Nick Johnson

After several months of anticipation, I was finally able to check out State College's new Cracker Barrel on its opening day. Located at 215 Colonnade Blvd., there are few surprises at the chain's new location. With rows of rocking chairs out front, checker boards and a game of peg solitaire at every table, I could have been at any franchise location in the country — not that that's a bad thing.

So it looks like Are U Hungry is holding a contest in order to decide what their new sandwich will be. They are asking customers to submit their own ideas, one of which will be added to the Are U Hungry menu. We at Onward State have decided to get in on the game and have started creating a sandwich of our own.What we need your help with is the name. Pick your favorite in the poll below, or add your own in the comments.

So, if you didn't know (and that's unfortunately quite possible) it's UPUA election season. This is the time for you* to choose who will serve next year for your* student government. Candidates were allowed to start campaigning yesterday and you may have received a Facebook event invite or two from someone you know who is running. The next two weeks leading up to the election will be busy, so we've put together a breakdown of important dates if you want to follow what's going on. Find it after the jump.

There has been a lot of talk about how the students are the problem when it comes to State Patty's Day. We are the ones getting drunk in public, causing damage and urinating everywhere. Despite widespread condemnation from the State College community, there are those outside of the Penn State student body who support this event.

From the people who brought you "Advice Dog" and "Pun Raccoon", Onward State is proud to introduce "GSpan Says". We've made a few to get you started, but you can make your own here. Enjoy the LOLs.

The 46 hours of THON Weekend mean many things to many people. But to 7-year-old Justin Burns, it's a chance to hang out with the big kids. I got a chance to speak with Justin and his mother Maria Sunday morning as the final hours approached. I found out his favorite THON activities, hobbies and how he spent his weekend in State College. The Burns are a Four Diamond Family from Avoca, PA and Justin is Glee Club/Oriana's (GC/O) Four Diamonds Child. Justin and his mother traveled to State College Friday for their second THON. Read on for more about their weekend at THON.

While THON will be (for the most part) 46 back to back hours of music, one of the highlights are the live bands. This year's lineup is a good mix of THON veterans and newcomers. Check out the bands, and what you should know about them, after the jump.

When I agreed to cover this week's UPUA meeting, filling in for the illustrious Dan McCool, I was told this should be a short meeting. However, as I should have assumed, there was some lengthy debate on a few of the proposed resolutions, as UPUA representatives are wont to do. In summary, here's what UPUA accomplished tonight:

• Approved SHAG Week
• Agreed to buy a stage
• Slightly changed their bureaucratic structure
• Decided to have a "not-about-tuition" rally in Harrisburg
• Made me miss the mid-season premiere of Modern Family

Read on for a more detailed account of the meeting.

Downtown State College has a lot to be proud of. We have great coffee shops, restaurants, and not just one, but two specialty cupcake stores. However, since 2007, there hasn't been a place to see a new movie on a Friday night. For a town with 40,000 students, one might find it surprising that this is the case. We're supposed to be the biggest market for movies, with studios offering advanced screenings of major films for free. However, the Carmike Cinema 5, located where Chipotle now stands, wasn't able to stay profitable and closed on December 20, 2007.

This weekend, as I was watching SNL, I though I noticed something familiar during a sketch about the Columbia University drug busts. Upon further inspection, I realized that our very own Old Main was being used in the background to represent the college campus. While it's great for Penn State to get some air time, I'm not sure whether I should feel offended or honored. Check out the sketch after the jump so you can make up your own mind.

If you haven’t noticed, we’re big fans of Twitter here at @OnwardState. For those of you who don’t tweet, though, it might seem like a confusing mess of @’s and #’s, follows and re-tweets. Here’s a guide to who of the Penn State Twitter community is worth following (in less than 140 characters).

In an effort to modernize Penn State's archaic course registration system, the Office of the University Registrar will be releasing a new and improved Schedule of Courses site on January 25. This change is long overdue, and there are some pretty cool features in the upcoming release.

In an attempt to recreate last year's rather epic Pollock vs. East snowball fight, a Facebook event has been created proposing another battle Thursday night. There don't seem to be set teams yet, though proposals for on/off-campus and under/upperclassmen are being discussed. If improvised alpine warfare is your thing, you might want to head down to Pollock around 8:30. On the other hand, if you don't want to be pelted by overzealous combatants, you might want to steer clear of the area. If you're participating, remember that this is supposed to be a fun event, so be smart about what you're throwing; no one likes getting hit by an iceball.

Do you miss waking up watch cartoons Saturday mornings when you were younger? To satisfy that feeling of nostalgia, The State Theatre is putting on its third annual Bill Welch Memorial Cartoon Series every Saturday this month. The series honors the late Mayor Bill Welch, who had supported the event in its first year.

Once again the series will feature classic Warner Brothers cartoons and the theater promises “a great mix every week”. For those of you who may watch cartoons every Saturday anyway, it may be a different experience on the State Theater’s 31-foot movie screen.

Do you like singing? Do you dislike instruments? Do you want to do something that isn't studying? Several of Penn State's a capella groups will be having their winter concerts this week.

Popular mash-up group, Super Mash Bros. is headed to Penn State as part of The Campus Socialite's Blitz and Beatz tour. The October 1 show will take place on the Delta Upsilon lawn at 229 Locust Lane.

