A fashion and lifestyle magazine and blog produced by Students in the Design and Merchandising program at Drexel University

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Restaurant Week 2011

If you’re a “foodie” or just enjoy eating out you will be happy to know that this week is Restaurant Week in Philadelphia. The event is currently running since January 16th until January 21st and will occur again from the 23-28 of January. This includes a 3 course meal for $35 or a similar lunch option for $20 at some of Philly’s finest restaurants. The much anticipated event began in 2003 and has since then expanded from one to two weeks and includes three times the number of participating restaurants.

The cuisine ranges from Mexican to seafood to steak and everything in between. Just some of the over 100 restaurants include: Alma de Cuba which offers modern Cuban cuisine at 16th and Walnut, Chima Brazilian Steakhouse located at 1901 JFK Blvd, and Le Castagne which offers Northern Italian cuisine and is located at 19th and Chestnut. It is nearly impossible to pass up these delectable options that on a normal day could break the bank. The additional lunch option makes this even more affordable for these gourmet restaurants. Also, many of the restaurants suggest BYOB. You can find a full list of participating restaurants at http://centercityphila.org/life/RestaurantWeek.php and make a reservation directly on the website. Be sure to reserve your spot as soon as possible because tables fill up extremely fast!

Has your zodiac sign changed?

An astrological controversy erupted online recently after a newspaper article mistakenly suggested that the dates that determine the Zodiac signs had shifted by about a month. This threw off millions of believers into self-doubt and panic. Fear not: your zodiac sign remains the same. The tilt of the Earth's axis has gradually shifted since the ancient times when the Babylonians determined the dates of the Zodiac. This re-figuring also re-introduced a sign discarded by the Babylonians: Ophiuchus.
But astrologers and astronomers, two groups who usually don’t see eye-to-eye, agree that this news is about 3,000 years old. Western astrologers included the wobble of the Earth's axis in their calculations centuries ago. The Zodiac we are all familiar with is still perfectly valid. Astrologer Susan Miller called the news "ridiculous” and in an interview with ABC News, she said the constellations don't suggest what's coming up, the planets do. She explains that the constellations are a measuring device.
According to CNN, there have always been two zodiacs; the tropical zodiac and the sidereal zodiac. The tropical zodiac is fixed to seasons, while the sidereal zodiac is fixed to constellations and is followed more in Asia. The new reports that the sun is no longer aligned with constellations at the same time of year as it did a long time ago are irrelevant for the tropical zodiac which we follow. The seasonally based astrology was never oriented with the constellations, which is why there is no reason to worry because your zodiac sign has not changed.

The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown’s recent page turner, “The Lost Symbol,” is this year’s thriller. The author of, “The DaVinci Code,” delivers more mind-bending theories. This time around, you'll be wondering “what if” about the forefathers of our country, present day secret Masonic societies, and history’s leading scientists and philosophers along with their connection to a lost ancient wisdom. Robert Langdon, Brown’s famous protagonist, is prompted to uncover the wisdom. In order to do so, he takes us through a maze of symbols and riddles with mystifying solutions.

The book opens with Robert Langdon landing in Washington D.C. to deliver a last minute speech as a favor to his beloved mentor, Peter Solomon. The day’s events take an unexpected turn when it turns out Peter’s been kidnapped. His captor, who becomes increasingly twisted and creepy as we find out more and more about him, believes Langdon to be the one who can deliver what he seeks. He ransoms Peter in exchange for the lost knowledge he thinks Langdon can deliver. The CIA and some important individuals in the Capitol become involved, throwing curve balls of their own. Langdon finds himself working out the mystery along with Peter Solomon’s sister, Dr. Katherine Solomon, who performs unusual top secret research in a scientific field called Noetics. The novel culminates with a major twist that will delight your sense for adventure even more.

Dan Brown was already writing the “Lost Symbol” when “The DaVinci Code’s” success was blossoming. He admits to suffering a crippling moment during writing. Luckily, he was able to pull himself out of it, and deliver explorations into science, religion, and history that serve as interesting explanations of their respective mysteries. In an interview Brown sums up what the book is getting at: “The more science I studied, the more I saw that physics becomes metaphysics and numbers become imaginary numbers. The farther you go into science, the mushier the ground gets. You start to say, ‘Oh, there is an order and a spiritual aspect to science.’” It’s all very interesting, and definitely worth the read. I promise, you won’t want to put it down.