I suppose I should start with the end of last semester as I never gave an official close to it.  As has already been premiered on this fantastic piece of webspace, So’mates Ethan Palmer Smith and Ryan Bacon Zisk have successfully kickstarted a SOMA podcast and already produced 3 magnificent pieces.  they are hosted over at the SOMA podcast zone which is completely Rod Serling-free.  Please go check them out if you haven’t already for many lulz and whatnot.  In other dealings with the end of last semester, there was an event that we co-hosted with Full Ammo Improv, can’t quite remember what it was though.  Oh yeah, that’s right, we hosted THE COLLEGE HUMOR LIVE TOUR!!!  As you can guess from my remaining excitement, the show was as awesome as expected and went off without a hitch.  We have gotten much better with crowd control since “the fiasco” and if you do not know what I am speaking of please seek out Danny Michelson as I am sure he loves recounting his experience of it.  The College Humor Live Tour featured headliner Dan Levy as well as College Humor regulars Jake and Amir, Streeter and fellow Penn State alum Jeff Rubin who himself was a former editor of Phroth.  Needless to say the meeting between him and current Phroth editor Matt Powers was awe-aspiring and no room was meant to hold such comedic genius at once.  The night before, a local stand-up show was held as a warm-up to the big event and all the local comedians performed excellently.  Everyone owes a big shout-out to Kelly Murphy and Dan Miller, the dynamic duo that essentially made the show.  One of the downsides of waiting forever to actually update is it does not work well with my terrible memory and as such that is all I remember from the end of last semester.  However, not to build anything up too much, but that does bring things to this current semester.  I must warn you, the ass-kickery of this current semester, is so amazing, so mind-blowing, so incredible it has been described as 26 simultaneous female orgasms in the brain!

      Hopefully you have you used the space between paragraphs to prepare yourself for what I am about to tell you about.  First of all, this semester has seen some of the most successful fundraising in the club’s history, proving once and for all artists do actually know how to make money.  We first hosted a quite successful Five Guys fundraiser as is now obligated by every club on campus apparently.  We also hosted our 3rd Annual Find Your So’mate/Open Mic Night.  This year happened to fall on the Wednesday after Valentine’s Day allowing for those who spent that special day alone in their apartment watching “When Harry Met Sally” with a pint of Cherry Garcia to possibly find someone for our profit.  These fundraisers have gone to use, as was evident in one of the best shows we have yet to host.  Treasurer Lauren Downing is owed a big high-five from everyone for her work on these efforts. 

     On January 22nd we held a magical event in Alumni Hall when we presented We Are Scientists with British Phil and The Exclusive Document.  Needless to say, the show was quite a joyous evening.  Both the Exclusive Document and British Phil were awesome, handling the large crowd with ease, major labels please take notice.  We Are Scientists performed with the awesomeness that was expected, playing their material flawlessly and entertaining the crowd with cheeky banter in between.  All and all it was a fun evening that entertained many and did not result in any injuries to either the crowd or venue which Girl Talk has taught us is actually a great accomplishment.  Everyone in attendance owes a great debt of gratitude to SOMA President Danny Michelson who I literally watched slave himself for 4 months to make that show happen.  Next time you see Danny, I want you to give him a great big hug, and he’s from Jersey so you can check out his “situation.”

     What you have just read is but a mere taste of the Spring 2010 semester.  If my calculations are correct there are still about 6 more weeks left in this baby and we intend to make them the most mindblowing 6 weeks you can handle.  Upcoming this very week is a local show held at the fantastic venue of Abba Java Cafe which will serve as a fundraiser for Haiti.  We will also possibly host another local show at Abba Java on March 26th as well though that has yet to be finalized, or at least to my knowledge.  I guess any calls from VP Alexis correcting me on the matter will actually prove my work is read so hooray for uncertain information.  As per usual we will co-host with VASA the always excellent Arts Crawl on April 9th which will be headlined by No Age.  Arts Crawl chairs Devan, Ryan and Melanie have all worked quite hard on it so I’m expecting great things this year.  I would also like to let you in on a little secret that we may be in the works for hosting another big show at the end of the year.  Right now the date is set for April 26th so make sure you prepare to blow off all homework and studying that evening and come enjoy whatever we are able to throw together. 

