The MIT Blogarhythms!

The MIT Blogarhythms! Congratulations to the MIT Class of 2014! Im a little late hopping on the congratulations bandwagon here (a vehicle that goes from 0 to 60 in 0.2 seconds, and then proceeds to receive many congratulations for being so fast), but Ive been up to a lot. More on that later, dont you worry (not that you were). Since Ive gone and missed most of the period where bloggers post advice on rejection, acceptance, financial aid, your sex life, the measles. wait, back it up. Since Ive gone and missed the immediately-post-decisions blogging spree, Ill dedicate this blog entry to looking ahead! Here, from your temporarily-a-sellout blogger, is a word about CPW! Allow me to begin with an anecdote: Four months ago, before winter break and a few days before all of you Early Action admits heard the good news two of my friends from Wayland High School, Kevin and Michelle (currently HS seniors), came into the city for dinner. However, the MIT Winter Logs concert was that night, and we decided to first check it out. MIT seems to be littered with free a cappella performances (people litter a lot in cities; MIT also seems to be littered with grad students nobodys bothered to clean up) (I jest the grad students here arent unclean, or at least that holds for the subset Ive met), and after a hard week of work and exams a concert is a good way to unwind. As this was four months ago, I only remember two highlights from the concert, both of which are something far too common here at MIT. One problem with MIT is that you far too often have the Hey! I know ! syndrome. I read Gizmodo for regular tech news (as does Steve Jobs, apparently); about once a day, when I tab to an article that I think sounds especially cool, I scroll down only to uncover pictures of the Media Lab, or a car which frequently blocks the lathe (or did this summer, anywho), or a Charles. If youre a geek, you wont be able to escape hearing about MIT; even for MIT readers of less-geeky news, its hard to avoid the Hey! I know that guy! syndrome. For example, at the Winter Logs concert (which, by the way, is a concert put on my MITs Logarhythms, the all-male a cappella group more to come), the freshmen Logs put on a skit for the audience that theyd been working on. The end result of the skit caught me completely off guard as a tall fellow with blonde hair started HEY GUS IM REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU, IMMA LET YOU FINISH, BUT THE MIT LOGS HAVE ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME Err, right. As one freshman broke out into a Taylor Swift You Belong with Me solo, I thought Whoa! I know that guy! (Also, please forgive me I hate to call upon internet memes, but it fit too well.) After the concert, I talked to Gus the Taylor-Swift-singing-fellow and asked him if I could do a blog post about his performance at the concert. I had been blown away by his performance, being caught completely off guard; it was hilarious, but it was also very *good*. It was an awesome Hey, I know that guy! moment, and I wanted to share with you all the video of a tall guy with a deep voice singing Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, the Logs had some technical difficulties with that part of the concert (although this was more of a sound-quality issue, even at MIT its especially frustrating when your TA cant seem to get powerpoint open; nobody ever really escapes technical difficulties, at any level (in my most recent case, ubiquitous segfaults)), so this other video from that night will have to do instead. (Apologies to those who dont like the song; theyve got lots of other great stuff, if you dont like this one, though). Where am I going with all this? Well, lets finish up with my other moment from the Winter Logs concert, first: At the end of the concert, the Logs sang a Logs classic: Super Logs. When they started to sing, a large group from the crowd ran up to and hopped on the stage and started singing with them; Logs alumni! Back in high school, Kevin, myself, and some other fellows from Wayland worked on several projects here at MIT, more or less under the direction of the Edgerton Center (Enough links for you?). Which meant that, when we saw the last man from the audience run up to the stage, we both started cheering as loud as possible: ED! (This happens to be the only picture of the man I have on hand) For the second time that night, I was caught completely off guard; Ive worked with Ed for several years now, on a number of ridiculous, awesome, and occasionally ridiculously awesome projects. (The photo above is a decent example of one of them; for full effect, check out the slideshow on flickr. Although I knew Ed was a former Log, it was still pretty darn cool to see him up on stage singing. In summary, I never did get to blog about the Winter Logs concert. But moving on! Heres a blogpost about MITs a cappella groups, and this time its pre-emptive! (wait, what? I dont know.) PRE-EMPTIVE A CAPPELLA CONCERT BLOG POST begins here. For all you CPW-attending prefrosh who havent had been exposed to MITs a cappella scene (or, who havent seen parts of MITs a cappella scene slightly exposed), this event is for you! (theres an event for that? nah). Introducing: SGBIS! Which probably stands for Singing Groups Beat Infertility and Socialism, or something similar. Update: I have been informed by the Council of People Who Know Things About This Obscure Acronym (CPWKTATOA), a.k.a. one of the Logs, that it stands for Spring Greater Boston Invitational Songfest. This CPW, coming to an MIT near you, all of MITs a cappella groups will be performing for free! And theyve asked me, more or less, to let you all know about it. Except they didnt tell me what SGBIS stood for, so feel free to post your interpretations in the comments. I would highly recommend going to this event; although its two hours, I dont think theyd mind if you just stopped in for a while, and MITs a cappella groups are very well known. Plus, if you want to take your shower-based rendition of a Lady Gaga song to the next level, these are the people to talk to. After the show, youll be able to talk to the members of the group about what its like to sing a cappella at MIT, what it takes to join, and snag their phone numbers if you really want. (Editors note, meaning bloggers note: I may be using my poetic/bloggetic license there, as they may not have told me they would give their phone numbers to adoring audience members. However, I suppose you could try it and see how they respon d. Tip: Its best to stare creepily at them until they ask you what youre doing, and then respond with How you doin?, a-la-Joey) Who will be there, you ask? Well, weve got (in order of appearance at the event) The Chorallaries of MIT Syncopasian The Muses Techiya Resonance Asymptones Cross Products The Toons The Logarhythms If you think you might be interested in joining any of these groups, or just want to sit in on a free concert and take a break from the whirlwind that is CPW, you should check it out! The details: What: SGIBS, or something? When: Friday, April 9th, 4-6pm Where: 34-101 Who: All of the above. Also, stay tuned, because I might be telling you about another awesome CPW event as the event draws near. Ill try not to spam you too much with such things, though Id been meaning to blog about the Winter Logs concert for a long time, and since a cappella groups here are so popular, I thought that when asked I would pass along the word about this concert. Dont worry, Im not completely sold out. (Prices begin at $1million per blog entry, contact today for a quote, companies! (Just kidding. Although if for some reason you wanted to give me a million dollars, or were even thinking about it, hit me up with an e-mail, because thatd be pretty cool.)) Coming up next: a bit of a look at what Ive been doing this semester, and some other miscellany. P.S., if youre looking for summer jobs or internships, you should really apply now (or, a month ago) just a reminder :) P.P.S. (Post Partum Separation, not Post Script): admissions site staff, do we really not have a post category for CPW? (rhetorical question since Im going to e-mail it to yall anyways) Till next time, -Cam