Tag Archive: Famous People

  1. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg to come to Yale

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    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is slated to come to campus for a Davenport College Master’s Tea on Oct. 18, though tickets for the event will be awarded by lottery only.

    Ginsburg, who was appointed to the court under former U.S. President Bill Clinton LAW ’73 in 1993, is the first Jewish female justice and the second female justice after Sandra Day O’Conner. While she is considered fairly liberal on most issues, Ginsburg has practiced a philosophy of judicial restraint during her tenure.

    Before her time on the nation’s highest court, she worked as a prominent advocate for women’s rights and, from 1972-’80, taught at Columbia University and became the university’s first tenured female professor. In addition, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project in 1972 under the American Civil Liberties Union.

    Though she supports a woman’s right to abortion, Ginsburg has criticized the court’s handling of Roe v. Wade on the grounds that it overstepped judicial boundaries. She has also said that the court will likely consider the Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman — in the coming years.

    Ginsburg is a Harvard alumnus, but we think we can still forgive her Crimson associations — that is, if we can somehow get our hands on one of the coveted tickets to what will undoubtedly be an extremely popular event.

  2. Aung San Suu Kyi live blog

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  3. Duron ’14 advances on “The Voice”

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    With a rendition of Hall & Oates’ “Sara Smile,” former Yale quarterback Destin “Dez” Duron ‘14 won over the judges on NBC’s singing competition “The Voice” Monday night.

    Without even seeing Duron’s sun-kissed skin or that perfect smile that can light up any room, three of four judges — Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton — invited Duron to join their team. Ultimately, Duron went with Christina, a choice Cross Campus fully supports.

    Duron’s momentary victory comes after he failed to make it past the show’s blind audition phase last season. Christina said she was “so angry” when she caught glimpse of Duron’s mug, shining down from the stage. “Remember him?!” Shelton exclaimed when Christina pressed her buzzer to turn around.

    round Duron exchanged the Backstreet Boys for the more soulful Hall & Oates, singing the duo’s 1976 hit “Sarah Smile.

    Duron was first courted by pop stars Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera, who applauded Duron’s performance and growth as a singer. Country singer Blake Shelton, however, was less coy.

    “This dude is good looking,” said Shelton. “I’m secure enough to say this to you — man to man, you’re hot.”

    Though Shelton went on to compare Duron to A.C. Slater from “Saved By the Bell” and Elvis, too, in the end Duron chose Aguilera to be his coach.

    “Last year I definitely did miss an opportunity with you,” said Aguilera, “so I’m so happy you came back.”

    We’re happy, too, Christina, We’re happy, too. And so are the fans, it seems — Duron’s performance from last night already has 35,000 views on YouTube. Watch here:

  4. Allison Williams ’10: the “It” Girl

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    Word on the Twitter is that our very own Allison Williams ’10 had a very, very good weekend.

    “Girls,” the series that catapulted Williams and her three co-stars to national prominence earlier this year, took center stage at last night’s Emmy Awards. Though none of the show’s FIVE nominations led to trophies, the event may well have served its purpose for Girls’ resident Yalie, as she’s been a clear winner in the category that matters most at self-aggrandizing, all-too-glitzy awards ceremonies: dresses (!!!).

    Dozens of articles and blog posts have joined in a chorus of praise for Williams’ choice of an emerald green Oscar de la Renta gown for her big night. Womens’ Wear Daily published a piece calling Williams an “It” Girl, revealing that the actress and her team viewed the Emmys as her “fashion coming-out party for the general public.”

    “I told her [Williams’ stylist Cristina Ehrlich] when I first met her that my dream — my dream — is to wear Oscar de la Renta,” Williams told WWD. “It is one of the only designers I feel like I’ve always known about, and I’ve always noticed… He has been so good for so long, he knows exactly what he is doing.”

    That self-confidence and certainty is a trait cultural observers believe the young actress has down pat herself.

