I'll Be Counting Up My Demons, Hoping That Everything's Not LOST

(Coldplay, Everything's Not Lost)

Wow. What a great episode. The Desmond episodes always seem to give us a bit of foundation for what is going on, don’t they? Those time jumps were awesome, but I kept expecting him to end up on stage with the rest of the BeeGees, having forgotten the words to "More Than a Woman."

1. Desmond called Penny on Christmas Eve 2004. That was the date when she answered the phone, and that was the date on the calendar on the freighter. I don’t necessarily think that was the date on the island. I think that calendar was there so they would be able to know what date it was back home, while they were out on their mission.

2. I love the return of the numbers!! 8 (years in the past for Desmond’s time jumps), 423 (Penny’s address), and 2.342 (what Faraday was supposed to set his machine to). Awesome!

3. If anything goes wrong – Desmond Hume is my constant! Now we know a bit about why Faraday didn’t know why he was crying when watching footage of the wreckage being found underwater. He wasn’t covering his head when doing these experiments, and was clearly exposed to mass amounts of radiation, which will cause him to have the time jumps as well (thus the need for a constant). It’s possible that scene where he was crying a few weeks ago wasn’t a flashback or a flashforward, but a time jump just like we saw Desmond have last night.

4. I am now more certain than ever that Ben’s man on the boat is Michael. I thought that the second Ben said it in the second episode of the season, but then later I thought maybe it might be Sayid, once they got to the freighter, like, they’d somehow worked out a plan. But now, after the door was opened last night while they were all locked in the room, I guarantee you that Michael is the man on the boat. (Amanda thinks that Michael and Walt are the other 2 members of the Oceanic 6, but I disagree. She does have another theory that I think is pure genius though. Maybe I’ll give her a guest blogger spot so she can put it out there for all 4 of you who read this blog.) Think about how long ago he and Walt left the island on that boat. Not very long. Even disregarding for a second that time on the island is different than time in the real world, they probably left the island no more than a month ago. Enough time for Michael to make it to wherever Ben sent him, and be convinced (or forced?) to somehow get a coveted deck hand position on the S.S. Where the F*#% Are We.

5. Mr. Widmore, a/k/a, Caleb Nichol. That dude only plays creepy rich guys who don’t get along with their daughter’s boyfriend/husband, and who may or may not be the embodiment of pure evil. He’s eyebrows-deep in all this Dharma Initiative, Hanso Foundation, stuff (that painting in his office with “NAMASTE” backwards on it?), and he now has the journal written by the original captain of the Black Rock, who either started the Hanso Foundation, or one of his kids or grandkids started it? I can’t decide if it’s just too cliché for him to be the big bad mastermind behind the whole thing, or if they’re going to just make him a pawn in someone else’s big game? Is he “The Economist?”

6. Minkowski was a great addition to the story, even just for an episode. I couldn’t figure out where I knew him from, so I looked him up on IMDB, and I was kicking myself! Awesome.

It's nice to finally watch an episode and be able to (waste hours) think about it without worrying I'll forget something about Torts or Contracts.

And I Started Growing Bob Dylan's Beard

(Wilco, Bob Dylan's 49th Beard)

The beard is gone. That was quite an undertaking. I hadn't shaved since New Year's Day, other than to clean it up on my neck. No trimming, no other grooming, what was happening was happening on its own accord. But it was my Bar Exam Beard, my "playoff beard," and now that it's time had come, it's time had definitely come. This is what transpired. Thanks to Will for the clippers. I hope they still work.


Osama Ben Dorfman


Excuse me, which way to the Torah study?


What do you mean, I can't get on the airplane?


Starting to finally feel air on my face again.


The goatee to end all goatees.


Hey, guys, Ed the 3rd here owns Harley-Davidson!


Excuse me, which way to the Blue Oyster Bar?


Do you know why I pulled you over today, sir?


Back to normal, or, as close as it's going to get to normal.

There's a Lot of Honey In This World, Baby, This Honey's For Me

(R.E.M., Me in Honey)

I know this is probably very Peter King-esque of me, but I have to talk about the coffee I had this morning. I stopped at the Starbucks right outside of the MARTA station at Peachtree Center this morning after getting off the train, because it was like 30 degrees and I couldn't walk a block and a half to my office without something warm in my (gloved) hands. Also, I had some value left on a Starbucks card I'd received as a gift, so I figured I'd indulge. I walked in thinking I'd just get a regular coffee, or possibly a redeye, but then I saw their new "special" drink they're promoting.

The Honey Latte.

