I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but this episode was just amazing. My favorite to date.

Spoilers.

There was so much fucking awesomeness in this episode, I don't even know where to begin. I guess the start is a good place.

I loved seeing the shots of Matt and Ted just before the Bennets arrived--it helped to show that Matt, while not entirely innocent, was at least committed to the idea of not hurting anyone. That's really important, I think, because Matt's been sliding to the dark side a little. It's nice to see that he's not a completely bad guy and that, even though he's frustrated and angry, he's still got some moral fiber to him.

The next awesome thing was seeing that first glimpse of Mr. Bennet (why do we still not know his first fucking name?) as a new hire at Primatech. And seeing how he and Claude know each other.

That was quickly followed by the glimpse of Mr. Bennet, Claude, Hiro's motherfuckin' dad, Hiro, and little, tiny, baby, infant Claire on top of the fucking Deveaux Building! First off--what the fuck is Hiro's dad doing all messed up with this? Jesus! Does Mr. Nakamura know about Hiro's abilities? Has he been hiding Hiro from the organization? Or is he just completely in the dark? Moreover, what exactly is his role in the organization? He's definitely Mr. Bennet's superior, but is he the Big Boss?

Second, what's the connection between the organization and the building and, potentially, the Deveaux family? Claude hid out on the building, and it seems unlikely that he would do that coincidentally or at random. I bet the building was some sort of base of operations or standard New York meeting point. One the organization no longer uses, making it safe for Claude to hang out there. Who the fuck knows.

Then, who the fuck is the Haitian working for? Who told him to protect Claire, and why does he believe that protecting her is worth risking his life?

Next, the resolution to the backstory between Mr. Bennet and Claude. I honestly didn't think Mr. Bennet was going to shoot Claude, and it looked like, at first, he didn't mean to. But he certainly did it on purpose thereafter. I wonder, though--could it have been staged somehow for some reason. I just watched the scene again, and it seems strange to me that Mr. Bennet (who's apparently been ordered to kill people before) would "accidentally" pull the trigger that first time. I don't know. But, in any event, this makes the relationship between Claude and Mr. Bennet very understandable, and it certainly gives more depth to Claude's paranoia.

Then there's Ted going nuclear. It was really interesting to see that he couldn't control what was happening with his ability after he got shot. Is this perhaps a preview of what's going to happen with Peter? And this makes Hiro's question somewhat more important: How do you stop an exploding man? If the only recourse is to kill him, how do you do that without setting him off? This part of the episode paid off in the best Claire-regeneration scene yet, in my opinion.

And that brings us to what was, for me, the best part of the episode: the relationship between Claire and Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet's been an ambiguous character throughout, one who's comfortable playing in the morally grey areas. But this episode gave us a chance to see the tenderest side of him--the side that was forced to take a surrogate daughter and care for her as his own and then grew to love her more than even he thought was possible. The scene where Mr. Bennet told Claire that she was adopted was particularly well done. And it lead right into the big emotional pay off. Mr. Bennet was willing to risk his life to make sure Claire was able to get away. And he was also willing to give up a substantial part of his memory. Although it might have been possible to hide Claire from the organization by having the Haitian take only Mr. Bennet's recent memories, the fact that Mr. Bennet told the Haitian to "go deep" made it pretty clear that Mr. Bennet wasn't going to remember his daughter at all. All I can say to that is "wow."

So where does that leave us? Claire's on the road and in hiding. Her biological mother's gone and she doesn't seem to know anyone else. To me, that means only one thing: she's going to try to find Peter. Claire trusted Peter, and she knows that he'll understand what's going on. If she's in the world on her own, she's gotta turn to someone who can understand.

It looks like Parkman's going to be gainfully employed, this time for Mr. Bennet's organization, colloquially known as the Agency Without Initials (AWI). I really liked the relationship between Mr. Bennet and Matt, so I hope that the Haitian's memory wipe won't go so far as removing that (and that brings up an interesting question: assuming that Mr. Bennet forgot about his daughter entirely, what's gonna happen when Parkman asks "Hey, where's your daughter?").

We also know more about the AWI. For example, we know at least that Hiro's dad is a high-ranking member. And we also know that they see it as their goal to protect humanity from the people with abilities. That all seems benign enough, except that the conversation that Mr. Nakamura had with Mr. Bennet about Claire made it seem pretty clear that the AWI doesn't just catalog the heroes and protect humanity. In fact, that conversation was down right creepy.

Anyway, wow. Great show.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)| Filed under Heroes

I know I'm probably in the unbelievable minority on this, but I just don't think Beyonce Knowles is attractive. I don't know what it is that people find attractive about her. I mean--seriously?

I mean, I guess she looked decent as Foxxy Cleopatra, but she was the least attractive Austin Powers girl by far:

Her Sports Illustrated cover does nothing for me:

And, finally, her appearance at the Oscars leaves me cold:

Maybe I'm crazy, but I always thought that the other members of Destiny's Child were more attractive.

