Endeavour's launch today

Space. The final frontier. That’s true today more than ever, as the space shuttle Endeavour soars into the heavens for the final time (after multiple expensive delays)! Now that Endeavour has launched, after a final flight from the Space Shuttle Atlantis next month, manned space flight in the United States will be grounded for quite some time, with NASA focusing its limited budget on unmanned missions. Partially as a result of the 2003 explosion of Space Shuttle Columbia, NASA moved to quickly end the Space Shuttle program. They planned to develop a successor, but Obama nixed that plan in favor of giving almost $270 million to private companies to build new spacecraft. Obama would like to see humans on Mars by 2030, but the government has no concrete plan to make this happen.

Most Americans will take some solace in the fact that the commander of this final launch is Mike Kelly, husband to Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman attacked by a gunman earlier this year. Columbians have another reason to feel proud—the pilot on this final spaceflight is none other than Columbia alum Greg Johnson, MS ’85, whom the Blue and White interviewed last year. We also have the advantage of living in New York and partying on the Intrepid, which will soon be home to Enterprise. And of course, Columbia contains the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and we can keep debating what they should be doing—without worrying about what’s actually possible in (or just above) the real world.

It may be a long time before we boldly go where no one has gone before, or even just where no one has gone since 1972. But one thing’s for sure: whenever the US restarts its manned spaceflight program, Columbia will play an integral role. Live long and prosper.

Update: A Bwogger happened to be on the scene and set us this home video of the launch. Cool stuff:

Photo via NASA

Watch the full episode. See more Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton.

Image via Tenka

Colin Drummond, CC’09, was once known around Columbia for his position as V-Show’s Cupcake Czar and membership in the EC “Mansuite.” Now, you can see this former B&W Campus Character on your TV Screen! Colin Drummond has hit it big: he landed a role in an adorable Lowe’s commercial.

Bwog: How did you land the Lowe’s commercial?

CD: After a summer at home, I returned to New York to start an acting career. I quickly realized I didn’t like the rejection associated with the audition process, and decided to pursue something more stable. I started interning at Hungryman, a commercial production company. Two months later, I started freelancing with them as a casting associate, which is what I do now. During a recent casting for a Lowe’s commercial that sought to target a new demographic, the “Millennial Generation,” the director was having a difficult time finding the right actor. After four days of casting, he decided to put me in front of the camera. He liked me, I guess, and so did the agency, and I got the job.

Bwog: What was the filming experience like? Did you really have to be underwater?

CD: Filming was awesome. I had been on set for a few Hungryman commercials as a production assistant, and being on set as an actor is 100 times more fun (and pays better). There were four days of shooting, one in a Lowe’s store in NJ and three more at a house in Eastchester. I did all my own stunts—I was really underwater (my “wife,” Reyna, would shake her leg when she was done delivering her line), and that was me hanging off the gutter (with a harness)—though the weirdest part about the shoot was wearing a wedding ring. I don’t usually wear rings, and I was very self-conscious about it.

Bwog: Have randos seen the commercial and called you up about it? What’s the reaction been like?
CD: I’ve gotten a lot of texts and emails from friends who have seen the commercial. It’s been showing a lot on ABC Family, I guess. I know the cinema version showed before Sex and the City 2, Get Him to the Greek, and Twilight: Eclipse. I haven’t actually seen it yet, but I guess it’s part of the AMC pre-roll—those 20 minutes of ads and stuff before the trailers.
All in all it was a great experience. It’s only a commercial, but it was fun to play at being a star. Someday down the road I would love to continue acting, but for now I’ll continue with the casting gig and see what comes my way.

Bwog: What’s life like post-college for you?

CD: Life post-college can suck sometimes, but I think if you’re enthusiastic when things go your way, and you work hard and don’t complain when they don’t, you’ll do fine. (If I were still in college, I would phrase that sentiment as a redefining of Machiavelli’s virtu and fortuna, but I’m not. So I won’t.)

Bwog: What else are you up to?

CD: I’m writing a Broadway musical for James Nederlander.

Bwog: Have you ever been to Lowe’s before?

CD: I always used to shop at Home Depot, but now I know that Lowe’s is better.

Enjoy salsa responsibly!

