Songfest is tonight. It'll be my first time in attendance since our senior year (aka the great Songfest Robbery of 2003).

Julie and I will be there alongside two Songfest-winning writer/directors: current roommate Charlie, who led us to our inaugural victory in '02 (back when he and I were first roommates), and soon-to-be-roommate Jonathan, whose show took the trophy back home to AGO/AXO in '05.

I'm excited to be going to see my first show as an alumni. Charlie and I both feel that our 2002 show was one of the highlights of our respective USC careers, a feeling that has been solidified as the years have revealed an impressive precedent set by that first show. Three victories in five years, and now, a well-executed, high-energy show from AXO and AGO is now pretty much expected; witness today's article in the Daily Trojan:

AXO and AGO's performance at dress rehearsal confirmed they will be hard to knock off their pedestal. Their routine was nearly flawless, full of an exuberance that rumbled the large auditorium.

Rumbled the auditorium?!? I likes the sound of that.

(I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like an over-exhuberant dad at his kid's little league championship game, aren't I? I guess that's about right.)

Anyway, good luck to thelpslayer and the rest of the crew tonight. Make it 4 out of 6!

Tonight I met another missionary here who went to USC!

She graduated in '98, so we didn't bother trying to play the name game. BUT, we did figure out that we lived on the same floor of a particular dorm complex during our freshman years (during her time it was called College Uni, and in my day it was New/North Residential College; who knows what the kids call it these days...Will Ferrell Hall or something). She hails from the OC, but I won't hold that against her.

God bless the Trojan Family. What a cool connection.

Best. Game. Ever.*

Granted, my knowledge of college football history is rather limited, so I can't legitimately say that (but ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski can...and does). I can safely say, however, that this was the most exciting USC game I've ever witnessed.

I'll repeat something I mentioned on kuhn's LJ last night: every year from now on, whenever it's time for the big USC-ND match-up and the sports shows are dutifully rolling footage of the best moments in this storied rivalry, the clip of Matt Leinart reeling his way into the endzone for a last-minute SC victory will be hailed as possibly the greatest moment of them all.

And the fact that I was able to watch said moment as it unfolded (granted, not at the stadium, but at a sports bar in NYC with a few hundred SC fans and a large number of ND fans as well) is something that I will, y'know, cherish for a long, long time. It'll be something that gives me a great sense of pride years down the road, most likely when I'm retelling the story to grandkids who could care less.

Seriously, though...the whole experience was so memorable and exciting; besides the victory, I won the alumni club's 50-50 raffle drawing and scored a cool $232 in cash! That, and I got to share the whole experience with two of my closest friends--Jonathan and Thom (who'd never seen an American college football game before). That, and I met my future wife during the game.

OK, maybe not that last one. Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Still, what an unforgettable Saturday afternoon.

...

(see also: commentary after our 2002 victory over ND...in which the artist first begins to dabble in his preferred medium: hyperbole.)

Our Trojans have now put together two impressive come-from-behind wins in a row. Though we pulled this last one against Arizona State off, it was quite a nerve-wracking experience the whole way through. Many of the SC folks who'd assembled at the Park Avenue Country Club to watch the game consoled one another during half-time by repeating the now-accepted mantra: it's OK...we're a second-half team. Thankfully, our mantra proved to be true yet again.

But after the game, kuhn and I got to thinking: what exactly is it that Pete Carroll does to rally the troops in the locker room at halftime? Does he deliver a stirring, Knute Rockne-style speech to fire up the men? Throw benches and yell to show the team that he means business? Or perhaps he sits in the corner and sulks until someone asks if something's wrong, to which he childishly responds, "Nope. I'm fine. Just fine. I don't care if we lose. It's only an unprecedented third consecutive national championship that's on the line. Who cares about those kinds of things, anyway? Not me. Not Pete Carroll."

No, Jonathan and I believe it's something much more...sinister. We've come up with a theory that Pete Carroll--though an effervescent and charismatic figure in public--is, in fact, an evil, twisted megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to re-write the college football history books until every last record is his.

( The heart of our theory is rather disturbing...read on only if you dare. )

(Oh, and semi-relatedly: condolences to Meagan for the Gators' saddening defeat this weekend. It would've been fun to watch USC trounce them in the Rose Bowl this year!)

Here now are some creative match-ups of college football teams and rappers. USC is 1/3 of the way down the list, teamed up with Mr. Beyonce Knowles for obvious reasons.

I'm posting this for two reasons: 1. because it's a fun read (especially if you're into college football and rap music, which I can say I am with 50% certainty), and 2. because I'm ashamed that one of my friends (his LJ screen name looks suspiciously like rollotomossey) didn't think this up first. And if he had, I have no doubt that this list would be 10 times funnier.

