I am of course referring to this:

http://www.fox.com/oc/

...for those unfortunate souls who didn't already know. ;-)

I saw it!!! :) Spiderman Rocks!

Yay Katharine! It truly made my night - the tension between those two all season has been the WORST. But will it last...

Oh, and Ben I did say "hi" during the summer and you acted as my postal service! I asked you to give a thank you note to Matt... Sorry I didn't get to introduce myself because I was running late getting to class :(. But I promise I'll say "hi" at CPW... PROMISE!!!

Awesome K, sounds great. :-) CPW is going to rock!

Yes, it will!

And if I were to come home and find some guy hanging upside down in the rain outside my patio window with a Spiderman mask... I'd probably leave him hanging.... literally... or call the police :).

Well, unless he happened to be your soul mate like SETH COHEN!!! Man, the Seth & Summer thing still has me giddy...

awwwww is ben a big romantic?

I prefer Marissa + Alex!

:D

This is so funny/timely! My daughter, who has never lived in the United States, just told me that one of her summer projects is to watch the first season of OC on DVD so that she isníŸÙt totally lost when people start talking about it at college next year! Are there any other suggestions for students who will be new to the United States?

I know what the OC is, it's just that I could never be bothered to watch it (honestly it looks like some kind of one tree hill garbage). =\ You can get episodes off of some of the torrent sites. I think www.tvtorrents.com works. {I used to use suprnova but those bastards took it down >=( }

expatmom - I'm sure others will have advice, but The OC would be my pick.

Amrik - THERE WILL BE NO BASHING OF THE OC ON THIS BLOG.

As if that was any surprise. I saw that coming a mile away...

Actually Summer has turned out to be my favorite character this year. I like the change and growth that she has undergone, and I think the actress playing her has been great!

Of course the Alex/Marissa thing has been interesting too!

Amrik j/k you can bash it if you'd like, but you should watch it first because you might actually like it! :-)

Alex + Marissa FOREVER!

I've seen an episode or two of the OC and I don't really like it. I prefer another program on FOX... it's called Arrested Development. It's hillarious. I recommend every OC viewer watch Arrested Development. It's about a family business... laced with corruption... hillarity ensues. I guarantee it.

Bah is the OC all it's cracked up to be? Some girls at my school have OC parties where they... stay up and watch the OC.

It would be rather hillarious if MIT adcoms made the MC. I would watch it regularly. Oooh ooh I heard on the next episode that Ben is going to shave his beard!!!!

Haha, you guys are hilarious.

Seth and Summer had me giddy for a few hours also, but I definitely saw it coming.

The OC is nowhere near as good as...American Idol! haha j/k

Later,
Mike.

So what chance is there for a normal college life for an incoming freshman who hasn't watched more than an hour of television in the last three months? (He can, however, tell you everything there is to know about electronic and ambient music, and has probably played the past dozen games named Spiel des Jahres (viz. www.boardgamegeek.com).) Surely there are more of you out there... I hope?

Leftcoast mom,

The month that I spent at MIT I watched 0 hours of television :). Okay... maybe 2 hours... I watched the UK/Portugal soccer game with a couple of Beckham fans. I think you can rate the quality of campus life at MIT by that stat!

I haven't watched more than an hour of television in the last three months, either. :P

Whoa Ben you scared the s*** out of me!

I have your blog's RSS feed set up as a live bookmark in Firefox, so I only saw the title which said "Very, Very Important News" and I was like OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED!!!

:-p

GF - I agree - Alex & Marissa are a much better couple than Ryan and Marissa. Looks like they're going to kill that in 2 weeks though :-(

David - I would love for us to have a TV show... maybe I'll write a pilot and see if there are any bites. :-)

Mike - I am still giddy! (My wife thinks this fact is annoying.)

Leftcoast mom - he'll need to do some "summer reading." I'll loan him season 1. (Just kidding - I'll bet that most MIT students don't follow the OC.)

Prashant - sorry! :-) When making the joke, I sorta forgot about the RSS feed...

by the way I don't watch a lot of TV as well... and not a lot of people I know watch more than, say an hour of TV a week... not that I'm coming over, though... :)

But I do watch Indian Idol!!! (someone remarked about American Idol)

Boo! No more Alex + Marissa?

Definitely the best looking couple in the history of TV. Don't tell me what happens though, I don't like spoilers. :(

Must be all those pesky red states getting mad... :D

Nah, she didn't seem too thrilled about paying the rent.

Speaking of which, is MIT a very liberal campus? I know the Ivys are.

GF - not sure what happens but in the preview, Ryan looks like he's interested again (now that his girlfriend is gone) so that makes me think there'll be trouble.

