Special Projects

Electric Arguments eclectic but electrifying

Sometimes, Paul McCartney just wants to be himself, and when he does, he uses a pen name. "The Fireman" was his pseudonym of choice a decade ago, when it graced the cover of several electronica albums, and now it is back for another effort, Electric Arguments.With this new LP, The Fireman, a duo consisting of McCartney and record producer Youth, branches out into a wide mixture of different styles and sounds, and Electric Arguments thrills listeners with the joy of discovery. Not every song on the album reaches the same height, but this project is a triumph anyway, and the results sound better and better with each new listen.

Pickens lays out energy plan

Concerned by the United States' dependence on foreign fuels and lack of sustainable domestic energy, Chairman, founder, and CEO of BP Capital T. Boone Pickens addressed a full auditorium at a town hall meeting hosted by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy last Tuesday, Jan. 6. In the meeting, Pickens, ranked the 117th richest American by Forbes, challenged the American people to divert one-third of imported oil to domestic energy resources within the next 10 years."I'm gonna put up my money and say what is my solution," Pickens said. "I'm a lone ranger."

Rice good to help families in need

With all the attention recently on the economy, it may come as a surprise to hear that Rice is raising its no-loan threshold, giving higher-income families the opportunity to qualify for a financial aid package that does not include loans (see story, page 1). Taking its lead from Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale, Rice decided last week to increase the annual income threshold from $60,000 to $80,000.Pardon us while we stand and applaud.

Football's Casey leaves Rice to enter NFL Draft

There is going to be a mammoth, Thor-sized hole at Rice Stadium next year. Sophomore James Casey, fresh off leading Rice to its first bowl victory since 1954, announced Monday that he will declare for the 2009 NFL Draft. "After talking long and hard with my wife, with my family, and looking at all the factors, I've decided to enter the draft this year," Casey, who sent in the preliminary draft papers on Dec. 2, said. "I've enjoyed every minute I've had here at Rice. I'll be a Rice Owl 'til the day I die."

Sports not only for athletically inclined

In the movie Milk, anti-gay activist Anita Bryant condemns laws and statutes protecting gay Americans on the basis that permitting them to do whatever it is that gay Americans do - which, as far as I understand, are mostly the same boring things that straight Americans do - would decimate the country and plunge its citizens, perhaps overnight, into severe moral degradation. Bryant and several other characters in the movie (and in real life) make this assertion with the underlying argument that the religion of Christ is the religion of the United States. Unfortunately for them, we know that Christianity isn't the American religion. Sports are the real American religion, and it is our patriotic duty to celebrate them.Rice won a bowl game last week. Maybe you heard about it. Several dozen of Rice's finest (and also #94, kicker Brandon Yelovich) took to the field and punished a motley crew of Michiganders, who deserved to lose because they are bad people and even worse footballers.

Fincher's Curious Case hits the right buttons

Most people don't realize that the success of a film depends heavily on when it is released. The fact that action movies dominate the box office in the late spring and summer is no coincidence. The major audiences for that genre are kids and teenagers who have just gotten out of school. Thrillers and horror movies do best in October (probably thanks to Halloween), romantic comedies and family movies are heavy in November (Thanksgiving) and Oscar-contending dramas flood in during December.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is no exception to the movie-debut calendar rule. It's hard to imagine this film being released at any point in the year other than Christmas. The movie's magical aura fits quite nicely with the spirit of the holiday season.

Freeze on new staff hires starts

In light of the recent global financial crisis, Rice has instituted a temporary staff hiring freeze and is asking that departments reduce their non-compensation operating expenses by 1 percent . The budget reductions should result in total university savings of $600,000, according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins.

Speaker choice good, but system needs more fixes

How is it that Stuyvesant High School can book This American Life radio show host Ira Glass for its commencement and Rice University cannot? We have a few ideas about this.Today, the Commencement Speaker Committee announced that the speaker for the 2009 Commencement will be Zainab Salbi, the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, an organization that helps female survivors of war to rebuild their lives through providing them financial assistance and education (see story, page 1). Though Salbi's father served as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot, Salbi herself is not associated with Hussein, as is evident from her body of humanitarian work.

