Bwog’s resident film aficionado Learned Foote talks about the new film Bella and also includes mini-reviews of previews! Who says you can’t judge a movie by its trailer? Bella is about a former soccer player (Eduardo Verástegui) with a tragic past—though I’ll try to avoid too much plot description. After his crazy capitalist brother (Manny […]

In which Bwog freelancer Rob Trump, who brought you a Chabon review and enlightened July 4 commentary, learns to love America. Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but for the last few years I have been thoroughly sick of hearing, talking, and thinking about 9/11.  I was tired of pop-sociology articles and works of art […]

Heading to River to River on Friday, July 20th at South Street Seaport? Bwog staffer Lucy Tang gets the back story on headliner Bishop Allen. Bishop Allen may just epitomize indie pop at its shiniest. Upbeat songs with jangling guitars and fervent hooks shape them to be a fitting summer soundtrack. Fortunately, their sophomore album, […]

A few weeks ago, Dan and Lucy mooned over Dave Eggers and fell in love again. Now, JJs withdrawal has finally caught up with them. As the spicy chicken grease and artificial smoothie flavoring oozes out of their pores, they seek solace in Denny’s and Haruki Murakami’s After Dark. Lucy: When I first picked up […]

Bwog freelancer Steven Thomas introduces us to a departure from the campus culinary norm. Located just off of LaSalle on Broadway, two-month-old China de Puebla serves up an intruiguing array of Chinese-Mexican fusion, or as they put it: “Mexican food with a Chinese accent.”  I’m pretty sure that the young restaurant’s business will pick up […]

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual film and music festival in Austin, Texas, ends today—and BW culture editor Paul Barndt got himself a press pass (see, bwogging has its benefits). The music part is higher profile, but it’s a pain–unless running around Austin to catch half-hour sets at crowded bars is your idea of a […]

Coffee correspondent Downing Bray brings you another spot to get your daily jolt in style. V-Bar 225 Sullivan Street (between W. 3rd and Bleecker) A coffee shop by day and a wine and beer bar by night, Vbar is as mysterious as its name – I cannot for the life of me figure out what […]

If you’ve been oblivious to the many attention-grabbing efforts on campus (the chalked stairs in Hamilton are a nice touch), you may not have heard about the SCEG/Postcrypt gallery show going on right now, “Expanding Perspectives: West Harlem,” which opened Friday in the basement of St. Paul’s and features art by both Columbia students and […]

If you stayed uptown today, you missed the 2nd annual New York City Pillow Fight –organized by the public art group newmindspace, it attracted over three hundred pillow-wielding New Yorkers to Union Square at 2:00 to wail on complete strangers.  Many in the crowd wore colorful and attention-drawing outfits, including a banana suit and several […]

In which Bwog freelancer Ashley Nin describes a flick that thrills in spite of itself. David Beckham’s jersey number is 23. According to the Mayans, the apocalypse is predicted for the year 2012. 20+1+2=23. Pink is a combination of Red and White, and if you add up their letters (for example, R is the 18th […]

Bwog coffee-reviewer Downing Bray takes you off campus for a caffeine jolt. If the idea of setting foot into Butler sends you chills worse than the sub-zero wind chill temperatures of late, and your idea of getting off campus to study entails venturing beyond a 10-block radius from Columbia, you might just want to think […]

Last night, panelists held a discussion at the Law School regarding what may be an emerging political and cultural alliance between India and Israel. Bwog dispatched not one but two correspondants to the event in order to give readers as well-rounded a perspective as possible. Below, in the second and last part of our series, […]

Last night, panelists held a discussion at the Law School regarding what may be an emerging political and cultural alliance between India and Israel. Bwog dispatched not one but two correspondants to the event in order to give readers as well-rounded a perspective as possible. Below, in the first part of our series, Armin Rosen […]

The guest list read like a who’s who of journalism: a J-School dean, the Associated Press Executive Director, a former TIME magazine Editor-in-Chief, publishers, professors…and Walter Cronkite. The audience was probably more illustrious than your average lecture-hall crowd, too. Only one person there had any executive power to do anything, but free speech is always […]

Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki explains the world of mixtapes, the reasons to buy them, and how to choose them well. You used to be able to walk up to 125th any time of day and there’d be half-a-dozen guys camped out between 7th and Lenox selling mixtapes – five bucks a pop, four for […]