One final down and three more to go. Next one is on Friday and it's closed book (yuck).

Meanwhile, I've been fooding my way around Redwood City. Joining Yelp might have been a bad idea. On the other hand, my desire to discover new places has landed me some great local study spots. I guess it's win win.

Still no summer job yet. Kind of put it on hold when I realized I had to learn Professional Responsibility in one week. Hopefully next week when I've got a little more time I can throw out some applications. I have one that I'm waiting on. While I'd love to get it, I need to stop throwing all my eggs in one or two baskets. Sooo back to that grind next week. That and re-learning Evidence and IP. Fun times.

On an unrelated note, what happened to Gossip Girl? It was never really an amazing show, but they really can't be so out of ideas that they're throwing out soap opera cliches like terminal illnesses at us. Really Gossip Girl? Really? Is someone going to go blind next?

I have important things to do now. Clearly that means that I should post here about Gossip Girl. Clearly. Seriously, I think that the TV programming gods must like me because they managed to stagger Heroes and Gossip Girl for me so I wouldn't have to complain about both at the same time. Granted, these TV gods obviously must not exist or Heroes would have been canceled by now. But I digress.

Anyway, tonight's episode was better than usual.

Rufus continues to irritate me in his spiral into terrible parenthood. Seriously, this show is about a bunch of spoiled Upper East Siders who receive little to no supervision by their self absorbed parents. How is it that Rufus outshines Lily as a bad parent? It frustrates me to no end because I loved him first season.

Second, they seem to think that we're going to buy this whole Serena "Daddy Issues" van der Woodsen is over trying to contact her father thing. Not happening. I'll be surprised if they can actually pull a feat like that off.

Third, what happened to Eric? Now, it's been a few months since the show ended for winter break, but didn't Jenny and Eric JUST make up after their feuding ways? Why is it that he disappears for long periods of time? I wonder if during the show's hiatus he just got fed up with his family and disowned them all. Really wouldn't be surprised.

Speaking of which, I love watching Jenny's impending high speed train wreck. I love it. That and the Dan-Nate bromance are what I watch for.

Because while this was once a show about students, there is very little evidence that any of these kids go to school anymore. The closest thing we have was the bizarre college party that Vanessa and Dan went to.

I should get back to work. I just wanted to get in some Gossip Girl ranting.

One final down and three more to go. Next one is on Thursday. IP. Not as scared of it as I probably should be because I've got that outline done. And it's not closed book like Remedies. Sales was my final today. I really can't tell you how I did on that one, but it's done.

I caught up on Dexter too. Sooo good. I can't believe I'm going to be stuck studying while that finale is one. Going to be so hard to resist.

Gossip Girl was not as good. They need to hire new writers for that show or seriously reconsider some of the stories they're doing. Also that whole Chuck talking to Bart thing they tried to pull tonight kind of felt like it was taken directly out of Dexter. Just saying. Seriously, though. There's a long break anyway. Maybe they can cook something up in that time.

Also, finally got Strict Joy by the Swell Season. So go0d.

I haven't posted here in a long time. After we got back from Korea things got super hectic with school starting and OCI and everything. 2L in general has been a very hectic year and I'm waiting for some breathing room.

I did see the Dodos last Friday at amoeba. that was fun. And Sondre on Sunday!

I just wanted to hop on with the hope that i'd get back into this and also to comment about how Gossip Girl's portrayal of college students is just a tad off-base. College students do not generally turn down free sushi and alcohol, especially when the other option is to watch a documentary about a local garden. of course, if you haven't seen the episode, this doesn't make sense to you.

I got a new car this weekend because Gianni is stealing the CRV. 2008 Hyundai Accent. I'll post a picture maybe.

Well, first things first. I am done with finals! I turned in my Enviro law final 2:49, almost 20 minutes before it was due. W00t. The 30 hour final was pretty grueling, but it wasn't quite as tiring as i thought it would be. It was kind of like waiting until the last minute to write a paper. The questions were hard, but I managed.

