Bwog tipster Sara Vogel informs us that Robert Thurman, professor of Buddhist studies and relative of all sorts of famous people, is this week's New York Times Magazine "Questions For..." interviewee. In the interview, Thurman talks about why the Dalai Lama never comes over to hang out anymore, totally disses Slavoj Zizek, and also at one point says, "I meditate on how Dick Cheney was my mother in a previous life and nursed me at his breast." (Impromptu Photoshop contest: if you send us an image of Thurman suckling at the teat of our Vice President, we will include it in this post.)

For more of the Robert Thurman interview experience, check out the Blue and White's October Conversation.

UPDATE 12:06 AM: A treasure arrives in our inbox, from Photoshop hero Jon Hill:

(Hello, Daily Intelligencer!)

Two years ago, Blue and White writer Amanda Erickson presciently profiled '08 valedictorian Maxim Pinkovskiy. But don't show this article to your parents--they'll probably trade you back to the stork for a child like Maxim.

"He's always right. Not almost always. Always," says his former Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin.

Every student in his macro class last year knows his name, and most perk up slightly at its mention. Maxim Pinkovskiy, C'08, was "that kid."

"He always sat in the front," one student quickly replied when I asked him what he knew about Maxim. "Always answering everything."

Some imitate his nasal voice, his plunking, Russian, almost-sounds-put-on accent, and the way he bobs his head as he speaks. Some immediately bring up his white loafers or his pants, which reach midway up his chest.

The Blue and White is pleased as punch to commandeer the Bwog airwaves for a moment in order to announce the launch of our new site, designed by the ever-brilliant Mr. Robert Stenson, Esq. No longer shall we suffer, as Samson did, trapped between the Bwog's two imposing columns—from this day onward, the print magazine asserts its own new, aesthetically pleasing web identity.

Of course, your feedback is desired while we iron out the technical details of our new design. Thanks for reading!

Bwog was especially delighted to stumble upon this week's New Yorker. Not only does one Talk of the Town article discuss the decision to dismantle Columbia's Cyclotron—which, we learned, was actually gutted in 1965 and mostly shipped off to the Smithsonian in bits and pieces—the author of the piece is Kate Linthicum, BC '08 and a Blue and White senior editor.

The February issue is nigh, but a teaser is hither.

You may have seen them walking together down Low steps, just a hair's length closer than the average pair of professional colleagues. Maybe you sat next to them at Brownie's, the architecture school's classy alternative to Ferris Booth, as they nibbled on croissants and talked dryly of the Frankfurt School, or maybe, they even taught one of your classes together. Married professors: they're everywhere on Columbia campus--there's more love in Morningside Heights than you'd think.

An informal investigation yielded about a dozen married professor couples, in a broad range of departments, as well as a pair or two of lovebirds rumored to be "shacking up" together. Getting face time with these power couples proved to be very difficult. As any undergrad is well aware, it is difficult enough to pin down one professor for a meeting, so busy is the academic life. Getting two in the same room at the same time is near impossible. Philosophy professors Philip and Patricia Kitcher are on leave together in Berlin. Professor Janaki Bakhle (history) is on leave as well and her husband, Professor Nicholas Dirks (Vice President for Arts and Sciences, Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology, and Professor of History) was in Davos, Switzerland when I requested a sit-down. Professors Andrew (English and American Studies) and Dawn Delbanco (art history) politely declined to be interviewed.

Tonight marks the first Blue and White and Bwog meetings of the semester. Come to St. Paul's chapel basement at 9:30 PM to pitch stories for the March issue, perhaps engage in a game of Pokey, and meet our new editor-in-chief Anna Phillips and managing editor Katie Reedy. Bwog also hears rumors of ginger snaps.

10:30 PM in the same location is the Bwog meeting. New writers and old welcome—nay, encouraged—to attend. We'll throw around ideas for stories, features, sports and arts coverage. There may even be left-over ginger snaps.

The magazine will be posted online later tonight, but for those brave enough to emerge from Butler, the print version is already scattered around campus.

Emmy and Pulitzer winning playwright Tony Kushner, CC '78, had to cancel our first interview when the Writers Guild of America strike called him to the picket lines. When we finally corralled him at the Hungarian Pastry Shop, the Angels in America author arrived on a little folding bike to regale us with tales of activism, experimentation, and a room near and dear to his heart (residents of 1013 Furnald, you've been warned).

THE BLUE AND WHITE: How involved have you been in the strike?

Tony Kushner: Well, I've been on the picket line pretty much every day there's been a picket line. I've been a responsible member. I'm not writing a screenplay that I was in the middle of writing when this started.

B&W: What's that been like for you? To completely step away from something you're immersed in?

TK: It's been tough because it's a script for Steven Spielberg and I'd been working on it for a year before the strike happened. I think it's important that it's in basically the same shape that it was in when the strike started, so that people running things in Hollywood understand that it's not like a lot of work is secretly getting done while we're on strike.

B&W: One of the things you mentioned in your 2004 Class Day speech is that you wouldn't have been there unless the grad students were taking a rest from their strike. Were you involved in activism as a student?

TK: Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I came. I had a fantasy that I would walk on campus and May '68 would still be going on, and I had really powerful romantic feelings about Columbia's history of student unrest. This was 1974, so I was somewhat surprised by what I found when I got here. But there was still actually a lot going on, and I think about a month after I arrived, Abe Beame, the mayor of New York, announced that they were closing all the branch libraries in the public library system, because this was at a point when the city was completely bankrupt. And a bunch of old people who were all 1930s radicals who used the library as a place to sit on cold days announced that they were going to sit in and not allow the libraries to close. And then somebody, I don't know who, put up posters saying, "Let's go support the old people." And so it became, every day, this amazing gathering of 80-year-old communists who still lived in rent-controlled apartments on the Upper West Side and student radicals who had occupied Grayson Kirk's office in '68 and one guy who claimed to have put acid in the water cooler in Low Library—and people like me who were interested in being part of that tradition at Columbia.

