If free framed art sounds cool enough to lure you and your trendily destitute ways away from the ultra popular Rasterbator, you can peruse the selection of over 700 prints at your leisure here. A sampling of the more interesting ones under the jump:

A trio of Chagalls:

A Kandinsky:

Obligatory squiggles.

Propaganda posters:

Child labor?

And the stray tribute to Andy Warhol.

Image Source: stephenpoff under Creative Commons
Morrison Library revives Graphic Arts Loan Program [Berkeley News]

Sometimes sacks of money do fall from the sky. Officials from California’s community college adminstration announced the largest philanthropic gift they have ever received in the history of the system’s existence yesterday, and also valiantly restrained from falling all over themselves to kiss Bernard Osher’s feet. Hell. For fifty million dollars, we’d do the same.

Our fair governor was at the news conference too, where he identified a community college education as a very important stepping stone to the land of fame, riches and biceps that no normal person could get two hands around. When asked about the secret to his success, he said that the solution’s obvious: “Come to America. Go to community college. And marry a Kennedy. It’s all very simple.” Well, now. How come we never thought to do that before?

Of course, the gift comes at a time when the community college system is facing a $483 million budget cut from our state-wide monetary crisis. Kind of like repairing a spouting stump with a bandaid. Yowch.

Image Source: David Muir under Creative Commons
California Community Colleges get big gift for scholarships [SF Chron]

Check out the store locator for the United States and Canada, or hop on over to the global store locator, for our international readers. We know you’re out there.

FCBD Store Locator [Free Comic Book Day]
Comic Relief: the Comic Book Store [Comic Relief]

Speaking of hippies, Loth’s dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight, followed by Casa Zimbabwe at 7 p.m. and Afro House at 7:30 p.m. The rest of the schedule follows after the cut.

Wednesday
Loth 6:30 p.m.
Casa Zimbabwe 7 p.m.
Afro House 7:30 p.m.

Thursday
Kingman 6:30 p.m.
Wolf 6:45 p.m.
Wilde 7 p.m.

Friday
Cloyne 6 p.m.
Stebbins 6:30 p.m.
Sherman 7 p.m.

Free movie. “The Forbidden Kingdom”: random American kid travels back in time to ancient China, whups ass. Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s dreadlocks make appearances. The film will screen tonight at 8 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium. Passes are available in the Naia Lounge.

Free reading about cuffs, chains, and paddles. At 5 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, Melanie Abrams will read from her forthcoming novel “Playing” in 190 Doe Library.

The novel is about a woman who enjoys being beaten, dominated and humiliated by her older Indian lover. We don’t yet know if Ms. Abrams will choose to divulge some of her book’s more electric passages during the reading, or wimp out and read about the trauma her protagonist suffered as a child instead. Either way — the anticipation is giving us thrills and chills in our underpants.

Free … display. Three cheers for artsiness and anomie! A PostSecret showing will take place in 110 Barrows on April 24th from 6 to 8 p.m. Next Friday is still a ways off, but the organizers are encouraging students to mail in their own postcards to 2533 Durant Ave, Apt. 31, Berkeley, CA 94704, or drop it off in the box on Sproul. Jeez. Which box on Sproul?

Image Source: bcveen under Creative Commons

With that in mind, the Clog has compiled a shortlist of events that are – indeed! – worth the investment of your oft-wandering attention. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and get in touch with your inner child at the Archaeological Research Facility. Or you could make a pot. A lot of the museums on campus will be open to the public too, so maybe dropping a live tarantula down the shirt of a loved one at the Essig Museum sounds right up your alley. The options are endless!

* 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Cal Massage Therapy – Need a break? Pamper yourself with a complimentary 10-minute massage, offered by our certified massage therapists. Also on site, the San Francisco Institute of Esthetics and Cosmetology will be offering free beauty makeovers.
RSF

* 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Library’s $1 Book Sale. What a deal, and who knows what treasures you’ll find on Cal Day, when everything in this room is just $1!
303 Doe Library

* 9 a.m. -11 a.m.
Play With Clay. Learn how to make and decorate your own ceramics the way people did in the past. Clay available — bring your own kids!
Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Ave.

* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Rock-Art Painting. Try your brush and hand — literally — at making paints and helping paint a rock-art mural.
Archaeological Research Facility, 2251 College Ave.

