Spring Break: DO SOMETHING!

As this week starts to come to a close, the building will become a little quieter. Spring Break is within our sights and many residents will be spending it outside of Ludlow.

The city is yours for the week! Make the most of it.

But if you're like me and plan on staying, don't waste your days away on Netflix or hibernating (although who can resist the urge after plague of all-nighters). Get out and do something! This is your chance! Be a tourist, take your time and enjoy the parts of New York City you fell in love with before you even moved in. Here's a short list to get your adventure juices flowing:









1. Go see a Broadway show with discount tickets.

2. Indulge in a dessert nearby at Big Gay Ice Cream or uptown at Holey Cream for an insane ice cream donut sandwich. Mmm...

3. Make a reservation for Restaurant Week!

4. Bike around Central Park.

5. Go to the museum!!! Don't be that art student that has never been to the MoMA, PS1, Metropolitan or Museum of Natural History. Good excuses for selfies, in the least.

6. Cross over to Brooklyn.

7. Spend some time on the High Line.

8. Or get lost in Strand!

9. Learn a new recipe without the watchful eye of a full kitchen and pick up your ingredients from the Union Square Farmers Market.

10. Take your mind off things and do some yoga.

Snow Day Surprise!

Who doesn't love hot chocolate and cookies? That's why last week during the snow day we had an impromptu program giving it away for free! RA's Adam, Alli and RHD Kristen braved the storm to stock up on supplies and then handed them out to residents in the basement. 

Stay warm! As it seems this winter is not going to end any time soon...

Restaurant Week is HERE!

Hungry for a meal fit for royalty? Or...someone outside the college budget? Here's your chance to indulge without burning through your ramen noodle allowance for the month. Restaurant Week is officially upon us, so be sure to partake in this NYC tradition that will most definitely satisfy the foodie in you. For $25, you can get a three-course lunch meal or for $38, a three-course dinner.

Those numbers might still be a little out of your comfort zone, but it can be well worth the experience when you check out the restaurants that participate during Restaurant Week. Make your reservations now for February 17 through March 7, you deserve it! :)

Click here for a full listing and easy booking links. 



"The first Restaurant Week was thought up by Tim Zagat and Joe Baum. Tim Zagat is the founder of Zagat Survey which covers restaurant guides in cities all over the world. The late Joe Baum was a top restaurateur, creating such famous dining rooms as Windows on the World and the Rainbow Room. The pair planned the first Restaurant Week to coincide with the Democratic Convention. The week long event was such a success it has grown to encompass four weeks in New York City, instead of one week. The concept has also spread across the country to cities and states, who participate in their own version." -Lorie Mealey, About.com

15 Ways To Spend Your Valentines Day

1) Call your family and friends. It is a day dedicated to love so tell the people you love how much the mean to you.

2) Hand make cheesy Valentines day cards for your friends like you did in grade school.

3) Instead of spending money on cliche items like chocolates, flowers, oversized stuffed animals and a card, plan an experience that you will both enjoy.

4) Be a kid again and do some Valentines Day crafts with your friends.

5) Learn about Saint Valentine. The internet is endless information why not research where the holiday came from?

6) If you completely detest Valentines Day protest by throwing a horror movie marathon night.

7) For those of us low on cash maybe get in some extra hours at work. And let the delusionally in love miss out on those hours.

8) Start a new hobby with your significant other or start one of your own. Either way you learn something new.

9) Stay in, order take out, and have a mellow night.

10) Go out on the town with your single friends and celebrate your youth.

11) Show some love for yourself and have a "treat yourself night".

12) Go see this

13) or this

14) or this

15) or peruse the village voice website until you find something good.

Enjoy your Valentines' Day weekend!

Internet down? What shall I do?

So we all know that this building has had a lot of problems with the internet. But there might be a positive side to all of this. 7 times out of 10 times we are only using the internet for our entertainment. Right now that we are having internet issues it might be a good idea to go to a new coffee shop and taste some different Lattes, and it might be refreshing for your brain instead of always just staring at the 3 blank walls and the tiny window in our rooms.

It also might be refreshing to walk outside and do something new. Perhaps you go sightseeing. Call up your neighbor and bring them with you for some company to do something new that either of you have never done.

Cafe Grumpy

13 Essex Street

New York, NY

212.260.3454

www.cafegrumpy.com/

What if you really need the internet and you don't want to go to a coffee-shop?  Well most of the time the ethernet connection is working. You might want to invest in buying an ethernet cord. The easiest way to get an ethernet cord is to go across the street and buy from the chinese store. They have really good deals and they have long and short cords.

What if you don't want to leave  your room to buy the ethernet cord? Then you can suffer through not having wifi for a while and order an ethernet cord online.

 ****The ethernet connection is much faster than the wifi and we highly recommend it****

The moral of this blog is that things are not that bad, and we know that everyone needs the internet these days but there are always other options and you might always want to be prepare and have a plan B. The real world is full of surprises and unfortunately this is one of them. The Ludlow staff doesn't do it on purpose to make the residents mad. It's just the nature of things that sometimes the wifi doesn't work, and our IT department is working on improving this issue.