Like I said, maybe I'm in the minority here.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)| Filed under Rants , Rants About Things That Make Me Irrationally Angry , Reviews

There was apparently a blizzard today. In fact, it's apparently still going on, and will be for the rest of the weekend. I, for one, welcome the blizzard. My free heating and four-wheel-drive vehicle mean that I'm completely invulnerable to the effects of the ice and snow. Apparently I'm in the minority, though--the school closed down at six this afternoon and won't open again until two tomorrow. That's kinda wussy, in my opinion. The roads aren't even very bad, although they'd be better if the snow plows were doing their job.

The best thing about this so-called blizzard, though, is the fact that it's dumped a shit load of snow (with even more to come), which makes everything look incredibly beautiful, in my opinion. Here are some pictures I took at about 1am.

Here's one of the branches on the tree right by the front door to my building:

This is the big tree just outside the back door of my building:

Another one from the front door of my building.

Snow just has a way of making the world look beautiful and innocent. It always makes me sad to see snow that's been around for a few days. I hate it when it turns into that black slush. It looks like it's been corrupted by the evil of the real world.

Oh well. I'll enjoy the pure snow while it lasts. And I'll drive my car through it as much as possible.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , General Awesomeness , Things I'm Irrationally Attached To

Santi asked what my opinion on doctor-assisted suicide is, so here it is.

First, I think it's helpful to make a little bit of a distinction between doctor-assisted suicide in the abstract and in the real world. In the abstract, if someone makes an informed decision that they want to die, for whatever reason, I think society should generally respect that decision. What I mean by this is that there shouldn't be laws against killing yourself. Of course, I hope that, if you decide that's what you want to do, your friends and family would try to stop you. I know I would. But the basic moral principle at work here, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's your life, you can do whatever you want with it--including end it.

So, now we can add the a complication in the abstract situation: doctors are supposed to help you get better, not kill yourself. But I think this concern can be easily dispatched. A doctor's duty should be to his patient. Although doctors are ethically bound to heal their patients, that duty is premised on the assumption that all clients want to get better and want to live. If that assumption proves to be false, then the doctor's duty is no longer to preserve life at all costs--his duty is to give his patient what he wants.

In the abstract, then, you have a right to kill yourself, and a doctor should be allowed to help you reach that end.

But now we have to deal with the real world. There are numerous problems: How do you know when someone really wants to die of their own free will, and isn't motivated by shame, depression, family pressures, or other external factors? How much proof that the patient wanted to die should be required before the doctor is not legally responsible? The fact of the matter, however, is that people are currently allowed to make decisions of equal importance. For example, a court properly, in my opinion, allowed Starchild Abraham Cherrix to refuse treatment for his cancer and, instead, pursue an alternative therapy that has, apparently, worked. Mr. Cherrix knew he might die without chemotherapy, but he made an informed decision not to continue with that therapy.

The point is that people make potentially deadly decisions all the time--and they have the right to do so. So, while I think that there should be a large number of procedural safeguards to ensure that someone is making the choice of their own free will, I also think that people should, in the real world, be able to end their lives peacefully, painlessly, on their own terms, and with the help of a physician.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Legal Rants , Philosophical Rants

A long time ago, I was an avid bowler. It was a lot of fun, and I used to be in kid's leagues and whatnot. I was a pretty decent bowler for a 12-year-old, if I do say so myself. Although I can't remember my average score, I can remember the highest score I ever got: a 176. That score came out of nowhere, and I was unable to so much as approach it for a long time. Until last night, actually.

Last night was the Law Review's bowling event. I made a comment in an e-mail to the members in which I specifically impugned one 2L's bowling abilities, and he responded in kind, telling me that it was on.

Things started uneventfully enough, and I was actually bowling pretty badly--I was sure I was going to lose. But then I got a strike. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. I could do no wrong; I was in the zone--that mythical place in sports where the universe conspires to elevate you from the level of mere mortal to god, even if just for a few minutes. My streak finally ended in the tenth frame, after I bowled six-straight strikes. I had never done anything like that. It was awesome. I am awesome.

My final score was a 190, beating my previous best. But the score is bittersweet--I thought I'd break 200.

Oh well. It was a shitload of fun.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , General Awesomeness , Wisconsin Law Review

Partially inspired by the Rising Jurist's "Ask tRJ" series and the fact that I've been too busy lately to keep up with the news enough to have stuff to be pissed about, I'm going to ask you guys if there's any subject you'd like me to address in my . . . unique manner. While tRJ offers well-thought-out opinions, however, I promise only to give you my own visceral reaction to whatever topics you guys might propose.

Feel free to ask me about anything, from the war in Iraq to my stance on charging for ranch.

Speaking of ranch, all-you-can-eat wing night at Quaker Steak and Lube is both awesome and terrible.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , General Remarks

Wow. That was definitely my favorite episode of Heroes so far. I mean--fuck! Spoilers follow.

There was so much awesomeness there I think I'm going to have to make a bullet list.

