Friday, April 30, 2004
Leave me alone
Why did I just today find out about the website BugMeNot.com? It is a database of publically available login/password combinations for various sites that require registration to view content, such as newspaper sites. This is genius.
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Poetry a la Big Fish
Another poem that ought to be included, as I just watched Big Fish.
Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I love Spectre...
(pinged with a misspelling--corrected in the poem)
Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I love Spectre...
(pinged with a misspelling--corrected in the poem)
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Tom Waits news
Tom Waits is currently working on another studio album for Fall release! In traditional Tom Waits style, he describes the album in a way that it cannot be refused, "Songs about politics, rats, war, hangings, dancing, automobiles, pirates, farms, the carnival and sinning. Mama, liquor, trains and death. In other words, the same 'ol dirty business!"
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Poetry Day
Amber alerts me that today is post a poem on your blog day. I wouldn't pass up the chance to post a poem or two, so I'll start in her tradition of posting a poem related to a painting. This one by the recently deceased, Thom Gunn.
Painting by VuillardBeautiful.
Two dumpy women with buns were drinking coffee
In a narrow kitchen—at least I think a kitchen
And I think it was whitewashed, in spite of all the shade.
They were flat brown, they were as brown as coffee.
Wearing brown muslin? I really could not tell.
How I loved this painting, they had grown so old
That everything had got less complicated,
Brown clothes and shade in a sunken whitewashed kitchen.
But it’s not like that for me: age is not simpler
Or less enjoyable, not dark, not whitewashed.
The people sitting on the marble steps
Of the national gallery, people in the sunlight,
A party of handsome children eating lunch
And drinking chocolate milk, and a young woman
Whose t-shirt bears the defiant word WHATEVER,
And wrinkled folk with visored hats and cameras
Are vivid, they are not browned, not in the least,
But if they do not look like coffee they look
As pungent and startling as good strong coffee tastes,
Possibly mixed with chicory. And no cream.
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Making some money with gmail
Will Baude was contemplating what to do with his two invites the beta testers for Gmail have received. I have given one of mine away, but perhaps Will is not too late to cash in on his?
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
O' Brother
I cannot believe the oversight a couple posts below. This is most definately a situation that warrants one of my favorite movie lines, "Damn! I'm in a tight spot." - Ulysses Everett McGill
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Pop-up tactics
For the past few months, I have owed a large debt of gratitude to the Google Toolbar that blocks popup ads. Thus far it has saved me from having to block over 700 unwanted popups. I'm sad that I have to see stories about how the advertisers are creating smart ads that detect when there is a popup blocker.
Falk eSolutions AG launched Tuesday a new ad targeting option to automatically detect pop-up blocker software on users' computers and instantly convert pop-up and pop-under inventory to alternate formats for optimal delivery to those users.Today if I am forced to see another flash ad that covers text on the page I'm viewing, I will disavow hitting these sites again. Feel my wrath ESPN.
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How I write plays
Most of the plays I write come from autobiographical events that I draw from and make new. In most of the cases I don't have to worry about friends, family, or former girlfriends figuring out what the subject matter is derived from because I use my life as a starting ground. To the contrary, a one-act that I wrote a couple years ago after an ex and I broke up is not nearly as criptic as it ought to be, and I just learned that it might be staged in a one-act festival where she is a theater student. Hmmph. I hope that she either does not figure out that Hilde is the stage name for Heidi, or that she is not upset when Hilde turns into a plant infested with cockroaches. (In response to me asking what would make her happy she said, "If I was a plant." Hence the plant transformation). I would tell them not to do it but it's such a fun one act that I think I'd rather risk the possible wrath.
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Slimy, but good, fish
This evening I watch Big Fish for the first time. Watching the movie, I knew that I would have to post something about it. In my head I started to think about posting about the worlds Tim Burton creates or how storytelling has unfortunately become a lost art form. But, I knew that I didn't want to post about that because it's been done better countless times before. Unfortunately, I don't think many people have noticed something else about the movie that needs attention. The dialogue that happened between Ed and Will Bloom.
It was interesting to me to listen to the dialogue between the father and his son. Just as his stories were these beautiful images of an amazing world, the dialogue had something special to it. They connected in an almost supernatural way as you would imagine the perfect father and son connecting. That isn't to say they were happy with each other, or that they had a good relationship. Obviously the opposite is true; regardless, they still had that connection everyone imagines a father and son having in a perfect world. In my mind I imagine that John August, the screenwriter, didn't have to work for that effect at all -- that the script magically came together that way. In reality, I'm sure that he spent countless hours honing it to make it exist but so difficult to notice.
It was interesting to me to listen to the dialogue between the father and his son. Just as his stories were these beautiful images of an amazing world, the dialogue had something special to it. They connected in an almost supernatural way as you would imagine the perfect father and son connecting. That isn't to say they were happy with each other, or that they had a good relationship. Obviously the opposite is true; regardless, they still had that connection everyone imagines a father and son having in a perfect world. In my mind I imagine that John August, the screenwriter, didn't have to work for that effect at all -- that the script magically came together that way. In reality, I'm sure that he spent countless hours honing it to make it exist but so difficult to notice.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
The Library Looker Upper
Today, via both Gapers Block and Did You Know?, I came across this link.
This is very cool. It's a little gizmo that allows you to look up a book on Amazon, click on a link in your bookmark bar, and be whisked away to the relevant page for that book on your library's website. That is to say, you're looking at an item on Amazon, you click a button, and you know immediately whether it's in your library's collection.
It also works for university libraries, and from booky sites other than Amazon. What matters is that the library has its catalogue online using one of several programs, and that the booky site has ISBN information in the URL for the specific book's page. Go see if your library can do this too.
This is very cool. It's a little gizmo that allows you to look up a book on Amazon, click on a link in your bookmark bar, and be whisked away to the relevant page for that book on your library's website. That is to say, you're looking at an item on Amazon, you click a button, and you know immediately whether it's in your library's collection.
It also works for university libraries, and from booky sites other than Amazon. What matters is that the library has its catalogue online using one of several programs, and that the booky site has ISBN information in the URL for the specific book's page. Go see if your library can do this too.
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Summer plans
I've been asked what I plan on doing this summer. Last year I took the summer school abroad route, because I didn't want the opportunity to study in a foreign country to pass me by. This summer I wish that I could go abroad and live for a few months, but I've been informed by reality that I have to work. It was difficult to figure out what I wanted to do because although I'm in law school I am also a writer. I have about three plays that need to be finished. Once they are completed, I will have time to start writing some more ideas that I've had. However, I can't just write all summer because I need experience with law related work too. Thus, the plan unfolds...
The first half of my summer will be spent interning at the DA's office, taking the model professional responsibility exam, and finishing two of my plays. The second half of my summer will be spent at a not-for-profit group called Advocacy, Inc. They are a Texas group who specialize in helping disabled persons. I applied for a fellowship to do non-profit work this summer and was given one of the awards, so I'm happy to be able to make some money while helping a group that otherwise would not pay summer volunteers. During that second half I will also finish the third play. My hope is that next fall I can shop around for places to stage these plays. It shouldn't be too hard to find a group that will want to perform one of them.
Edited to add: Actually, I get to decide whether I want to work for Advocacy, Inc. or the Human Rights Initiative. The HRI was my first choice, but I'm started to reconsider. Which sounds more interesting?
The first half of my summer will be spent interning at the DA's office, taking the model professional responsibility exam, and finishing two of my plays. The second half of my summer will be spent at a not-for-profit group called Advocacy, Inc. They are a Texas group who specialize in helping disabled persons. I applied for a fellowship to do non-profit work this summer and was given one of the awards, so I'm happy to be able to make some money while helping a group that otherwise would not pay summer volunteers. During that second half I will also finish the third play. My hope is that next fall I can shop around for places to stage these plays. It shouldn't be too hard to find a group that will want to perform one of them.
Edited to add: Actually, I get to decide whether I want to work for Advocacy, Inc. or the Human Rights Initiative. The HRI was my first choice, but I'm started to reconsider. Which sounds more interesting?
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To Thom Gunn
Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber alerted me to the recent death of poet, Thom Gunn. Thom Gunn is one of my favorite modern poets. I was introduced to his work by my one of my favorite professors, Rick Bozorth, when I was a Sophomore in college. It wasn't long before I bought Boss Cupid and fell in love with his poetry.
As soon as I read about his death I remembered the last stanza from "My Sad Captains":
As soon as I read about his death I remembered the last stanza from "My Sad Captains":
Losing Thom Gunn is a both a loss for our world and the poetry community. However, the beauty he has shared with us will live with us for generations to come and hopefully inspire others to become a writer.
True, they are not at rest yet,
but now they are indeed
apart, winnowed from failures,
they withdraw to an orbit
and turn with disinterested
hard energy, like the stars.
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Texas Food
One of the best things about living in Texas is the easy access to dozens of great Mexican food restaurants. In fact, I'm going to find some enchiladas right now.
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Selling the dress
An ebay auction that reminds me of a Kids in the Hall sketch. Him saying things like, "On the flip side of that, I have taken offense to some of the people that told me I’m ugly and a loser. All I have to say is you’d be ugly too if you had a huge white blotch on your face" are enough to make it worth a visit.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
You read that?
For the very reasons I think that this literary meme is good, Will Baude thinks it is flawed:
Will does claim that the choices on this list are the more popular books by the authors. The problem I have with that is popular is so often defined by what social group you are in. With my group of friends the popular plays by Ibsen are not Ghosts or Doll's House but the much better Enemy of the People. We would start with that play and then move on to read other plays by Ibsen. When I started reading E.M Forster, I didn't not start with A Room with a View but started with A Passage to India and moved on to other novels by him.