Man, it was good. It was predictably very sweet, but that was fine with me, because that just meant I didn't have to sweeten it myself. And I'm certainly not one to shy away from the 2 shots of espresso in it. It wasn't as good as the Maple Macchiato I became moderately addicted to last winter, but it was a decent substitute. And it seems honey is making a comeback of sorts, in various forms. Interesting, but not at 8 a.m. on a Thursday.

I Attack With Love, Pure Bug Beauty

(Wilco, Company in My Back)

The Bar exam is over. The two topics I knew absolutely nothing about, no matter how much I studied them and practiced writing essays on, were nowhere to be seen on the test. Needless to say, I was very excited about this. Oh, I bombed (at least) one question, to be sure, but I definitely did better on that question than I would have on one of those other topics, so I've got that going for me. Check back on May 23 to find out how I did.

In other news, Wilco just finished their 5-night stay at the Riviera Theater in Chicago. Those Chicagoans don't know how good they have it. I would pay one million pesos for a CD/DVD set of that gig. I have been able to find nights 4 and 5 available for download, though, so if you're interested, you can get them here (part one and part two of night 4) and here (night 5). Night 4 was the WXRT broadcast, which is fine, because the quality is really good, but you get a little radio chatter, station identification type stuff, and they also muted out the "shit" in "Company in My Back", which, I mean, come on. Really? But if that doesn't bother you, then you'll definitely enjoy it.

They're playing tonight at the 9:30 club in D.C., which NPR is streaming on their website. I'm sure it will also be put into the archive of concerts on their website, they usually have a pretty good collection of concerts to listen to on the web.

I've been listening to some new music as well lately, but I haven't absorbed it enough yet to say anything, so I'm going to reserve comment until a later date. But if you ever had the desire to make up a band name and a name for your band's album, along with cover art for the CD, then check this out. I suppose you could just do this with some imagination and a camera, but it's still pretty cool. My band's name was "twenty second pulse" and the album's name was "get to the garage." Random, possibly a bit ridiculous, but it was a lot of fun to play with.

Got the family coming in this weekend to celebrate both Mom and Dad turning 60, which means that 80% of my readership will be in my apartment. Maybe instead of posting, I should just make snarky comments out loud?

Who Gives a F*#% About an Oxford Comma?

(Vampire Weekend, Who Gives a F*#% About an Oxford Comma?)

And what the f*#% is an "Oxford Comma" anyway? Read on.

I was all set to write a post, either tonight or tomorrow, about Vampire Weekend and their infectious (Full disclosure: I had to look up the spelling of infectious.) self-titled debut that came out last month, which I've been listening to at an alarming rate ever since getting a copy of it from a friend a few weeks ago. I was going to say that I felt a certain sense of pride in the fact that I played it for Amanda and she loved it, and that I lent it to a friend, and he loved it and he also played it for a few of our other friends and they loved it, and that made me feel like somewhat of an innovator (not unlike as described here. it's like they know me personally.). I was also going to say that despite the fact that it's only February, they were the clear front-runner for rookie of the year honors in the music community.

Then I saw this on a study break earlier this afternoon. Great article, incidentally.

So, I came home a little while ago, upset that the bastards at Spin Magazine had beaten me to my hyperbolic proclamation, and decided to write a post about how yeah, I liked them a lot, and so does everybody else, but everybody else has already written about it, and I've sort of missed the boat on this, but you know what, I'm going to write about them anyway, because they're just that interesting and good and who cares if it's all been said already.

Then I read this, literally, just 10 minutes ago.

Just not my day, I guess. But the hell with it. They're awesome. They're 4 Columbia grads who have only been playing together since their first practice less than 2 years ago. I love that their singer is Jewish (we are awesome!), and it's pretty cool that, according to the Spin article, one of the band members actually got to define the word "crunk" for the Oxford English Dictionary while interning there a few years ago. I was going to link to the definition on the OED's website, but I will be damned if I am going to pay a subscription fee just to look up the word "crunk."

Instead, here is the wikipedia page for Oxford Comma, in case anybody is interested. Turns out it's not just the title of what will probably (deservedly) be the most overplayed song of this album.

I'm All Lost in the Supermarket (I Can No Longer Shop Happily)

(The Clash, Lost in the Supermarket)

I don't have much of an in-depth analysis about last night's episode of Lost, but I do have a few thoughts, so I'm just gonna do a quick 5-Points, and then go study:

1. I know the big twist at the end was that Kate is raising Aaron as her own, but I suspected that could happen as early as the season premiere 3 weeks ago, and around midway through the episode, when they were making a big deal about Kate having a son and not wanting him to be put on display and dragged into the trial, but not showing him or referring to him by name, I was sure of it. It's still a HUGE piece of evidence, though, as to what must have happened on the island before they got rescued, because Claire would absolutely never allow Aaron to be taken off and not go with him. Which leads me to...

