All entries by this author

Why the iPad might be more than a media phenomenon

By Faine Greenwood | Apr 23rd, 2010 | Category: April 23rd Print Edition, Arcade, Issues, Reviews

Apple’s new iPad is a bit of a conundrum. Sure, the iPad is a shiny touch-screen thingie that combines the neato features of an iPhone with the portability and easy reading capabilities of a Kindle. But how practical is it? What can actually be done with an iPad, beyond playing Tetris, watching stupid YouTube movies […]



Yay Internet!

By Faine Greenwood | Nov 20th, 2009 | Category: Issues, November 20th Print Edition, Views

Internet use cuts you off from the world, ruins your social life and consigns you to a life spent indoors, tap-tapping away on your laptop as you grow fatter, sweatier and more horrible to behold. Well, that’s the conventional wisdom. In the recent past, studies seemed to back up the Internet-as-social-death thesis.
A 2006 study argued […]



Being Hip About Music

By Faine Greenwood | Nov 6th, 2009 | Category: Issues, November 6th Print Edition, Views

Nothing makes people my age more douchy, more unsupportable and odious, than music. Music is the nexus of pretension and wankery among we of generation Y. Indeed, I will do pretty much anything to avoid talking about music with other people my age. I will crawl through trenches of broken glass and bury my head […]



The new Facebook

By Faine Greenwood | Oct 30th, 2009 | Category: Issues, October 30th Print Edition, Views

Did you hear that national primeval scream October 24? You know what I’m talking about: On that dreadful day of shadows and despair, Facebook changed its new feed from its old format (one stream of information) to a new format. Now, users see a news feed and a live feed, with a tab allowing quick […]



Save the Internet

By Faine Greenwood | Oct 23rd, 2009 | Category: Issues, October 23rd Print Edition, Views

Use the Internet? You need to be paying attention to net neutrality. The fate of that delightful series of tubes you love and cherish so much hangs in the balance.
So what is net neutrality? Allow me to explain.
In simplest terms, a neutral broadband network contains no restrictions on what is done with it. All content, sites, […]



World Wide Wits?

By Faine Greenwood | Sep 18th, 2009 | Category: Issues, September 18th Print Edition, Views

Is the Internet making us dumber?
Are we outsourcing our higher brain functions to the machines that live on our desks? Are we letting the Internet turn us into a version of itself?
That is the thesis of Robert Carr’s widely read and even more widely discussed Atlantic article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”
In the piece, Carr notes that […]



Generation Rebel

By Faine Greenwood | Aug 28th, 2009 | Category: August 28 2009 Edition, Views

We have, I am afraid, been lied to.
My generation, Generation Y, is lousy at rebellion. Many of us were raised by Baby Boomers with a bottomless tolerance for pretty much anything, spurred by their own fancy-free youth. Most of us Generation Y’ers had nothing to rebel against, and if we did rebel, it was ineffective and […]



Friend Requesting Your Wallet

By Faine Greenwood | Aug 21st, 2009 | Category: August 21 2009 edition, Issues, Views

Facebook is the life-blood of college life, the portal through which we university students conduct our entire lives.  Thanks to Facebook, we can keep up with our friends, spy on our crushes and post incredibly embarrassing party pictures for everyone to see. We can plan bitchin’ parties, engage in vicious poking warfare and fill out […]



Carnival Revelry

By Faine Greenwood | Mar 12th, 2009 | Category: February 13th Print Edition, Views

If you believe the media, flashing is as much a part of carnival as beads, brass bands and alcohol poisoning. Girls Gone Wild infomercials and suspicious church groups agree: The wanton flashing of girly parts is a veritable epidemic here in New Orleans, an unstoppable festival-season force.
My own mother warned me, semi-jokingly, that I would […]



Less dreadlocks, more fun

A transfer student describes change of culture
By Faine Greenwood | Jan 31st, 2009 | Category: January 29th Print Edition, Views

I’m a Tulane transfer.
I came from a small liberal arts college in the Massachusetts Berkshires, a place where pretentiousness, anti-social behavior and overt weirdness were not only accepted but encouraged. There were 300 people in the entire student body, and we all fancied ourselves budding young geniuses, we liked to spend our Saturdays discussing long-dead […]