Waiting in line now for Harry Potter!

This is genuinely encouraging. But I’m not sure what “peaceful-loving” means. :)

Dog bites man; plane hits car.

I tested out the Pentax Optio 330 RS at a Ritz Camera store yesterday (I took an MTA bus to the Beverly Center), but was unimpressed. It has all the features I read about, but it also sucks in low light. In fact, it sucks in medium light. So now I’m looking seriously at the Fuji FinePix 3800, which has a 6x optical zoom and appears to be much better in low light (but has no manual focus). It’s $399 at Circuit City, but I’m hoping to find an open-box version — discounted to perhaps $349 or $359 — somewhere in the L.A. area.

Also yesterday, I bought the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition DVD. Becky and I watched it through the arrival at Lothlorien, but then Becky got sleepy. :) (Must have been the mysterious power of Galadriel.) I’m comment on it once we finish it. (So far, though, very cool!)

In other news, Osama bin Laden is definitely alive, Saddam Hussein is pretending to comply, and some female members of the marching band at New Britain High School — one of Newington High’s big rivals — are in a heap of trouble for an annual tradition that involved stealing stuff.

It looks like Osama bin Laden is still with us. Either that, or Al Qaeda did the old Saturday Night Live/Tom Brokaw/Dana Carvey trick of making a recording beforehand, mentioning all the possible terrorist attacks that might eventually happen, in order to later create the illusion later that he’s still around. (“Gerald Ford is dead today, and I am gay…”)

I think I’ve decided which digital camera I want to buy: the Pentax Optio 330 RS. It has 3-megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, and, according to various reviews I’ve read, tons of wonderful features. Included among those is, most importantly, manual focus, which is very hard to find in modestly priced digicams. It also has a really cool time-lapse video shooting mode, a “3D” effect, and lots of other awesome-sounding stuff. And you can supposedly buy a waterproof case for the camera, so you don’t have to worry about taking it to the beach! (This would come in very handy in Hawaii next month.)

Now I just need to do some comparison shopping and perhaps some bargaining. Circuit City, my usual electronics-purchasing mecca, doesn’t sell Pentax digital cameras, but Samy’s Camera in L.A. does. Their $440 price tag is a little steep, however, considering that Ritz Camera’s website advertises it for $350 and some other websites go as low as $325. So, hopefully I can bargain with Samy’s a bit… or perhaps I’ll just buy it at Ritz, assuming they have it in stock locally. Of course, I could always buy it online, but ideally, I’d like to have it by this Friday. We shall see…

Pairings were announced today for the NCAA Tournament of women’s soccer. USC’s first-round game is against San Diego, a team we tied 0-0 early in our 10-7-3 season. (San Diego’s record is 14-6.) The game is Friday at 6:00 PM on UCLA’s campus.

If the Women of Troy win, their second-round matchup could be against the hated Bruins, who beat us 2-0 earlier this year in a game that USC’s coach described as her team’s worst performance all year. Methinks the Women of Troy might be thirsty for a little revenge.

Hopefully, UCLA will beat Loyola Marymount on Friday and USC will kick some San Diego butt, setting up a classic Trojan-Bruin duel on Sunday at 1:00 PM for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

Here’s a PDF file of the tournament bracket. (Note the first-round matchup between UConn and Central Connecticut State!)

In discussing the U.K. royal scandal, why does CNN feel the need to use the phrase “gay rape” over and over, instead of just calling it a “rape”? I don’t object to the need to report the basic facts of what supposedly happened — a man allegedly raped another man — but why should the crime be consistently, repeatedly called a “gay rape”? When a man rapes a woman, is it called a “straight rape”?

Are we to assume that “gay rapes” are inherently worse than other rapes? Or that gay people are more likely to be rapists? Are we going back to the 1950s here? In this day and age, does anyone outside of the Vatican really believe that homosexuality is tantamount to pedophilia and sexual criminality? Does CNN believe this? What is the message here?

Here’s what the UConn Daily Campus had to say editorially about the police’s response to UConn students rushing the field Saturday:

Shame on you, UConn
By Meghan Bard and Jen Pinsonneault

Saturday afternoon, the stands filled with cheering fans, the marching band playing our fight song and a great victory on a beautiful November day, the memories of that afternoon will be forever tarnished by the actions of police in the end zones. But you forget, this is a college campus, our college campus. That’s our football team, our stadium and those are our goal posts, and we wanted to take them down. We wanted to send our football team to their new home with the proper pomp and circumstance. Shame on those who did not allow this to happen. Shame on everyone who seems to forget what the point of a college football game is, what a college university is. You are supposed to be here for us, the students, not for your perfect public relations. So shame on you, and may you remember this next year when those stands in East Hartford are not filled with students.

