The newest site to hit the big Crimson is Harvard Note Pass. It is an exclusive chat service for Harvard students. You log on and then it enables you to chat with others in your large lecture class.

One: aren’t you supposed to be paying attention?! And two: if that really cute boy wanted to talk to you, you’d have his number or at least be facebook friends—don’t be creepy and start up a convo in the middle of Ec10!

So what do we think? Yay or Nay?

The Full Playlist:

• You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
• Invisible – Clay Aiken
• Creep – Radiohead
• I’ll Be Watching You – Sting
• Don’t Stand So Close to Me / Young Girl – Glee Cast
• One Way or Another – Blondie
• Hey Good Lookin – Johnny Cash
• I Thought I Saw Your Face Today – She & Him
• We Might As Well Be Strangers – Keane
• See You Again – Miley Cyrus
• Every Breath You Take – Police

Occasionally I’ll come out of the shadows when The Voice hires me for a little espionage. While it’s of questionable morality, sure, I like to think of it as community service. No but really, my feudal Lord (aka TF) caught me plagiarizing in lit-sex and they made me agree to either do this or take a gap year.

So here I am, hiding out in a tree, watching a final club’s induction…or what looks like the beginnings of one. Which final club you ask? Well…it’s the tacky one that looks like a Cantabrigian Hooters: The Owl. And this isn’t the first time they’ve let their owlets outta the bag.

What follows after the jump are the notes I took from the event. Some highlights: random dude with axe, typical bro behavior, and somebody playing Joan of Arc in the leaves.

Pretty bored here…but uh, looks like people are coming into the courtyard.
Around 1:00 AM: All the punchees led by owl members outside… some were in groups filing out like a conga line. I can see some other stragglers (late-comers?) It appears as if these late members are being chastised. My question is: why does it matter?

Still around 1:00 AM: Nothing much is happening…oh, but wait!
They’ve been asked to link hands (no homo?)  around a dude in the middle. Not sure why he’s been chosen.
Um.. there appears to be a guy with an axe, he just got up on a table. Oh lame, he’s not doing anything with his axe. I think he’s probably just supposed to stand there and look pretty like Gimli from Lord of the Rings.

A little later: They’re raking leaves around some guy in the center of their hippie love-circle. Now they’re pouring the leaves over his head. Oh my God. I think they’re going to light him up! I think I’m going to be witness to a murder. That guy with that axe is still there anyway…

No. Nope. They’re just all blindfolded, standing around some bro covered in leaves. Lame.

Not a bro, just adorable.

Now there’s a guy reading from  a book being oddly sincere about how he wants them to have a good time in the club, blah blah blah. This is making me want to ralph. Ninjas hate sincerity. Guy with the book just asked them to raise their glasses “to health”…except no one has glasses and those are definitely red Solo Cups.  Pre-tty classy, Owl.

1:40 AM Just remembered the clock on my ninja cell-phone. Hope no one can see the back light of my screen from up here.
1:41 AM Some guy rearranged his balls. Wonder if this has to do with previous indoor induction ritual. Hope they’re all okay down there.
1:41 AM Some guy just yelled for someone to “suck dick.” Hey! Someone peeked from their blindfold. Sneaky, sneaky.
1:42 AM Movement! Are they headed toward my tree? No, they just switched and turned into Lowell.
1:43 AM Handing out a sheet of paper to be signed. It’s due tomorrow at noon, they have to commit to the Owl by noon.
1:44 AM Guy speaking who sounds like a bro, can’t hear what he’s saying because his voice is too bro-y.
1:45 AM Making something out about parties, clean up afterward, then lunch and dinner. Getting the feeling that this is all the final clubs do.
1:45 AM Why do they even have to be blindfolded for any of this? Doesn’t that mean they can’t even see the guy with the axe?
1:46 AM Oh, I think its ending, I just heard a congratulatory “good  job guys.”
Lots of hugs and many manly pats on the back. One guy didn’t do the back pat, that hug looked oddly intimate.
1:46 AM Someone just said “It’s hard being blindfolded and walking around.” No shit, Sherlock.
1:46 AM First person is leaving.
1:46 AM One of the punchees is texting. He is really, really happy right now.
1:47 AM Some guy is tying his shoe.
1:48 AM Rabble rabble rabble rabble!
1:49 AM Maybe one or two dark complected people spotted. Yay! Token black people!
1:52 AM Can make out screaming/dancing in the billiards room (nothing new). Perhaps the man with the axe has found an application for his weapon.
1:52 AM All smiles from the people leaving, they are glowing like  8 year-old girls coming back from bible camp.
1:52 AM I’ve been seen! Oh wait, no that guys just tilting his head back to drink his beer.
1:53 AM Total nerd spotted! How’d he get in?
1:54 AM Um…are they touching each other?
1:55 AM Now that it’s over officially, half are cool, half are awkwardly standing. It seems like they just can’t bear to part. That’s just adorable. Aww, they love each other!
1:56 AM Asian with backpack spotted! Edit: somehow this seemed significant enough at the time to write down.
1:57 AM Everyone’s leaving…

