J. K. Rowling completed her descent from "Harry Potter Creator" to "Harry Potter Fanfiction Writer" this week. You'd think this sort of thing would be impossible, but I was quite the fanfiction reader in my time, and her recent statements have practically filled the checklist. Before I begin, I must acknowledge my debt to my friend Andrew Shvarts ( Read more... )

"1408" is thrilling but random. Three different themes are presented, but none are developed enough to make an emotional impact. This isn't surprising because the source material is a short story Stephen King wrote to have fun with hotel room scenery. The film adaptation seems to be a training exercise for something more meaningful. I recommend ( Read more... )

I've been a Notre Dame fan since birth. My father attended the Holy Mother's law school during the Joe Montana days. Both my parents are from the East Coast, so they're profoundly disinterested in the IU-Purdue feud. So am I: I grew up during the twilight of Coach Knight, and Indiana University football has been a wasteland since time immemorial, ( Read more... )

I visited the arts career counselor last week. She told me that it's nearly impossible to make the staff for a magazine or newspaper right off the bat, so the only way to break into writing is to freelance. I'll likely need to take another job and pursue my major aspiration in my "leisure time." She then gave me a few websites for fellowships ( Read more... )

Today, I managed to walk to my classes without losing half my water weight. That means the summer is breaking. I won't have to worry about heat stroke during my runs (rule of thumb: when I can't sweat anymore, it's time to go inside), and in another month it might feel like Cross Country outside. Some of my friends are happy about this ( Read more... )

The Catholic Church considers marriage and the priesthood separate vocations, not just traditionally but also sacramentally. She says that these callings require such commitment that would be unfair to expect a single person to adequately perform both, especially when doing so could cause conflicts of interest. I support the Church's assessment, ( Read more... )

The 103rd year of the Chronicle has commenced, and with it comes the annual Sarcasm Contest among the paper's editorialists. As my last sentence showed, I'm no stranger to dry humor, but its preponderance among writers is starting to worry me. Mockery is an effective response to the arrogant, so it's been at home in political thought ever since ( Read more... )

The 2006 squad was the greatest of my Duke career. Though it bowed out to LSU in the Sweet 16, making Tyrus Thomas a rich man in the process, it was the #1 team for a good while during the regular season. The biggest reason for Duke's success, most thought, was J.J. Redick. He won the Naismith Award, given to the finest college basketball player ( Read more... )

This was originally a comment I wrote on Shawn Kwatra's blog, but I decided to repeat it here for the benefit of my Hoosier friends. This is a response to a claim that Josh was always overrated because he only finished 3rd in Indiana Mr. Basketball despite being ranked the #2 senior in the United States that year ( Read more... )

TWELVE WINGS IN THIRTY MINUTES. Eat them all, and you get your money back. No other food allowed. Water and soda are permitted, but milk isn’t. No vomiting ( Read more... )