I can certainly sympathize. L.A. Coliseum police and L.A.P.D. cops acted in a similarly revolting fashion last year when USC fans tried to rush the field after the Trojans’ historic 27-0 win over UCLA. (Although, in that case, students were actually beaten on the field. Then again, this is L.A.) Universities do not seem to understand that stopping students from having innocent fun is generally more trouble than it’s worth. It’s more likely that someone is going to get hurt by police — especially in a confrontation between drunk students and frustrated cops — than that someone is going to get hurt in a freak accident involving a goal post or a fellow student.

Undoubtedly, the primary motive behind universities’ overzealous “protection” of their students in these situations is the fear of liability if a student does get hurt by freak accident involving a goal post or whatever. (Liability, after all, is the motive for pretty much everything in our society. But that’s another commentary for another day.) But if something happens to a dumb student who parties too hard, that’s the student’s fault — whereas if police attack dozens or hundreds of students in an attempt to keep them “safe,” any injuries that occur are the university’s fault. For liability’s sake, universities should put up signs and make public-address announcements stating repeatedly and clearly that students are discouraged from rushing the field, and that anyone does so is proceeding at his or her own risk. And then they should leave the students alone… or at least refrain from beating and spraying them.

Here, by the way, is the Daily Campus’s news story about the incident…

Police pepper spray students
By Chris Gillon

“No historical concern for tradition at the university would outweigh the concern for such injury or death to any bystander who happened to be victim to such an accident,” the statement said.

Our cable and phone service (by which I mean, Becky’s cable and phone service) are back up, so I can post to this website like normal again.

Here’s a link to an article about USC’s blowout win over the Farm. So now it’s down to four games: Arizona State at USC (Nov. 16), USC at UCLA (Nov. 23), Washington at Washington State (Nov. 23), and Washington State at UCLA (Dec. 7). For the Trojans to win the Pac-10 championship, USC must win both and Washington State must lose both. (It sort of reminds me of the situation for Democrats at around 10:00 PM Pacific time on Election Night, when three Senate races — South Dakota, Minnesota, and Missouri — were still up for grabs, and the Dems needed all three to keep the Senate. Hopefully things will work out a little better this time.)

In other news, Arizona State lost to Cal, 55-38, eliminating themselves from Pac-10 title contention. The only teams left with a mathematical chance to win the conference, aside from the front-running Cougars (6-0), are USC (5-1) and, oddly enough, UCLA (5-2). But there’s no need to think too hard about the Bruins’ championship-winning scenario, because the Trojans are going to kick their butts in two weeks.

(For the record: If Washington beats Washington State in the “Apple Cup” in two weeks, the Bruins can win the conference by defeating USC and Washington State, who happen to be their last two opponents. The Apple Cup is on the same day as the USC-UCLA game, so it will be the one thing that USC and UCLA fans will agree on that day: both will be fervently rooting for Washington. Unless, of course, USC loses to Arizona State next week, in which case the Trojans will be eliminated anyway and the Cougars’ fate won’t matter to us anymore; some USC fans might then root for Washington State just to spite the Bruins, though I’d root for Washington for Dave’s sake. But that’s a moot point, because we’re totally beating Arizona State next week. It’s Homecoming, and it also has the special significance of being the first USC home game in which I will be able to buy beer.)

USC 49, Stanford 17. Meanwhile, our phone and cable are out due to storm.

Washington State remained undefeated in the Pac-10 today, beating the Oregon Ducks 32-21 and dealing a major blow to USC’s Rose Bowl hopes. In order to win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl, the Trojans now must win their last three games — against Stanford today, Arizona State next week and UCLA in two weeks — and hope that Washington State will lose its last two, against Washington in two weeks and UCLA in four weeks.

This means several things. First, my ex-roommate Dave and I most definitely have common cause in the Washington-Washington State “Apple Cup” in two weeks. (Bow down to Washington!!!) Second, if USC still manages to make it into the Rose Bowl, the earliest we could possibly know it would be Dec. 7, which would complicate my winter-break flight plans rather severely. Finally, and most depressingly, the Trojans’ Rose Bowl hopes now firmly rest on the shoulders of our archrivals, the UCLA Bruins.

There is another scenario whereby the Trojans could reach the Rose Bowl without a bunch of Cougar losses. With so many undefeated teams losing across the country, including #1 Oklahoma today, it is not totally out of the question that if Washington State wins all the rest of its games, the Cougars could move up the BCS standings enough to get bumped up, out of the Rose Bowl and into the national-championship Fiesta Bowl. In that case, if USC wins all the rest of its games (including on Thanksgiving Saturday against Notre Dame), we might be invited to Rose Bowl in the Cougars’ place, even as the Pac-10’s second-place team. That’s unlikely, however, so Trojan fans would do well to keep rooting for the Cougars’ opponents. But in case that fails, it wouldn’t hurt to root against Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas, too. :)

In other news, UConn students had a random riot today. Go Connecticut!