• Hiro. Though Hiro's been one of my favorite heroes since the beginning of the series, I had recently become annoyed that he hadn't done a lot of actually heroic things. But I think we can safely say that, after today, he is the man. First off, he faced what was arguably his most imminent threat: an angry dude with a gun. But, rather tha wuss out or run away, Hiro knew what he had to do, he knew how to do it, and he carried out his plan. He stood up to the guy with the gun and found Ando. Then he did something that every hero has to do at some point: just like Luke had to lose Ben and later Yoda, just like Frodo had to (at least try to) leave without Sam, just like Harry had to break up with Ginny (I'm still torn up over that one--the image of Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing together ready to face Voldemort after Dumbledore's funeral is awesome), Hiro had to leave Ando and go into the unknown on his own. Add a Stan Lee cameo, and you've got an awesome Hiro story arc.
  
• Parkman. Another one of my long-time favorites, it's been painful to see Matt essentially get fucked throughout the series. First he keeps failing the detectives test, then he's accused of being a serial killer, then he gets abducted by Mr. Bennet, then he finds out his wife's been cheating on him, then he gets to hang out with the (much hotter than his wife) FBI woman, only to disgrace himself and get kicked off the force. The past two episodes have been particularly painful to watch as Matt's justifiable anger leads him to do increasingly morally questionable things, culminating in breaking into a stranger's house and threatening his family with a gun. Not cool, Parkman. Not cool at all. I only hope that, like his wife said, Matt sees that he's better than this kind of shit before it's too late.
  
• Mohinder/Sylar. God, Zachary Quinto is awesome as Sylar; he's got the perfect mix of crazy and genius. In any event, seeing Mohinder and Sylar interact was really awesome. The scene where they discussed Mohinder's father's murder was particularly good.
  
• Claire. Yes. It was incredible to see Claire stand up to her father like that! Mr. Bennet's definitely had it coming, and it'll be so awesome to see what he does next week when he's forced to reveal more about himself. But Claire's definitely shaping up to be a good, strong-willed, and brave hero. She's probably right at the top of my favorites list, and this episode definitely helped her out.
  
• Isaac. I've always liked Isaac, even though he hasn't been one of my favorites, but he was so fucking paranoid today it was hard to remember why I liked him. Yes, I understand that Mr. Bennet helped you get off drugs, but does that mean you're just going to take his word about killing Peter? Isaac's greatest weakness, unfortunately, was the fact that he couldn't let Simone go. And then he killed Simone, albeit accidentally. He's either going to realize that he was being an asshole or blame Peter and redouble his efforts to kill him. I hope Isaac chooses the former.
  
• Peter. Wow. Peter was both awesome and frightening. He's really got his ability under control which, in the long run, is likely to be a very, very, very good thing. I couldn't believe when he stopped time and then flew away. That was so fucking awesome--totally a heroic moment. That's two times a Petreli has escaped Mr. Bennet in the same fashion. But then he kind of went off the deep end; I hadn't thought that Peter was capable of being so goddamned creepy and menacing. He was totally channeling Sylar. I wonder if that's an additional consequence of his power? Does he absorb peoples' personality traits as well as their abilities? Who the fuck knows, but Peter's hands aren't exactly clean when it comes to Simone: what the fuck was he doing playing mind games with Isaac?
  
• Nikki/Jessica/DL/Micah. You know what the best part of their part in this episode was? They didn't have one. God, the writers need to do something interesting with this super family or kill them off. Seriously.
  

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Heroes , Television Reviews

Ghost Rider is the number-one movie in America? What the fuck is wrong with you people? What is it about those commercials that made you want to go watch it? Were you all drunk and laughing? I hope so, because that's how I want to enjoy the movie.

But, seriously, you people flocked to this thing? That's inconceivable! I'm incredulous.

To make matters worse, Ghost Rider took over the top spot from Norbit, a movie so bad one critic said "[f]rom start to finish, Norbit is dismally unfunny, inspiring this Sign of the Apocalypse observation: Big Momma's House 2 was better." When did the black-guy-in-a-fat-woman-suit genre become the new "it" thing in Hollywood? Oh, that's right, around the same time America decided that The Nutty Professor was the height of avant garde postmodern expressionism. Fuck you.

The New Jersey Thing

So, gay couples in New Jersey can get civil unions starting today. Although I wish that the legislature had decided to grant these couples the right to call their unions marriages, the civil unions are functionally equivalent. This is a step in the right direction, and I'm happy to see another state decide that discriminating against gay couples is morally and legally wrong (at least under various state constitutions).

In other news, the world has not stopped spinning on its axis.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)| Filed under General Awesomeness , Legal Rants , Movie Reviews , Political Rants , Rants , Rants About Things That Make Me Irrationally Angry , Rants on the News

I know this isn't my usual schtick, but I just think this is so funny I have to comment.

Britney Spears has apparently shaved her head and checked into rehab. Here's the picture from the Superficial:

Man. Remember when she used to look like this?