So apparently enough of you clicked on the aforementioned link that our bruin friend decided to redirect the link and send you to a "Trojan Haters" page instead.

All I gotta say is...well-played, sir. Well-played. I got quite a kick out of seeing this. Now had it been me, I would've done the same, except re-directed to this page.

Anyway, in case you didn't get a chance to read the entry I referred to, he was basically recounting how he'd seen Mr. USC 2002-2003 and his buddies hanging around BJ's in Westwood (or, at least, a guy with a "Mr. USC 2002-2003" sash), and making fun of us for having traveled into bruin territory to enjoy a celebratory Pizookie (one of my favorite things to eat, ever). Geez...can't a guy revel in his celebrity?

He's right, though--ucla's surrounding neighborhood IS much nicer than USC's. I'm glad they can take pride in that, 'cause, you know...there's not much they can say about the school.

Zing!

Apparently, some ucla students--in their infinite wisdom and wit--like to refer to USC as "SUC." Clever, clever, aren't we, bruins? (Never mind that we Trojans, in our infinite wisdom and wit, add an 'f' to the front of 'ucla' for kicks and giggles.)

I found this out by reading this ucla student's blog. I direct you, specifically, to the second post dated Sunday, November 17, 2002 (the one at 5:22:16 PM). Go ahead, check it out, and you'll see what I'm really referring to when I say that these things are always fun to discover.

Ah, that was a fun evening once upon a time in 2002.

Though I despise all forms of reality TV, and try to avoid it whenever possible, I think I might actually enjoy the upcoming ABC series, The Scholar, which debuts on Monday, June 6th, at 8 PM.

It's actually a nice concept, for once--ten high school seniors from low-income/financially disadvantaged families get to compete for a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice (I'm assuming they need to be admitted first?). A much nobler goal, methinks, than trying to win a spot as one of The Donald's corporate henchmen, or trying to win a million dollars by outlasting, outwitting, and out-conniving everyone else on Survivor.

Ahh, but let's be completely honest here: the real reason I'm excited about this show is because of the location it'll be filmed at.

That pretty much sums it up. Congratulations to all the folks who donned the cap and gown and picked up a diploma (or, more precisely, a diploma holder) today!

I want to hear reports about how the USC ceremonies were, especially how the commencement speakers--Neil Armstrong and Katie T. (the valedictorian)--were.

NYU's graduation ceremonies were held yesterday, and though I didn't see it in person, our office watched a portion of the webcast. To be honest, I've never seen NYU students so excited and animated before...it was rather alarming to see them so enthusiastic about something for once! They must really be excited to be done with school.

And for what it's worth, it's hard to believe I'm now two years removed from my own college graduation. It simultaneously feels like it could've been yesterday and ten years ago.

But enough random musings from me.

Again, congrats to all the newly-initiated alumni of the University of Southern California! (Oh yeah, and all of you from other schools, too.)

Alpha Gamma Omega and Alpha Chi Omega are the winners of this year's Songfest competition...and all is right again with the world.

It takes a while to get to the good part of this article, but it's well worth the wait:

The members of Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Gamma Omega pretended to be both campers and counselors of Troy Camp at a campout. The highlight of their performance was when the lights went out and suddenly every person on stage turned on their flashlights. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" accompanied the performers as they danced the famous sequence from the music video. This scene showed creativity and originality and definitely made their performance stand out among the others. Jonathan Kahn [sic] not only directed with Karen Spurney, but also wrote the script for the performance.

Well, almost worth the wait...it's too bad they got kuhn's name spelled wrong, but it's nice that they complimented his work.

Jonathan had told me about the whole thing, and I loved the concept, especially the Thriller sequence. I can't wait to see the video of this performance!

Congrats to Jonathan, Melissa (firecrackerrr), Tim (phatfhorn), and all the other AGO boys and AXO sisters who were involved. It's good to see us reclaiming what is rightfully ours.

(For the uninitiated: Songfest is a major song-and-dance competition at USC that helps raise money for Troy Camp, the school's official philanthropy, and a wonderful service organization. Traditionally, fraternities and sororities will pair up to perform a 6-minute stage show that relate to the night's theme, all of which are voted on by a panel of judges. In 2002, in our first attempt ever at doing this, AGO teamed up with AXO and won the grand prize, thanks to Charlie Pecoraro's superbly-written "Television Has All The Answers." I played Inspector Gadget in that show, but Mike Escoto single-handedly won us the trophy with his brilliant performance as Mister T. Ahhh, what fond memories.)