Reflections: Well, seeing as this isn’t my first time watching an Owl punch event I must say that they kicked out the good-looking ones. Or lost them to other clubs. Seriously ladies, take it from this ninja, if you’re looking to hook up with a handsome final club man, you may want to wander elsewhere on the weekends. Can’t say very much for this year’s punchees, or for the members for that matter.

All in all, a night well spent, I think. We’ve debunked whatever lingering myth of cool these bros possessed as it seems these events are nowhere near being as awesome as our imaginations say they oughta be. For instance, there was no ritual sacrifice and no creepy chants. Just some leaf-raking and minor paperwork (why was that guy covered in leaves?). It really just looked like they were wingin’ it with whatever they had around. If you’re going to have ritual events in an open courtyard you could at least make them interesting for the rest of us, even if all you’re going to do is go right back inside and group-brainstorm goofy themes for next-weekend’s rager. For Chrissakes skin a cat (not a real one) at least! Make your punchees drink pigs’ blood – anything to relieve this ninja of his boredom. But maybe I should cut them some slack, it’s a recession isn’t it? Even final clubs gotta cut back.

Well, until next time. Happy Induction Season everybody. Next week: The songs Dean Dingman likes to sing while cooking, and the thrilling things he discusses with his barber.

“Ladies may be admitted to the clubhouse or garden only between Friday dusk through Sunday dawn, special events excepted. Each member will be allowed a maximum of one female guest at any one time.” – the Owl Club for Men, Member’s Manual

!!!PUUURPLE!!!

Hot damn. Some crazy jonx went down at 45 Mt. Auburn earlier tonight.

It was the most rip-roarin’ event since the Big Bang. It was epic. It was Miltonian. It was… The Seneca Info Meeting.

Noice sent one of its bloggers (thaaat’s me!) to investigate the goings on of this semi-secretive and mostly just mind-bogglingly vague “women’s organization.”

Some of you may be wondering whether The Seneca is just a modified female final club with a paper application, or whether it’s a politically correct front for a money laundering scheme.

While I can’t guarantee that much information on the latter was gleaned, I bring to you the who-what-where and the who-wore-what of the information event of the week. Read more after the jump.

After receiving their courteous open invitation, I arrived a fashionable two or three minutes late.

The smiling faces of young Harvard ladies promptly greeted me at the door, though I felt like they were onto me already. After reluctantly relinquishing my contact info to them via purple gel pen on heavy cardstock paper (mmm, nice!), I proceeded to the name-tag table where I wrote my name in purple marker, picked up a glossy purple pamphlet and a seven-page purple application packet. Ah yes, purple! Because honestly, how else would I know this was a women’s organization?

No, but really.  Ease up on the color scheme, yo — it’s a little too matchy-matchy.

Once inside the actual mingling room, I couldn’t help but sense that every pore of my body was screaming “AHHHH ESTROGEN!” I could literally feel all our cycles syncing up with each other. And while I awkwardly cruised the refreshments table for chocolate, brownies and sparkling (purple!) grape juice, I couldn’t help but wish there had been potato skins, bratwurst and bacon, too. Note: Seneca is not butch-friendly and a little heavy on the carbs.