A lot of folks at MIT (including me, in case you can't tell) are pretty liberal, but there are *all* kinds of people here which is what makes it truly awesome. I've never been a student here, so I'm not sure what the political climate is like in the student body. Perhaps Matt, Mitra, Allison, etc could comment on that...

Mel - if you're reading this, I responded to your comment (in an earlier post) - just wanted to make sure you'd seen it.

... and people make fun of me for watching smallville. :P

Does anyone have a good flat bread recipe?

My grandmother makes the best matzoh. Want THAT recipe?

Later,
Mike.

Hi,
Can you tell us if someone is there from the faculty commitee(as I heard),if yes can you tell us who is it??

I watch CSI- if I'm not at light crew. That is the only television show I've seen since fall of junior year, practically.

Ben! I hope you're keeping in good spirits. 8 days in a row is probably really tough. Meh, just hang in there (and other positive reinforcement)!

Just remember... you are deciding the FATE of some kids... hmm. We should make a new religion and worship the almighty BEN!

by the way, I just watched SkyCaptain and the world of tomorrow... is anyone as disappointed as I was? lol. noahs ark! in the 1940's! flying airships, robots, and jet-planes that flap wings!

"Just remember... you are deciding the FATE of some kids"

How morbid :( I really hope that's not the case....

Ben can we have a *current* pic of you? =)

You have no idea how popular this "whole Ben Jones craze" is among applicants. Two of my friends who applied to MIT (international!) haven't shaved so far (and one of them claims he won't until decisions are out).

Another said he won't get a haircut till then but backed out when he had an interview! ;)

I haven't shaved in a week because of my oral surgery, but I will join in the Ben Jones craze and not shave until decisions come out!

too bad lulu, it IS b-b-bummmmmmmm

^ That David above me is not the real David... they're an imposter!!! I will now be known as David A.

Jeez... I never knew I was so popular!

Thank goodness someone else watches bad teen soap operas. I have no time for tv, and still manage to put off food/sleep/homeowrk for one very obsessive hour every thrusday....

Hey ben - you know what - my beard length is probably comparable to yours - hurray to no shaving
Or no hair cutting - im just using this as an excuse to grow my hair long

Keep up the good work - by the way - can u give a more specific date than - 'Mid-March'.

Are they really? I've been skipping the OC lately because every episode is exactly the same- all of the couples get mad at each other/break up at the beginning of the episode, and then get back together at the end. But this seems like good news. =)

Ben!
Are we booked yet man?
I talked to the band and they are stoked to play CPW. Coolest road trip ever -- to MIT.
Haha see you in the chat.
-Akash

guys.. i live in the freaking OC. literally.. orange county central. Trust me.. if u guys let me into MIT i'll tell you all there is to know about the OC. lots to it that the show doesn't talk about.

Anyhow, I got tired of ryan/marissa... boring.. and not only that, i fall for some girl that has slept with the dude who slept with her mom and becomes a lesbian in a matter of weeks... and seems manic depressive, is an alcoholic, and looks anorexic...

Way to go seth and summer though. spiderman was serial killerish but smooth though. gj.

i was hoping for lindsay to stay though. she's someone who is more realistic and who i can identify with... and gosh... her smartness is such a turn-on! wtf.. how come no one likes the oc??

and expat mom.. u daughter can hang with me then .. i can teach her the oc =D ... instead of watching that oc imitation stuff.. that makes us look all dysfunctional, rich, and snobby. well .. some of us are rich.. many of us are snobby.. and all of us are probably dysfunctional.. guess its not a good idea to let me in MIT after all =P.

Akash- does it mean that I have to start making "Akash is My Idol" t-shirts?

>> i fall for some girl that has slept with the dude who slept with her mom and becomes a lesbian in a matter of weeks... and seems manic depressive, is an alcoholic, and looks anorexic...

That is by far one of the most bizarre situations I have ever heard of... what type of people write the storyline? lol

NoCreativity íŸÏ I e-mailed a copy of your post to my daughter so that she can decide if she wants to know more about the ퟙdysfunctional, rich and snobbyퟘ people of the OC!

Sreraman - we've had a bunch of faculty join us at various points in committee. I don't know all of their names, but Matt blogged about some of them I think.

Prashant - I will work on getting a current pic up. I'm pretty furry at this point. :-)

By the way, I think it's awesome that all of you guys are joining me in this beard thing - that rocks!

Viggy - it depends on a variety of factors from big things such as the day that final selection wraps up to small things like when the letters get printed and the envelopes stuffed. We don't have a specific day yet.

