Special Projects

Valentine's Day delivers

Like the previews suggest, Valentine's Day aims to be the American version of 2003's Love Actually. And like the British romantic comedy, Valentine's Day focuses on multiple, if maudlin, storylines and amasses a sizable all-star cast. While its British counterpart used Christmas as a romantic backdrop, however, Valentine's Day focuses on the magic of Feb. 14, and the result is a wonderfully charming film.The movie centers around the chaos at a Los Angeles flower shop on Valentine's Day, its busiest day of the year. Assisted by his funny sidekick Alphonso (Beverly Hills Chihuahua's George Lopez), flower shop owner Reed Bennet (Personal Effects' Ashton Kutcher) is smitten with the holiday, having just asked his girlfriend Morley (The Love Guru's Jessica Alba) to marry him. While love-drunk Reed flits around the shop, basking in thoughts of wedding bells, he fills Valentine's Day flower orders for others attempting to capitalize on the holiday.

Lineup

After Tommy John, Fazio readies for return

Listening to the talk surrounding this year's baseball team, you may hear numerous mentions of some player named Anthony. Sounds about the same as last year, right?Well, not quite. Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon, Rice's reigning National Freshman of the Year, deserves the praise he receives, but freshman redshirt pitcher Anthony Fazio will be making inroads on Rendon's dominance of the Anthony-related buzz coming out of Reckling Park.

Eye of the tiger

Members of the Vietnamese Student Association fan out the traditional non la hats as part of last Saturday's Lunar New Year celebration. Held in the RMC's Grand Hall, the VSA and other East Asian groups helped kick off the Year of the Tiger.

Students oversee investing

While Rice is reforming the budget to meet the fiscal limit imposed by the current economic climate, Rice students are reforming the social impact of Rice's endowments. A group of students from Rice for Peace and Justice have come together to create the Committee on Investor Responsibility Policy, which focuses on the social and environmental impacts of Rice's investments. Richard Treadwell, co-founder of the committee, said that the committee was started to look at the social impact of Rice's investments.

Out of town, Owls' wings clipped

The baskets on the women's basketball team's road games are still 10 feet high, just as they are at Tudor Fieldhouse. The courts are still 94 feet long, and there are still five players out on the court for one team at any time. The rules and the dimensions, of course, remain the same. But it sure doesn't always seem so, which is why Head Coach Greg Williams may want to buy a tape measure and a rule book to show any doubting Owls before their next road game. Something, anything, to break the women's road swoon, a run that has seen them tumble to 1-9 in road games, 0-5 in the conference.

The Student Association Election Edition

See the complete four-page spread with all the blurbs here. Voting for the Student Association General Election begins today and lasts through Wednesday at 2 p.m. Voting is conducted entirely online at sa.rice.edu. Candidates are chosen by voters on a preferential basis, with each voter ranking their choices in each race. Voters are encouraged, though not required, to make a selection for each race and for each amendment and blanket tax proposal.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Women's tennis caught California dreaming

Last weekend, the women's tennis team made the long trip to sunny California in hopes of catching a couple of victories, and perhaps some rays as an added bonus. The weekend ended up decently, and the Owls (3-3) got some rays- but no victories were to be found.

SA president faces dynamic challenges

As group invitations supporting particular Student Association candidates begin to clog our revamped Facebook feeds this week, we realize another SA election is rapidly approaching. When looking to the future of the SA and the university as a whole this time of year, the Thresher has begun a tradition of evaluating the SA's actions over the previous year, offering suggestions to the presidential candidates as they plan not only for their campaigns but also their future terms.Brown College junior Tiffany Wu and Martel College junior Selim Sheikh have begun campaigns for the position of SA president for the majority of the 2010-11 school year. One of them will take on the position at a relatively good time for the SA, as the association has evolved from the "rubber-stamp" institution that we admonished three years ago into the student forum for discussion and movement that it was intended to be ("SA needs its own Vision," Feb. 23, 2007).

