It’s been just under a century since The Young Pitcher hit bookshelves. The novel, written by Penn alum and then-best selling author Zane Grey, was one of the most popular novels of its day.

The highly autobiographical novel tells the story of a young man who wins his way to recognition in college thanks to his pitching skills. In one section, the young man is running from upperclassmen:

The bronze-haired soph was half-way up the steps. His followers, 12 or more, were climbing after him. Then a line of others stretched all the way to College Hall

Hmm, sound familiar?

That’s because The Young Pitcher takes place at Wayne College, a thinly vieled University of Pennsylvania. To this day, it is still “undoubtedly the best-selling novel ever set on the Penn campus, thinly disguised though it was,” according to the Pennsylvania Gazette.

But the novel was just one of the first high-profile references to Penn in pop culture. Since 1911, and especially in recent years, the number of references to Penn in pop culture has skyrocketed.

The Young Pitcher may be most famous novel set at Penn, but the best-selling Lovely Bones (2002) didn’t make any attempts to hide Penn’s real name. The novel, sadly, describes a young woman who is brutally raped and murdered, but then watches her friends and relatives go on with their lives.

Her boyfriend’s situation sounds pretty familiar:

By the time he packed his bags for Penn, he had committed so many words and their definitions to memory that I grew worried. … When he unpacked inside Hill House dormitory, my picture fell on the floor beside his bed.

Yet, it’s not just books. Penn’s also had its share of television and movie references. Penn surely has a friend in M. Night Shyamalan, who has mentioned Penn or made it a setting for a number of his films. Unbreakable was clearly set at Penn and West Philly, and Franklin Field is clearly the location for the movie’s football scene. Bruce Willis plays a security guard at “the university,” but he wears a FSU cap.

Shyamalan’s The Village was even more explicit:

He’s even an American History professor (my major)! I probably would have been in his class, you know, if it were real life and not a movie. Rumor is M. Night was also a huge fan of the floor-to-ceiling urinals in Franklin Field. And more recently, Penn was also named a couple times in the final season of The West Wing.

In one scene, Democratic presidential candidate Matthew Santos gives a speech at college, with “University of Pennsylvania” shown as the setting. And in another:

(If the play button doesn’t appear, click on the video and hit the space bar)

It seems Penn is doing pretty well getting its name out there. I couldn’t track a DVD down, but It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia throws out Penn at least every couple episodes (see Dennis and Dee talking about taking psych at Penn, they mention Penn specifically earlier that ep). It may not really be helping if people are still thinking the shows are talking about Penn State, but every little bit helps.

Did I miss a Penn pop culture reference? Be sure to throw a comment up — I tried to collect as many as I could find, but it ain’t exactly easy.

When Sam Sarin and Mike Romano decided they wanted to open up a second restaurant, they had a lot had a lot of choices about where to locate it.

Good food and good views at have brought crowds to Victor’s Pub in Camden. (Michael Perez/Philadelphia Inquirer)

They already own the popular Sam’s Bar & Grille in the local Jersey suburb of Blackwood. Downtown Philadelphia seems to always be in need of new restaurants. Northern Liberties is a great place for pubs.

But the restaurateurs chose a different route: They built their restaurant in downtown Camden, N.J. Yep, Camden. The city across the river from Philadelphia where only 5.4 percent of residents have college degrees. Where per capita income is less than $10,000 and more than one-third of residents live below the poverty. And, more important, where the downtown, just blocks from abandoned and burned-out homes, turns into a ghost town after 5 p.m.

Not exactly an ideal location for a new business.

But all this makes the new Victor’s Pub,on the Camden waterfront, the “most important restaurant in the city right now,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“You’ve got to get the fear of the word Camden out of people’s minds,” Sarin told the paper.

And, amazingly, the new restaurant is well on its way to doing that.

Since opening, the restaurant is crowded at lunchtime. But that’s not a huge surprise, as the town still has a number of large office buildings downtowns. It’s the dinner crowd that’s surprising.

“What’s really been a blessing is the people in Camden staying in Camden,” Romano told the Inquirer. “The firemen, the cops, the judges, the lawyers.”

It’s the first step toward revitalization one of the poorest and dangerous cities in the country. With nightlife comes people, and with more eyes on the street comes safety.

“Restaurants and night life is the linchpin,” said Tom Corcoran, who lives above the Pub and is head of the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association. “That would get us to the critical mass where you create your own buzz.”

He’s hoping Victor’s creates a domino effect that spurs development along the waterfront. On the southern side of the Ben Franklin Bridge, the waterfront now has a restaurant, a concert venue, condos and a baseball stadium. The restaurant may just provide enough of an anchor to really kick start development despite the prison Camden Camden built a few hundred feet north, on the water.