Even had time for an American Idol break. Kris was so good last night. I hope Danny gets kicked off. Also, I really hope they get rid of Kara. She brings nothing to the show. And Adam was terrible. People need to stop encouraging that.

In case you're wondering, this is what a 30 hour final looks like...



To celebrate, I am going to let my brain relax for a while. Am watching S.Darko, which is the sequel to Donnie Darko. I watched it out of morbid curiosity, for the lulz, and because Chuck's in it. So far, it is absolutely terrible. Words don't even describe. I am not sure what I expected. There isn't even good music in it so far. I mean, I don't know what to expect when it came straight to DVD, was not directed by Richard Kelly (though, I can't give him much credit anymore because Southland Lands was terrible), and the only cast member who returned was Samara from the Ring. Also no Jake and mullet Alex. I think Frank might actually make an appearance *cross fingers.* If not, this movie and I are done professionally. Apparently Seth Rogen was in Donnie Darko as well. I found that out earlier this year. Anyway, I'm hoping this movie might get better.

Anyway, speaking of Chuck, I was not a big fan of Monday's episode. They cut the prom episode in half to introduce that Valley Girls spin off. The spin off, which may not be happening anymore, was pretty bad. Little Lily and her sister sounded terribly valley girl for people who recently moved from NY. Also, there was no Rufus. And the No Doubt cameo they've been hyping for months wasn't that exciting. Those are my thoughts. Season finale of that next week. And LOST tonight. I'm going back to watching this terrible movie.

I have to leave for the immigration clinic one hour from now and it's pouring outside. I'm hoping that it clears up before then. It's about a 35 minute walk out through the financial district. Don't want to have to trudge through the rain in that.

All eight bound copies of my brief are due tomorrow. I put the finishing touches on it yesterday and took it in to get printed and bound. They told us to give a day of leeway to print that stuff out, which is why I wanted to have it all done by Monday. It only took 30 minutes, though. I think it's good I did it today. Now I'm just fighting the urge to look at it for any final mistakes. It's been a tough battle.

I'm done with that though, knock on wood and assuming I pass the ten error check. Next hurdle to over come is that oral argument. I've got a couple of weeks to work on that.

Today, I also experienced a first at GAAP. One of the clients came in and started playing the clarinet while he was waiting. It was kind of cool, actually.

Anyway, I should try to get some work done before I head out to the Immigration Clinic (hopefully not in the rain).

Idol tonight. I still hate the set up this year.

Also, Gossip Girl needs to come back. I don't know why we have to wait until March 16. Heroes is getting better and Chuck's been really good lately. I enjoy my TV Mondays.

It's Monday night, which is my big television night. Gossip Girl, Chuck, and Heroes came back. Since I didn't do anything today besides go to class and spend the night hacking away at this week's Moot Court assignments (and make salsa, actually), I'll go into mini-recaps. I've got my 8:30 class tomorrow, so they can't be too long.

Gossip Girl -

We learned from the previews three things - 1) Blair was going to get expelled; 2) Dan and WhatshernameTeacher's relationship will be exposed some how; 3) Chuck did something that's really cool and has to share it with Nate. Blair's been upset that she has to pick up litter for detention. She doesn't actually do it. She makes Dorota do it for her until her father shows up. At this point, she pretends that she's been working away and gets big sympathy points. Needless to say, she's very upset with Whatshername Teacher for starting this. Since she's Blair, instead of just sitting still and basking in the glow of her now-earned Yale acceptance, she decides to seek revenge. Even her minions tell her that it's a bad idea. Then Whatshername Teacher bans cell phones from the school and everyone's on board. They decide to spread a rumor that Dan and Whatshername Teacher are in some secret affair and use the phones that UndercoverSpy Dorota sneaks into the school for them.

