If You Grew Up in New York and/or Went to Penn, You'll LOVE His Musical Short

If you grew up in New York you'll love this video.
If you know someone from New York, you'll love this video.
If you went to Penn, you'll probably love this video.

What is it?

It's the latest short comedy musical from DJ Lubel (C'05) and it's all about New York (Murray Hill to be exact) and his circle of hebrew school graduated, sleepaway camp and teen tour loving friends. Not only is it clever, but it's well directed and produced.

If you recall, DJ did a FANTASTIC comedy musical on how much he misses Rick Moranis! Check it our HERE!

Check out my other Funny Friday posts here!

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This Year's Winning Hey Day T-Shirt Design

I love how in 2009, all the undergrads use the web to promote everything from their candidacy, to fraternity parties, to fundraisers and now ...Hey Day t-shirt designs!

The t-shirt design to the left by Audrey Menco (C'10) is this year's winning design. 

Check out the other Hey Day t-shirt designs HERE.  I also thought another contender was the "Obama"-esque design.  These designs all look way cooler than the t-shirt I had back in 1995!

Which t-shirt do you like?

Catch up on Hey Day videos from the past!

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This Penn Alum Award Winner Has Started His Own International Dance Company

David P. France (C'89, Arts House Dance, Penn Media Summit Creator), my fellow co-winner of Penn's first Young Alumni Award of Merit back in 2004, has just started his own dance company (the "David P. France Dance Company") in Basel, Switzerland and New York City.

David also stars in and executive produced the above video called "Canticle."

On a related note, I thought Marlo Dell'Antonio, the director of this film had an interesting explanation for the inspiration for this film...

"The key element is the music video: which signifies specific movement vocabulary of my style, seen in the staged concert piece Psalm 27 (2006). This duet reconstruction was taught and filmed over the course of 48 hours, in collaboration with the David P. France Dance Company (based out of Basel, Switz). More details regarding the video.

I’d like to take a minute, however, to give my personal testimony regarding the work and why I feel its actualization will engulf a good portion of my life.

Christians are sometimes encouraged to choose a psalm to turn to in times of tribulation. Psalm 27 is my psalm. I heard a version of it performed during my first Sunday mass at St John’s Student Parish, in East Lansing, MI. The summer of 2003 was perhaps one of the most emotionally challenging times of my life, regarding relationships and betrayals. I remember hearing this song and crying, as I watched from behind the pews, because I was so passionately moved by the strength of the lyrics. I noticed the faces of the choir members and thought, “My God, they are so happy! Why are they so happy? I want to know what that feels like; I want to understand why...”

I immediately asked to join the choir after that mass. I began to attend 5 masses a week. I noticed that I felt rhythmically and emotionally moved to dance to some of the songs we performed on a regular basis. I took notes in my hymnal for over a year before the idea to sync 7 of my favorite songs into a dance concert piece arose.

I wanted the parishioners to see what I saw in my mind when I heard those melodies. So many Christians, especially Catholics, see the body purely as sacred and void of engaging the physical ability to worship; that worship is solely through prayer and song. My premise is that the body, along with the voice, can (and must!) be united to give glory to our Creator. Also, that the songs can be arranged rhythmically to insight those listening, not only inspiration, but also, to get up and dance. This is a natural response; there is nothing wrong with it. People need to know that.

The main stanza of Psalm 27 is this:
The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; of whom shall I be afraid?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; whom shall I fear?

There is no doubt in my mind that I couldn’t have survived some of the trials I've had to face, if I hadn’t heard these words through song. My job as an Artist is to shape and extend this experience through the talents I have been given. Quite simply, my only hope is that this passion I feel can be shared. Regardless, of religious affiliations.

I was attended catholic schooling for 13 years. I didn’t learn a damn thing about faith until I joined that choir. Now, I might be ex-communicated one day for my views on the combination of sexuality and spirituality, but one thing is certain: I will not shut up. Although the continuation of Psalm 27 is only one of several life-term projects I’ve set for myself, it will always be a central part of my being and character."

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Why These Touring High School Students LOVED Penn (VIDEO)

Yesterday, I showed a great video of a high school student logging onto the Penn admissions site to see whether she got into Penn.

