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NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Sophomore slump: Panic at the Disco and The Raconteurs show that springtime growth should not mean uprooting

By Sarah Cook

Yesterday, both Panic at the Disco and The Raconteurs released their sophomore efforts, and in my excitement, I bought them both. As a way early Christmas present to myself, I first opened Pretty.Odd., the beautiful Panic at the Disco album, drawn to the gorgeous nineteenth-century-style cover, thick with flowers and butterflies.As the first song, "We're So Starving," came on, I remembered why I love them so much. It's not because they're indie-cool (because they're not). It's not because they're technically the best musicians (because they're not). It is because of their fast, upbeat, fresh sound, a sound that evokes smiles even when the lyrics are filled with prostitutes, adultery and sleazy hotels. Unfortunately, as the album continued, I realized that these snarky pop kids seem to have thrown out their old sound for something much sunnier and, sadly, much more boring.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Don't be an April fool: rent classics

By Brian Reinhart

Drillbit Taylor. College Road Trip. Never Back Down. Do any of those titles make you want to run to the movie theater? Me neither. With the Oscars over and all the good movies of the year scheduled to come out during either summer or fall, Hollywood is beginning to feed us a steady stream of crap. What is a movie lover to do?My solution is to start renting older movies. There are hundreds of forgotten films from decades past just waiting for us to rediscover them. Here are some recommendations to start things off: three obscure, but great, movies from the '70s, ‘80s and '90s.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Men's tennis catches breath before facing Tulsa

By Casey Michel

When three straight wins over ranked opponents can be described as the calm before the storm, it is easy to see how tough the men's tennis schedule really is. Having already faced a dozen opponents ranked in the top 75 over the last few months, the men's tennis team took on three more at last weekend's Rice Invite, sweeping aside No. 46 University of Iowa, No. 68 Middle Tennessee State and No. 62 University of San Diego to capture the tournament crown.But now is no time for the 22nd-ranked Owls to exhale - their most important test of the season comes to Jake Hess Tennis Stadium this Wednesday. The University of Tulsa, currently ranked 11th in the nation, has given Rice the greatest trouble of any opponent in recent memory: The Golden Hurricane has halted the Owls' last two Conference USA championship runs in the final match to capture two consecutive conference titles.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Horton captures imaginations and Seuss' vision

By Rameez Anwar

After the last two movie adaptations of a Dr. Seuss story - the forgettable How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the abominable The Cat in the Hat - it had become a legitimate concern as to whether it was possible to successfully convert one of Seuss's concise classics into a full-length film. However, Hollywood's latest attempt, Horton Hears a Who!, makes the prospect of a big screen Green Eggs and Ham much less frightening. While the movie is legitimately entertaining, and not even in a "so bad it's kind of good" way, it flags in energy whenever it strays from the concept of the original story and focuses on uninspired plot additions.For the most part, the film focuses on Dr. Seuss' original plot: Horton the elephant (The Number 23's Jim Carrey) discovers a microscopic world on a speck of dust, befriends the mayor of tiny Whoville ("The Office"'s Steve Carell) and then embarks on a journey to find a safe place to store the speck of dust.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Model UN awarded at conference

By Cindy Dinh

With world affairs debated in the media daily, Rice students have the opportunity to engage in political current events by walking in the shoes of an international delegate. Last weekend, seven delegates from the Rice Model United Nations team competed in the University of California at Berkeley Model United Nations Conference held in San Francisco, Calif. and came home with awards such as Honorable Mention for Small Delegation.The collegiate chapter of Model UN emulates the United Nations in that student delegates are randomly assigned committees such as the Security Council or World Bank and represent the interests of their assigned country. Rice members represented Pakistan and Burkina Faso, and the delegates prepared by researching topics and writing position papers on how their assigned country would feel about certain issues. Some of the topics included Iran seeking nuclear weapons, non-state paramilitary organizations or women's human rights violations in Malaysia.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Perry appoints Gillis to cancer research grant committee

By Catherine Bratic

Former Rice President and current economics professor Malcolm Gillis was appointed to Texas' Cancer Prevention and Research Institute Oversight Committee last Thursday by governor Rick Perry. The institute was formed after a statewide vote in November with the purpose of allocating a total of $3 billion in grants for cancer research to researchers nationwide, not just those based in Texas."I wouldn't have signed up if it had been just Texas researchers," Gillis said. "This proves that we can compete with anybody on equal footing."