*11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Throw a Pot Near Sather Gate. Just steps from Sather Gate, try your hand at throwing a pot at one of six potter’s wheels. All ages are welcome!
Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, Art Studio, lower level

* 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Got Bugs? We Do! See the Essig Museum’s display of amazing insects and arachnids from its research collection, and take a look at live arthropods.
Wellman Hall, 2nd floor

* 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology Centennial Celebration! The MVZ is 100 years old this year, so it’s time to celebrate! The museum is a research facility — open to the public only one day a year. Take a look inside, learn how it’s evolved, and see some of the rarest, most fascinating specimens from a century of collecting. It’s fun for all ages: children can be field adventurers, touch live animals, play games, and see a puppet show; students learn how to get involved in research and museum programs. Museum staff will be giving presentations every half-hour. See the 1:30 p.m. presentation on “Bloods, Guts, Bones, and Flesh-eating Beetles.”
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building

* 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Marine Science Demonstrations. See live marine animals at the entrance of McCone Hall. Plus, in the lobby, watch demonstrations by Berkeley students of beach-bucket science and other projects.
McCone Hall, entrance and lobby

* 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Biological Science: Activities and Displays. See a touch tank with live sea animals, and discover other animals that students learn about at Berkeley. Don’t miss the games and activities for kids!
Valley Life Sciences Building courtyard

* 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
GamesCrafters: Undergraduate Game Theory Research. Play some of the games that freshmen and sophomores have created and added to the ongoing GamesCrafters research project.
310 Soda Hall

* 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Automated Robot Racing Cars. Student made vehicles race a 100-meter course under computer control, avoiding obstacles and staying on track.
Cory Hall, 2nd floor entrance

*3 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Having Fun With Robots. See small robots that make their own decisions, without benefit of remote control. Help set up obstacle courses, and find out how clever these robots are.
3108 Etcheverry Hall

* 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish in One Easy Lesson. Learn the language of Viggo Mortensen, Lordi, a-ha, and ABBA — or, if you prefer, Kierkegaard, Sibelius, Ibsen, and Bergman. In half-hour mini-sessions you will learn to communicate in short sentences, ask questions, and carry on a basic conversation. Come for one language, or stay for them all! (Level-appropriate for young adults, too.)
33 Dwinelle Hall

11 a.m.: Danish, Lecturer Karen Moller
11:30 a.m.: Finnish, Lecturer Lotta Weckström
Noon: Norwegian, Graduate Student Inger Nordhagen
12:30 p.m.: Swedish, Graduate Student Carl Olsen

* 10 a.m. -3 p.m.
Physics Poster Session. This poster display demonstrates the hard work and research being done by Department of Physics undergraduate students.
251 LeConte Hall

(What’s up with that last one? Did the physics department really feel the need to enter their poster display as an actual Cal Day event? Seriously now.)

For more information, check out the Cal Day site. If you’re feeling especially masochistic, feel free to browse through all 41,124 pages of the official program PDF. We lifted all our information off of it, anyway.

Cal Day 2008, UC Berkeley [Cal Day]

For those of you who don’t live in Loth, the Clog is here to advise you on all your treehouse-building concerns. The next time you’re thinking of setting up shop in a nice oak somewhere, look not to Ace. Avoid Eastern Supplies, and hop not onto the 51, which would drop you off in front of Bolfing’s Elmwood Hardware on College Avenue. For all your hardware needs, the Berkeley Public Library has them all beat.

It’s true! The South Branch’s Tool Lending Library has thousands of nifty tools on hand that you can check out for free, just like books. There are some requirements – you have to be either a Berkeley resident or a property-owner. You must also present a photo ID, a library card, and a utility bill with your name on it.

After that, you’re home free! For the next two, three, or seven days, that is. After the due date passes, you’re charged up to a stupendous $15 a day for every extra day you spend cuddling your chainsaw.

The Library’s Tools list provides more detail about such charges. The Clog would say something about the concrete vibrators, clamps, and stud sensors available for rent, but we’re not ones for vulgar sexual innuendos.

Image: Anna Maj Michelson under Wikimedia Commons
Shelf life [Sacramento Bee]
Berkeley Public Library: Services and Resources: Tool Lending Library [Berkeley Public Library]
Tools Fine Schedule [Berkeley Public Library]