Last night, my roommate and I had the pleasure to see Team America: World Police. Talk about one hilarious movie! It's a brilliant marionette satire where Right-wing American "international police" combat Arab and Chechen terrorists, the Stalinist North Koreans, as well as Left-wing Hollywood celebrities hoping to stop the destruction Team America brings on the world. No one seems to get away from this one. The Americans destroy anything in the name of freedom that may get in their way, whether it be the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, or the Pyramids of Giza, while in their own ranks, must they must perform oral sex on their commanding U.S. government bureaucrat to gain his confidence. The Arabs and Chechens seem capable in speaking only "derka-derka-derk Jihad, Jihad, Muhammad, Jihad..." The North Koreans--specifically Kim Jong-il--look like something straight from a James Bond movie. And the Hollywood elite are presented like a pack of pretentious elitists, with targets set especially on Alec Baldwin.
Liberals and Conservatives may fume sometimes at Team America, whether it be the slavish Right nationalism of the Americans, whose theme song is "America, F**k Yeah!" and official symbol is the bald eagle clutching a globe of the world in its beak, or to the Left, thinking their celebrity may change the world. Everyone is a puppet in this movie (literally!) and someone else is always pulling their strings.
Now to school stuff.
Davis seems to have been struck by a serious virus called midtermsanitus. This disease usually is confined around university campuses. The first signs of infection occur usually around mid-October, transmitted by professors to students by traveling from the chalkboard to the notebook. The student, upon becoming infected, will begin to cancel plans for the coming weekend, and in order to combat the illness, will gather in health stations such as cafes and the library for treatment.
I seem to have come down with this disease too. But don't worry, I've gone through the usual treatment too.
When people study in Davis, people study in cafés. Sure, plenty of people stay inside to study, but many people, like myself, go to cafes to read a book or to go over notes. Some cafés, I have to admit, are better than others. So here's a few in Davis that are pretty popular with us students:
Café Roma is probably the cafe that comes most to student minds when they think of the word "café." For one, it's the closest café to campus that's not actually on campus. 
Just a block away from it, it's easy to reach and sit down for a bit between classes. Café Roma is different from the other cafés in town; it's funky, eccentric and in a way anti-establishment. After all, right outside its entrance is a newspaper box that sells the Peoples' Weekly World, the official newspaper of the Communist Party USA.
The main problem with Café Roma is one which my friends and I have confessed time and again: there doesn't seem to be much care in how the place is set up. When I was in there today trying to order a coffee, a sign on the counter said the workers were away for five minutes. When five minutes turned into 30 minutes, it became ridiculous. Café Roma never seems to be clean either; the floors always seem to look like they haven't been washed in two weeks. Plus the chairs and couches feel like they've been sat on too many times by too many butts to take any more sittings. Then there's the music. Café Roma must assume that blasting music like Nick Cave or Gang of Four makes students study harder. And not to forget the flies, which there never seems to be a shortage of.
In a nutshell, it's place that's cool and different and all, but it has to get better service and look like there's some hygiene put in the place. At least the coffee's decent. I give it two French francs.
Rating: ₣₣
Then there's Mishka's Café. Picture a cleaner, more European place farther from the university, where people don't wear moth-eaten sweaters (ala Café Roma) and you have Mishka's. Mishka's, I must admit, was the first cafe I went to in Davis, and fell in love with it immediately. The coffee's great, the people cool, and atmosphere very Eurocentric. But the one problem with Mishka's is that it's, well, too loved. The place is crowded! Today, there didn't seem like one seat that was available to go to. Hell, even the outdoor section was taken up.
So, if you want good coffee, want to feel like you're actually in the Kurfürstendamm, this is the place. If you want some space, this probably isnt.
Rating: ₣₣₣
Good ol' evil Starbucks. Evil, corporate, small-business eating Starbucks. Starbucks has two locations in Davis (three if you count the one in the Safeway in the southern part of town). But what I love about Starbucks is that you know exactly what you're going to get. 
Like McDonalds, if you eat a whopper in Fairbanks, Alaska, you know it'll probably taste just the same in Durham, England. Starbucks always manages to make my favorite blend of mochas around. The service is also always quick. The one problem with Starbucks, especially the downtown location that I usually go to, is that there isn't enough seating. Just two or three tables inside, and a few outside, and that's it. But God, I love the coffee.
Rating: ₣₣₣½
Borders, like Starbucks, is another big major corporate place too, but like Starbucks, it also has, in my opinion, great coffee and a good place to study. 
Since Borders isn't just a regular café but also a bookstore, it gives you a choice: if you ever get bored studying microbiology or the XYZ Affair, then you get up from your seat, look at the Rolling Stone in the magazine section showing Britney Spears in a bikini, and then with your brain recharged, return back to your book and study more. But the bad side about Borders is its study limit. Unlike any of the other places I've mentioned already, Borders just seems not to really have much of a liking for college students. They give you a minimum amount of time to sit down, drink your coffee, read, and then leave to free up your table so another student can take your place. The last time I was there, they had a 90 minute minimum of time where you could study, though I don't know if they've expanded or shrunk it.
Rating: ₣₣₣
Common Grounds Coffee is perhaps one of my all time favorite places to get a cup in Davis and read a book. 
Unlike Starbucks and Borders which shout at you with their lights to come in or Mishka's European charm inviting you or even Café Roma's we-don't-clean-and-neither-do-you attitude, Common Grounds just presents it the way it should be: unassuming, boring on the outside, and nothing flashy. But once inside, it's probably the coziest cafe I could ever dream of, with nice chairs and sofas, music that isn't blasting, and a totally unpretentious attitude. The only problem I have there, I sadly admit, is the coffee is a little weak. Maybe it was just today, because my server seemed new, but it didn't taste right. Plus there was a fly that always seemed to buzz around, and it so happened that it really liked me.
Rating: ₣₣₣½
The final one on my list is Mocha Joe's, the closest cafe to my place. It's a rather out-of-the-way place, located in the southeastern part of town. 
Mocha Joe's coffee is great, and I honestly do recommend it. The bad part that I must admit is that I've never studied there...because it always seems closed. That's my major complaint against it. Were it open more, and the place really advertised to students, this would be a great place to hang out and study. But this isn't the case.
I have nothing against the coffee or the service. But I am against its hours.
Rating ₣₣½
Now obviously this isn't all the cafés in Davis, but at least this is a good chunk of them.
