Amidst all the hustle and bustle of your first day back at school, you might have noticed a certain climate shift about the campus. No, not that kind of climate shift, we mean an economic climate shift. Faculty and students alike have been all abuzz about the budget crisis, prophesying doom and whatnot, but one man has managed to put on a happy face about it all.

That man is Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who seems oddly chipper in a video “back-to-school message” that the news center just published. In it, he basically says that things have been better and we’re still awesome and don’t worry about your academic experience because the most valuable lessons come from just being in college with a diverse group of peers, anyway.  Truer words have never been spoken. Oh wait–yes they have.

Nevertheless, we can’t blame the guy for trying to project optimism. We mean, we doubt making a video welcoming everyone back to campus then telling them to panic and run for their lives would have been very productive. So it’s a good thing he didn’t do that, we guess.

Image Source: caramida under Creative Commons
Welcome to UC Berkeley- 141 years and counting [NewsCenter]

So we were just going to post the video above because we thought it was funny. Then again, we’re not sure if it’s funny for anyone outside of the Daily Cal.

And then we happened on the Cal Wushu video (which we unfortunately cannot embed), and it totally creams our low-quality video. Wushu in itself is already kick-ass, but when you combine martial arts with a tongue-in-cheek action vid, you are made of WIN.

UCMAP 2009 CalWushu Skit Video [Facebook]
Daily Cal: 600 Eshleman – The Server Crash [YouTube]

We thought about posting about this when we saw it happen in one of our classes, but A) we were lazy and B) we didn’t have our camera on us:

Also, since this is Berkeley, we’ve become extremely jaded and are no longer very impressed when random shit interrupts our lectures. That being said, something about the Gestalt or whatever (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts … Psych majors? Not at all applicable? Er, just forget it.) made this video seem significantly funnier than the one dancing guy in Wheeler Auditorium did at the time. So yeah. Three cheers for YouTube: Making things worthwhile that might not be otherwise, since … well–like, forever.

(Thanks for the tip, Moujan.)

jericho! Improv and Sketch Comedy [Web site]
How Did They Dance? [YouTube]

Earlier today, the Daily Cal’s editor-in-chief Bryan Thomas confirmed through email:

The Colbert Report has purchased rights to run one of our videos tonight, produced by our very own Tess Townsend.

The video in question is about Escape from Berkeley, a race from Berkeley to Las Vegas sans petroleum. If “The Colbert Report” shows the video tonight, we’ll try to update as soon as we can with the clip.

The show may or may not air our hot videographer skills, but at least they’re impressed enough to buy our video? Or they just find something to mock. Dun dun dun.

EDIT: Success! The full episode is up, and Escape from Berkeley hits the Sport Report at 11:40 in. Catch all two seconds of Daily Cal glory and lots of Berkeley jabs.

Escape from Berkeley [YouTube]
Relay Helps Fuel the Use Of Alternative Energy Forms [Daily Cal]
Earlier: Environmentalists Escape From Berkeley

Do you prefer Google, Yahoo! or MSN (seriously, who uses MSN)? Google’s our de facto search device, but maybe we’ll have to reconsider after a rousing round of rap battle.

First up, MSN versus Google:

But wait! There are two more rounds.

read more »

Cloyne is the center of innovation, experimentation and recreation. It makes sense that a co-op as large and as rambunctious as Cloyne would not only have a talent show but also upload videos of the special event.

Dance, it seems, is the clone’s art of choice. Above, we have a engaging rendition of the Evolution of Dance, deftly choreographed for multiple dancers.

Another is not so successful.

Not so fast, Napoleon wannabe. Your moves can’t match the glory of the film. In the socially-challenged teen’s words, we’d have to say “this is pretty much the worst video ever made.”

OK, so not the worst worst, but we doubt that you, the dear readers, will get through it.

Evolution of Dance, Cloyne Talent Show [YouTube]
Napoleon Dynamite at Cloyne [YouTube]

(Video no longer available)

Why is the Clog putting up this clip of former Secretary of Labor and professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy Robert Reich on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”? It’s awesome, for one. And practically speaking, we think it shows the “get tough on crime” approach we need in the face of recent events. We hope the Berkeley police will get the memo. Let’s get Conan to lead the crackdown.

Robert Reich Buddy Cop [YouTube]
Earlier: UCPD E-mails Students about Recent Crime, CalTV Chats with Conan O’Brien about Red Hair, Balls and Crazy Wife

Digging through YouTube, we decided to vary our search from “UC Berkeley” to “Cloyne.” There wasn’t as much booty as we had hoped, but we did set ourselves to wondering.

What came first: the chicken …

Or the pot?

Spencer Blackhart: Drug Policy [YouTube]
Marijuana Cookies [YouTube]

We don’t know who made this, but it’s great. We mean, Facebook = great.

And this video knows its shit: “It’s on Facebook, so it’s official.” Isn’t that how we all live our lives?

There have been a few trends this week that are so egregious, the Clog is taking it upon itself to make you a better bear.

Today, the Clog noticed multiple students wearing Cal crocs. As the foremost footwear-named publication on campus (come write for us), please believe us when we say that as addictive as they are to wear, just say no.

But the alarming trends do not stop there. Berkeley is apparently totally into stealing the intellectual property of flash mobs. Instead of coming up with their own moneymaker, some students recently decided to reflash the ninja scene.

Didn’t that look a lot like this video from January:

We can only hope that there will be better trends at this weekend’s annual Fashion and Student Trends fashion show. Facebook says more than 300 people are going.