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Leebron serves as panelist at Clinton Global Institute

By Catherine Bratic

Inspired by his experiences over spring break, President David Leebron is encouraging students to step up and use their education to find solutions to global problems.Last weekend, Leebron joined other presidents and students from universities across the country at the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University at Tulane University. The three-day event focused on how students can make a worldwide difference in the areas of energy and climate change, human rights and peace, global health and poverty alleviation.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Guest column:Financial aid ehancements tangible, vital

By David Ouyang

In an ideal world, college admissions would be based solely on merit, and the cost of education would have no bearing on the matriculation decision. Even with supportive parents, the burden of financial responsibility is heavy, and the cost of education is far from cheap. Recent changes in financial aid policies of top American universities have changed the college admissions environment and made the competition for the top students even more competitive.In the final months of 2007, Harvard University created ripples in higher education by revamping its financial aid policy. By changing tuition to cost 10 percent of family income for students from families earning up to $180,000 per year (tuition would be $18,000 per year for those hypothetical students), Harvard greatly decreased the cost of education for students from middle to upper-middle class backgrounds. This policy shift was mimicked by Yale University, while Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Duke University and our own Rice University have chosen the less drastic measure of increasing the maximum income for providing full tuition, allowing families who make more to pay less.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Men's tennis continues slide against LSU

By Casey Michel

Most Rice students across campus were in pain last week because of collisions with not-so-stray water balloons. The men's tennis team, on the other hand, was hurting for an entirely different reason. For the second week in a row, No. 17 Rice lost to a lower-ranked opponent at home, falling 4-2 to No. 26 Louisiana State University and dropping to 9-5 on the year. The defeat came one week after the Owls, then ranked 11th in the country, fell 4-3 against then- No. 17 Florida State University.Rice, which has only played two matches in the last two weeks, will pick up its leisurely pace this weekend. As host of the Rice Invite, the Owls will have matches against three ranked opponents in as many days. The first will be today at noon at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium against No. 49 University of Iowa. Iowa recently played the cutting board for the Ohio State University buzzsaw - the nation's No.2 team promptly routed the host Hawkeyes 7-0.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Commencement choice needs more consideration

By Staff Editorial

After a long delay, and well after its usual fall semester timeline, Rice announced Tuesday that this year's commencement speaker will be former Rice president George Rupp (see story, page 1). While we know Rupp will provide an excellent speech and we appreciate the selection committee's decision to choose a familiar speaker, we feel that in the future the committee should focus on attracting people whose public notability has a wider reach. Certainly, former Rice presidents are active enough in the wider community to offer much poignant advice to graduates, but there is plenty to be said about choosing a speaker who is not necessarily "from the family," yet who can still deliver a Rice-relevant message.In addition, we hope next year's selection committee convenes earlier in the year. The most sought-after speakers receive invitations many months or even years in advance, and if Rice wants to give itself the best chance possible to land one of these people, it should not be one of the last schools to start looking.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Guest column:Return of student activism combats sympathy fatigue

By Julia Lukomnik

What is your reaction when faced with a problem? How about 10,000 problems? The Internet and general trade patterns have made the world a much more accessible place over the last 20 years, not only bringing us closer to our fellow man but also bringing us closer to his problems. Look at the front page of a newspaper and you're bound to read about worker exploitation in China, suicide bombing in Iraq, sex trafficking in Eastern Europe or, more recently, genocide in Sudan. It is absolutely overwhelming, and the constant barrage of negative imagery that persists can have detrimental effects, especially on the most idealistic. This condition is called sympathy fatigue.Sympathy fatigue is much like apathy and occurs when a person feels the weight of so many problems that they stop taking any sort of action to combat the problems. We might also call it getting jaded.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

SA, FE&P install more bike racks on campus

By Jocelyn Wright

The bike racks across campus may be a little less crowded after Facilities, Engineering and Planning installed a total of 215 new slots over spring break. FE&P worked with Brown College senator Patrick McAnaney and Lovett College senator Fiona Adams to determine locations for the new bicycle racks, which will go by the academic buildings and around Rice Stadium. FE&P Communications Manager Susann Glenn said her department had been given $50,000 for additional bike racks in academic, administrative and athletic areas. Glenn said this budget will provide enough racks to hold 335 additional bikes.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Grits and gesundheit:Listen to celebrities; support the war

