Ex.Coll, J.D.

Hello Out There

2010-06-27T15:31:00.002-05:00

Is there anyone out there?

Let me know if you are.

In case you were wondering, I'm a practicing lawyer now doing exclusively criminal defense. I generally enjoy it and have been doing a good job (at least I think I have been).

So, let me know if you are out there and even care.

I've wanted to post, really I have . . .

2008-12-12T02:09:00.001-06:00

. . . but after so long a hiatus, is it even worth it?

Please let me know, should I continue this blog?

BarBri email

2008-07-12T22:07:00.002-05:00

I got this email the other day from BarBri:
Thank you for your enrollment in next week’s Texas Procedure and Evidence Workshop. I am writing to make you aware of a change of faculty for the second half of the Criminal Procedure section of the workshop.

When the workshop was recorded in Houston last week, Professor Jack Strickland, the former Chair of the Texas Board of Bar Examiners, experienced a medical emergency and was taken away by ambulance just before the beginning of the third hour of his lecture. Class was dismissed and resumed the next day with the scheduled civil procedure lecture which was delivered by Professor Byron Davis, the Co-Editor of O’Connors Texas Rules.

After Professor Davis finished, Professor Susan Crump, a known expert on Criminal Law and Procedure and member of the faculty of South Texas College of Law, delivered the final two hours of Professor Strickland’s lecture using Professor Strickland’s notes.

As a result, the workshop you attend next week will begin with two hours of lecture by Professor Jack Strickland followed after lunch by two hours of lecture by Professor Susan Crump. During the first hour of his lecture, Professor Strickland’s discusses the format of the exam and delivers his insights into the exam based upon his experience as a bar examiner. Following that discussion Professor Strickland and then Professor Crump review the most frequently tested issues on the criminal portion of the exam. And, of course, on the second day of the workshop, Professor Davis reviews the most frequently tested issues on the civil portion of the exam.
----------------------
Here was my initial thought:
Since I am the intended third party beneficiary of the contract between Strickland and BarBri...

After stopping at that point, I asked myself, if the first event in Houston was so bad, why are they showing still replaying the video of it?

Google knows too much about me

2008-07-01T14:39:00.003-05:00

Today, as I was reading an email about the bar exam, Gmail thought I might need to see the following advertisements:

I’m not going to lie

2008-06-29T02:21:00.001-05:00

When I got this in the mail, a little bit of pee came out.

Open Letter

2008-06-26T14:15:00.002-05:00

Dear Texas Bar Examiners,

I am currently studying for the July bar examination and I would like to make a proposal to you. I hereby promise that for so long as I practice law in the state of Texas, I will never, ever, practice any sort of Oil and/or Gas law. As such, please disregard that portion when grading my exam.

Sincerely,
Ex.Coll.

RIP

2008-06-23T17:05:00.003-05:00

I'd like to say a few words about George Carlin. Seven to be exact: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

RIP

Worst Attorney Site Ever

2008-06-18T16:29:00.001-05:00

Today, on a whim, I decided to Google my old boss (the solo I worked for my 1L summer). I came across his new website. While I was working for him he allowed his old one to expire. It was nothing fancy, one of those standard lawyers websites that Lexis (or is it West) sells. His new one is terrible.

Sure, it looks like the standard fill-in-the-blanks lawyer website, but this one is just bad. First off, whoever filled in the blanks didn’t do a good job. His name is Will Rehnquist (yes, I changed his name), but the title of the webpage is:

Rehnquist Will

Attorney At Law

Yes, the “at” is capitalized.

Also, throughout out the site is stuff like “At Rehnquist Will Attorney At Law we will fight for you,” “you need a professional like Rehnquist Will Attorney At Law,” and “call Rehnquist Will Attorney At Law and put us to work for you.”

But I think the worst is his domain – willrehnguist.com. Did you catch that? Yes, his name is misspelled in his domain.

I might have to take his name off my resume.

Missppelling

2008-06-17T21:35:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, I am the last person on the internet who should be pointing out typos, but I don't have a J.D. from Havard.

Prof. Thomas H. Martin, Massachusetts School of Law at Andover (unaccredited)

Sample Bar question of the day

2008-06-12T16:33:00.001-05:00

I'm just glad to see the PMBR people are keeping their politics out of their business.

“Guderian owned a fifty acre parcel of mountain forest adjacent to a national park. When the Republican administration in Washington D.C. decided to sell off the national parks to developers, the market value of Guderians’s land quadrupled in value, since it now was next door to “Trump’s Yosemite Towers,” a 2,500-room resort and casino complex.”

I won’t bore you with the rest.

The bar exam sucks

2008-06-11T00:41:00.002-05:00

Yes I’m sure you all know that by now. I hate all the studying (and the guilt and depression I feel for not studying). But the thing I hate the most is all the attempts at encouragement people give me. I know they are just meaning well, but it’s going to make failing this thing feel even worse. For example, I’ve heard the following over the last few weeks:

“You’re the smartest person I know.” I assume she don’t know many people.

“I hear it’s hard, but you’ll do fine.” Well no shit its hard. If you think it’s so damn hard, don’t tell me I’ll be fine.

“Just think of the relief you’ll feel when you finish the test.” What relief? You mean the relief I’ll feel knowing that I won’t know a damn thing for 5 more months?

“Just stay positive.” Thanks for letting me know the secret to success is just positive thinking. Can I still get a refund from Barbri? By the way, I tried that “positive thinking” crap and I knew it wouldn’t work, and sure enough, it didn’t.

“I remember when I took my real estate exam . . . that was rough.” Fuck you! I don’t want to know a damn thing about your real estate exam. I don’t want to know about the week you spent after work studying, or the morning-long exam, or the fact that you were afraid to click the button to show you your score.

Sorry for this especially bitter post, but – no wait, I’m not sorry.

Well, if you excuse me, I have a bar exam to fail.

BarBri Blogging

2008-06-03T00:36:00.000-05:00

Yea, I know I’ve been behind on this blogging thing – I’ve got no real excuse.

Anyhow, I’d like to keep this up. I’ve even thought of a ton of things to blog about, but the place I’m taking BarBri doesn’t have WiFi, so no luck there.

Anyhow, I ran into someone today and we (of course) talked about the bar. I was given me some very good and reassuring advice. I showed that person the recommended schedule I was given and, much to my delight, I was told it was unrealistic and unnecessary. I was told exactly what I wanted to hear: just do some of the practice problems, know how to write a good essay, stay focused, don’t burn out, and go to the BarBri lectures. Not bad, maybe I can pass this damn thing after all. What this person described had been my outlook on this thing from the beginning. After that person left, it hit me – that person’s failed the bar… twice.

I’m fucked.

Movie Update: Epilogue

2008-05-23T02:15:00.001-05:00

I’m glad I chose to undertake this project. I got to see a lot of movies that have been on my to-see list for a long time and movies I might not otherwise have seen. Two things struck me during this 1) there are a lot of war movies on here and 2) a lot of them involve crime in some way.

Chup asked me why it was I thought there were so many war movies and I think the reason is that it allows the writer/director to tell a story about average people in extraordinary circumstances. It also allows them to put people together who would never be together ordinarily. It also does away with the necessity of back stories. We don’t need to know how the Sergeant got to be in Vietnam, he was probably drafted there just like most of the others. We don’t need to know why the Private is in the trenches, he thought the cause was worthy enough to fight for. It doesn’t matter that Private1 is from an old-money while Private2 is a farm boy.

