Sather Gate

Today I went on a short walk with a good acquaintance and we found ourselves at Sather Gate. He told me a story I'd not heard about sculptured panels of nudes on either side of the gate. I was advised that when installed, Ms. Sather (who had endowed the school considerably to erect the gate in honor of her late husband) was horrified when she'd actually seen the male nudes as situated above the "erected by Jane K. Sather." They immediately removed the panels and put them in storage for several decades before being found again in the late 70s.

I got a laugh out of that, but I guess the school eventually saw fit to reinstall the panels (eight of them.. 4 each depicting male and female nudes in classic relief,)but switching it up so the female nudes are on the exterior side of the gate above the inscription.. and the male on the interior, the less wordy side, I suppose.

Opposite the Golden Gate

The SF Bay as seen from outside the Doe Library earlier today, around 3pm.

Random Campus Spot..

Looking for that perfect reading spot I came upon last month, I returned to sit and read and do some writing. I never found that log.. but I did "find" these stairs:

Near Faculty Glade

Cal Day 2014

I didn't take near as many photos for Cal Day this year.. and the few I took you can see HERE

Instead I wanted to share some of the images I took of South Hall which for whatever reason, is my favorite building on campus.. Built in 1873.. it is the oldest (and only building remaining of the original campus structures.) I love how it looks like part of the exterior is corroding on itself. ;)

Cal Day 2012

Saturday the 21st was "Cal Day 2012" on the UC Berkeley Campus.. sort of an Open House for students, parents and the public at large.. Sean convinced me to tag along with him and we had a pretty good time. The weather was amazing.. and amazingly hot.. We got a lot of walking in and enjoyed the day..

Along with books for sale on the third floor of Doe Library, the first floor had a room full of maps the school was selling.. Here a couple people browse through a very small amount of what was actually available for sale:


Tours of original Cal buildings.. this group was at South Hall:


A couple members of the Cal "Rally Comm" precedes the Cal Band as they run up the steps to the front of Sproul Hall for a short pep rally:


Everyone's here for the rally: the Cal Band, cheerleaders, Rally Committee, and of course Oski.. It's a very ubiquitous view of the Cal campus with the Campanile in the background:


Sean in front of Founder's Rock:


While we were unable to get a seat at a lecture by Robert Reich (School of Public Policy), we were able to in Stanley Hall where Professor Alex Filippenko was giving a short talk on the upcoming Annular Eclipse on May 20th and the Transit of Venus:


One of the passive ways to enjoy Cal day was to take in the "Tree Museum" scattered around campus.. Here's a really cool buckeye:



All the walking and fun made us hungry so we ended the day the best way possible: We headed to Top Dog!




Lemon-Chicken for me!

UC Berkeley for a Miyazaki Weekend

Headed off Main Street this weekend for a weekend of fun on the UC Berkeley campus. Sean and I headed up by car on Friday (up I-5) to Berkeley & Emeryville.. (in the Eastbay area of San Francisco Bay area)

We had General Admission tickets reserved for Ponyo on the Cliff (by the Sea) the latest animated film by Hayao Miyazaki.. the writer, animator, director of such classic films as My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, and Kiki's Delivery Service among many others.. Sean & I have all of his films (that are available that is) and so getting to see a special screening was a wonderful plus.


My ticket for "Ponyo.."

We already had special tickets for the "Conversation with Hayao Miyazaki" at Zellerbach Hall, so seeing the film before the discussion was great (we are also planning to see the special D23 screening of the film at the El Capitan Theatre Monday night).

Ponyo is a magical story of love and courage that little children will love.. (and I do mean LITTLE children). I could be wrong, but I think the audience for this film may be younger than the Totoro set.. still, it's a sweet film with a happy ending of course. =)

As we found out the next evening, Miyazaki says "Happy Endings are a requirement.."




Miyazaki is the 2nd recipient of the "Berkeley Japan Prize" given out by the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California Berkeley.

This is the 2nd time we were to see Miyazaki in person. We first saw him in San Francisco at a panel with John Lassiter. IMHO, John Lassiter was a much better moderator/interviewer. We also at that time got to see Suzuki (film producer for Miyazaki's films) Suzuki San was there.. but observing from his spot in the audience, like ourselves.