At this point, she might as well just give up. There's no comeback on the horizon for her.

And speaking of comebacks, how the fuck does Nicolas Cage plan to rebound from Ghost Rider, which is currently rocking a 24 percent freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes?

God, I hate it when Hollywood puts out shitty comic-book movies. In the past few decades, comics have matured significantly since the days of rainbow Batman and Krypto the Superdog. It's unfortunate then that, since the very first successful comic-based film, Superman: The Movie (which was itself amazingly campy at times), there have been very few comic-to-film translations that are both remain faithful to the source material and take it seriously. The Spider-man movies, the first two X-men movies, and the latest Superman movie are all notable exceptions. Far too often, however, these movies turn into special-effects-laden monstrosities. I mean, seriously, Batman and Robin was terrible. And what kind of self-respecting superhero would put latex nipples on their fucking costume? Seriously, what the fuck?

And neither the comics industry nor Hollywood is helping much. The fact is that Ghost Rider, as a comic book and as a character, was lame from the second his creator thought him up. The book has sold horribly for years. No one who knows anything about comics--and certainly no one who doesn't know anything about comics--would list Ghost Rider as their favorite character. And Nicolas Cage sucks. A lot. So I've been waiting for this stupid project to fail since I first heard about it. And now here it is. And, if this critic's remarks are any indication, it's only a matter of time before Nicolas Cage shaves his head and checks into rehab:

For years scientists have theorized that one day Nicolas Cage would overact so badly that his head would burst into flames. Now, with Ghost Rider, the phenomenon has finally come to pass.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Funny Shit , Movie Reviews , Rants , Rants About Things That Make Me Irrationally Angry , Rants on the News , Superman

The first one of my good friends to turn twenty-one was Frank. He loved the bars more than anything in the world. It didn't matter what was going on at The House, he wouldn't be hanging out there until after the bars closed. Frank loved the bars so much that he did something I would never even consider doing: he would go to the bars by himself. It's not that he wanted to drink by himself, or that he wanted to be by himself, it's just that he knew he could always find someone to hang out with at the bars. He knew that if he went down there, he'd find someone to hang out with for a few hours, have a few drinks, have a good time, then go home. It didn't matter who he found: his friends (of which there were many); his acquaintances (of which there were many more); strangers (of which there is always an infinite number).

Frank didn't go to the bars just for the drinking. Hell, that might not have even been his primary motivation. Frank loved the bars for their own sake. They were an end in themselves.

In this way, Frank and I are not at all similar. I don't really care for bars, although I sometimes like the things that go on inside of bars. I mean, I'll go to bars, but only if my friends are there. I'll have a good time at bars, but only when my good friends are around. And if I'm going to be hanging out with my good friends, anyway, I'd much rather be playing poker, watching a movie, or just sitting on someone's couch talking about whatever happens to be on our minds. To me, friendship is being able to spend an afternoon with a group of people doing nothing in particular, yet having an awesome time. Friendship is enjoying peoples' company. Like Dave Matthews said, it's not where but who you're with that really matters. That's always been one of my favorite lyrics because I think it's very true.

Another thing that makes me dislike bars is that I'm extremely uncomfortable around acquaintances--if I know your name but I can't call you a friend, I feel strange. I feel this almost oppressive pressure. With acquaintances, as opposed to friends, you have to be more guarded. I never feel like I can be myself around acquaintances. If an acquaintance asks you how you're doing, and you're doing shitty, you have to lie. I can't make certain jokes around acquaintances, I can't tell certain stories. In other words, to a certain degree, I can't be myself around acquaintances.

And I hate meeting new people. I never know how to act when I meet someone new. How much of myself do I expose them to right away? What level do I set myself at? Should I be myself or should I be some diluted version of myself? Of course, any of you that know me know what I almost do: I turn it up to eleven. And, if you know me, you know that that doesn't always work out in my favor.

So why's all this on my mind? I just got back from the bar. I had a good time out there, I suppose. Some of my friends were there, some of my best friends were there, some acquaintances were there, and I met some new people. But, at the end of the night, I just felt lonely and disappointed. Which is another reason I hate the bars--they always make me feel lonely and disappointed.

Oh well. I'm going to go watch some Mythbusters.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Hanging Out With My Friends , Life Sucks Sometimes , Rants

One of the purposes of this series of posts is to get me to go out and do some things in Madison that I haven't done before, given that I probably won't be here much longer. Further, I have to admit that, while sledding is one of my favorite winter activities, I've done little to know sledding while in Madison. This is simply an unacceptable state of affairs. Therefore, I invite any interested party to come sledding with me sometime this weekend.

Now, normal sledding (that is, where you walk to the top of a hill, get on your sled, slide down, walk to the top of the hill, repeat) is fun. But we came up with a much better way of doing it in college. Both my friend Chris and I own large four-wheel-drive SUVs. One of our favorite things to do in college was go off roading (or, as Fraser put it, "'frodin'"). When I first got the seXterra, we would take it out to the cinder pits regularly. There's nothing like having all four of your vehicle's wheels off the ground simultaneously. But I digress . . .

