In which Bwog Personals returns! And to start us off are two of the Blue and White’s eligible editors. All interested parties should contact Bwog via email and we’ll provide the $5 for the date. And as always, nominate your friends (or yourself) for a personal by emailing bwgossip@columbia.edu. 

                                                                                GUY FOR GIRL

Name: Paul Barndt

Year: ’08

School: CC

Major: Classics and English

Hometown: Houston. TX

Best Book You’ve Read for Class: I rep pretty hard for all the dead white guys on the front of Butler–I would find it very hard to pick between them. If I handicap myself by taking all the Core stuff out of contention, I’d probably say War and Peace. 

Worst Book You’ve Read for Class:  I thought Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides was pretty lame, although I’m sure there’s something worse I’m forgetting from one of my freshman survey classes.


Most shameful thing you’ve ever done to procrastinate: Doing work that was due way later than both the work I should have been doing, and the work I should have been starting after finishing the work I should have been doing. 


Beverage of choice: Just as some people have a cup of coffee in the morning, I have a glass of lemon lime Gatorade. 



What are your most played songs on iTunes?

Culture Club, Karma Chameleon
Lightning Bolt, Dracula Mountain
Chick Corea, El Bozo

I listen to Glenn Gould’s 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations constantly when studying, so most of those are in the top 50. 

What do you wish were your most played songs on iTunes?

Michael Jackson’s performance at the 1995 MTV VMAs is one of the most magnificent things ever captured on film–if only it existed in iTunes song form.

Also, there are many songs I listen to quite often, but only on YouTube, whether it’s because the video is integral to the song or because I’m too lazy to illegally download it. This list would include Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack,” and many Flight of the Conchords songs.
Favorite Morningside Heights Meal: 
probably a cheddar burger at Toast, but late at night, a cheese omelet smothered in Tabasco, fries, and chocolate milkshake at Tom’s.
The title of your memoir: This is tough–I’ve barely started it! But it will be an account of my years in West Africa and is tentatively titled Nigerian Rhapsody. 
Dream date, 5 words or fewer: depends on the person dated
Thing you’re looking forward to most this year: 12 credits in the spring, or rather, the things I will do the resulting free time. 

Thing you’re looking forward to least this year: I imagine I’d be terrified of the swim test if I couldn’t swim.

                                                                   GIRL FOR GUY

Name: Maryam

Year: ’09

School: CC

Major: English

Hometown: Houston, TX

Best Book You’ve Read for Class: Manhattan Transfer, John Dos Passos; Traces, Ernst Bloch. It’s a tie.

Worst Book You’ve Read for Class: Probably some terrible first-semester CC reading, long since been blocked from memory.

Most shameful thing you’ve ever done to procrastinate: Watch Youtube videos of real-live talking dogs with floormates at 2 in the morning.



Beverage of choice: Thai iced tea (in moderation)

What are your most played songs on iTunes?

“Wish You Were Here,” Radiohead/Sparklehorse cover

“Coffee & TV,” Blur
“Holland,” Sufjan Stevens

What do you wish were your most played songs on iTunes?

“Ruby Tuesday,” Rolling Stones

“Someone to Watch Over Me,” the Chet Baker Quartet

The second movement of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G – Martha Argerich with the Berlin Philharmonic



Favorite Morningside Heights Meal: Family Combo Special, Rey de la Caridad



The title of your memoir: something along the lines of “It Could Have Been Worse” (definitely with introduction by Bono or some other international rockstar)



Dream date, 5 words or fewer:

Good jazz, Five Guys cheeseburgers

Thing you’re looking forward to most this year:

Getting my major and core requirements by the end of it, giving me the wonderful freedom to do something different with my life in some other place on earth for a semester before graduating.

Thing you’re looking forward to least this year:

Every year Hollywood ruins my childhood a little more — this time with  the bastardization of Alvin and the Chipmunks.