This is like OA for the real world. (via ew.com)

Remember when ex-Student Body President Connor Diemand-Yauman ‘10 got a special graduation ceremony and skipped the whole “walking across a stage” thing this past May? And then, remember when we told you CDY and best friend/Fantasticks star Jonathan Schwartz ‘10 had actually skipped graduation because they were starring on the upcoming 17th season of the CBS hit reality show The Amazing Race?

Well, that’s happening. Yes, ScwhartzDY™ (don’t try stealing that CBS) will be one of 11 teams throwing themselves into challenges around the world for the chance to win one million dollars. How’s that for your first paycheck outta college?

CBS today started promoting the event, and here are the guys introducing themselves on the Race website.

Look at that! Witty, tricky, and they got the whole “we’re best friends!” thing going on to boot. Everyone’s gonna be rooting for these tigers. (Not to mention “Relationship: Ivy League A Cappella Singers” — that’s one for the scrapbook.)

The two also answered some questions for CBS. Schwartz’s answers are particularly hilarious:

If I could switch places with someone: Yanni

Role model/hero: My parents, Mother Theresa and Kenny G (not necessarily in that order).

What are you passionate about? Tweezin’ the old unibrow

What would you do if you won the million dollars? If I were to win the million dollars I would buy a pony, but just one.

People would be surprised to learn: That my name, “Jonathan,” is translated to mean “gift from God.” Coincidence? I think not.

Anyway, on September 26th, you’ll be able to tune into CBS and watch Team Nassoons!/The Orange and Black!/SchwartzDY™!/whatever you want to call them! gallop across the world and perform tasks, solve puzzles, and generally entertain millions across America.

Speaking of entertaining, it’s relevant to mention, too, that Schwartz is listed as a cast member in the upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark. It’s directed by Julia Taymor (of Lion King fame) and features new music by Bono and The Edge of U2.

Pair that with CDY’s stint in Korea as a kiddie TV star, their presence on a Jerry Bruckheimer-directed national TV show, and you’ve got a pair o’ best friends ready to take over Hollywood.

Or not, whatever.

Here’s another clip that shows off SchwartzDY™’s singing:

(Ed. note: Wow. Given Jane Randall ‘12 on America’s Next Top Model, too, this blog is quickly becoming a reality TV tracker.)

Michelle Obama '85 in her graduation photo. (via barack-obama-photos.com--this site exists?)

From the AP:

Michelle Obama told a group of curious kids visiting the White House Thursday about her daughter Malia’s most frequent question about Dad’s job: What’s he doing to help tigers?

Asked about her family’s favorite animal, the first lady said they talk about tigers at least once a week, because Malia, 11, is concerned about what President Barack Obama is doing to save the endangered animals.

“He tells her he’s working on it and there are a lot of people who are thinking about it,” she said. “But I think, the Obama household, we’re trying to save the tigers.”

OK, I’m not saying…I’m just saying. Malia. When it comes time, trust us, you’ll get in. Despite having a father who told the world you got a 73 on your science test.

(h/t Gawker, which is not the first site to tell us to how great the Obama girls are.)

The Fitzrandolph Gates await, 2014ers! (Source: princetonphotographs.com).

As New Jersey gets attacked by the mother lode of all rain storms this week (oh hey, Tropical Depression Danielle!), the start of hurricane season prompts every good Princetonian to start his or her annual late-summer countdown till move-in.  (19 days, folks!) At this point, of course, all of our friends at normal schools have already moved in and are partying up a storm–erm, are studying hard, as usual. But hey, we’re too cool to start classes in August.  And so we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

For all you 2014ers out there, have no fear! With any luck, this interim period will be your most hellish Princeton experience by far.  In the meantime, here’s a lovely article courtesy of today’s New York Times about how schools are dealing with  over-protective parents as freshman flock to campus.

At Princeton, parents are politely encouraged to vamoose by students-only events after 5:30pm on move-in day.  Dean Dunne, our Associate Dean of Undergraduates, weighs in: “It’s easy for students to point to [the students-only events] and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I think you’re supposed to be gone now.’  It’s obviously a hard conversation for students to have with parents.”

Here’s hoping your parents know how to let go come September 4th for all you OA and CA folks!  If need be, gently remind them that Parents’ Day is a scant month away…at which point, their pocketbooks and the prospect of dinner off-campus will earn them quite the hearty welcome.

Cycle 15 of America’s Next Top Model begins next month (Sept. 8 on the CW) with Jane Randall ‘12, who played lacrosse for the Tigers until this year. Check her out the show’s US Weekly spread (via Jezebel), and see her video on the ANTM website.

The winner of the cycle–whoever masters the art of smiling with her eyes–will be on the cover of Vogue Italia, not Seventeen, as usual. That’s thanks to judge Andre Leon Talley. From the LA Times:

“Tyra really wanted to take the series to sort of another level,” explained Dawn Ostroff, the CW’s president of entertainment, after announcing the change Thursday at the network’s upfront presentation at Madison Square Garden. “When Andre Leon Talley, who is editor at large at Vogue, came on board, she wanted to really make these models high-fashion models. And high fashion, if you are in the fashion business, is Italian Vogue. Anybody who is in Italian Vogue literally makes it in the fashion business, so this is a really big step for the show.”

We featured Jane in a Press Club Style Guide video last spring:

Update:

Here’s Jane’s video on the ANTM site (via BuddyTV):

Update II: Pictures and spoilers after the jump.