I think that the real problem with this list is you have to know a little about the person completing it. If you know they are a discerning reader then it'll show you if they are also a reader who goes through an authors catalog. If you aren't as familiar with the blogger completing it then it tells you very little. I do like that some people are putting authors in italics when they have read other novels from that writer.
the list's bad tendency to list plenty of good authors, but without listing their best books.To me that is a good tendency in the list. I think that it would be a shame if the list just put their better works, because part of what I like to see in fellow readers is that they don't just read the best books by an author and scurry to the next book in the cannon. I attempt to read a wide sample of each author I admire. When I see what other people have read on this list I know that they are true readers because they, presumptively, have read the better works too.
Will does claim that the choices on this list are the more popular books by the authors. The problem I have with that is popular is so often defined by what social group you are in. With my group of friends the popular plays by Ibsen are not Ghosts or Doll's House but the much better Enemy of the People. We would start with that play and then move on to read other plays by Ibsen. When I started reading E.M Forster, I didn't not start with A Room with a View but started with A Passage to India and moved on to other novels by him.
I think that the real problem with this list is you have to know a little about the person completing it. If you know they are a discerning reader then it'll show you if they are also a reader who goes through an authors catalog. If you aren't as familiar with the blogger completing it then it tells you very little. I do like that some people are putting authors in italics when they have read other novels from that writer.
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Freedom
It is a little too easy to forget how nice it is to have an afternoon off. I wish that silly thing called work or school or obligations didn't have to go and ruin that feeling most of the time.
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And he said he could write exams
I have successfully finished Texas Pre-Trial. It was 80 questions, multiple choice, and completely open book/outline/supplements. I ran into about three questions I had to look up, so I'm not worried about my grade. There were about three questions that the wording was either poor, vague, or did not have enough information to inform everyone.
Example:
Example:
For a venue question it listed the locations of various companies and subsidiaries and merchants who were involved. Let's say San Antonio, Oklahoma City, California, Dallas, and Austin. In the answers for proper venue it listed counties. While the rules certainly go by county, not city, he never explained which county certain cities are located.Seems like a very bad oversight in drafting.
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See, I read
Ok, another book meme. Make the titles that you have read bold. The English major and writer in me could very well be embarrassed by the end of this.
Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son
Ok, the only part I am actually embarrassed by is not having read a novel by Faulkner. I have read short stories but never a full novel. I'll work on that this summer. As far as plays in the cannon - I believe I've read them all. I own at least 400 plays and buy more all the time because anything that can be read in two hours is a friend of mine.
Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son
Ok, the only part I am actually embarrassed by is not having read a novel by Faulkner. I have read short stories but never a full novel. I'll work on that this summer. As far as plays in the cannon - I believe I've read them all. I own at least 400 plays and buy more all the time because anything that can be read in two hours is a friend of mine.
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Monday, April 26, 2004
OED Love Letters
Amber loves the OED, Will loves the OED, and I love the OED. Not surprisingly, I am the one who screwed up owning a personal copy of said OED. In Amber's comments I tell the woeful story of a first year law student considering the purchase of a used Compact OED for about $65 dollars at Half Price Books. I thought that they had one three volume copy, but I have been alerted by Will's post that it is actually one volume. This means that three copies of the compact OED sold in the time it took for me to decide to buy the treasure trove of words. Now I feel three times as sad that I don't have a copy of it happily sitting on my coffee table. I vow to find a copy of this for $65 again.
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Getting Lucky
I realize with finals looming (one tomorrow) I'm posting more stories about people getting lucky. Now I see that this weekend a drunk man was run over by a train with no apparent injuries.
Maybe my final won't kill me after all as I have a little in common with the train guy...
Maybe my final won't kill me after all as I have a little in common with the train guy...
"I counted only six beers," a bewildered Lozano Lopez told local newspaper El Norte. "But who knows how many more there might have been. I don't remember."Ahem.
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The Caped Lawyer
All this talk in the blog world about how cool suits are (e.g. Waddling Thunder, Will Baude, Amanda Butler and Amber Taylor) was alright. I mean a suit is a suit, right? Then Will Baude remembers to ask what has happened to guys wearing a nice hat. Of course, anyone who loves watching film noir movies like LA Confidential knows how elegant hats can be when worn with a proper suit.
These posts beg the question of if everyone has forgotten the glory of a nice cape? God bless you Seinfeld for remembering.
These posts beg the question of if everyone has forgotten the glory of a nice cape? God bless you Seinfeld for remembering.
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Try the 19th?
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Give me ice cream
In my massive delusions of grandeur, I sometimes believe that the President or John Kerry or both visit my blog and think about everything I have to say. With that said, Mr. President or Mr. Wanna-Be-President, please think Ben and Jerry's this year when you are making campaign promises. All I need to give you my endorsement is your promise of an endless supply of ice cream from the heart of America, Vermont.
And for everyone else, remember that our good friends and Ben and Jerry's are having their free cone day on Tuesday! I think that will be my reward for successfully finishing my first exam of the year. Oh, and the stores will have a voting sign up table. Everyone should get signed up to vote and then gorge on free ice cream.
And for everyone else, remember that our good friends and Ben and Jerry's are having their free cone day on Tuesday! I think that will be my reward for successfully finishing my first exam of the year. Oh, and the stores will have a voting sign up table. Everyone should get signed up to vote and then gorge on free ice cream.
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Sunday, April 25, 2004
Creating a short story
Before I return to my final exam studying I will do a new meme. From the wonderful In Favor of Thinking we find the variation:
The story:
The booklist:
"The testament of YVES GUNDRON" by Emily Barton; "Beowulf" tranlation Seamus Heaney; "How to breath underwater: stories" by Julie Orringer; "Naked" by David Sedaris; "A Sideways Look at Time" by Jay Griffiths; "My Life in Heavy Metal: stories" by Steve Almond; "The Bridegroom: stories" by Ha Jin; "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides; "Snowball's Last Chance" by John Reed; and, "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk.
So here's how to do it:
Take the nearest six to ten books from your shelf.
Open them to page 23, and find the fifth sentence.
Write down those sentences and arrange them to form a short story.
Post the text in your journal along with these instructions.
The story:
On Market Day that winter we arrived at the gates of the city as the Prime bells began to ring in the dark morning. Animals oohh-ed, animals aahh-ed.
"A shithole," my mother said, and even at the age of seven, I thought, "Yes, she's right. This is a shithole." Can someone tell her, please, to go home?
Even if they managed to ship the coal back, there would be no place in the cannery to store the six hundred tons. The now of global finance and media was rendered in almost sinister understatement as, shortly after the towers fell, on the website of the World Trade Center, its firm listing was, it said, "outdated." She feels hunger, but she's forgotten what the feeling means. And then it occurred to me what had happened: she had jumped out the bedroom window.
The lyrics meant nothing to him, either, but the melonchaly was enough. May the Almighty Father keep you and in His kindness watch over your exploits.
The booklist:
"The testament of YVES GUNDRON" by Emily Barton; "Beowulf" tranlation Seamus Heaney; "How to breath underwater: stories" by Julie Orringer; "Naked" by David Sedaris; "A Sideways Look at Time" by Jay Griffiths; "My Life in Heavy Metal: stories" by Steve Almond; "The Bridegroom: stories" by Ha Jin; "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides; "Snowball's Last Chance" by John Reed; and, "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk.
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Blog Flirts
I was thinking the exact same thing today as Dylan at the The Slithery D concerning a possible blawg crush. However, I write it off as a premature case of an inexperienced 1L having a crush on the all-knowing 3L that occurs across the country every Fall. Can anyone blame Will? I think not.
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Puffy Love
After ruining a perfectly fine Led Zeppelin song, dancing silly to dozens of other songs, possibly shooting a gun in a nightclub, and performing in character roles in two movies, Sean Combs has now landed a role made famous by Sidney Poitier in A Raisin in the Sun.
What is interesting is the dialogue going on behind the scenes. The producers of plays and actors are often at major odds in deciding what to do with a play. The simple reason is that they have different objectives in performing the play. The producers want it to be successful and make money while the actors, of course wanting the play to do well, are generally more interested in creating something artistic. This is a generalization but one that I think works here.
The producers are saying they believe,
While otherwise qualified actors who didn't get the role are saying that
I don't know enough of the underlying facts to say whether or not I agree, but I'm not suprised.
What is interesting is the dialogue going on behind the scenes. The producers of plays and actors are often at major odds in deciding what to do with a play. The simple reason is that they have different objectives in performing the play. The producers want it to be successful and make money while the actors, of course wanting the play to do well, are generally more interested in creating something artistic. This is a generalization but one that I think works here.
The producers are saying they believe,
that casting Combs could help bring serious theatre to the untapped market of black youth..
While otherwise qualified actors who didn't get the role are saying that
casting Combs was an insult to black professionals in the acting industry.
I don't know enough of the underlying facts to say whether or not I agree, but I'm not suprised.
-x-
Needing Gmail
Someone needs a hobby or gmail.
-x-
Saturday, April 24, 2004
Friends of Bloggers
Question: how do you know you're a blog dork?
Answer: You're excited because you finally are able to have lunch with your friend Sasha. And it dawns on you that he was on the same journal as one of the bloggers you enjoy reading, Class Maledictorian. He doesn't really know what blogging is, but he seemed to know who Class Maledictorian is. Woohoo.
Answer: You're excited because you finally are able to have lunch with your friend Sasha. And it dawns on you that he was on the same journal as one of the bloggers you enjoy reading, Class Maledictorian. He doesn't really know what blogging is, but he seemed to know who Class Maledictorian is. Woohoo.
-x-
Summer associate woes
Despite being "imaginary," Jeremy Blachman's diary of a summer clerkship is almost entirely accurate.
I would add the entry for the Sunday baseball game with the partners:
Sunday: Went to see a major league baseball game in the five thousand dollar per game luxury box. After his eighth beer, my friend Matt finally got the courage to ask out the hot blonde by the glass windows. She said no. He asked "please." A partner came over and told Matt that the hot blonde was his wife. Matt, without blinking an eye, asked partner's wife if she had a hot blonde sister. Matt was told he would not get a job.
