Special Projects

Review: ‘Smithereens’ is an interlude between Joji albums

Coming off of his previous hit albums, Joji’s “Smithereens” felt like a half-cooked and overhyped EP rather than a sequel album to rival his previous release. The album’s opener, “Glimpse of Us,” is a strong melodic opening and sets the album’s theme of missing an ex. The rich instrumentals and cutting lyrics work to create a telling story: the idea of a perfect ex-lover.

Review: ‘Wakanda Forever’ is a compelling and poignant tribute

“In my culture, death is only the beginning.” King T’Challa, or Black Panther, says this after the death of his father in “Captain America: Civil War,” and in many ways “Wakanda Forever” is a film that embodies that saying from start to finish. Though likely not the box-office sensation that “Black Panther” was, “Wakanda Forever” still meets its predecessor in story, quality and acting, and even exceeds it in other areas. 

Review: Lindsey Lohan’s holiday flick ‘Falling for Christmas’ fails to sleigh

It is time. The temperature has cooled, Christmas trees are replacing pumpkins and boughs of holly are adorning the hallways. For some, the holiday season means gift giving, gathering with family and friends or decorating gingerbread houses. For others, holiday festivities mean sipping hot chocolate while enjoying highly predictable, profusely cheesy Christmas romance movies. 

Review: Steeper prices grill Burger Bodega

Salt, fat, acid, heat. When evaluating a hamburger, the first two elements of cooking are essential. In fact, they become non-negotiable in cases where the burger is priced above average. In addition to salt and fat, places that strive to serve high-end fast food must deliver on both quality and price. A new competitor has recently taken on the challenge: Burger Bodega, a pop art-inspired Houston restaurant offering a small menu of burgers, fries and shakes, all at higher price points. 

Rock On, Rice: KTRU to host Battle of the Bands

This Friday night, student bands from across campus will take their places under Pub’s blinding lights and face off in this year’s Battle of the Bands. The battle, which will begin at 7 p.m., is being hosted by KTRU and the Rice Music Collective, and its winners will get to perform at the KTRU Outdoor Show in the spring.

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo grapples with life, death and art

America’s first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, stopped by Rice’s Brockman Hall for a reading of her newly published poetry collection, “Weaving Sundown in a Scarle Light: 50 Poems for 50 Years,” on the rainy evening of Monday, Nov. 14. Following  the reading was an on-stage conversation with 2022 Texas Poet Laureate Lupe Mendez, during which Harjo shared harrowingly intimate details of her view on art, life, death and loss.

Houston film festival highlights local trailblazers

The Houston Cinema Arts Festival, now running in theaters from Nov. 10 to 17, is a celebration of both the global and local film communities, highlighting trailblazing documentaries, outsider narratives and innovative short films. In a film landscape typically defined to most people by the various megaplexes scattered around the city, the festival is bringing a necessarily diverse set of voices and perspectives into the spotlight.

Review: Concert battle pits Paul Wall against Gary Clark Jr.

Texas music was alive and well last Thursday night, when Houston rap legend Paul Wall “battled” Austin-based, Grammy-winning guitarist Gary Clark Jr. in a Red Bull SoundClash. The stage set-up accentuated the two artists’ home cities: Clark’s stage sported a brick building with classic Austin signage — a marquee and a neon Antone’s sign for the city’s famed live music venue — and Wall’s stage featured a massive Houston Oilers logo and Houston skyline cutouts. 

Volleyball gets final chance to reverse the C-USA tournament curse

Even though they’ve won 48 of their last 50 conference regular season games, the Rice volleyball team has not won a Conference USA tournament since 2018. After three straight years as the conference’s runners-up, the Owls will finally look to reverse their fortunes in what will be their final postseason in C-USA. This year, the No. 22 Owls enter the tournament with an almost perfect conference record of 13-1, and 23-3 overall. According to head coach Genny Volpe, the team is excited to jump into postseason volleyball.

