The latest sign that Harvard suffers from acute, untreated Yale-envy: in a move that mirrors Yale’s headline-making hire of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, our soulless, unoriginal counterpart in Cambridge has successfully wooed Blair’s successor Gordon Brown.

Like Blair, Brown played a crucial role in orchestrating the rise of New Labour, a coalition which moved Britain’s traditionally left-wing party closer to the political center. Labour governed the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2010, when Brown resigned his post as Prime Minister and leader of his party after a poor showing in this year’s general elections.

So who got the better ex-PM? Well, Blair probably wins on charisma, not to mention beauty. In addition, Blair himself writes in his recently published memoir that Brown has “zero emotional intelligence.” In other words, it sounds like Gordon will fit in just fine at Harvard.

We’re looking forward to this year as much as you are, and we have a great new staff to bring some fresh ideas to the Bullblog. Joe has (willingly) stepped down as editor-in-chief and I’m taking over from him. Michael Gocksch will be managing editor and Clayton Erwin, Alex Shaheen, and Justine Bunis will be the new regular team. Joe and Chloe will still be around to keep us in line and enlighten us with their witty commentary.

Last year, if you can believe it, was only our first year in the Blogosphere, but it was much better than we all imagined. This year we will only get better.  Stay tuned.

A year ago, I was sitting in the Herald Office with the then-soon-to-be Editor in Chief (and my longtime friend) Rachel Achs trying to figure out what I would do for the Herald ’09-’10. We floated a few ideas, but we kept coming back to a concept we’d kicked around the office many 4 am’s over cold Papa John’s: a Herald blog. We loved reading IvyGate, Bwog, and Under the Button and wanted a similar outlet for Yale news. We decided to found the Bullblog.

I recruited four (later, five) of smartest, wittiest, coolest people I knew to write. We launched September 10th to coincide with the year’s first issue of the Herald. We could never have predicted we would have gotten so far in just eight months. Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the site. We’ve been linked to by the Washington Post, Gawker, the New York Observer, Jezebel, IvyGate, the Huffington Post, Perez Hilton, and the New York Times. We’ve broken stories from the Grand Strategy admit list and next fall’s Dramat mainstage to James Franco’s impending Yale career and the Student-Teacher Sex Ban. We have become the world’s definitive source of Sam Tsui news and gossip. But most of all, we’ve stayed true to our original intention: we’ve trained a light-hearted and entertaining (but critical) eye on undergraduate life at Yale.

As proud as I am of the work we’ve done over the past year, we still have a long way to go. There are many corners of this University that have too long been “untouchable.” Eventually, we’ll touch them all. But by “we,” I mean the Bullblog—which, starting soon, will not include me, at least not every day.

But I’m leaving the Bullblog in very good—indeed, sublimely good—hands. Taking over for me as Editor-in-Chief is Miranda Lewis, this year’s official number one most frequent poster and one of Yale’s best journalists. Taking over for my great friend Chloe Searcy as Managing Editor is Michael Gocksch, the Bullblog’s best-looking editor. Chloe and I will stay on as Senior Editors, which will entail (we hope) very little work, while the brilliant Gabe Bloomfield and Gabrielle Karol will move on to bigger and better things in their well-deserved retirement from Bullblog editorship. Taking over for us four seniors are an amazing quartet of underclassmen, whose writing I am excited to read every day. These superstars are:

Justine Bunis ’13

Clayton Erwin ’12

Sarah Matthes ’13

Alex Shaheen ’13

They’ll get their due introduction in good time. For now, trust me when I say they’re top notch.

As for the next few months—we’ll probably post very, very occasionally. If you were disappointed by our volume over Winter Break, you haven’t seen us in summer mode. But we’ll be back in the fall stronger, meaner and funnier (and, website-wise, better designed!) than ever.

Thank you for a year of commenting, reading, and being good sports. It’s been the best.

Yours in love and gratitude,

Joe Satran

Editor in Chief of the Bullblog

PLACES

—Break into one of the “Big Three” societies! You don’t all have “keys.”

—Party at Manuscript or Elmo’s

—Have tea at the Lizzie

—Walk through the Grove St. Cemetery

—Explore the steam tunnels (bonus points for having sex in the steam tunnels!)

—Go to DKE (if you normally go to Modern Love)

—Go to Modern Love (if you normally go to DKE)

—Go to Hula Hanks

—Spend at least 24 hours in CT Hall (bonus points for sleeping under a desk! double bonus points for sleeping with a Certified CTHallGrem under a desk!)

