Just in case you haven’t gotten sick of it yet, this week’s Social Media Roundup a chronicle of the rise and fall of all of Princeton’s contributions to the Harlem Shake.
TI-what started it all:
Cloister-claiming to be the first Shake on the Street:
Colonial-props for not burning the club down:
Equad-grad students can be cool too:
Late meal:
Princeton Shakespeare Company-London Shake:
But actually…
Time for some real Harlem Shake. (You know, from Harlem.)
First week of classes, lost gloves, and bicker. Here’s what Princeton has been up to on the interwebs this week:
Res college listservs:
From: XXXXXXSubject: Panda buttsex glovesDate: February 5, 2013 10:51:50 PM ESTHey Forbes,
I apologize for the disruption, but I seem to have misplaced a pair of gloves. The gloves depict twopandas having buttsex, and they were a gift from my roommate. I’d greatly appreciate it if, should you happen upon them (is that a saying?), you returned them to me. (Email me!)
That’s two pandas having buttsex, as in a total of two panda couples (a pair on each hand).
Peace and blessings,
XXXXXX
Is there something we missed? Add it in the comments!
What do you do when that precept you really, really, really wanted is closed? Now with Princeton Pounce, you can automatically receive an email or text notification when a spot in that precept (or class) opens up. No more crazy SCORE checking necessary!
Jeremy Cohen ’16 and Zach Koerbel ’16, the creators of the site, were originally inspired to write the script after being locked out of a COS 217 precept they wanted. Over winter break and intersession, Cohen and Koerbel worked on turning their script into a website, a process both described as fairly simple.
According to Cohen, they were not the only ones who wrote such a program–several of their friends had similar scripts as well– but they were the first to share their script with other (less comp-sci minded) students through a public website.
“Despite the fact that some people might use it for classes we want, there’s tons of classes we would never dream of taking where people are in the same situation,” Koerbel said.
Since they began publicizing the site last Sunday night, there have been over 500 subscriptions and over 200 notifications. The most requested classes?
1. SOC 204 - Social Networks (70 subscriptions)
2. COS 126 – General Computer Science (46 subscriptions)
3. COS 226 – Algorithms and Data Structures (40 subscriptions)
4. COS 217 – Introduction to Programming Systems (36 subscriptions)
5. PSY 101 – Introduction to Psychology (35 subscriptions)
Plans have already been made to include Princeton Pounce on TigerApps (Cohen is a member of the USG IT Committee). While the site has already been approved by the committee, Cohen is unsure when they will officially open the website on TigerApps.
In the meantime, go visit their website and start pouncing!
You’ve all probably heard the news by now: President Tilghman will be leaving us at the end of the year, ending her 12-year term as Princeton’s first female president. Her announcement yesterday caused a media frenzy and a slew of related commentary. For a visual reflection of this response and of President Tilghman’s legacy, check out this wordle, based on the first two pages of hits for a Google search of “Shirley Tilghman”:
Image source: http://www.wordle.net/
The reason we are using this potentially controversial meme is to pique your interest in an upcoming post by VC '14, re: yellow fever, Asians, etc. Yeah, STAY TUNED! Also, browsing the Princeton memes site actually makes us really homesick for campus. Aww. Also this comment is fiendishly long. I apologize.
First up, shout out to our incoming freshmen! Princeton 2016 is getting all worked up this week – with good reason, since they’ve received both their res college assignments and chance to flip through the fall frosh seminars catalogue. It includes the classic free trip (!) seminars with promises of fall breaks in Costa Rica or Cyprus – but also a range of gems like “Bad A$$ Asians” (the namesake of this Ink post), a Joyce Carol Oates fanfest, and the chance to literally spend $50,000, as long as it’s philanthropic and approved by Stan Katz. Protip: pay attention to the prof teaching your seminar, not just to the topic. Like, Nancy Malkiel’s “Coeducation” course sounds great, but incoming GPA-sensitive, grade-deflation-fearing premeds might want to do a little background check first…
In any case, we remember those overexcited, over-sharing-on-Facebook days. (Upperclassmen, bored at your internships? Go back and look at the posts your friends made in your class FB groups when you were prefrosh. GUARANTEED LAUGHS.) We think it’s cute! And we welcome you in all your enthusiastic, over-enrolled glory! Case in point, see The Princeton Tiger’s thoughtful suggestions for where to put all the extra frosh:
10. Re-purpose unused Firestone carrels
9. Quad
8. Build a Forbes Annex Annex
7. During Frosh Week, erect large fences around Cloister’s backyard
6. Charter boat, discover new continent
5. All CA groups now focused on building housing for themselves
4. Make OA year-round, Princeton-based
3. Lift the ban on the steam tunnels
2. Rutgers
1. University of Princeton® online
No really though, UPC loves frosh and wants you all to apply for journalistic futures with us. Check out our res college reviews, written last year but very much valid for your incoming lives. Of course you may be placed into what we used to know as Wilcox’s yoga studio and art room, or a Whitman study room, but whatever. Princeton is Princeton and you’ll love it.
Teaser! Click through for the full comic.
Jumping straight from pre- to post-Princeton, our endowment also made headlines this week with the announcement that Aspire, STilghz’ 5-year fundraising campaign, exceeded its $1.75 billion goal by raising $1.88 billion, the highest in Princeton history. Meanwhile, our 2011-12 Annual Giving campaign also broke Ol’ Nassau records by raising $57.2 million. Bad A$$ (more like, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$) indeed.