    “‘Girls’ star Allison Williams wore this emerald green gown by Oscar de la Renta to the Emmy Awards as well as the HBO after-party,” writes Glamour’s Megan Gustashaw, calling Williams’ dress one of the top 5 dresses you can’t miss. “The color looks great on her, right?”

    Over at the Irish Times, Rosemary Mac Cabe crows: “Allison Williams arrived at the Emmys in an emerald green Oscar de la Renta strapless number, and, delightfully, looked thrilled with every minute of her time.”

    “Adorbs,” Mac Cabe added.

    While Williams’ gown won acclaim from across the blogosphere, the ensemble selected by “Girls” creator Lena Dunham, who’s been hailed as a revelatory voice for Generation Y, just didn’t do so hot on the fashion front.

    “The biggest miss of the night was hands down Lena Dunham, wearing a lace brocade Prada dress in blue which was not very flattering in both fit and color,” writes Nadine DeNinno of the International Business Times.

    At least she has immense talent and a shining future. The New Yorker luuuuurves her; the next season of her show will premiere in January. She’s gonna make it, guys.

    Williams, meanwhile, is expected to keep schooling life, with some labeling her a latter-day Brooke Shields, a comparison we’re just so down with that we can’t even tell you.

    Til we get to see them again, then, here’s hoping Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna can put their feelings aside and celebrate their slow rise to cultural ubiquity in true Bushwick style.

  5. Danes ’02 takes home second Emmy

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    In a move that shocked no one, the Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series went to beauty school (er, Yale) dropout Claire Danes ’02 Sunday night.

    It’s Danes’ second Emmy, and the first for her role as an officer for the Central Intelligence Agency in Showtime’s “Homeland.” To take home the trophy, Danes beat out the likes of Elisabeth Moss, Michelle Dockery, Glenn Close, Kathy Bates and Julianna Marguiles.

    How’d she do it? “Homeland” follows Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer working in counter-terrorism who suspects an American prisoner of war of having been recruited to work as a double agent for Al Qaeda.

    This was Danes’ second Emmy and third nomination—she received her first nomination for her portrayal of teenager Angela Chase in the short-lived series “My So Called Life,” which has since gained a cult following.

    Danes wasn’t the only Yalie at the Emmys: Allison Williams ’10, who plays Marnie in HBO’s “Girls,” walked the red carpet in an emerald green Oscar de la Renta gown that landed her at the top of numerous best-dressed lists.

    “Sorry, but when we saw Allison Williams in this green Oscar de la Renta gown, it took us a minute or two to recover. Honestly, she’s just THAT good,” wrote Liza Darwin for MTV Style, noting that Williams’ combination of “peplum, an emerald hue, and a directional silhouette” reflected some of the season’s major trends.

  6. David Blight goes on TV, is famous

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    If you were casually watching C-SPAN on Thursday, you might have noticed Yale celeb professor David Blight moderating a panel about — what else? — the Civil War and Emancipation.

    The panel — which drew about 100 attendees and was moderated by Blight, a Civil War historian and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, — featured author and senior editor for The Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates, Columbia professor Andrew Delbanco, University of Virginia professor Gary Gallagher, University of Pennsylvania professor Stephanie McCurry and Yale Law School professor John Witt ’94 LAW ’99 GRD ’00.

    Panelists discussed the memory of Civil War and Emancipation, and questioned the role of the war’s memory in present day society.

    “For me, one of the features of the Civil War is we’re mesmerized by it because we can’t imagine such a scale of death and destruction,” Delbanco said during the panel. “It was a good preview of some of the problems of the twenty-first century.”

  7. TONIGHT: YCC hosting hot Blue Ivy party at Box 63

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    The Yale College Council is hosting a party at Box 63 TONIGHT to complement worldwide exuberance surrounding the birth of Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s new baby, Blue Ivy Carter.

