Have you been to Southside lately? An empty building on Durant Avenue–previously known as La Val’s, Tower Records, Noura Cafe and “that empty building next to House of Curries,”– is about to formulate yet another new identity.
It’s about time. According to a March Daily Cal article, the space was vacant for the past two years. Now, it’s suddenly gone and painted itself yellow and red to house what sounds like another Asian Ghetto–one that includes a new sushi joint by the name of Sushi Minami.
And what’s that–does that sign say “TOUCH Karaoke?” That’s right–it looks like a newer, closer place for you to belt out your Mariah Carey-isms is set to open soon on a Durant Avenue near you.
Image Source: Patrici Flores
Japanese Restaurant to Open At Former Noura Cafe Location [Daily Cal]
Posted by
Danica Li on Saturday, May 10, 2008 01:07 pm
Well, you can’t say that Code Pink doesn’t bring the lulz. Far from toning down the crazy in the face of nationally syndicated television coverage, studiously wacky Code Pinkers told reporters from FOXNews.com yesterday that they were hosting a “witches, crone and sirens” day in protest of the war, complete with pointy hats, magical spells and cauldrons of purty flowers.
Our favorite part is the detail about the pro-troops group, Move Forward America, which brought packets of salt and spread them around the recruitment center to, get this, keep their precious Marines safe from the spells. Lunacy is contagious. Didn’t you know? In the meantime, FOX News has trained a 24/7 webcam on the recruitment center storefront, laboring under the delusion, no doubt, that they’ll be able to score some damning evidence of Satanic rituals on tape if they wait long enough.
Image Source: moonrising under Creative Commons
Spells Cast at Anti-Marine Rally in California [FOXNews]
Soon-to-be Nuclear Engineering graduate and Sigma Pi fraternity member Christopher Wootton was stabbed during an altercation early Saturday morning (Clarification: He was not killed at a party. There were no parties at his fraternity or the nearby sorority). A 20-year-old Berkeley High grad and current Berkeley City College student later allegedly admitted to the stabbing, which occurred in a parking lot near at the Chi Omega Chi sorority.
Aside from mourning a top engineering student who had full-level scholarships offered to him from MIT and UC Santa Barbara, student reactions include voicing other concerns related to yesterday’s stabbing–especially in terms of prevention. The UC Berkeley OTR offers advice on party safety, while the UC Berkeley livejournal community discusses police responsibility and the fact that “Wootton was transported to a hospital in Castro Valley about 20 miles away. Apparently the nearby Oakland trauma center was already full.”
read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 04:38 pm
Not nearly as cuddly as you’d think.
Well, damn. You’d think that those pristine examples of luxury we know as Berkeley’s residential apartment units were actually good for cleanliness and decent standards of living. But according to a Daily Cal article released earlier today, creepy-crawlies have been bedding down in units near Clark Kerr since as early as March, pun intended. read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Saturday, April 26, 2008 07:31 pm
The Bay Area National Dance Week kicked off yesterday with conga dancing in downtown San Francisco. We hear the public conga line, which took place in Union Square, wasn’t much of a success — despite the encouragement of an entire brass band and a host of wiggling, jiggling go-go dancers. For a conga line that aspired to be the West Coast’s longest, participation peaked at about a couple dozen dancers. Aw, shucks.
The event still has about 300 other chances to redeem itself. Through this weekend and the next week, about 2,500 dance artists and 20,000 members of the public are expected to participate in 300 events. Reportedly, the list of free classes include “Alexander Technique, capoeira, classical Indian dance, contra dance, embodied presence, Feldenkrais, hip-hop, hula, improvisational dance, salsa, same-sex partner dancing, tango, tap and tribal belly dance.” For those in your general vicinity, check out the list after the jump. read more »
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Friday, April 25, 2008 03:59 pm
Monday was the fifth annual Sustainability Summit, organized by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability (a.k.a. CACS, you know, in case you were curious). The Earth Week event started off with a few people talking about how awesomely their green projects have been going this year–and then they started handing out the green for green from green, if you know what we’re saying.