I would add the entry for the Sunday baseball game with the partners:
Sunday: Went to see a major league baseball game in the five thousand dollar per game luxury box. After his eighth beer, my friend Matt finally got the courage to ask out the hot blonde by the glass windows. She said no. He asked "please." A partner came over and told Matt that the hot blonde was his wife. Matt, without blinking an eye, asked partner's wife if she had a hot blonde sister. Matt was told he would not get a job.
-x-
The Way of the Gun
Tonight my friend and I put on The Way of the Gun, which has only reconfirmed my belief that this is one of the best under-appreciated movies of the past five years. If for nothing else than lines like this:
There are hundreds more lines and dialogue like that can be found throughout the movie. Sure, it might not be the best movie of the past five years, but it certainly has one of the best opening scenes of any movie.
A pint of your blood can fetch you fifty bucks. A shot of cum, three grand.
Do you believe in karma?
Karma's justice without the satisfaction. I don't believe in justice.
There are hundreds more lines and dialogue like that can be found throughout the movie. Sure, it might not be the best movie of the past five years, but it certainly has one of the best opening scenes of any movie.
-x-
Friday, April 23, 2004
Examining Exams
My Texas civil procedure professor assures us that his multiple choice exam will be every bit as difficult as an essay exam. In addition, he claims that his honing of the questions can determine our grasp of the material as well as, if not better than, an essay exam. As of yet, I am somewhat unconvinced, however, it is a statute based class which makes it a little easier to test with multiple choice.
His claim is simply that with essay exams students are able to fluff up their language enough to hop around the issues without ever showing a mastery of the subject with precision. In other words, students can b.s. their way to a better grade in a way they cannot do with multiple choice exams.
I would say that this is not a fault of the essay exam, rather, it is a fault in the one who wrote the questions. The multiple-choice questions I have seen are not precise enough to demonstrate whether a student has mastered the material. This is why I prefer professors who like to use a mixture of multiple choice and essay questions. A well prepared student should be able to easily tackle both types of questions just as a good professor should be able to craft both types of questions.
His claim is simply that with essay exams students are able to fluff up their language enough to hop around the issues without ever showing a mastery of the subject with precision. In other words, students can b.s. their way to a better grade in a way they cannot do with multiple choice exams.
I would say that this is not a fault of the essay exam, rather, it is a fault in the one who wrote the questions. The multiple-choice questions I have seen are not precise enough to demonstrate whether a student has mastered the material. This is why I prefer professors who like to use a mixture of multiple choice and essay questions. A well prepared student should be able to easily tackle both types of questions just as a good professor should be able to craft both types of questions.
-x-
Plan of Action
I have always found that the key to semi-effective cramming includes having a plan of action. As my first final is on Tuesday I need a plan to put into effect post haste. As this class is the one I have attended about 50% of the time I will rely heavily on both outlines and the codebook. The plan is as follows:
Today: Studying the general outline and short sheets from 9am until 4pm. From 4pm until about 7pm take a break that includes physical activity (i.e. stress relief) and going out to dinner (reminder: no alcohol--ok maybe one or two drinks). From 7pm until midnight there should be a repeat of the general outline reading and marking the rules in the rule book.
Saturday: Wake up at 8:45am to study. From 8:45 until 12:00pm study the rule book itself. Read the summaries of the most recent cases pertaining to those rules. From 12 until 1 take a break. From 1 until 7 study the class specific outline and make sure it coincides with the rules. Then watch the basketball game. Then study the short sheets until midnight.
Sunday: Group study session.
Monday: read the damn rule book again until I pass out.
Tuesday: Easily ace the multiple choice exam.
Sound good?
Today: Studying the general outline and short sheets from 9am until 4pm. From 4pm until about 7pm take a break that includes physical activity (i.e. stress relief) and going out to dinner (reminder: no alcohol--ok maybe one or two drinks). From 7pm until midnight there should be a repeat of the general outline reading and marking the rules in the rule book.
Saturday: Wake up at 8:45am to study. From 8:45 until 12:00pm study the rule book itself. Read the summaries of the most recent cases pertaining to those rules. From 12 until 1 take a break. From 1 until 7 study the class specific outline and make sure it coincides with the rules. Then watch the basketball game. Then study the short sheets until midnight.
Sunday: Group study session.
Monday: read the damn rule book again until I pass out.
Tuesday: Easily ace the multiple choice exam.
Sound good?
-x-
Libertarian Hesitations
To my libertarian friends, I kindly point you to the story entitled "Libertarian Reluctantly Calls Fire Department.
For anyone, you should look at the "Historian Has Big News For Grover Cleveland Fans" on the same page. The book has the amazing title, "Grover! Grover! Grover!"
For anyone, you should look at the "Historian Has Big News For Grover Cleveland Fans" on the same page. The book has the amazing title, "Grover! Grover! Grover!"
-x-
Triple Nipple
Last night my friend Mandy called me and was telling me about some amazing makeover show she was watching. Apparantly some people (more than I would have thought) are born with three nipples. Today I found a link to this and I wonder how common it is for a cow to be born with three eyes and two mouths?
-x-
Move along Gypsy
In somewhat upsetting news Gypsy is ending its run on Broadway. If you are in the New York area you really owe it to yourself to check out this revival if for no other reason than it is directed by Sam Mendes. He is possibly most widely known for directing American Beauty. Not to mention the fact that is is regarded as one of the better musicals ever written. In my opinion, anything by Stephen Sondheim is one of the better musicals ever written. Hopefully a good amount of people will get to see this run before it is over.
-x-
Thursday, April 22, 2004
A song playlist
The last 15 songs played on my iTunes:
Fountains of Wayne - Bright Future in Sales (Welcome Interstate Fans)
Waterdeep - If You Want to Get Free (To Chase Away the Birds)
Over the Rhine - Remind Us (Ohio)
Jellyfish - Joining a Fan Club (Split Milk)
Jeremy Enigk - Return of the Frog Queen (Return of the Frog Queen)
Celebrity Jeopardy - Turd Ferguson/Sean Connery/French Stuart (SNL audio clip)
Merbabies - Sorry Again (Merbabies)
Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four (Yellow Submarine)
Tugboat Annie - 745 (Wake Up and Disappear)
Rosie Thomas - October (When We Were Small)
Movin' Out - She Got a Way (Movin' Out)
OAR - Missing Pieces (The Wanderer)
Tom Waits - Woe (Blood Money)
The Posies - Dream All Day (The Best of the Posies)
Pedro the Lion - Almost There (Whole)
Finished.
Fountains of Wayne - Bright Future in Sales (Welcome Interstate Fans)
Waterdeep - If You Want to Get Free (To Chase Away the Birds)
Over the Rhine - Remind Us (Ohio)
Jellyfish - Joining a Fan Club (Split Milk)
Jeremy Enigk - Return of the Frog Queen (Return of the Frog Queen)
Celebrity Jeopardy - Turd Ferguson/Sean Connery/French Stuart (SNL audio clip)
Merbabies - Sorry Again (Merbabies)
Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four (Yellow Submarine)
Tugboat Annie - 745 (Wake Up and Disappear)
Rosie Thomas - October (When We Were Small)
Movin' Out - She Got a Way (Movin' Out)
OAR - Missing Pieces (The Wanderer)
Tom Waits - Woe (Blood Money)
The Posies - Dream All Day (The Best of the Posies)
Pedro the Lion - Almost There (Whole)
Finished.
-x-
You're a faker
Amber at Class Maledictorian posts about a psychology professor who faked a hate crime. Apparantely she now thinks she is the victim of not just the hate crime but the attempts to prove her a fraud. What is most disgusting is that people will be even more skeptical of legitimate hate crimes then there already is as a result of people doing things like this.
-x-
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
And the dollar gains
If only the dollar hadn't done this last summer, which I spent in Ireland.
-x-
Pre-trial madness
First year I wondered what could be worse than studying (largely in Glannon's) for a civil procedure exam; this year that question was answered: Texas pre-trial procedure.
-x-
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
The Simple Pleasures
Every time I go to pick up my clothes from the dry cleaners I think of how much fun it would be to get to operate the machine. You know, that little machine that is like a roller coaster for clothes? I envision myself making it turn around during the slow times; clocking it to see if it speeds up when there are less clothes on it compared to when it is nearly full. I'd be one of the best workers at the dry cleaners ever because of how enthusiastic I would be to get ones clothes. Everytime I think about how great this job would be I have to remember the Summer of the Braum.
During college I went home for one of my summers to work at a day long day care for kids from low income families. Since it was a public interest type job I was paid just under what I could make collecting cans. So, I decided that it would be a good idea to get an evening job. There was a new Braums opening near my house, so I applied for the evening shift. They wanted someone for that time and were impressed by my creditials (willing to work for a nothing and a previous summer job at the competitor, Burger King), so I was enlisted in my second job.
Now, to be fair, I was interested in working this job not only because two low paying jobs could equal one regular paying job but because of the ice cream making apparatus. Whenever I would go to Braums I would watch in envy as the people behind the counters would scoop ice cream, make banana splits, and those yummy hot fudge sundaes. I was given my apron and felt like it was the proudest day of my life.
Then it came to my first day of work. The normal grill worker was gone so the supervisor told me to cover the grill. It didn't seem like a problem as I knew how to cook frozen burgers (I do well with my George Foreman grill too) and the fact that they would offer a little leeway since it was my first day. They probably expected me to be a little slower than the absent grill worker but oh no. That was not the case indeed - actually, I had a crowd of workers around me as I prepared burgers.
What was my secret? Well, it was the fact that I understood that if you put one condiment at a time on many buns it sped up the process. Apparantly, even the assistant-manager had never seen someone do more than two or three at a time. I had lines of 10-15 buns going as I slapped on the mustard, ketchup, onions, and tomatoes. I would work down the condiment line and throw on what was wanted for each burger. Everyone was in awe with how quick I was going. When I finished the line and was waiting for the burgers to finish cooking, I would help out with the fries, grab a couple drinks, and encourage the drive thru attendants with little jokes. I was the best Braums ever had.
