We've all experimented with jalapenos before but the guys in this film definitely have some serious cajones! (if they were indeed eating as many as the film makes us think!)

Check out this class project video starring some undergrads as a final project for one of Penn's cinematography courses (Starring RJ Ferguson (C'10) and Yanik Ruiz-Ramon (C'10) Produced by Matt Emrick (C'09) and Karishma Jhalani (C'08))

Watch the video


Other creative Class Project videos!

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Our undergrads and alumni are not only mentally fit, but in the case of Collete DeBenedetto (C'08), physically fit as well.

Look out for Collette who is featured in the February 08' issue of the women's fitness magazine, Oxygen (on newsstands now!) She is in the "Tomorrow's Cover Girls" section looking hot!

Click here to check out Collette!

From the looks of it, this proactive undergrad has her act together not only when it comes to fitness, but when it comes to a career in entertainment. According to her facebook profile, I see that she has interned at both Scott Rudin Productions and at VH1 (both in NY). Something tells me she'll be one to look out for...

Click to see what other 2008 Penn grads are up to

Apply for a great Entertainment internship!

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Last week I posted about "One Night Stand", the improv musical group that Jonah Platt (C'08, Off the Beat) started seven years ago.

With video camera in hand, I ventured down to see his show last Saturday night with Kiera Reilly (C'93) and we both had a fantastic time!

Jonah came out at the beginning of the show and asked the audience for a bunch of words which they then weaved into a FULL hour's musical performance! A full hour! With an accompanying pianist and an actual story arc! And all of this improv! They were making up songs and lyrics on the spot!

The words that were muttered from the audience from the show I saw included "Mental Hospital", "Geri Curls" and "Matzah Ball Soup". It was exciting sitting in the audience watching this talented troupe work together and weave an entertaining story on the fly before our very eyes. The story which resulted was about a woman admitted to a mental hospital and forced to take pills all day long.

Click here to watch their performance of "We All Take Pills"
(Jonah is the guy swinging his arms in the video)

The protagonist's one true love then gives up his transsexual(!) lover and goes after her. ...This resulted in a very funny scene in which Jonah and 2 fellow performers sang a cleverly improvised song comparing sexual preference to having both the lemonade and ice tea in an Arnold Palmer drink.

Click here to watch this funny "Arnold Palmer" scene

Check out the "One Night Stand" website

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UA Chair Jason Karsh (C'08) just posted a new UA video explaining the upcoming UA Readership Program in which 657 copies of the New York Times will be delivered daily to campus, M-F, until the end of the semester.

I guess everyone will have to share their copy...?

In any case, little by little...lots of great things happening on campus these days.

Watch Jason's latest UA video installment

Check out Jason's other creative UA videos

With the proliferation of online video, it's getting easier and easier to communicate with one's classmates. On that note, hey class presidents out there, send me a video to post on DuelingTampons to address your classmates for your upcoming class reunions!

Did you like this article? You can get the latest articles at DuelingTampons.com in your email inbox each afternoon by entering your email address below. Your address will only be used for mailing you the articles, and each one will include a link so you can unsubscribe at any time.

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Jonah Platt (C'08) is quite the renaissance man.

Not only can Jonah sing well, and not only is he the musical director of Off the Beat, but he started and sustained an improvised musical troupe "One Night Stand" for the past 7 years (with a show in Los Angeles this week!). Talk about being involved!

...Not a big surprise, considering he comes from an involved family of Penn alumni (his mother Julie Platt (C'79) is a University Trustee and his father Marc Platt (C'79, Glee Club) is a Hollywood executive and Broadway Producer).

Jonah tells me that at his shows the audience makes up the name of a musical ("Mongoose Diaries," "Thundercats in Love," "They Came From My Mother" and "Walk of Shame" are a few recent ones) and the troupe then makes up a cohesive hourlong musical right on the spot. Per Jonah, "We make up the music, the lyrics, the dances, the dialogue-- everything completely improvised with nothing pre-planned or rehearsed."

Check out this "Walk of Shame" clip from their performance at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Jonah is the one lying on the floor and sings at minute 3)

Jonah will be performing their group's international (60 min.) hit show, One Night Stand, at the Hudson Guild Theater in LA this week on January 10 (8pm), 11 (8pm) and 12 (8pm and 10 pm). (6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038). Running Time: 60 minutes, Tickets: $15.00. To make reservations (323) 960-5773.

(I'll be there at the Saturday 8 pm show)

Their group then performs at the Dirty South Improv Festival in Chapel Hill, NC in February, then back to Edinburgh Scotland for the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they made their debut last summer.

Click here to learn more about how Jonah started this group and some of the big name backers to his show.

Check out the "One Night Stand" website

Click to see what other 2008 Penn undergrads are up to

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So far, my 3 "Penn" related facebook widget picks (what is a widget?) have centered around Penn basketball, phone books, ticketing and now today, it's all about video.

Click here to see my #2 pick.

#2) "myTV" Widget
Penn Entrepreneurs Nat Turner (W'08), Zach Weinberg (C'08), Scott Becker (C'09) and Michael Provenzano ('08) have built a slick application called "myTV" for Facebook which allows users to search YouTube and save videos to a personal playlist.

