Archive for 2009
Craigslist: Missed Connections at Yale
Another missed connection! What a hallowed weekend for romance!
Transmissions from Automated Computers: Best of the Spambots
First move as acting EIC: approve all porn ad comments.
Craigslist: Missed Connections at Toad’s
Missed connections wants to make love in this club.
Bullblog regime change
For the next few days, the glamorous Chloe Searcy will be editing in my stead.
Sam Tsui update: It’s getting personal
Do you know the student who got famous on youtube morphing the MJ numbers? Saw it on tv news. Hope all’s well, [redacted]. p.s. if you don’t go to Yale this note must make no sense
Harvard budget cuts reduce Urban Studies to just watching “The Wire”
I once heard of someone at Columbia writing his senior thesis on “The Wire,” and I wasn’t surprised—shit is rich.
Drink of the week: Halloween edition
There are so many directions to go here. And I want to go in all of them.
Bullblog bathroom guide part three: Science Hill
Science Hill is likely far from where you live, so there’s a good chance you might have to use the bathroom at some point if you spend time there.
Music Reviews
Flight of the Conchords
I Told You I Was Freaky
The concept of musical comedy implies some rather high expectations. Most people are neither very funny nor particularly able to write a song others would consider listenable, so to combine both skills into one great creative feat is pretty impressive. Best case scenario: Genuinely amusing lyrics are [...]
A critique of ‘writing across the curriculum’
Teaching students to write at Yale demands that they first learn to read.
A few days ago, I tried to begin this essay with an informational buildup that provided real rhetorical kairos—occasion, constraint on my prose. That introduction had all of old Treebeard’s shambling towards Mordor, but none of his charming, quaking voice. I guess I’m [...]
Movie Reviews 10/30/09
Coco before Chanel
Anne Fontaine
Co-written and directed by Anne Fontaine, Coco Before Chanel, which features Audrey Tautou as the eponymous and revolutionary fashion designer, is a picturesque guide through Chanel’s formative years. The biopic brings a narrative drive to Chanel’s early life, which is as unfamiliar to the general public as her designs are iconic. Chanel’s [...]
Yale’s performance poets raise their voices
Growing up in Albuquerque, NM, I was immersed in slam poetry and spoken word without ever really noticing it. Most area high schools had teams, and the competition was fierce. The city government sponsored a program for aspiring poets than tended toward spoken word and performance-based poetry, and I sat in on a few of [...]
Homecourt advantage: the ITA Northeast Regionals
Will Horowitz examines the women’s tennis team’s success at the ITA Tournament.
From Fri., Oct. 23 to Tues., Oct. 27, the Yale Women’s Varsity Tennis Team competed in the Wilson/ITA Division I Women’s Northeast Regional Indoor Championship held at Yale’s Cullman-Heyman Indoor Tennis Center—one of the premier tournaments of the year featuring every Division I school [...]
A blob theory of music: an academic’s approach
Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of Weezer, recently shocked his fans—and the rest of the bemused music world, still chuckling after learning Cuomo planned to call the band’s new record Raditude (due Tues., Nov. 3)—by announcing that a new song would feature a rap verse from Lil’ Wayne. What Cuomo, who even at 39 still looks [...]
Not like that other Neverland: Peter Pan at Yale
Swirling Swordfights, Indian tribes, Victorian dresses, effortless flights of fancy and…flight, fairies like wind chimes, and a Lord Byron-esque pirate captain with a hook for an arm—the stuff of children’s dreams. No one knows childhood better than Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up.
And if you’ve ever looked out a window in [...]
Wrestling team lacks athletes, but not experience
The club wrestling team meets for a practice in their usual studio location on the fifth floor of the gym. It’s a small group. Of the seven regular members, five are present today. The floor of the room is covered in traditional blue wrestling mats, well-scuffed from hours of mock matches.
These guys mean business. They [...]
IM Roundups
Calhoun
First it was Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Then it was Australia, Africa, and South America. Finally, with the last grains of sand quickly flowing through the hourglass, chiffon was guessed, and victory was at hand.
Calhoun was put through the gauntlet, and the mighty Houn proved triumphant. In these dreary days of meteorological [...]