After college, we all want to change the world, in some small way. Has your life ever been ruined by spilled salsa? Yeah, ours too. Luckily, CC ‘09ers Michael Charley and Tom Stewart have come to the rescue with the Salsabol. A bowl with an elongated lip to push salsa back onto a chip as you scoop upwards, the Salsabol promises the perfect proportion of dip to chip every time, without breakage or spillage. The men behind the madness sat down with Bwog to discuss the trials and triumphs of leading a Rebolution.

Bwog: So, Bwog is walking down the street, minding its own business, when you guys jump out at it, with Salsabol in hand. Can you sell Bwog a Salsabol in thirty seconds?

Michael Charley: The first thing is that you’re gonna need a new shirt, because it’s covered in red splotches and stains from the salsa that spilled on it. The next question is, how have you been living your life without one? And finally, you really can’t afford not to have one, because when everybody else has one, you’re going to be the laughingstock of the party.

Bwog: I’m sold. Tell me about the design and production process. How does something like this go from an idea to a mass-produced product from a factory?

MC: We had to do that with quite a bit of trial and error. They don’t really teach you about overseas manufacturing in Columbia.

Tom Stewart: It started last summer. I had had the idea of the Salsabol a couple of years ago, and it continued as a running joke. I offered it to Michael, and he was excited. Some guys from my architecture internship were teaching me some of the software I used to make the first 3D model of it. Then, Michael started getting involved in understanding how we might go about getting a producer, samples, testing.

Bwog: How does one do that?

MC: So, China’s an interesting place. You show up, and you realize that no one speaks the language you’re trying to speak, and the people who think that they speak the language you speak, don’t at all. You’ll ask for a bowl, and they’re gonna try to sell you dog food or something. But in about six months of sampling and production we finally got a first shipment.

How it works

Bwog: You guys must be aware of the CaliBowl, which is a similar concept.

MC: They’re definitely our biggest competitor in terms of design and sort of, company ambience.

TS: When I first saw the CaliBowl, my immediate reaction was “Aw, man, someone else kind of has this idea,” and then I looked more closely at it, and decided that I don’t really care about the CaliBowl. We have a product that’s a lot more focused than theirs is. Theirs is less of a chip and dip set, less of a centerpiece kind of thing. The other flaw with the CaliBowl, is that, if you have a CaliBowl on the table, and you walk by it, you can’t tell that it’s special. With the Salsabol, we wanted someone to look at it and say, “What is that? Why is it shaped like that?”

Bwog: How have sales been overall?

MC: It’s always up and down. We’ll be sitting around twiddling our thumbs one day and somehow, a ton of orders will get entered and we’ll spend the entire day frantically packing boxes.

Bwog: What are your plans for the Salsabol’s future?

TS: We’re going to pair the Salsabol with a platter to really make it a centerpiece chip and dip set. Then, ideally, we would be able to expand into some other colors. The good thing about it is that a large fraction of people who hear about it, love it, and love to tell other people about it. We all learned in Frontiers of Science about the “hub and spoke” method of social interaction, so we’re trying to find the hubs.

Bwog: Did your experiences at Columbia shape the idea, and if so, how?

TS: I didn’t really think about Columbia directly, but, as we continue to approach new problems every day, I think I’d be a fool not to say that I’m prepared for something. Having met Michael, a guy that would be crazy enough to do this thing with me, maybe that’s attributed to Columbia as well. In a recession economy, failure is not bad, people are so used to it that you can go out and try something completely crazy, and if it doesn’t work out, no one even notices. If it does, you have a great story.

MC: A great story, and a foundation for new things you want to do. We’re learning to be well-versed in things that, a year and a half ago, sitting in a seminar at Columbia, you could’ve said that to me and I would’ve said “What are you talking about?” But that’s what we’re doing, and I’m stoked.

Postscript: Bwog got to test a Salsabol at its first meeting (you should’ve come). While no salsa spilled out of the bowl, some did get on the outer lip, and some got on our shirts in the transfer from hand to mouth. Thankfully, our lives were unruined.

Photos from salsabol.com. Used with permission.

