but I think it’s a slippery slope away from our humanity.


It starts with online classes and learning through video games, but it’s not too far of a stretch to go from that to a Matrix-esque world; all of us plugged in and having information loaded straight into our brains. What do you think?

After a 70-66 win over Illinois in the Fourth Annual WBCA Pink Zone game, Penn State Women's Basketball achieved their first national ranking (No. 23) since the 2004-05 season and raised over $80,000 for breast cancer awareness. Thursday they'll be taking on Purdue in what GoPSUSports is reporting as a "Code Blue" game. We look forward to their continuing salute to ROY G BIV as well as an ascent in the rankings.

Last year, the popular game publisher EA Games started a "Gaming Chair" program here at Penn State. The program required the Penn State EA Representative to find fraternities that would be interested in receiving free EA games, gear, and swag items....must've been pretty hard, I know. Here's how the program worked - at the beginning of each month, EA would send the campus representative a "Frat Pack" for a specific EA Game. This "Frat Pack" would include two copies of the game (1 for the Gaming Chair and 1 to give away at the tournament), posters for advertising the event, an EA Banner, and small swag items. The Gaming Chair is responsible for receiving each pack from the campus representative at the beginning of each month and then setting up an event in their organization for people to come and play. They then would get feedback from participants and submit it, along with photos of the event, to the campus representative who would then submit it to EA. The best part? It's all FREE!!! If you want to get involved in EA Games, check out the Facebook Fan Page for EA @ Penn State.

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and all-around pleasant man, announced that he is considering running on the Republican ballot in the 2012 presidential election. So to reiterate, a man has publicly announced that he's thinking about doing something but isn't sure. The speculation also came with a letter, which pretty much spells out his manifesto for his presidential campaign. "I have no great burning desire to be president, but I have a burning desire to have a different president of the United States," Santorum said. And a different candidate he would make. He's been mentioned on several prestigious websites such as urbandictionary.com and even has his own "urban" defintion:

1. santorum: The sometimes frothy, usually slimy, amalgam of lubricant, stray fecal matter and ejaculate that leaks out of the receiving partner's anus after a session of anal intercourse.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that that definition probably had something to do with his hardliner conservative stance against homosexuality. But regardless of his views and last name definitions, he still boasts a significant amount of political experience, and as "frothy" as he may be, he may very well could be the best choice for our country's leader in the next election. Or he could be the bringer of the next apocalypse. In any case, invest in lots of canned foods.

In an effort to better connect with the students it represents, UPUA's Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) has started a new blog to keep those interested up to date on their latest activities. The blog is the brainchild of Sam Loewner, chair of the AAC. His goal is to get more feedback from students who may not be able to attend the committee's weekly meetings. I think this is a good move on the AAC's part to create more transparency. This body represents every undergraduate student at University Park, and it makes decisions that affect everyone. Just last Thursday it was confirmed that all of those annoying SRTEs will be online by 2011. The committee is even working to possibly extend the semester Drop/Add period. Without this resource, I know I would have had no idea that was even being considered. UPUA has fought for many years to be recognized as the official student government on campus, and this new site seems to be part of their larger effort to fulfill that role.

UPUA is holding a town hall meeting tomorrow January 27th at 7:30PM in 101 Thomas to kick off the spring semester. This special opportunity to voice your concerns, opinions, comments, and questions is brought to you by the UPUA Student Life and Diversity Committee and the Department of Encampment. If helping out PSU and having your ideas heard isn’t enough, maybe you can be cajoled by saving some meal point. That's right: free food will be provided.

In the tournament's first year of selling students tickets at a discounted rate, the Daily Collegian reports that not one of the 75 set aside for Penn State students has been sold. What, you mean people don't want to spend their spring break being disappointed in Indianapolis?