As for the crime aspect, maybe it just has to do with people’s overall fascination with crime people doing things they wish they themselves could get away with. I think it also makes for good stories.

There was a suggestion that I now start reading the top 100 novels. I don’t think I’ll be doing that. One reason is I’d be very surprised if I’ve read more than 10 on that list. Another reason is that I rarely read novels, although I do enjoy them when I do. Almost everything I read is nonfiction. I prefer to enjoy fiction in movies rather than reading it.

I think my next endeavor will be the AFI Top 100 (2007 Version). It looks like I have 46 more movies to watch. I do, however have to question any “Top 100” list that includes Titanic. Anyhow, here’s the list:
1 Citizen Kane (1941)
2 The Godfather (1972)
3 Casablanca (1942)
4 Raging Bull (1980)
5 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6 Gone with the Wind (1939)
7 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8 Schindler's List (1993)
9 Vertigo (1958)
10 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11 City Lights (1931)
12 The Searchers (1956)
13 Star Wars (1977)
14 Psycho (1960)
15 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16 Sunset Boulevard (1950)
17 The Graduate (1967)
18 The General (1927)
19 On the Waterfront (1954)
20 It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21 Chinatown (1974)
22 Some Like It Hot (1959)
23 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27 High Noon (1952)
28 All About Eve (1950)
29 Double Indemnity (1944)
30 Apocalypse Now (1979)
31 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32 The Godfather Part II
33 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35 Annie Hall (1977)
36 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39 Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40 The Sound of Music (1965)
41 King Kong (1933)
42 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43 Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44 The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45 Shane (1953)
46 It Happened One Night (1934)
47 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48 Rear Window (1954)
49 Intolerance (1916)
50 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51 West Side Story (1961)
52 Taxi Driver (1976)
53 The Deer Hunter (1978)
54 MASH (1970)
55 North by Northwest (1959)
56 Jaws (1975)
57 Rocky (1976)
58 The Gold Rush (1925)
59 Nashville (1975)
60 Duck Soup (1933)
61 Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62 American Graffiti (1973)
63 Cabaret (1972)
64 Network (1976)
65 The African Queen (1951)
66 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68 Unforgiven (1992)
69 Tootsie (1982)
70 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72 The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75 In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76 Forrest Gump (1994)
77 All the President's Men (1976)
78 Modern Times (1936)
79 The Wild Bunch (1969)
80 The Apartment (1960)
81 Spartacus (1960)
82 Sunrise (1927)
83 Titanic (1997)
84 Easy Rider (1969)
85 A Night at the Opera (1935)
86 Platoon (1986)
87 12 Angry Men (1957)
88 Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89 The Sixth Sense (1999)
90 Swing Time (1936)
91 Sophie's Choice (1982)
92 Goodfellas (1990)
93 The French Connection (1971)
94 Pulp Fiction (1994)
95 The Last Picture Show (1971)
96 Do the Right Thing (1989)
97 Blade Runner (1982)
98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99 Toy Story (1995)
100 Ben-Hur (1959)

Movie Update XI: The End of an Era

2008-05-15T02:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry it’s been so long since an update, but since there were so few movies in the queue, when those specific ones weren’t available, I had to just wait… and wait… and wait. So here goes:

Some Like it Hot – I saw this one a couple weeks ago but didn’t mention it here. I liked this movie. It was clever, witty, had a decent plot, and good acting. I generally don’t like movies about guys who dress up like women, but this one was an exception. The acting (Except for Monroe’s) was great. This movie also had a great ending and, in my opinion, one of the best closing lines of any movie. A great comedy that I highly recommend.

The Silence of the Lambs – another of those movies from my time that I’ve just never seen nor really had a desire to see. It was a good movie, and not at all like what I was expecting. The plot was good, albeit not very believable. Also, I think Anthony Hopkins is one of the best actors out there. I’m sure you’ve already seen it, so I won’t bother recommending it.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – Good movies with interesting stories, just not to my taste. I liked the first one, and it kept me going. I was genuinely interested in the story and the characters. When it ended, I wanted to know what happened. The second one, I found very boring. There was a lot of fighting and action, but it seemed (at least to me) to be just there to keep the audience entertained and into the story and not suffer the normal lull associated with the second act. The first night I sat down to see this I fell asleep about 3 times in the first 45 minutes. Two nights later, I tried to see it again. By the halfway point I was knocked out. It’s probably just be and my dislike of the genre, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on and I didn’t care. I also don’t like movies filled with CGI crap – special effects are nice when they add to the movie but not when they are the movie. I’ll have to confess, I didn’t make through the 2nd and I didn’t watch the 3rd. I figure if I can’t make it to the end of the 2nd, there’s no way I’ll be able to follow the 3rd. Again, I am certain to be in the minority here, and I don’t mean to offend anyone who likes this series, it’s just not for me.

And there you have it – 61 movies in 14 weeks, I don’t know if I should be proud or ashamed. To recap, I have now seen all movies on the IMDB top 95 (at least as they were ranked 14 weeks ago). There were only a handful I didn’t like and 3 I didn’t finish (I’m putting the LOTR in the unfinished category because it really is more like one movie broken up into 3, but if you are a literalist, 2 unfinished and 1 not watched).

I have some additional thought I’ll post soon.

Movie Update X: The Sequel

2008-04-30T12:21:00.001-05:00

As of right now, the only movies left on my list are the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Silence of the Lambs, and Leon.

Lawrence of Arabia (#32) – a good movie, but way too long. This movie was 3 2/3 hours long!!! It’s obvious this movie was meat to be a masterpiece, and it is. The shots were beautiful. The acting was excellent. The plot was interesting but it did drag at times. Alec Guinness was in it, and isn't that enough? Perhaps the best piece of information I got out of this movie was that I now know it is acceptable for a man to ride a camel side-saddle.

Modern Times (#74) – The second Chaplin movie on the list. I wasn’t so crazy about this one, but there are some iconic scenes in it. It is worth seeing simply for the “Nonsense Song” scene, it is great (and I believe it's the only time Chaplin is seen in a film speaking). I think this is still considered a silent movie, but I think a better classification is a non-talkie, while there was dialog, it came from inanimate objects – the characters were silent with very few exceptions (the aforementioned song is the only one I can think of). I preferred City Lights over this one, I think that one captured the genius of Chaplin more than this one, IMO, because it was more character driven (although this one is also character driven). I think CL was better in terms of showing off Chaplin’s talents. Also, I don't like it when films are so overt in their politics. This one was blatantly anti-capitalist.

City of God (#17) – I think this movie was excellent and went right were The Pianist and Hotel Rwanda went wrong. The director and cast were able to depict a horrible, real-life situation that that most people are unfamiliar with and told a compelling story with complex characters and actors doing an exceptional job. Maybe it’s the subtitles that keep this movie from getting its proper due, but this is an excellent film.

Amelie (#41) – I don’t think I’m qualified to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway – this movie was Very French. It’s a good story about a young girl who touches the lives of almost everyone she comes into contact with. I think it would have been nice to have followed the subplots a little further, but I can see how that would have taken way too much time and made this a much more complex movie than it was. I have to say there did seem to be unnecessary nudity and sex in this movie. Normally I wouldn’t mind this, but this movie would have made an excellent PG-13 or even PG movie, and therefore more accessible, but because of nudity and sex that is completely unnecessary, it gets slapped with an R. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think this movie, while not necessarily a children’s movie would have been great for young adults. Is this typical of French movies?

