From the Desk of Vandalay Industries

A few weeks ago, President Obama had dropped to a 45% approval rating, the lowest for any president in history this far into a term. What happened? As a country, America had such high expectations for this administration and what it would accomplish. Was the country just unrealistic before and now angry and disappointed?

Press Release from Christine Tran
September 2009 Performing Arts Events
September 24, 2009 – 8pm – “Like Trains & Taxis” Video Premiere

New Brunswick band Like Trains & Taxis will be premiering their first ever music video at Alfa Art Gallery on September 24th at 8 p.m.

Last week, two things happened to me which, to my mind at least, finally confirm my status as a Rutgers alumni: I received my first copy of Rutgers magazine, and I was for the first time denied access to the Alexander Library undergraduate printers. All that’s left for me now is to wait patiently in the knowledge that very soon, probably around dinnertime, students from the RU Telefund will be calling about their cut of my as-yet-nonexistent paycheck.

Over the course of the next few weeks I will be writing about a little known book, or rather collection of lectures, called, The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. This book is broken down into three chapters, each chapter being one essay or lecture.

Pictures taken at a publicly held press conference on Sept. 15, 2009. All rights reserved by the photographer. Please Enjoy.

Pictures taken at a publicly held press conference on Sept. 15, 2009. All rights reserved by the photographer. Please Enjoy.

A Throwback for the nostalgics out there, courtesy of clair_voyant on flickr.

Whenever I tell people that I perform “noise music” they give a look of confusion, estrangement, or an amusing mixture of both. But for a select few, it’s something more than just making random, dissonant, cacophonous, shrieking, grating, repulsive sounds for a period of time. For some, it is an art. For others, it is an anti-art. Maybe it’s just “avant-garde.” It could be an expression of purity and spirituality or a violent release of primal energy. It can mean everything or it can mean nothing at all – it …

Ahh the breeze coming in through the window hitting me gently in the face, the sun staring down with a bandit smile, the sugar cane fields to my left, the imposing Andes mountains to my right with a couple of cows ruminating on the bloody grass where they stand, a lonely highway that seems to lead nowhere, and a soulful voice in the background that cries: “excuse me while I kiss the sky”. The reminiscence of the many times after school that I would drive south right past my house …

I’m a freshman, but please don’t stop listening or discard my opinion because I’m some punk kid out of high school. It’s a hard path to resistance, and I have been trying to accept my status as a member of the class of 2013, when everyone I graduated with in high school will in turn graduate college as the class of 2012. I know in the long run, it will not matter, or even maybe next year, but for now, I am feeling a little out of place as a …