Solving the case of the unwanted Peabody visitors
Months had passed since I had seen my dear friend Holmes. After the curious case of A Scandal in Bohemia, Holmes and I drifted apart, I devoting time to my marriage and civil practice, and he to his solitary genius. Yet one night—the first of November, 2009 as I recall—I felt a sudden and incomprehensible [...]
True Life: I’m a Pierson Intramural Secretary
If you ask an outsider, Pierson College has a problem.
The P.I.M.P.s (Pierson Intra-Mural Players), the second most decorated in the Tyng Cup era, has been stuck in last place for over a year now, and finished in twelfth at the end of the 2008-2009 season. Though this would send many IM secretaries into hysterics, Justin [...]
Turning tricks (not like that) in New Haven
Jeff Horton looks the part of a magician. Dressed in a tuxedo and purple bow tie, Horton has gray hair that makes him seem slightly older than his 40 some-odd years. Standing at around six-foot-three, he towered over the audience at his show on Tues., Oct. 27. His venue, after all, was the New Haven [...]
Make the most of Yale by leaving it (for a while)
We all know how incredibly lucky we are to be here. The quality of Yale’s facilities, classes, opportunities, and (most) students make it one of the best universities in the world. Why is it, therefore, that everyone I’ve talked to who has left to go abroad says that it’s one of the best decisions [...]
Students must act on environmental values
A Thursday G-chat:
Bro 1: Bro what spot we hittin’ tonight? Hula Hanks or Alchemy?
Bro 2: No clue man. I’m gettin’ my drink on in Bass tho—got some pops vod chillin in my Nalgene up in here.
Bro 1: Sick! Let’s do Hanks. Not only are beers only like two bones, but they also have organic pretzels, [...]
The controversy that New Haven just can’t leave behind
In a classic case of history repeating itself, a New Haven firefighter is suing the city for alleged discrimination. An African-American firefighter has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of New Haven, claiming that the city’s 2003 promotional exam discriminated unfairly against African-Americans. The city initially tossed the firefighter exam, fearing precisely the sort [...]
Inside the Mind of: Caroline Murphy, MC ’10, Women’s Hockey Captain
The Herald sat down with Yale Women’s Hockey captain Caroline Murphy, MC ’10:
Favorite movies: The Princess Bride, Hook, Miracle
Favorite food: Ben and Jerry’s or Breyer’s mint chocolate ice cream
Favorite Place to Hang out at Yale: Ingalls Rink and the Yale Farm
Favorite Yale Course: Issues in Bioethics
Major: History of Science, History of Medicine
Yale Herald: What [...]
Reassessing the value of hard-core bitchin’
FYI: Important life development, my bookshelf looks awesome. You know the book that makes your collection—the one you didn’t even know you needed until you find it, place it, and realize that suddenly you’re going around saying you have a collection? I found that book.
Only problem is—I can’t bring myself to read it. I’m paranoid [...]
The trials of being an international student at Yale
As the twenty-first century progresses and the world gets ever-so-smaller, Yale University hopes to play a larger and larger role in shaping and producing the next generation of global leaders. Yale’s plans for international expansion are apparent: During President Levin’s tenure, international enrollment in Yale College has doubled. International students now comprise around 10 [...]
footnotes: a history of incantations
“Salagadoola mechicka boola,” sings a frumpy fairy as she transforms Cinderella from boho-chic into belle-of-the-ball. “Put ‘em together and what have you got?” Sing it with me now: Bippity-boppity-boo!
Salagadoola means mechicka boola? Well, thanks for the linguistics lesson, fairy godmother! Indeed, this incantation is no more than the nonsensical brainchild of some mid-twentieth-century songwriters. But [...]
New Haven tries to close the education gap
The state of Connecticut is known for many things—beautiful state parks, good ocean views, flavorful food, and one of the greatest universities in the world. Unfortunately, Connecticut is also known for having the largest education gap in the country.
With the brunt of this gap borne by cities like New Haven, the New Haven public schools [...]
Flash mobs in the spotlight—never for long
On the last Friday of every month, a group of fully costumed bicyclists takes to the streets of New Haven in protest. October’s ride, part of the national Critical Mass movement advocating for better city rules for bicyclists, is the largest one in New Haven, partly because of its proximity to Halloween. The ride is [...]