Devin Cremer, our new videographer, sat down with TEDxPSU executive team member Zach Zimbler. In case you still haven't heard about the upcoming event, everything you need to know is here.

It's not always the easiest to find out when stuff is going on at Penn State. While many organizations offer calendars of events, none of them are comprehensive, and you may miss out on a cool concert or exhibit if you're only checking one source. OnwardState.com and The Lion 90.7fm are partnering to bring you PSUEvents.com. The new service will provide a centralized, open-source events database, free for media outlets serving the Penn State and State College communities. Student groups and other organizations will be able to submit their events on PSUEvents.com, and have them appear on any calendar using the service. Read on for more about the new site...

As the upcoming semester approaches, many of you are probably getting ready for a move into a new dorm or apartment. While most people remember necessities like laundry detergent and a new set of shot glasses, you might not have put much thought into your Interned service. Since we lose readers when they can't get online, we thought we'd make it easy for you to get connected once you're back at school. Find out about getting your Internet set up if you live in the dorms and what your options for Internet in your apartment after the jump.

The Nittany Valley Shakespeare Festival will be presenting Much Ado About Nothing this year for their annual fall performance. If you’re looking for a little culture your first week back in State College, the show will be running August 15 through the 29th at various locations downtown.

This will be the group’s third year producing a play, having done both A Midsummer’s Night Dream and The Tempest previously. Students, faculty and community members are all involved in the production and all the performances will be free to the public.

Read on for more about the play and where you can go see it.

Penn State's award winning EcoCAR Advance Vehicle Team will be showcasing their work at Science U Camp this morning. The team's car recently won third place at the 2010 EcoCAR challenge out of 16 teams from various North American universities. In addition to giving a presentation on the vehicle, the team will be giving campers a chance to build their own vehicles from fuel cell kits. If you want to stop by and check out the car for yourself, you can stop by the Hybrid & Hydrogen Vehicle Research Laboratory of the Larson Institute from 9 to 10:15 a.m.

With the fall semester rapidly approaching, it'll soon be time to pick up your books. While never a pleasant endeavor, there is some good news that should make buying textbooks a less painful process. Find out about deals from Amazon, bills in the PA House of Representatives, and textbook rentals after the jump.

The Arts Festival proper starts tomorrow, but there’s still plenty happening downtown today for Children’s Day. While you might not fit the intended demographic, there are still a couple of things worth checking out.


Running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. is the Children and Youth Day Sidewalk Sale on South Allen Street. Kid’s ages 8 to 18 will be selling everything from cork guns to some rather impressive pottery. While the average quality and craftsmanship may pale in comparison to the professional vendors selling the rest of the week, the prices are also much lower in comparison. You might be surprised what you find.

Entering its 44th year, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, known as Arts Fest, is State College’s biggest summer event, attracting over 125,000 visitors during its five days. Whether they’re coming for the art or the parties, thousands of Penn State students and alumni will be headed to State College this week for the festival.


Read on to learn what to expect if you’re planning on attending.

Recent Penn State graduate Kylie Nellis made this great video discussing the future of journalism as her senior thesis project for the Schreyer Honors College. The video features interviews with journalism professors Curt Chandler and Tony Barbieri, as well as our own Davis Shaver and other student journalists. They touch on topics ranging from the nature and ethics of journalism to changing definitions of who journalists are. You can find the video embedded after the jump.

Just because it’s summer session doesn’t mean the State College music scene is dead. There are two concerts this week in the area that are worth checking out. Tonight you can see Movin On headliners Mayday Parade and The Dangerous Summer in Altoona, and Mike Doughty will be playing a free show Thursday night in State College.

Get more info on the shows, including how to get tickets, after the jump.

Many of you have probably watched TED’s talks online. Now you have a chance to see them live. The College of IST Alumni Society is organizing a TEDx event at Penn State October 10 (10/10/10). TEDxPSU is currently accepting speaker applications.

Find out more about TEDxPSU and the application process after the jump.

Though it's still several months until football season, if you want to have a spot in the new and improved 2010 Student Section, it is time to pre-register for student football tickets. All returning undergraduate and first year graduate students are required to register sometime between 8 a.m. tomorrow and 5 p.m., March 27. Those who register will be eligible (though by no means guaranteed) to buy one of the 21,000 tickets being made available later in June. Read on for more details on how to pre-register.

Do you like free stuff? Do you like music festivals (since there's no way you've been to enough already this year)? If so, you may be interested in Onward State and The Lion 90.7 FM's Bonnaroo Ticket Giveaway. We are giving away two tickets to this summer's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, to be held June 10-13 in Manchester, TN. If you're on Facebook or Twitter and follow Onward State and The Lion FM, you can enter.

If you aren’t too busy studying and find yourself free tonight or Thursday evening, there are two concerts that might be worth checking out.


Tonight at 9 p.m., The Makepeace Brothers will be performing a 21+ show with British Phil at Cafe 210 West. I hadn’t heard of them before, but they definitely have an interesting sound. They’re good summer music.


Then on Thursday, from 6:30 to 9:45 p.m., Matt Pond PA, Bobby Long, and The Kalob Griffin Band will be performing on the Allen Street Stage as part of State College’s “First Thursday“.