Finals are quickly approaching, the sun is out, and the weather is unpredictable; spring has sprung, and what better way to ring in the end of the semester than with Spring Fling? This year’s celebration will take place Saturday, May 4 at the Taco Bell Arena. The doors open at 6 p.m., with the show starting at 7. The headlining act will feature hip-hop singer and producer Mike Posner, who will be introduced by the Good Husbands and remix artist Aylen. Posner is best known for his Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 single “Cooler Than Me,” and other radio singles including “Please Don’t Go” and “Bow Chicka Wow Wow”. Much to the chagrin of Beliebers who would like to believe that Justin Bieber writes all of his own love ballads, Posner is also known for writing and producing “Boyfriend,” which debuted at number two on the Billboard Top 100 charts. Want some fun in the sun prior to the concert? Check out the block party at 4 p.m. on the... ...
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Author Archives : Lauren Hooker
Lauren Hooker is the Marketing Director at Boise State Student Media. She is a senior Communication major with a certificate in Public Relations. She enjoys piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. Follow her on Twitter: @shesahooker.
CO-WRITER: Bret Schofield Herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea—these aren’t the types of “gifts” you want to receive from your partner on Valentine’s Day. It’s no secret that safe, protected sex is the way to ward against contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms don’t have to be a drag. “It’s about taking charge of your own life for the future,” said Caryn Thompson, owner of the O-Zone. “Only you can control that.” Finding the perfect condom is all about trial and error; it’s a little bit like trying on running shoes. What works for some people won’t work for others. “It’s all about finding something that you’re comfortable with, that you’re confident in,” said Thompson. “It doesn’t take away from your attention when you’re wearing it, and something that is compatible with your partner.” One Tantric Pleasures What the package said: “Exotic texture & pleasure shape for exciting new sensations!” What she said: “The ‘exotic texture’ was unnoticeable, so it seemed like an ordinary condom.” What he said: “The package was misleading;... ...
Read More →Valentine’s Day can be stressful, so why not relax your significant other with a sensual massage? Stimulating blood flow to tissues helps calm and relax the nervous system and muscles. Certified massage therapist Whitney Cornell gave us the rundown on how to give a decent rubdown. To warm up your partner, rub massage oil between your palms. Then, using long, slow strokes along the spine, begin with a featherlight touch, and gradually increase the pressure. Communicate with your partner about how much pressure they are comfortable with. Straddling your partner, begin at the shoulders. “Avoid poking with your fingers,” said Cornell, who has been practicing massage for four years. “The heal of the hand is the easiest to use.” After kneading out the area between the shoulder blades, slowly work your way down to the base of their spine. On broader areas, such as the lower back, elbows or forearms can be used. “If you plan on using your forearm, make sure it’s flat,” said Cornell. “No one likes something pointy shoved in their... ...
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“Tank tops, low-cut, STOP!” shouted Miranda Palacio, stamping her foot in rhythm to the lyrics. “In this joint!” The room echoed as members of The Armada, a local Boise dance crew, counted steps, recited lyrics and directed movements as they practiced—for the umpteenth time—a portion of Nelly’s “Hot in Here.” This preparation was for their 13-minute-long set to open Tyga’s show on Friday, Jan. 25, at the Revolution Concert House. “Take it from the top,” shouted Palacio. “Can we make it louder?” asked Alexandra McLaughlin. Music poured from the speakers, reverberating through the floors and filling the room. Sneakers squeaked as the dancers rehearsed again and again. The Armada was formed a short five months ago by director and choreographer Max Nguyen. The seven members of the group were chose by Nguyen, who teaches workshops and classes, based on their personality and talent. “We chose ‘The Armada’ because it seemed to fit,” said Nguyen, who has been dancing for the past five years. “You think of a fleet of battleships—it’s intimidating. Strength in... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. Don’t sacrifice healthy eating simply because it’s finals week and junk food is easier. You know the drill: It’s 2 a.m., you have an Anatomy & Physiology test in five hours, and you still need to get some more cram time in. Though there may no hope for acing the skeletal system portion of the exam or getting more than several hours of sleep, you can still salvage your waistline and focus better by eating a healthy meal. Black beans contain fiber and... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. It’s here. It’s finally here. If the looming distress of finals week has you in a dead week panic with no time for sleep, much less food preparation, don’t worry. These five-ingredients-or-less in fifteen-minutes-or-less bites will provide plenty of energy and make way for potential leftovers (make extra and reheat later!). Pair with a side of carrot sticks, celery or broccoli to get your vegetable fix in. A George Forman grill or panini maker will make these much easier but they can be made... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. Cool evenings, gray skies, a huge pot of soup bubbling on the stove. Soup is easy, healthy and cheap; hack up some vegetables, toss them in a pot of boiling liquid and wait a little bit. Keep some Tupperware around to house leftovers and you’re saving even more money. This particular soup is vegetarian, gluten-free, and packed full of nutrient-dense vegetables. Feel free to add additional vegetables, it’s difficult to go wrong. This can also be made in a CrockPot, to save monitored cooking... ...