All hell breaks lose. Dean is upset. Dean expels Blair because Dan and Nelli snitch. I was hoping this expulsion thing would last a little longer. Judging from the way they portrayed public schools in The OC when Marissa got (temporarily) expelled from Harbor, I could only imagine how Blair would react in such a situation. I certainly doubt she'd even associate with little emo surfers.

It doesn't last long. Outraged by the scandal, the parents of Constance and St. Jude pull a last minute parent teacher meeting about the Gossip Girl site. Blair tells her dad (who I'm assuming has been living there because Elenor and Cyrus are on their honeymoon) that the story wasn't a lie, so he goes to fight for her. Blair resigns herself to a Yale-less life and even has Dorota give away the dog. Then, Serena sees Dan and Whatshername Teacher at the cafe together and snaps a picture. Dumb move on their part considering they're supposed to be showing that they're not together. An upset Serena shows picture to Blair, Blair brings picture to teacher's meeting, WT is fired.

Blair's elated, especially since she had Dorota retrieve her dog. Her dad's mad she lied. Dan's upset, especially at Rufus, who voted for her to be fired. Dan and Serena break up. Dan and WT actually hook up since she's not a teacher anymore (how old is Dan?). While they hook up, the Dean tells Lily and Rufus that they're not going to fire WT anymore. Scandal. Yes.

Meanwhile, they've got this new developing Chuck storyline that's kind of dumb. He wakes up in some hotel after some night of partying and after meeting some mystery woman. He drags Nate and Vanessa over to investigate. Instead of helping Chuck, both of them test your gag reflexes with their disgusting cute coupleness. Anyway, mystery woman is his old nanny, who rubs salt all over Chuck's wounds by telling him that he was actually looking for Bart and did not know that he was dead. Then she talks about some secret society that Chuck should definitely not look into. Like that's going to happen. Anyway, that storyline looks kind of dumb. I was hoping mystery woman would be Georgina. Oh well...


Heroes

Heroes was okay. Nathan Petrelli's apparently got this big plan to get rid of people with powers by rounding them up and sending them somewhere. Apparently HRG is in on the action as well. Peter goes back to his actual job and whines there. Claire starts looking at colleges. Matt and Daphne are together, but Matt's adopted daughter is notably missing...still. Oh and the now-powerless Hiro is living vicariously through Ando's newly acquired powers. He also conveniently injects some GPS device into both Ando and himself. We're not going to ask how he afforded it.

Government agents round up all the main characters and put them on a plane to send them off to some unknown location. The only ones they don't seem to get are Sylar, because Sylar's too good for them, and Ando, because not many people know he has powers. They catch Claire, but Nathan tries to sneak her out in an attempt to show some heart (I'm really liking cold-hearted villanous Nathan, though). Claire punches her driver in the face and sneaks onto the plane. As it's taking off, she frees the prisoners. Peter somehow gets his powers back by holding Mohinder's hand. He breaks the plane by acquiring NotNikki's power and freezing one wall of the plane. This causes a plane crash scene that I could have sworn I saw 5 years ago. The episode ends after that. I imagine they're building us up for some uber cool season or something I don't know. I should get to bed.

I've been trying to brief a case for my Moot Court research for like two hours now and I just can't get into it. It's an interesting case about child pornography, but I just haven't been able to get into it. This is one of the big cases that I need to know, too. You might ask how that relates to identity theft, but it's actually not as exciting of an answer as you might expect.

Anyway, as part of Project: Get out of the Apartment More, I decided to go to the Asian Art Museum. Today was an ideal day to go because it was a great day, it was a weekend...and admission to the museum is free on the first Sunday of every month. That's definitely a plus. The admission isn't really that bad to begin with, but free > all. Anyway, I went to the museum around 10:30. In addition to it being free today, they were also celebrating the Year of the Ox at the museum. Thus, they had performances and arts and crafts tables. Anyway, the exhibits in the museum were really cool. The museum is huge (a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be). The collection is enormous. The Korea collection here was a lot bigger than the one at the Freer & Sackler Galleries in DC. There's an entire room that's filled with Jade. It's really cool. There were so many statues of Buddha (the law student in me had to stop myself from typing statute instead of statue). It's a really great exhibit. I'm going to have to go back at some other time. I got through two and a half rooms and realized that I had spent an hour there. Knowing that I would, at some point, have to actually start doing work, I kind of sped things up after that. I was there for another hour and a half or something, but I know I probably missed a lot. Also, I missed the exhibit on art from Afghanistan. It's been here since October and pretty much just ended. It looked really cool, too.