2. So, clean-shaven future Jack testifies at Kate's trial, and clearly perjures himself by telling the little lie about nurse Kate fixing everyone's boo-boos after the crash. But we now know part of the story that Jack didn't want Hurley talking about 3 weeks ago. According to his testimony, there were only 8 survivors of the crash, and 2 of them died on the island. Well, well. That is quite a story, and despite the fact that it is a lie, it could be a sly hint as to what is yet to come. Namely, if Aaron is off the island with Kate, and she clearly was not pregnant when the plane crashed, there's no way (barring a severe time discrepancy, which is also still a possibility) the baby is biologically hers, so part of their story has to involve Aaron's mother being one of the survivors who doesn't make it. Claire dies, there's my point. Claire dies. Just a prediction.

3. The scene where Charlotte Staples Lewis is helping Daniel "Why Am I Still Wearing a Tie After Being on this Island for At Least 2-3 Days" Faraday with his memory exercises cracked me up. I'm sure it's going to have more significance (as in, maybe that's why he didn't know why he was crying in the flash-forward showing him watching television footage of the "wreckage" underwater), but to me, last night, it just looked like she was teaching him how to play 3-Card Monty.

4. When Locke brought Ben breakfast and a book to read (how sweet), Ben told him that he'd already read it. Locke's response was something to the effect of, "Read it again, you never know what you might have missed the first time." That means, I'm going to go back and watch this episode again, to see what I might have missed. BTW, Locke sure went off the reservation, huh? Stuffing that grenade in Miles' mouth was pretty harsh, notwithstanding the fact that it was probably a dud, intentionally. Speaking of Miles...

5. 3.2 million dollars? Seems like quite a specific number, if you ask me. Possibly the amount that each of the "Oceanic 6" receive in their settlements? Either that, or it's some sort of code, and Miles is actually Ben's spy on their boat (not Michael, as I originally thought).

6. I know, I said 5. Sue me. But don't really. Anyway, I also wanted to say that I don't think Aaron will count as one of the "Oceanic 6", because he wasn't actually a passenger on the flight. So I still think we only know 4 of the 6 (Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid). I also thought that Ben didn't count as one of them, and maybe he still doesn't, but at this point, I think it could be possible that he ends up giving Jack some sort of advantage over Locke in exchange for being taken off the island himself, since he no longer has the power he once did there. Maybe that's part of their secret as well, in that he would have to assume the identity of someone who was on the flight but died, either in the crash or afterwards. Then again, this could be a pretty ridiculous line of discussion, so I'm gonna drop it now, but reserve the right to analyze further at a later date.

For Those About to Barack, We Salute You

(AC/DC, For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) sort of)

I knew there was a reason I liked this guy so much.







(thanks to both Amanda and Jeremy for emailing me these pics!)

I Wonder Should I Get Up and Fix Myself a Drink (no, no, no)

(The Beatles, I'm So Tired)

Man, am I ready to get this thing over with. 8 days to go, until I can finally shave this beard.

This week I'm working only mornings so I can study in the afternoons and evenings. Today was loads of fun, going to work on about 3.5 hours sleep, then coming home and studying Commercial Paper. It's a good thing we have a coffee maker. Tonight I'm going to be immersing myself in Secured Transactions, then Professional Responsibility (like that really matters), and hopefully will come home in time to catch the second half of the Longhorns game against A&M. Need that win.

In other news, new Mountain Goats album drops tomorrow (8.0 from Pitchfork!). Very excited. And yes, I do listen to music other than Wilco. Sometimes even voluntarily.

My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)

(Frank Sinatra, My Kind of Town)


I've never wanted to live in Chicago so badly in my life.

(Though It's) Cold and Lonely in the Deep Dark Night

(Meatloaf, Paradise by the Dashboard Light)

... I can see paradise by the laptop light.

I am taking the GA Bar exam in 9 days. It's almost 2 in the morning, and I have to go to work tomorrow. The last thing I need to be doing right now is this. Unfortunately, I'm wide awake and while staring at a computer screen usually makes my eyelids heavy, it doesn't seem to be working tonight.

I just noticed (in my second consecutive viewing of Sportscenter) that Duke got their asses handed to them today. So there's that. Nice.

Remember to Remember Me

(Wilco, Hummingbird)

His goal in life was to be an echo. The type of sound that floats around and then back down like a feather. But in the deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans, no one could hear him. Or anything.