History of College Humor On View at Wisconsin
Posted on August 27, 2008
Under Media, News, Words, words, words | By Ari Finkelstein
The University of Wisconsin, that crucible of humor that gave America The Onion back in 1988, has been given a gift in kind—the largest collection of humor magazines perhaps ever assembled. According to the AP, the collector and former editor of the Gargoyle (UMichigan’s humor mag), John Dobbertin Jr., donated the collection, which will be on display through Sept. 15 at the UW-Madison student union.
Dobbertin’s cache includes more than 1,000 humor magazines stretching back to the late 1800s. About 200 covers have been selected and digitally reproduced for the exhibition. According to the article, the first college humor magazine came from Princeton University in 1834, while the well-known Harvard Lampoon started in 1876. While there were once hundreds of such magazines, current publication has fallen to just over a dozen, which makes this collection even more valuable. According to Dobbertin, students producing the magazines knew how to be funny, but weren’t so good at selling ads. Read more
Carnegie Mellon Student Sells iPhone App, Justifies Nerdiness
Posted on August 27, 2008
Under Techno-file | By Zack Barangan
Jeffrey Grossman, a student at Carnegie Mellon University just cashed in. Flixster, the movie based social media network, has acquired Grossman’s iPhone app (appropriately named Movies.app) for an undisclosed amount. Suffice to say, the kid probably made bank. It’s the first known acquisition of an iPhone app.
And if that wasn’t a sweet enough deal, Flixster has hired Grossman as a consultant while he is still in school. The kid’s stock just keeps on rising.
The program, which has been downloaded 250,000 times so far, allows users to look up show times, watch trailers, and get maps to nearby theaters. Flixster has updated Movies.app to give users access to their database of over 70,000 movies for reference purposes. There are also plans to allow users to integrate their Flixster accounts.
(Source: TechCrunch)
Harvard Reviews its Police Force
Posted on August 27, 2008
Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Jessica Gross
Not only has Harvard regained its first-place throne, but the administration also is responding admirably to complaints of police bias. Black students and professors have complained that the university-run (and mostly white) police force has a habit of profiling based on race. Instead of covering up the complaints, Harvard’s president, Drew Gilpin Faust, is launching an investigation.
This isn’t just a for-show investigation, either. According to the Boston Globe, Faust has created a six-person committee to do the job. They’ll look at Harvard’s police training and recruitment with the goal of eliminating racial bias. Props to Faust for doing the nitty-gritty work — it’s not all about U.S. News fame.
Can Obama Weather the Weatherman Storm?
Posted on August 27, 2008
Under News, Politics | By Ester Bloom
Bill Ayers is a once-violent guy who is now so sedate he’s a teacher at the University of Illinois-Chicago, a shlub who long ago traded bombs for blogs. But to the GOP, he represents Violent Anarchism, and, because he talked to Barack Obama back in the day, so does the Dems’ nominee for President.
The U of Ill. recently released the paper trail for study:
A partial examination of the documents did not reveal anything startling about the link between Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, and Ayers. … Obama said: “This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood. . . . He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.”
College students, take this as a warning: that radical campus activist with the long eye-lashes and acoustic guitar might seem dreamy now, but before you start appearing in pictures with him at protests, consider the damage he could do to your ambitions.
(Source: the Chicago Tribune)
Surf’s Up, Eh?
Posted on August 27, 2008
Under News, Weird. Wacky. Wild. | By Zack Barangan
Hockey, plaid shirts, and….surfing? No, seriously. Apparently Canadians are nuts about surfing. So deep is our Great White Neighbor’s love for surfing that North Island College in Vancouver, B.C. is readying a two-year surf studies program, the first of its kind in North America.
The program’s creator, Barbie Mayor, one of Canada’s top surfing judges, says the program will be designed to prepare students to teach lessons and manage surf shops, as well as other surfing-based job opportunities. The market for surfing has never been so ripe, with the surf biz accounting for a cool $300 mill in Canada during 2007.
But would-be slackers, beware–officials say that the program will be academically challenging. Traditional business courses, surfboard designing, and in-water training are all part of the curriculum. As well as hanging out at the beach. So uh, y’know be prepared to STUDY HARD.
This is still seriously blowing my mind, until today I didn’t know Canadians knew what surfing was, aside from something Swayze taught Keanu Reeves how to do in Point Break.