From trawling reality show message boards (because we do that for you), we’ve found pictures of Jane (in blue) and the rest of the contestants at Venice Beach:

Judging your constitutions (via nytimes.com)

The Senate just voted 63 to 37 to confirm Elena Kagan ‘81 as the 67th Supreme Court Justice. The confirmation makes her the third consecutive Princetonian to be elected to the Supreme Court, along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor ‘76 and Samuel Alito ‘72. That also makes Princeton the most represented college on the Supreme Court.

For the full story, here’s the Times on the subject. Rigorous analysis and intrepid reportage forthcoming.

For our existing coverage on the Kagan nomination, confirmation battles, and her time at Princeton, check out our Elena Kagan tag.

A godsend: the Reply function is now conveniently contained within the same window, so your screen isn’t constantly cluttered by pop-out windows. And although I don’t feel qualified to comment on any real technical improvements, there’s much to be said for aesthetics. Everything is a lot more readable, for one. Gone are the sterile whites and grays and blues, replaced by … markedly friendlier whites and grays and blues. (This theme is actually titled “Blue Steel.”) The spacing’s better; the font’s bigger. The trash bin is cuter. The buttons are nice and rounded in an endearingly pressable way.

Take a look for yourself after the jump:

This definitely looks promising, but it’s not necessarily what you’ll be using next year. Because there’s a twist! In a follow-up USG email, Yaroshefsky mentioned the possibility of a Microsoft or Google mail service. Apparently the president’s been discussing those options with OIT since February 2009, and it’s still up in the air.

Either way, humble old webmail seems to be moving on to bigger and better things. Although I must say I will miss the faceless clay people in v-neck sweaters.

The ghosts of webmail past

Training. At serious meetings in Nassau Hall. Meetings with a dress code. Meetings that are preceded by the haunting, ringing music that plays in movies when the protagonist is having some kind of uncomfortable flashback to a past trauma. What? Oh, here’s an instructional video for Orange Key tour guides, circa 1962.

Oh, 1962! We were so exceedingly earnest. So young. So white and male. Not anymore, as Admissions dean Janet Rapelye told the Princeton Alumni Weekly last year. Speaking about tours, she said:

“Our survey showed that high school students see us as white, male, and wealthy, and that isn’t Princeton now. We need to respect our history and traditions, but to focus only on that would be a mistake. High school students now value living in a multicultural community and being part of a diverse student body. Include some of the history, but if you spend the whole time talking about gargoyles or singing — there’s a certain group, you’re not going to reach them.”

What group is that? Clearly not the Disney-watching cohort I grew up with. Haters.

Sherry Davis (left) and lab partner Gail Turner-Graham swab their cheek cells for analysis in Princeton's Schultz Lab.

Contrary to popular belief, Princeton doesn’t exist in a September-to-May time warp. Princeton lives on! In a big way. And no, I’m not just talking about the hordes of high school athletes that descend on campus. Or the tech camp attendees who get, ahem, air-conditioned housing.

In fact, for anyone who went to sleep-away camp and wondered why the lobsters and sushi and chocolate fondue fountains only got rolled out on visiting day, this will make sense: summertime is Princeton’s visiting day. (Minus the A/C for non-tech-camp individuals and the constant fire alarms triggered by “careless cooking”). Construction, summer theater, festivals and fairs in town, weddings…campus is definitely alive and well.

And the learning continues! Click here to read about a 2-week, hands-on molecular biology outreach program for secondary school science teachers from all over the world.

Source: Teruyoshi Hayashida/PowerHouse Books, published at www.nytimes.com/style

As  we dredge hopelessly through the dog days of summer, with New York experiencing one of its hottest July weekends on record, it makes sense that we’re all getting a little back-to-school-fever.  Case in point: the front page of today’s New York Times Sunday Style section, which featured a story on the timelessness of Ivy League preppiness, complete with color picture of Princetonians in all their tiger-toned glory circa 1965.

Nassau Steet parties like it's 1965; a spread from the newly-reissued "Take Ivy." (Photo: www.jcrew.com)

The occasion? As we announced to you back in March, Teruyoshi Hayashida’s classic book, Take Ivy, is coming to a retail store near you (as in, a short jaunt down Nassau Street) in just a few weeks.  The style classic, long worshipped by the powers-that-be at prepster labels like J.Press and Ralph Lauren, will be reissued by Powerhouse Books on August 23rd and sold by retailers like J.Crew.  What better way to spark up your post-Reunions, pre-move-in enthusiasm for Sperry Top-Siders and popped collars than to snap up a copy? Until then, you can preview the preppiness at your leisure in this NYT slide show, or read your fill about how this All-American Ivy look has taken over international men’s fashion here. Doesn’t it make you long to dash past East Pyne in a pristine letter sweater on a crisp Fall day?

The first incident took place July 3 at approximately 12:15 p.m. A female reported that she observed a man exposing himself in a lewd manner near the stone bridge on Beebe Lake. The suspect was described as a middle-aged, white male with a stocky build.

The second reported incident occurred July 9 at approximately 3:30 p.m. when a male subject in a car pulled up to a female who was walking on campus and exposed himself. The subject called the female over to the vehicle and exposed himself. The subject was described as a tall, dark-skinned, white male, in his 20s to 30s. The car was described as an older, four-door vehicle, light in color.

The most recent incident occurred Tuesday, July 13, at approximately 4 p.m. in the Beebe Lake area. A male subject was observed exposing himself and acting in a lewd manner. The subject was described as a dark-skinned, heavy-set Hispanic or black male in his 20s to early 30s.

Five days after Princeton’s last act of lewdness, it seems we have a new competitor. Unlike the Ivy League title, however, this is one ball game we’re willing to lose.

Image source: http://www.evenbetterbasketball.com/images/basketball.jpg