Board member's support of Proposition 8 impacts campus

The passage of Proposition 8 in California, a ballot measure that stripped existing marriage rights from same-sex couples, was a painful and troubling moment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied people. For the fair minded and progressive members of the Rice community, this devastating measure signifies the reality that they, their families and their friends must continue to wait to be granted the same rights we are all guaranteed as citizens of America. Proposition 8 devalues the relationships and demeans the love of the gay and lesbian students in our classrooms who are forced to question when their partnerships will be given equal value to those of the students in the desks next to them. Straight allies are left with a sinking disappointment as they wait and wonder when they will see their friends or family members receive the benefits they themselves are freely given without question.

Commentary: End of the year choose your own Casey Michel column adventure

Click the picture to enjoy this week's publication of Casey Michel's commentary.

Letters to the Editor

Holocaust mention disrespectful, glib

Last Thresher until January

This week's issue will be our last until classes resume in January. Look for the first Thresher of the spring semester on Friday, Jan. 9.

Swimming succeeds at Cornhusker Invitational

The swim team proved head coach Seth Huston right: They showed that they can have unbeatable depth. While they have struggled to win dual meets in the past few months, the Owls had no trouble destroying their competition at the Cornhusker Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska Nov. 20-23. This meet organization was similar to the way the Conference USA Championships will run in February. In the morning the team swam in preliminaries and those with fast enough times made it to the finals the same evening, where they had an opportunity to score points. At the end of each day, Rice came out on top. After competing in 21 events over four days, Rice won the entire meet with 1,200 points, 121 points ahead of runner-up North Texas.

Sid wins intercollege recycling contest

Inter-college competition includes not only sports, but also saving the Earth one Coke can at a time. Last month, Sid Richardson College outshone the other colleges in a November-only aluminum recycling competition with 54 pounds of collected material - more than twice the amount of runner-up Wiess College. Overall campus recycling increased by 52 percent. The project was the latest sustainability-oriented effort from the class ENST 302: Environmental Issues: Rice in the Future. Sid senior Kassaundra Escalera, sophomore Paige Bailey, junior Meghan Binford and Will Rice College sophomore Abby Banks-Golub chose to run the contest as part of their final project on recycling. The students focused on aluminum recycling because of its ability to be recycled infinitely, Escalera said.

Australia epic in length and scope

The newly-released film Australia is nothing short of fantastic. Its breathtaking cinematography, genuinely believable actors and epic plot are sure to attract Academy Award nods and happy audiences.Australia tells the story of World War II-era Englishwoman Sarah Ashley (The Golden Compass' Nicole Kidman), who flies to Darwin, Australia, to visit her philandering husband and his bankrupt ranching company.

Volleyball earns national bid

Prior to last weekend's match against Texas Christian University at Tudor Fieldhouse, only the upperclassmen on the volleyball team could remember the last time the Owls played a home contest on Autry Court. But even the seniors had no recollection of the last time Rice received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Owls (23-7) closed out the regular season last Friday with a 3-1 win over the visiting Horned Frogs, but the victory party extended through the postseason selection show Sunday night, when the NCAA officially announced that Rice was one of the 64 teams invited to the national competiton. This is the second time that the volleyball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament in its 27 year history - the last time was in 2004.

Comic: Cingle Cellularity

2009 Commencement speaker announced

The commencement speaker this May for the class of 2009 will be Zainab Salbi, the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, the Commencement Speaker Committee announced this week. The organization provides women in war-stricken areas of the world, many of whom have lost their husbands, with financial assistance, education and job training to regain their pre-war status. Salbi is also the author of Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam, a memoir about growing up in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime, and The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival & Hope.

News in Brief: Felon on campus, MOB in Thanksgiving Day Parade, plus more

RUPD pursues felon on campus

Tomb Raider: Underworld shines despite some nagging problems

[Editor's Note: While Tomb Raider: Underworld was released across all platforms, this review only covers the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game.]It was only two short years ago that developer Crystal Dynamics resurrected the troubled Tomb Raider franchise with Tomb Raider: Legend and then followed up with a solid remake of the original Tomb Raider just one year later. Can Eidos and Crystal Dynamics pull off a three-peat this year with Tomb Raider: Underworld?