There was this pretty awesome off road loop just outside of town. We would go there often. There were a lot of really awesome jumps. Anyway, one winter, we decided that it would be great to tie the sled to my friend's Durango with a long rope and, well, sled. So we did that, and I have to say that it's one of my fondest memories.

We did it a few times, at all times of the day. I remember one day in particular. We went out at about the middle of the day. It was cold, but not bitter. It was snowing a little, but not so much that visibility was seriously compromised. I remember being in the sled as we drove past all these trees and took various turns. There's nothing like traveling thirty miles an hour in a plastic sled on a sheet of freshly fallen snow.

Eventually, we got the idea to tie two sleds to the cars, with one person riding in each of the two tire ruts. Basically, the fun grew exponentially.

It's kinda funny. I was talking to PJ today, and he mentioned something that I hadn't really thought of. The group of friends I associated with in college are spread literally all over the world. In America, I can think of friends of mine in Arizona, California, Nevada, Michigan, New York, and New Jersey. And a bunch of people are on different continents: Mike and Dee in Asia; Fraser's in Africa; and Chris will soon be in New Zealand, which counts as part of Australia for continental purposes, right?

In any event, I thought it was an interesting thought.

More to the point, I don't know anywhere around here where we could go car sledding, but normal sledding should suffice. So who's down?

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under 150 Things to Love About Madison , Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , Hanging Out With My Friends

Another straight-up excellent episode of Heroes. Not as good as last week's, perhaps, and definitely more depressing. But still really good.

As usual, don't read on if you haven't watched it yet.

The biggest story was Claire. I liked the story, but I have to say that I feel really bad for our indestructible cheerleader. First off, she gets in trouble for doing something her moom said she could do. It's not Claire's fault that Mr. Bennet made The Haitian erase Mrs. Bennet's memory, after all.

To make matters worse, Claire's frustration with her adoptive father is understandably growing. Now Mrs. Bennet's got apparently serious neurological problems, all due to The Hatian's memory wipes. So Claire blows up at her dad, and Mr. Bennet, already suspicious (remember when he saw thee windchimes outside Claire's bedroom?), apparently put some of it together.

Where does Claire have to turn but to the long-lost mother she's recently met. But (and I hate the writers for doing this) Claire's real mom is a bitch. First, she shortchanges Claire to the tune of $25,000. Then she tells Claire that she's leaving. Why? Fucking--why? That's just so mean. So Claire sticks around, and her father shows up. But Nathan's an asshole, too. Whether it's because of what his mother said or because he really is a cold-hearted bastard, Nathan just leaves, and Claire overhears a conversation that makkes it pretty fucking clear that her birth parents don't give too much of a shit about her.

Claire doesn't know that her dad is Peter Petrelli's brother, but the question is whether Nathan recognized Claire as the cheerleader his brother saved. I couldn't tell.

Man, it would suck to be Claire right now. The writers are writing her perfectly. Just like Superman, she's invincible, so the most compelling stories about her are going to have to involve emotional pain.

Matt Parkman's story was good, too. The only weakness, really, was Nikki/Jessica. That aspect is still my least favorite part of the show, although I liked the fact that Micah acknowledges their abilities and even asks to discuss them. In any event, Matt's part was pretty good. But why--why--did he steal the diamonds? Matt's always been one of my favorite characters, but I hate the fact that he did that. I always thought of him as an inherent do-gooder. I just hate the fact that he did that, and it's going to have a shitload of negative consequences. Why?

Hiro and Ando got played. I love Hiro, but he's such a panssy. Ando made some really good points: Ando gave up his job, spent a shitload of money to come to America with his best friend, and has done everything that Hiro's asked of him. Hiro's got Ando in some pretty fucked up situations, so I don't think it was asking too much to expect Hiro's help getting the bag. But Hiro ran away like a little girl.

And, in the process, Ando's fucked and Hiro's probably fucked (I actually think something good will happen with the gaming enforcement guy).

But, here, again, the writers show how good they are. It would have been easy to have Hiro be this stereotypical hero right away. Instead, they've set him up as someone who clearly knows what he has to do, how to do it, and why. But he's not quite brave enough yet. Just like all the other characters, he's deeply flawed; he's human.

Update:
I forgot to talk about Sylar. His newly acquired ability has the potential to be really cool or really lame. I interpreted his power to mean that he can turn anything into a puddle of liquid, but Kristin says that the toaster handle remained after Sylar demonstrated his ability for Mohinder. I didn't notice that, so it's time for some HD Tivo reviewing.

In any event, if Sylar's ability allows him to turn people into puddles of goo, it could be pretty fucking bad for the heroes. And it's certainly not good for anyone that Sylar, posing as Zane, is going to have access to Mohinder's more up-to-date and detailed list. In fact, I would s ay that's probably going to be bad.

End of update.

So, next week's episode looks to be amazing as usual.

