Saturday, May 04, 2002 :::
Who says Republicans can't party? Last night, the BCR (I keep wanting to say "VCR") party was surprisingly liberal-- in fun, that is. Certain bloggers were there, serving the booze and having a blast. Clam served me up something like a quadruple shot of J.D., and the Mike's Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice flowed like fevered dissent at a SJP rally. At some point, the Republicans decided to vent some of their frustrations by beating a pinata and chanting "Gallagher! Gallagher!". Also, someone ate all the quesadillas.
Overall, a great night. Thanks to all who made it happen.
::: posted by Andrewski at 12:37 PM
Friday, May 03, 2002 :::
Hot off the presses...
Sigh... while it's important that the University respect the rights to free speech and protest, it's also important that students on this campus get it through their thick skulls that disrupting classes is not cool. It's cute and all that they care, but when they start acting like stubborn babies, they just make their cause look bad. They seriously do not give a shit about the rights of other students, namely, the right to go into a class and hear what the professor says (or take a midterm exam) without being interrupted by students acting like nuts. This is not your father's Berkeley.
I totally dug Shoaib Kamil's letter to the editor, mostly because it exposes the cowardice of Steve Sexton and the power of a higher-up position in the Daily Cal. While it's understandable that he'd be freaked out by anyone from the Muslim Student Association who wanted to come "talk to him" (remember this, fellas?), Steve knows that the Cal can't reach any sort of true legitimacy as long as he's the one in charge, and I'm glad Kamil was willing to call him on it. Oh, and just ignore Hoku's letter. He's talking again, that's all.
Now, regarding the big PayPal ad on page 4... For shame! "Think kick-ass stock options in a cool company are worth dropping out of college? We are hiring right now!". Seriously, that's pretty offensive. Calling on college students to drop out so they can chase an internet pipe dream? And when the tech bubble bursts again, PayPal, what compassion will you have for these ex-students you're going to downsize? Good luck hunting for a job without a degree. This is scuzzy, big time. I can't think of a worse way to encourage interest in your company. Get a new ad rep, and stop telling kids to drop out.
Lastly, we welcome three new blogs: Political Cullitonholic (say it three times fast), Mind Spew (He may not talk, but he does type), and In The Meantime (no relation to that Spacehog song, as far as I know).
::: posted by Andrewski at 1:01 PM
More Berkeley Blogs: Go check out Mike's Potato Chucker. Watch for flying spuds.
::: posted by Andrewski at 10:45 AM
Thursday, May 02, 2002 :::
One last question, Amit... what kind of cake do you want for your coming-out party?
::: posted by Andrewski at 8:22 PM
Wow... Nolo Free has decided to shed his pseudonym and come out of the closet as Amit Runchal, former Daily Cal writer. He says that this new wave of Berkeley blogs is the start of something pretty damn cool. In Amit's words:
"I felt like the Daily Cal could be a great campus newspaper but it wasn't, and the criticism it was receiving tended to be subpar, i.e. Shady Cal and other variants. So I was surprised to find that someone else felt the same way. So I started a blog of my own. It was easy to do, and became surprisingly fun and addictive. Then others started springing up, with varying degrees of success, and I think, like CalStuff, that this could be the start of something interesting."
I for one am proud to be a new member of this resurgence of interest in Berkeley news. Just because we're not in print and placed in bins doesn't mean we don't have something valuable to add to our community. Bravo to Amit for braving to shed his pseudonym.
::: posted by Andrewski at 8:21 PM
Bows, arrows, and gallows in our schools! An 11 year old girl was suspended in Pennsylvania for doodling her teacher hanging from gallows with arrows sticking out of her back, and the school has regarded this as a "terrorist threat". Wow, it makes me glad my German teacher never discovered the drawings I did of her, all Medusa-like, getting decapitated like the Gorgon she was.
