This last Saturday, I visited the Cultural Cook-Off in the McNeil Room. With 10 different groups presenting their cultures’ foods, there was some very good food offered at the event. At the same time, there were several problems with the food that some groups decided to make. There were also a lot of plantains. Read more...

During its weekly general body meeting on Monday, the Student Senate voted on whether to show its support of the recent changes made to the Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities 2012–2014 by Dean of Students Mark Smith. Read more...

Hello RPI! This is officially the last Top Hat that I will get to write, which is making me a little nostalgic. I can’t believe how fast my Grand Marshal term has gone by, how fast this year has gone by, and how in no time we’ll be walking across the stage to shake President Shirley Ann Jackson’s hand as we graduate and enter the alumni community. Read more...

GM Week is here! I hope that everyone takes some time out of their schedules this week, especially today when classes are cancelled, to check out the many events planned for “the block.” I would like to give a shout out to the chair of the GM Week Committee,
William Schmitt ’13, who, together with his team has put an amazing amount of thought, time, and effort into planning some great events. Please see their website
(http://gmweek.union.rpi.edu/) for a complete listing of events, programs, and activities that are taking place this week! Tomorrow, student government elections will take place—a process that allows you to choose those students whom you would like to see in leadership roles here on campus. Students can vote in the Rensselaer Union and Commons Dining Hall lobbies from 9 am to 7 pm, and in the DCC Great Hall from 9 am to 5 pm. Everyone who votes tomorrow will be given the traditional souvenir:
a GM Week mug! Read more...

It was my freshman year, here at RPI, when I first participated in Relay For Life. I had become a member of the committee in September 2011, and it was a blessing to be around members who truly wanted to put an end to cancer. At the time, my great-uncle, Judge Cardona, was fighting one of the worst cancers known to man, and was doing really well. Read more...

This past week, movies faced the loss of an icon. I am of course talking about the late, great Roger Ebert. For those of you that don’t know, Ebert was one of the most influential film critics of all time, advocating for low-key art films alongside crowd-pleasing blockbusters. Ebert was never my go-to critic when I was looking for movie reviews, but I remember that I was always impressed that, despite his seemingly highbrow attitude, he was always extremely objective and seemed to love big blockbuster movies just as much as artsy independent films. When I set out to do these reviews, I can definitely say it was for fun, but I also can’t say that it wasn’t because people like Ebert inspired me; Ebert was arguably one of the first to stand up and declare that films were art, something of which I am definitely a proponent. So it was with Ebert in mind that I went and saw the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park, one of my all time favorite movies. Here’s the big question: How does it hold up, especially in three dimensions? Read more...

For my 21st birthday, I wished that “my family/friends are/will be happy.” This is something I still wish for every now and then whenever I blow on an eyelash or throw a penny into a fountain. And this is something I’ll still wish for if I ever have a future family. Read more...

On Monday, April 1, the Union Annual Report Committee launched a website that provides students with an easy way to view the details of the Union budget. Each year, the UAR Committee releases a report that details the Union budget, which allows students to view the finances of the Executive Board. However, the length of the document deters many students. Read more...

Over the past two semesters, I have realized one thing that is extremely important when working on something: deadlines. Whenever you work on a project or are given a deadline for anything, it is important to stick to it as best you can. Many things have deadlines, and not meeting deadlines can cause problems down the line with other things that depend on that part of the project. At RPI, every student has hundreds of deadlines each semester including deadlines for problem sets, lab reports, papers, code, and research. Read more...

Why does a studio decide to delay a movie? In many cases, it could be due to production issues, or too much competition in a busier time of the year. However, in the case of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, it was simply because the movie was just not good enough to be released to theaters. That’s right, Retaliation was supposed to be released months ago, and yet studio execs decided that the film needed to undergo stringent rewrites and reshoots before they were even willing to show it to the public. Still, was there any point in releasing a sequel to G.I Joe anyways? Marketed as something of a reboot, Retaliation certainly wasn’t off to a good start after rumors regarding its delay hit the media outlets. So where exactly does this anomaly of a film stand? Read more...

On Tuesday, April 2, Student Senate Rules and Elections Committee Chair William Toth ’13 released an announcement via e-mail stating that there have been two violations to Grand Marshal Week campaigning rules. These are the the first violations this year with currently uncontested races for Grand Marshal and President of the Union. Read more...

It is not uncommon for my evenings to include an exchange similar to “I cast my general.” “In response, I’ll use my Top, then counter it.” A significant percentage of the RPI populace will immediately recognize this as a segment of a game of Magic: the Gathering. I started playing Magic as a serious hobby seven years ago and was handed a deck by a friend from school. Since then, I’ve gotten into the game more and more, to the point that when I got to RPI three years ago, I quickly searched out the most obvious concentration of people playing the game: the RPI Magic Club. While the people there playing at the time were significantly better than I was, everyone was very welcoming and I enjoyed the casual games that went on. Read more...

It’s late Wednesday morning. The savory smells of local and organic food are wafting out from the 5th floor of the Experimental Music and Performing Arts Center. Student volunteers are busy setting tables, filling pitchers with water, and arranging the kitchen in preparation for plating meals. Customers are about to start flooding in, and they will enjoy a delicious meal for a very affordable price. This is just a typical Wednesday at Terra Café. Read more...

Have you ever been in Commons Dining Hall at 3 pm when there is no food? Have you ever been in Russell Sage Dining Hall at 3 pm when there is even less food. Have you ever been denied entry to a dining hall simply because of the location of your residence? If you have a meal plan along with a full course load, you have probably experienced the need for food at an awkward time, but if you have class from 8 am to 2 pm you will most likely be hard-pressed to find sustenance at any on-campus dining hall. Read more...

Hi, everyone! We are just a few days away from the kickoff of Grand Marshal Week 2013! The GM Week 2013 Committee is chaired by Will Schmitt ’13 who has phenomenally transformed this year’s celebrations into something that is unprecedented. Read more...

Hello again, RPI! I hope that everyone’s semester is progressing well, especially with Grand Marshal Week only a few days from now. This year’s GM Week Committee has been working extremely hard to plan events that will blow you away. Please see their website (http://gmweek.union.rpi.edu/) for a complete listing of events, programs, and activities that will take place next week! Read more...

This week we would like to highlight the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. Pi Lambda Phi has 35 chapters in the US and Canada. It was founded at Yale, in the late 19th century, as the first non-sectarian fraternity, fighting to break away from the prejudices of race, religion, or creed. Pi Lambda Phi holds academia, athletics, community service, and friendship as the main pillars of its brotherhood. Read more...