I can't wait.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Heroes , Television Reviews

Barack Obama has admitted that he smoked pot--and inhaled. He even admitted that he did cocaine "when he could afford it." And he even admitted that he considered using heroine. You can see the 60 Minutes video by going here and clicking on the "He Inhaled" link.

My immediate reaction is that I respect his candor and honesty. I especially respect the fact that he made the disclosures some time ago in one of his books. Thus, although he was almost certainly aware that he might one day run for the presidency, the move doesn't seem as purely political as it might otherwise.

But the question remains: is this a smart thing for Mr. Obama to do? I'll say this--it's definitely smarter than half-assing the admission. Why is the link to the video titled "He Inhaled" if not to poke fun Bill Clinton's "I did but I didn't" moment? Say what you will about Mr. Clinton, but that was a blatant lie and everyone knew it. The fact that he even attempted to pull that off suggests either that he's incredibly stupid or incredibly ballsy.

But I digress . . .

Yes, I like the fact that Mr. Obama's admitted his past drug use. First, he must have known that there was a reasonable likelihood that it was going to come out during the campaign. At least this way, it's on his terms; he controls the spin. He can cast it in as positive a light as possible, and that's definitely what he's done.

Second, it furthers the image he's been trying to create. He's trying to be (and, in my opinion, succeeding at being) a very sincere, up front guy. He's giving off this air of being amazingly competent while admitting his flaws and mistakes. I think it makes him look humble, and that's a nice contrast to Hilary--all of her attempts to look humble and every-dayish have come off as false and insincere.

Third, it probably endears him to as many voters as it loses him. Yeah, there are probably some people who will refuse to vote for Mr. Obama on the basis of his prior drug use, but those people were probably unlikely to vote for him in the first place. And, besides, I don't think it's particularly reasonable to exclude someone from consideration for the presidency based solely on a few minor acts of indiscretion in early adulthood. On the other hand, a fair number of voters might be drawn to Mr. Obama's sincerity and honesty, as I've been.

Of course, there are risks. This sort of admission could easily be turned against him. You can see the right-wing political cartoon now (it would involve a caricature of Mr. Obama smoking pot while in the Oval Office or something). Ultimately, though, I don't think it's that big of a deal (a lot of people have smoked pot), and I think the benefits are worth the potential pitfalls.

So, as of right now, my favorite Democratic nominee is Mr. Obama, hands down.

Still, I wish the candidates would start talking about, you know, policy and substance.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Political Rants , Rants on the News

It's almost as if today hadn't happened. I spent the whole day recovering from last night--man, I was worthless today.

In any event, I'm back amongst the living now and, I suspect, will be back at 100 percent efficiency tomorrow. Which is good, because I've got an insane amount of work to do.

I've gotta be better about staying in touch with my friends. Thankfully, the blogosphere has kept me in touch with some friends, and IM fills other gaps, but I've really gotta step up the phone calls. So, if you get a random phone call from me just to see what you're up to, it's part of my new stay-in-touch-with-old-friends thing. It'll be just like old times.

I'd like to thank Frank for sending along info about the Smashing Pumpkins forthcoming new album. It will be called "Zeitgeist," and it will be released July 7th of this year. That's fucking . . . I can't really even express how excited I am. But there's still no word on whether James Iha and D'arcy will be on the album. My guess is that D'arcy definitely won't be, but what about James? The Pumpkins really need him, I think--he helped write Soma, one of my all-time favorite songs.

In any event, the news has prompted me to create a new poll: What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Personally, I voted for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I know, I know--my all-time favorite band's reunited and releasing a new album, how does that not win? Well, for a few reasons. First, the last Pumpkins album was decent at best. Zwan was decent, too, but not nearly as good as the Pumpkins in their hayday. And then there was the inexcusable Billy Corgan solo album. So, while I'll love the Pumpkins till the day I die, I have to realistic: the album might suck hard core.

On the other hand, I've never been disappointed by a Harry Potter book. Even though Chamber of Secrets is weaker than all the other books, it's still very enjoyable. And this is the big finale--the one where (I assume) Harry and Voldemort will finally have their final confrontation, where we find out whether Snape really is the traitor we've been lead to believe he is, and where Hermione and Ron finally get together. In short, it should be awesome, and I'm already planning on sitting in my room for as long as I have to in order to finish the thing in one sitting.

So, yeah, that's what I voted for. What do you guys think?

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , General Awesomeness , Music Reviews , Polls , The Smashing Pumpkins

As a general rule, I hate having the government tell me what I can and cannot do. In an ideal world, I think that a consenting adult, or a group of consenting adults, should be able to do anything as long as there are no direct negative consequences to anyone outside the consenting adult or group of adults.

Regardless of what idealogy this idea is normally associated with, I'm not antiregulation per se; to the contrary, I think most laws are good, even where they violate the principle I've just laid out. In certain instances, the right of the group to safety and security outweighs the right of the individual to do as he will. However, I believe very strongly that the government should only infringe on the individual's freedom when there is a compelling reason to do so and, even then, it should do so in the least obtrusive way possible.