     On that note, we will continue to put on Open Mic Night’s in the West Commons every month and are always open to other new exciting ideas.  If you wish to ask us anything or want to get involved we have general meeting every Wednesday at 7:30 in the Thomas Building.  We actually reserve a room now (I know what’s with us getting so official?) but I can not remember what number it is so I will just leave that detail for you to find yourself like Nicolas Cage in a Disney movie.  Also feel free to email me or any other officer listed in the “How Can You Get Involved” page of the website.  Anyways, I intend on making the three hour drive by to school tomorrow and as such should probably get rested.

-Webmaster Bill

P.S. Hope I didn’t exaggerate anything too much.

-Webmaster Bill

-Webmaster Bill

SOMA Presents: The 2009 MP3 Experiment

If you have never heard of an MP3 Experiment, check out the videos below.

At exactly 2:00PM on this Homecoming Sunday afternoon, we will try to get as many people as possible to meet on the mall outside the Thomas Building, where we will all press play at the same moment. Everyone will be listening to an MP3 of over half an hour of instructions full of activities, music, and games, leading everyone without any communication between us. The end result will be utterly zany.
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IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
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STEP ONE: Download the MP3 HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?524wkijjubh

STEP TWO: Load it onto your iPod, Zune, etc. Or burn it to a CD.

STEP THREE: DON’T LISTEN TO IT!!! If you know what’s going to happen, it totally ruins the fun. Keep it fresh, and hear it for the first time at the event.

STEP FOUR: BRING A NEWSPAPER. This is super important, as it will be part of our activities. It can be any newspaper, in fact, just one section will do. Pick one up in the HUB on the way.

STEP FIVE: Bring a watch with a second hand, or make sure your cell phone can tell you specific seconds. It’s important to start as close to 2PM as possible. Here is the official clock we will be using:
http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java

STEP SIX: Get to the Thomas mall BEFORE 2:00 PM. If you get there late, you are pretty much out of luck. There’s no easy way to catch up, and you’ll most likely be unable to join. Because of this, make sure to get there by 1:50. That gives you a good ten minute window of safety. Once at the mall take a seat ANYWHERE. On the grass, on a bench, standing under a tree. Doesn’t matter, just be somewhere here by 2:00:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/6643/amap.jpg

STEP SEVEN: Press play at 2:00PM

STEP EIGHT: Have fun!

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PREVIOUSLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What if I don’t press play at exactly the right time?

That’s OK. We’re counting on everyone’s tracks being slightly off. Different mp3 players have different response speeds. It will be fun to see participants who are clearly ahead or behind. If you are significantly off, feel free to glance at a neighbor’s iPod and try to sync back up to the correct time.
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What if I accidentally hit a button on my player during the experiment that stops the track?

We recommend turning on the “hold” button on your player after pressing play to prevent this from happening.
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What if my player crashes or the batteries die during the experiment?

In the unfortunate event that this happens to you, we recommend you pretend like nothing is wrong and just go with the flow. There’s really no way to fix it, so why not have as much fun as you can anyway?

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Perhaps most importantly: INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS! The more people we get for this, the more nuts it will become.

     One tid-bit I would like to mention of our upcoming plans is the now immensely changed music festival.  I noticed in my last post that at the time we were still planning for this event to be an outdoor event some time in early October.  I must laugh at how much the very idea of this show has changed to where it is at now only a little over 2 months later.  It was at some point during August that we realized with football games and other assorted activities there is a good reason there are normally no outdoor music festivals in the fall.  Anyways, we figured in honor of ‘The Girl Talk Fiasco’ (that’s right, I’m officially naming it, all trademark rights shall be claimed in my name) we felt that having the show in early December would be the next logical choice in the same venue we almost caused the annihilation of.  What can I say, it is proven that serial killers often return to the scene of the crime.  We then set to find the most perfect band to headline, there was much deliberation, multiple votes, more suggestions, Danny grew a few new grey hairs and Brick killed a guy.  Okay I’m not going to lie, none of us know a person actually named Brick and I totally stole that from ‘Anchor-man’ but I digress, it was really frustrating.  Upon realizing that there must be some super-secret treaty signed by every band in the whole world apparently that they will be touring Europe during this time, we made the decision to officially move the date of the show up to the end of January.  As of this point we have not officially signed anyone up, but the timeframe does seem to offer a lot more promise in terms of who our options are and hopefully this debacle will end soon. 

