College Internet sites leave users
tangled in the World Wide Web
By Jason Hardy
Senior staff writer
Recently a number of high-tech Web sites have
been setup to help students spice up their college
years while simplifying their lives.
They offer things like e-mail accounts, resume
hints, medical advice, fashion advice, sex advice,
movie reviews, news from other college campuses,
discounts at local shops and restaurants, online
shopping, chat rooms and more links than a
sausage factory. !
They are all free of charge and are aimed to
help Joe and Jane Student get more out of their col
lege experiences.
Sounds great, but it’s not quite that easy. The
sites are free of chaige, that much is true, but utiliz
mg an ui me avauaoie
online resources to make
life “easier” and more
“exciting” can be a
daunting and complex
process.
Three such Web sites
promising this cyber
campus bliss are College
Club (http://www.col
legeclub.com), animal
house.com and colleges
tudent.com. Each offers
information, resources
and entertainment direct
ed toward college stu
dents across the country.
The content of each site
is largely nationalized, but they all
attempt to feature some local connec- .
tions.
Collegestudent.com
makes the greatest
effort to localize
the World Wide
Web, and
Lincoln is
included.
Basically a
gateway site leading to a
number of different college-oriented sites across
the Country, collegestudent.com wiU lead you to
The Husker Network, a site dedicated to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Husker
Network features a number of links to things like
roommate searches, housing searches, local news,
campus organizations,
class ratings by other stu
dents and Lincoln-based
activities and attractions.
But only a few of the
links actually lead to
something helpful, and
many of the specialized
links, such as roommate
searches, campus organi
zations or class ratings,
don’t have anything at all
The other links basically
just take you to already
established Lincoln sites
like the Lincoln visitor’s
guide, Nebraska Web, the
UNL Web page and even
Daily
Nebraskan Online.
While at first glance The Husker Network
looks exciting and helpful, the immense amount of
advertising on the page makes it hard to sift
through the offered information, much of which
isn’t there anyway. But The Husker Network does
have at least some localized coverage, which is
more than can be said for the other two sites.
Both College Chib and animalhouse.com fea
ture sections dedicated to individual college cam
puses across the country, but unfortunately UNL
isn’t one of them.
Jay Samit, president of animalhouse.com, said
the reason for the absence of UNL is because the
site hasn’t yet found anyone from UNL to develop
and maintain a local connection. Megan Humpal
of College Chib said the same is true for its page,
and both said anyone interested could apply
through their prospective sites and would be paid
for their work.
Despite the absence of UNL on both of the
aforementioned Web sites, Samit and Humpal both
claimed they have a lot to offer UNL students.
Humpal
said College Club
offers a way for stu
dents to better communicate
with one another, regardless of college location,
while learning more about current events on their
individual campuses.
“I went and spent 41/2 years at college and got
out and wished I had done some of the other
things,” Humpal said. “We’re trying to round out
the college |
To accomplish this lofty goal, College Club
offers 12 campus sections showcasing arts and lit
erature, college and academics, jobs and money,
lifestyles and health, love and relationships, enter
tainment and a number of other sections.
Each section provides articles written by stu
dents, a featured group of the day, apoll of the day
and a discussion question, with which any College
Club member can interact Also, members can cre
ate groups for individual purposes, such as study
groups or student organizations.
The problem is the resources are so extensive
it’s hard to find your way through it all.
Please see WEB on 10
u
I went and spent 4 1/2
years at college and got
out and wished I had
done some of the other
things. We re trying to
round out the college
experience”
Megan Humpal
College Club representative
Mould quits loud rock touring
By Bret Schulte
A&E editor
Musician Bob Mould is not known for
his nostalgia.
He never even listened to Hiisker Du’s
posthumous live release, “The Living
End.” When his next band Sugar dissolved
in 1995, he promptly launched a solo
album with a cross-country tour.
Now, he has decided he’s had enough
of electric rock in general.
“The main thing to me is just getting
back home to do some writing in New
York,” he said from an anonymous pit stop
somewhere on the East Coast leg of his
“Last Dog and Pony Show” tour.
i ne lour is me lasi or us Kina ior
Mould, who decided to make this his last
big electric effort. Tonight, he appears at
Omaha’s Ranch Bowl, 1600 S. 72nd St.,
with Zero Hour artists Vamaline.
Loud, pioneering and frequently artic
ulate rock has become a hallmark for the
38-year-old Mould, who has fronted the
intrepid soundwall ensembles Husker Du
and Sugar.
Despite his greatest fame as a loud and
notoriously moody vocalist for post
industrial punk bands, Mould has taken
plenty of time for himself over his two
decade career.
His solo record “Workbook,” shines as
bright as a smile at points, and exists in
sharp contrast to 1996’s self-titled album
(or “hubcap,” due to its cover art), which
grinds away at issues of psychology, aban
donment and general self-absorption.
“The Last Dog and Pony Show” is
Mould’s second post-Sugar recording and
features his newest group: Bob Mould
Dog and Pony Band, consisting mostly of
old industry friends and acquaintances.
The roster is making his life on the road
considerably easier.
its going wen, ne said. "it can oe air
ficult trying to find a like-minded group of
people that can all interact as humans, and
act as traveling companions.”
Mould has grown weary of the
demands, both physically and socially, of
large-scale electric rock touring, and
seems interested in making this last trip as
enjoyable as possible.
For this reason, Mould selected long
time engineer Jim Wilson to man the bass,
Texas buddy Matt Hammon for the drum
set and finally Michael Cerveris as a co
guitarist. Cerveris managed to find time
for the tour, having just finished up the title
role in the Broadway production of
‘Tommy.”
Mould defends his choices carelessly.
“The best drummer in the world might
be a total asshole after two weeks on the
road,” he concluded.
This somewhat disgruntled philoso
phy has pervaded Mould as of late and led
to his decision to knock off the electric
rock tours. After all, he’s been doing it
since the early ’80s, when Hiisker Dii had
to scrap around Minneapolis and the rest
of the Midwest looking for gigs.
After a few solo albums, “Black
Sheets of Rain” and “Workbook,” Mould
fronted his second power trio, Sugar. Its
1993 release “Copper Blue” re-established
Mould as the smartest neo-punk craftsman
around. Since then, Mould has taken turns
between abusive sonic excesses and gently
strummed ballads.
rus mooa swings are notorious among
his fans, who have dictated certain emo
tions to every album. Mould believes that
his fans may be a bit too eager to subscribe
him certain passions.
“Other people are very quick to ana
lyze the records and say this is this mood,
and that is that mood,” Mould said. “I am
not really thinking about that
“I am just documenting things as I see
them.”
Lately the guitarist has been plagued
by rumors of hearing loss, which some
fans accredit as the reason for his decision
to quit on the electric rock format
Please see MOULD on 10
Courtesy Photo
BOB MOULD appears tonight at Omaha’s Ranch Bowl. "The Last Dog
and Pony Show” tour will be Mould’s last time playing electric rock
concerts.