I disagree with Nolo... today's Daily Cal is on the dull side. The only thing of interest is this editorial, a first from longtime sci-tech and news reporter Westyn Branch-Elliman. It's nice to see new faces on the Opinion page. Anyways, the article pretty much captures the essence of Berkeley protests these days. During the now-infamous seize of Wheeler, when the protesters were screaming "Hey hey! Ho ho! This occupation's got to go!", they started swaying back and forth and clapping their hands. The looks of anger on their faces dissapeared, and as they fell into the rythym, one might think they were jamming along at a concert.
Except for occasional lapses into spontaneous soul-singing, the protests on campus mostly seem to be about getting angry for angry's sake. Today's protest, however, was nice and lax, a more passive protest. A friendlier protest, if you will. I really got a kick out of the four or five people with goofy signs that said things like "I hate Yankees" and "I love the Hulk" and "Did anyone do their Chem 3A homework?".
::: posted by Andrewski at 2:28 PM
If you can make it to South Hall today at 4pm, my Shakespeare class is putting on a performance of Twelfth Night. It's free, and should be a great time. I play the crucial role of "First Officer", a character so important that he doesn't even have a name. So come by, enjoy. And laugh, dammit: It's a comedy.
::: posted by Andrewski at 12:30 PM
Wednesday, May 01, 2002 :::
Shocker: Someone's upset about something in Berkeley again. This time it's a couple of Russian Jews, as Praglib reports. This month's Squelch, crammed full of humorous goodness, pokes fun at the Abercrombie and Fitch controversy by showing us other racially insensitive T-shirt ideas. One of them is for the Auschwitz Pizza Camp, and has a cartoon of a little Hasidic Jew on a slice of pizza (to be pushed into an oven, apparently). Is it horribly offensive? Well, yeah, but that's the idea. The point is that ALL the T-shirts on that page were terrible and offensive, and it's not like Jews were being singled out. Also, Squelch is a humor magazine. If you live your daily life by it, you need to get your head checked. Personally, I was more taken aback by the child porn photoshopping job, but whatever. To each their own, I guess.
I do understand that there is serious reason to be concerned. Anti-Semitic tensions in Berkeley are reaching the boiling point, as the pictures on Angry Clam's page prove. I used to think Berkeley was rebellious in a good way- heartily encouraging free speech, a marketplace of ideas, and the occasionally goofy bit of protesting, complete with catchy slogans I had previously only seen in Nike ads. Boy, how wrong I was... I'm afraid I'll be passing by a SJP rally or something, and someone's going to turn and point at me: "Hey, a Jew! Let's get 'em!". The sad irony of "A hate free zone", apparently, doesn't apply to everyone, all the time.
::: posted by Andrewski at 9:24 PM
Your charitable contribution for the day: Marc's blog is so far getting one unique hit a day. Checking out his site will make you feel better about changing the channel from those "Adopt a Starving Child" ads.
::: posted by Andrewski at 4:56 PM
Oh, what I wouldn't give to be an "expert on sexuality", even if it is within the Catholic Church. An interesting read, but still one that doesn't much clarify the issue. It still seems to me that outside of the Bay Area, if you're gay and religious, you're screwed. And that screwing gets you sent straight to Hell. Can't we just go back to papal authority? It made things so much easier.
This just in: Optimism is good! Is it me, or does a forty pound gain sound a little much? I know I'm certainly no waif, but sounds like Paul's been hitting the Fat Slice a little lately.
Holy shit, this is cool. I think we should apply this technology to Berkeley's homeless population, and use this untapped resource for the greater good. Whaddaya think? Drop me a line if you have any suggestions for how this technology can be used to help you!
As for the Wheeler 41... I'd be fine with throwing the book at them. I was there, in Wheeler, when they started disrupting my MCB class with their "2-4-6-8! Israel is a racist state!" and so forth. I have a slight conflict of interest, though... one of my fraternity brothers is one of the 41, so I hope he gets off scot free. Tomorrow should be interesting- I've got a Shakespeare performance of Twelfth Night outside of South Hall, and more likely than not we're going to have to compete with the revived SJP and their rallies.
::: posted by Andrewski at 4:49 PM
Thanks to Angry Clam for the HTML help, and the link on his site. He's promised "mad hits", and I would expect no less.
