Stanford Report, March 8, 2006

Cardinal Chronicle

BY MICHAEL PEÑA

After the Academy Awards show on Sunday, a few TV commentators gushed about good-guy-in-Hollywood GEORGE CLOONEY winning the gold-plated statuette for his supporting role in Syriana. But also sporting a proud afterglow this week is Palo Alto-based stone carver and artist OLEG LOBYKIN. Lobykin, who will oversee the high-profile balustrade restoration project starting later this month in front of the Main Quad (see story on back page), was asked last year by a nonprofit group in Los Angeles to sculpt an award for an upcoming independent film festival. He took a shapely sea stone from the shores of Santa Cruz—it had a hole in the middle and niches on both sides—and partially covered it with silver to contrast the stone's natural form with an artificial enhancement. It became the Spirit of Independence Award and was bestowed upon none other than the dimply heartthrob last June. Whether or not Lobykin's creation is currently sitting on a shelf next to an Oscar, "I'm glad it got into good hands," he said. "I do feel some kind of personal connection now."

These performances will probably go unnoticed by the Academy, but Environmental Health and Safety has put out a casting call on its website for videos that the office plans to produce. Anyone interested in becoming an actor may contact EH&S training and communication specialist ROBERT EDGAR at rbedgar@stanford.edu.

The Stanford Cooking Club has fed more than 700 people free gourmet meals each year at the springtime festival in White Plaza known as An Art Affair. The club is made up of students, but the feast is open to anyone on campus. Last year's menu was so well received that there will be an encore: asparagi con prosciutto, cool-roasted shitakes with barbecued onions and basil oil, Thai-style chicken satay, poulet fafa, mashed potatoes with smoked cheddar and grainy mustard, orecchiette with pesto, assorted fruit clafoutis, honey walnut chocolate tart and peach frangipane tart. All that was gobbled up in less than two hours last year, but because of a shortage of help, it took about 24 hours to prepare. So anyone interested in cooking, serving or cleaning up for this year's festival may contact club co-president ZIHAN LIN at zhlin@stanford.edu. The event will be held on Friday, April 7, and the cooking club is accepting donations via its website: http://www.stanford.edu/~zhlin/scc/donation.html.