—Eat Sally’s, Pepe’s & Modern…IN ONE DAY

PEOPLE

—Shake hands with Tony Blair

—Shake hands with Justin Zaremby

—Shake hands with Kurt Hugo Schneider

—Hear Sam Tsui and/or Allison Williams sing live

—Have a cigarette with Chase Olivarius-McAllister

—Party with Justine Kolata and Courtney Pannell

—Party with Paul Needham

SEX ACTS

—Go to a naked party finally. TBIYTB must be throwing another sometime soon.

—On that note: do the SML naked run. It goes by really quick! Honest!

—Also on that note: slide across the Women’s Table naked.

—Have sex on a roof

—Have sex in Toad’s

—Have sex in the Stacks

—Have sex with a Pundit

—Have sex with a Whiffenpoof

—Have sex with a Boner

—Have sex with a Q-Packer

—Have sex with a Rhodes scholar

—Have sex with a townie

—Have sex with a pre-frosh

NON-SEX ACTS

—Pee on the Woolsey toe

—Go to a Yale Planetarium show and/or the Peabody intoxicated

—See the Whiffs live! ’09-10 or ’10-11!

—Go to a crew race (the boathouse is really nice!)

—Go to the Yale Farm

—Take out a priceless manuscript at the Beinecke

—Sled down the Divinity School hill (Oh, right, it’s not snowy anymore… 2011, remember to do this!)

—Walk through the gate under Harkness and not worry about not graduating!

Anything we’re forgetting? Disagree with us? Put it in the comments!

Without further ado, here are your Whiffenpoofs 2010:

Stefan Weijola (Pitchpipe)

Nathan Calixto (Second tap: “best audition”)

Ben Wexler

Dan Specter

Kent Twardock

Stephen Feigenbaum

Robert Ramaswamy

Adam Begley

Matt Kroon

Andrew Maillet

Scott McCreary

Micah Hendler

Brennan Caldwell

Dan Turzca

BULLBLOG ANALYSIS: It looks like a pretty great list. The Bullblog knows almost all these people, and approves of all those it knows. The big story of the night was the surprise dominance of the Spizzwinks (?): of the 14 juniors tapped, SIX came from the group. They may not have been number one in our Xagat Survey, but they took Tap Night by storm.

Spot anyone you know?

You know Jeff Gordon, Courtney Pannell and Pete Croughan as YCC presidential candidates. You might have glanced over their platforms or at least watched their videos, but what are they really like? I got a chance to ask the presidential candidates a few questions that hopefully showcase a bit more about who they are as Yale students. Call us cruel, we made them answer all their questions in six words or less. If you’re still not sure who you want to vote for, this may be a useful guide…COURTNEY PANNELL

Why don’t you think anyone cares about the YCC?

Yalies are busy. YCC is self-important.

Where do you get your coffee?

Atticus is cheap. Starbucks is spill-proof.

If you were to build a tomb for the YCC, which current society tomb would it most resemble?

Manuscript — perfect for party or discussion.

If it meant we would win the Game for the next ten years, would you punch Drew Faust in the face?

No doubt. Cantabs are fun-sucking scumbags.

What time do you start drinking on Spring Fling?

Before last SF, a 19-day streak.

JEFF GORDON

Why don’t you think anyone cares about the YCC?

Too many EP&E majors.

What do you think is the most useless extracurricular activity?

Antigravity society. Gravity’s not going anywhere.

If it meant we would win the Game for the next ten years, would you punch Drew Faust in the face?

If Akhil Amar is my lawyer.

Where do you get your coffee?

Cut out middleman; pay Drew Ruben.

What’s the greatest thing New Haven has to offer?

Inventions: hamburger, frisbee, wenzel, cotton gin.

We can’t reveal who these people are for fear of being sued, killed, stuffed into a tomb, or worse–not getting tapped for the society of our dreams, but here’s a quick look into what Yale secret society tap is like. Old campus is abuzz with caped creatures and unknowing future inductees grasping for a connection to their blindfolded partners. “Do you like gin?” is the start of most conversations. “Too bad.  Drink this and follow me.” is a typical end.

Running for the presidential slot, we have Jeff Gordon with a great campaign poster, Pete Croughan with a simple but to-the-point slogan, and Courtney Pannell with a sleek website and enlisted supporters.

The vice presidential campaign is a little bit quieter so far, but Guillermo Peralta has a solid statement, Annie Shi has an eye-catching poster, and Justine Kolata (who might actually be running for JCC, but I’m not sure if I should trust her or Cross Campus) has this…

Because Courtney is the YDN’s multimedia editor, we’ve heard the News won’t able to make endorsements this year. The Bullblog won’t be either (kingmaking is not our thing), but we will be covering every single detail of YCC elections in coming weeks… get ready.