For the uninitiated: Jazz, though underpinned by a malleable lattice of chords and rhythms, relies heavily on improvisation and invention. But originality is not always the prerequisite for inspiration. Often, performers call upon the genius of their forebears and insert snippets of past work into their performance. “Those are invoked,” Read More…
“My name is Ralph, and I’m a bad guy.” Delivered with a sense of robust melancholy by actor John C. Reilly, these are the first words we hear from the titular character of Disney’s new movie, “Wreck-It Ralph.” They define his existence. For 30 years, Ralph has been the villain Read More…
The tall canvas of “The Rose” is smothered in thick, textured oil paint that crafts a mesmerizing 3-D effect while employing rich black and white color tones that depict the spreading petals of a rose and signify the thematic balance between darkness and light. One of the largest-scale paintings present Read More…
VISUAL ART As a center for innovation, renewable energy solutions, art and communal education, Oakland seems like the perfect home base for nonprofit organization Kinetic Steam Works. Since 2005, it has worked to preserve steam power heritage, presenting art and performance pieces to the public, highlighting the merits of this Read More…
Ronald Reagan entered California politics in the 1960s with the University of California, and the Berkeley campus in particular, as political targets. A recent article in Dissent Magazine argues that Berkeley “provided the most useful political foil” for Reagan’s gubernatorial campaign, “crystallizing all of his ideological themes into a single figure for Read More…
What started as a simple four-unit class turned into so much more. Annie Goransson was posed the hypothetical question of “How can we make the campus more sustainable?” in a landscape architecture class last year. Then, the senior on the Cal women’s tennis found her passion. As Goransson continued to Read More…
For the first time as Cal men’s basketball coach, Mike Montgomery won’t have Jorge Gutierrez and Harper Kamp beside him in Haas Pavilion. But he may not need them to reach the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in his five seasons in Berkeley. “We’ve got a good nucleus of Read More…
Is Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan for real? Granted he was playing against the worst team in the Pac-12 in Colorado on Saturday, but Hogan looked infinitely more impressive than senior and current starter Josh Nunes. The redshirt freshman Hogan looked bigger, faster, and more accurate than Nunes, all of which Read More…
The Cal volleyball team should feel fortuitous that its upcoming matchup against No. 8 Washington is at Haas Pavillion. Despite its top-10 ranking, the Huskies can attribute their success to their home advantage. Of its four conference losses, three came away from home. And with the return of veteran outside Read More…
Wednesday hosts a head-to-head collision between No.3 ranked Stanford, who boasts the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation, and the back-to-back NCAA champions Cal. The Cal men’s swimming team will battle Stanford in the unconventional triple distance format that features six different categories. The rivalry meet will take place Read More…
