Hillary Busis

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The most important thing to know about Morningside Heights’ cuisine is that by and large, restaurants on Amsterdam Avenue, while generally less flashy and farther away from Columbia, are much better than those on Broadway.

In a society where even a Pixar confection about cute robots carries intense subtext about the dangers of our consumer culture, where can a person turn for some good, old fashioned, shallow fun?

The Secret Life of the American Teenager is a title that, while unwieldy, evokes the melodramatic, campy awesomeness of a great, teen-centric Lifetime Original Movie—think Why My Daughter? or She’s Too Young. Unfortunately, the series itself, which recently premiered on ABC Family, fails to live up to these sky-high expectations.

Just how bad was the Writers Guild of America strike, which started Nov. 5, 2007, and lasted until Feb. 12, 2008? Well, because Screen Actors Guild members were unwilling to cross picket lines, there was no 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony—the awards were given out without one.

Who knew that there could be life after Sex? Though it’s been four years since Carrie Bradshaw and company found romantic bliss in the series finale of Sex and the City, HBO’s former flagship show is still as popular as ever.

Okay, TV fans, it’s time for an America’s Next Top Model pop quiz. Riddle me this: what do former ANTM contenders Yaya DaCosta, Whitney Cunningham, and Victoria Marshman all have in common? Hint—it’s something besides the fact that none of them ended up winning a CoverGirl contract.

Imagine your favorite childhood TV show—Boy Meets World, Saved by the Bell, anything that depicts the trials of high school life reimagined for an audience of middle schoolers. Now imagine that the characters on that show constantly go through life-changing traumas.

Fashion fans, don’t fret: after a yearlong absence, Project Runway will finally begin its fourth season tonight.

If while watching The Office this week you notice that NBC’s peacock logo is unusually monochromatic, don’t adjust your TV screen. From Nov. 4-11, the network is observing “Green Week,” and has therefore tweaked its emblem to make it appropriately verdant.

Let’s get one thing straight: Dan in Real Life is a better movie than it has any right to be based on its trailers, tagline (“Something is happening to Dan. It’s confusing. It’s awkward. It’s family.”), and the casting of Dane Cook.

If there’s one superhuman power that Heroes cast members possess, it’s keeping their mouths shut about the show’s future plotlines.

English actor Simon Pegg is best known for acting in and co-writing sharp comedies that lampoon traditional Hollywood genres, such as the hilarious zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead in 2004 and the action-movie parody Hot Fuzz earlier this year. He has even appeared in a British TV movie called Spider-Plant Man.

“The next band will be up in just a few minutes, after their sound check. Do you know what a sound check is?” Lisa Michaelis of kid-friendly singing group Laughing Pizza asked an audience of squirming children, harried parents, and slightly uncomfortable college students last Sunday.

Last year, according to the Nielsen ratings, rubbish reality shows like Armed & Famous and Grease: You’re the One That I Want had higher ratings than 30 Rock, the NBC sitcom that’s rightfully been called the funniest thing on television.

“Her skin wasn’t soft. She had weird moles. She wasn’t delicate, and she wasn’t even built in the sexy way that Josh liked. This girl was ugly. So he did what he thought he was supposed to do: He reached for her vagina.”

"Welcome to the Epic Theatre Center's Beauty on the Vine," a soothing, deep, male voice intones as the lights in the theater dim.

After about five consecutive months of temperatures below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, spring has finally come.

The mild-mannered, khaki-clad, middle-aged man who walked across Low steps last night around 8:30 p.m. probably didn't expect to come upon an enormous circle of people shouting, in unison, "Shit damn motherfucker motherfucker damn!"

A play about angsty mathematicians from the University of Chicago?

Whoever wrote the clever tagline for Bravo's newest reality competition should be promoted. The show, Shear Genius, is a contest for hair stylists.

"Don't you know me? I'm the new Berlin Wall, baby! Try and tear me down!" a flamboyant German transsexual named Hedwig snarls as the guitarist beside her begins to play a raucous riff.

There are pictures of some very funny people on the wall of the People's Improv Theater (or PIT)-Michael Showalter, for instance, the screenwriter of beloved cult film Wet Hot American Summer, and former Saturday Night Live superstar Horatio Sanz.

"Beside your chair, you will see a box of Legos. Take them out and build us something neat," Ben Weinryb-Grohsgal, CC '08, instructs.

Vain Art of the Fugue, a new translation of a 15-year-old book written by Romanian author Dumitru Tepeneag and translated by Patrick Camiller, is hard to classify.

When you hear the words "six million albums sold," "five smash hit singles," and "international phenomenon," who immediately springs to mind?

There's nothing quite so embarrassing as when your cell phone rings in the middle of class. Although I'm usually good about turning my phone off, remembering to do so slipped my mind on Feb. 8. As soon as I heard the familiar ring blaring from my backpack, I blushed and hurried to quiet it, apologizing to my Lit Hum class for the interruption and saying that it wouldn't happen again.

With Top Design, Bravo's latest attempt to hold the attention of Project Runway devotees between new seasons, the network expands its franchise of reality shows that are more about having talent than washboard abs.

This year's tree lighting and yule log ceremonies are over, and, to some, it may seem as though there's no longer anything to look forward to when it comes to celebrating the holidays at Columbia. Luckily for us, there's one more festive event looming around the corner-Xmas! A Secular Spectacular, a new musical written, directed, and produced by Columbia undergrads.

Despite its sleepy-sounding title, the Barnard Department of Theatre's upcoming production of August Strindberg's A Dream Play should be anything but soporific. The show tells the story of the unnamed daughter of Indra, the Hindu god of war and weather, who comes down to earth to learn about human suffering.

Remember Grosse Pointe?

Chances are you don't. The WB show, a satirical send-up of teen soap operas like Dawson's Creek, was only on the air for one season. Grosse Pointe had an impressive pedigree (it was created by Darren Star, the producer of Sex and the City) and copious critical acclaim-the New York Times called it "wicked and clever.

A new show on NBC that goes behind the scenes of a late-night comedy program and features a well-known cast and a title with a number ending in zero ... Sound familiar? While 30 Rock shares all of the above characteristics with Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the two programs are unique enough to share a network and your time.