Blog: The Noise Bazaar

March is my favorite time of year. Spring is coming, school is wrapping up, baseball has started and, most importantly, it's tournament time. The brackets are official, now it's time for the fun part. I've already filled out three different brackets with random -- and often unexpected -- upsets all over the place. But, of course, the big winner is always the same: UNC all the way. And I'm not alone. Four out of the five talking heads on ESPN picked Carolina to win it all. I hope it doesn't jinx us. Over the next three [...]

Here is your twice-monthly message announcing the release of a new issue of the Carrboro Commons !!! I have to say that this issue is absolutely amazing. We have some awesome people on staff. I would love to work in a newsroom with any of these guys. This issue, I wrote a first-person account of Dance Marathon . It was tough to cram those 24 hours into a coherent article, but I really like the final product. I hope you enjoy it. But don't stop [...]

... Colby Ramsay ! He wasn't my first choice, but, like I said in my earlier post , you can't really go wrong with any of the performers that I saw. I do have to give Colby some credit though: I saw him standing by the door at Lenoir dining hall with a computer asking people to vote for him. Might have skewed the results a bit, but you can't knock the determination. Check out recordings of his and all the other performances from the February Face-off here , and be sure to keep [...]

To keep life interesting and to keep me posting on a regular basis, I've decided to start a series called "Tuesday Guilty Pleasure." On this glorious day of the week, I will share with my lovely readers something (most likely music) that I really like, but probably shouldn't. But there is one condition: you can't judge me (too much). So for the first installment, I'm going to go big. I've gotten heat for liking this song in the past from many of my friends, but I can't help but be addicted to the beat of this [...]

When I walked into Gerrard Hall a little after 9 p.m. on Friday night, Jaquelyn Lee was standing in front of about 100 people in a metallic blue dress and a guitar around her neck. Behind her, a YouTube video of dancing animated cats was playing on the back wall. Somehow, it worked. Welcome to the February Face-Off! Five artists rocked out in Gerrard for the shot at one spot on the Vinyl Records label. It's the second time that Vinyl Records has used a battle of the bands to sign bands [...]

After a long week of waiting, I finally received an e-mail from the Hallie Lipsey for Student Body President campaign. In this e-mail, I learned how a simple joke turned into a campus-wide phenomenon, garnering more votes for Hallie Lipsey than any other write-in candidate. The conspirators kept their identities under wraps so that even Lipsey wasn't sure about who was behind the sign, flyers and Facebook group. Until now. In a CoreyInscoe.com exclusive (haha, I always wanted to say that), I present you with the full story [...]

Reader, I now present you with the long-awaited and much-anticipated second installment of the "Are you kidding me...?" series here on CoreyInscoe.com, where your faithful blogger asks idiots that say absurd and asinine things, "Are you kidding me?" (For the first installment, click here .) The UNC Dance Marathon raised almost $400 thousand for the North Carolina Children's Hospital this weekend. That's a great thing, right? Who would say otherwise? Well, apparently, UNC-Chapel Hill junior John Mundell would. This sorry excuse for a Tar Heel [...]

I just woke up from a 12-hour slumber. Not because I'm terribly lazy and have nothing to do today, but because I was on my feet for 24 hours as a part of UNC Dance Marathon . The marathon raised almost $400,000 for the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It was my first time ever dancing and I'm so glad that I finally did. Not only was it tons of fun to dance around for hours, walk around Kenan Stadium and watch the sunrise, and even learn how to juggle, but it [...]

Thursday morning I had the pleasure of spending time with one of the coolest people I've met in Carrboro, Marianne Prince. She is starting a kids camp in Carrboro out of her home that focuses on gardening and farming. When I pulled up she was outside painting her house. There were splashes of yellow on the door and an olive green was being applied to the siding. Marianne, clad grey cordorouys, plaid shirt and faded purple sweater with glasses and short hair pulled back, hopped down the steps and quickly introduced herself. Then I got the grand tour. [...]

When I walked through the Pit on Wednesday, Hallie Lipsey's sign was on its side propped up against a tree. I thought about setting it back up, but decided against it. For one, I was already 10 minutes late for my 10 a.m. English class. But I also realized that there was no point. It was over. For five of the seven candidates (yes, I counted right) Wednesday meant the end of weeks of long and hard work. Maybe not so long and hard in Lipsey's case, but it was tough nonetheless. Despite the valiant effort that the [...]