But if we take it a step back, what determines whether a high school prospect even wants to go to Penn?

Over the past few weeks a bunch of high school students were taking their "College Tour '09" and visited a bunch of campuses to determine which school/s they were feeling the love from.

Take a look at the video above which documents these students' impressions of Penn.  Mostly positive with one negative... which I disagree about..as will you.

Find out why alumni and current undergrads picked Penn HERE

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DT EXCLUSIVE: Accepted or Rejected into UPenn? Her Intense Reaction (VIDEO)

In the image to the left, do you think Amy Guo's face reads "accepted" or "rejected" from Penn?

Watch above as this 2013 early decision candidate logs online to find out her fate into the Engineering School (how very 2009!).

It's nice to know that students these days can log onto the Penn admissions site and instantly find out.

On a related note, if you recall, I posted a video of a candidate getting accepted HERE and another candidate getting waitlisted/rejected HERE. 

And check out how HERE how Penn is now phasing out paper rejection letters!

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"Slamming" Penn Undergrads on HBO's "Brave New Voices"

Over the years on DT, I posted about The Excelano Project, a captivating group at Penn that performs the Spoken Word.

Apparently, 4 members of this group have caught the attention of Russell Simmons and will be starring in Simmons' new HBO show "Brave New Voices" debuting this Sunday night at 11pm ET/PT.

Per the HBO site, the show is "one part Def Poetry Jam and two-parts documentary" which "features the finest young spoken word artists in the country".

Representing from Penn are Josh Bennett (C'10), Aysha El Shamayleh (C'10), Alysia Harris (C'10), and Chloe Wayne (C'10).

If you recall, last year I named Alysia Harris' performance of "What's in a Soldier", the "#1 Penn Video That Will Give You the Chills".

Best of luck to Team Philadelphia!

Watch out for them on Sundays at 11 pm ET/PT on HBO!

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Alumni with New Films, TV & Music + His Recurring Role on a Popular Soap Opera!

Some Hollywood bits and pieces from our Alumni this week:

• New sci-fi film being produced.
• New reality TV show debuting in May.
• New music featured on a TV show.
• New TV guest appearances on 2 popular shows (one tonight!).

Dig into the details HERE.

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Reality honcho Mark Cronin (ENG'86), debuts his next VH1 reality show, "New York Goes to Work"

More details here
My past posts about Mark and all his reality shows here

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Todd Lieberman (C'95) will produce the film (based on the book) Grandma's Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast. Per Variety, "The story revolves around a boy who goes to visit his hippie grandmother for the first time and discovers that her inn caters to vacationing aliens, a secret that she has been able to keep from her small town."

My past posts about Todd and his films here

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Actor Roy Vongtama (C'96) will appear on tonight's "Dollhouse" (April 3) at 9 pm (playing a yoga instructor)!

Roy will also be recurring on "Days of Our Lives" starting April 21st and 22nd on NBC at 1pm as Doctor Richman! As you may recall from my earlier posts, Roy is actually a doctor in real life. How great is that!

My past posts about Roy here

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Matt Kap's (C'97) band's (The Moving Picture Show) song "The Boy Who Lives Backwards" was featured this season in minute 10 of "The Real World: Brooklyn" episode above.

Listen to "The Boy Who Lives Backwards" here:



The story behind the song?   Per Matt:

"The Boy Who Lives Backwards" basically came out of a regret. I was going to take some summer classes at NYU and met a girl the first day in the dorm through a friend. She'd had a bad day and her friend wasn't around so I decided to try and cheer her up. We had a really incredible night but I was so shy at the time and thought she had a boyfriend so I didn't ask her out. Years later I thought of that while singing a melody and began thinking about regrets we have in life - the person we didn't kiss, the bully on the playground we didn't stand up to, the clever comebacks that we wished we'd said in an argument and that's what the song is about. It also really reminds me of New York City in the fall which is my favorite time of year."

Check out Matt's performance at our very own Pennfest 2007:

My past posts about Matt here

More about The Moving Picture Show

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Past "DT Hollywood Bits and Pieces" posts here

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