As an artist, when people ask me about my influence and I say “Radiohead” they’ll either leave it at that – for fear of ensuing snobbery – or launch into a full on debate over the use of row boats in “Pyramid Song.” Appreciation surrounding the band is complex, but Radiohead’s my favorite band simply because no other group has made me appreciate music in such a meaningful way. It’s peculiar being a Radiohead fan, because we’re a marginal step away from a cult, and love to bicker at one anotherRead More

I can’t tell you how many people have told me “fall in love with yourself first before someone else loves you.” Maybe not in those exact terms, but that’s the gist of it. I now use those same words as sincere advice to everyone that is looking for love. I have been single for a year now since my last relationship, and at first it was a lonely ride. Once you’ve been loved- touched, kissed, and spoken to in a genuine way, you feel lost when that all disappears. ItRead More

I started working in my first real world job three months ago, and quickly became friends with the only other 20-something in our side of the office, Ceara, who is one of the coolest girls I’ve ever met. She recently got offered a job teaching theater at a school just down the street from her, and I honestly couldn’t be more excited for her – it’s a great opportunity. However, I did go through a couple stages of being less than thrilled. After all, the person I was closest to atRead More

Some music groups evolve and get better with every single album they put out. However, other groups start out hot…and then regress for the rest of their musical careers. Here are five bands who started out with all sorts of promise, only to get mired in mediocrity.   #5 – The Killers Sometimes a band tries SO hard to evolve and experiment and grow that they find themselves instead regressing and devolving. Such is the case with the Killers. After breaking into the mainstream with 2004’s multi-platinum Hot Fuss, theRead More

My last relationship was perfect. On paper. It was the kind of relationship that you dressed up in the clothes that you kept on the other side of the closet for. The kind that came with free coffee and the opportunity of advancement. Where you pretended to know about things you only had a vague idea about. It was the kind that made your mom happy. That made you feel like a grown-up. It was the kind of relationship that paid well, had a great healthcare plan, and you couldRead More

World renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow once ordered all our needs into a rigid pyramid of importance. As Maslow argued, at the base of all our needs is what keeps us physically alive as human beings. As the pyramid narrows toward the top, meeting physiological needs transitions toward meeting more internal, emotional needs. He deemed this to be what founds a “stable” individual. However, is it true in every moment that we put our physical “needs” before what we mentally desire? Can Maslow’s rigidity ever flex? I don’t want to believeRead More

College is a time for experimentation and expansion of horizons. Some students take a more, um, licentious route than others. Nearly everyone loses some kind of interpersonal or sexual inhibitions when they are on their own for the first time, and a lot of people end up with one-time sexual encounters with strangers, no strings attached. It’s almost like a game. Cursory Eye-contact with a stranger in the PIKE basement turns into a 4 AM Stride of Pride back home faster than you can say hook up culture. However, I’mRead More

I take pride in my beard.  I love growing my facial hair out because it makes me feel manly.  Maybe it’s my own version of a lifted truck, but I don’t care.  It also keeps my face warm in the winter months, so there’s that.  Here are some things that can start to get annoying about having a beard once you realize that they’re going to happen over and over again regardless of where you are.   1. Things get stuck in your beard. Namely food, but you’d be surprisedRead More

I come from a long line of proud, Chinese-born and Chinese-raised relatives, but I am the first one to be born in the United States. Despite living in a suburban Bostonian home, I was raised on scallion pancakes and rice, torturous Chinese lessons every Saturday, and stereotypical Asian values. Every dinner was a lecture about how fortunate I was not live in a poverty-stricken communist country. Grades were always held as a number one priority, even before health and sanity. My Chinese school and group of family friends were alwaysRead More

I was just reminded that Cory and Topanga, my favorite sitcom couple, are going to be premiering in a new spinoff on Disney Channel called “Girl Meets World.” It will feature the couple married with their kids, but the show focuses on their daughter. I have watched every episode of Boy Meets World repeatedly, and my love for Cory Matthews grows stronger every time I watch him. It is one of those character obsessions for me I guess. But I truly believe his character would make the best husband forRead More

The meaning of ‘love’ has become so elusive, and it continues to grow even more so with each year that reality roughens up our baby skin. Unfortunately, the older and supposedly wiser we get, the more we overanalyse, and the more muddled every situation becomes. Whether we are single, taken, in an ambiguous partial commitment, only sexually committed, declared aromantic—whatever, the lines around the word ‘love’ remain blurred. The problem is, when it comes to love, romance, sex and relationships, we are all terribly fickle people. We don’t know whatRead More

I decided months ago that it was appropriate and ethical to be in my underwear during a phone interview for a potential job. But here I was faced with a new question of ethical dilemmatude: Is it acceptable to conduct a phone interview in my underwear? In the name of all things great and pantless, I decided Yes.  Always and of course.  Basically, it is encouraged. Camila Grey, lead singer and guitarist of Uh Huh Her had a smokey, easy voice that probably would have gotten me out of myRead More