Couple marries in local public library

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The Huffington Post

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Originally published in The Huffington Post

Barbara Morrow and David Kurland share a life-long love of libraries. So when they decided to get married, they knew just where to do it.

Morrow and Kurland married Friday in the Northwest History Room at Washington’s Everett Public Library. The two bookworms told HuffPost Weddings that they wanted to keep their wedding small and meaningful — and the library, right next door to their apartment, seemed like a perfect fit.

“The library has always been a sanctuary for me. I always felt validated as a child when the librarian went to, what I believed at the time, great lengths to attend to my inquisitiveness,” Morrow said. “Today, when I walk into a library, I feel calm. I look around at the stacks and know I can find out about anything. There before me, shelf after shelf, are ideas and knowledge.”

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DIY wedding: Man makes a wedding band out of a coin

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The Huffington Post

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Originally published in The Huffington Post

Michigan web designer Richard Crawford thought it would be too impersonal to simply buy his fiancee’s wedding band from a store. So he decided to make his own — out of a coin.

Crawford posted photos and step-by-step instructions for the wedding band he made out of a Canadian quarter to Imgur Saturday. He told HuffPost Weddings he had never done any sort of metal working before.

“I’d been vaguely aware that it was possible to make a ring out of a coin for a while so I did some (extensive) online research to figure out the details and whether or not it would be feasible,” Crawford said. “I figured I would give it a shot.”

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Students indifferent to the royal wedding

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

Despite their fondness for London double-decker buses, Davis residents have remained decidedly free of “royal wedding fever.” Yes, that is the official name for the rest of the world’s obsession with the so-called “wedding of the century” between Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton.

Prince William and Middleton, who met while studying at St. Andrews University in 2002, will tie the knot at 11 a.m. Friday in Westminster Abbey. Thousands of tourists will travel to London for the occasion, and Britons will enjoy a four-day holiday.

Two billion viewers are expected to catch the action on television, if they’re not one of the 1,900 invited guests. The wedding will be broadcast live on BBC America and YouTube at 3 a.m. and repeated on network television in the evening. But don’t expect many UC Davis students to tune in – many claim they’re just not that interested.

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CD Review: Christina Perri

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

Artist: Christina Perri

Album: The Ocean Way Sessions EP

Label: Atlantic

Rating: 5/5

If Britney, Rihanna and Ke$ha are the head cheerleaders of the music world, then Christina Perri is whatever you call the quiet girl who spent lunch strumming her guitar behind the bleachers. And as everyone found out at the 10-year reunion, turned out to be way cooler than the cheerleaders. As the 23-year-old singer-songwriter croons in her fantastic EP The Ocean Way Sessions, “Karma tastes so sweet.”

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UC Davis, the sitcom

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

After spending a year living in the UC Davis residence halls, Stephen Leung thought the experience would be the perfect material for a sitcom.

Fast forward a year. Three episodes of “Freshman Fifteen,” the only known sitcom filmed in Davis by UC Davis students, are now on YouTube.

“Everyone was really close to each other [in the dorms] so I got this idea of making a film that expresses our friendship,” said Leung, now a sophomore biochemistry major.

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Davis Beer Shoppe now on tap

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

It’s 2 p.m. on a Friday and the bars of downtown Davis are, for the most part, quiet. But at the new Davis Beer Shoppe on G Street, a steady stream of customers strolls up to the wide wood counter to order a pint, which they sip leisurely to the tune of Irish folk music.

Owner Taylor Ramos keeps an eye on the proceedings, appropriately distracted for a guy who just opened the shop in March and found himself with a near immediate fan base.

“Right now we’re just trying to get what we have under control,” Ramos said in between greeting customers.

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Alumnus nominated for Sports Illustrated contest

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

It took Steve Wampler 20,000 pull-ups to reach the top of El Capitan.

Over the course of six days in August 2010, Wampler used a self-designed pulley system to hoist himself up the 3,000-foot Yosemite rock formation, becoming the first person with cerebral palsy to complete the daunting climb.

“[By the end] I was so exhausted and dehydrated and I lost 10 pounds and I was happy it was over, but I really didn’t take it in until a couple days later,” said Wampler, who graduated from UC Davis in 1992 with a degree in environmental engineering.

Though it took a few days for Wampler to process his achievement, news of the climb quickly caught the attention of the likes of “Ellen DeGeneres”, “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” and now, Sports Illustrated.

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Movie Review: J. Edgar

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

J. Edgar Hoover is one of those unfortunate political figures to whom history has not been especially kind. Is it possible to truly understand anything about a guy who bounces back and forth between paranoid Communist-phobe and cross-dresser in the public eye? But surely there must have been a man behind the mockery. At least, that’s what director Clint Eastwood would have you believe in his skillful, emotional biopic J. Edgar.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the misunderstood title character, aging 50 years in the process with the help of some seriously heavy-duty makeup. The story moves as a series of flashbacks, switching between an aging Hoover dictating his memoirs in the 1970s and a young Hoover rising to power as the groundbreaking director of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1930s.

But make no mistake — this is not the story of J. Edgar Hoover, Crime Fighter. Rather, it is the relationship between Hoover and his longtime associate Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer, best known as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network) that serves as the emotional and narrative core of the film.

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John Ortiz-Hutson says goodbye to UC Davis

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

Upon walking into the nearly-empty ASUCD Coffee House at 8:15 a.m., it takes approximately 30 seconds for John Ortiz-Hutson to begin waving friendly “hellos” to colleagues and friends.

“I don’t know if ‘famous’ is the right word,” Ortiz-Hutson said, at the suggestion that he appears to be a celebrity of sorts on campus. A young woman has just smiled and greeted him, the third in a span of 45 minutes. “I’ve just been around, and I’m visible.”

For the past 23 years, Ortiz-Hutson has indeed been a fixture on the UC Davis campus, first as a senior learning skills officer at the Student Academic Success Center and then as the student affairs officer of the African American and African studies program. He will officially retire this week, culminating in a career that has allowed him to mentor and advise hundreds of students, as well as collaborate with dozens of campus departments.

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Disney Channel star trades acting for books

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by emigdol in The California Aggie

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Originally published in The California Aggie

Sophomore history and classics double major Lindsey Black, like most college students, has a back-up plan. If earning a Ph.D., traveling to Europe to study and possibly becoming a professor doesn’t work out, Black may end up working as an actress in Hollywood.

If that seems a little bit backward to you, you’re probably not alone. But it’s the truth for Black, who transferred to UC Davis this past fall after spending her high school years starring in the Disney Channel television show “As the Bell Rings” and in the soon-to-be-released feature film 16-Love.

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