Singing in the Rain (#77) – I don’t like musicals. There, I said it. This was no exception. This was one of those movies that I kept tuning out (usually when the singing started). I’ve read that this is the best musical out there, but I think that award has to go to the Blues Brothers. Sure, some purists might say the BB isn’t really a comedy, but I once saw it called a “musical comedy” and that’s good enough for me. (And where the hell is the Blues Brothers on this list?)

Casablanca (#9) – Before this endeavor, I’ve never had any desire to see Casablanca because I thought it was just some sappy love story. I was wrong. This is a great movie with a lot of suspense, action, mystery, and yes – love. This movie is so much more than a love story. I’ve seen criticism of Bogart and Bacall’s acting in this movie, but those critics must have been watching something else. I highly recommend this movie to everyone.

The Elephant Man (#90) – How have I not known about this movie? This was a fantastic movie. The black & white really adds to the movie and it’s authenticity. I also like the intentional hiding of the Elephant Man for a significant part of the movie. This is a movie about much more than the man himself. My one complaint about the movie is that it didn’t explore the Dr’s internal conflict more. Then again, maybe it’s better the audience work through that on its own. I highly recommend this one.

UPDATE: I edited this post. I know I usually don't do that but this was bad, even by my standards. Sorry.

Finals Prep

2008-04-29T15:13:00.002-05:00

I'm providing this as a public service announcement because I don't have any finals this semester. However, I care about my readers and hope they both do well.

The foundation to performing well on finals is to stay physically prepared. This, of course, begins with nutrition. In order to take care of that, go to Westlaw and look up this citation: 2006 WLNR 22810675

There, you have your assignment, now start working on that list.

Done

2008-04-28T18:00:00.002-05:00

No more classes, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!

SBA is trying to make its presence known

2008-04-27T23:22:00.002-05:00

With comments like this:
“Why do LLM students trundle around the law school with rolling luggage instead of just renting a locker? It's impossible to say. As an immigrant myself, I'm going to guess it's fear of imminent deportation. I, personally, live in constant dread of being sent back to Ireland, where the Potato Famine is now in its 163rd consecutive year.”

First off, what the hell does this have to do with “Return Your Locker Key and Get $20!!” [never mind that it should read: Return Your Locker Key and Get Your $20 Back!!]?

Secondly, and I don’t know if 3 years of law school has just turned my sensitivity to super-high, but that comment seems pretty damn offensive. I was going to add that this was from the same class that brought us the infamous “Party” but decided not to.

At any rate, SBA will remain worthless, only now it looks like it will be worthless, annoying, and a douche about it. (Another thing 3 years of law school has thought me is how to use the word “douche.”)

Hurt

2008-04-25T15:35:00.002-05:00

One of, if not the, best music videos I've ever seen.

I think I smell Oscar!

2008-04-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

Movie Update IX: The Final Frontier*

2008-04-21T01:35:00.003-05:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, its time for another movie update. I slowed down quie a bit from my original pace. I’ve seen these over the last two weeks or so.

Rashomon (#72) – the 2nd Kurosawa movie on the list and the second one I’ve seen. A simple story of a murder told from the perspectives of three witnesses. Kurosawa did a great job of illustrating how perception is rarely reality and really leaves you wondering. It was a fantastic movie. The imagery was great, the cinematography superb, and even for a black and white movie, beautiful shots. I think I prefer Seven Samurai over this one, but not by much. I highly recommend this movie, especially for those legally (or criminally) inclined.

The Pianist (#57) – I don’t get what was so good about this movie. I think it was okay at best. Adrian Brody’s acting was horrible, IMO. I’ll save you some time, pick up the DVD, take a good look as his serious expression in his face, and see if you can stand that expression (or lack thereof). If you can, you might like this movie.

There Will be Blood (#15) – This was an excellent movie. I can’t help but compare it with No Country for Old Men since they were both up for Best Picture. I think they were both great movies, but very different. While No Country was a character study, putting several interesting characters in a situation and watching them interact, this one was more plot driven. It was a good plot, but I didn’t see the connection of the two stories until after I thought more about it. Here’s the movie, in a nutshell, you have an oilman making his fortune during the turn of the 19th Century while a young boy follows a calling from God to start up a church. It is fascinating to see how these two correspond to each other. Overall, I think I like this one better than No Country, but both were excellent. Highly recommended.

A Clockwork Orange (#51) – A confession, for only the second time during this endeavor, I didn’t finish watching a movie. This one was too damn weird. After an hour into this movie, I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. The characters were beyond weird, the shots bizarre, the plot indecipherable – even the language was at, at times, nonsensical. I’m glad this was the last Kubrick movie I had to see. If it were the first I’d have dreaded seeing the rest. One day I’ll have to revisit this movie, but not now.

Maltese Falcon (#69) – This was a great movie. A suspense/mystery movie that really kept me wondering what was going on, who to believe, and what would come next – everything a mystery should do. Bogart’s acting was great (I think I’m becoming a fan) as was the rest of the cast. I also thought the story was good and didn’t waste time with a lot of character set-up. You are really put in the position of the private eye and you have just as much info as he does. Highly recommended.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#49) – Can you believe this is the first Jim Carry movie I’ve ever seen? I usually find him annoying, but this looked like a different kind of movie so it had been on my to-see list for a long time. I really liked the story in this one. I also enjoyed the storytelling and thought it to be a very good movie. Basically, a guy wants to have memories of an ex erased. Midway through the procedure he changes his mind and tries to stop it. It also showed that Carry just might be able to act like more than a dumbass.

North by Northwest (#27) – Hitchcock has yet to disappoint me. This was a great mystery movie. I also give it kudos for the most accurate depiction of drunk driving I’ve ever seen on film… or at least I’ve heard. Anyhow, if you like Hitchcock, I’m sure you’ll love this one. If you don’t like Hitchcock, what’s wrong with you? I think it also worth mentioning this is the first Cary Grant movie I think I’ve ever seen. He did a great job.

Jaws (#91) – Yes, I’ve now finally seen Jaws. (Jennebelle is probably thinking “about damn time!”) I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Great suspense even if the ending can already be assumed. But exactly how it ended threw me for a loop. Very good performances by everyone, and good special effects. I also like how you can see this move and not immediately identify it as being from the 70s.

Well, that leaves 13 movies on my list. Next up are: Lawrence of Arabia, Amelie, Modern Times, City of God, and Some Like it hot. In what order, who knows, but LoA is roughly 3.5 hours (bleh).

Back to Clockwork Orange for a bit – this is the opening scene. It freaked me out and it just got worse from there.

*Yea, I know it's a little late to be adding (what I consider) clever subtitles to my movie updates, but I did it anyway.

My new favorite town

2008-04-12T10:00:00.003-05:00

Cut N Shoot, Texas. I was going to post a link to its Wiki page, but they misspelled it as "Cut and Shoot." I went through the town this week and the population sign spelled it "Cut N Shoot."

Anyhow, any every other town in Texas, it has a story. Posted without the permission of JSTOR or Western Folklore.

Has sufficient time passed . . .

2008-04-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

. . . for me to wonder if they pried the gun from Heston’s cold dead fingers?

An Absolut World

2008-04-08T09:48:00.005-05:00

And, as expected, the controversy.