This train of thought leads me to support the legalization of most, if not all, drugs. If I want to wake up in the morning and snoke coke while shooting up heroin, I should be able to, as long as I'm not neglecting my children or robbing from people to get drug money. And, of course, I think that all currently illegal substances, should they become legal, should be subject to even more stringent regulations than are currently in place for tobacco and alcohol.

As I've mentioned before, these beliefs lead me to strongly reject any regulations that attempt to save me from myself or my own stupidity. In short, I thought the trans fat ban in New York City was going too far. Imagine, then, how I felt when I saw this article while looking around over at Althouse's blog.

Let me summarize the article. Some idiotic state senator named Carl Kruger has proposed that New York City enact a ban on using cell phones and iPods while walking. Read that sentence again. Once more. Yeah, he wants to make it illegal to listen to your fucking iPod while walking to work in the morning! Listening to my iPod while I walk to and from class is 90 percent of why I want my iPod.

Look, outlawing talking on your cell phone while driving is one thing. Numerous studies have shown that talking while driving actually inhibits your driving ability at least as much as being drunk. So, outlawing talking on your cell phone while driving makes perfect sense. But outlawing talking while walking? Really?

And as ridiculous as that is, how the hell do you justify outlawing listening to music while walking? That's just--that's just lunacy!!! There are three exclamation points at the end of that last sentence--that's how fucking bat-shit crazy this idea is. How did this thing even make it to the light of day? This kind of proposal can only be the result of some sort of perfect storm of stupidity.

And I just have to repeat the sentiments of the first commenter on Althouse's post: the impetus for this law was apparently the recent death of two iPod-listening pedestrians. As the commenter pointed out, two deaths in a city of 9 million people is hardly a public-safety emergency. I bet that, in the same period, more people died of pigeon-related causes. But where's all the antipigeon legislation?

My point is simple. I'm happy to cede a certain amount of my freedom for the security that comes with living in a civilized society. In other words, I'm willing to trade my ability to kill you for the knowledge that you won't kill me. But nowhere in that social contract is there a provision requiring, or even allowing, the government to keep me from hurting myself. So, I'm going to keep on listening to my iPod and eating French fries while I walk to school in the morning. And you can kiss my ass, Mr. Kruger.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)| Filed under Legal Rants , Philosophical Rants , Political Rants , Rants on the News

Monday night means Heroes. Spoilers to follow.

Holy fucking shit! Nathan?! That's just--wow. I didn't see that coming at all. I have to admit that I was pretty blown away. The immediate thing this means is that the people who were rooting for a Peter/Claire relationship are out of luck. In addition to that being statutory rape, it's now also weird pseudo-incest. The more important question is: How is Nathan going to react? He, like Claire's mom, probably thought Claire was dead. So how's he going to deal with finding out not only that she's alive but also that she, too, has super powers? More importantly, did Nathan know that Claire's mom has abilities? And are hers like Ted Sprague's, or are they more controlled than that?

The cool thing is that, from Nathan's perspective, everything's going wrong: his brother's acting all crazy, more and more people are talking about his having freakish abilities, and, now, his long-lost daughter's returned. But what's really happening is that Nathan is being brought to the point where he can't deny his destiny. Eventually, soon, he's going to have to face who he is, what he's done, and the reality that these powers are real, New York's going to explode, and he's going to have to step up to the plate.

The Peter storyline was also extremely awesome. I like Claude, but I hated the fact that he was telling Peter that, in order for him to use a person's ability without being near the person, he would have to let go of that person. Of course, this is Peter we're talking about. He's just not that kind of person. We've been shown over and over what a caring, compassionate person he is. It would be against his nature to stop caring about people and cut them off. But Claude was right, in a way: in order for Peter to realize his potential, he has to be himself. And, for Peter, that means remembering how he feels about someone, how that person makes him feel. Through empathy, Peter found that he doesn't have to be near someone to use their ability.

So Peter is like a naturally occuring Sylar, only better; he doesn't have to kill the person to use their ability, and the person keeps his or her power. Meanwhile, Peter permanently retains their ability. Does anyone else see an amazing Sylar/Peter battle coming up? Yeah, thought so. This is mind-blowing shit. Once Peter figures it all out, he'll be able to regenerate, fly, stop time, teleport, read minds, become invisible, and see the future. This also explains why Peter was having prophetic visions even though he wasn't near Isaac.

Hiro's story was good, too. And Ando's part was pretty good, to boot.

Basically, Heroes puts out two kinds of episodes: good ones and awesome ones. This definitely falls into the latter category. I can't wait for next week.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Heroes , Television Reviews

Football doesn't interest me in th least. However, I usually enjoy the Super Bowl because of--what else?--the commercials. But this year's commercials were pitiful.