YDN in six words or less: 10-30-09
A better university: no Halloween police
Brain food for thought
How to power your brain for late night studying and paper-writing: the go-to guide for college boys and girls
Crush of the Week: Ilana Harris-Babou
Ilana has us regressing to middle-school style giddy giggling love. In honor of our sixth grade English class days, we present Ilana: an acrostic.
I lana’s favorite thing to do instead of her homework is to take naps.
L ately, she’s been thinking a lot about seasonal affective disorder. SAD.
A nytime she’s craving junk food, she goes [...]
Bullblog Blacklist: G-Heav brought back the credit card minimum
G-Heav brought back the credit card minimum. Let’s all revolt!
NYTimes: Yale vs. Dongguk
Yale spokesman defends Levin’s honor, light, and truth.
How to keep textbook spending under control
YCC has recently announced its intentions to lobby for reforms so that students can save on textbook and material costs. Here are some suggestions that I hope they’ll include in the e-mail they send out to the entire faculty.
YDN in six words or less: 10-29-09
Getting fired? Raided? Have a kiss.
Toads admits it’s a scary, scary place
If Toad’s is scary and you know it go to DKE!
Spotted: Beinecke on the Big Screen
Something’s fishy. What’s going on here?
Emma Allen feels our pain…
Why no love, Emma?
Bullblog tip-off: Collasuyo presented by Wheel and Former AePi
The Wheel is presenting Max (Macks??) Barbakow’s (SM ‘11, Former AePi ‘10-’11) film Collasuyo this evening at 8pm in LC317. “Cake will be served”
+ Macks Barbakow
=, formerly
Union League is Extraordinary
Extraordinary is the equivalent of ****, now held by only six restaurants. I think it’s time I follow Chloe’s advice and get a snack at the bar.
Bullblog tip-off: John Adams Tanner Lectures
There are two lectures, one today and one tomorrow, both at 4:30 at the Whitney Auditorium.
Bullblog Tip-Off: The Critic at St. A’s
At 8:30, the Critic, a new magazine on contemporary literary criticism, will be having an informational session. It will be a classy event.
YDN in six words or less: 10-28-09
Can’t afford professors, but always PR!
On Hulu Now: Strangers With Candy
Oh, it’s not what you think, I mean, it’s not like snitching on a real person or anything. She’s…
Brothers (and friends) weigh housing choices
Last week, the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) discovered that brothers had been living illegally in their fraternity house for 13 years. The source of the issue dates back to 1996, when the Yale SAE chapter applied for a special permit to make the original one-family residence a communal rooming house, but never obtained [...]
Will it ever not creep me out when there’s a facebook redesign?
Facebook already dictates the terms of social engagement—does it have to dictate the engagements themselves as well?
Daily Beast: Ivy League Admissions Essays
Daily Beast and I both do free, online college counseling!
Yale halloween costumes I’d really like to see this year
your go-to source for costumes that will please me.
Download this: Camus would be proud
With a voice sung through murky grit, warpaint will break your heart as if you’d loved a shadow your whole life.
YDN in six words or less: 10-27-09
Financial aid, Mory’s cups live on.
Halloween 2009: the Week in Movies
Scream at some screenings!
From the YDN comments: a reference to the Bullblog
The Bullblog = The Herald, but The Herald doesn’t = The bullblog??
On Hulu Now: The Original Addams Family
The original Addams Family from 1964 is On Hulu Now
Bullblog tip-off: Cheap hotel rooms at the Duncan!
The Hotel Duncan is where the real hauntings will happen this year.
Lecture videotapes to fill hours of free time!
Begone, boredom! A new batch of courses just went up on the Yale Open Courses site; all are from last school year.
Bullblog tip-off: James Franco master’s tea
James Franco just loves the Ivy League. He’ll be here for a Berkeley College Master’s Tea—held in LC 102—next Thursday, November 5th, at 4 p.m..
Halloween 2009: Costumes
Ghoulish, ghostly, garish guide to finding Halloween costumes for all four nights of Halloween. COLLEGE.
YDN in six words or less: 10-26-09
Have no fear, YCC is here!