I think the funniest part of the story was the nimrod who said he poured all his Absolut down the drain. What sense does that make -- you already bought the booze.

For even dumber (and some racist) comments, you'd have to look here.

UPDATE: ad pulled

Movie Update VIII: The Revenge

2008-04-07T12:06:00.003-05:00

The movie watching has slowed to a trickle lately. That’s probably a good thing; anyhow, I’m down to 20 movies left on my list for me to see. I’ve knocked out over 2/3 of that list. There are roughly 6 weeks until graduation meaning I’ll need to average 3-4 movies a week. Very doable.

So, here are the latest movies I’ve seen:

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (#54) – “Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!” What more do I have to say. Plenty, since I didn’t even know that this is the movie where that line came from. This is actually a very good movie. I think it’s the first Bogart movie I’ve seen, and the trivia I found over at IMDB is pretty interesting regarding this movie. Anyhow, it’s a movie about a few down on their luck Americans in Mexico. I’m sure there’s a good story as to how they got there, but they don’t go into that. Anyhow, they get a taste of gold fever and head out to them thar hill. Greed takes over, and what you have left is a great story about greed and human nature. I think this was a great movie and one I would likely see again. Recommended.

Sunset Blvd. (#30) – A great movie with a few iconic scenes and lines (“I’m ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille” is just one of the gems. Sure it might sound a bit trite, but in context it is a very sad scene). It’s a movie about a has-been silent movie actress who couldn’t make it in the talkies. Of course, I’m over simplifying it, there’s some social commentary and subplots involving romance, greed and friendship, but it really is a good movie. Highly recommended.

American Beauty (#38) – Somewhat disturbing. I think Kevin Spacy was very good in the movie, as was most of the rest of the cast. The subject matter can be offsetting at times, but only to the point that it serves its purpose in the film. I was hoping to see a little more ambiguity in the ending, but it works well as is. There is something to be said for a movie in which the most “normal” person in the movie is a troubled high school girl. This movie certainly isn’t for everyone, I’m still wondering if it was for me.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (#7) – Another Nicholson movie. Having already crossed The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly off my list, this was the highest ranking movie remaining. It was very good movie with a great performance from Nicholson (as well as Danny DeVito, whom I didn’t even recognize). In reading more about the movie, I find it odd that Nurse Ractched is taken as such a villain, even the AFI ranked her as #5 of the worst villains. Maybe I’m just a little morbid, but I didn’t think she was that bad. I’m not saying she was a sympathetic character, but I just don’t think she was all that bad. Anyhow, I recommend you see this movie. You should probably see it just because it was when Nicholson was a great actor unlike now where he is reduced to merely playing himself over and over.

R.I.P.

2008-04-06T14:40:00.002-05:00

Moses

Movie Update VII

2008-04-02T13:55:00.002-05:00

Okay, let me knock some of these out. I’ve seen these movies over the last week and a half.

The Manchurian Candidate (#95) – An interesting story, but pretty predictable until you get to the final twist. Then it’s completely predictable. Also, Frank Sinatra is not a good actor. This movie does have perhaps the cheesiest martial arts fight ever captured on film. Think Sinatra in a kung-fu movie, for a couple of minutes. I don’t recommend this one.

All About Eve (#81) – Here is another classic movie that I thought was very good. It’s a story of a young girl trying to make it in Hollywood who becomes enamored by an actress. If you catch it on TV, I say watch it, but unless you are really into old movies, I don’t recommend running out and getting it.

Chinatown (#46) – I had thought about removing any Roman Polanski movies from my list. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this was a Polanski movie until it started. This is a noir film staring Jack Nicholson. It is purely a mystery movie and I thought it was very good. It has all the elements of a classic gumshoe story and nothing more. If you want to see a good mystery, and don’t mind seeing something by Polanski, give it a try.

Life is Beautiful (#86) – I’ve already talked about this, so I won’t rehash my thoughts other than to say you need to see this movie.

The Third Man (48) – Another Orson Wells movie. Another mystery movie, but it was far too predictable. I had the move almost completely figured out before the first 1/3. While the scenery is beautiful, the shots perfect, and the acting superb, the story was lacking. However, if you can put up with a lack of story in exchange for a beautiful film, you’ll probably like it.

Alien (#52) – I had seen parts of this movie when I was a kid, but never the whole thing. I really liked this film. It looks like it drew heavily from 2001, but had so much more story. I know I was in the minority for having never seen this one before, but if you are in that minority, I recommend you get out and watch this movie. It is great.

Aliens (#68) – Leave it to James Cameron. This movie was too much… well, everything. I didn’t like this one at all, the original was far superior. Maybe I should have seen the original theatrical release and not the “Restored (James Cameron ego-trip) version” that was nearly 2.5 hours.

There are a few others I’ll post in the next day or two.

In case you were wondering

2008-04-02T09:39:00.004-05:00

I know I haven't posted my thought on movies in a while. I haven't had the time. And since I haven't been doing it, the number I need to write is increasing. Anyhow, in case you are wondering how my list looks now, here it is:

Wasted days and wasted nights

2008-04-01T11:17:00.002-05:00

My movie watching endeavor has taken up far too much of my time. Frankly it’s become an obsession. It is now to the point that I’m scheduling appointments around my movie watching time. I’ve fallen way behind with all my class work and I really just need to get off my ass and do it. So, with all that said, I am abandoning my quest.

Does that mean I’ll probably never see the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Harry Potter? I hope so.

Will I miss out on a few gems that I haven’t gotten to? Probably.

But the bar is coming around the corner and I need to take this as a turning point in my life. While my endeavor has been fun, and I’ve seen some great movies because of it, I think I have to admit I’ve outgrown this.

I think I’m also outgrowing this blog. The state of the UT Blawgosphere is not where it was when I started posting. While there are some good UT blawgers, I’m just contaminating this part of cyberspace. I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll let you know.

I’m not an overly-sensitive guy

2008-03-26T22:43:00.001-05:00

[I have been making progress on my movie list, but I've been lazy when it comes to typing my thoughts on them. I'll update that soon.]

Some who know me might even say I’m not sensitive at all. I must insert here that I’m checking my manhood at the door (and my ego will probably require me to pull this post within 48 hours). I’m not the sort to get emotional over things that might get others teary-eyed over. I will admit that on a very rare occasion, I’ll have to fight back a tear during a movie (see: Shane), I don’t remember every outright crying during a movie. Until last night when I saw Life is Beautiful. Damn that movie! It was excellent.

I’d never had any interest in seeing it, so I knew nothing at all about it when I picked it up. Before popping it into the DVD player, I read the first half of the back of the package and thought it was just a feel-good love story. And for more than half the movie I was right. Then it just got sad. By the end of the movie, I was actually crying despite my best efforts to suppress it. Ever since, then I’ve become super-emotional. All day, even the slightest thing gets me choked up. I hope this goes away soon.

Despite how good the movie was (and it really is a superb film), I hate it for what it’s done to me.

If you’ve never seen this one, you need to

Local lawyer (and UT Law Alum) hits it big

2008-03-24T15:26:00.002-05:00

. . . on Above the Law.

And if you don't feel like reading the sensationalized, tabloid version, you can read about his "masturbatory gesture" at the Statesman.

Adam Reposa might be "bulletproof" but he's not "contemptproof".

