The Harvard-Radcliffe TV station has changed call letters from HRTV to HUTV and changed its tone from soap opera to silly. Besides abandoning their Seven-Sisters roots, the HUTV site also appears to have abandoned any attempt at serious television. But this video of Stephen Pinker--known on campus as "The Hair"--smashing a TV is aight.
The show line-up includes some standby favorites like On Harvard Time alongside less serious-sounding shorts by the Harvard Hooligan, but even the most informative HUTV News pretty much just covers students talking about Obama. It's a nice try, but we'd rather watch the Mather House video.
That said, one has to wonder why HUTV would invest their resources so heavily to make a website of B-grade viral videos. (Well, make that bacterial videos since nobody's really catching on.) Harvard has a recent history of really good comedy and a short history of bad jokes. But since a Brown alum basically owns TV news, you'd think HUTV at least try to report on some real current events to build a legacy. Those Harvard kids love legacy, after all.
So c'mon HUTV. Let's see some real balls-to-the-wall, unembedded reporting! In the meantime, just leave the real journalism to us.
The Undergraduate Council for everyone's favorite self-important student body is currently electing a new president. With polls closing in just 36 hours, Harvard students (apathetic and otherwise) will surely end up with either a prank or a prodigal in office. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter since the university administration will likely limit any big changes or new investments during the winners' term.
The primary contenders in Cambridge's latest slogan-fest include the Harvard Hooligan, that annoying kid from the YouTube videos in addition to a few actual U.C. Reps. While the more "serious" candidates deserve mention for the extent of their hypocrisy, the fake ones make for better blogging. But seriously it's like a postmodern circus of Situationist proportions out there. The Hooligan (a.k.a. Michael Koenigs '09) staged an assassination attempt during the bright-lights debate attended by approximately 9 people. Hopefully, his freshman Alaskan-native running mate, Aneliese Parker '12, will step into his place. Meanwhile, VP candidate Alexandra Petri '10 explained in an interview with On Harvard Time that her running mate was in fact the Invisible Man (à la Wells, not Ellison). They seek to replace the U.C. with a Hapsburg prince.
IvyGate's only been around for a year, but smartass student comedy groups have populated the Ivy League since shortly before the Oliver Cromwell era. We assume YouTuber HarvardHooligan to be in one of these, like Lampoon or something, but we (er, I) are too lazy to actually research this. Whatever he is, he's produced a surprisingly well edited video, considering the two-day turnaround, in response to Interim Dean David Pilbeam's memo killing school-sponsored alcohol parties. Enjoy/feel indifferent:
Fair enough. Still kind of want this kid to get expelled. Wait, are the Hooligans like a group? Meh.