All around me were young ladies making a tableau vivant reminiscent of a dELiA*s catalog. The actual Seneca members were discreetly dispersed and only identifiable by a small serpentine “S” on their name-tags. After weirdly peering at a dozen chests to find this emblem, I tried to schmooze and dig for a little dirt, but am sorry to report that it was mildly uninteresting.

Sorry, no Ponzi Scheme here! To be honest, it was just a group of ladies talking to a group of ladies about what it’s like to be part of a group of ladies. And I can’t tell you how often they described themselves as “dynamic”…  I mean, seriously?

But the one thing that this blogger must relay is the sheer noise in that room. Girls, I hate to say it, but we are loud as all heck. It felt like standing next to a jet engine, it felt like stuffing my ears with live cicadas, it felt like… this! So I did dip out before 10 o’clock to keep my ears intact.

Anyway, the highlight of the evening was definitely the application materials. On every table there were the aforementioned glossy propaganda pamphlets (a tangible manifestation of their $335-a-semester dues + initiation fee). Chock-full of smiling (diverse!) women  prominently displayed along with vague testimonials about how great it is to be in communion with this select group of ladies.

And for those of you who want to know what was on the essay portion of their application: great questions like, “What is the most important issue women face at Harvard? How can a student group address this issue?” to go along with the inexplicable, “Describe yourself in haiku form… which celebrity or well-known character from a book do you identify with?”

In a nutshell, The Seneca promotes itself to be a “sisterhood” that works to make the social life of its ladymembers a little better while doing some community service alongside it all. But really, if you wanted to submit a competitive application to pay money to join an all women’s organization, you should have just gone to Wellesley. At least there you wouldn’t be blinded with purple.

And while this womanist, feminist, riot grrrl blogger realizes the pissy snark tone she’s affected, The Seneca doesn’t necessarily merit it. While there are undertones of troubling exclusivity and la-di-da, there are more troubling things happening on campus than punch season and The Seneca app. But the conclusion is, if you’re looking for a sweet community of ladies, just open yourself up to your neighbors and make some friends! At least there aren’t initiation fees… unless you buy your friends, and that’s just sad, honey.

Emma, we love you!

Note from the Editor: There seems to be much ado about nothing over this photo and liveblog. Understand that these live tweets were made to be intentionally outrageous and overblown. As for the photo, it was taken on happenstance — one of our photographers happened to leave the game at the same time as Emma and snapped a quick photo. (September 27, 1:47AM)

[10/01/09] See additional Note from the Editor here.

4:25:21 PM: The Brown crowd is like soooo small.

4:26:37 PM: I love drunk bros.

4:33:02 PM: Defense! Defense!

4:34:18 PM: Brown is cheering. This can’t be good.

4:34:42 PM: SAFETY SCHOOL

4:38:14 PM: TOUCHDOWN

4:42:16 PM: Let’s go Hermione! lolz

4:50:32 PM: EMMA WATSON HAS BEEN SPOTTED!!! – AS

4:50:59 PM: EMMA IS HERE.

4:53:43 PM: spotted: cops chasing two kids thru the brown section… emma’s security? -AS

5:04:57 PM: In enemy territory. Lookin for a certain witch.

5:14:56 PM: Still searching.

5:27:44 PM: EW FAIL! *t least we’re winning the game… oh wait, no we’re not :( -AS

5:38:28 PM: Losing the game..

5:54:01 PM: so we didnt find ew but we did shake hands with someone who shook hands with her! -AL & AS

6:16:18 PM: Omg We’re winning

6:39:02 PM: WATSON FOUND. i repeat WATSON FOUND

6:39:36 PM: And We’re still winning!

6:45:19 PM: people are chanting “clock”. I’m scared

6:46:31 PM: I think they fixed the clock now. Still winning!

6:48:46 PM: Omg someone got hurt

6:51:57 PM: VICTORY

EDIT: So these times are off by about 3.5 hours, but THAT’S OKAY.

EDIT2: Emma Watson photo, right hurrrr. VICTORY! Stalking success. Football success. Overall great success.

EDIT3: See Note from the Editor here.

Harvard: 24, Brown: 21

Champs.

*Please see Editor’s note here.