We leave you with two pieces of Princeton Internet Gold. From a still-undergraduate perspective, we love and identify with this comic from Willa Chen ’13. It was crafted in response to this much-forwarded article on elite education by William Deresiewicz. Agree? Disagree? Comment! Go!
And last, it’s good to see that our former USG president CDY and his Nassoon/Amazing Race BFF Jonathan Schwartz, both favorites of UPC coverage, are still alive and well and contributing great things to society:
Bad A$$. We rest our case.
Looking for something to get you through your last final? Getting pumped up for Dead Week revelry? Just want something #orangeandblack to rage to? Hats off to Nikki Muller ’05, who I’m pretty sure has come up with this year’s Reunions anthem. We think this song is gold.
UPDATE — We got in touch with Nikki Muller to get some insight on the inspiration behind her video. A few comments from the artist herself:
On the origins of this song:
The idea came from the fact that most female Ivy Leaguers super downplay their educations in a social setting because it’s immediately perceived as bragging. My friend Aliza Pearl and I (class of ’04, also in the video) were saying that guys react to you saying you went to Princeton on a date as if you just said you’d served time… “You went there? What for? When was that?”
On the choice of musical style:
I thought it’d be funny to, for once, give a girl a chance at some no-holds-barred Kanye West-style self-aggrandizing, which of course is best done through aggressive rapping.
On post-Princeton struggles, but seriously (#payattention2012):
The self-deprecating turn applies to a lot of us who are having a tough time finding jobs these days, and pretty much points out a great education doesn’t guarantee you a comfortable life, nor does it mean you think you’re better than anyone.
On douchey Whartonites:
I also went to the prom of a guy who’d gotten into Wharton when I was in high school, and he absolutely sounded exactly like Greg does in the video. His improv was a little too close for comfort.
On how this song can change your life:
I actually wrote it nearly a year ago and then put it away for a while because I was afraid the tongue-in-cheek quality wouldn’t translate… then I revisited it and thought, “Why haven’t I recorded this yet?!” The song’s been my alarm ringtone on my phone for the past month, which a.) reminded me to get off my butt and make the music video and b.) motivates me to get out of bed. “You went to Princeton, bitch. Stop being lazy.”
No promises of a live Reunions performance (yet), but Muller is starting to tour colleges with her musical standup, so keep an eye out (eating clubs, potential for next fall’s comedy nights? Come on). In the meantime, the Ink suggests you follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Apparently, this past week’s photoshoot isn’t the first time that Princeton University has been used for Ralph Lauren’s Rugby collection. As if to cement ourselves as the face of preppy wear, Princeton has been Ralph Lauren’s advertising backdrop since 2008.
Check it out:
All of your favorite places up-campus are featured: Holder courtyard, East Pyne, McCosh courtyard, Blair Arch, the Junior slums… with complementary WASP-y gentlemen and ethnically ambiguous lady friends!
But, actually, what ARE you?
Okay, real disclaimer to any prefrosh who are so excited to see polos and topsiders around campus: we don’t all dress like this. Seriously. Ignore what you see at Lawnparties– that’s like Preppy Halloween. The number of striped sweaters I own is exactly zero. And let’s be honest, if I showed up to precept looking like this:
Ralph Lauren Rugby Fall 2012 Collection
I’d probably get looks like this:
The Ralph Lauren photoshoot seems to continue for the next few days… at least until the fickle weather clears up. We’ll keep you updated as the prepidemic continues.
A few tidbits from the week: a Tuesday Newman’s Day, a whole lot of JP’s, and some pre-frosh.
“When I try to play football on Newman’s Day”
“What pre-frosh think Woody Woo majors do”
In light of the recent tensions between Israel and Iran, some Princeton students have decided that the best thing for Israel isn’t another negotiation or summit, but a sassy gay best friend (girl, please).
Whatever your politics may be on the Israel-Palestine / Middle East conflict, you can at least appreciate the exuberant incorporation of hummus and Brandon Davis ’13 ‘s delightful neck scarf. (Perhaps the best line in this entire hilarious script: “Yeah, and I’m 6’4 on my Grindr account.”)
Interestingly enough, in the process of searching for Sassy Gay Friend derivatives, I found an old Body Hype video of Sassy Gay Friend: Titanic version that has gotten a considerable view count. Princeton kids. What. what. what are you doing.
Another week, another round of Princeton-related internet commentary. Here’s what’s up this week:
Princeton FML
On Prefrosh and happiness:
On terrifying things:
Filed under the header “Social Questions” on the endless source of high school angst known as College Confidential, one prospective member of the class of 2016 is dying to understand the complex social fabric and intersectional identities at Princeton. Sorry, what I meant to say was this:
Yes, I believe he identified himself as of the “polo and top siders” clan. (To his credit, he seems to have done his research on “feeder” groups.)
So what we’ve got here just to recap is: a preppy, “Ivy-oriented” prefrosh who wants to either sail or row crew. Oh, and he’s trying to decide between ECO and ORFE.
But perhaps the best part is this forum member’s response:
What can we say? It takes a lot of mental faculties, J. Crew ensembles, and blue blood to get schwasted. F. Scotty would know (even though he was in Cottage).
As crunch time kicks in, a few newcomers appear on the scene.
A few key screenshots:
And, more happily:
