Courtesy of Gym Class Heroes

Rap-rock band Gym Class Heroes (above) will be headlining this year’s WUStock.

Though Gym Class Heroes first joined together in upstate New York in the late ’90s, it wasn’t until 2004 that the band found its current form. Now, the rap-rock group consists of McCoy, McGinley, lead guitarist Disashi Lumumba–Kasongo and bass guitarist Eric Roberts. Gym Class Heroes consistently break genre barriers by combining hip-hop, R&B, rap and funk into one cohesive sound.

Gym Class Heroes released their first major-label album, “The Papercut Chronicles,” in 2005. After two more studio releases, the band decided to take a break, allowing McCoy to pursue a solo career. After a few top-notch collaborations with stars like Bruno Mars on “Billionaire,” McCoy rejoined his band in 2011. They released hit “Stereo Hearts” with Adam Levine last summer and dropped their most recent album, “The Papercut Chronicles II,” in October of 2011.

CS40 uses a somewhat complicated method to decide whom to bring to WUStock. Sophomore Bailey Breems, CS40 Swamp Committee chair, described the process: The committee “narrowed it down to 10 [bands], based on availability, budget, and reviews of the bands.” After that, the [Swamp] Committee narrowed it down to five choices, which were then offered in a student vote.

The students came out strong for Gym Class Heroes, who won the vote by more than five percentage points.

Last year, CS40 brought in indie duo Matt & Kim as the headliners, and the event was a huge success. Will this year’s event have such a good turnout?

“We do hope that WUStock will continue to grow every year,” Breems said. “It’s a relatively new event.”

Whether or not 2012’s WUStock will top last year’s show, Gym Class Heroes will bring amazing energy to the Swamp when they come to visit. Student bands will also perform at WUStock, and the full lineup will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The Chinese calendar may have declared it the Year of the Dragon, but according to the Super Bowl ads, it was the Year of the Dog.

Volkswagen: “The Dog Strikes Back”

This was one of our favorites for these six reasons. (1) It had a dog, and, as we will soon see, animals are a necessity for any good Super Bowl commercials. (2) There was a subtle cultural critique: Obesity is a problem, but it is one that can be overcome by exercise and dedication. (3) It was a total non-sequitur. Dogs have nothing to do with cars. Neither does “Star Wars.” (4) It referenced the Volkswagen commercial from last year by having the “Star Wars” characters in the bar watching that commercial, and it was so meta. (5) The montage was great—any sports-related video worth its enzymes and Gatorade will have one. (6) The use of the classic song “Get up offa that thing”!

Audi: “Vampire Party”

It’s probably the second safest car on the market (behind the 2012 Chevy with Armageddon protection). The Audi will get you where need to go, and it will kill any pesky vampires along the way. Seriously, Will Smith watched those Audi and Chevy commercials and cried because if he had had either of these vehicles in “I Am Legend” his dog wouldn’t have died. And if there is anything America loves more than cars, it’s Twinkies. Or animals. Based on these commercials, we can’t tell.

Bud Light: “Rescue Dog”

So Americans love cars and Twinkies and animals. But they also really, really love beer. So this Bud Light commercial put a dog and its beer in conversation. The cleverly named Weego brings you a Bud Light every time you call him. “Here, Weego!” translates into “Here we go!” and the dog just brings you happiness. Now, if only my dog would bring me whatever I wanted to eat…can one of you smart Wash. U. science people get on that?

Budweiser: “Eternal Optimism”

So it takes a few weeks for good beer to ferment, and yet Budweiser is ready to go just a few hours after the end of Prohibition…I wonder how they made that happen! Anyway, this cute commercial expressed pure delight in its product, and the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales made it all the more fun to watch.

Honda – “Matthew’s Day Off”

Anyone who’s ever seen “Ferris Bueller” should recognize the amusement of the commercial. Matthew Broderick repossesses his role from that classic movie, and the shot of him on TV with his producer watching was a perfect homage. Now, if only we could get away with these tricks to get out of class!

Courtesy of NBC

‘Smash’ is NBC’s new comedy-drama about the making of a musical about Marilyn Monroe’s life. Megan Hilty, left, and Katharine McPhee compete for the role of Marilyn Monroe.

Tonight, at 9 p.m. CST, NBC will premiere “Smash,” its new follow-up to “The Voice.” The show has a grown-up premise, unlike its “Glee”-ful competitor. It centers around a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and it offers an insider’s perspective into the heart of show business. It stars Debra Messing (“Will and Grace”) and “American Idol” season five runner-up Katharine McPhee, among other all-stars.

While the show sounds interesting, its plot seems somewhat hard to sustain. Messing’s character is part of a songwriting team that decides to write a show about Monroe, and within the first episode, it is already written and almost cast. The major conflict seems to arise when they cannot decide whom to cast in the lead role. Seasoned Broadway veteran Ivy (Megan Hilty) seems like the best bet to play the icon, but newcomer Karen (Katharine McPhee) captures the essence of the role in front of the casting team. What to do? Who to cast? I don’t know, but I also don’t know how long I’m going to care about whom a fictional musical is going to cast.

There are a number of subplots involving the characters’ personal lives, but the real winners of “Smash” are the songs. “Smash” will showcase both covers and original songs, which will be written by “Hairspray” vets Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. A large percentage of the cast comes from Broadway, and we know they’ll know how to sing. For some reason, I don’t feel like this is going to be a production in which auto-tune is involved.

1. Watch “Love Actually” over and over: It’s not really a complicated movie, but there are a ton of plot lines, so it could be easy to confuse. If we had to watch this over and over, it would be a great opportunity to focus in depth on every one. And one full day analyzing Colin Firth and then another staring at Hugh Grant wouldn’t be the world’s worst thing.

2. Go to Cedar Point: Having visited Cedar Point for the first time this summer, I would be content if I had to spend every day there. I didn’t get a chance to ride all the rides, though maybe if I was there for multiple days it would give me an opportunity to finally conquer my fear of the tallest, steepest roller coaster.

3. Listen to the “Sweeney Todd” (movie) soundtrack on repeat: Don’t judge me, but when the movie first came out back in 2007, I actually did this for several days. I still binge. It’s the combination of Stephen Sondheim’s music and Johnny Depp’s voice that gets me, I think. “Sweeney” purists will hate me and yell things like “Angela Lansbury!” and “Where’s the ‘Ballad of Sweeney Todd’?” But hey, Tim Burton was on to something when he let Captain Jack Sparrow and Severus Snape sing a duet, guys.

4. Watch the opening of “Dexter” over and over: The first time you watch the opening credits of this serial killer drama, you should be grossed out. The credits show Dexter (Michael C. Hall) performing ordinary tasks—cutting grapefruit, tying shoes—but manage to make each of these mundane activities seem disgusting, homicidal or just plain creepy. It’s clever, and it really grows on you. After a season’s worth of episodes, you hardly notice the ickiness anymore. Plus, the theme song is super catchy.

5. Go shopping: Okay, this has less to do with pop culture and more to do with spending, but shopping is a great opportunity to both exercise and buy cute things. How great would it be if you could spend your entire bank account, only to have it fill back up again when you wake up? You just need to know which will be your last Feb. 2 so you don’t end up broke.

Courtesy of NBC

Left to right: Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton return to host the second season of “The Voice” on NBC.

The show, however, was never really able to keep up its momentum. The audition episodes were the best part, but there were only two of them. The battle rounds did not feature enough singing, and the first season was just too short (less than two months long) to make an impact. When winner and runner-up Javier Colon and Dia Frampton released their debut CDs last fall, very few people even noticed.

“The Voice,” however, is back on Sunday, and it seems like it’s going to be better than ever. The season will be longer, giving viewers more time to get to know the contestants. It has added even more superstar mentors to drum up interest, including Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Ne-Yo, Kelly Clarkson, and Lionel Richie. And most importantly, the judging panel is back in full, ready to bring some more chemistry to the screen.

The show will air on NBC after the Super Bowl ends, whenever that is. This seems like a poor choice to follow the most watched sports game of the year. “The Voice” already has an established audience, and, for some reason, I don’t think its core demographic is middle-aged male football fans. (NBC probably would have been better off airing a critically acclaimed comedy like “Parks and Recreation,” which has something for everybody.) But I digress, and hopefully at least the part of the audience who watches the Super Bowl for the commercials will stay on board. “The Voice” will move to its normal timeslot on Monday, at 7 p.m. CST, where it will air week after week.

Courtesy of Kids These Days

Members of Kids These Days (above). The Chicago-based band will perform at Gargoyle on Wednesday.

While our grandparents may quietly complain about how different kids these days are from kids back in the day, we don’t expect to hear any complaints from our grandparents about the Chicago-based band Kids These Days, who the Gargoyle and Kuumba TV will bring to campus on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Take a look at Kids These Days, and you will get the sense that they aren’t your average band. KTD, as the band is popularly referred to, consists of seven members: Liam Cunningham, Lane Beckstrom, Greg Landfair Jr., Macie Stewart, Vic Mensa, Nico Segal and J.P. Floyd. The band members are relatively young, ranging from 17 to 21 years old, but other than that, it seems that all they have in common is a love for eclectic music. Per this point, KTD consists of a rapper, a female vocalist, a blues/rock trio and a horns section. These musical elements don’t really seem to mix, but KTD’s success proves that they must have made it work.

Kids These Days met in high school, when Cunningham and Beckstrom decided to start a jazz/funk band. Soon, they added Segal to the mix, and the band just grew from there. Due to their mix of instruments (both musical and vocal), KTD cannot be classified within one genre. Mensa’s rapping obviously lends a hip-hop vibe to some of the band’s music, whereas Stewart’s classical training leads to more melodic stuff. If you attend the show, be prepared to be surprised by the music mix you will hear. Opening for KTD is local band Rhyme N Reason, making the show even more worthwhile.

Best Picture:
• Best Bets: “The Artist,” “Hugo,” “The Descendants,” “The Help,” “Midnight in Paris,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Moneyball.” Due to the undetermined number of nominees, this category was hard to predict. We think the above seven films will make the cut, beating out the high profile “War Horse,” British spy drama “Tinker Tailor Soldier Dream,” and political drama “The Ides of March.”
• Dream Nominee: “Super 8.0” This summer drama perfectly captured the spirit of a childhood summer, even with a disastrous monster roaming around town.

Best Director:
• Best Bets: Martin Scorsese (“Hugo”), Alexander Payne (“The Descendants”), Woody Allen (“Midnight in Paris”), Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”), Terrence Malick (“The Tree of Life”). While these films are wildly different, ranging from the story of a Hawaiian landowner to a silent film to the history of the universe, none would have come together without these five men at the helm.  
• Dream Nominee: Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive.” This film, a Cannes darling, unfortunately missed the major awards circuit, but we feel Refn should be honored for his work.  

Best Actor:
• Best Bets: George Clooney (“The Descendants”), Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”), Brad Pitt (“Moneyball”), Michael Fassbender (“Shame”), Gary Oldman (“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”). Three Hollywood pros and two breakout stars will probably top this category. Pitt, Clooney, and Oldman continued to impress as the Oakland A’s manager, a heartbroken dad, and a British spy, whereas Fassbender and Dujardin shined as a sex addict and a silent film star.
• Dream Nominee: Ryan Gosling. Gosling had a breakout year with three leading roles in major movies (“The Ides of March,” “Drive,” “Crazy Stupid Love”), and we’d be happy if he got nominated for any of them.  

Best Actress:
• Best Bets: Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”), Viola Davis (“The Help”), Michelle Williams (“My Week with Marilyn”), Tilda Swinton (“We Need To Talk About Kevin”), Rooney Mara (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”). Though the race seems to be between Streep and Davis, all five women deserve nominations in this category.  
• Dream Nominee: Charlize Theron, “Young Adult.” Theron is an Oscar award winner for 2003 film “Monster,” but she deserves another nomination for her portrayal of Mavis Gary, a high school monster who returns to her hometown to her steal back her now-married ex-boyfriend.  

Best Original Screenplay:
• Best Bets: “The Artist,” “Bridesmaids,” “50/50,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Young Adult.” Though Woody Allen will probably win this award for “Midnight in Paris,” all these movies presented topics rarely done inventively these days.
• Dream Nominee: “Super 8.” Few adult films portray developed teenage characters in the way that “Super 8” did, and screenwriter (and director) J.J. Abrams deserved recognition.

1. Get your ABBA on: “Mamma Mia,” the musical that for some reason contains a large portion of the ABBA canon, will be playing at the Fabulous Fox Theatre from Tuesday through Sunday (minus Thursday, of course.) Tired of the quintessential American holiday? Try to get some Swedish in you.

2. Boxing for a cause: On Wednesday, Budweiser will put on its 25th annual Guns ‘N Hoses tournament. The event at the Scottrade Center pits firefighters and police officers against each other in three-round boxing matches. The money raised goes to the families of police officers and firefighters who died for their jobs, so the men fight for their lost friends. (And probably for friendly competition, as well.)

3. Parading right around town: Ameren Missouri will put on its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday morning. It starts a little early for us college students—at 8:45 a.m.—but since it won’t be televised like the other Thanksgiving Day parades we’re known to watch, head downtown for a little local flavor. The parade starts on the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street.

4. Black Friday and music all rolled into one: Third Degree Glass Factory will host possibly the coolest event that will happen this Thanksgiving. On Friday through Sunday, the glass factory’s shop will open for a craft fair with pretty much everything you’d want to buy for Christmas shopping. There will also be 20 bands and DJs for your listening pleasure.

5. Lighting the animals up: Thanksgiving marks the official start of can’t-hate-on-Christmas-anymore season, and the St. Louis Zoo has a proper celebration. Starting Friday, it will turn itself into a winter wonderland. The zoo will be illuminated by Christmas lights. There will also be live music and storytelling for the little ones. The zoo lights will be on every Friday and Saturday until Christmas from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Godiva Reisenbichler | Student Life

1. Lady Gaga: I can only imagine what type of costume Lady Gaga would wear to the Thanksgiving parade. If the songstress herself couldn’t make an appearance, I’d love to wake up to Gaga look-alikes in all her old crazy costumes.

2. The “Twilight” vampires: Accompanying the winter wonderland theme that Thanksgiving brings about, the Cullens could sparkle on a snowy float.

3. David Freese: The St. Louis Cardinals third baseman won both the National League Championship Series and the World Series MVP awards, and those honors make him deserving of the national stage. He gave a great interview on Leno, and he’s pretty much a cutie. Why not have him waving all day?

4. The Man in Black from “Lost”: We in Cadenza never need an excuse to bring up “Lost,” but the smoke monster would be an awesome balloon. It would barely need any engineering—just fill up some black fabric with helium. Plus, maybe the accompanying float would have Terry O’Quinn on it. That wouldn’t be the worst thing.

5. The house from “Up”: Since it already floats, the “Up” house seems like it would be a natural fit for a parade balloon. The colorful balloons attached to the house would brighten up the day.

6. The cast of “Community”: The parade airs on NBC, and NBC has a lot of explaining to do to “Community” fans for pulling the low-rated but beloved show off the midseason schedule. Having the cast appear would maybe soften the blow a tiny bit.

7. A giant pumpkin: This one doesn’t seem to make much sense, but let me explain. People always get mad when Christmas starts in October, claiming that it’s encroaching on the Halloween season. To get back at those people, have Halloween invade the beginning of Christmas.

8. Puss in Boots: His solo movie just opened a few weeks ago, but you may not want to shell out the money needed for the full 3D experience. Instead, wouldn’t it be great to stare at the adorable cat when he’s enlarged to balloon size floating over New York City streets?

9. Ted Drewes frozen custard: In order to drum up some interest in St. Louis tourism, why not advertise for Ted Drewes? The balloon would confuse and delight, but the float members throwing frozen custard to the parade viewers would certainly drum up some excitement. And maybe some brain freeze.

10. The remaining Republican presidential candidates: What better way to campaign than from a traveling float in New York? Judging who has the best wave is probably just as valid as judging their stances on issues, anyway.

Another reason you should go? The festival offers just about anything you’d want to see. Those interested in indie films can check out “23 Minutes to Sunrise,” a film starring Eric Roberts that focuses on four couples who meet at an out-of-the-way diner for a life-changing night. Psych majors will appreciate David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method,” which concentrates on the relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Those looking for a sneak peek should check out “Butter,” an indie comedy starring Jennifer Garner and Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) as a champion butter-carving couple. The film will not be wide-released until March. Foreign language students can “study” while watching films screened in languages like German (“3,” a Berlin-based screwball comedy) and French (“Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme,” a Canadian coming-of-age story).

And that’s just the feature films. SLIFF will also be featuring a number of documentaries, dealing with themes ranging from most serious ones to some plain old fun ones. “Brick by Chance and Fortune: A St. Louis Story” showcases St. Louis’s history in the brick industry, and the story is surprisingly complex. “Circus Dreams” stars kids in Circus Smirkus, the country’s only travelling youth circus. “You’ve Been Trumped” paints Donald Trump as the villain who tried to buy some of the last acres of Scottish wilderness to build golf courses, but it, of course, also focuses on the homeowners who attempted to fight back.

In addition to the full-length films, SLIFF showcases sets of short films tied together by a common theme. The sets are primarily short documentaries or animation features, but there are a few highlighting the works of the winners of the 2011 Stella Artois St. Louis Filmmakers’ Showcase. Animator Bill Plympton is the recipient of this year’s SLIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and he will appear on Friday, Nov. 11, at Webster University to receive the award and screen some of his animated shorts.

The festival runs from Thursday, Nov. 10, until Sunday, Nov. 20. Tickets are available online at SLIFF’s website and at the box offices of the Tivoli Theatre and the Plaza Frontencc Cinema. For more information, check out http://www.cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2011.