The talented founders of Invite Media, Inc. have recently launched their tech start-up which focuses on online video optimization and monetization. Backed by two Wharton statisticians, the myTV application is a launching point for the creation of a video discovery and recommendation engine based on behavioral targeting.

Stay tuned because Invite Media also struck a deal with a major video publisher that will enable them to largely distribute their content recommendation engine to over 40 million users. With personal recommendations already available for the music realm thanks to discovery services like Pandora Radio, the inclusion of video content into the discovery engine will greatly expand the online video industry and possibly lead to better ad monetization.

Click here to add the application to your facebook profile!

See all my Facebook widget picks!

If you haven't already, add yourself as a friend to my profile!

Check back tomorrow for my #1 pick!

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I was impressed by their last video, but this new video from Freaks of the Beat is just as compelling.

Combine talent with some reverse playback and we've got ourselves a very entertaining video.

Per the group's co-president (featured in photo to left), Ronny Gallegos (C' 08), the video is a tribute to Spike Jonze who directed the Pharcyde's music video 'Drop.' We put our own spin on it."

Is it me or do you think these guys are procrastinating from studying for finals? : )

Check out their new video!

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It's got music, dancing and a bus costume.

Click here to find out what this is all about!

From his first video welcoming the class of 2011, then to his last ninja themed video from a couple of months ago, Jason Karsh (C'08) and the undergraduate assembly are at it again with another entertaining UA video discussing some of their projects relating to dining, shuttles, housing, and multimedia.

Click here to check out the video!

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A couple of weeks ago, Robert Redford and the cast of "Lions for Lambs" came to Penn for an advanced screening and talk.

Collette DeBenedetto (C'08) shot some video.

Check it out here!

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"Porn is awesome. Many women my age understand porn is just sexual stimulation — not competition.”

Got your attention?

This quote comes from undergrad aspiring journalist and college magazine editor Jessica Gold Haralson (C'08) in this month's Playboy college edition. Jessica was invited to speak at a college roundtable of journalists from colleges with an interest in sexuality.

Jessica is quite the emerging writer with a unique voice. She started a campus smart-sex magazine, works at Penn’s Kelly Writers House, and is currently interning at smart smut publication Nerve.com. She edits the Nerve Video Blog and is a research assistant for Nerve culture blog Scanner. In addition, she serves as an editorial/PR assistant to Philadelphia-based journalist Stephen Fried.

Last year she started Quake Magazine (her erotica publication) and per Jessica, "it is no longer a print publication, but look out for an online version this winter."

Be sure to bookmark that one!

If you’d like to know more, please shoot her a line at jgh@sas.upenn.edu. She would love to hear from you!

Click here to visit Jessica's website

Check out talent from other C'08 undergrads

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10 years ago student elections meant canvasing the walk and the kiosks with flyers. To be honest, I voted but didn't always really know whom I was voting for.

Times have changed.

Today, I'm seeing most of the 64 freshmen candidates create Facebook groups and flyers for their campaigns...loaded with photos, qualification and promises. Promises ranging from "stronger water pressure for the shower heads in the quad" to bringing "quality toilet paper to a bathroom near you" to "massueses and free snacks in Houston Hall"! In the microcosm of Penn, these are some of the issues that I'm guessing may resonate with freshmen.. Regardless they all have one thing in common... spirit!

Some marketing tactics I've been noticing for the big 9/24 campus wide vote include "a fact a day" email from one candidate to this forward thinking way of reaching out to students from Jeff Kaplan (C'11).
Click here to watch Jeff Kaplan's campaign video.

Something tells me that there may be more videos to come...

****************************************************************

Class of 2011 Candidates, I invite you to post your videos on DuelingTampons.com.

Freshmen candidates, click here to upload your campaign video!

****************************************************************

Jeff isn't the only one in student government using video to reach out to the student masses. It seems like videos are also being used by UA chair Jason Karsh (C'08).

Check out Jason's fun spirited video (which also shows off the campus)

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Another day, another Penn (undergrad) entrepreneur...

Three years ago Andrew White (C'08) started hand painting sneakers after summer of his freshman year. "It was a way for me to combine my passion for art, fashion and business (I'm in Wharton). I started driving around my town with shoes and wearing them everywhere to get people to buy them, " Andrew told me.

Before he knew it, Andrew started doing custom orders for friends and friends of friends. Soon his shoes were featured in the Penn fashion show over the past two years, and appeared in downtown Philadelphia's Topstitch (women's boutique clothing store) and Manhattan's Lower East Side's FAE ("First Among Equals" -a men's clothing boutique).

Now, Andrew's company "Last Laff" specializes in custom designed sneakers, jeans and other apparel, giving customers the ability to purchase personalized, contemporary and retro designed apparel.

Stay tuned because Andrew tells me he is expanding his business to accommodate a more "corporate feel".

Click here to check out Andrew's designs

Click here to check out other Penn illustrators

Any other Penn undergrad/alumni designers out there? Email me at matt@duelingtampons.com!

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Remember the summer before we all came to campus as freshmen and all we'd get was a packet in the mail welcoming us to campus?

Click here to see how times have changed...

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