“Black Swan” – The thrill of watching this epic movie was mind-blowing. Although it was a bit confusing, the fact that neither the audience nor star Natalie Portman could distinguish between reality and fantasy. This new take on sanity has revolutionized the film industry. “Fight Club” and “Inception” have both used this technique. (Jane Berry)
The Super Bowl – Not only was I disappointed in who went to the Super Bowl (Come on, Bears, you lost to the Packers!), I also am not a fan on how America practically treats the Superbowl as if it were a national holiday. Certain stores closed down last Sunday because of why? THE SUPER BOWL. At best, it is a bunch of guys in tight gear and body pads tackling each other over a ball made of pigskin. America, next time you want to see a real sport, try watching soccer. (Katie Best)
Ring-Watches – These are pretty much the best invention ever. There is no longer the need to wear a big clunky watch, instead all that is needed to do is wear a slightly over sized ring that goes with basically everything and then at any point just look down and see the time. It eliminates looking around the room for a clock, when you’re dying of boredom and there’s no need to sneakily-but-totally-obvious pull out your phone and check during class. (Emmy Lindfors)
Buying CD’s off of Amazon.com – Usually, $9.99 on iTunes for a full album download beats the price of actually buying the CD at a store, unless you do some smart searching on Amazon.com.  Often, you can find CDs going for less than $10, even with shipping costs included.  Also, you can find rare albums by obscure artists who don’t make their music available for download.  If you only like individual songs, iTunes is still your best bet, but if you’re like me, you can save a lot of money on albums by buying off of Amazon.com. (Andrew Revord)
Urban Outfitters – The word “hipster” is gaining momentum among high school kids in the music/fashion scene. We all know that girl in our math class who wears fake-nerdy glasses, oversized button-down flannel, faux leather boots, some form of floral print, and undoubtedly looks cooler than us. You can find all this and more at Urban Outfitters. Photography’s a huge aspect of hipster culture, but forget nice digital cameras and Nikons. Urban Outfitters offers you replicas of the oldest, pastel-colored cameras you weren’t born to experience the first time around (they run on film you’ll spend a fortune on, but they’ll make you look so undeniably cool). So, for mainstream fashion and accessories you’ve probably seen on tumblr or Buzznet that you’ll never really use, go to Urban Outfitters. It’s the perfect place if you’re looking for unconventional lamps, Facebook-inspired Like and Dislike stamps, or mustache bandages. And if you ever have 20 bucks to burn and want mood-changing 60s lipstick or a vegan cookbook, they have that too. (Nabi Dressler)
Making snow igloos – Using the snow for a source of creativity is something I would have never considered. Considering our daily lives as students don’t promote much creativity in itself I guess I simply wanted a way to express this interest. So me and friends went outside and started to make an igloo with little thought but buried in 2 feet of boredom. The result came out to be a fortress that we could only have dreamed of in fifth grade, christmas lights surrounding the cave with a campfire in the middle and room for all three of our families. It was the dream hideout and best of all it used the one thing I hated most this time of year, the snow. Snow and I have settled our heated anger towards each other as long as the living room sized igloo provides a better place to hangout than inside the house similar to the other months of the year. (Jordan Fletcher)
NOT:
“American Idol” – I was never a fan of “American Idol.” I mean, yeah it was cool to see someone on the show that had once been in the same position I had been in, but if we are all honest with ourselves … well, we know that not many winners of “Idol” are actually famous. The show is supposed to pick the next person Americans will idolize and since the closest its ever gotten to doing that is Carrie Underwood. I would say its a failure. (Jane Berry)
-Full keyboard touch screen phones: The full keyboard phone has definitely helped quickness in texting, but whoever thought that a flat screened, lagging phone, other than the iPhone itself, would be better, is just confused.  Generally touch screen phones take forever when having to do tasks consecutively, but having to text all your drama filled messages is too much for one phone to handle. (Kiley Walsh)
Gloves that don’t fit: I have relatively small hands. My sister, who is three years younger then me, can reach curl her fingers around mine when we go palm to palm. So when my hands are cold I run into a glove sizing problem. I can not use the kids’ size because I would don’t want to try squishing into the little gloves with Cinderella on them that I have had since I was five. The adult gloves are our too. The fingers wholes are two times longer than my actual fingers. I feel like I am using a claw every time I try and open a door, pick something up or do anything with my hands. My hands have not grown for a while, so I see no resolution to this problem in the need future. I am now faced with a difficult decision, either get frost bite on all of my fingers, or look like a dinosaur every time I use my hands. (Miranda Holloway)
Chicago Weather – Cloudy with a chance of rain, snow, or hail. Pretty much sums it up. Or we could throw in one sunny day, but be prepared for a negative 20-degree wind chill. You gotta love living 8 months of the year without sunshine. Plus, being as pale as a “Twilight” vampire, I start to miss my warm yellow friend. I swear I wake up some days and my skin is blinding. (Maggie Devereux)