Women’s basketball tops S. F. Austin in back-and-forth season opener

The Rice women’s basketball team defeated Stephen F. Austin State University 89-77 on Thursday to open their season. The Owls’ highest scorer was sophomore forward Malia Fisher, who contributed 18 points and 20 rebounds over the course of the night.

Volleyball misses out on C-USA regular season title to WKU by inches

Whenever the Rice volleyball team plays Western Kentucky University, the two head coaches have a running joke. “[WKU head coach] Travis [Hudson] and I always joke, ‘let’s get ready for a five set match,’ because we know it’s going five,” Owls’ head coach Genny Volpe said. Thursday’s game between the two Conference USA heavyweights was no exception. It took the Hilltoppers five sets and a tie-break to claim the conference regular season title over the Owls in the closest you’ll get to an instant classic in small-conference volleyball.

Injuries and INTs: Football crushed by WKU in turnover-fest

The Rice football team lost to Western Kentucky University 45-10 on Saturday afternoon, dropping them to 5-5 on the season and 3-3 in conference play. The Owls struggled on both sides of the ball, with the offense recording six turnovers and the defense allowing 495 yards. According to head coach Mike Bloomgren, the team just didn’t play very well.

Cross country season ends quietly for both teams at regionals

Rice’s Cross Country season ended at the South Central Regional Meet on Nov. 11. The women’s team, coming off a third place finish in the Conference USA Championship, crossed the line ninth this weekend, falling short of their second place finish and NCAA championship berth attained last fall. In a season plagued with injuries, the Owls were missing some of 2021’s most impressive runners, including last year’s regional champion junior Grace Forbes. This year, junior Taigen Hunter-Galvan led the Owls in nineteenth place with a six-kilometer time of 21:04.2, improving on her twenty-first place 21:25.5 run at 2021’s regionals. According to Hunter-Galvan, the team had their eyes set on nationals again before injuries got in the way.

11-16-2022 Crossword Solutions

11-16-2022 Crossword: "Child's Play"

REMS to the rescue: Owls talk Collegiate EMS Week

From stubbed toes to life-threatening injuries, one group of dedicated students has seen it all. Throughout the past 26 years, Rice University Emergency Medical Services has rallied around the Rice community, providing support during natural disasters such as Winter Storm Uri and Hurricane Katrina and administering 4,372 vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Collegiate EMS Week, which takes place during the second week in November, the organization hosted a series of events to increase their visibility and continue expanding their impact on campus. 

Tyler Perini wants to be the mentor he never had

Tyler Perini — or, as students call him, Dr. P — is a Pfeiffer Postdoctoral Instructor in Computational and Applied Mathematics who also researches multiobjective discrete optimization at Rice. He grew up in Atlanta and did his undergraduate at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where he studied applied math. He later returned to Atlanta to Georgia Tech and received his Ph.D. in operations research. 

Spice up your Thanksgiving break with these activities

Explore new ways to celebrate Thanksgiving in the greater Houston area. From parades to adventure parks, there is a Thanksgiving Day activity — or two — for everybody to enjoy this season. Bundle up and head out into town on Thanksgiving Day to make some unforgettable fun-filled memories.

Senior Spotlight: Erin Harrison explores her boulder self at Rice

As a self-professed guide through the outdoors, Erin Harrison is no stranger to a bit of nature. From placing in national rock climbing competitions to leading trips for Rice Outdoor Programs and Education, Harrison’s love for climbing — which sparked nearly a decade ago — has remained constant throughout the years.

Where we must agree: the politics of humanness

The words “free speech” will likely elicit groans from Thresher readers. Over the last three years, there have been three articles in the Opinion section bemoaning the need for a “classically liberal” political discourse at Rice. Unfortunately, between their self-righteousness and needless wordiness, they read more like whiny lectures than conversation starters. However, despite their condescension, their existence does suggest something unsettling about not just our campus politics, but politics at large. As the electorates of democracies around the world have become more sharply divided, the way we speak to each other, not just across the aisle but to our similarly minded partisans, has become more accusatory, exclusionary and violent. Put simply: we do not want to talk to each other, and understandably so. It is exhausting, and, more than that, we just don’t seem to know how to.