CACS announced the 2008 recipients of Green Fund Grants, “supporting innovative campus sustainability projects,” and presented the Berkeley environmental equivalent of The Oscars (for whatever they’re worth), Sustainability Awards.
And the winners are …
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Posted by
Jill Cowan on Thursday, April 10, 2008 06:41 pm
Has anyone seen all the crap Mark Zuckerberg’s been slipping past general notice lately? Facebook has been so slow recently–probably as a result of the all new, definitely not redundant in any way, “Facebook Chat“– that we didn’t even want to link to it at all. Also, we have this crazy hunch that you already know how to find it.
“Facebook Chat” is only the absolute most recent of the new “developments.” Other slick additions include the “People You May Know” feature, (which you can find wedged inconspicuously between “Birthdays” and “Invite Your Friends”) and something that allows your friends to actually recommend that you friend people they’re friends with. Thanks to these new features you can finally shoot that excruciatingly hot girl or guy you vaguely knew in high school a friend request without letting on that you’ve been stalking them for months.
Because, you know, if the almighty Facebook says we should be friends, who are we to argue? We’ve got a (virtual) connection. Do you feel it, baby? It’s in the Air(Bears) …
Facebook [Website]
Facebook Chat: Now We’re Talking [Facebook Blog]
Ah, gentrification! The Downtown Berkeley revamp is happening more quickly than we can keep up. Cody’s Books is open–and so is Staples, finally. After other planned city developments reach their peaks, Berkeley will soon enough transform itself into an attractive marketplace for tourists and the upper-middle class. That is, if it isn’t somewhat bougie already. The new Berkeley Art Museum will be a huge part of that transformation.
Today’s Daily Cal features an article about Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s lovely construction plan for the Berkeley Art Museum’s new location at Oxford and Center streets. Yes, it will stand on the very spot where a parking garage and ye old UC Printing Press building sit this very moment. Along with that, a fancy new hotel and conference center will take the hideous Bank of America building’s place.
Some, of course, remain sentimental about the historical printing plant, as exemplified by a 2006 Daily Planet article.
read more »
Posted by
Danica Li on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 01:49 pm
Remember “21″? It’s that one movie based on real life card-counting MIT students who wring the Vegas blackjack tables for tens of thousands of Ben Franklins. It’s got Jim Sturgess in it. Jim Sturgess was previously seen doing a lot of trippy drugs opposite Evan Rachel Wood in “Across the Universe.” Jim Sturgess is pretty fine.
The same probably can’t be said about the movie itself. Rotten Tomatoes slapped “21″ with a score of 32%, and Metacritic isn’t too forgiving either. Nevertheless, Shattuck Cinemas is showing a free screening of the movie tonight at 8 p.m. Who can argue with free?
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The theater won’t require passes, but keep in mind it’s first come first serve.
Image Source: Movie Critic under Public Domain
21 Movie Reviews, Pictures [Rotten Tomatoes]
21 (2008): Reviews [Metacritic]
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:17 pm
You know how everyone’s always thought that Thomas Edison–famous inventor the lightbulb, the phonograph, the immortal soul, etc.–was the first person to record sound? Well, it turns out that’s just a pack of dirty lies perpetuated by the victors of history–maybe.
While it’s true that Edison did, in fact, invent the phonograph, the first machine to both record sound and reproduce it as sound, it was a rightfully spiteful Parisian typesetter by the name of Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville who was the first guy to record sound at all, if only as a visual representation in lines and squiggles. Finally, after searching for years for the original gift of sound and vision, an American audio historian, David Giovannoni, recently got a hold of a “pristine” one of these phonautograms, apparently the audio equivalent of the “holy grail.” read more »
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Have you been to Southside lately? An empty building on Durant Avenue–previously known as La Val’s, Tower Records, Noura Cafe and “that empty building next to House of Curries,”– is about to formulate yet another new identity.
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