There weren't any so-cool-you've-gotta-talk-about-them-the-next-day commercials. And, strangly, there were a lot of really depressing commercials. For example, that commercial with the car-building robot that fucking kills itself? That was just . . . wrong! Why would the ad company spend all this time humanizing a robot, making me identify with it, only to have it jump off a bridge. And then, oh, it's ok--it was all a dream. No, that one sucked.

And so did the one with the dog that wanted to be a dalmation. The Snickers one, with the guys accidentally kissing each other, was just bizarre. The only real highlights were the Career Builder ads, but even those weren't spectacular, and one of them outright sucked.

To make matters worse, the halftime show was one of the most offensively bad things I've ever seen. See it for yourself:

In one fell swoop, the self-indulgent hack formerly known as "the artist formerly known as Prince" ruined songs by CCR, the Foo Fighters and Bob Dylan/Jimi Hedrix. Seriously, what the fuck? Somehow, despite the fact that the man can obviously play the guitar, this was the least energetic ten minutes of pseudo-music I've ever heard. And why in the hell were there dancers? There are so many things wrong with the performance, I can't even come up with a adequate way of articulating my rage. Let's just say this: this was even worse than the Aerosmith/N*sync debacle.

I guess there was also a game, but I didn't really care. I vaguely favored da Bears, but only because of the old SNL sketches.

Here's one of those sketches so that you might erase the memory of that horrible, horrible Prince performance:

In any event, the whole night would have been a loss had it not been for the excellent company, the expertly applied peer pressure, and the completely shirking of responsibility. Good times, good times.

Update:
The fact that Prince performed in the pouring rain has been getting a lot of media coverage. It's pretty cool that he did that, I suppose. But the best play-on-even-though-it's-raining moment of modern times was delivered by, surprisingly, Bush. Remember when Gavin Rosdale stood on stage in the rain and played an awesome version of Glycerine? Well, maybe this will jog your memory:

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)| Filed under Fun Shit I've Done , Music Reviews , Rants , Television Reviews

It's currently 1:54am. The air temperature outside is -11. If you factor in wind chill, it feels like -24. I can honestly say that this is the coldest temperature I've ever personally experienced.

My car was ridiculously cold when I got into it. I drove home, so I was in it for about ten minutes. I don't own gloves. That means my hands were exposed to the ridiculous cold for about ten minutes. I've been inside my beautifully heated (three cheers for free heat!) apartment for about ten minutes now. I still don't have the full feeling back in my fingers. In fact, I'm having trouble typing.

I had heard these stories about how, if it gets cold enough, your snot freezes. I never really believed them. Until today when, after being outside for literally about a minute and a half, my snot froze solid. Unbelievable.

Sometimes, when I leave the law school to go down to State Street for some food, I like to cut through the humanities building. For those of you unfamiliar with the UW campus, the humanities is pretty much the ugliest building on campus. The only picture I could find is this one. As ugly as the building's exterior is, the inside makes the outside look like an architectural masterwork. The building is very utilitarian--it's all concrete, literally. It's as if they set up one big, intricate mold and poured concrete in. And it started molding over the second they finished building it.

Anyway, the building is warm as hell, so I like to walk through it on days when it's too cold outside to think. Today, one of the glass doors leading outside had about a quarter inch of frozen condensation on it. I had never seen that.

My point? It's fucking cold outside. This is crazy.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Rants

The last few days have been pretty quiet. I felt pretty bad for a few days, as if I was getting sick. I still might be, I'm not feeling 100% yet. I've been almost nonstop busy, although, somehow, I'm about a hundred pages behind in classes already. I got home at about ten o'clock last night and, though I had previously said I was going to bar review, didn't. In fact, I went to bed at around eleven. And then I slept until about one o'clock this afternoon. It was awesome.

I went into the office for a while today and did some work, but I got that wrapped up pretty quickly and came back home. Once I got back, I popped in the last DVD of the first season of Lost. I was expecting a pretty good cliffhanger. And what I got was . . . well, let me explain it through this conversation with Ryan, who got here for poker just as the last episode of the season was ending. Spoilers ahead:

Me: I swear to god, if they end this thing with a shot from the hatch's point of view, looking up at Jack and John with confused looks on their faces, I'm going to be pissed.
Ryan: Hmm. Well, prepare to get pissed.
[TV shows an explosion, the hatch is open. Jack and John lean in to see what's in the hatch. We get a shot from the hatch's point of view, looking up at Jack and John, with cofused looks on their faces. The camera pulls back and shows that the hatch opens onto a big pit. Fade to black. End of season.]
Me: Goddamnit! God-fucking-damnit!

In any event, the show's pretty good.

Tomorrow looks to be full of work, which is fine because there's a lot of it to be done. Maybe a movie in the afternoon. And it's going to be cold. It's one degree right now, and I don't think it got above five today. I think the same thing's gonna happen tomorrow.

Ever since listening to it over at Maggie's blog, I've been obsessed with "Samson" by Regina Spektor. It's fucking heart breaking. Check it out.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 4:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Music Reviews , Rants About Things That Make Me Irrationally Angry , Television Reviews , Things I'm Irrationally Attached To