Edwin MacPhisto

So, Locke was...working on a drug farm before he went back to a box factory? Ooooookay. You know, I don't care about how he got crippled anymore. That was something they should have showed us 1st season, beginning of 2nd season at the latest. It doesn't matter anymore, which is sad. I enjoyed this episode because it broke the mold a bit, both visually and in its structure. Still, it's weird having Desmond just fine, albeit with a bit of future-seeing. I figured he'd be dead after the end of last season, because it was a great emotional capstone for a guest star. Really, basically just getting rid of the hatch is an unfortunate admission that the whole thing was stupid and that they needed to get away from it. The meat of the episode was cool, though.

In the midst of a long-ass drive, I'm extremely fond of the meatloaf and the chicken n' dumplings.

I love Tiki. He and Ronde are the best ambassadors my alma mater has. I'd be somewhat surprised if he retired this year since he's really come on as a premier back the last few seasons. On the other hand, I wouldn't be that surprised, because he does have a whole lot of other interests. Giants'll miss him bigtime if he does go.

I make pesto too, but I need to get a new food processor. My roomie's is kinda busted. Hazelnuts and crushed walnuts are particularly good with something like rigatoni, which is big enough to let a few squeeze into the pasta while you're tossing it around. Adds some texture and a flavor that goes nicely with the olive.

One thing I never understood when I lived in Charlottesville: the Walmart was only open from 6 am to midnight. How can you have a Walmart in a college town and not have it open all night? They'd make so much money from the wealth of drunk, retarded, and high kids looking for basketballs and Capri Sun at 4 in the morning. Maybe the twin dangers of destruction and vomit made it too risky.

I was very lukewarm on the pilot but every episode since has gotten much, much better. This is a winner so far--exceptional at balancing tons of characters and plots, and very good at keeping things from getting too ridiculous. No one shoots lasers or anything like that--that their powers all seem to be very tangible and simple is a big plus.

If Cal ended up in the title game over a one-loss Tennessee, then Cal would have beaten USC and run the table through the rest of the Pac-10. Tennessee would have beaten Cal, (at least 3-loss) LSU, (not that good) Georgia, and Auburn/Arkansas in the SEC championship. I'd say their resumes are pretty comparable and wouldn't have a problem with either being there. Can we please stop griping with the "Team A beat Team B, and Team B beat team C, so they must be ranked A-B-C" thing? After the first few weeks of the season that's no longer an accurate measure of the teams. You have to take into account everything they've done. Does anyone really think Arkansas is the 6th or 7th best team in the country, having watched the rest of the season unfold so far?

A friend of mine who's a firm 7.5, probably an 8 on her best days, plays World of Warcraft. She went to art school and likes Final Fantasy games, so it's not that surprising.

I missed Mole but he was right there all along. This is like While You Were Sleeping, but more arousing, somehow.

Snuffbox hates on all disciplines. I loved my English department. Met tons of wonderful professors. A few in particular would invite classes over to dinner, have us sometimes have class at their apartments, help us out with anything we needed regarding recommendations, reading drafts of papers, etc. Totally focused on the students, which is exactly how college should be. Almost all my best academic experiences came in that department. The ugly side, and why I've decided not to go for a Ph.D at the moment, is that half the faculty are only really concerned with publications, career advancement, self-promotion, etc., and I can't tolerate that sort of catty, self-involved environment. Of course, that's the case in any academic department in the humanities. I can't speak for science since autoclaves and beakers frighten me.

Anyone but Two Gallants!

IT'S THE U, BABY!

And Matt Leinart wonders if he'll ever be able to win more than 6 games in a year.

Cardinals forever!

Beware the mighty leg of Neil Rackers!

HAHAHA. Once the Cardinals, always the Cardinals.

Did you see them look like total shit against Vandy? Or only beat Alabama because they fucked up maybe 7 times to Alabama's 8? The win against Auburn is certainly one of the best of the year, no doubt. But it's a high point for a team that otherwise has failed to impress me, and at times looked downright terrible. I can buy an argument that Arkansas belongs in the top 15, not much more than that.

I come home from the movies and this is a total shock. But then I see that there's still the entire second half.

I could argue for this, probably, though his self-cultivated inaccessibility is a big hitch depending on how we're defining greatest author. The only Joyce I've read is Ulysses and I really only "got" about 35% of that. I've been meaning to re-read it but I just can't seem to muster up the energy. Oh well. It's tough to re-read, because, really, who wants to re-read something that huge and (often) alienating? I love Ulysses, and I find myself occasionally reading 10-20 pages here and there. Someday I might revisit it all the way through, but having gotten through it once I like the grab bag approach.

I could argue for this, probably, though his self-cultivated inaccessibility is a big hitch depending on how we're defining greatest author. As for math, I'm your total inverse. I took pre-calc in 11th grade, then ran far away and never looked back.

I hate that stuff too. Classes or questions that rely on asking you about "symbolism" of a particular object are flat-out retarded. There's a place for it in context, but there are a lot of better ways to teach close reading than saying "TELL ME WHAT THE NIGHTSTAND MEANS." Teachers who rely on that crutch are dopes, because questions like that take such a narrow approach that anything you get out of there is worthless. It's no better than a multiple choice question. There was a lot of that junk in my AP Lit class, but once I got to college things opened up considerably.

I'm only now reminded that Joe Buck will probably be calling BCS game. Woof.

I'm in the D.C. metro area, so I was thinking that Foley will be a little played out in this town. Lidle's also a meaner costume, since he's dead, not a solicitor of young BUTT.

I'm sad I missed this thread while I was rockin' to TV on the Radio. At least the beginning parts when you were discussing books and Incandenza's boner. I didn't realize that the copy of Gravity's Rainbow I ordered a couple weeks back was a pre-order. It has a really cool cover drawn by Frank Miller, but I won't get it for another two weeks. Ho-hum.

My cursory glance over the assemblage of Gilmore Girls slash indicates that most of it just isn't clever enough. Disappointing!