Tara Priya“>

Photo via Tara Priya's Facebook

For those seeking a soulful September jam, Columbia’s latest singing sensation, Tara Priya, CC ’08, offers a nostalgic escape from the autotune avalanche. Her sound is a throwback to the likes of Billie Holiday and Etta James, but never anachronistic. With influences ranging from Tupac to opera, Tara has developed a powerful voice of her own. We’ll be posting a few stories about enterprising alums this week and next. If you know an alum doing something worth writing about, tell us at tips@bwog.com. Carolyn Ruvkun writes.

“I struggle a lot with the genre question,” Priya said, “it’s tough to characterize my style, because I don’t fit into the musical categories of my influences. My contemporary inspirations are retrosoul artists—Amy Winehouse [though Bwog hopes Tara doesn’t share all of Amy’s influences …], Duffy, Nicole Willis—as well as bluesy pop artists, like Gavin Degraw, John Legend, and Adele. I grew up listening to Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding—so folk, pop, jazz, blues, funk.”

Priya is remarkably thoughtful about each of her musical inspirations, acknowledging that some influences aren’t necessarily heard directly in her music. “ I often wish I could write songs that adhered to the styles of any of these artists, but instead, I borrowed certain aspects of each. Dylan made me value lyrics, The Beatles made me value a clean and simple song structure, jazz teaches you melodic richness and diversity, the blues teach you the importance of emotion, and funk taught me to have fun with/in a song. I grew up listening to lots of rap, thanks to my older brother, and I always want to sing slightly percussively.” She lands on the genre of “lyrical retropop” but claims the classification still “may be incorrect.”

As a young diva, Priya was scolded by her kindergarten teacher for disrupting class by constantly singing. Her music was better received at Columbia, where jazz and classical coaches “shaped” her voice and supported her singing career. Priya credits a certain Hartley security guard with a taste for 70s soul for giving her excellent recommendations. “Lyrically speaking,” she adds, “a lot of my songs are based off of experiences I had in college: Romance! Drama! Philosophy!” The Core, in real life!

Encouraged by her professors and peers, including a Columbia-Juilliard exchange student with whom she now writes songs, Priya decided to pursue a singing career not by dropping out like a few of her successful Columbia contemporaries, but speeding through school. In 2 ½ years, Priya graduated as an Economics major.

“I didn’t set out to graduate in 2.5 years,” she said, “but from day one at Columbia, I always felt antsy, like I wasn’t supposed to be there, which is strange, because all through high school, I dreamed of going to Columbia. I really wanted to be ‘out in the world’ doing things; I especially wanted to spend more time performing in the city.”

It was hard leaving her friends, but “it had been even tougher pretending that I liked college for two years.”

What’s next? Having just released her EP, Priya is performing in California. She even has a slot at the Miami Music Festival in November. “Basically, I’m working on getting my music to people, finding out what people think, and building a fanbase,” she explains, “The industry has changed a lot, and record labels don’t want to invest in artist development anymore. Getting signed to a label would be great, at some point…until then, I’m managing myself, recording myself, promoting myself…oh yes, and singing!”

Governor Paterson pledges to keep governing until the end of the year. (NYT)

This time, Ahmadenijad is calling 9/11 a a “big fabrication.” (Gothamist)

The MTA is trying out experimental clocks that will say when the next subway train is due. (NYT)

Obama inspired first-time voters, but not enough. (NYDaily)

Also, please be aware that Bwog has recently updated its comment policy and encourages everyone to familiarize themselves with it.

Performing as a biker chick with a talk show in a sketch rife with “friggin’ this and “freakin’ that,” Slate suddenly said, “I fuckin’ love you for that,” setting off alarms with the fellas at the freakin’ FCC.

Fortunately for Slate, not only has Internet reaction been sympathetic (both because of the number of “friggin”s to slip up on and because it was one of the few funny moments in the episode), but there’s also a decent chance the network won’t be fined: NBC got off when Bono (who coincidentally, was last night’s music guest) used similar language at the 2003 Golden Globes.

Here’s hoping notoriously grumpy creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels feels similarly forgiving.

Looks like Clarke, who graduated from Columbia’s very own medical school, returned to Alma Mater to earn his MC as well: his swine-bashing video is filmed on the overpass between EC and the rest of the world, with the law school, Amsterdam Avenue, and assorted academic buildings in the background.