In which Bwog Personals returns! And to start us off are two of the Blue and White's eligible editors. All interested parties should contact Bwog via email and we'll provide the $5 for the date. And as always, nominate your friends (or yourself) for a personal by emailing bwgossip@columbia.edu.

GUY FOR GIRL

What are your most played songs on iTunes?

I listen to Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations constantly when studying, so most of those are in the top 50.

And now for another self-indulgent preview of B&W's fine print issue this month, on stands now!

The [Guy with the Same Name as the] Decimal System Guy Himself

A Conversation Only CC Students Can Understand

They're Walking Paradoxes

Verily Comes Clean

It's time for The Blue and White's October issue! This month, the staff of the magazine takes its first foray into the world of Columbia Athletics with our Fall Sports section. Throughout the next few days, we'll be rolling out selected stories from the section so you can get a head start. First up: PE Dispatches, direct from the front lines.

P.E. Dispatches
By Paul Barndt

And you thought you were done. To the many Columbians who missed the fine print about the two-semester PE requirement: we sympathize, and we're here to help. We bring you dispatches from the front, the class students have survived, and, yes, enjoyed. For those of you who have completed the required stint, keep in mind that you receive credit for up to four PE class—don your mesh shorts and wristbands, and get back out there.

Diving

Gordon Spencer brings an aged, mellow wisdom to his diving class, which he's taught almost fifty times. Show up five minutes late, leave ten minutes early, it's all good, man. He's also got a bone-dry sense of humor; if you belly flop, you'll hear your gym-mates laughing as you surface and wonder what Gordon said that cracked everyone up.

Continue reading after the jump...

Because there's nothing Bwog likes more than teasing its viewers, we bring you another taste of the upcoming Orientation issue of The Blue and White -- it hits your doorstep or dorm lobby tomorrow!

Helfand's Index
By David J. Helfand

The June Harper's Index, that essential compendium of facts masquerading as social commentary, cited the "ratio of negative portrayals of teachers on U.S. children's television programs to positive portrayals" as 3:1. I will refrain from speculating on the ratio with which you will portray your professors after four years at Columbia. I also won't reveal how your professors will rate you. But I was asked by the editors to provide a "Helfand's Index" of highly pertinent facts to get you started in Frontiers of Science. All them pass Stephen Colbert's truthiness test.

Percentage of the greenhouse gas emissions for the entire country of New Zealand that are produce by the burps and farts of cows and sheep: 40%

End-to-end length of all the DNA in all the viruses on Earth: 275 million light years (one light year is 6 trillion miles).

End-to-end length of all human DNA: 18 million km (or 0.000002 light years)—so who's in charge here?

Yes, we're that self-reverential.

If you've never read a word of Spec coverage on Manhattanville, read this. It's crazy!

It's okay, nobody else knows what the hell they're talking about either.

O'zbek tilini ko'proq talaba o'rganishini istardim. Yeah, that's Uzbek, bitch.

You will never be this cool. Ever.

Happy Birthday! That will be two dollars please.

Columbia student enterprises: breaking even by baking cookies.

A few things you weren't sure you wanted to know about a few B&W seniors.

Hurrah! Huzzah! The March print edition of The Blue and White, the last under Editor-in-Chief Zachary Bendiner, is officially released tonight! If you're in a Columbia dorm, look for an issue at your door within the next 24 hours. But for those of you who desperately need your B&W jolt right now, here are some choice selections from this month's issue:

-The Conversation: R. L. Stine
Who knew Fear Street was on the Upper West Side?

-Letter to the Editor
The Spec responds to the Feb B&W article "The White Pages."

-Campus Characters
Thomas Reardon and Kate Berthold, these are your lives.

-Yo! MTV Sucks!
How reality television MADE me into a douche.

-Character Wars
A conflict made in China (or Taiwan) invades classrooms.

-A Gutter Pirate's Life For Me
Washed-up dope fiend philosophers in Tompkins Square.

-Epcot Columbia
The ultimate pan-Columbian experience.

-Professors' Kids—They're Just Like Us!
Free riding FacBrats have their own lessons to impart.

Feeling guilty about being suckered in by the Oscars? Ease your guilt! Read about how once upon a time, film screenings meant something. From the March issue of the B&W.


I Can't Believe it's not Goulash

Roger Ebert likes to wax nostalgic about the old days. In a favorite story of his, he stood with a crowd of eager moviegoers outside Chicago's Three Penny Cinema for hours in the pouring rain, anxiously awaiting the next sold-out screening of Jean-Luc Godard's post-apocalyptic Marxist treatise Weekend. There is a certain false nostalgia here. But Ebert and company does get something right: at that point in world history, going to see a movie in a theater meant something. Film screenings were an event.

It's strange to complain about a time when a Columbia student can acquire elusive and difficult movies by Theo Angelopolous or Hou Hsiao-Hsien by walking to Kim's basement or to the Lerner mailroom and watch them on his laptop. Steven Soderbergh has let his Bubble burst, and its much-discussed distribution strategy—simultaneous release in theaters, on video, and on cable—points to a general trend in the culture: accessibility.