    The “baby shower”, which comes amid widespread speculation that the baby girl was named after Yale, will feature a themed “Blue Ivy” drink, according to the Facebook event. Perhaps a blueberry mojito? Is that a drink? Anyway, while Babyonce has already made more money in her 15-day life than many of us can ever dream for ($1.5 million, according to the event page), the YCC wants money: the event has a $5 entrance fee. The page does not mention that the event is for students aged 21 or over, as is indicated in the event poster.

    In an effort to make this already spectacular event even more desirable, the YCC came up with a set of three interesting “things you might hear” at the party. The first: “I’ve got 99 problem sets, but I’m crazy in love with Blue Ivy, so I’m going to Box!”

    “This is the best party theme in the entire world,” one commenter said. Mmmmhmmmmm.

  8. Aretha calls off her wedding

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    Apparently the freeway of love isn’t as smooth a ride as the Queen of Soul had hoped.

    Honorary degree recipient and goddess Aretha Franklin has canceled plans for her wedding, less than a month after she announced her engagement to William “Willie” Wilkerson, according to the AP. The two close friends had considered marrying this summer in the Hamptons or Miami.

    “Will and I have decided we were moving a little too fast, and there were a number of things that had not been thought through thoroughly,” Franklin said in a statement released Monday. “There will be no wedding at this time.”

    Franklin was showered with respect in 2010 when she swung by New Haven to receive an honorary doctor of music.

  9. Prof. Gaddis nominated for big award

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    He won a National Humanities Medal in 2005 and has gained fame among Yalies for his lectures on the Cold War, but that’s not it for history professor John Lewis Gaddis.

    Gaddis, who teaches a History Department junior seminar on biography writing, was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award on Saturday for his biography of American statesman George F. Kennan. The book was nearly 30 years in the making, as Kennan gave Gaddis unprecedented access to thousands of pages of his diary and other papers on the condition that the book be published after his death.

    The other contenders for the biography honor are below:

    The National Book Critics Circle gives awards annually to one book in each of six categories: autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. We’re pulling for you, JLG.

  10. Lady Gaga partners with Harvard on Foundation

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    We always knew Harvard attracted little monsters, but a recent announcement that Lady Gaga would be visiting the university in February further confirms that belief.

    The international icon and sometime pop singer will be at the University’s Sanders Theatre on Feb. 29 to launch her Born This Way Foundation. The foundation will partner with The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Harvard Graduate School of Education to further the principles established in American society via Gaga’s hit single “Born This Way.”

    The Foundation aims to help individuals realize their full potential as humans, without facing hate or bullying. It will focus on “promoting self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, career development and advocacy for young people,” according to the Crimson.

    Fans of the Harvard Graduate School of Education can win tickets for the ceremony by “liking” the organization’s Facebook page. It already has nearly 10,000 likes, a number we expect will double by the launch party.

  11. How we did at the Globes

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    Two Yalies walked away with Golden Globe awards last night, proving once again that Yale’s finest artistes aren’t always doomed to starvation in Brooklyn.

    Meryl Streep DRA ’74 — who, with 26 Golden Globe nominations and 16 Academy Award nominations over her acting career, is the most-nominated actress of all time — was crowned best actress in a drama for her role as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.

    “I’ve got to thank everybody in England that let me come and trample over their history,” Streep said as she accepted her eighth Golden Globe. (She also swore, and later apologized, when she could not read her prepared speech because she forgot her glasses at the table. You Yalie you!)

    Claire Danes ’02, who went here for two years before dropping out to focus on acting, won best actress in a TV drama for her performance in Showtime’s Homeland, where she plays a CIA agent. Danes has previously won Golden Globes for her roles in the made-for-television movie “Temple Grandin” and the formative TV drama “My So-Called Life.”

    Martin Scorsese, who was on campus last May to receive an honorary degree, took home his third Golden Globe award for best director for his work on the magical “Hugo.”

    Jodie Foster ’85, David Duchovny GRD ’87, and Paul Giamatti ’89 DRA ’94 were also nominated for Golden Globes this year. If we missed anyone, leave a comment to let us know! Seriously, we’re building an Excel spreadsheet of famous Yalies.