Victor’s, as well as the rest of Camden, could use your business too. So instead of heading over for drinks at Mad 4 on a weekday, hop on PATCO and give Victor’s a try.

And once it gets nice, you can even sit outside, overlooking the Philly skyline. Just the other day, Cocoran noticed a number of such people taking advantage, sitting and talking outdoors. It was a new experience for him.

“My wife said, ‘What’s that noise?’” Corcoran told the Inquirer. “And I said, ‘That’s the sound of a city coming back to life.’”

Where all the cool (read: Drexel) kids go (Toby Hicks/DP)

It’s gonna be bigger than Live Aid. Al Gore just announced that this summer, there will be seven simultaneous “Live Earth” concerts around the globe raising awareness about climate change.

The lineup for the London show is star-studded: Beastie Boys, Madonna and Penn’s own John Legend. But more important, Paolo Nutini will be on stage as well. The Scottish rocker is exploding, and his Live Earth performance will undoubtedly secure his stardom.

Just two months ago, he was here, at Penn. Well, not exactly here, but just off campus, at World Cafe Live.

The concert venue/restaurant/radio station is already one of the most popular places for college students in Philadelphia to see shows and hang out. Kids from St. Joseph’s drive in, and Temple students are regular visitors. Yet despite being only a few blocks from Penn’s doorstep, you won’t find many Penn students there.

The question is why.

World Cafe brings in amazing talent, on an amazingly regular basis. Edwin McCain will be playing there on Wednesday. Ozomatli will be visiting later this month. And one of America’s best rising acts, Josh Ritter, rocked the house earlier this semester.

And cost definitely isn’t the limiting factor. Tickets to Edwin McCain run only $20, and he’s one of the more expensive acts. More over, WCL offers “Free at Noon” concerts every Friday. Seriously, it’s completely free, and live broadcast on WXPN radio.

There may be no such thing as a free lunch at World Cafe (if a free concert isn’t good enough for you), but there is such thing as a free dinner. All during happy hour, World Cafe Live offers completely free appetizers, every weekday from 5:30 to 6:30. And not simply chips and dip. On my visit, they had samosas and spring rolls among the offerings.

Not to mention $2 Magic Hat. Magic Hat! For two freaking dollars!

So why isn’t it sticking with Penn students? Well, it may bring back bitter memories, for one. World Cafe Live was the site of one of the most infamous incidents involving Penn students and police in recent memory, back in 2005.

WCL is also located in a kind of no-man’s land, stuck in a former industrial wasteland far east of where most students live, but far west of the twinkling lights of Center City. However, that’s going to change — and soon. Penn now owns the Postal Lands, 20+ acres of real estate that surrounds World Cafe in three directions. As Penn develops the land, World Cafe Live will surely become much more ingrained in Penn’s psyche, according to WCL spokeswoman and Penn grad Laura Wilson.

Until then, Wilson and her colleagues are hoping “An increased awareness on-campus of all the shows we have here” will draw more Penn students in. But don’t think they’re desperate. Unlike WCL’s first few years, the venue is now thriving, without the help of vast numbers of Penn students.

And the blame falls squarely on students, who are missing out on free food and amazing music just beyond their doorstep. It’s time Quakers start taking advantage, because until they do, Drexel and St. Joe’s students will continue to enjoy what you’re missing.

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Well, if we did our job, you may notice that things look a little different today. In an effort to continue pushing full speed ahead into the blogosphere, we at The Daily Pennsylvanian have just completed the first major overhaul of the DP’s blogs since their introduction more than a year ago.

Our blogs have come a long way in only a year. Four blogs are now frequently updated, becoming the DP’s major source of original online-only content. But as the blogs have grown, so too has the demand for additional features, creating the need for today’s overhaul. Some of the changes are internal, making the site easier to manage and post to. But many, many more of the changes are external, seeking to improve your experience and expand the interactive capabilities of the blogs.

For starters, there has been a subtle reshaping of the blog site’s design, as can be seen in the photos above. The blog logo has been merged with the rest of the page, and a number of new features have been added to the site’s sidebar. First and foremost, we have added an “About this blog” box to every DP blog. These boxes will help convey the purpose and aim of each blog, which wasn’t always clear with the old design. Contact information has also been added, where appropriate, to allow you to communicate better with blog editors.

Other new boxes have been added as well. Some blogs now feature a “Recent comments” box, a common feature on many modern blogs. This will allow runnings conversations, even on old posts, to remain near the top of the page. It will also allow frequent commenters an easier way to view comments. A similar “Recent posts” box has also been added to allow users to quickly see the most five most recent posts on their current blog, without having to scroll down the page.