In the minute-long PSA, a lab-coat clad Clarke spits lyrics such as “Hand sanitizer I advise ya get it, why?/it makes germs die when you rub and let it dry” over an impressively catchy beat. Check it out- this just may be the best informational music video since back in ’86, when another doctor taught us all to stroke.

Image via Daily Intel

HHS Secretary says swine flu vaccines could start early next month, but will that really stop the hysteria? (AP)

The new (and even-more-Twitter-like) Facebook Lite debuts – another new version of Facebook for people to create Facebook groups hating it. (CNET)

Pulitzer-winner Tracy Kidder’s new book is about a “a young medical student who fled the genocidal civil war in Burundi in 1994″ and ended up at Columbia and later medical school and American citizenship. Jeez, we thought it was hard getting out of bed this morning. (Buffalo News)

Finally, our thoughts are with grad student Jonathan Widawsky, as New Haven police continue to look for his missing fiancee. (Daily News)

But now the city has suddenly declared their mobile food permit invalid and denied them the chance to renew said permit, forcing the Dessert Truck to shutter its public operations for the forseeable future. As denying freedom of dessert is the first step on the road to culinary fascism, we urge the city: for the good of New York’s taste buds, please reconsider.

roboppy/Flickr

Yes, subways can be deceiving. Fear not, though, subway novices, for if you have enough money to spend on an iPhone/Blackberry/Android/Kindle, then you can buy the new iPhone subway app from an start-up company called Exit Strategy NYC. While it admittedly won’t prevent such boneheadedness as missing your stop, it will save you time: the app – created by ten weeks of riding the entire subway system – tells users which car will be the closest to another line or an exit.

Still, this is just an smartphone app – why mention it here? Because the app, which was blurbed in CityRoom and amNY, was conceived/programmed by two former Columbia students – Jonathan Wegener, CC ’07 and Benny Wong, SEAS ’07. Though CityRoom says Wegener had no experience in developing a mobile application, neither alum was a web neophyte while on campus – Wong’s LinkedIn profile says he worked for CUIT (and is now at Morgan Stanley), while Wegener used to run the original Columbia-specific website, CULPA. That’s using your education.

UPDATE: Wegener got in touch with us to stress that the application does not have a map of the subway system, an impression the first version of this post mistakenly gave (Google’s handled much of the actual mapping). He also provided us with a sample image, and said the program will be getting some TV coverage soon.

Yes, Johns, a former cross country team member, is running across Europe.”I intend to average about 20 miles a day,” he says on the trip’s website. “As a collegiate runner, I find myself frequently running around a hundred miles a week…yet every morning I wake up in the same place. I want to try running something other than loops for a while. I like to travel, why not put this free transportation to some good?” A wonderfully logical answer.

Johns will return to hitting the books (grad school in architecture) next year; in the meantime, you can follow his trip on his blog, which appears to be updated almost daily, and covers such important topics as shin splints and trespassing brewery grounds (photo from Johns’s Flickr photostream).

- JCD

“By the time Lipsky got to the camp last week, its caretakers already knew of his connection from other young staffers already there. Within hours of his arrival, the information began to flow…A guide found a letter from a prisoner, telling of a camp cook in the later years of Buchenwald who used to line his clothing with potatoes and sneak them to the hungriest… Later, someone from the camp’s foundation came to him with his grandfather’s check-in slip, on which the young cook had signed his name — in a manner bearing a striking resemblance to the way Lipsky writes his own signature.”

Our modus operandi is to make a snarky comment here, but in this case, just read the whole thing (photo by Chris Usher of the Times).

Want to go to the Venice Biennale this year, you eager little Art History major you? Uh, YES. Well, the Columbia Alumni Association can take you! 

Kinda, sorta, ish. They can take you to all sorts of cool events once you’re already there. In order to get to Venice, they recommend that you… spend your (parents’?) money at their favorite travel agency.

Yeah, it’s probably the richer end of the alum spectrum that would go to an event like this, surely expected to purchase their own tickets. But it seems that, fortunately or unfortunately, this email went out to all CC and SEAS students as well. Bwog thinks we should pool our resources for a sailboat.

Full email (with pretty picture of Venice) after the jump.