After a short night of sleep and a long day with kids, I went back to Braums. My chest was held high as I walked through the doors wearing my blue apron. I walked behind the counter with a new air of confidence. I was the grill king. It was me who revolutionized this Braums. However, my ego was bruised when I saw another guy controlling the grill. The absent grill guy made it back and was putting together one or two burgers at a time. Orders were getting out slower, jokes weren't being told, and the fry station was woefully in need of attention. The manager called me over to the the freezer where I was told to sort through boxes and count inventory.
My head was hung in shame as I worked in a cold freezer. No crowds were gathering around at my abilities. When I finished that I was told to go and help at the grill. I went over and listened to the grill guy talk about how his girlfriend makes him go out and cheat on her because she's boring. He told me about how he was the best grill worker they have but that he heard decent things about me. I watched him try to hit on the drive thru girls with dirty pick up lines about "eating the mayo off [his] fry." The sexual harrassment, the slow work, and the delusions of being the grill king were too much for me. When he ran to the bathroom I took over the grill. I was slapping together ten buns when he returned, however, I was promptly reprimanded. Then I was sent to the ice cream area where I had to help make sundaes. Old women yelled at me for not being generous enough with the hot fudge but I couldn't be phased.
At this point it was over. My massive ego had been stroked and then broken. The worst part was that the grill king was clearly inferior to me. The attempt at mutiny had failed. I was sent to the ice cream side where I proved to be a failure. That evening was my last night to ever work in a Braums. I called that next day and said I would not be returning. Now whenever I step foot inside a Braums my dreams of the glory of working behind the counter fade to the reality of humilation.
But if only I could try it one more time with a machine that takes clothes on a rollercoaster ride.
During college I went home for one of my summers to work at a day long day care for kids from low income families. Since it was a public interest type job I was paid just under what I could make collecting cans. So, I decided that it would be a good idea to get an evening job. There was a new Braums opening near my house, so I applied for the evening shift. They wanted someone for that time and were impressed by my creditials (willing to work for a nothing and a previous summer job at the competitor, Burger King), so I was enlisted in my second job.
Now, to be fair, I was interested in working this job not only because two low paying jobs could equal one regular paying job but because of the ice cream making apparatus. Whenever I would go to Braums I would watch in envy as the people behind the counters would scoop ice cream, make banana splits, and those yummy hot fudge sundaes. I was given my apron and felt like it was the proudest day of my life.
Then it came to my first day of work. The normal grill worker was gone so the supervisor told me to cover the grill. It didn't seem like a problem as I knew how to cook frozen burgers (I do well with my George Foreman grill too) and the fact that they would offer a little leeway since it was my first day. They probably expected me to be a little slower than the absent grill worker but oh no. That was not the case indeed - actually, I had a crowd of workers around me as I prepared burgers.
What was my secret? Well, it was the fact that I understood that if you put one condiment at a time on many buns it sped up the process. Apparantly, even the assistant-manager had never seen someone do more than two or three at a time. I had lines of 10-15 buns going as I slapped on the mustard, ketchup, onions, and tomatoes. I would work down the condiment line and throw on what was wanted for each burger. Everyone was in awe with how quick I was going. When I finished the line and was waiting for the burgers to finish cooking, I would help out with the fries, grab a couple drinks, and encourage the drive thru attendants with little jokes. I was the best Braums ever had.
After a short night of sleep and a long day with kids, I went back to Braums. My chest was held high as I walked through the doors wearing my blue apron. I walked behind the counter with a new air of confidence. I was the grill king. It was me who revolutionized this Braums. However, my ego was bruised when I saw another guy controlling the grill. The absent grill guy made it back and was putting together one or two burgers at a time. Orders were getting out slower, jokes weren't being told, and the fry station was woefully in need of attention. The manager called me over to the the freezer where I was told to sort through boxes and count inventory.
My head was hung in shame as I worked in a cold freezer. No crowds were gathering around at my abilities. When I finished that I was told to go and help at the grill. I went over and listened to the grill guy talk about how his girlfriend makes him go out and cheat on her because she's boring. He told me about how he was the best grill worker they have but that he heard decent things about me. I watched him try to hit on the drive thru girls with dirty pick up lines about "eating the mayo off [his] fry." The sexual harrassment, the slow work, and the delusions of being the grill king were too much for me. When he ran to the bathroom I took over the grill. I was slapping together ten buns when he returned, however, I was promptly reprimanded. Then I was sent to the ice cream area where I had to help make sundaes. Old women yelled at me for not being generous enough with the hot fudge but I couldn't be phased.
At this point it was over. My massive ego had been stroked and then broken. The worst part was that the grill king was clearly inferior to me. The attempt at mutiny had failed. I was sent to the ice cream side where I proved to be a failure. That evening was my last night to ever work in a Braums. I called that next day and said I would not be returning. Now whenever I step foot inside a Braums my dreams of the glory of working behind the counter fade to the reality of humilation.
But if only I could try it one more time with a machine that takes clothes on a rollercoaster ride.
-x-
Pushing for Biglaw
Jeremy has replied to two blogs currently speaking about the drive of law schools to get their students into Biglaw. It seems to me that this is not only true, but it is smart for law schools to do this. Ultimately, most law schools want to have big donars. They aren't going to get that out of students who go into public interest or government work. There might be a few instances where they get prestige from it, but that is less probable than getting a few partners at a Biglaw firm.
I don't have any problem with people who want to practice at Biglaw, however, I have learned that it is probably not the place for me. I qualify that only because I haven't tried every Biglaw firm. In my limited experience, I can say that it is not fulfilling work for me. I wouldn't mind working with the government or public interest upon graduation. Whatever I do it won't be for the monetary rewards. I would just like to have enough money to live comfortably, travel occassionally, and retire with security. If those needs are met then all my job will need to do is make me feel like I'm doing my part to make the life better for someone.
I don't have any problem with people who want to practice at Biglaw, however, I have learned that it is probably not the place for me. I qualify that only because I haven't tried every Biglaw firm. In my limited experience, I can say that it is not fulfilling work for me. I wouldn't mind working with the government or public interest upon graduation. Whatever I do it won't be for the monetary rewards. I would just like to have enough money to live comfortably, travel occassionally, and retire with security. If those needs are met then all my job will need to do is make me feel like I'm doing my part to make the life better for someone.
-x-
Monday, April 19, 2004
Sad McDonald
Mastermind of McDonald's comeback dies of a heartattack. While a heart attack at any age is tragic it is sad that he was only 60. I'm can hear the McDonald heart attack jokes beginning already; it is my hope that none of them comingle with lawsuit jokes.
-x-
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Killing the Passion
I'm happy to see that Kill Bill 2 was on top of the earnings charts this weekend. I'll be sure to blog my thoughts on the second as soon as I see it this week. This weekend has been a bit too hectic for me to do much of anything besides adopting the cat, Sophia, and doing homework. I do not find it suprising that The Passion dropped 72% from Easter weekend earnings.
-x-
Porn Spam
Best porn spam subject line ever: "Araceli dreams of getting layed by fish." Thanks for catching that Priya.
-x-
Saturday, April 17, 2004
My Sophia
Introducing my new little girl,
-x-
Demanding Kwame
This confirms my thought - E! Online News - "Apprentice" Kwame in Demand- that Kwame was luckier than Bill. Bill is going to work for Trump for one year. After that year he will probably be looking for a new job. While his resume is certainly made, so is Kwame. However, Kwame gets the jump on the job search while he is still in the spotlight. The amount of job offers he is getting has to be incredible. In the long run I would guess that runner-up would be the better situation.
-x-
Friday, April 16, 2004
No children for me
Amber at Class Maledictorian is wondering where are the men who don't want children. I'm still of the persuasion that having kids are somewhat like getting drunk: it's fun for awhile but then you wake up with a terrible hangover rendering you useless for the time being.
Not wanting children has begun to make dating a little frustrating. It wasn't something that mattered a few years ago, but now females seem to care more about whether or not I want to have a family. I just really don't feel the desire to have children for a few reasons:
1) I'm selfish. Children would take up a lot of my free time;
2) I want to have a career more than have children and I'm interested in a partner who feels the same. In my opinion it is unfair to the child when both parents are working late hours; finally,
3) Too much responsibility. I don't want to be responsible for the health and safety of a child when I can barely handle it with myself.
This certainly makes it more difficult to find a serious relationship (see "I am...hopelessly single"), but I'm more than willing to accept this in exchange for childlessness.
Edited: Parts made negative sense before corrections.
Not wanting children has begun to make dating a little frustrating. It wasn't something that mattered a few years ago, but now females seem to care more about whether or not I want to have a family. I just really don't feel the desire to have children for a few reasons:
1) I'm selfish. Children would take up a lot of my free time;
2) I want to have a career more than have children and I'm interested in a partner who feels the same. In my opinion it is unfair to the child when both parents are working late hours; finally,
3) Too much responsibility. I don't want to be responsible for the health and safety of a child when I can barely handle it with myself.
This certainly makes it more difficult to find a serious relationship (see "I am...hopelessly single"), but I'm more than willing to accept this in exchange for childlessness.
Edited: Parts made negative sense before corrections.
