Last year was a pretty exciting year around Westwood. We had some protests, some major headlining news happen on our campus, and our neighborhood hosted some fairly unusual events as well as youth culture from across the nation.
Looking back on 2009, one of my favorite unfortunate events was the UC tuition hike and protests that followed as a consequence. It was actually very team building.
We left class early with our peers that we otherwise wouldn’t have ever talked to outside of the classroom in order to watch Covel get barricaded by police. We put our heads together to make fun and witty cardboard signs like “R.I.P. $” and “Thankstaking.” Sticking it to the man is fun, so to the protests I say, go Bruins.
Luckily, the Undie Run cancellation didn’t receive the same enthusiasm. Rumor had it that people were still going to have an underground Undie Run after campus police sent out an e-mail warning students that they could face arrest if they tried to revive the tradition against the school’s orders.
In this case, I’m really thankful that we weren’t the subject of L.A. Times headlines, rebelling against officials who just wanted kids to put their clothes back on. It’s a gross tradition. Yeah, I said it. This one was a win for UCPD and for retaining dignity.
The Campus Events Commission also really killed it in 2009. Dancing on stage with Greg Gillis (aka Girl Talk) was awesome because it was a wholesome dance party and also totally free. Two of my favorite things.
The LMFAO performance at Bruin Bash was also noteworthy because their song “Shots” is hilarious, as is watching people sing and dance to it like it’s “their jam.” Also impressive was their clever lyrical switcheroo, saying “UCLA” and “LA” instead of “Miami,” in their hit song, “I’m in Miami.”
All of these fond memories make me wonder how the CEC can top these acts. (Suggestion: Book Miley Cyrus and get her another dancing pole).
At the premiere of “New Moon” in November and the days prior to the screening, Westwood Village was obliterated by the Twi-hard fans’ takeover. If you missed this opportunity to yell things out of your car window while driving by or saying something as you passed the tents and cardboard cutouts, I’m disappointed in you.
During those couple of days, I spent about 90 percent of my time thinking about things I could say to them or how I’d write my column on it (check the archives for extended mocking). Let’s hope the new year brings us better red carpet events. I’m hoping for something with Macaulay Culkin.
While our campus and community had some great moments, we must also look outside of our immediate environment and acknowledge MTV’s “Jersey Shore.”
If you aren’t watching this show yet, start watching the episodes online. I feel like I’m already learning great lessons from this show.
For example: fist pumping. It’s sort of like the air lasso but less playful and more punch-you-in-the-face. It’s practically the new “Crank Dat” dance.
More importantly, I’ve learned the value of a good nickname. Most of the cast members go by aliases. “DJ Pauly D,” “Snooki,” “J Woww,” “Sammi Sweetheart” and “The Situation” somehow all manage to seriously call each other by these names.
The most important nickname is “The Situation” because it’s a commonly used word so therefore makes people think of the cast member called “The Situation” instead of the actual situation at hand. Pretty brilliant. Kind of makes me wonder why girlie rappers are going by weird names like Uffie and Ke$ha when they could be going by more common words such as Tuesday and Sandwich.
I have faith in 2010. Hopefully we’ve learned from the past and come out on top this year. And if we don’t come out on top, we should at least aim to have crazy nicknames.
E-mail Jagerman at njagerman@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.