$2502.50

2008-03-24T02:48:00.001-05:00

I paid for Bar/Bri.

Oh Shit... the bar exam is a reality.

Dear Mozilla Firefox:

2008-03-23T23:14:00.003-05:00

I don't like you very much right now.

First, after many attempts, you have finally managed to install the Yahoo toolbar. After all the times I declined it, you must have got it in somehow. But that's not what really misses me off, it's the fact that you deleted all my bookmarks.

Yes, Mozilla, I hate you right now. If iTunes tries to get me to install Safari before I get around to adding all my bookmarks, I think I might just do it.

Sincerely,
Ex.Coll

Movie Update VI

2008-03-18T01:03:00.001-05:00

As expected, Spring Break was a good time for movie watching. I saw quite a few movies off my list as well as a few that weren’t. Here’s my quasi-review of the ones from my list (which is down to 33 movies, in case you were keeping score). WARNING: this will be a long post. I was going to cut it in half like my last update, but figured this would be more like the movies themselves, long, could probably stand some more editing, but hopefully worthwhile in the end. Also, I feel it worth mentioning that I usually write these thought on the movies, a few days after watching the movies and usually right before bed. I hope this explains why there are more typing/grammar/other errors in these posts than the already numerous ones in my usual posts.

No Country for Old Men (#34) – Another somewhat dark movie. However, I did think this was an outstanding movie. The story was simple and relatively short. The Coens didn’t waste time with needless setup and let the characters develop through the context of the story and not with a lot of needless background. The performances by Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin were all excellent. The movie is probably not for the squeamish, but I highly recommend it. I think the film is rightfully in the top 100, but 34 might be pushing it.

The Seventh Seal (#79) – Hmmmm… When you think artsy films (and I do mean ‘film’ as opposed to ‘movie’ here) you should think of this one. I don’t think this one is for the masses, and it’s probably not for me either. I told a friend I’d seen it and he asked how it was. I thought for a while before saying “the central plot of the movie is a knight playing chess with death, if you can take a movie in which a knight plays chess with death, check it out.” I can’t think of any better way to say it. I will certainly revisit this movie, er… I mean film.

City Lights (#88) – A Chaplin film, and my first one at that. I really wish I could experience a film like this in a theater. I’d always heard old-time-movie buffs talk about the genius of Chaplin, but I never understood it. Now I do. This is a great film that is probably underrated. Because IMDB bases its rankings on user votes, it appears that a bias has developed for more recent movies. I’m not faulting the rankings, they are what they are, a bunch of internet movie junkies rating and talking about movies. However, I don’t think it will be long before this one falls off the top 100, and that would be a damn shame. Anyhow, as for the movie, it’s good and funny. It mixes slapstick with social commentary and even throws in some romance. It really is easy to see Chaplin’s talent in this one. Highly recommended for anyone really interested in great films.

Touch of Evil (#87) – Orsen Wells and Charlton Heston, what more can I say? I enjoyed this one, and it seemed (to an amateur like me, at least) to be ahead of its time. I don’t know how intentional this was, or if I only see it now with the benefit of a half-century of history between it’s filming and my watching, but this dealt with some pretty heavy issues, namely racism. I tend to lean toward the unintentional side since Moses played a Mexican prosecutor. I do have to say that it was Well’s performance that dominated the movie. A good movie, recommended.

Spirited Away (#56) – I believe this is the only animated movie on my list, but I know this is the first anime movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a fantasy story complete with spirits, monsters, transformations, and alternative universes. In order to avoid the odd feeling a old guy like me would feel watching a Disney (distributed) movie alone, I recruited a six-year-old to watch it with me. I’m glad I did, I needed her to explain more than a couple parts of the movie to me. I thought this was an extremely complex movie to be a children’s movie. Hell, I’m certain I missed out on more than a few details. However it was fun pausing it and talking with the six-year-old about things we might have missed. If you like animated movies, you’ll probably dig this one.

Psycho (#21) – When I was a kid, my parents took me to Disney World. I remember seeing Space Mountain and dragging my Dad to stand in line with me to ride it. We must have waited a couple of hours to get to the front of the line. Then it happened – I chickened out. I was too afraid and I wussed out. Dad was furious and said he didn’t wait in that line for nothing, so he rode it alone. When he got off, he said I should have rode, it wasn’t that bad. He told me it was a ride like riding Spaceship Earth, with the cars moving at constant speed and fans and wind tunnels giving the illusion of it being scary. I never lived that down. Fast-forward to about 12 years later, I go back to Disney World, this time minus my parents. I had to beat Space Mountain. I got in line thinking I had nothing to fear from what my Dad had told me (plus I’d gotten over my fear of roller coasters). If you’ve ever ridden Space Mountain, you know how this ends. Anyhow, I kept thinking of this incident after seeing Psycho. For so many years, I thought this was really a horror film. Anyhow, this is a classic and probably deserves to be seen my almost everyone. That said, this is not my favorite Hitchcock film. As I’ve said earlier, I really enjoyed Rebecca and I think I’d even put Vertigo over this one, although all are very different movies.

The Sting (#93) – A decent movie about a couple of con men. The story had me going and the twists were good enough to keep me wondering. However, I think the problem with this one, and it’s the problem with most movies like it, is that everything just fell into place too well. Personally, I wouldn’t have this film in my top 100 or even my top 250. I was very surprised to see this win Best Picture, then again so did Titanic.

Paths of Glory (#44) – Yet another Kubrick film. Almost all commentary I’ve seen on this one bills it as an “anti-war” movie. I disagree. I think this movie is much more a film about human nature and personal ambition more than it is an indictment on war. It was certainly a movie I didn’t expect. While the movie it short (89 min), it flew by and was over before I knew it. Anyhow the movie is about a criminal lawyer-turned colonel in the French Army during WWI. He is given an impossible task for his troops to compete and when they fail, is troops are tried for cowardice. He requests to defend them at their court marshal. I thought this was another great movie. And I recommend it.

The Prestige (#89) – A movie about two competing magicians but more about obsession. A very good movie, but very complex. I think I need to see this one at least one more time in order to get my head around it all. The story itself isn’t that complicated, it’s basically a story about jealousy and obsession, but catching the details of the story can be difficult. It doesn’t help that the story doesn’t always flow chronologically. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the story was non-linear (when I think non-linear, I think Pulp Fiction) but more like linear with some hiccups. Anyhow, this is a great drama. I do recommend this one.

Full Metal Jacket (#92) – Yet another Kubrick, this one about Vietnam. A good movie with a lot of powerful images. Really enjoyed how He started out with new Marines going through basic training and followed a few through their journey through their tour. Although this was about an era that was before my time and I have no first hand experience, the film seemed very authentic to me. This movie has quite a bit of gore, but if you are a fan of all the war movies on this list, I’m sure you’ll like this one.

Spring Broke

2008-03-13T10:48:00.003-05:00

Here it is, my last spring break. Ever. Not with a bank, but with a whimper.

I haven't done anything that could even be remotely considered exciting, or fun. I thought I would at least catch up on work for school, or work from work, but even that's not working out the way I thought.

I've also noticed my movie watching goal has been becoming an obsession.

The good news is that I've successfully hidden the fact that it's spring break from my boss, so I at least have the time off from work. That probably wasn't a good idea because: (1) it takes away my excuse for not doing school work, and (2) If I'm not going to be doing school work, I might as well get paid for it.