I was starving after that, so I grabbed a burrito and got work done. I got some work done, but I got severely distracted after having rediscovered the blog, Stuff White People Like. At least I'm done with reading through Wednesday. Probably spend all of tomorrow doing Moot Court. Fun times. I have a sneaking suspicion that there was something I was supposed to do today that I didn't, but whatever.

I didn't watch the Super Bowl, but I watched what were apparently the best commercials from it. The Conan O'Brien one has to be my favorite. I found out that there was an hour-long episode of The Office after. I missed it and will have to watch it tomorrow or something. Tomorrow's actually a big TV night. Gossip Girl, Chuck, and Heroes come back. I actually have to choose between my Josh Schwartz shows, so I'll probably be watching Chuck on Hulu in between classes on Wednesday. Yay Heroes though. Let's see if they can prove themselves against some really good episodes of Lost.

It's ridiculously late now, so I should probably go to bed.

There was no new Gossip Girl tonight. It was the rerun of the episode where Chuck finds out that Lily and Rufus have a kid. I don't know which one. I didn't watch it. Listened to Gianni's radio show instead. I also watched this ridiculous new reality show on ABC called True Beauty. I tried to stop watching several times, but it's one of those train wrecks where you just can't look away.

Anyway, I guess they're really going through with that Gossip Girl spin-off. I was kind of excited about it at first because Lily van der Woodson's one of the more interesting characters on the show. It really just looks like a disaster in the making. I'll probably end up watching the first episode just because, but I really don't know why they have to make it. You already know what's going to happen to Lily and as interesting as Lily and Rufus's fling in Monteceito might really be, it's also something that they could cover just as easily in a series of flash backs (maybe I just watch too much Lost). Whatever. They're the ones losing money over this right?

I completed Book #6 in my quest to read 50 books in 2009. #6 was Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. The book was okay. The show is a lot better, in my opinion. The Dexter storyline isn't quite the same without Michael C. Hall narrating everything and the music. The characters weren't as exciting. Masouka's not nearly as quirky and weird. Angel is not important at all, which is a pity because he's definitely one of the cooler characters on the show. Also, LaGuerda in the book was shallow and obnoxious. She was cold in the first season of the show, but at least they portrayed her as a strong character. Dexter only kills a couple of people and the build up to the revelation of the Ice Truck Killer was lame. There are very few Harry flashbacks. Deb whined the whole time (Oh wait, she kind of does that on the show). The only thing that I thought was interesting was how Dexter started to think that he was the Ice Truck Killer. I don't know. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't end up comparing it to the show the entire time. My two cents, anyway. I think the next book I'm going to read is some book by Anthony Bourdain. Don't remember the title.

Gossip Girl: 2x16 - You've Got Yale

I wasn't going to post about last night's Gossip Girl, mostly because I had forgotten about a lot of it when I did start the blog, but I actually really enjoyed it and, therefore, wanted to put in my two cents. Ever since the episode where Bart Bass died, we've been going back and forth in very Chuck-centric episodes. Don't get me wrong though, I think Chuck is my favorite character on the show (and Ed Westwick can act circles around the other kids), but I was growing tired of the mopey and self-destructive Chuck.