-x-
Analysis of Crawford v. Washington
Distinguishing and criticizing Crawford v. Washington:
"The United State Supreme Court's recent opinion in Crawford v. Washington, established new rules for determining whether a criminal defendant's constitutional right to be confronted with the witnesses against him was violated. Prior to Crawford, the admission of an unavailable witness's statement against a criminal defendant was not violative of the sixth amendment confrontation right if the witness's statement bore adequate indicia of reliability. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 (1980). To meet that test, evidence must fall within a firmly rooted hearsay exception or bear particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Crawford replaced this test with a new focus upon the testimonial or nontestimonial nature of the out-of-court statement." State v. Gonzales, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 503 (
From being involved in the defense clinic this semester I have had to struggle with what Crawford has done in criminal evidence cases. While I'm not an expert in the field I have had a limited experience. My experience has been in the misdemeanor courts (the impact of the decision is far broader than this) where the family violence assistant DAs relied heavily on using statements made by unavailable witnesses. The way they would get it in, pre-Crawford, was through an excited utterance hearing. These hearings would usually happen right before the trial. In general, if the statement from the witness was given to a police officer within 23 hours of the alleged occurance the Judge would grant an exception to hearsay. Then the court would proceed with the trial even though the complainant was not available to testify.
A couple of my cases were dismissed, pre-Crawford, because I was able to persuade the Judge that even though the complaint occurred within 23 hours there were other surrounding facts that indicated thought had been put into the complaint. Essentially, I had to prove that there was not an indicia of reliability. Therefore, it was not truly an excited utterance. However, getting dismissals in the family violence courts is not the norm. It is very difficult because of federal grants given when conviction rates are high enough. Giving dismissals really does hurt the amount of money they are able to generate through those grants. Crawford has caused most of the cases, like mine, where there is an unavailable complainant to be dismissed.
Scalia wrote the decision in Crawford where he essentially held that the Sixth Amendment requires that testimonial statements must be made with the opportunity for cross-examination. This decision criminial evidence in a profound way. However, courts are already beginning to distinguish Crawford; one court has criticized it; and, of course, many have followed. I outline a few of the important decisions below.
Criticized:
March 25, 2004: It has been criticized in NY v. Mascat (Criminal Ct. Bronx County, NY 2004). Essentially they hold that calls to 911 operators are not "testimonial" in nature, as that term was used in Crawford. The court criticizes that the terms "testimonial" and "police interrogation" are not defined. The court claims that as these terms are not defined it is left up to lower courts to work out the meaning of Crawford.
Distinguished:
March 8, 2004: People v. Gomez, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 461 (Ct App. California). The Court held that reliable testimony as to information relayed from one officer to another was not excludable as hearsay. Therefore it is not "testimonial" and cannot invoke Crawford.
March 30, 2004: U.S. v. Reyes, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 5833 (8th Cir.) Held that co-conspirators statements are non-testimonial. Therefore, Crawford does not apply to the conspiracy rule in hearsay.
April 7, 2004: In North Carolina v. Gonzales, the court distinguishes Crawford on the basis that Crawford had prejudicial error in allowing the testimonial evidence, whereas in this situation there was not prejudicial error.
"The United State Supreme Court's recent opinion in Crawford v. Washington, established new rules for determining whether a criminal defendant's constitutional right to be confronted with the witnesses against him was violated. Prior to Crawford, the admission of an unavailable witness's statement against a criminal defendant was not violative of the sixth amendment confrontation right if the witness's statement bore adequate indicia of reliability. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66 (1980). To meet that test, evidence must fall within a firmly rooted hearsay exception or bear particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Crawford replaced this test with a new focus upon the testimonial or nontestimonial nature of the out-of-court statement." State v. Gonzales, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 503 (
From being involved in the defense clinic this semester I have had to struggle with what Crawford has done in criminal evidence cases. While I'm not an expert in the field I have had a limited experience. My experience has been in the misdemeanor courts (the impact of the decision is far broader than this) where the family violence assistant DAs relied heavily on using statements made by unavailable witnesses. The way they would get it in, pre-Crawford, was through an excited utterance hearing. These hearings would usually happen right before the trial. In general, if the statement from the witness was given to a police officer within 23 hours of the alleged occurance the Judge would grant an exception to hearsay. Then the court would proceed with the trial even though the complainant was not available to testify.
A couple of my cases were dismissed, pre-Crawford, because I was able to persuade the Judge that even though the complaint occurred within 23 hours there were other surrounding facts that indicated thought had been put into the complaint. Essentially, I had to prove that there was not an indicia of reliability. Therefore, it was not truly an excited utterance. However, getting dismissals in the family violence courts is not the norm. It is very difficult because of federal grants given when conviction rates are high enough. Giving dismissals really does hurt the amount of money they are able to generate through those grants. Crawford has caused most of the cases, like mine, where there is an unavailable complainant to be dismissed.
Scalia wrote the decision in Crawford where he essentially held that the Sixth Amendment requires that testimonial statements must be made with the opportunity for cross-examination. This decision criminial evidence in a profound way. However, courts are already beginning to distinguish Crawford; one court has criticized it; and, of course, many have followed. I outline a few of the important decisions below.
Criticized:
March 25, 2004: It has been criticized in NY v. Mascat (Criminal Ct. Bronx County, NY 2004). Essentially they hold that calls to 911 operators are not "testimonial" in nature, as that term was used in Crawford. The court criticizes that the terms "testimonial" and "police interrogation" are not defined. The court claims that as these terms are not defined it is left up to lower courts to work out the meaning of Crawford.
Distinguished:
March 8, 2004: People v. Gomez, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 461 (Ct App. California). The Court held that reliable testimony as to information relayed from one officer to another was not excludable as hearsay. Therefore it is not "testimonial" and cannot invoke Crawford.
March 30, 2004: U.S. v. Reyes, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 5833 (8th Cir.) Held that co-conspirators statements are non-testimonial. Therefore, Crawford does not apply to the conspiracy rule in hearsay.
April 7, 2004: In North Carolina v. Gonzales, the court distinguishes Crawford on the basis that Crawford had prejudicial error in allowing the testimonial evidence, whereas in this situation there was not prejudicial error.
-x-
Friday Classes
Every Friday I wake up and regret that I scheduled some sort of a Friday class. I'm not sure why I do it to myself. I'm about to head over to school and sit through a lecture on the First Amendment. Ugh.
-x-
Rapids approaching
I've noticed that law school is much like white water rafting. You start the journey where the water is rocky enough to shake the raft around a little. There might be a couple people who fall off and either decide to stay back or try to hop back on. Then you go through long periods of such intense boredom that you really can't help but drink with your friends to pass the time. Then around the corner you see the raging rapids quickly approaching. But, at this point, it's too late to do anything but hold on tight as you see your life pass before you eyes. Then there is the calm again as you just wait for the next rapids to come.
I've noticed some signs that people are beginning to see the rapids ahead...
1. Class attendance on the increase.
All the students who skipped half the semester (guilty as charged in one class) are hoping to make it to the class where everything might be reviewed. This begs the question of whether law school classes ever do review the course. Most of my classes do not, but I have been in one or two where the professor attempts to review everything. Now I know to avoid those days.
2. The library is filling up during the day.
Instead of going home and watching Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, or just getting a head start on happy hour students are spending the couple hours between classes in the library. From what I have seen most of it tends to be socialization, browsing the internet, or falling asleep. Last semester I studied for finals in the library. I learned that what could have taken five hours of studying ended up taking 12 hours at the library. Maybe I'll avoid that trap this semester.
3. Outline frenzy.
Everyone has to find that perfect outline to ace the class. In this past week I've been asked at least 30 times whether I have an outline for class. I'm only in two classes that will have a test. One of those classes is even closed book. Part of why I get asked is because people know that I will freely give up outlines. It doesn't matter to me if it is an outline I've made or an outline that I have found, I will share. I like to level the playing field. Understanding the law in a particular class is more involved than having an outline memorized.
I've noticed some signs that people are beginning to see the rapids ahead...
1. Class attendance on the increase.
All the students who skipped half the semester (guilty as charged in one class) are hoping to make it to the class where everything might be reviewed. This begs the question of whether law school classes ever do review the course. Most of my classes do not, but I have been in one or two where the professor attempts to review everything. Now I know to avoid those days.
2. The library is filling up during the day.
Instead of going home and watching Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, or just getting a head start on happy hour students are spending the couple hours between classes in the library. From what I have seen most of it tends to be socialization, browsing the internet, or falling asleep. Last semester I studied for finals in the library. I learned that what could have taken five hours of studying ended up taking 12 hours at the library. Maybe I'll avoid that trap this semester.
3. Outline frenzy.
Everyone has to find that perfect outline to ace the class. In this past week I've been asked at least 30 times whether I have an outline for class. I'm only in two classes that will have a test. One of those classes is even closed book. Part of why I get asked is because people know that I will freely give up outlines. It doesn't matter to me if it is an outline I've made or an outline that I have found, I will share. I like to level the playing field. Understanding the law in a particular class is more involved than having an outline memorized.
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Moot Court Coaches
It was very hard not to be a little smug to the coaches of the moot court team as I tried out today. The questions they asked showed little in way of critical analysis of the issues. I might have feigned just enough enthusiasm to be in consideration.
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Etiquette quandry
Etiquette question: is it proper to tell someone that their persistence in speaking of nothing other than the happy hours biglaw invite them to and how well they did their first semester of law school speaks nothing good of their character? It happens every time I go to lunch with this person. For awhile I was too nice to say anything because I thought she would get over it. Now the nice thing might be to tell her how annoying it is to make other people listen to nothing. At the least you could talk about the OC or American Idol, right? That would be somewhat more interesting.
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Do I really have to?
< Rant>I'm frustrated because today was a very long day. A lot of unexpected work came up that ended up taking four hours out of my already too busy day. When I was about through with everything and ready to just work on my paper I remembered that I signed up for a moot court competition try-out. For the life of me I cannot imagine why I signed up for it. By the time I remembered it was too late to scratch my name off without being sanctioned by the Board of Advocates. I don't want to be sanctioned, so I have to try out tomorrow evening. This means that tomorrow is also going to be a long and frustrating day.< /rant>
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Wednesday, April 14, 2004
How I buy my textbooks
College textbook costs skyrocketing - Congress investigating
"Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers and a former congresswoman, said the report was one-sided and flawed."
