Back in 1999, we here at Rice World held our first Beeotch Contest to determine who would be Miss Rice World 2000. From a field of around..... 20 women? I forget.......... our loyal viewers voted on their preferred chicks in their respective brackets, until we whittled it down to two. 

Natalie Portman rode her STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE hype to victory, narrowly beating out Sung Hi Lee, the beauty from Pusan, Korea. In a swirl of controversy, Gerry Wang confessed that he'd rigged the votes in favor of Laetitia Casta, his Kryptonite, and she was disqualified from the finals.

Recently, the high council of Rice World, consisting of Rice and me, decided to define the parameters of the office of Miss Rice World. We decided against term limits, mainly because it would kill us to see Natalie retire. But we did decide that the reign of Miss Rice World should not be for life, and that the very nature of democracy allows the people to decide who their leader will be.

So now, in 2002, we are beginning a new election for Miss World 2003! Will Natalie Portman be re-elected? Will Sung Hi Lee finally get over the top despite her advanced age? Will Gerry rig the election again, still fixated w/ Laetitia? There's only one way to find out: VOTE!

This year, you will select from a crop of 16 beautiful women from all races and all hair colors. I decided to use the same regional seeding method as the NCAA Basketball Tournament. #1 will play #16, #2 plays #15, etc. If I can somehow design a graphic, it will be easier for you to see. If anyone can design one for me, I'll pay them a dollar and exalt them on the site. E-mail me w/ prospective designs. For now, here's a crappy table:

Round One will have two matchups per week, and the voting window is exactly one week. Please note that the first week will be extended while we build awareness among our readers. The subsequent rounds are tentatively scheduled to last one week per matchup. You can vote once a day, so we advise you to keep coming back to support your favorite beeotches. Once a matchup has been decided, I will update my ugly table. So check back often.

This week's matchup(s): 

The Coronation of Miss Rice World 2003!!!

Previous matchups:

ROUND 1

#1 Natalie Portman vs. #16 Jennifer Connelly
#8 Sung Hi Lee vs. #9 Nicole Kidman
#5 Angelina Jolie vs. #12 Jessica Alba
#4 Jenny McCarthy vs. #13 Shania Twain
#6 Jennifer Love Hewitt vs. #11 Josie Maran
#3 Laetitia Casta vs. #14 Ashley Judd
#7 Tyra Banks vs. #10 Heidi Klum
#2 Zhang Ziyi vs. #15 Nikki Cox

QUARTERFINALS

#1 Natalie Portman vs. #9 Nicole Kidman
#12 Jessica Alba vs. #13 Shannon Elizabeth
#3 Laetitia Casta vs. #11 Josie Maran
#2 Zhang Ziyi vs. #7 Tyra Banks

SEMIFINALS

#1 Natalie Portman vs. #12 Jessica Alba
#2 Zhang Ziyi vs. #11 Josie Maran

FINALS

#1 Natalie Portman vs. #2 Zhang Ziyi