What I have enjoyed about the last few episodes has been Chuck's uncle, Jack. I almost forgot his name. I refer to him as Quinn because of his character on Dexter. On the whole, I have to admit that I like Desmond Harrington a lot more on Gossip Girl. I hope they do something more with his character on Dexter next season. I felt like they built him up to be more intriguing than he turned out to be this past season. I almost thought he was the skinner for a while. He just kind of fizzled towards the end, in my opinion. He's spiced things up a lot more as Jack Bass, that's for sure.

Also, for the amount of Lily that we saw this episode, it was actually refreshing for her storyline to not be centered around her relationship with Rufus. This says a lot considering that I thought some of the best moments of the first season had to do with their relationship.

Chuck has returned to his scheming self. He's trying to find a way to frame his uncle for some scandal so that he can get the company back. After failing in his initial attempts, he enlists Lily's help. You can tell Kelly Rutherford is pregnant because most of the shots of her these past few episodes have been from the shoulders up. The dress she wore at the opera was also pretty loose. You could see that she was showing a little at one moment too. Anyway, Lily and Chuck work out all these schemes to try to get the company back to Chuck. I think Lily largely does this with the hope that Chuck's going to forgive her and come back. I found his list of plans amusing, like the fact that he bought Anthrax. I also loved that Lily's concern with the plan for Jack to die in a plane crash was that the Bass jet was very expensive. Lily's solution ends up being to adopt Chuck (I guess that's why she wasn't his guardian in the first place?), which means that she controls the company until Chuck turns 18.

Jack attacks Lily in the powder room, but is stopped by Chuck and security guards. I suppose that's the end of the Jack story, then. Chuck decides to move back in with the van der Woodsens.

For the most part, we go back to school. Blair regains her title as Queen Bee at Constance. All is good with the world. The episode centers around Yale acceptance letters (which seem remarkably early, did ALL the students apply for early acceptance or something?). Actually, we find out that they're not as much acceptance letters as they are acceptance text messages. I know it's been a while since I applied to college, but they certainly didn't do that at the law school level. I don't even know if I'd like having something that big come in the form of a text message.

Blair gets a bulldog from her dad and his boyfriend because they assume she's getting into Yale. You've known since the beginning of the season that she wasn't getting into Yale. At least, not at first. Obviously being waitlisted would drag out the drama for longer than an acceptance or even a rejection. Serena and Dan, however, do make it in. Serena, not so much for her academics, but for her current celebrity status. What I found stupid was that Blair, for all her intelligence, ONLY applied to Yale. She knew things were kind of shakey earlier in the year, so I don't know why she would assume that she was in. She is conveniently on the top of the waitlist, and can go in if someone (who you know will be Serena) gives up her spot. She does and Blair is in. You know this is far to easy, but what can you do.

In this episode, we also get the infamous teacher that they've been talking about in the gossip world for quite some time. I think I've heard rumors of her being linked to Chuck, Dan, AND Nate. Nate, by now, is far to smitten with Vanessa (who we have the displeasure of seeing this episode), so we know it's not going to be him. I don't think that Chuck goes to school anymore. By process of elimination that leaves Dan. And this teacher seems Dan's type. Things are shakey between Dan and Serena again anyway (when are they not?). He's upset that she wants to go to Brown and turned down Yale.

Actually, though, the Nate-Vanessa scenes weren't that bad this episode. They were kind of cute to be honest. This will be short-lived, I know.

Anyway, new teacher gives Blair a B and she spends the episode scheming to exact revenge. That's Blair being Blair, I guess. She even goes through with the plan AFTER she knows she's getting into Yale. Definitely spells out bad trouble for her, and now her admission into the school is on the rocks because of a detention. I didn't know those Ivys were that particular about the academic record. Then again, I didn't apply to those Ivys for undergrad, so I wouldn't actually know.

I don't know. I thought this episode was better than the last few episodes. I am glad that they have been showing more of Eric recently. I feel like he's one of the more underappreciated characters on the show. Jenny no longer grates on my nerves, but that could be because they've been showing less of her.

That's about it. I should stop procrastinating.