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.
Women's track take eighth
Today, anger, malaise and fatalism pervade American politics. Listening to our leaders' speakers, one might infer that our very way of life is under constant threat. For those in need of some good old-fashioned American optimism, I recommend viewing the 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie, My Date with the President's Daughter, a film not only about fashion, blooming sexuality and fatherhood but also about a government by and for the American people. The movie covers one night of madcap hijinks and romantic tension between the president's 16-year-old daughter, Hallie Richmond (Elisabeth Harnois, Ten Inch Hero), and the longhaired Duncan (Will Freidle, "Boy Meets World"). The two meet in a local mall after Hallie runs away from one of her father's (Dabney Coleman, You've Got Mail) cliché-ridden campaign events to go live life as a regular teenager. Ignorant of her important stature and desperate to prove to his friends that he can get girls, Duncan asks Hallie to the local school dance. Duncan then steals his father's (Jay Thomas, Mr. Holland's Opus) BMW and in one of the greatest scenes of the film, realizes that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is no regular house. The two then embark on their date, quickly ditching the Secret Service at a movie theater, and run amok and unsupervised along the streets of Washington, D.C., forcing President Richmond and Duncan's father to join forces to locate the wayward teenagers, as the Secret Service proves inept.
Hosting East Carolina University on Saturday, Feb. 26, it was once again the season-long Achilles' heel that dug the Owls in a hole in the first half. Rice allowed the Pirates (15-13, 7-7) to shoot 8-15 from behind the arc over the opening 20 minutes, and found themselves down by 10 points at the half.But led by the shooting of junior forward Lucas Kuipers, the Owls would battle back down the stretch in spite of the deep-range shooting of ECU. A Kuipers three-pointer with 6:16 left would bring Rice to within four, before a junior guard Connor Frizzelle jumper after a pair of free throws tied the game with just 2:48 to go. After the teams exchanged threes down the stretch, the Pirates had the ball tied at 68 with 34 seconds to go. After dribbling out the clock, ECU's Sherrod connected on a deep three-pointer with under three seconds to go to put the Pirates ahead for good.
The long anticipated shortage of Beer Bike balloon fight trucks has finally come to fruition, and the campus Beer Bike Coordinating team has been caught much like a deer-in-headlights (see story, page 1). The success rate of colleges acquiring trucks has taken a distinct drop-off in the past few years as the true purpose of Beer Bike truck rentals became more apparent to local truck proprietors. Unfortunately, 2011 was the breaking point; many colleges are without trucks, and the university is without a solid backup plan. Although the blame for the truck shortage does not lie directly with the Beer Bike coordinators, they can be held culpable for a significant lack of foresight. When deciding on an alternate parade plan earlier this year, the coordinators should have noted the recent decline in truck availability and selected an alternative that minimizes the need for trucks.
Never having won the Conference USA Championship, the swim team has been well accustomed to placing third or a satisfactory second, but this year was different. The squad has always preached optimism before the first splashes of every conference championship, but reality usually set in, for the Owls quickly resigned themselves to yet another year staring up at perennial champ Southern Methodist University. However, the depth and sharp execution delivered by the team last week in University of Houston's Recreational Center Natatorium provided some new pages for the school's record books. On day one, the relay team started the Owls strong as the foursome of freshman Michelle Gean, junior Shelby Bottoms, sophomore Kylee Talwar and freshman Karina Wlostowska swam a season-best 1:43.15 to place third in the 200-medley relay, the third-fastest time in Rice history. The 800-freestyle relay team carried out the momentum, with freshman Chelsea Fong, junior Alex O'Brien, junior Alison Godbe and sophomore Stephanie Wei blazed to a third-place finish with a season-best 7:23.42, the fourth-fastest time in school history.
My high school cross-country coach once said that there was no greater insult then for someone to say, "you have great potential." It meant that you were doing something wrong, that you could be great but weren't there yet. That said, The Adjustment Bureau, directed by George Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum), only had great potential despite an intriguing premise and talented actors.The movie begins with New York congressman David Norris (Matt Damon, Inside Job) meeting Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada), the girl of his dreams, on a bus and striking up one of those flirtatious and witty conversations that only occur in movies. Soon we learn that this seemingly innocuous event was not meant to happen. Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie, We Are Marshall), a member of the Adjustment Bureau, an assortment of fedora clad figures that ensure mortals follow the "plan" of the godlike chairman, was supposed to spill Norris' coffee to prevent him from getting on the bus. Mitchell attempts to fix the problem by pausing time to tweak the situation, but in another snafu, Norris remains in real time and notices this. This forces the senior member of the adjusters who is in charge of the congressman's case, Richardson (John Slattery, Iron Man 2), to explain to Norris (and the audience) the existence of the bureau. This knowledge comes with a tremendous caveat: if Norris tells anyone else he will be subject to legitimization. Furthermore, he can never see the girl. This sets the action for Norris to fight the agents of fate itself to be with the girl.
Online Comment of the Week In response to "Alcohol: Probation Announced" Feb. 25:
While most students were lounging around on beaches and getting 12 hours of sleep at home during spring break, the men's tennis team was working hard and playing crucial matches as they traveled to San Diego to play at 54th-ranked San Diego State University (1-8) and at the 20th-ranked University of San Diego (9-2) while also participating in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, CA.The Owls started spring break off right as they beat San Diego State, 5-2 on February 28. Rice claimed the crucial doubles point thanks to wins from the pairs of senior Oscar Podlewski and sophomore Harry Fowler and juniors Christian Saravia and Isamu Tachibana. After that, the Owls put the match away as they won four of the six singles thanks to sophomore Peter Frank, Podlewski, Saravia and Tachibana.
The Thresher sat down briefly with each of the new college presidents and asked about their goals, their colleges and their spirit animals.