Another common feature of many modern blogs is a “blogroll,” or list of links, to other blogs and Web sites around the Internet. StreetEats‘ links will help hungry blog readers find the best dining guides in Philly and the best recipes on the Internet. If you can’t find the sports news you’re looking for on The Buzz (which is doubtful), you are sure to find it on of the sites it links to.

Last of the major changes, we have made it easier for you to find an author’s old stories. Now, when you click on a headcut, you will be taken to the story author’s bio page, which contains his e-mail address, brief bio and every blog post written by that author.

It’s all a work in progress, to be sure. But we’ve been working long and hard on these changes, and we hope they improve your experience on the DP’s blogs and keep you coming back. Keep in mind, there is just not one, but four great blogs to keep up with: The Buzz, The Spin, Emmy Watches and Street Eats. Most important, please let us know of any suggestions you have for additional ways to improve the blogs, as well as any buys you run into. Simply leave a comment on this post or send an e-mail.

Well, they finally did it.

I’ve known this moment had been coming for a while, but when the hypothetical finally became realtiy, I couldn’t it.

I’ve been cut off.

Not from my parents. No, that luscious well has yet to dry up, thank goodness (ignore that, dad). No, my other parents — the far more wealthy ones — ended my credit line.

As of yesterday, I am no longer allowed to make purchases to my Bursar bill. And Penn didn’t even tell me in person! I feel like they definitely owed me a face-to-face talk to break this news. Instead, I got an e-mail:

From: sfsmail@sfs.upenn.edu
Subject: SPECIAL ALERT - Penncard Purchase Eligibility
Date: April 3, 2007 7:29:06 PM EDT
To: egoldin@sas.upenn.edu

We want to bring to your attention that you are currently unable to
make additional purchases using your PennCard using the Student Account
Line of Credit option. You may wish to refer to the Penn Portal
(http://www.upenn.edu/penn_portal/view.php) for information and your
up-to-date student account status.

It means no more sweatshirts. No more books. No more movies from Houston Hall (again, pops, ignore).

More importantly though, it means, Penn has taken the first step toward kicking the seniors out the door. We’re getting so close to leaving that our school no longer thinks it has enough leverage to make us pay the bills (I think they may still be wrong about that one, at least until we get our diplomas).

It’s a scary thought, especially for those of us (like me) who have no idea where we’ll be in six, or even four months.

Need a ride home? Penn’s got you covered, at no cost. Trying to talk someone into a second chance? Visit your friendly VPUL’s office or your RA.

But there’s no such thing as a $40,000 free lunch once you leave the loving comfort of the Penn bubble.

I guess I can consider the end of Bursaring as a wake-up call. I’ll get the most out of those free waters in Houston for the next month. But, hey Penn! If you cut me off from those too, you better plan on doing it in person.

I always had a feeling that Drexel students had something against me.

Hell, one out of two ain’t bad.

I could feel their eyes burning a hole in my pink, cashmere sweater when I walked — quickly — through their campus on the way to 30th Street station. However, they apparently liked my triple-layered pop collar even less.

In the latest salvo of the Penn-hates-Drexel-and- they-hate-us-back campaign, Drexel fired a shot across our bow. Actually, we fired first, they claim.

In its annual joke issue, the student newspaper The Triangle (named The Rectangle for April Fool’s–insert knee-slapping here), published a story titled “Campus war against UPenn continues.”

Man, they couldn’t get the name of our school right.

But regardless, the story describes the opening shot in the war for Wild West Philly. In extremely good taste, the newspaper claims that the opening shot of the war occured when a Penn Law student took shots at innocent Drexel students a few weeks ago.

And in classic April Fool’s issue style, the Triangle went on to explain how that was just the beginning of hostilities.

Penn forces attacked MacAlister Hall first, but were met with strong resistance from the English and History departments. Unfortunately, the Ivy Leaguers captured the bookstore. They next planned a strike at Hagerty Library after hiding in the Newman Center. It is with great sadness that I report the library had been lost to Penn’s assault.

However, it was on March 29 that Drexel decided enough was enough. The University began a massive mortaring campaign, firing three newly acquired M224 60-mm and two 120-mm mortar shells off the roof of the DAC. The weapons were provided from the ROTC armory.

OK, well this story may have missed the mark a bit. But I’ll give them some credit, because they struck with another Penn-related folly:

“Students arrested for not popping collars”

Gold, pure comedic gold. As the story goes,

Winston Buckham III, a sophomore, and Augustine Hamlet, a junior, made two mistakes that will not only expel them, but could also jeopardize the next 23 years of their lives.

Roommates Buckham III and Hamlet “forgot” to pop their collars March 27; but even worse, they did not wear a Lacoste shirt…According to UPenn’s constitution, not popping a collar can result in 17 years of prison, while not wearing a Lacoste shirt results in a minimum sentence of six years and a $100,000 fine.