I didn't realize exactly what I would be getting into when I typed my post on Friday . To me, it was just an interesting sign in the Pit: a refreshing break from the obnoxious student body president campaigning that has been going on the past few weeks. Fourteen comments, several " tweets ," a couple of Facebook messages and a Facebook group later, I think we've started a revolution. Soon after my post was published, comments started trickling in giving me more information about the mysterious Hallie. Yes, she was a real person. No, she had [...]

It's February in Chapel Hill: Basketball is getting into full-swing, seniors are really starting to stress about jobs and the temperature is fluctuating from beautiful spring day to holy $@#! it's cold! It's also that wonderful time of year when 20 million a-frame signs litter the Pit and obnoxious students hold signs and hand out fliers full of empty promises and unattainable goals. Yep, it's campus elections time!!! This year, six clowns candidates are vying for the prestigious position of Student Body President. To the victor goes the spoils of a way too overloaded senior year, [...]

If you want to know what I've been working on the past few weeks instead of posting on my blog, here's your chance. The first issue of the Carrboro Commons , a twice-monthly publication from my Community Journalism class, is finally online!! We got everything wrapped up on Wednesday and I'm real proud of the first issue. It's got some great articles about a Carrboro Scrabble Club , Balloons and Tunes and Figure 8 Films , the company behind "John and Kate Plus 8" and "17 and Counting." And, [...]

COREY! less time on academia, MORE TIME ON THE BLOG! Ye haven't updated in epochs! :D Well, she has a point. It seems that this semester has been more demanding on me then I originally thought it would be. I guess that's what happens when you take two English classes and other classes that make you read a crap-ton of books all the time. I've barely had time to think about the blog, much less write up an entry. Even as I'm typing this, I'm sitting in my Environment and [...]

As a long time central-North Carolina resident, I have a habit of not believing local weathermen when they tell me it's going to snow. The area has a long history of mocking the hundreds of closed schools, dozens of salt trucks and thousands of pounds of salt that await that blustery winter storm by bringing small flurries or often nothing at all. So when the wizards of weather said that we would get up to four inches of snow last night, I thought "OK, that means there might be some ice on my car tomorrow. No worries." Imagine my surprise [...]

Yesterday I spent the hours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. doing something that I've never done before: celebrating the birthday of one of the most influential leaders in American history. I had to be there for a class, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it made me realize how historic today -- January 20 -- really is. Countless speakers talked spoke about Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream. How much he did in his short 39 years. How he changed the face of America and gave hope to millions of people. We've all heard [...]

It's the first day of my last semester of undergraduate classes. I shudder as I type that. But I won't get into my post-graduation fear. I decided to take a hodge-podge of classes this semester just to see what was out there, and mostly because I only needed one for my major and UNC won't let me underload and be a full-time student any more. So here's what the schedule looks like: 10 a.m., American Novel; 12 a.m., Environment and Society; 3 p.m., Chaucer; 4 p.m., Community Journalism. I don't have Tuesday and Thursday classes, so I get [...]

In this internet age, it's scary how disconnected and alone you can feel when you don't have a functioning computer for a few weeks. I feel like I haven't talked to my friends, have no idea what is going on in the world and have neglected all of my loyal followers on this wonderful blog. But never fear, my computer is back and so am I. Here is a quick rundown of the end of 2008 and the very beginning of 2009: Dec. 21 - Dec. 24: Scrambled like a mad man trying to [...]

In the age of iPods and mp3s, illegal downloading and burned CDs, you would think that vinyl would be so, like, 1960. But I've recently been feeling an odd pull to the 12 inch black discs. And I'm not the only one. New bands are starting to release their albums on vinyl and there are even blogs and websites devoted to LPs. My roomate got a turntable earlier this year and I've caught myself scouring the stacks of records instead of flipping through CDs at the local record store.  So why is this archaic [...]

I know a couple of people who will be very unhappy upon hearing that their favorite caffeine-injected awful tasting excuse for an alcoholic beverage is no more. Me, on the the other hand, will dance upon its grave. Apparently the Illinois Attorney General, Lisa "Candidate 2" Madigan,  claimed MillerCoors was illegally marketing the "beverage" to underaged consumers , by sponsoring an air guitar champion, or something. “These drinks are extremely dangerous in the hands of young people,” Madigan said in a statement. “They contain substantially more caffeine than coffee or soda and are marketed as a way [...]