Here are a couple other things you can do while the internet is down ;)

Censorship

*THIS POST HAS BEEN COPIED FROM CRACKED.COM AND EDITED TO APPLY TO ART STUDENTS. FIND THE ORIGINAL HERE.

Censorship is a way of controlling certain forms of media to ensure certain people are not offended by certain pieces of material, or, in other words, Censorship aims to ruin everyone’s fun. F**king bulls**t! OH COME ON!

Just The Facts

1. Censorship is spawned from the words Censor and Ship. Censor is a noun, usually forming the phrase "to censor". Ship is also a noun, usually a shortened term for "A large vessel capable of water travel".

1. No-one likes censorship, as it basically takes away things that we enjoy. Like nudity.

1. Nudity should never be censored. 

ALSO MODEL NIGHT IS THIS THURSDAY! BRING YOUR SKETCHBOOK TO DRAW SOME UNCENSORED MODELS!

Well, let's start from the beginning. The first known case of censorship was in the beginning of time. A man and a woman, named Adam and Eve respectively, were created by a chap named God. They spent their days frolicking in the Garden of Eden, naked as you please, until they ate an apple of knowledge (golden delicious?). After chomping down the delicious fruit, they felt ashamed of their nudity and covered themselves up. And thus, censorship was born, and it's been fucking up our entertainment ever since!

Nothing is safe from censorship. NOTHING!

Even this blogpost was shamelessly censored as to not offend anyone.

Censorship comes in many forms, mostly government or religion based, and it covers a wide range of....stuff. Such as:

• Moral Censorship - This is when someone censors something they feel is obscene. Like the word cunt. Moral Censorship can be used in real life and entertainment, which makes it twice as irritating.
• 
  

• Creative Censorship - Ever had a really good idea for a film and written it into a script and handed it over to a major studio and had it produced and released, only to find all the breast and testicle shots have been cut? Thank Creative Censorship!
• 
  

• Censorship of Freedom - Want to walk out the door and take a dump on the neighbours dog and see how he likes dealing with you shit for a change? Well you can't! And America was meant to be a land of freedom! WHAT HAPPENED?
• 
  

But wait, surely censorship can be useful...sometimes?
Is censorship on the Internet?
What will stop us?

*cue national anthem*

So it would seem. Yes, there are things in this word that are immoral and wrong, and therefore need to be stopped, like Jason Friedberg. In these cases, censorship can be applied in a positive way.

Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the things that can really harm humanity, censorship is being slapped on things that don't really need it. Video games, for example, are constantly being attacked by people with too much time and money, since apparently, gaming is the cause of most atrocities. War is caused by games. Drugs were invented by Activision. Guitar Hero is directly responsible for rape. Of course, this is all nonsense, but try telling people like Jack Thompson that. He'll have you in court before lunch!

Yes, but it hasn't stopped us!

Do you want to read more about censorship and art? HERE YOU GO! 

Hot Chocolate Festival!

I don't know about you, but I'm completely over this cold weather. That being said, there's nothing like a winter chill to give you an excuse to indulge on some hot chocolate.

Right now we are in the middle of the Annual Hot Chocolate Festival over at the City Bakery. Every day this month they bring out a new flavor for you to sample and melt for. This Monday the 10th is Cinammon Hot Chocolate and Tuesday is Hi-Ho Pistachio Hot Chocolate.

You can visit the City Bakery at 3 West 18th Street or through their website at http://www.hotchocolatefestival.com/

Getting Out of a Rut

January and February seem to be the months in which life gets a little dull. It's the beginning of a second semester and you're still exhausted from the last. It's often cold and wet outside, a special thanks to all the storms we've had lately. And after the the holiday season it feels like there is hardly anything worth celebrating this time of year. If you're feeling run down or burned out or homesick or just tired, there is nothing wrong with reaching out. 

Don't be afraid to stop by and chat with your RA. We love to get to know the people on our floor. 

Attend an event in the building to make some new friends. 

SVA has a great Health and Counseling department that is worth the visit. They have a website and it is easy to schedule an appointment. Click here for their site. 

Also here is a link to the Samaritans website that provides a 24 hour hotline. It is a direct line to trained professionals who want to help. 

We've all been through difficult times and we all need help from time to time. Now here are some pugs dressed as characters from The Lord of the Rings. Enjoy:)

Pairing Pizza like a Pro

Here in NYC, pizza has earned its own food group in our diets. We all consider ourselves decent connoisseurs of this triangular delicacy, but it's time to take it up a notch.

In order to enjoy pizza to the fullest, you must know what to pair it with. According to Katie Parla, a food historian and New Jersey native, there are quite a few options out there.

Pour a nice glass of lemonade, maybe some OJ if you're feeling it. Citrus-based beverages are best. If you're really in the mood, go ahead and make it a sparkling glass of orange juice. You won't regret it.

For those of you twenty-one and up, you may choose to indulge in a champagne alongside your Margherita pizza. If you're looking at a few slices of industrial-style cheese pizza, Chianti can do the trick.

A good rule of thumb is to pick something lightly acidic and don't fight the acidic nature of tomato sauce. Bottoms up!