I seem to recall that Ms. Schroeder's congressional career was punctuated with the types of inquiries that she is now decrying.
Regardless, I buy textbooks very selectively. Some classes I find a good outline and skip the casebook completely. Other classes I will buy a previous edition off the internet or at a used bookstore. I'm proud that I rarely spend more than $25 dollars on any of my classes.
Edited to add the following: I am a case-reader. I know many people in law school say they do better if they don't read the cases at all, however, I do best when I read the cases. Not just read the cases, but when I think about what they are saying, why that is important for the course and ultimately to jurisprudence. To do that, I much prefer to have the full opinion than the edited versions found in most casebooks. I know I am reading excess information that probably won't matter for the final, but I read quick enough that I don't have to worry about the few minutes of extra time I spend. In the classes where I skip the book completely I make good use of the free Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw access and printers.
"Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers and a former congresswoman, said the report was one-sided and flawed."
I seem to recall that Ms. Schroeder's congressional career was punctuated with the types of inquiries that she is now decrying.
Regardless, I buy textbooks very selectively. Some classes I find a good outline and skip the casebook completely. Other classes I will buy a previous edition off the internet or at a used bookstore. I'm proud that I rarely spend more than $25 dollars on any of my classes.
Edited to add the following: I am a case-reader. I know many people in law school say they do better if they don't read the cases at all, however, I do best when I read the cases. Not just read the cases, but when I think about what they are saying, why that is important for the course and ultimately to jurisprudence. To do that, I much prefer to have the full opinion than the edited versions found in most casebooks. I know I am reading excess information that probably won't matter for the final, but I read quick enough that I don't have to worry about the few minutes of extra time I spend. In the classes where I skip the book completely I make good use of the free Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw access and printers.
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I'm not ipoding
Despite iPod sales surging, I still have not jumped into the iPod community of owners. In small part because of the exorbinate prices but in larger part because it seems like more of a status symbol to own one. At least the regular iPod is a slick piece of hardware though.
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What do you mean?
Words for things you didn't know they had words for. Caution: using any of them would cause an exsibilation.
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Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Linking The Slithery D
Forgive me for not usually posting why I include someone's blog or website on my links. It is usually because I find something about their blog interesting, think they are intelligent, agree with them politically, or I am just rather amused by them. It takes me awhile to include a blog I read because I'm lazy. Thus, I hate going to my template and putting in a new link. However, I have been reading Slitheryd for a few days and enjoying it. If for no other reason then the letter he wrote to his law review editors concerning is resignation. Anyone that honest is admired by me.
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Joseph and George W.
I didn't realize that I'd be watching Dubya and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamtie this evening. I just barely escaped being hypnotized while listening to his dreams of the future.
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Getting around homework
Since I hate homework and don't really feel in the mood to watch President Bush (...I might anyhow), I decided that it is time to watch Kill Bill Vol. 1. Due to Blockbuster levying large fees against me I decided that it would be best not to rent Kill Bill Vol. 1 today. Instead, I ventured to that corporate beast which is dressed in blue and yellow to see if they had a special on it. Indeed, I was able to get Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs both for $20. I will being seeing Kill Bill for the first time, but I have faith that Quentin Tarantino has written and directed another quality movie. Furthermore, I know that Reservoir Dogs kicks some major butt, so I'm not apprehensive.
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Gmail and Privacy Issues
Would the way that Google's GMail makes money be an invasion of privacy? From what I understand, to get targeted ads the service would scan the contents of your email for keywords (much like blogger) and then place ads. I doubt this constitutes and invasion of privacy for a few reasons.
First, this is a voluntary service that outlines what it does. By signing the user agreement you are acknowledging that Google will scan your emails. If you aren't alright with this then you can go to hotmail or yahoo where the ads are more static.
Second, it it a computer based system that looks for keywords. I am not aware of any plans for human beings to ever peruse over your email to find keywords or for some other nefarious plan. Therefore, I doubt there is any real danger with the scanning itself.
Senator Liz Figuereoa says that it is advertisers rather than customers who wanted targeted ads. I think that I disagree. With the ad on blogger I find myself more interested in what those are than in the "find the perfect single" ads I see when getting my email.
Maybe my privacy sensitivity is low, but I'm just not seeing anything to cause much concern with GMail.
First, this is a voluntary service that outlines what it does. By signing the user agreement you are acknowledging that Google will scan your emails. If you aren't alright with this then you can go to hotmail or yahoo where the ads are more static.
Second, it it a computer based system that looks for keywords. I am not aware of any plans for human beings to ever peruse over your email to find keywords or for some other nefarious plan. Therefore, I doubt there is any real danger with the scanning itself.
Senator Liz Figuereoa says that it is advertisers rather than customers who wanted targeted ads. I think that I disagree. With the ad on blogger I find myself more interested in what those are than in the "find the perfect single" ads I see when getting my email.
Maybe my privacy sensitivity is low, but I'm just not seeing anything to cause much concern with GMail.
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Monday, April 12, 2004
Puppeteering
You guys are laughing, but it works. The secret to meeting women. Trust me.
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Free diet cokes
3Ls still looking for a job: Do you suppose free sodas are part of the benefits? If so, I demand a finders fee payable by Diet Cokes.
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Sunday, April 11, 2004
Judicial Relection Ads
Being a member of the local bar association has given me all sorts of benefits which include the recent surge of Judicial election letters. Typically I treat them like any of the credit card application letters I receive: rip them into many pieces and throw them away. However, I decided to open one the other day and found an amusing letter. The methods the writer uses to sway the voters is entirely too obvious.
First it starts by saying, "You won't find Joe Somebody's portrait in Court Number 5000, where he presides." This is strange to me because all the Judge's have their portraits in their courtroom. The irony is that right beside this sentence is a rather large photo of the Judge in his robe at his bench. I guess the same "humility" that he carries to his courtroom doesn't apply to reelection literature.
Second sentence, "No special Judicial license plates hang on his 1996 Dodge pickup truck." He hits the humility nail here twice and shows that he's just another good old boy. I am not really getting what this has to do with how good of a judge he has been.
Third sentence, "Neither will you see Judge Somebody walk into a courtroom without a coat and tie." What Judge wouldn't be dressed professionally? "And he never takes the bench without a robe or his well-worn copy of the constitution." This must be a conjunctive disjunctive? I'm really curious how often he has to flip through the constitution during a criminal proceeding, because I have never seen a district court judge take time to check the constitution. If there is a matter that requires a serious look at the constitution the court would undoubtedly recess so that research could be done.
Then there are a lot of endorsements by lawyers about how good he is as a judge. And the mention of how important his faith is in making decisions on the bench. Actually, after going through credentials the writers says, "But Judge Somebody relies on more than his own experience to form his decisions. A man of deep faith, the son of a minister routinely prays, asking that the Almighty guide his steps." This part gets me the most. I'm not atheist, but I still want to vote for a Judge who bases his judicial decisions on the law of our country not on his faith in "the Almighty." The funny thing is this letter is probably enough to sway a lot of voters to reelect him even though it says nothing of substance about what he does on the Bench.
First it starts by saying, "You won't find Joe Somebody's portrait in Court Number 5000, where he presides." This is strange to me because all the Judge's have their portraits in their courtroom. The irony is that right beside this sentence is a rather large photo of the Judge in his robe at his bench. I guess the same "humility" that he carries to his courtroom doesn't apply to reelection literature.
Second sentence, "No special Judicial license plates hang on his 1996 Dodge pickup truck." He hits the humility nail here twice and shows that he's just another good old boy. I am not really getting what this has to do with how good of a judge he has been.
Third sentence, "Neither will you see Judge Somebody walk into a courtroom without a coat and tie." What Judge wouldn't be dressed professionally? "And he never takes the bench without a robe or his well-worn copy of the constitution." This must be a conjunctive disjunctive? I'm really curious how often he has to flip through the constitution during a criminal proceeding, because I have never seen a district court judge take time to check the constitution. If there is a matter that requires a serious look at the constitution the court would undoubtedly recess so that research could be done.
Then there are a lot of endorsements by lawyers about how good he is as a judge. And the mention of how important his faith is in making decisions on the bench. Actually, after going through credentials the writers says, "But Judge Somebody relies on more than his own experience to form his decisions. A man of deep faith, the son of a minister routinely prays, asking that the Almighty guide his steps." This part gets me the most. I'm not atheist, but I still want to vote for a Judge who bases his judicial decisions on the law of our country not on his faith in "the Almighty." The funny thing is this letter is probably enough to sway a lot of voters to reelect him even though it says nothing of substance about what he does on the Bench.
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Copyright Paper
Currently I am writing a dreadful paper on copyright's tension with the First Amendment. It is mainly a comparative analysis of the DMCA bill (why the Supreme Court finds it acceptable) and Super-DMCA bills (and why the Supreme Court will likely strike them down). I'm adding a lot about Eldred v. Ashcroft. Once I finish this I plan on posting my impressions about a reelect Judge blah letter I received in the mail.
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Saturday, April 10, 2004
Monkey Business
That is me holding a monkey. Today I got a call from my friend who works in a camera store saying that there was a monkey out front. Of course, I put everything down to drive over there and get a picture holding a monkey. A couple minutes after that photo he fell asleep on my lap.
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Wal-Mart DVD players
You know how stupid movies are once they are "edited" [sic] for tv? Now you can have your dvds automatically edited by your player. As if I needed another reason to avoid Wal-Mart stores.
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Prisoner short stories
Be careful, if you get sent to prison then you might not be able to keep any award money you make off short stories that are published.
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Photoblogging: Just me
It's always nice to put a face with the words, so I'm going to do just that, however, it scares me to see myself in the blog, so I've linked the pictures.
Goofy.
Kick starting the brain.
I promise I'm not mad.
Goofiest.
Goofy.
Kick starting the brain.
I promise I'm not mad.
Goofiest.
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Friday, April 09, 2004
Decision Making
I'm not sure I've ever based a decision on this before...
