News

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The American way

It seems the Seneca Nation's casino building ventures have officially sunk into a familiar business tactic: the front.

Spectrum Cartoon: 4.24.06

Girls gone wild for Fall Out Boy

Mothers and fathers escorted young fans, decked out in their Chuck Taylor kicks and emo ensembles through the doors of the HSBC Arena Friday night.

Scoreboard

SoftballGame 1Friday:Western Michigan 1Buffalo0Friday:Buffalo6Western Michigan 0W. TennisFriday:Miami (Ohio)4Buffalo3BaseballFriday:Buffalo4Ohio3M.

Cutting weight without the knife

When taking a glance down Niagara Falls Boulevard, with the array of fast food joints, gourmet coffeehouses and big beefy steakhouses lining its curbs, it's not hard to understand why obesity is on the rise.

Ben Sargent: 4.21.06

'Phat Girlz' is food for thought

Below the radar of Spring Fest and Conan O'Brien this weekend, there's a pleasantly plump play in which students will tackle some serious issues, while also raising awareness and money."Phat Girlz," a student production organized in just three months, is directed by junior Molly Dubansky, who came across the idea for the show when she was assigned to read "Best Playwrights of 2003" for one of her classes.The play not only grabbed Dubansky's attention for its literary merits, but also, as a show about eating disorders, the subject hit home.

Wrong music that sounds right

Decent bands often include only one or two good songs on an album. When B-sides end up being the bulk of a full-length album and the two best songs are placed far apart, the listener is left skipping through the junk.Russian Circles managed to dodge all of these pitfalls on their new album "Enter." This strong and short post-rock instrumental extravaganza refuses any sort of standstill.

"Goodbye, kinda"

It's incredible how fast four years can fly by.This is the last column I will ever write for The Spectrum and I have the freedom to write about pretty much anything that strikes my fancy.

Book List:

Current: "The Areas of My Expertise" by John Hodgman (2005)Hodgman audaciously parodies the almanac, but instead of publishing stoic summations and extrapolations, he litters his text with lies.

Here comes Conan

OK, so there probably won't be a masturbating bear or an insulting cigar-wielding puppet, but that won't stop the UB community from coming in droves this weekend to see Conan O'Brien, the last speaker in this year's Distinguished Speaker Series.O'Brien, the host of NBC's "Late Night" show, will take the stage at Alumni Arena as a comedian in his prime and still on the rise.

"The fall of a vending machine, the rise of a star"

Have you ever tried to buy something from the vending machine, only to scream in frustration when it gets stuck on the way down?

Keeping UB clean

Earth Day is a strange holiday. Instead of taking a day off, it inspires manual labor.This Saturday, students in collaboration with UB Green will have the opportunity to clean up the campus environment in celebration of Earth Day.

Showing their striped pants

There is nothing more comfortable than a pair of Zubaz pants. There is also no better way to show loyalty to your favorite football team.

Quake exhibit hearkens past and present disasters

An exhibit commemorating the great earthquake that shook San Francisco 100 years ago this week has been setup on the first floor of the Undergraduate Library by the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research.The display, "A City in Ruins: The San Francisco Earthquake and Fires of 1906," will be up until the end of May in UGL, and then throughout the summer in Lockwood.Photos in the exhibit document the destruction of the notorious earthquake that ruptured 296 miles of the San Andreas Fault from northwest of San Juan Bautista all the way to Cape Mendocino."The images selected will give anybody the perspective of what occurred 100 years ago," said Jill Tarabula, an information specialist at the UB Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research.Beyond the damage caused in and around San Francisco, the earthquake was felt as far away as Southern Oregon and Central Nevada.

Making light of child's death inappropriate

I just wanted to comment that I found the column in Wednesday's Spectrum entitled "Your guide to dying" inappropriate and insensitive.

College Republicans grill to get the word out

In front of the Student Union on Thursday, BBQ festival fare was served up by the College Republicans to build awareness for this year's Conservative Week.On Monday, the College Republicans held "Conservative Coming Out Day" to kick off to the festivities.

Ballet Joel

"Brenda and Eddie were the popular steadies and the king and the queen of the prom," a set of Billy Joel lyrics sung by Wade Preston in the Broadway hit "Movin' Out," now playing as part of Shea's Broadway Series.

Espers to bring ethereal folk to Soundlab

The psychedelic-folk group, Espers, have a lot to look forward to. Not only is their third full-length album coming out next month, they will also have a short tour through Pennsylvania and Buffalo before embarking to the U.K.

Near sellout expected for Spring Fest

The lineup for Friday's Spring Fest concert is set, and with half of the available public tickets already sold, Student Association officials are expecting the night to be a big one.Headlining the annual concert are alternative rockers Our Lady Peace, with soul-funk's Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Live, and Battle of the Bands winner Kick Williams.As of Thursday night, 721 of the 1,500 available public tickets had already been sold through the Alumni Arena box office and the Tickets.com Web site, according to Mark Rosenblitt, SA entertainment coordinator.