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The line wrapped around the Taco Bell Arena on Nov. 16 as people buzzed and pushed in anticipation to see Eric Church, Justin Moore and Kip Moore perform for Church’s Blood, Sweat and Beers tour. Kip Moore opened the show, and people continued to file into their seats as the house lights went completely black. “I LOVE YOU, KIP MOORE!” screeched a girl from the front row as K. Moore launched into “Crazy One More Time,” a song off of his new album, Up All Night. After a few more songs, K. Moore finished with “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck,” periodically pausing to let the audience fill in the chorus. Justin Moore, completely unrelated to Kip Moore, was the second opener and began his set with “Til My Last Day”. “We just found out we went gold this week,” announced J. Moore. “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” which placed in the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011, began with dimmed lights and Moore’s request for everyone in the audience to illuminate... ...
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For the month of November, Lauren Hooker will participate in a writing challenge like none other. Every Monday, you have the chance to read about every moment of this quest. 50 pages. 30,273 words. Nine chapters. By turkey day, Nexus Winds, my pathetic over-halfway done novel, met its dismal end: also known as the end of my motivation. How could I quit when I was so close to the end? Let me tell you. 20,000 more is not close to the end. And when you haven’t slept more than six hours a night, sporadically shower when you happen to remember and show up to work using words like “mercurial”, “ataraxia” and “indubitably,” you know you’re a writer. At this point you should probably pump the breaks before burning out. That doesn’t mean that I’m not suffering from the after effects of constructing a storyline; the book began as a science fiction story, but turned into a sappy romance novel (this resulted in a love note to my significant other, who... ...
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Christmas has arrived early. Eric Church is coming to town. The Country Music Award winner will be at the Taco Bell Arena on November 16 at 7:30 p.m for his Blood, Sweat and Beers tour. His No. 1 singles “Springsteen” and “Drink in my Hand” have reached RIAA Gold and Platinum status. Church was nominated for five American Country Awards, including Artist of the Year: Male, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Single of the Year: Male, and Touring Artist of the Year. He also won the Country Music Award this year for Album of the Year. Church will be accompanied by special guests Justin Moore and Kip Moore. Justin Moore was voted 2009 Best Male Country Artist by Billboard Magazine. His single, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” hit number one in the Billboard Country Songs in 2011. Kip Moore is known for his hit single, “Somethin’ Bout a Truck,” which hit 29 on the Billboard Top 100 last year, and number one on the Billboard Country... ...
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For the month of November, Lauren Hooker will participate in a writing challenge like none other. Every Monday, you have the chance to read about every moment of this quest. It’s time to come clean: I’m failing miserably. It’s not even halfway through November, and I’m a whopping five thousand words behind where I should be. I haven’t even breached the 15,000 word mark. Yeah. It’s bad. Between classes, work and Up All Night marathons, I’m still writing several thousand words a day… for other obligations. My novel has been tossed to the wayside, receiving a dwindling thousand-or-so words a day, slowly growing the gap between real life and goal count. However, one of the central themes surrounding the beauty (and disaster) of NaNoWriMo is the sense of community that it can invoke within its participants. The NaNoWriMo Treasure Valley group has created a Facebook page dedicated to support, staying motivated and scheduling write-ins to meet other intrepid novelists in the area. Afraid that I was the only one in... ...
Read More →For the month of November, Lauren Hooker will participate in a writing challenge like none other. Every Monday, you have the chance to read about every moment of this quest. You know that feeling of waiting for something exciting happen? You’re watching the clock, counting the minutes, anticipating what is to come; it’s like waiting for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie midnight premiere to start, listening for Santa to come down the chimney and the opening of the Nordstrom Rack all rolled into one. That was the evening of Oct. 31 for me. As the hours ticked closer to minute, I did everything I could to bide my time. I planned my novel. I searched character surnames online. I stumbled upon a photo-set of a cat who fostered a litter of hedgehogs. I pinned, tweeted and Facebooked. I trolled the NaNoWriMo forums, sharing my excitement from my keyboard with people from the Mountain Standard time zone. And then it happened: 11:59 p.m. I pulled up my word... ...