This afternoon I was debating whether I wanted to pick up a Quizno's sub while I was out or whether I just wanted to go home and make a sandwich. I left Blockbuster after not finding a movie I really wanted to rent and started to walk across the parking lot to a Quiznos. Well, I was near the door when a car pulled up and two older women hoped out of the car and went into the Quiznos. At this point I reevaluated whether I really wanted to stand in a line behind these two. There was just something about them that screamed annoying so I turned around and made myself a sandwich later.
This afternoon I was debating whether I wanted to pick up a Quizno's sub while I was out or whether I just wanted to go home and make a sandwich. I left Blockbuster after not finding a movie I really wanted to rent and started to walk across the parking lot to a Quiznos. Well, I was near the door when a car pulled up and two older women hoped out of the car and went into the Quiznos. At this point I reevaluated whether I really wanted to stand in a line behind these two. There was just something about them that screamed annoying so I turned around and made myself a sandwich later.
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Is that commercial copyrighted?
Dayna had a really great comment that I wanted to draw from in a post. She brought up the world of advertising and copyrights. In what I imagine to be a 'Nam flashback-like occurrence I remembered a question from last semester's copyright exam.
Imagine that I am an aspiring director and I want to get my start by making commercials. So, I put together a commercial for Jack in the Box fast food restaurants. The commercial uses their similar commercial theme of a bag falling down fast and has a guy with an oversized round face and pointed hat on his head. That guy is on a deserted island with nothing but a little Jack Ball companion with him who he talks to for support. The entire commercial takes about 45 seconds. I mail the video recording of my commercial to Jack in the Box asking them if I could get a job. A few months later I see a commercial on tv for Jack in the Box that looks almost identical to my commercial.
Could I sue Jack in the Box for copyright infringement? Would Jack in the Box be able to counter-sue me for copyright infringement from me using the falling bag and Jack Head? Would a movie studio be able to sue me or Jack in the Box or both for copyright infringement? Could anyone successfully claim either fair use or parody or both?
When I got to this, the final question on a 6 essay question test, I had about 20 minutes left. Flashbacks.
Imagine that I am an aspiring director and I want to get my start by making commercials. So, I put together a commercial for Jack in the Box fast food restaurants. The commercial uses their similar commercial theme of a bag falling down fast and has a guy with an oversized round face and pointed hat on his head. That guy is on a deserted island with nothing but a little Jack Ball companion with him who he talks to for support. The entire commercial takes about 45 seconds. I mail the video recording of my commercial to Jack in the Box asking them if I could get a job. A few months later I see a commercial on tv for Jack in the Box that looks almost identical to my commercial.
Could I sue Jack in the Box for copyright infringement? Would Jack in the Box be able to counter-sue me for copyright infringement from me using the falling bag and Jack Head? Would a movie studio be able to sue me or Jack in the Box or both for copyright infringement? Could anyone successfully claim either fair use or parody or both?
When I got to this, the final question on a 6 essay question test, I had about 20 minutes left. Flashbacks.
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Don't tell that joke: I own it
Over at Crescat Sententia Will Baude asks an interesting question about copyright: can a joke be copyrighted and would retelling it be considered fair use? If no, then how much would you have to change and tweak in order to add enough original material to make it your own?
Obviously something like a stand up routine by Jerry Seinfeld is copyrightable. Basically, copyright is an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. If Seinfeld tells a joke about a parking garage I could get away with telling a joke about a parking garage. I'm only taking the idea of the joke and making it my own. However, if I steal his joke and tell it to a few friends it would probably be infringement. However, he would never sue me because I would have a fair use defense. Mainly three of the four aspects of fair use would weigh in my favor: it doesn't hurt him, I wasn't using it to make money, and the amount of his work that I used was minimal.
The separate question is whether if I come up with a witty joke on the spot if it is copyrightable? That would be a fun question to answer on an exam because it could really be argued. I think that it largely depends on circumstances, however, in most instances it probably would not meet the copyright requirements. Copyright does not protect facts, generalized themes and ideas, subthemes, stock themes, general imagery, literary formulas, actual, true or historical events, episode or scenes a faire, scenes that necessarily result from the choice of a setting situation.
As a sidenote: Jeff Foxworthy has a trademark on the "You might be a redneck" jokes. This might be the one of the case I have read that has jokes in the opinion, Foxworthy v. Custom Tees, 879 F. Supp. 1200 (1995). This case is fun in that it includes a few jokes. You can see great ones like -- "You might be a redneck if . . . you've ever financed a tattoo." Or maybe you would like to read this one, " You might be a redneck if . . . your two-year-old has more teeth than you do." It's all true that this opinion tells Foxworthy jokes. Is this court infringing? Is it necessary for them to include four of these jokes for the reader to get the idea of a "You might be a redneck if..." joke?
Obviously something like a stand up routine by Jerry Seinfeld is copyrightable. Basically, copyright is an original work of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. If Seinfeld tells a joke about a parking garage I could get away with telling a joke about a parking garage. I'm only taking the idea of the joke and making it my own. However, if I steal his joke and tell it to a few friends it would probably be infringement. However, he would never sue me because I would have a fair use defense. Mainly three of the four aspects of fair use would weigh in my favor: it doesn't hurt him, I wasn't using it to make money, and the amount of his work that I used was minimal.
The separate question is whether if I come up with a witty joke on the spot if it is copyrightable? That would be a fun question to answer on an exam because it could really be argued. I think that it largely depends on circumstances, however, in most instances it probably would not meet the copyright requirements. Copyright does not protect facts, generalized themes and ideas, subthemes, stock themes, general imagery, literary formulas, actual, true or historical events, episode or scenes a faire, scenes that necessarily result from the choice of a setting situation.
As a sidenote: Jeff Foxworthy has a trademark on the "You might be a redneck" jokes. This might be the one of the case I have read that has jokes in the opinion, Foxworthy v. Custom Tees, 879 F. Supp. 1200 (1995). This case is fun in that it includes a few jokes. You can see great ones like -- "You might be a redneck if . . . you've ever financed a tattoo." Or maybe you would like to read this one, " You might be a redneck if . . . your two-year-old has more teeth than you do." It's all true that this opinion tells Foxworthy jokes. Is this court infringing? Is it necessary for them to include four of these jokes for the reader to get the idea of a "You might be a redneck if..." joke?
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Thursday, April 08, 2004
The Press found guilty
First Amendment v. Sixth Amendment A quote concerning the Tyco mistrial, in the USA Today raised my eyebrow.
What exactly does this mean? Is it fair that the jury in Tyco II will know impressions in the mind of jurors in Tyco I? Is it fair that the press has basically given trial strategy tips to the prosecutors and to the defense attorneys?
The Supreme Court in Irvin v. Dowd held that an accused does not have a right to an ignorant jury but it should be fair and impartial. Justice Frankfurter later said in Bridges v. California that "A trial is not a 'free trade in ideas,' nor is the best test of truth in the courtroom.'" A good example of this would be the rules of evidence allowing only certain pieces of evidence into trial. In the free trade of ideas every bit of evidence would be allowed into the courtroom and the jury could then sort it out. However, in 1978 and 1980 then Justice Rehnquist stated that the First Amendment principles do not apply in the courtroom.
What does this mean for the defendants in Tyco? Has right to a fair trial been impinged by the First Amendment?
In a comment that will carry a lot of weight at the D.A.'s office, Glatzer and other jurors who talked to the media after the mistrial indicated that the prosecution overplayed its hand by focusing on lavish spending and showing videos of Kozlowski's luxury Manhattan apartment and the extravagant birthday party he knew for his wife on the island of Sardinia. "It all worked against the prosecution," Glatzer said.
What exactly does this mean? Is it fair that the jury in Tyco II will know impressions in the mind of jurors in Tyco I? Is it fair that the press has basically given trial strategy tips to the prosecutors and to the defense attorneys?
The Supreme Court in Irvin v. Dowd held that an accused does not have a right to an ignorant jury but it should be fair and impartial. Justice Frankfurter later said in Bridges v. California that "A trial is not a 'free trade in ideas,' nor is the best test of truth in the courtroom.'" A good example of this would be the rules of evidence allowing only certain pieces of evidence into trial. In the free trade of ideas every bit of evidence would be allowed into the courtroom and the jury could then sort it out. However, in 1978 and 1980 then Justice Rehnquist stated that the First Amendment principles do not apply in the courtroom.
What does this mean for the defendants in Tyco? Has right to a fair trial been impinged by the First Amendment?
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Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Random thoughts
Random thoughts:
* So far for next semester I will be in Death Penalty Project and Constitutional Criminal Procedure. (Civil law classes to follow soon)
* I miss being able to spend entire days at a park writing poetry or plays. It's hard for me to do disjointed creative writing. (I'll post some)
* Commissioned play needs to be "finished" in about three weeks. (Cue letter of apology)
* Redheaded women are often so gorgeous; I wish the same worked for us redheaded boys. We just look goofy. (e.g. Conan O'Brien)
* August and Everything is still an album I can listen to on repeat. (Anna Begins...)
* I had my hair cut today (bye bye curls)
* I want a dog that can go on runs with me (maybe a Lab?) and a cat that can jump to the peephole on my door. (Maybe a cool one?)
* What beats warm banana bread? (Not much)
* There are so many movies I want to go and see. (Boys of Sudan, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Eternal Sunshine, Hellboy...)
* I signed up for a fantasy baseball team but know nothing about playing. (Sigh.)
* David Letterman can make me laugh every night. (Conan can make me laugh more)
* How hard could 17 law school hours in one semester be? (There is so much I want to take)
* My friend got back from HLS this year and we still haven't hung out. This will be rectified soon. (He works until 11, almost nightly)
* So far for next semester I will be in Death Penalty Project and Constitutional Criminal Procedure. (Civil law classes to follow soon)
* I miss being able to spend entire days at a park writing poetry or plays. It's hard for me to do disjointed creative writing. (I'll post some)
* Commissioned play needs to be "finished" in about three weeks. (Cue letter of apology)
* Redheaded women are often so gorgeous; I wish the same worked for us redheaded boys. We just look goofy. (e.g. Conan O'Brien)
* August and Everything is still an album I can listen to on repeat. (Anna Begins...)
