* UC Berkeley received lots of apps but will only admit less than 10% of applicants. Blame the Man. [NewsCenter]

* The Daily Cal Arts blog convinced us to go see indie comedy “Humpday,” but then again, it is about porn. [Arts: It's What's for Blog]

* Relive Berkeley’s happiest day in recent history. [Daily Cal]

* Oh look, Beetle’s back. [Beetle Beat]

Image Source: Salgu Wissmath, Daily Cal The Little Mermaid buy
Earlier: Daily Cal Serves Up the Lolz

Not only did Berkeley’s most famously awesome foodie raise some major cash-monies for Washington charity organizations by cooking up (presumably) delicious noms for some D.C. do-gooders–er, eat-gooders, in any case–but she also kinda, maybe saved-ish someone from choking.

“How exactly does one kinda, maybe save-ish someone?” you ask. Simple, really. You see someone who is choking (in this case, cookbook author Joan Nathan) and then you go find someone (in this case, celebrity chef Tom Colicchio) who knows the Heimlich maneuver and then they save the choking person. Now, before you start weighing the woman down with mental (or actual) medals of honor, you may want to consider an interesting point that one SFist commenter phrased perhaps a bit more bluntly than we would have:

“Let me get this straight. Alice Waters has owned a restaurant for like the last 200 years and she has never learned the Heimlich Maneuver. Is she retarded?”

Fair point–but, then again, the woman had people begging to pay $500 for her dinner, so she must be doing something right. Anyway, in another Alice Waters-bashing twist to this semi-ongoing saga, Eater SF posted about celebrity chef-gone-foul-mouthed-rogue Anthony Bourdain’s interview with DCist in which he said,

“Alice Waters annoys the living shit out of me … There’s something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic.”

Um … yikes? Fortunately, SFist came to our green lady’s defense (ish) yesterday with another post on the situation. So, maybe we can look forward to an retaliatory interview with Waters on DCist’s West coast counterpart? Eh, we’re leaning on the side of “nope.” But, hey, what do you think? Team Waters or Bourdain? Or is this whole hullabaloo too blog-cestuous for general interest, anyhow? Hm. We’re going to go ponder this and other important life questions over some day-old Thai Basil right now …

*See what we did there? Mouthwatering? Because her name’s Alice Waters? No, no! Don’t cry! It wasn’t that bad, was it?

Image Source: Neeta Lind under Creative Commons
Berkeley Chef Takes Part in D.C. Dining Benefit [Daily Cal]

For those of you who weren’t too lazy to get your ass out of bed Tuesday morning and witness history (and for those of you who hit snooze–for shame), you saw America’s first African-American president get sworn into office (he had a little trouble, but eventually he got it done). But witnessing this historic inauguration led us to ask, “Has American politics become a joke?”

A ginormous crowd gathered around Sproul Plaza at around 7:30 a. m. to watch history unfold on the big screen, the biggest crowd we’ve seen since … the day Obama won the election. As each political personality walked through the golden double doors and strutted down the red (and blue) carpet, it kinda felt like we were watching royalty make their way into some kind of fairy tale ball.

In a very Cinderella-esque moment, Michelle Obama was transformed not from peasant to princess but from lady to first lady as we all ooh-ed and ah-ed at her yellow-gold dress and coat ensemble, which was kind of verging on inaugural upholstery (or something Queen Elizabeth II might wear).

But the inauguration quickly turned from fairy tale to low-brow comic spectacle when President Bush walked out on stage and became the jester of the event, the crowd bursting into laughter each time the camera cut to him (when he flew away in his helicopter at the end we were sure people were going to start throwing tomatoes at the screen).

Obama, America’s beloved, solemn superhero (we’re pretty sure he was hiding his Captain America spandex under that deceptive navy suit) could do no wrong: met with heroic cheer each time his name was mentioned as he swooped in to save America from the evil clutches of the Bush administration. And Cheney, sinister puppet-master and typical wheel chair-bound super villain, was booed each time he was shown (did anyone else see the Lebowski resemblance?).

We were almost disappointed that Sarah Palin didn’t show up in a leather cat suit, throw off her glasses, undo her bun and use her whip to snatch the inauguration Bible from under Obama’s hand. Or at least Hillary could have offered him a poison apple. But, then again, we’re not exactly complaining.

Americans Come Together to Watch Nation Turn a Page [Daily Cal]

Image source: RedRaspus under Creative Commons

This means you! Yes, even you, who were inexplicably living under a rock, and can’t make it over to the Oracle Arena in Oakland (maybe because, uh, you have class?), can feel like you’re a part of it all, and all for the low, low price of free. Priceless, indeed.

Don’t expect too much of an Election Night-esque fuss, though. Chancellor Birgeneau made it clear in his e-mail that class is not, in any way, canceled in honor of the occasion. In any event, the broadcast is scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. (yikes), the university’s “formal program” kicks off at 8:15 a.m. (yikes again) and the BMOC will be taking the Presidential Oath of Office at 9 a.m.

Image Source: Brian Hathcock under Creative Commons
Viewing: Inauguration of President Barack H. Obama [UC Berkeley Events Calendar]

They will, however, take you to watch President Elect Obama on the big screen. Get excited.

What: Obama Inauguration Big-Screen Community Viewing
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland
When: Tues., Jan. 20
Cost: $5

Image Source: April Isabel Angeles