    Do not fear, though our big super show may not be occurring this semester, it is sure to just as action-packed as Michael Bay’s stories post-snorting cocaine.  We have two magnificent events occurring within the next few weeks.  First is the 2nd Photo Scavenger Hunt as it would be a waste not to hold such an event in the midst of the University Park fall scenery.  Second is the most triumphant return of the Mp3 Experiment!  Once again we will gather in a common area with the intent to confuse and befuddle innocent passerbye’s as told to by the directions on our Ipods.  Rather than explain this event for anyone not familiar, I will give you a video of the events creators, Improv Everywhere, performing their insane creation themselves.  It was much fun last time and we are sure to replicate it once again. 

     Another event we are rather ecstatic to be co-hosting is the College Humor Tour with Full Ammo Improv.  Personally, as a So’mate that rues not attending this school until the year AFTER we brought Michael Showalter I feel this will be a great alternative comedy show as collegehumor.com has provided myself and I am sure many of you plenty laughs and distractions from homework.  It will be hosted by Jake and Amir (Danny’s ‘buds’) and feature Wyatt Cenac of ‘The Daily Show’ along with many other comedians.  For more information on the tour in general look here.

    Besides this, other ideas are still in the process of being fully-fleshed out or are still in the double-secret probation phase.  In kind of a case of art imitating life the club that is full of poor college students is broke itself so we are always open to fundraiser ideas.  The deliberation here has ranged from baking cupcakes to working with Five Guys (Personally, I favor the latter’s delicious meaty murder).  We have also considered forming a compilation cd of local bands in our ever-continuing efforts to promote and support those in the area.  As of this moment, that is all I am able to remember.  However, it is in fact 3:50 am (sorry to everyone that actually keeps up with my blogs and notices my apparent trademark of mentioning the insane hours I stay up too) and I am sure I must be too tired to remember everything.  The semester has already been an exhausting yet rewarding one and I am sure we will all continue to reap its presents as it rolls on.  Webmaster Bill out!

     This past spring semester ended quite an interesting and successful year in SOMAdom.  We had created enough of a mark in the fall with what may go down as “the Girl Talk fiasco” so the latter half of the year was decidedly much more low-key.  Once again, we cohosted with VASA the event we see as our staple on the Penn State community the Arts Crawl.  This bodacious good time took place at the beginning of April, hence my recount of it now shall stand as a testament to my memory (good or bad).  While cloudy and wet, this did not damper the spirit of the annual myriad of local art.  This year took place amongst 3 buildings, featuring rooms with all the arts and crafts loyal supporters have come to expect from it.  As usual all of the bands put on a great show and truly encompassed the spirit of the local community in each of them.  I wish I could list the names of them all, but hence the aspect of college that destroys brain cells has outdone me in this arena.  I would like to mention the headliner this year, the Buddy System, who truly showed what Arts Crawl is all about.  No one could help but be impressed by the orgy of media they provided in their set with animated videos synching up to their live performance.  Their performance was a truly unique experience and SOMA would like to thank them for sharing it with the entire Penn State community.  While our biggest event of the semester, Arts Crawl wasn’t the only shindig to end the 2008-2009 year.  On the weekend of April 18th, we hosted what we hope will become an annual event, our first very own photo scavenger hunt.  Now I know what you may be thinking “photo scavenger hunt?  Pff every club does that, real original guys.”  Well first of all, who are you with your snide attitude!  Second of all, like everything else we do, we made it original.  Good times were had by all completing the categories which ranged from fun to obscure to well near life-threatening.  We are happy to report however that no one to our knowledge died or got arrested, hence making it a success.  Personally, I would love to create a section on this site dedicated to the photos taken during this so if you were a photographer during it I would greatly appreciate if you sent me your photos with the categories they fit into.  As such, this along with the final Open Mic nights closed another fun chapter in the book of SOMA.  Now, I get to tell you about what is being written.