* I had my hair cut today (bye bye curls)
* I want a dog that can go on runs with me (maybe a Lab?) and a cat that can jump to the peephole on my door. (Maybe a cool one?)
* What beats warm banana bread? (Not much)
* There are so many movies I want to go and see. (Boys of Sudan, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Eternal Sunshine, Hellboy...)
* I signed up for a fantasy baseball team but know nothing about playing. (Sigh.)
* David Letterman can make me laugh every night. (Conan can make me laugh more)
* How hard could 17 law school hours in one semester be? (There is so much I want to take)
* My friend got back from HLS this year and we still haven't hung out. This will be rectified soon. (He works until 11, almost nightly)
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I've got the video
This is interesting. Professor Bainbridge reports that Justice Scalia has long barred video recordings of his speeches. I know that I have a video tape of him speaking at a Texas law school that is from just a few years ago. Maybe the Marshals will request that I hand over my tape?
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Law School Elections
By the way, I don't think there is anything more humorous than watching a bunch of law students campaign to be the Student Bar ticket voted into office. It's like high school elections all over again.
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No worries
I've never been much of a worrier. My friends always seem to have some new thing that they are worried about. Just a few minutes ago I received an email from a friend who said a "PhD student at MIT" told her we'd run out of oil in 40 years. I doubt this is true, but I also couldn't care less. My reaction is just the red light across the lake that signals bigger issues. Why don't I worry about anything? Studying for finals? Who cares. Attracting a cool girlfriend? Meh. Etc. I need a kick in the ass so that I worry about things a little more.
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Girl Talk?
Today a friend and I sat next to a group of undergraduate girls at On the Border during the happy hour. We didn't realize that their entire conversation (a little longer than an hour passed before they left) would be devoted to their tribulations with boys. The conversation spanned from how they can trick guys into thinking they like them to how they really like dating "cocky assholes" even though they don't really like "cocky assholes." Parts of it were quite entertaining to hear, although, I couldn't figure out how they managed to talk about that subject for over an hour.
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Class selection
Yesterday I was able to make my first choice for fall classes. I decided that the best option would be "Death Penalty Project" as I really like the hands on approach to class. What interests me the most is not the racial aspect of sentencing but more the economic application. From what I have seen the enforcement of the death penalty can follow a socio-economic line. You can see instances rise where the value jurors (and prosecutors) put on different victims and different crimes. This class will hopefully give me the opportunity to be able to see if my hypothesis is true.
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Fighting Pornography
Most of the time I disagree with the political opinion of Glenn Reynolds, however, I realize that he is fair. A recent comment about the administrations war on porn illustrates why I respect the instability.
I really do hope that this blows up in the administrations face. Government involvement in policing morality will only cause harm. I fear that at some point I will have to seriously wonder if a play that I stage might be deemed obscene.
By the way, have you heard about the farmer, the pant salesman, and the cow milking machine? It has Senator Tankerbell's approval.
I really do hope that this blows up in the administrations face. Government involvement in policing morality will only cause harm. I fear that at some point I will have to seriously wonder if a play that I stage might be deemed obscene.
By the way, have you heard about the farmer, the pant salesman, and the cow milking machine? It has Senator Tankerbell's approval.
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Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Scrubbing Scrubs
Dr. Cox: "Only four seconds in and already I'm regretting my decision."
(JD rings the little bell)
JD: "Things Perry hears during sex."
...
JD: "There's a good chance I'm going to kill someone."
(Dr. Cox hits the bell)
Dr Cox: "Things you say when you're working on patients."
(JD rings the little bell)
JD: "Things Perry hears during sex."
...
JD: "There's a good chance I'm going to kill someone."
(Dr. Cox hits the bell)
Dr Cox: "Things you say when you're working on patients."
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Monday, April 05, 2004
Care instructions
Can we say IRS audit? In case the photo gets dropped from their server, it's the care instructions, in both English and French, for washing a nylon bag. The last three lines of the French says "Nous sommes desoles que notre president soit unidiot. Nous n'avons pas vote pour lui." Hehe.
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Getting in to MIT
Every time I look at MIT's OpenCourseWare site, it makes me wish I had tons and tons of free time to sit around and teach myself all the things they have on that site. If anyone out there hasn't discovered OCW already, WOAH, check it out. MIT has the syllabi and other educational materials from over 700 of their courses available online, and it's growing speedily. Some of the courses actually have the textbook and everything available online, while others just give you more general ideas of how to teach yourself the information from the course. It is an autodidact's dream come true.
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Class registration
Tomorrow I have register for classes which is frustrating me. There are so many classes that I want to take, but so few hours I can mentally manage. The classes I am seriously considering: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Creditor's Rights, Criminal Evidence Seminar (focusing almost solely on the recently decided Crawford v. Washington; a case dealing mainly with the limitation of the excited utterance in cases where the complaining witness is unable to testify, Death Penalty Project, Professional Responsibility, and Wills and Trusts.
Then classes that I am slightly considering: American Legal History, Business Enterprise (not the Professor I want to take it with), Corporate Planning, Economic Analysis and the Law, Family Law, International Public Law (to compliment my Human Rights class), Real estate transactions, Sentencing and the Death Penalty (I see a death penalty motif), Telecomunication Law & Policy, and Trial advocacy (again, not the Professor I would ideally take this course with...).
What is interesting?
Then classes that I am slightly considering: American Legal History, Business Enterprise (not the Professor I want to take it with), Corporate Planning, Economic Analysis and the Law, Family Law, International Public Law (to compliment my Human Rights class), Real estate transactions, Sentencing and the Death Penalty (I see a death penalty motif), Telecomunication Law & Policy, and Trial advocacy (again, not the Professor I would ideally take this course with...).
What is interesting?
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Is it all that bad?
The best thing I heard today: "I was naked smoking crack in the park. Is that so bad?"
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Insomniac children
What do I do late at night when I can't sleep? I listen to music like Jump Little Children. They are easily one of the best "unknown" bands around. Tonight I was happy to see they have a new album coming out April 20th. I also work on a rather large copyright presentation I need to give for my First Amendment class.
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It's no "wonder" Fox screwed this up
After watching the first episode of Wonderfalls I posted that it would soon be cancelled. Fox was bound to screw up another series in hopes that they can find the next big Reality show.
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Passive smoking risks
I don't care for smoking, supporting the tobacco industry, or smelling like cigarette smoke, and this news[sic] about fresh evidence on passive smoking risk doesn't surprise me. I would be happy if more countries could ban smoking in all public places like Ireland
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Turning the market
Things are looking good for the Bush campaign as voters might believe the recent job market strengthening is a result of the President. While it may be due to the President there is little question in my mind that the way he has handled the last three and a half years, with just the economy, has been abysmal. Of course, I might just be bitter that I don't have a job for this summer quite yet.
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Sunday, April 04, 2004
Discovery time
I'm having a very difficult time forcing myself to read through cases about the scope of discovery (catered for Texas law) when it's a perfect day outside. I've got a lake right by me that is begging me to run around it.
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Saturday, April 03, 2004
NC and Georgia on my mind
With Duke and Georgia Tech playing in two different games tonight the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner's racist comments about Notre Dame's fledgling football program couldn't have come at a worst time. It is no secret that Duke has one of the most consistently stellar basketball programs in the country. Along with teams like Stanford and Georgia Tech. All of these teams also have incredible students on their teams who will make an impact upon graduation be it in basketball or with their future careers. Hornung should watch the games tonight and tell me if all he can see out there is white players. Ridiculous comments from someone who should look to the facts before he makes statements like this.
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Friday, April 02, 2004
Tigger Sex Stuff
Oh, Tigger, I always suspected that you had predilections towards pedophilia. If the allegations are true then I hope Tigger learns a little about the American justice system.
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One step forward
I can't stand "Spring Forward" weekend.
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13-year-old sleeping
For some reason I find this whole story about Letterman really funny. It seems that on Monday he showed a video where a 13-year old was falling asleep (can you blame him?) behind President Bush (no, you can't) during a speech. Then CNN showed the clip from Letterman...yada yada yada...hilarity ensued.
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Thursday, April 01, 2004
Pre-Law advice again
To anyone who is interested in applying to law school this is a must read. Courtesy of Brian Leiter at University of Texas Law School.
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April 1
It is April 1, which means that websites are trying to be clever by posting their jokes. Typically they are either really bland or on rare occassion they are great. Today the big news starting to circulate is whether or not Google really has a new mail service soon to be released?
The NYT newspaper has a story about it that says in pertinent part:
"The standard industry practice is to offer tiered mail services, providing only limited storage for free and charging higher fees to users who want to preserve larger numbers of e-mail messages. Google, by contrast, is planning a service to be supported by advertising that will permit its users to store very large amounts of mail at no cost.
One internal Google study put the operational cost of maintaining electronic mail storage at less than $2 per gigabyte."
I really can't see the NYT printing something that is factually inaccurate. In all seriousness, if this happens to be a true story then Hotmail and even Yahoo Mail will soon be making many changes.
The NYT newspaper has a story about it that says in pertinent part:
"The standard industry practice is to offer tiered mail services, providing only limited storage for free and charging higher fees to users who want to preserve larger numbers of e-mail messages. Google, by contrast, is planning a service to be supported by advertising that will permit its users to store very large amounts of mail at no cost.
One internal Google study put the operational cost of maintaining electronic mail storage at less than $2 per gigabyte."
I really can't see the NYT printing something that is factually inaccurate. In all seriousness, if this happens to be a true story then Hotmail and even Yahoo Mail will soon be making many changes.
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