The free HBO Max subscription through Rice is set to return in late November after Philo, a streaming service utilized by the university to provide students access to HBO Max, exited the education market last spring. Housing and Dining provides Internet Protocol Television for on-campus students and graduate students living in Rice apartments as part of the room and board fees, according to H&D Director David McDonald. The access to HBO Max was a result of University Video Services, a company that provides IP TV to Rice students, partnering with Philo.
Reginald DesRoches was officially inaugurated as the eighth president of Rice University on Saturday, Oct. 22. The ceremony, which followed a two-day series of events leading up to the investiture, included student and faculty representatives, in addition to delegates from around 150 universities and organizations.
Rice partnered with the Houston Health Department to provide the third bivalent booster vaccine against COVID-19 to the Rice community. The two past clinics, held on Oct. 11 and 18, vaccinated a total 493 individuals, according to Director of Institutional Crisis Management Jerusha Kasch. The final clinic will take place on Oct. 27.
Hosted by Rice Design for the first time, a three-day Design-a-thon titled “Level Up!” was held entirely virtually this past weekend. Students from universities across the country participated in the competition, which challenged them to create a web or mobile application in response to a prompt in financial technology or health and lifestyle. The event also offered practical workshops about design principles from local industry professionals.
Are you still looking for a costume for that Halloweekend party? Check out these quick, easy costume ideas that can be created with your own closet (and maybe a little help from Amazon).
In light of Reginald DesRoches’ inauguration this past Saturday, the Thresher looked back at past Rice presidents and their respective inaugurations.
Ruth López Turley, director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, doesn’t have it easy. She oversees all of the organization’s research operations, raises the money to fund its work and describes herself as constantly in meetings. On top of that, she’s still teaching in her role as a Rice sociology professor. When López Turley thinks about hard work, however, she doesn’t think of jobs like hers.
What is community? For Marina Klein, it’s little queer people in your phone, chatting and exchanging compliments and advice in a GroupMe. “[People in the group chat are] so supportive … they’re always there for you when you need them to be,” Klein, a McMurtry College sophomore, said. “You can be there for them when you have the time as well, because that’s how community works.”
Charles Duncan, a former member of the Rice Board of Trustees and the former energy secretary during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, passed away on Oct. 18 at the age of 96.
Before junior quarterback TJ McMahon hit redshirt sophomore receiver Luke McCaffrey behind two Louisiana Tech University defenders for a 32-yard touchdown with just over two minutes before halftime on Saturday, Rice’s offense hadn’t scored a point in their last hour-and-16-minutes of game-time. But after going down 10-0, the Owls scored 42 points in the next 35 minutes to leave Ruston, LA with a one-point overtime win. According to McMahon, the touchdown kickstarted the offense going into halftime.
From breaking assist records to scoring game-winning goals and, last week, earning the United Soccer Coaches national player of the week honors, graduate forward Grace Collins has been all over the pitch and the papers this season, helping the Rice soccer team clinch the Conference-USA regular season title. Despite the graduate transfer’s outstanding season, it came close to not happening after the end of last year.
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Luke McCaffrey has starred in a leading role for Rice’s football team this season – fitting for someone who describes himself as a movie buff through and through.
Meghan Trainor’s latest album “Takin’ it Back” is both predictably underwhelming and, unexpectedly, not entirely bad. While Trainor’s musical formula has remained almost unchanged since her early success circa 2014, this album adds a refreshing layer of synthesizers in addition to the brass, “retro” bassline and doo-wop melodies that are emblematic of Trainor’s music. Although Trainor made some slight but meaningful changes to her musicality in parts of this album, the themes of her lyrics are practically copied and pasted from her previous work.
Junior defender Jaden Roberts picked the perfect time for her first career goal. With 10 seconds on the clock and the Owls’ Senior Night game tied at zero, graduate forward Grace Collins lined up for a corner kick and sent it into a sea of Owls and Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers. The ball bounced to Roberts, whose shot found the back of the net, sending the Owls into celebration as the clock hit zero. After the game, Roberts recounted the dream goal.
It is obvious that Taylor Swift needed to have gone to bed earlier and reviewed her work before releasing Midnights. Failing to live to up to the sophisticated and heart-wrenching story telling that brought her critical acclaim, Taylor Swift’s “Midnights (3am Edition)” sees her return to her “You Need to Calm Down,” “Look What You Made Me Do” and “Blank Space” eras, but at least those songs were danceable. While not terrible, the album falls flat, despite several songs showcasing Swift’s songwriting and vocal talent.
Arctic Monkeys are back, and if you’re still looking for another “AM,” you’re out of luck. That’s not a bad thing, though. As a group, the band continues to evolve their sound and avoids repeating the same style. “The Car” continues in the general direction of “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” while reviving elements of their earlier work for a project that emphasizes their comfort as a band.
The opening act of “Tár” features one of the most technically impressive shots of the year: a ten-minute, unbroken conversation in which Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) lectures a group of students about the relationship between art and artist in the world of classical music. As both the shot and conversation continue, Lydia’s snappy retorts and oppressive assertions reveal a darker, pretentious nature previously unseen. It becomes clear from this moment that “Tár” is much more than a movie about a composer and her music. Instead, the film is a masterful depiction of an artist’s ego and the consequences she faces for abusing it.
Admittedly, anticipation was not high for "AHS: NYC," season 11 of "American Horror Story," Ryan Murphy's critically acclaimed horror anthology series. Coming off the heels of "Dahmer" and "The Watcher," both chart-topping Ryan Murphy productions, "AHS: NYC" felt more like a whisper of an afterthought. Devoid of any trailers or promotional material, save for a handful of posters featuring inert and glossy models, limbs splayed, decked out in leather and bondage gear, many fans feared that "AHS: NYC" would mark the final pitstop of the show's downward plummet.