Jon Stewart would be proud. Not only is this article funny, but of course true. Personally, I never leave the house without a pasted-shaded popped collar and another Lacoste shirt in my backpack (neatly folded of course), just in case I spill any caviar or Cristal during brunch.

Nothing fosters neighborly love between colleges like stinging humor based on completely true stereotypes.

The Rectangle Triangle surely isn’t the first place I’ve seen people take a stand against poppped collars. Cafe Saint Ex in DC seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it last I checked. But touche to the Dragons for hitting the mark on their second try.

After all, 1/2 ain’t bad. I just wish the DP had thought of it first. Not that we have a joke issue or anything…

As I’ve columnized about before, I’m all for learning practical skills in college. Financial management, karate, chanting (no, seriously, it’s a real class). But there’s a very large gap in Penn’s offerings of practical courses: cooking.

As I’ve discovered this in the past year — since I started cooking dinner for myself on a regular basis — learning how to cook can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

It’s helped me lose a few pounds (definitely a plus), and I’ve saved huge wads of money by not getting constant take out from Greek Lady and Marathon Grill. Not to mention, it’s simply an fun, enjoyable experience (especially when cooking for or with my friends). But you can only eat pasta with marinara sauce and grilled chicken so many times. I wanted more!

So, when I was home over Christmas Break with little to nothing to do, I decided to give cooking classes a try. I enrolled in a two Saturday classes at the California Culinary Academy. It was fantastic: I learned how to make souffle and custard from real chefs. Inspired, I took one more class before my return: Grilling. Needless to say, I can cook a mean steak these days. And I still want to learn how to make more (and better) dishes.

But sadly, while Penn can take me how to read a balance sheet, program a supercomputer, get elected to political office or ponder the meaning of life, no class on this campus will teach me how to cook salmon filet or roll my own sushi. We’re a school that prides ourselves on a “practical” education, and few things are more practical or neccessary than cooking food. And even if our dear Whartonites will soon be hiring servants to prepare their caviar and raspberry glazed duck, that still forces the majority of us to rely on the Idiot’s Guide to Cooking.

Culinary classes deserve a place on Penn’s campus. After all, my main man Benny was the first person in the world to use electric cooking, when he killed a turkey by electric shock, then roasted it with the help of electricity. And, believe it or not, he even did it on the banks of the Schuylkill! But 250 years later, we don’t respect Franklin’s culinary visionary.

And if the lack of culinary schooling is due to a lack of facilities, why not partner up with the Restaurant School at 43rd and Walnut? We’ve got all the resources we need within eyesight of campus. A class on cheesesteaks, a class on Amish cooking — now that’s a way to sell the school to pre-froshes. Whoops, smells like my chicken is burning. At least that I can tell on my own, not thanks to you, Amy.

Move over Bunny, there’s a new Penn-produced hit YouTube video.

Exploding onto the YouTube scene is Penn’s very own Indian a capella group, Penn Masala

According to Masala Business Manager and Wharton sophomore Ricky Sharma, the idea first came up when the group was returning to the United States from a trip to India.

“YouTube has become so popular we figured we’ve give it a shot,” he said in an interview.

But even Sharma admitted he was taken aback at the response the video has received. “We had no idea it would catch on as fast and as widely as it has,” he said.

It’s definitely caught on. The piece was a “featured video” on YouTube.com’s homepage for more than a day, lending enormous visibility and traffic to the video. The short’s accompanying Facebook group has nearly 1,000 members as well, from schools around the country and Canada.

And Masala’s video struck a chord by combining one media darling (YouTube) with another (Facebook).

“There’s been this emergence of Facebook and YouTube as places to establish niches,” Sharma said.

Its popularity can also be attributed to the topic itself — the somewhat-creepy level to which some people look at and keep tabs on their friends’ hobbies, photos and messages to each other. The song, sung of course, by Masala, begins with,

Would you poke, if i sent you a poke? Or would you run and never poke back? Is it weird, that i know your hobbies? Would you be my friend tonight?

It may have been their first video, but Sharma and Co. obviously knew what they were doing. YouTube parody videos–now being labeled “virals”–have become a sensation, from the Box in a Box music video by Penn’s own Melissa Lamb, to the much-talked-about Hilary/1984 ad.

Well, with the video being “favorited” 4559 times, it would seem Penn Masala has done more than just established a niche; the group has staked out a loyal cadre of fans (if there weren’t enough Masala fans already. They regularly pack Irvine, which is more than Sonic Youth can say

So, will there be more Masala-tinged parodies on the way?

“It’s definitely something we’re going to look toward in the future,” Sharma concluded, adding that those who enjoyed the video may want to head to Irvine tomorrow at 7 p.m., because while YouTube videos are great, nothing can replace live a capella.

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