Movie Update V

2008-03-10T12:14:00.002-05:00

M (#45) – This was a great movie. Another Fritz Lang film and it was truly a great movie. Everything from the acting, to the story, to the music, to the cinematography was fantastic. The fact that this is a movie from 1931 makes it all the more impressive. Here’s a quick synopsis, there’s a murderer on the loose who preys on kids. The killer’s been able to evade the cops for so long, they get stare getting desperate and are doing all sorts of random raids and checks. While not finding the killer, they are seriously intruding on the business of the city’s underworld. The gangsters get tired of the lost revenue and decide to look for the killer themselves. The final scene, IMO was fantastic. Anyone considering a career in criminal defense would enjoy it. The only thing I didn’t like about this film is that I could only find this on VHS (and old VHS at that, luckily this is the first time I’ve encountered this) and as a result the audio was fair, and the video was fair with some parts being nearly unwatchable. I guess I’m just spoiled since I’m complaining that I couldn’t find a 77 year old movie on DVD. This one is highly recommended.

Bridge on the River Kwai (#61) – I saw bits are parts of this movie when I was a kid, unfortunately the only part I remember was the ending. Despite that, when the film was reaching the climax, I was still on the edge of my seat wondering how it would end. The performances were all top-notch and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Sir Obi-Wan Kenobi play a Colonel. (By the way, it was, yet another, war movie.)

On the Waterfront (#84) – Ah… early Brando. Oddly enough, I think this is the first early Brando movie I’ve seen. I think a lot of people consider this his best work – I hope it’s not. While there were some fantastic moments in the movie, there were a few parts I found him annoying, and I don’t think it was the character. Regardless, it was a good movie. If you like classics I’d recommend it. It’s probably something I won’t return to, but I’m glad to have seen it.

-------
A few notes
So far, in my endeavor I’ve seen 18 movies of the 61 movies on my list. I’ll tell you it’s 30% just to satisfy the math geek in me. That leaves me with 43 left to see and 10 weeks (incl. this one) in which to do it. That means I need to average 4.3 movies (man I love easy math) a week. That is definitely doable. Let’s see what Spring Break does to my list.

Next up: Det Sjunde Inseglet (#79), and I’m really looking forward to that one.

I also have quite a few in queue including The Sting, City Lights, The Prestige, Paths of Glory, A Clockwork Orange, and (just for your Jennebelle) Jaws. I have no idea in what order I’ll get them or in what order I’ll watch them. But if you care, stay tuned.

Movie Update IV

2008-03-10T02:30:00.001-05:00

This has been a good week for movie watching. Posting all my reviews would make for a huge post, so I’ll break this up into (at least) 2 posts.

[NOTE: I saw this one the week before last but forgot to include it in my last post] Requiem for a Dream (#65) - Wow. I don’t know what else to say. This was an excellent movie, but one I don’t know if I ever want to see again. The cinematography was fantastic as were all the performances. It was a very “stylistic” movie, but not to the point it detracted from the movie. The movie deals with drugs, dreams, and relationships and it holds nothing back. For a while I was wondering if this movie was actually darker than Trainspotting. It is. I recommend this movie, just don’t do it with a full bottle of booze or anything sharp near by.

Downfall (#66) – Another war movie. This one is about the last days of WWII from the point of view of Hitler’s inner circle. I thought this was a great movie from a standpoint I’d never thought of before. It was a bit long, but the shots were very good and it kept my attention. If you’ve seen this before, and even if you haven’t, you’ll get a kick out of this. History buffs should like this one.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (#94) – the first love story for me to watch off the list. At least it’s billed as a love story, but while the love story played a significant part of the film, I think this movie much more about the main character and his relationships than about his love interest. In all honesty, I think the relationship between the main character and the father figure was more interesting than the love interest. This was also a long movie, nearly 3 hours. It did drag at parts, and while much of it, especially during the first act, could have been cut out, it made for some of the best character development I’ve ever seen.

The Great Escape (#83) – Another of those movies I know I should have seen before now. A good, movie, but I don’t know if I’d call it ‘great’. Another ~3 hour movie, but this one didn’t drag at all, it kept me going the whole time. Perhaps the most important thing I got from this one is that now I get Mr. Brown’s line in Reservoir Dogs during the Madonna speech.

Depression, Despair, Doubt . . . Damn.

2008-03-09T13:44:00.002-05:00

I don’t know how many people go through this, I assume it’s not an insignificant number, but it hit me pretty hard this week.

I don’t know what the hell I want to do nor whether what I’m doing now is helping or hurting me.

Law School has not been easy for me. Some of the worst things that have ever happened in my life happened over these last 3 years, one of them directly attributable to me being in Law School. Maybe these were signs that I should have gotten the hell out. Oh well, it’s too late now. The fact are: (1) I’m going to graduate in May and take the bar in July; (2) I have serious doubts whether I can pass it (I guess with this much time, I really don’t have an excuse); (3) I don’t have a job lined up, (4) I don’t have much in the way of legal contacts to find a job (or at least the ones I do have haven’t expressed much of a desire to help me); (5) my networking skills suck ass; (6) my resume is decent but my grades suck; (7) I’ve limited myself to what city I want to work in and the legal market there is difficult to break into; (8) and I don’t know what to do about any of this. I used to think the solution to my problems is to suck it up and hang out a shingle – eat what I kill, but I’m not so sure anymore.

I’ve seen several people do just that, and while I knew it would be hard, seeing someone go through that is rough. Plus, they have more support than I think I would have. What’s more is that I don’t know if I have the motivation to go out on my own. The way I’ve been these last few weeks, I’d make a pretty shitty solo.

Whatever I need to do, I need to do it now.

Oh… and on a more light-hearted topic, I’m pissed that the University found a way to screw an hour out of my spring break.

Movie Update III

2008-03-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

I’m still not watching the number of moves I need to be watching to meet my goal, but this was a pretty good week. I also even took the time to see a movie not on my list. And some good news: No Country for Old Men is schedule to come out in a couple of weeks, and I’m really looking forward to that one. So without further adieu, here’s what I’ve seen and my hack reviews:

Hotel Rwanda (#75) – overall a good movie, but I think it’s overrated. I liked the movie, but I think most of its acclaim has more to do with the subject rather than the storytelling or style. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me on this one. But other than Don Cheadle’s performance, I wouldn’t say there was anything outstanding about the movie.

Das Boots (#64) – Okay, I have to admit, I might be cheating by marking this one off my list. I only saw about 1.5 hours of the 3+ hours of this one. Why? Because I was bored to tears and fell asleep at least three times watching it. I nearly cried when I saw on IMDB that there’s a 5 hour version of this one. The movie is about a crew of Nazi submariners. It’s a WWII movie about Nazis, it should be pretty exciting, no? No. At least not for me. There does seem to be a very large following for this one, but I have no reason why. Maybe I’ll give this one another shot, but not for a long time.

2001: A space Odyssey (#80) – My second Kubrick movie. I have to say, I’m still divided on this one. I liked the story telling in this one, and the special effects were fantastic, especially considering this is a film from the 60s. But I think when you weigh the plot against the special effects, there’s more effects than substance. I’m not the sort of movie watcher who is enamored with special effects. I need a good story to hold my attention, which is why I usually run from all the CGI crap that’s been coming out recently. I think there were a couple of places where the story could have really taken off but didn’t. I understand that Kubrick wanted to leave the film open to interpretation, but I think he still could have done that without leaving so much undeveloped plot. As for the ending, well, I’m still trying to sort that out.

