The Wake

Do we have to do another “video games are not reality” disclaimer? There’s a very common reaction that non-Guitar Hero players tend to have when they see a seasoned GH pro in action: “Wow, if he spent that energy on playing a real instrument, he’d be great!” Just because the controller is shaped like a guitar doesn’t mean that it plays like one. If you hit all the notes, it’s a perfect performance; there are no considerations of style and technique. In other words you can’t hit all the chords right and still sound like shit. Guitar Hero is not …

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Too many syllables? Just call it MRSA. Discovered in 1880 by a Scottish surgeon, Staph infections are common in hospitals. With the increase in the use of antibiotics, a resistant strain of Staph (MRSA) emerged in the 1960s. In recent years, medical officials have been faced with a troubling increase in the occurrence of Staph in healthy individuals who have not been recently hospitalized. Although community-associated strains of MRSA are treatable, they are more virulent than health care-associated ones. The recent death of two students on the East coast from CA-MRSA, as well as the release of …

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I vividly remember my sixth-grade gym class—changing in front of none-too-friendly classmates, showering awkwardly with more-developed strangers, getting yelled at for reading in a corner instead of doing laps (I was a bookish type). One day, before class, one of my classmates discovered a used condom on the locker room floor. “What’s that?” she asked curiously, and the other girls dissolved into giggles, ridiculing her for not knowing what a condom was. I whispered to my befuddled friend that I was equally in the dark. At eleven, I knew how babies were made, but the thought of actually having sex …

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The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood has seen many changes through the years. The sense of community has shifted as populations have moved in and out and the neighboring colleges (the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College) have expanded. The North Country Co-op was a common thread in the community throughout its 35 years in service to the southeast Minneapolis neighborhood. Empty shelves now line the once defiant store, a piece of Twin Cities history. This past summer, North Country reached out to other co-ops in the Twin Cities for help as they faced a financial crisis. Mississippi Market volunteered General Manger Patrick …

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On Tuesday, November 6th, the University of Minnesota hosted its third annual Student Parent Visibility Day. High school student parents from around the metro area gathered in the St. Paul Student Center Ballroom to participate in the event. Student Parent Visibility Day is put on by the Student Parent HELP Center and co-sponsored by the Student Parent Association. The purpose of this event was both to recognize the student parent population on campus and to familiarize high school student parents with life as a student parent at the university. Student Parent Visibility Day included a resource fair with 20 participants …

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Unless Daddy picks up the credit card tab without asking any questions, college students are under constant pressure to make ends meet. After all, you can’t party if you can’t afford the booze. And damn it, you can’t pay for the booze if your landlord kicked you out of your run-down old apartment after you neglected to pay the rent for the last three months. Let’s face it: most of us are unmotivated, lazy, apathetic citizens who would like little more than a few extra dollars to blow on organic Hippie Crunch cereal rather than a big bag of Toasty-O’s. …

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Asian food is a lot like pizza. It’s hard to get it really wrong, and when you taste the good stuff, you know it’s good, and there’s nothing better.As college students, we have a social and moral obligation to eat as much Asian takeout and drink as much coffee as humanly possible. Luckily for us, we are blessed with a campus that provides numerous options for satisfying these cravings, and the options we are given are good more times than not.Village Wok on Washington Avenue is a campus landmark, and it has been considered by many (myself included) to be …

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The University of Minnesota’s athletics department has taken a firm stance that they will not be playing teams with American Indian nicknames and mascots that are regarded as offensive. Well, except for the eight games the men’s and women’s hockey teams will collectively play against the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux this year. And then there was the football team’s homecoming match against the University of Illinois Fighting Illini earlier this month, along with the matches against Illinois that most Gopher athletic teams have on their schedules. In fairness, those examples might be tough to avoid, since Illinois plays …

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According to Wikipedia, the most reliable source for any information, the word rickshaw in Japanese literally translates to “human-powered vehicle.” Though actual rickshaws are not used in the United States, bicycle rickshaws, or pedicabs, have been around for a decade.Right here on campus, you may see one of them zipping around on game days or when you are extremely intoxicated. The driver of that “party bike,” as he calls it, is Ben Young of Local Sports, Inc. If you are hammered, want a ride to Mariucci or just enjoy the novelty of a pedicab, then hop aboard.The Wake: When did …

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Dear Uncle Ethan,I spend a fair amount of time at the Rec Center, which is mercifully populated by exceedingly attractive girls. But what are the rules about approaching girls in that setting without creeping them out?-Ripped RickyDear RR,The single biggest complaint about the Rec that I get from girls is that guys are too busy with their weights and treadmills to pay any attention to the co-eds. Reading Cosmo on the Stairmaster is boring, so get over there and make a move! Open with a compliment on her physical attractiveness—she’ll be pleased that her exercise has paid …

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I. SETTING SUNI remember:Another late summer day rolled by; the sun climbed over the sky and stopped to slowly and dramatically disembark. As its last rays crept over the horizon, they seemed to illuminate a group of people standing at the corner of 3rd Street and Cedar. They huddled together into a small mass, their movements excited yet synchronized. “STOP WAR,” the signs waving over their heads read. I remember turning to a friend and remarking, “That’s weird.” I gazed around at the store fronts, the passing cars, the irritated pedestrians, the setting sun and it struck me: It is …

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You know, celebrity perfume is a bit of a stretch. Shouldn’t it be called something along the lines of “My last album didn’t quite sell like hot cakes; I blame the internet, but let’s make some cash. Love you forever, Failing Industry?” Taking a page out of P. Diddy’s lengthy book Milking the Industry for All It’s Got, Gwen Stefani has been exploiting the anemic goats that are record companies like a major league slugger looking for a wee-bit of ‘roids in a stack of syringes who ends up infecting himself with AIDS. First she had Hollaback Girl, then it …

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Opening the “M”-emblazoned light silver box of Mariah Carey’s new perfume, M, one encounters something entirely predictable–a stylish purple bottle adorned with a platinum necklace and a butterfly cap.The packaging is relatively tawdry, like stepping into a Claire’s Accessories store in the mall. But from Mariah, what else would we expect? She has built a career on showing just a little too much chest and back. But also like Mariah, M is wrought with complexity and contradiction.The bottle is intended to be flashy and visually appetizing, but in its execution it looks overstated and unimaginative. The royalty of the …

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It was as prolific a run as any since the dawn of time. The Roman Empire of family entertainment, Disney was a seemingly unstoppable force. Commencing in 1938 with the release of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, it has been a nearly 60-year run of utter dominance. With Pinocchio and Bambi in the 40’s, Peter Pan and Cinderella in ‘50s, Jungle Book in the ‘60s, Robin Hood in the ‘70s, and the classic string of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Some mark The Lion King as the end of …

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What’s great about the local music scene is that there is a diversity of styles and bands prepared to satisfy whatever tastes you might have.Pictures of Then is a five-dude alternative-indie rock band from right here in Minneapolis. And their debut album, Crushed By Lights, has the potential to put the group on the map on a national level, mostly because of its middle-of-the-road sound.The 14 tracks don’t pave any new ground, which isn’t necessarily a bad or a good thing. Pictures of Then has the kind of familiar sound forged by bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Built to Spill …

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