Category: General

Over the last few years, I’ve grown a bit obsessive about DC and Marvel Comic book superheroes. It’s a real shame that it is dying medium. You may be saying “what about all the comic book movies coming out?” Well when was the last time you actually read or seen a comic book? Probably a very long time. It’s just the heroes are popular, but comic books themselves are not. It’s unfortunate though, as the writing, the art, and even the paper are better than ever. Why are they not popular? It’s probably due to the fact that comic shops are becoming less frequent and that the stigma of being child’s play still hangs over them. Not only this, but the notorious continuity that only geeks (like me) follow. These factors make comics totally inaccessible to readers.

This lack of demand, though, leads to some good bargains for the consumer though. To attract readers, comics are coming out in cheap limited additions. For example, one issue of Batman and Superman cost just 10 cents. Marvel released a 9 cent addition of Fantastic Four and a Daredevil issue for 25 cents. Plus on their websites, they are offering free sample pages on the books, and even whole issues.

And for the big news. Go to a participating comic book store Saturday, May 3 (the day after X-2 comes out) and you can receive a free comic book. Go to http://www.freecomicbookday.com to find out what you can get for free and to find a store near you.

More links
http://www.dccomics.com/
http://www.marvel.com/-free issues of ultimate xmen online, plus a sneak peek of the movie

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Please note: I think I’m forgetting some stuff that happened, but I think I can add more stuff later.

Thursday (April 24)– RHA presents a boat dance, a semi-formal occasion for students to dance and have fun. Overall, I had more fun than I thought I would, but as always I am plagued by bad timing as I went on the earlier bus and left earlier than most of my friends. That left me out of a lot of pictures and festivities too. Ah well, I guess that’s because I was without my main crew. I got home at like 12 AM and then stayed up that night doing English homework and complaining about my sore feet. It reminded me of one reason why I don’t usually have fun at these functions.
Not this time though. I guess I just became less self-conscious and just let things flow, as opposed to every other time. Or maybe I felt better, because I knew more people or felt like socializing more. My parents may think college has turned into a person they don’t like, but honestly I think I’m a better person now. I’m nicer, friendlier, and I feel better about myself.
Question-Why were girls dancing with each other when there were guys just standing right next to them? If you know me, you know I like to question things that just seem rather odd to me, and this is one of them. I mean this isn’t junior high; it’s college. We’re not suppose to be afraid of the opposite sex.
Friday (April 25)-Happy birthday to my floormate Jessica, who turned 19.
MCBusa’s ice cream social. Had a scavenger hunt. My team won and we got cool t-shirts and candy. There was also ice cream, but that’s why they call it an ice cream social. I also got to know some cool people in my club, but I wish more people went, as we had ice cream for 30 in a room of ten.
Saturday (April 26)-Looking forward to this one for a while. It was the night of Reggae by the Pool, a party thrown at my frat. Great band called Pacific Vibrations played and there were plenty of people. Loads of fun, up until the cops broke it up. Bummer. Spent remainder of the night talking to friends at Mandarin House and in the hallway. Wenjie wondered why we didn’t do that more often. She’s right about that, but incorrectly blamed it on Dave, who left us for a frat. No way. There’s really no one to blame, but ourselves and our busy schedules.
A girl from UCLA came over to the floor the other day and made a druken mess of herself, but the worst part was I was sort of attracted to her drukenness, That is so evil of me to think that.

Revelation-I write this for a very small audience. Namely myself. Should I tell more people about it? Thanks for those who used to come, now I need them back.
Revelation-This journal isn’t funny any more. Well hey, who said it had to be?

Cool Program-Windows Media Fun Pack-Microsoft just released a few add-ons to Windows Media Player. One is some cool new visualizations. The other is quite useful for Livejournal users, a blogging plugin. It will allow the detect music buttons on livejournal to detect the music from Windows Media Player (the button previously worked with Winamp and Musicmatch only).

From ESPN.com, the results of the NFL Draft for California

KYLE BOLLER QB-Round 1, Pick(overall) 19(19), team Baltimore
NNAMDI ASOMUGHA CB- 1 31(31) Oakland
SCOTT TERCERO OG- 6 11(184) St. Louis
TULLY BANTA-CAIN DE- 7 25(239) New England

So Boller did go in the first round, but not in the top 10. Asomucha was a surprise, but hey with the extra draft picks Oakland got from Tampa Bay, they could get anyone they want.

Stupid Fact-Worried about sharks in the ocean? You might want to be more worried about sitting under a coconut tree. Coconuts kill 150 people a year, far more than sharks.

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No Dick Cheney is not dead, but this was on CNN’s website. Appartently news companies make obituaries for famous people who could “bite the bullet” at any moment. Well somebody happened to have found this one along with Fidel Castro’s, Nelson Mandela’s, and more. Check out this page to see what this is all about.

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It’s rather odd that I write this journal entry, because usually something has happened so that I want to write an entry. But nothing has happened and now I want to write an entry. Why? Because something seems amiss on this floor. The floor just doesn’t seem united as we all go to dinnner on our times, without any big rallys for food or anything of that sort. Perhaps there are, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of my weird schedule that doesn’t allow me back to the dorm ’til 6 and not allowing me to spearhead any form of rally. Maybe they have them and I’m just not around to join. Or maybe I’m just isolated as I bomard myself with constant reading and studying and surfing the web.