By Caroline May

Pop Quiz: Who recently wrote this in a Washington Times opinion piece? "What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance ... I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy. As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: United Nations staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq." Your choices: A) Senator Joe Biden, B) General David Petraeus, C) President George W. Bush or D) Angelina Jolie. If you guessed A, B or C, you would be wrong. While some may attempt to brush aside the good reports, empirical evidence and success stories, the truth is becoming harder and harder to ignore. Even Jolie, the ever-difficult-to-label, yet prominent media figure has even weighed in on American progress in Iraq.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Commentary:One fan's pilgrimage becomes fortunate musical discovery

By Ingrid Norbergs

I've been through a lot to see my favorite band, Two Gallants, play live. I've narrowly escaped police brutality (Google their October 13, 2006 show at Walter's on Washington if you're curious) and braved hordes of studded belt-wearing and self-consciously-smoking scenester teens when 2Gs opened for the emo-punk band Against Me. But I have never before driven six hours round-trip to see them, or any band, play. Zombie driving through the wee hours may not compare in shock value to witnessing a crazed cop with a Taser, but it was probably at least as dangerous.I had hatched this plan months ago after I found out 2Gs were playing in Austin, a location well within reasonable driving distance. The fact that they were playing during the annual South by Southwest music festival and conference was, at the onset, entirely secondary. I had always been interested in attending SXSW, as it is called, especially after my stellar first experience with Austin's other major music festival, Austin City Limits, but conference passes cost ungodly amounts of money and the confusing Web site provided little information on any other way to experience it. I gladly resigned myself to seeing only Two Gallants and didn't think much more about it.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Global scholars discuss Judas, scriptures at Codex Judas Congress

By Bryan Ellis

Though Rice may have been taken over by the excitement of Willy Week and Beer-Bike, the academic community was focused on another big event on campus last week. The Codex Judas Congress, which was put together by Religious Studies Professor April DeConick, took place Mar. 13-16 in Farnsworth Pavilion, and various buildings across campus. Thirty scholars from around the world came to discuss the recently rediscovered Tchacos Codex, a fourth century collection of Gnostic documents from the Judeo-Christian tradition. In addition to the scholars invited to participate, there were also five papers presented by graduate students, including religious studies graduate students Chad Day, Franklin Trammel and Claire Villarrael. Other graduate students attended as auditors, as did several members of the Houston community.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Té provides variety and spice

By Rachel Solnick

Often neglected by college students for having less caffeine than coffee, tea is a delight well worth discovering. The taste of tea avoids the burnt and acrid tinge to which mediocre coffee falls victim, just as its culture contrasts with the routine-confining, addiction-inducing lifestyle that plagues coffee drinkers. A good cup of tea is steeped in hospitality, relaxation, and simple elegance. To be a connoisseur of tea is to be a connoisseur of life's more delicate, nuanced pleasures, which is a worldly pursuit worth cultivating. Luckily, that pursuit is only a 15-minute bike ride from Rice.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Unauthorized jack injures student

By Jocelyn Wright

Willy Week jacks are typically harmless, humorous and a minor inconvenience. However, an unauthorized jack by Will Rice College --- in which members of the college strung up spiderwebs made of fishing wire across campus -- broke this tradition when two students got caught in them. At about 1 a.m. Thursday morning, Martel College sophomore Jen Pan was riding her bicycle and hit one of Will Rice's spiderwebs strung in the path from Lovett College to Lovett lot. She said the wire twisted around her neck and cut her.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Offensive explosion propels Rice to sweep

By Jessica Cannon

As if five wins were not enough to make last week cause for celebration for the baseball team, head coach Wayne Graham also tacked on career victory No. 750 to his resumé. The wins - four of which came against Winthrop University and one against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette - may have coincided with the end of sophomore third baseman Diego Seastrunk's 19-game hitting streak, but freshman shortstop Rick Hague more than made up for it with a .588 batting average over the weekend, including in six RBIs on two homers in a single game.The ninth-ranked Owls (14-6) swept Winthrop (3-10) in a four-game series this past weekend before defeating La.-Lafayette (6-11) by a score of 17-6 on Wednesday evening at Reckling Park.

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