Home Sweet Home (circa 1915)

V117 premieres tonight! Their trailer (as imagined by CUMB) boasts POWER, LUST and Godzilla footage. Check out our review of the preview, and a brief history of the Varsity Show tradition. We’ll see you there tonight!

Spec gets personal and pretty cute with their professors about the meaning of life, sharing their stories from their formative years. (The Eye)

Since you, fair readers, shitted all over our burger review, allow us to defer to Eater’s National Burger Week, a veritable tour de force of burger reportage from across the nation. (Eater)

The filming of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close continues on Riverside Drive (from around 112th to 116th St.) Tom Hanks has wrapped up his portion of the shoot, but you might be able to get a glimpse of Max von Sydow, the famous Swedish actor and star of many Ingmar Bergman films.

Clearly following Columbia’s example, Yale will vote on May 5 whether to allow their students to ensure they will have jobs after graduation by joining ROTC. (Crimson, Bloomberg)

Old Skool via WikiCU

Mason Jars Galore

A few tidbits to help you navigate today’s Greenmarket:

• This is the last week for zucchini blossoms.
• For the next few weeks there will be different wine vendors under the food and wine tent.
• If you are looking for Monkshood cherry tomatoes, get them early because they go fast.
• Be sure to try the quiches at Meredith’s. They’re in the cooler at the front of the tent and you are encouraged to take a peek inside.
• Ardith Mae Farm goat cheese is worth getting to early, especially if you’re a fan of chevre, which seems to be particularly popular.
• If you happen to have a returnable milk bottle rolling around the back of your fridge, it most likely came from Milk Thistle. Milk Thistle is here each Sunday.
• Expect bok choi to arrive in the coming weeks.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Bwog braved the line yesterday at Trader Joe’s and would like you to be well-informed before you make the harrowing 40-block trek to buy groceries. Because you might get really pissed if, say, you showed up there tomorrow only to find there is no wine.

That’s right: unlike its Union Square brother, this Trader Joe’s is drier than a cabernet sauvignon. State law requires they open a separate wine shop to sell it in, and as of right now, Trader Joe’s has no plans to build a new wine store in addition to the existing one in Union Square. THANKS, PURITANS.

Winelessness aside, there are some redeeming qualities—like the fact there’s this whole grocery store thing going on. Sure, you can’t make sangria out of them, but basic staples are considerably cheaper than Westside and Fairway, and Trader Joe’s is big on organic without imposing the significant financial penalties of Whole Foods. They also have a wide range of inexpensive specialty ingredients, such as toasted sesame oil—that’s right, toasted—and spices. And not just the typical spices like cinnamon and oregano, but also those weird ones you buy for that one meal you cook your boyfriend and then forget in the back of your cabinets only to smell it for weeks afterward whenever you open the door. Oh, plus there’s the Pound Plus bar of chocolate, a highlight of their extensive candy selection.

In addition to being cost-efficient, it’s also quite fun. They have those cool escalators you can put a grocery cart into. Chances are, you’ll spot your TA. The walls are decorated with weird memorabilia. They have free samples of prepared meals, and free coffee. And the best part: at the check-out, to let you know that a register is free, an employee will hold a big red flag with their number on it and wave it calling “23” until you present them with your groceries. Semaphore!

There really is something for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned foodie or just someone who wants to make a recipe other than Easy-Mac for the first time…that doesn’t call for wine. No wine. (Ugh, Puritans.)

Enjoy the photos, and go try it for yourselves!

SustainableBusiness.com reports that last week Columbia announced that it would begin to offer a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Development beginning in the fall of 2009. Twelve other schools will join Columbia in offering the two-year Global Master’s in Development Practice program (rolls right off the tongue)  within the next three years.  The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has pledged $15 million to start up the MDP program.

Surprise, surprise, Jeffery Sachs chimes in: “The new Master’s in Development Practice will train professionals with the multi-disciplinary knowledge, tools and management skills they will need for success.” Sachs also recently proposed a carbon tax as an alternative to cap-and-trade systems. Then saved the planet. 

Bwog noticed a nifty multi-purpose bin in the Lerner lobby that looks like it can handle some the stuff you don’t want to take home and might just never use again. Plus, look for the EcoReps near your dorms to get rid of all those out-of-fashion closet clogging garments.

A friend of Bwog just passed on this revolutionary URL: a CUIT project, currently in beta form, that tells you the status of every public printer on campus!

Updated by the second!

Never wait in line again!

A friend of Bwog passes along a tip that Kim’s is having a massive sale. 25% off CDs, 10% of DVDs and 15% off books! That Criterion Collection version of Brazil you want to buy so that you might prominently display it? Yours! For only, like, $45.

Meanwhile, rumors of closure are surrounding the indie emporium. A source says it’s “bleeding money.” Shockingly, according to Google,  the phrase “Bleeding Money” has not yet been co-opted for the title of a film student’s Marxist love story.