(Source: The National Post)
The Daily Cal Downfall?
Posted on August 26, 2008
Under The Daily Prereq | By Max Baumgarten
Without getting too sentimental (or too bitter, which is possible), I just want to point out a rather disheartening development. UC Berkeley’s award-winning independent student-newspaper The Daily Californian (a paper which I worked for during my college years) has been hit with falling advertising revenue and will no longer be publishing a Wednesday print edition and will cut back the staff size in addition to their compensation.
No one should be shocked to hear that college print media is having trouble keeping up with their online counterparts, look what has happened to the big guns at the LA Times or the Chicago Tribune as of late. In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t be at this gig if it weren’t for my college journalism experience, it seems to me that the Daily Cal cutbacks is more than just your typical “print versus new media” saga.
Fox Streams New Shows for the College Crowd
Posted on August 26, 2008
Under News | By Zack Barangan
In an effort to engage the college audiences, Fox, the network that brought us such quality representatives of TV drama like Fastlane, will be streaming the season premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles and the series premiere of J.J. Abrams-produced Fringe to any user from a college-based domain (.edu)
Why the special attention? Maybe someone’s finally realized that the only people that want to watch confusing, never-ending, special effects-laden shows are stoned college kids finally bored with Lost.
(Source: Wired)
MTV Misses U
Posted on August 26, 2008
Under News, Techno-file, The Daily Prereq | By Jessica Dye
Where would MTV be without college students? Who else has the patience to sit through 3-hour blocks of mindless chatter on The Hills or watch Making the Band at 2 a.m.? But since the Internet has taken away all of MTV’s precious, precious youth, with things like Facebook and YouTube (you know, where you actually go to watch music videos that aren’t also 30-second promos for True Life: I’m a Shopoalcoeataholic), the network has decided to appeal directly to college students with a series of micro-sites angling to become the “Citysearch” of college. According to Reuters, sites for 25 schools will launch today (including Northwestern University and University of Texas at Austin), with an additional 25 coming out before the year’s end.
Each school’s site will feature local restaurant and entertainment guides and reviews, as well as bus schedules, school events, and dining hall menus. Why does MTV care about whether you’ll be eating chicken cheesesteaks in the caf come Thursday? Well, duh–you buy things. And apparently you haven’t been watching enough From G’s to Gents to pay their bills–so bus schedules it is! Somewhere in Old-People Land, Kurt Loder is rolling his eyes.
Iowa College Prez Takes an Active Interest in Student Activities
Posted on August 25, 2008
Under News, Scandalous!, The Daily Prereq | By Jessica Dye
And when we say “student activities,” we mean the kind that involve mini-kegs of Coors Light. According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa Central Community College’s president, Robert Paxton, was partying with his son and some friends when someone on board snapped the above picture, which shows Paxton appearing to pour the beer down a young woman’s throat (and yeah, that’s some Smirnoff being poured down a second, unrelated throat in the corner). Paxton first denied being on the boat but then admitted it was him, although he “rarely drinks.”
ICCC trustees quoted in the Des Moines Register are split. Some are outraged by Paxton’s poor judgment, while others think the off-campus activity has no bearing on Paxton’s ability to run ICCC. That might be true, but considering every student who’s been suspended, expelled, reprimanded, or otherwise disciplined for some digital overshare, we think it’s about time college administrators worried about potential pictures surfacing anytime they’re just trying to have a little fun.
(Photo courtesy of the Des Moines Register)
Boys Will Be Boys — Until Sexism Becomes Uncool
Posted on August 22, 2008
Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Jessica Gross
The College Guy (homo universitus) is an interesting specimen. Free of parental rule, he exhibits his masculinity by scorning intellect, binge drinking and hooking up with girls. Michael Kimmel, a sociologist at SUNY Stony Brook, calls the modern college boys’ culture Guyland. In an interview with Inside Higher Ed about his new book, Kimmel discusses what Guyland is, exactly, and why it supplanted the land of men (or, college males acting like grown-ups).
A generation ago, 20-year-olds were considered adults. Now, guys and girls have an extra decade to be irresponsible — we’re not expected to settle down until around 30. In college, Kimmel says, this period takes the form of a guy-centric culture.
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