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For the month of November, Lauren Hooker will participate in a writing challenge like none other. Every Monday, you have the chance to read about every moment of this quest. November is National Write a Novel Month, 30 days of unadulterated misery, joy, carpal-tunnel inducing, coffee-guzzling, writing fun. In other words, participants are required to write a 50,000 word novel, approximately 175 pages, between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30: about 1,667 words a day. Last year, 256,618 people tried to accomplish the literary marathon, and only 36,843 novelists emerged, forever bearing the title, and a year’s worth of bragging rights, of a NaNoWriMo winner. I was not one of them. In fact, I’ve lost for the past three consecutive years, barely managing to pass the 20,000 word hump. Last year, between classes and work, a cornucopia of coffee and Red Bull couldn’t save me from the impending loss. This year will be different. In the words of Barney Stinson: “challenge accepted”. Novels range in genres from children to adult, science... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15 and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. After a long day of relentless lectures, part-time jobs, group work meetings, working out and hanging out with friends, who has time to cook? This dish takes approximately thirty minutes to prep and cook, and can be easily manipulated to accomodate more veggies, less meat, etc. The sauce can also be prepared ahead of time in a CrockPot. Bell peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C, which can help strengthen immune systems, a plus in this season’s cold-infested environment. What... ...
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Pinterest is a cornucopia for DIY, beauty tips and recipes; as soon as a hint of chill hit the air, pumpkin recipes were no exception. Here is an easy, cheap and somewhat “healthy” pumpkin pie alternative. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars http://tjstestkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/06/pumpkin-cream-cheese-bars.html 1 box angel food cake mix (I used spice cake) 1 15oz can of pumpkin 3/4 cup water 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice 1 8 oz package cream cheese a few tablespoons of water, to make the cream cheese runny 1. Preheat the oven to 375. 2. Mix the cream cheese and few tablespoons of water until smooth and slightly runny. 3. Mix cake mix, pumpkin, water and cinnamon in a separate bowl. 4. Spray a glass baking dish with nonstick spray. Pour a layer of pumpkin mix, topped with a layer of cream cheese. Repeat until mixtures are out. Take a butter knife and swirl around on the top layer to smooth things out. 5. Bake for 35 minutes. ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. The crockpot: a fool-proof kitchen appliance that even the most cooking-illiterate college student can operate. It’s significantly healthier than a microwave and is quick and easy to use. You can toss in ingredients before heading out the door and return home to a cooked meal. Soup is a wonderful crockpot meal and is especially nice in the upcoming cold months. This recipe is great, because you can add any vegetable you want in addition to the ingredients listed below. What you need:... ...
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The scent of pumpkin lattes wafts out of Starbucks like a thick cloud, Ugg boots are back and an abundance of slouchy hats and oversized sweaters have taken over campus; Fall is upon us. What better way to celebrate than to grab your significant other (or a friend!) and check out what the Treasure Valley has to offer? 1. Coffee and Tablerock Cheap and spontaneous, grabbing coffee or hot chocolate at a local coffeeshop (double check their hours, many close by 7 or 8) and heading up to Tablerock to sit and talk is a great way to break the monotony of dinner talks. Sunset is beautiful and after-dark holds a certain allure, with the sparkling city lights and sharp nip in the air. To drive up the back way, follow Reserve St. (located behind St. Luke’s) up the winding road. Take a right on Table Rock Rd. Continue until you see a fork, and take a right onto the gravel road. The gate closes at sundown. 2. Spacebar For... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. I first fell in love with the idea of pasta puttanesca when I read Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. The orphans had a few ingredients lying around, and had to assemble a dinner for a large group of people. I immediately tried making it, and it turned out wonderful; spicy with a little kick of salt. Legend has it a few Italian “ladies of the night” (hint: check out my last name) would make the dish, and set it out on their windowsills... ...
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Fans packed into the Knitting Factory for the sold-out AWOLNATION concert on Monday, Oct. 1. Opening bands included B.b. Gun, ZEALE, and Imagine Dragons. The band is currently on their Never Let Your Fear Decide Your Fate tour. The Arbiter’s Lauren Hooker caught up with Aaron Bruno, lead singer-songwriter of AWOLNATION, a few minutes before the show. Here is what he had to say. Q: How did you feel when Sail went viral? A: It was a good feeling, more so than the success of it all, really just that it got out in the public. I’d recorded a bunch of songs with other bands in the past that didn’t get to come out and do the legal ties to the labels, to release it and get it off of my hard drive and out into the public legally with no expectations, just to get my art and my vision into the atmosphere was great. Q: Do you write all of your own songs? What inspires you? A: Yes, I... ...
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As college students, we are all busy. Managing our hectic class, work and social schedules can be stressful enough. Add in thoughts of the dreaded freshman 15, and things go haywire. Aside from worries of weight gain, food is our number one source of health-boosting goodness, food for the brain and the body. “Hooker in the Kitchen” is designed to help you make healthy choices, leading you away from the many tempting fast food options and instead offering up fast, easy and budget-friendly weekly recipes. With fall upon us, mornings of cold cereal, mixed fruit and smoothies are soon-to-be part of our summertime past. Don’t settle for a boring plate of eggs, bacon and oatmeal in the upcoming chilly months! Despite the negativity surrounding them, eggs are a wonderful source of protein and amino acids. Eaten in moderation, eggs provide vitamin D, as well as healthy fat, which is essential for healthy skin and hair. Kale acts as a great sidekick in this dish, offering up a monstrous... ...
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