     Thats right, being written, we are already planning shennanigans for next semester!  You may be thinking “Man, what’s with you guys working through the summer?”  and I say there you go with the obnoxious remarks again!  Towards the end of last semester, it occurred to some key members of SOMA that while the spring has two there are no outdoor music festivals in the fall.  Coincidently, SOMA has yet to really develop a running annual event for said semester…    *ring ring* you here that?  I believe its fate calling!  This is why we have decided to join forces with another student organization dedicated to creating music shows (The Asylum) to attempt to forge an event of epic proportions.  Should we pull this off, it will easily be the biggest thing SOMA has ever been apart of, I’m talking 21st birthday huge!  Currently I do not want to give anything away but we have been working tiresselly planning this possible shindig and if all the moons line up correctly I am positive you will be pleasantly tickled with the result.  I will have more information on this at the start of next semester.

     On that note, it is currently 4:17 am and I can literally feel the cohesiveness of my writing slipping.   I hope you enjoyed this far too rare update, since I have been poor on timing I have attempted to make them count.  So hopefully upon reading this you laughed, you cried and maybe even got a little aroused.  While pledging goes against my beliefs of chaos, I promise that I will TRY to do a better job updating you all this next year.  From the way it is looking, I am sure I will have plenty to do that with.  The point I want to leave you on is that last year rocked, but I have a feeling this next year will be even better!  Webmaster Bill out!

Now onto this semester.  Like I said this post has been slightly delayed by the wait for the results of Girl Talk show and therefore we have gotten well into this semester’s activities.  As usual the spring semester is absolutely humongous for us with the continuation of our annual events Arts Crawl and Synthesis.  Both of these events are being planned and collaborated on more and more each day and we are confident both products will live up to the quality of their yearly traditions.  We as well have an event we plan on turning into an annual occurrence coming up with the second Search for your So’mate happening February 10th!   We feel this is the perfect fundraiser for our club as it combines our amazing monthly occasions of open mic nights as well as possibly winning a date with one of the wonderful people within our club.   On that note this semester is being planned out more and more each day and we hope to see all of you that wish to participate throughout it.  On that note, homework is calling and I hope to see all of as much as possible.  Webmaster Bill out!

http://www.youtube.com/group/psusoma

It has also come to my attention that another one of these nifty tools was concocted earlier this semester and has gone largely underused. I of course speak of our SOMA Lastfm page! It was a brilliant idea forged by our Always-Changing-But-Currently-Titled-Sex Titan Alex. However, he still remains the only member of this machine, what gives? So please check out this fun little page at:

http://www.last.fm/group/Penn%20State%20SOMA%20(Students%20Organizing%20the%20Multiple%20Arts)

On that note, I will go about my Saturday, please send me or any other officer any feedback on the sites!

-Webmaster Bill

     First of all, following the tremendous success of the “Find Your So’mate Date Auction” last year we are determined to have it yet again.  While it may not happen this semester it will definitely happen next one, depending on whether it is decided that it should be yearly or monthly.  This naturally leads us into the ever popular Open Mic Nights.  They will be held in the West Commons Study Lounge as they were last year.  We have the first one set for October 7th so if you wish to show off any sort of talent we more than welcome you.  While we traditionally see acoustic guitar/singing acts, we want it to be known that we welcome all forms of talent, whether it be juggling, stand-up comedy, spoken-word, poetry or something really cool that know one has ever heard of. 

     Another thing in serious consideration is a Halloween event.  While we are still toying around with ideas for what to do, we are set on making something happen here, whether it be a show, movie or anything else creative.  Keep looking back to see what the final decision is.  A great new idea that has already been implemented by our Hobo Jim (I believe that’s his title at the moment, it changes every 2 weeks) Alex is New Music Days where we all gather together at Chronic Town (the hookah lounge downtown) and listen to a new album released that week.  Currently this seems like it will be a weekly Wednesday event but there are still kinks being worked out.  Lastly, due to popular demand, we are planning on bringing back the MP3 Experiment this fall. 

     As I said before, this is a mere sampling of the endless ideas that have been concieved for this semester and I will have more updates on these and any other events that see themselves come to fruition when more information becomes available.  We are open to anyone that wishes to help any way so if you do or just have any questions or other suggestions/ideas please email me or any of the other officers, or you could let us know at the general meetings we have the first and third Wednesday of every month.  On that note I believe I have delayed from doing my homework for as long as possible and am sorry I can not further help you do the same with this post.  I hope to see you all at the many exciting events I mentioned above!

                                                                                                                                                                         Webmaster Bill