Maybe a lack of partying has kept the floor quiet. It’s also kind of odd how nobody’s getting seriously intoxicated nor are there parties on the second floor to get people intoxicated. It’s a good thing really as there is no destruction of property. I mean I doubt any of us can forget the times the bathroom has been trashed, when the tables in the lounge got stacked, or when that guy vomited on the couch, but it’s not exciting either. At least all the bad stuff on the floor bonded us in disgust. Like the time that guy puked all over the couch and carpet in the lounge. We didn’t stop talking about that for a while and we still keep looking out for more.

Of course, we’ve been close to having things happen, but they just fizzle out. A bunch of us on the floor were looking forward to showing a high school kid the ropes with a stay over program, where they live in one of the rooms for a day. We all had out own ideas for what to do with him or her, from where to live to where some important buildings are and such. Unfortunately, those plans evaporated, as nobody appeared to claim the list where we all put our names. I know I was disappointed, as I came here because of the stay over program and wanted to do the same for another kid. Funny story, though. Vicki had brought a tour group over to the dorm and someone asked to see one of the convereted triples (rooms that used to be doubles). She then brought them to our room, where they happened to see a huge mess and a Playboy on Fred’s desk. The mothers must have been cringing at the idea that their sons would live in a room like this.

More than likely it might just be the fact that we’re going back to small groups. I mean we all have our own clubs and schedules to take care of. In an effort to do that, we just go into our own little groups who meet our needs and share our interests. I don’t know, maybe it was this way in the fall semester too, just less noticable.

I still think this is the coolest floor on Ida Sproul, though. Maybe we’re just in a rut or I’m just thinking too hard about this. Or maybe, just maybe, I need to stop blogging and start doing something.

Odd news-Dog Survives Car Crash, Gunshot, Freezer-You just have to read this to believe it

In the mood for a good party this weekend? Come down to the Alpha Delta Phi house on Saturday for Reggae by The Pool. It’s at the only frat with a pool on campus. There will be refreshments and a live reggae band. The fun will begin at 2 P.M. and the band will play at 8 P.M. You’ll have a great time there. We’re located at 2422 Prospect.

To review:
Reggae by the Pool!
WHERE: Alpha Delta Phi, 2422 Prospect Avenue
WHEN: This Saturday, April 26th starting at 2 P.M.
WHO: Everyone is invited!

Come to this address:
2422 Prospect Avenue

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All you people who go to Berkeley can join the community on livejournal and post news and stories to other UC Berkeley students. With a community of 96 members, it could be better than Cal Stuff.

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UC Berkeley scientists were working on an experiment for U.S. Department of Agriculture to create new larger, firmer grapes for the wine industry. Scientists at the Genetics and Plant biology labs had modified the grapes to make them produce more growth hormone. They succeeded and decided to test these crops on two unsuspecting Undergraduate Research Assistants. The two volunteered to taste these new grapes and felt no ill effects. After a few days though, both noticed their skin becoming progressively more purple and began growing lumps on their bodies. Eventually, the two realized they were becoming like the grapes they had eaten and decided to take revenge on the scientists who deformed them. Fearing that others would experience the same fate, they wish to put an end to all genetic engineering, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. While they may have set out with the best of intentions, the grape DNA lowered their IQs considerably, but gave them regenerative properties that make them unable to feel pain. These abilites make them considerably dangerous and should be approached with extreme caution.

(Disclaimer: This story was completely false and has no barring on reality what so ever. If UC Berkeley really was genetically engineering grape people, I’m as shocked as you are.)

It’s a known fact that computers go obsolete quite quickly. There are those who want to get a new one, but chances are the old one is in semi-working condition. What to do with it? Here are some web resources that list some good ideas

Twisted List: Five Things to Do with an Old Computer-Best ideas are donating it and using it to help on those projects to help SETI and Grid.org
Thirfty Audio Ideas for Tight Budgets-very good idea to turn your old computer into a media hub
Evolution Robotics-It’s a kit that you can use to convert your laptop into a robot, but not a good idea for a very old laptop. It’s probably something to consider after you replace your current laptop.

Hey, it’s better than throwing it off a cliff!

Featured website-The dullest blog in the world-Believe it or not, this guy might have a duller journal than mine, as he features when he ties his shoes and when he turns around. Riveting reading.

Brother James gave me a fighting fish on Monday as a pet, claiming I was a fighter. Big mistake. I went off the instructions he had given me, but they turned out to be faulty for betta fish, as they said I could use tap water. I did not realize the tap water in the sink had too much chlorine, though, and it weakened my fish severely. Niki tried to warn me, but I did not listen to her. Eventually, I tried to transport it to another body of distilled water, but unfortunately it just passed away. Seungkwon was helping me with the transport, and maybe he transported it too hard, because we had noticed a severed neck with blood. We then pronounced it dead on the spot and I gave it a burial at sea (okay so I flushed it). I guess I can learn a major lesson in responsibility from all this. Poor fish. I hardly knew how to take care of ye. May you find your way to the big fish bowl in heaven

Major Regrets:
1. That I did not research the fish in depth before hand.
2. That I did not name my fish.
3. That I did not take a picture of my fish.
4. That I did not get show it off to the floor.

R.I.P.

And for all of you laughing at me for losing a fish in two days, show me a little sympathy please.

Funny quote: “I thought he was saying grape seed”- Christina, after hearing Nirvana’s Rape Me for the first time.