Oh, and while we’re on the topic of football in Connecticut, the Newington High School football team sadly lost yesterday to Platt, 46-26, ruining the Indians’ chance of their first winning season since I was in middle school. Newington is now 3-6 with two games to go. But hopefully they can still win their first Thanksgiving game in years against Wethersfield (1-6-1).

I already knew that I got a 167 on the LSATs — now I know why. My corrected answers and detailed score information arrived at my parents’ house in Newington today. My dad e-mailed me a full report.

The Logic Games section was by far my weakest, as I knew all along. But those foolish games didn’t totally tear me apart — I actually did a little better than I expected. I had estimated immediately afterward that “at best, I got maybe 12 out of the 24 questions right,” but in reality, I got 13 right. So I was 13-for-24 on that section, and (here’s the good part) 72-for-76 on other three sections, for a total of 85-for-100 overall, which translates to a 167, the 96th percentile.

Now, on to more important things: football! USC’s game against Stanford doesn’t kick off until 4:00 PM Pacific time, but the Trojans’ Rose Bowl hopes are very much on the line right now as Oregon battles Washington State. Even if USC wins all three of our remaining games, we need Washington State to lose two of their final three in order for us to win the Pac-10. So far, so good: the Ducks just took a 14-10 lead. Go, Oregon, go!

UPDATE, 1:56 PM: Dammit, Washington State just took back the lead, 17-14. Well, it’s early yet. (4:37 left in the first half.) C’mon, Ducks! Quack! Quack! Quack!

UPDATE, 2:40 PM: Ducks score! 21-17 Oregon, 14 minutes left in the third quarter.

UPDATE, 3:41 PM: D’oh!!!!!!! Washington State, having narrowed the lead to 21-20 just before the end of the third quarter, just scored two touchdowns in about five minutes (the second one on a bizarre near-interception tip-turned-catch), and the Cougars are now solidly in the driver’s seat, 32-21. (They failed to convert a two-point conversion the first time, and had the extra-point blocked the second time, hence the odd score.) The Trojans are now counting on a mighty Duck comeback. Less than eight minutes to go, two touchdowns (or a field goal and a touchdown-plus-two-points) needed. GO DUCKS! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!

UPDATE, 3:58 PM: Dropped passes, bad blocking, missed field goals… doesn’t look good for the Ducks (or the Trojans). Washington State 32, Oregon 21, 3:07 to go.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9 — Mayor Jim Hahn, the entire City Council, and thousands of rich white people evacuated the Los Angeles area Friday as water falling from the sky continued to soak the normally dry city.

“Head for the hills!” the mayor was heard to cry as he jumped into his limosine and fled to the Inland Empire.

Angelinos have been profoundly confused since Thursday, when the unfamiliar substance that experts call “rain” began to fall on the city. On Friday, as the “rain” refused to relent, confusion began to turn into panic.

Customers invaded supermarkets throughout the city to stock up on essential supplies such as food, water, and mascara, fearing a total shutdown of commerce (and a fashion nightmare!) if the deluge continues. Some residents turned to their leftover Y2K supply kits, but found that the cookies were “kinda stale” and the bread “a little moldy.” Still others rushed to ATMs to withdraw cash, but many decided they couldn’t afford the $1.50 surcharge and returned home frightened and penniless.

Meanwhile, on the soaked streets of downtown, street preachers proclaimed that the apocalypse was at hand. “First, Georgia elects a Republican governor, and now this,” said one alleged prophet. “The end of the world is upon us!”

Many workers took the preachers’ message to heart and stayed home from work Friday to spend the end times with family and loved ones. There was no resultant let-up in freeway traffic, however, because those who went to work drove an average of 3 miles per hour, and almost all of them were in the left lane.

Meanwhile, hours after City Hall was vacated, former mayor and failed gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan marched in and declared, “I’m in charge here.” A few minutes later, he proclaimed himself Emperor of Los Angeles and took the title Richard I. “Eat this, Bill Simon,” he said, and made an obscene gesture.

Taking over for the absentee government is “the least I can do for the city I love,” said Richard I, who noted that the L.A. Empire is “way better than” the Inland Empire, which, he said, “isn’t really an empire anyway.”

Empire or not, Los Angeles — which is built entirely of concrete, and thus cannot absorb any water into the ground — could be underwater by the end of the weekend if the “rain” continues.

“We’ll deal with that,” Riordan said. “We’ll make Mother Nature an offer she don’t refuse.” He refused to elaborate, though he was later heard to mumble something about Janet Reno, two chihuahuas and a monkey. It was unclear whether there was a connection.

In other news, fears of rioting and opportunistic looting in South Central, Compton and other areas did not materialize because the rioters and looters didn’t want to get wet, sources said.

Also, despite the mass exodus of government officials and rich white people, the portion of the city’s population that relies on Metropolitan Transit Authority buses for transportation was reportedly unable to flee because the bus was late.

I hold up my driver’s license at 12:04 AM on my 21st birthday, October 30, 2002, showing that I am now officially “legal.”