Sometimes corporations are cool. Like when they give you cheap things, especially when those cheap things are frozen yogurt. This week we trekked out to Yogurtland, a national frozen yogurt chain based out of Anaheim, Calif. Since California is pretty far from Rice we went to the branch located at Westheimer and Shepherd instead. For those of you who are geographically challenged, this is the same place where such Rice staples as Teahouse and that one Verizon store are located.
Students approaching the Shepherd School of Music from the east will soon have a new view. The Suzanne Deal Booth Pavilion and James Turrell Skyspace is a pyramid-shaped structure that will begin construction in front of the east entrance of the Shepherd School on April 4.
The ALFA committee has concluded its survey process and made its recommendations to administration (see story, pg. 6). Unfortunately their recommendations were influenced by a meager 24 proposals. Out of the over 3,500 students at Rice University, a remarkably small proportion of us as a student body contributed to the process.
In this modern era, the upscale salad and sandwich boutique has become as ubiquitous as iPhones and poorly written blogs. Bowl, on 607 Richmond, fits neatly into the idea of a café that serves classic items with well-made ingredients.
A 20-year-old posing as a Rice student was discovered last Tuesday after signing up to participate in an upcoming debate as part of the Baker Institute Student Forum.
Have you ever wished that you could take a pill, something more powerful than Adderall, that allows you to access your brain at a faster pace? The movie Limitless essentially examines that scenario through the life of an unmotivated, unimportant book writer. While the title eludes to greatness and grandeur, the movie's actual entertainment value falls slightly above average.
Kudos is due to Matt Sawyer, the university-wide Beer Bike coordinator, and the Beer Bike coordinators from each college (see story, pg. 1). Beer Bike came and went smoothly, safely and too swiftly. The Beer Bike leadership was met with a multitude of challenges never seen in the past, and each problem was addressed with great success.
More than halfway through my final semester as a student at Rice, I have begun to realize that I rarely take time to reflect on my experience as an Owl. Many seniors panic at this point in their academic careers, terrified of missing something on their Rice "bucket list," now faced with the realization that they will soon be unable to ever go back and relive their glory days.
Jacks and Beer Bike were not the only sources of college competition during Willy Week: The Rice Annual Fund hosted Jar Wars for the first time between Monday the 7th and Thursday the 10th, giving undergraduates a chance to contribute to the university's fifth College Battle and earn this year's Sammy Cup for their college.
Since Those who abhor the burden of taking a clear stance on issues of importance are often fond of the "agnostic's fallacy." The fallacy goes like this: Two options are both technically possible; therefore, they are equally probable and no distinction can be made between them. So we get the agnostic, who thinks the existence and nonexistence of the supernatural are equally probable despite the absence of evidence for the former.
This Wednesday, March 9, many Rice students made their way to Reliant Stadium for Rice Night at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
For the first time in their 42 year lifetime, Baker Shakespeare is producing the Shakespeare masterpiece Hamlet. Known for its wit, action and famous monologues, Hamlet is a classic Shakespearean play that every cultured individual should experience at least once in their lives. With a stellar cast, great directing and an excellent script, Baker Shake's rendition of Hamlet will undoubtedly delight all audiences.Hamlet follows the lives of the royal men and women of Denmark, opening one month after the death of the wise King Hamlet. One month after her husband passes away, Queen Gertrude remarries the dead king's brother, Claudius. All is well in this marriage until the former king's son, also named Hamlet, who still remains in Denmark, sees a spirit of his late father and turns to seek revenge for his father's death. In the eyes of the court, Hamlet goes mad, and King Claudius and Queen Gertrude attempt to discover the meaning behind Hamlet's insanity. Through a series of deaths and misfortunes, revenge and tragedy unfurl in one of the English language's most eloquently emotional stories.
The Thresher sat down with Composition and Theory Professor Karim Al- Zand, who was one of four composers to receive the 2011 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for $15,000 in music. These national awards are given annually to artists, writers, composers and architects. Al-Zand, a McMurtry College master, will apply half of his award toward a recording project for a
If you are reading this article, chances are you are pretty smart. While visiting a public party might point to the contrary, as Rice students, we are part of selective group of intelligent people. Just listen to the conversations around you, the casual musing about fluid dynamics or discussing the nuances of 19th Century feminist Chinese Literature. Yet, despite this genius and brilliance, many of us are woefully uneducated and ignorant of the world in which we live. Can you name three headlines from last week's national news? How about three congressmen, Supreme Court Justices or cabinet members? To some of you, these questions may be easy, but many Rice students can't even name the Secretary of Defense despite our country being at war. These do not just include the more science-based majors. I personally know an art history major who was surprised that there was an election last year.
With the opening of Waste Management's Municipal Recycling Facility, Rice's recycling system switched to single-stream recycling on Monday.Students will be able to place all recyclable materials into a single bin in their room or at designated recycling locations around campus rather than sorting recyclables into different bins themselves.
Rice's 11 mandatory college-wide meetings were called at the most appropriate of times (see story, page 1). These meetings were in tandem with the hard liquor moratorium and sought to address the alarming rise of on campus alcohol abuse. Administration made the appropriate decision for drastic action; however, the colleges' execution of the meetings was not quite as commendable. While most colleges used a standard format with speeches from chief justices, presidents, Resident Health Advisors and EMS personnel, some presentations failed to capture the attention of students. With all due fairness, the succeeding with this sort of meeting was not easy; many students attended due to fear of penalty instead of genuine desire to be there. Furthermore, the cramped setting and poor acoustics made it difficult for student leaders to truly connect. Nonetheless, the meetings failed to address the issues behind the alcohol abuse and served more to defend the drastic action of the moratorium. While the stats about EMS calls were emphasized, the reasons behind those calls were harped on meagerly. By focusing so strongly on stats such as EMS calls, the meetings may have had the effect of scaring students away from making such calls. Since students are constantly told that a high volume of EMS calls is the problem, students may try to solve the problem by simply not calling EMS. Clearly this is not the message that administrative or student leaders intended to convey, but it is one which may have been perceived by students because of the approach taken at the meetings.
"You're nobody (until somebody kills you)" sings Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G. aka Christopher Wallace while mocking Dean Martin on the posthumously released double-album Life after Death. Released just 16 days after Biggie's untimely death on March 9, 1997, at the hand of an unknown assailant during a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, CA, the album's ironic title symbolizes the career and personality of one of hip-hop's greatest legends. While in death Biggie's status has grown to monumental proportions, his fame and influence while he was alive were massive. In fact, footage of his funeral procession in Brooklyn includes images of Brooklyn erupting after someone plays his single "Hypnotize." With lyrics of frighteningly emotional depth that frequently contemplated his own demise, spelling out life's ills and even the material successes of a man who spent his teen years as a crack dealer, Biggie is one of the most complex, skilled and fascinating emcees of all times.Fourteen years after his death this week, Biggie is not under-appreciated: any rap fan's top five or even top 10 list includes him. He has several chart topping singles like "Juicy," "Mo' Money Mo' Problems" and "Big Poppa," despite only releasing one album while alive: Ready to Die. Not to cheapen his commercially successful singles (some of his best and most interesting songs are instantly accessible), if you listen closely to Biggie you'll learn a lot about a man who is much more than your average rapper.
