Dear starry eyed-freshman:

Do you like music? Movies? How about burlesque dancers strutting their stuff on the Slope? If so, you’re in luck. The Pussycat Dolls may not strike Ithaca every year (thank god), but there’s plenty else to keep your eyes, ears and mind entertained on campus and around town. To get a taste, check out these review excerpts from last year — everyone from Girl Talk to Junot Diaz to Don Giovanni was in town, and we were there to get you the story. Appetite sufficiently whetted? Get ready for the likes of Ani DiFranco and Built to Spill this fall, and check out the concert on the Arts Quad on Aug. 29 (artist to be announced). It’ll be the start of another great year in Ithaca arts culture. And homework and tests and all that other boring stuff. Whatever.

Barton Hall got rocked on Sunday night as first GZA and then Girl Talk graced the stage for the Cornell masses. The former, a Wu-Tang Clan legend, was affable and loose, freestyling about our fair alma mater and wading through the crowd — though he did botch his encore, yelling “Fuck it” and tossing his mic back onstage.

We’ve just rubbed our bodies down with aloe to sooth our burns after soaking in the HEROIC sun all day on the slope. It feels so, so good to be burned to a crisp after months in VILLAINOUS hibernation. Now, in light of the Sun, we couldn’t be happier to say that we’re done for the semester with rocking fake tans and unnecessary sunglasses. The Sun’s shining and we’re crossing our fingers that it’s here to stay. Nothing makes us happier here at HEROES & VILLAINS than sunshine and sangria and we’re proud to say that we’re ready for more.

The collective boots of Cornell are shaking. This Sunday, the concert crescendo that’s been slowly invading campus all year reaches its climax when Girl Talk comes to town, GZA by his side. What started as a whimper with T-Pain (sorry to all three members of Cornell’s “BUY ME A DRANK!! T-PAIN’S #1 CORNELL FANS” Facebook group) and gained steam with Luda is now going to be, as the immortal Lance Crouther / Pootie Tang once said, a “cama cama leepa-chaiii,” dig? I know this might be a lot to take in all at once, so let’s take it step-by-step.