"You know, there's a Simpsons episodewhere Homer needs to watch a video about drunkdriving and it's a spoor, really gory and violent.And there's a pan of the audience and everyone isvery disgusted except for Homer, who's laughing,and then they show his thoughts and he's saying'That's funny because it's not me.' I don't knowthese people. It kind of sucks but I'm glad it'snot happening to me.

"Maybe that's where the music comes from. U.S.all being really into horror movies. I think whatbrought us all together movies and punk rock inthe Dunster House world consider being into thesethings."

In his senior year of high school, his localnewspaper, the Harwich Oracle, ran a featuretitled" What doesn't Matt Pakulski do?" "He ranksNo. 1 in his class," the lead read. "He'sreceived an award for academic excellence from theMassachusetts Association of SchoolSuperintendents. You'll find he's a member ofalmost every organization from the schoolnewspaper to the math team."

Getting high on school nights

Even if Matt has not changed quite as radicallyas it might seem, he's undeniably different fromthe strangely nerdy thespian who came to Harvard."I started smoking pot in college," Matt offers byway of explanation for his evolution.

(In addition to the currently Orthodox Jew whofirst got Matt high, Matt lived with a motleycollection of people, who he describes as: theformer managing editor of the Crimson, aborn-again Christian, an intellectual freak, aGlee Club member and a "Korean fascist".)

Matt never did any drugs in high school, andeven freshman year was much more reserved in hisuse.

"Freshman year I would never get high on aschool night," Matt says, rolling a joint. "Andnow I get high every day."

He rearranges his fingers so as not to burnhimself and laughs. "One thing Harvard has taughtme is how to hold on to a joint for a long time."Doug, looking in the living room door as he goesdownstairs, snorts. "Yeah, great Matt," he says.

Still Matt acknowledges that even freshmanyear, he had moments of pure, unmitigatedobnoxiousness just for the sake of beingobnoxious.

"Once, David [the Orthodox Jew] and I wentthrough the Union and we were both kind ofdepressed and so we walked around to people andsaid "Excuse me, can I have your dessert?'

"And you know how people don't know how toreact to they said yes and then we smashed thedessert in our hands.

"I think they were having cake that night."

Grew up with his mother in Cape Cod. Hisbest friend from high school, Creighton Morris, isnow in the Navy and stationed in Japan.

Nasty, brutish, and short