Vision Weekend ready for prospies

Now that all college applications have arrived, Rice will attempt to woo more than 150 prospective minority students with Mardi Gras beads and bus tours of Houston. Vision Weekend 2010, which comes with a "quasi-Mardi Gras" theme, is an opportunity for minority students who have applied to Rice to get a preview of the university before decision letters are sent, Admission Associate Director Laura Villafranca said. Students from underrepresented minority groups will be on campus Sunday through Tuesday, Feb. 16.

Distortion of truth remains unpunished

No matter how much we like to think that reporters and journalists always tell us the truth, it has become patently obvious with the rise of cable news services that we should be more critical of our news sources. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, two Florida reporters, were fired in 1997 by a FOX News subsidiary for refusing to report a story about bovine growth hormone that was known to be false. The reporters sued their former employer under Florida's Whistle-blower Act, which protects employees from being fired for calling attention to improper conduct within corporations. In 2004, Florida appeals court ruled that the station, like any news agency, was under no legal obligation to tell the truth.

Men see silver lining in dealing with top foe

There is always a silver lining when you are your own worst enemy: At the very least, you know your enemy well. That seems to be the case for the men's basketball team, which dropped another big lead to the University of Alabama at Birmingham last Saturday and found itself fighting back to beat Division II Texas A&M International University Monday. The laundry list of issues that has kept Rice (8-15, 1-8 Conference USA) at the bottom of the conference standings touches every aspect of its game.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Online only: New health advisor program to replace former clubs

If you're feeling a bit depressed or under the weather, a new breed of specially trained Rice Health Advisors will soon be able to take care of you.The new RHA program, implemented at the beginning of this fall semester, has replaced two former clubs, Health Representatives and College Assistance Peer Program. Health advisers to be deployed next academic year are currently enrolled in a new class, UNIV 250: Rice Health Advisors. The class, with approximately 30 students, is taught by Assistant Director of the Wellness Center Marissa Howat and provides the advisors with specialized training.

Vagina Monologues deliver touching show

Interested in truly celebrating an anti-Valentine's Day this year? Well, there may be no better place for those against commercialized romanticism and repressed heterosexuality than at a performance of The Vagina Monologues in the McMurtry College Commons this weekend. This year's production, co-directed by Wiess College junior Jocelyn Wright and Wiess sophomore Matt Banks, fits the bill nicely. An unabashed tribute to sex, the female experience and reproductive anatomy, that enigma to men and women alike, The Vagina Monologues strings together a series of powerful stories with a good deal of humor and insight to create an altogether enjoyable show.

Erratum

In last week's article on college budget cuts ("College course budgets face cuts," Feb.5), the Thresher reported that college courses began two years ago. Student-taught courses began two years ago, whereas college courses have been around for more than ten years. The Thresher also reported that college course budgets were cut after some colleges did not use up their college course budget. However, the colleges were spending their entire course budget on courses taught by professional instructors, and the decision to cut the college course budget was based on an expression of support for, and confidence in, the continued growth and impact of the student-taught course program. The Thresher regrets these errors.

Duncan College establishes 'fresh' identity

Serving as Rice's newest residential college, Duncan College has come into its own following its first semester on campus. Named after Rice alumnus Charles ('47) and Anne Duncan, the 11th college has both turned its green reputation into a mecca of environmental friendliness and brought an entirely new meaning to the word 'BaDunc'.Made up of 79 freshmen, the Duncan class is sharing its rooms with its sister college, Baker College. However, this integration goes beyond just living spaces, as the two colleges eat meals together, play intramural sports together and even vote together. Instead of differentiating Baker students from Duncan students, the combined student body is referred to as "BaDunc."

Owls rock Tigers, Hurricanes in homestand

If there were questions remaining about the stability of the men's tennis team's doubles slate, or how the two new transfers would fit into the lineup, or if senior Bruno Rosa, ranked 19th in the nation, had the mettle to shoulder the 32nd-ranked Owls (5-1), last weekend provided a cheat sheet. Doubles success? Check.

This week's A&E cartoon