Akash - haven't had a chance to really look into it b/c of selection, but I still really want to see if we can make it happen. I'll keep you posted! :-)

Okay,I know this is an extremely late post.. but hey! better late than than never, right? Ben! I can't believe you're an OC fan. You're officially the coolest now ;) You know what bothers me the most though?... Rebecca and Sandy.. AHH! Good thing that's over with :)

haha i'd join you ben, but i don't have enough facial hair.. hahah being viet rocks!!! ;p.

sandy and rebecca is eeew :-p.

kirstin is so much hotter! yes.. older women are often hot...

We want an update!
Just kidding, we love you Ben. We know you're busy with admissions stuff. After all, an acceptance letter will be much nicer than an update. So, how about sending me that acceptance letter? :) I will love you forever.

It's only about 3.88x10^14 meters more until decisions are mailed out...
it's like the final lap, so to speak.

One of my best traits, in my opinion, is that I'd rather look stupid then not ask a question.

Meters? I don't get it... Please explain =(

distance the earth must travel around the sun?? iono..

Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain this one...
Given relativistic views, we're travelling c through space-time, roughly c through the time dimension. Thus, that's the number of meters through time we're travelling ;-).

Ironically, I was just reading about space-time, inspired by a quote I read in an app. Theoretical physics is some CRAZY stuff, I'm telling ya.

Sorry about the lack of updates - good MyMIT things and of course decisions are in the works, keeping me pretty busy. But look at it this way - one of my next updates will be pictures of the beard getting shaved, and you know what that means...

So only a few more weeks guys. Getting the razor sharp as we speak.

Actually that's a lie - I'm a wimp and use an electric razor. ;-) But still, only a few more weeks. Hang in there!

Hey Ben...

What do you say... I shave my head if I get admitted to MIT? And then I can post pictures of it (!) and then we can all have a laugh about it, eh? :)

Any takers!? :)

Shahab, why waste a good head of hair?

Shave MIT into it!

That's tripsy. Awesome.

we need a poll!! Who is ur fav admissions counselor! I'll sell my vote to the one that lets me in =P... god i'm getting desparate.

I like them all!

Hi BEn,
I am a russian boy aspiring to be a physicist.........TELLME WHAT U LEARNT ABOUT SPACE-TIME....WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT APPLICANT WHO WROTE ABOUT IT???

BENN,
DO U LIKE THEORETICAL PHYSICS.IF U DON'T WILL U REJECT AN APPL. BECAUSE A PERSON IS INTERESTED??????IF U R NOT INTERESTED Y DID YOU LEARN SPACE-TIME...

interesting ben reading about space-time?????
plz explain???

Sorry to let you down Ben but I _had_ to shave. My mother was going to kick me out of the house and my face started itching. So bye-bye beard. :(

It's not that exciting, really - I just read something about 11 dimensions and needed to know more. :-) No bearing on any apps, don't worry. Lots of folks quote things that sound interesting - I just happened to be thinking about that one when I posted. Wow, you guys are getting anxious huh? :-o

Keep the shaving (or lack thereof) stories coming - you guys crack me up!

Amrik - no worries, my wife is about to kick me out too. Totally understand!

did somebody say string theory? http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=615886

benn,
can u share all the quotes what u read in all appln. with us....quote a few that u read abt. space-time or relativity

BEnn,
Benn,

Reading about space-time unity or special relativity is as intersting as rock music.....let me give a few examples.:-
1) when stephen hawkings was asked what kind of music he loved ,he said i like theoretical physics
2) when the gr8 scientist Bhaba was asked why je did not marry yet (in his 30's),he said I am already married to creativity and intuition.
3) Have u heard of richard feynman....music and physics was same for him.....

"3) Have u heard of richard feynman....music and physics was same for him....."

Dude! There should be a new university called UA-MIT (University for Applicants to Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

That will be like the best place ever.

Hey Ben,
I didn't expect MIT to give away the mailing date so easily :D

http://admissions.mit.edu/Admission...issionsWeb/Main

I was expecting an e-riddle, and who ever solves it gets to know the date first :-)

Damn the link's bad :(

oh well it read:

Freshmen Applicants:
We plan to send freshman admissions decision letters on Friday, March 11, 2005 by regular mail. We know how nerve-wracking it can be to wait, but please give the mail a chance! If you don't get your letter by March 18, please give us a call.

Stevo, awesome link, thanks!

Prin, sorry, can't share anything from any apps, against the rules. :-)

Sreraman - sounds like an awesome guy, I will check him out!

my quote: Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die..
life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

-Langston Hughes.

Wrote it for the main essay question.