::: posted by Andrewski at 1:44 PM
Now, Berkeley, this is a real protest. Wheeler? Pfft. Paris? Now I'm interested.
::: posted by Andrewski at 1:34 PM
Tuesday, April 30, 2002 :::
Students for Justice in Palestine, while disbanded, continues to do Whatever The Fuck They Please. Keep an eye out for another Thursday rally on Sproul decrying how terrible it is that Israel is even allowed to exist. Thanks to Clam for the heads up.
::: posted by Andrewski at 8:00 PM
Steve, you're one to talk. The Daily Cal never gives a rat ass about what students think- they exist only to print ads and make nice resumes. It's sad that you honestly believe crap like this:
The Daily Cal will continue to listen to concerns from students and readers and work toward change where change is needed. We will continue to open our opinion page to opposing views and critics of our coverage.
You don't listen to concerns, even when those concerns come from your own writers. If you had listened to the people on your staff who enjoy journalism and actually believe that writing for a paper involves a great deal of integrity and honor, people might begin to respect the Daily Cal. You might also have avoided numerous fuck-ups, such as killing Dwight and later resurrecting him.
Currently, imho, the only decent publications on campus are Squelch and Hardboiled, and the only one that doesn't have an agenda (except to entertain) is Squelch. Die, Daily Cal pig-dogs. I fart in your general direction.
Enough hate-spewing. If you want a larf, check out this bit of anti-pot vehemency. I'd offer a response, but I need to go get some munchies... heheh. What were we talking about again?
::: posted by Andrewski at 7:55 PM
Regarding the Jonny Moseley deal... come on, people, what do you want? If they picked a Democrat, the Republicans throw up their arms. If they pick a Republican, it's the Democrats who throw a fit. At least with Moseley, everyone gets equally pissed off. Not every commencement speaker can be Kurt Vonnegut or Noam Chomsky. As an Albatross Perch exclusive, I've secured a copy of the "rejects" list fof commencement speakers:
-Tony Hawk
-Dave Miarra
-Gary Coleman
-Ginger Spice
-Venus and Serena
-Johnny Knoxville
-The Hamburglar
-Bumblebee Guy
Well, there you have it. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, people.
::: posted by Andrewski at 6:42 PM
Monday, April 29, 2002 :::
Acacia went ahead with their Night of the Nile bid party last week, and from what I hear, it was pretty homely. I mean, sure, they had the decorations and everything in place, but did they really think people come to frat parties anything other than drinking, dancing, and the possibility of getting laid? If the Powers That Be decide to go ahead with this moratorium and extend it to next year, we can look forward to some quieter Thursday nights and a general feeling of loathing for the idiot who tripped and got a concussion on the way back to her sorority. Aren't we past this whole Prohibition thing?
A hearty huzzah for Little Ritchie for sticking it to those disruptive SJP fucks. I'm usually pretty liberal, but when it comes to seizing Wheeler like it's the frickin' Temple Mount, I think these fools (especially Snehal) need to learn that disrupting classes and midterms is just as unacceptable a means of protest as suicide bombing is for a revolution. Oops, did I say that aloud?
::: posted by Andrewski at 10:30 PM
Hello, and welcome to the brand new Albatross Perch, one of a series of Blogs dedicated to keeping abreast of Berkeley news. Inspiration for this blog came from CalStuff, CalAnon, and the Angry Clam, three of the most intelligent and insightful news sources that this campus has. I have a general loathing for the Daily Craptacular because I find ineptitude and lack of journalistic integrities to be major Turn Offs. As it stands now, the Daily Cal has a bit of a monopoly on campus news, and that's a crying shame. What I and the other bloggers intend to do is provide a viable alternative- a network that circumvents the Daily Cal entirely. I should know how much the Daily Cal bites... I worked for them.
Now, down to business. As I develop this blog I hope to be in constant contact with my reader base, so I encourage y'all to AIM IM me or Email me with your thoughts or comments. I'll share on the site anything that raises the hair on the back of my neck. Also, if you've got a scoop, a skinny, or a lead, so much the better.
::: posted by Andrewski at 2:34 PM