Rebecca (#78) – A(.) Hitchcock film, and a great one at that. This really is a great example of storytelling and plot twists. I don’t know how to explain myself without going into detail. I’ll say it this way, I haven’t seen a lot of Hitchcock, so I’m still learning his style. I’ve also seen enough variety to know that he doesn’t just tell one kind of story. I fear saying any more would reveal too much. From the batch of movies I’ve seen this week, I think this one was the best.

Darjeeling Limited – Not on my list, but I saw it anyway. I was going to watch American Gangster, but Hollywood Video was out. Oh well… this one was a nice, quirky film. If you like off the wall characters, you’ll probably like this one.

I'm Ex.Coll. and I approved this post.

2008-03-01T16:09:00.001-06:00

Interesting add from Clinton. I do find it odd that the Dems are attacking over this issue. Typically, people favor Republicans on issues like this.

Not an endorsement

2008-02-27T07:49:00.002-06:00

Is this you?

2008-02-25T19:30:00.001-06:00

Every once in a while I feel like stabbing a classmate with my pen. That happened again recently (and with startling frequency this year). I think just about everyone has someone in class, that if they could, they would stab, probably in the eye. If you don’t, it’s probably you.

Movie Update II

2008-02-24T11:39:00.002-06:00

This is going much slower than I anticipated. With the vast majority of the movies on my list running at over 2 hours, and quite a few over 3, I doubt I’ll be able to meet my goal. That said, this week I saw:

Seven Samurai (#10) – a damn good film. While this movie was over 3 hours, it kept my attention throughout. The plot was good, the action scenes were amazing, dialogue was excellent.

Metropolis (#70) – I think this is my first silent film. It too, was excellent. I think the quality of the film was good, especially since a large portion of the film is considered lost, and he film itself goes back to the 30s. I wonder how a modern silent movie would play. I doubt any actors today could pull it off. This is definitely a file worth catching if for no other reason than to see what is certainly the most, hmmmm... memorable, “erotic’ dance ever captured on film.

Once Upon a Time in the West (#19) – Another western, and probably only the 4th or 5th I’ve ever seen. I think this one was better than the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This is also a Sergio Leone, so tGtBtU has a lot in common with this one, but I think this one’s shorter run time, made for a better movie. It was around 2.5 hours, but kept me entertained throughout, unlike tGtBtU. Another excellent film.

Dr. Strangelove . . . (#22) – The best part of my endeavor has been the exposing me to directors I’d previously never seen. Here’s another, Stanley Kubrick. This movie was nothing at all like I expected. Nothing from the plot, to the story telling, the cinematography, to the style, matched what I thought this would be. I loved this movie. An Excellent film that I highly recommend.

Oh Yea!

2008-02-23T13:04:00.001-06:00

That's it. I'm voting Republican!

2008-02-19T14:00:00.002-06:00

RE: Wireless Network

Law Mail group: All Current Subscribers
Message sponsored by: Student Affairs

***

The Law School IT Department and Student Affairs Office have received numerous inquiries regarding the Law School wireless network. . . . [A]ll networking resources have been diverted to the Rec Sports Center for the upcoming Democratic Presidential Debate.

----------
What the heck to Obama and Hillary need internet for anyway? They are just going to shoot off their mouths. If it's for the media, fuck 'em, make them get their own internet access. Honestly, why does the debate need to use that many of the University's resources?

Inconvenient truths

2008-02-18T13:16:00.000-06:00

There are truths in this world. Some of them are inconvenient. Yes, regardless of whether they are convenient or not, people should just learn to accept them and deal with them. If everyone would just accept certain truths, the world would be a lot better for the rest of us. One of these truths is as follows: if you arrive at the San Jacinto Garage after 10 a.m. you will not find a parking space below the 5th floor.

There. Now accept it. There is no need at 11 a.m. to be driving 4 m.p.h. through 6 levels of the garage in hopes some earl bird leaves. All it will do is piss off the 6 cars that are following you and have already accepted this truth.

Oh, and happy President’s day. Not that every President deserves a day, but we are apparently too lazy to figure out which ones do. So sit back, have a beer, and remember all the contributions of such fine Americans as Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and Franklin Pierce.

I’m off to a slow start (Movie Update)

2008-02-16T23:58:00.003-06:00

It’s been one week since I’ve set my goal to watch IMDB’s top 95 movies. I’ve only been able to take two off that list. Rear Window (#14) and The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (#4). Here’s my attempt at a review:
Rear Window – A very good movie. I haven’t seen a lot of Hitchcock, but everything I’ve seen of him I’ve enjoyed. The movie didn’t end the way I thought it would. I’m quite surprised, for year’s I’ve wanted to see this but never thought to see it out. I’ve always known the plot and how it ended, or at least how I thought it ended. I’m pleasantly surprised that over all the conversations I’ve heard mentioning this film, I didn’t hear one spoiler.

If you like suspense movies, I can’t think of a better one. Oh, and a tip, watch it in one sitting. I usually watch moves late at night and often have to break them up over 2 nights. I made that mistake with this one. Don’t do that.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – This is a film which I never would have seen had I not set this goal. I have never been a fan of westerns (but 3:10 to Yuma may have corrected this error). I really liked this movie, it has a way of really drawing you in and getting to know the characters. I would have liked to see more of Angel Eyes, though. That said, my biggest complaint was that it was way too long – three damn hours! I did a little research on this movie and saw that ~17 minutes had been restored. I think they could have cut out about an hour of this one. It was also interesting to see Don Altobello playing a Mexican bandit. If you like westerns you’ve probably seen this one, if you don’t, give it a shot. But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the length.

Only 59 more to go. Next up: Metropolis (#70), Seven Samurai (#10), and Once Upon a Time in the West (#20). At least that’s the plan.

UPDATE: The version of Metropolis is this one. Not sure if that means it's a good restoration or not, it doesn't even look like the reviewers on Amazon can agree. Anyhow, this is the Kino Video version FWIW.

It's no dancing elf...

2008-02-12T12:16:00.001-06:00

but here you are.

Because we all need goals

2008-02-10T09:54:00.000-06:00

Ah, life as a 2nd semester 3L. The time when you live it up. You never go to class, read, nor commit to other obligations. All you need to do is relax, keep from failing, and bask in the glory that comes from the high-paying job you’ve had secured for several months now.

And then there’s me. I’m behind in my classes, working too much, way over committed to things that aren’t even law or law school related (nor in the same city), have far too much to do for my Journal, and am still unemployed (with still no prospects to change that). Yet in the midst of all that, I’ve decided to partake in a new endeavor. One so bold it must be proclaimed as to be held publicly accountable. I am going to watch the top 95 movies ever made, as ranked by IMDB. Why 95? Because 96-128 are all ranked the same (8.2, in case you were wondering). If these movies are all ranked the same, I really can’t justify watching 5 and not the other 23. Also, is 95 any more arbitrary than 100?

In looking over this list, I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of these films. As for deadlines, that’s the hard part. There’s no point to having a goal with no deadline. I originally planned on doing this by the end of the semester. Of course when I came up with that deadline, I thought I’d only have 25-30 movies to watch. Turns out I have 62 to watch. With 14 weeks until the Sunflower Ceremony, that would come out to 4-5 movies a week. You know, I might be able to do that. Hmmmm….. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress. So far I have Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, and I plan on seeing that tonight. I should have Rear Window by the end of the week. I’m looking forward to this.

