After misplacing and accidentally selling a 22-foot long carved set of panels valued at over $1 million for less than $200 to a small-time art dealer, UC Berkeley officials said they could not afford to repurchase the artwork. The carved redwood panels, sculpted by renowned African American artist Sargent Johnson, Read More…
Sports
Photo Gallery: This Week in Cal Sports
Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week 8 (Song Edition)
For our antepenultimate Pac-12 Power Rankings of the men’s basketball season, we have decided to go a different route — a different octave, if you will. We have chosen a song to correspond with each team on our list. Enjoy. No. 1: California (22-6, 12-3) — Aretha Franklin, “Respect” The Bears Read More…
Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week 8 (Movie edition)
For the antepenultimate Pac-12 Power Rankings of women’s basketball season, we have decided to pick a movie that corresponds to each team. Enjoy. No. 1: Stanford (24-1, 15-0) – The Usual Suspects So the movie title is actually stolen from a Casablanca line, but it nonetheless holds true for the Read More…
A&E
Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s interpretation of Moliere play inspires laughter
This week in arts
Film Readers know I have talked about “Melancholia” ad nauseum, but this Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco could be your last chance to see Lars von Trier’s spectacular film on the big screen. It’s kind of a trek, but witnessing “Melancholia” — which stars Kirsten Read More…
Art exhibit explores nature themes for Jewish holiday
The launching point for the “Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art and Jewish Thought” exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum is a commandment from the Old Testament: “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof Read More…
Opinion
Jon and Kate Plus 8 (phones)
California must go full steam ahead
It is rare that students get to be part of a visionary transportation project that will fundamentally change the future of their state. That is the opportunity that we have, today, as high-speed rail — a train that will shuttle Californians between downtown San Francisco and Union Station in Los Read More…
No thanks, I’m coughing
Yuck, I’m sick. Actually, I’ve now been sick for almost two weeks, and it’s only slowly going away — despite all the DayQuil and codeine syrup. This episode is so gross. There’s the congestion; the sniffly, runny nose; the incessant coughing fits; the headache from the coughing fits; the phlegm in Read More…
From The Blogs
Best Supporting Actress: Is Octavia Spencer really safe for the Oscars?
Yesterday I covered the Best Supporting Actor Oscar lineup, which seems like the most predictable acting category this year (see why in Tuesday’s post). Let’s continue our Oscar coverage with Best Supporting Actress. Here’s a little bit of fun trivia: this is the fourth consecutive year that this category sees Read More…
The Rhode to hell is paved with good intentions…
… and awful misspellings. It’s true: No one is infallible. According to the Washington Post, a release was published stating Joe Biden’s campaigning plans for this week, including a trip to Rhode Island, which the White House mistakenly spelled “R-O-A-D.” The White House corrected the gaffe in a later version. Read More…
State of the Art: Redball, Manifest Destiny!, HANDSTYLE
Abroad: RedBall Project Artist Kurt Perschke invites you to interact, touch and play with his public sculpture, a 15 foot 250 pound blowup ball. Since his first project in St Louis, he has been installing the same vinyl red ball in cities worldwide such as Abu Dhabi, Taipei and Barcelona. Read More…
In defense of the Oxford comma
Style rules dictate that an Oxford comma be omitted in a serial list. Off the job, my personal preferences dictate otherwise. This is a hilarious example of why:


