Here’s what I need to see:(rank, rating, title)
4. 8.9 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
7. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
9. 8.8 Casablanca (1942)
10. 8.8 Shichinin no samurai (1954)
12. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
14. 8.7 Rear Window (1954)
15. 8.7 There Will Be Blood (2007)
17. 8.7 Cidade de Deus (2002)
19. 8.7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
20. 8.7 C'era una volta il West (1968)
22. 8.6 Psycho (1960)
23. 8.6 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
25. 8.6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
27. 8.6 North by Northwest (1959)
28. 8.6 Memento (2000)
29. 8.6 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
30. 8.6 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32. 8.5 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
34. 8.5 No Country for Old Men (2007)
38. 8.5 American Beauty (1999)
39. 8.5 Léon (1994)
41. 8.5 Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
44. 8.5 Paths of Glory (1957)
45. 8.5 M (1931)
46. 8.4 Chinatown (1974)
48. 8.4 The Third Man (1949)
49. 8.4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
50. 8.4 Leben der Anderen, Das (2006)
51. 8.4 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
52. 8.4 Alien (1979)
54. 8.4 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
56. 8.4 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
57. 8.4 The Pianist (2002)
60. 8.4 Boot, Das (1981)
61. 8.4 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
65. 8.4 Requiem for a Dream (2000)
66. 8.4 Untergang, Der (2004)
68. 8.4 Aliens (1986)
69. 8.4 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
70. 8.4 Metropolis (1927)
72. 8.3 Rashômon (1950)
74. 8.3 Modern Times (1936)
75. 8.3 Hotel Rwanda (2004)
77. 8.3 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
78. 8.3 Rebecca (1940)
79. 8.3 Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)
80. 8.3 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
81. 8.3 All About Eve (1950)
82. 8.3 Some Like It Hot (1959)
83. 8.3 The Great Escape (1963)
84. 8.3 On the Waterfront (1954)
86. 8.3 Vita è bella, La (1997)
87. 8.3 Touch of Evil (1958)
88. 8.3 City Lights (1931)
89. 8.3 The Prestige (2006)
90. 8.3 The Elephant Man (1980)
91. 8.3 Jaws (1975)
92. 8.3 Full Metal Jacket (1987)
93. 8.3 The Sting (1973)
94. 8.3 Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988)
95. 8.3 The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Edit: Turns out it's only 61. I missed The Matrix on the list.

I’m a Defensive Driver

2008-02-02T19:35:00.000-06:00

This weekend I sought to be certified as a defensive driver (thank you Austin Municipal Court).

It’s been a long time since I’ve suffered through one of these courses, and I didn’t want to do it this time, but it appears to be the much cheaper way to go in Austin. So, rather than calling in some favors to take care of my ticket, I opted for the DD course.

This one was fairly entertaining. Of course there were the bad jokes, the comparisons of who was going fastest, and who had the worst cop, but what really made this one stand out was the videos. The bulk of the course included a drivers-ed video, circa 1990. It was hosted by Christopher Reeve and featured some of that era’s finest B-list actors such as the Gilbert sister from Rosanne, Lorenzo Llamas, and various NASCAR racers. A true classic. But the centerpiece of the course was Red Asphalt V (I assume there were 4 previous). Click here for a preview.

Wile there are many other ways I would have rather spent my Saturday, seeing the video made me glad I didn’t take the online route.

Freudian Slip?

2008-01-30T17:47:00.000-06:00

Or maybe Sager's PR office forgot to take something out.

I just saw the email from Our Fearless Leader regarding the forthcoming tuition increase. I didn't have to get past the opening line before I started laughing.

"To All?"

Don't worry faithful readers. I'll see if I can find Dean Sager's unedited version somewhere. If I find it, I'll post it.

An Open Letter

2008-01-25T09:28:00.000-06:00

To the owner/driver of the white Lexus with California plate “LAW GRL” I saw in the San Jacinto garage:

Why?

Sincerely,
Ex.Coll.
-----------
I really have never understood the reason behind personalized license plates. Sure, when I was 8 years old I thought it was pretty cool, but now, I just wonder why.

In my life, I’ve only known two or three people with personalized plates (excluding those who did it for business purposes, i.e. limo companies). One has his last name, as if his 1984 Riviera convertible or the 197? Trans-Am t-top wasn’t distinctive enough. The other attempted to spell out his favorite cigar brand. The second did it in an effort to get into cA.

And so it begins . . .

2008-01-16T12:15:00.000-06:00

another semester.

Hopefully, this will be my last. In the couple years since I’ve started this blog, I’ fairly comfortable in saying that my attempt at anonymity was at best, half-assed. I think that probably at least 5 of the 6 regular readers here know who I am. That said, I can now comfortably brag that this semester I will have no finals. Yea! No finals and no grades. Yea, Yea! My GPA will stay exactly where it is, or rather where it will be after my lazy prof from last semester gets off his ass and posts grades. Boo!

Good luck to everyone.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2008-01-13T22:43:00.001-06:00

I choked my boss.

2008-01-08T23:18:00.000-06:00

And when I was done I choked her secretary. Finally I choked an associate. [I know the joke you are thinking of, please don't go there.]

It was a good day at work.

Screw being a lawyer

2008-01-03T22:04:00.000-06:00

I had a meeting with a private investigator at work today.

Screw being a lawyer, I want to be a PI. It sure sounds like he has a heck of a lot more fun than lawyers.

Quote of the break

2007-12-28T23:30:00.000-06:00

"Some people need an Intoxilyzer installed on their computers."
- Ex.Coll.

Yes, I'm actually quoting myself, how sad.

What may be even sadder that that I've typed that very sentence in not one, but two emails I sent this evening. I don’t know if that speaks more about me or my circle of friends.

I fear I already know the answer.

Airing of Grievances

2007-12-23T16:30:00.000-06:00

Here are just a few people/things I have problems with:

Dean Ramos –I really miss Dean Aleman. She was no much more reasonable. This guy’s an ass. Posters only on the handful of approved locations, screwing with the final exam policies, and I’m sure he’s done other stuff that pisses me off. He did a good job as Dean of Admissions, after all, he accepted me.

Dean Sager – a truly inept dean. For further commentary check out my archive.

The SBA – the most worthlessest organization ever conceived by self-important law students.

Elevator Riders – please, and this really should be common sense, when you are going to get into an elevator, wait to make sure there is no one getting out before you try to get in. I find this a particular problem in the elevator next to Sager's office.

Bad Christmas Gifts – You know I was going to create a post about the worst gifts to give law students. Despite my research (and finding truly atrocious gifts for law students such as this and this), I never got off my ass to actually do it. I’m glad, because my boss gave be a terrible gift that I would have never thought to include on the list. A photo of it is below.

People Who Bitch When They Really Have No Reason To (and yes, I know I am the leader in this category) – I assume most of the half dozen readers who stumble across this blog are law students. We really don’t have a lot to bitch about. We have an opportunity that a lot of people in the country would love to have and should appreciate that fact.

final (?) disctraction

2007-12-18T07:15:00.000-06:00

Well, kids, my finals are over. What does that mean? Now that I don't have much to b distracted from, I've somewhat lost my motivation for posting distractions. BUt don't worry, I'm working on a nice rant to post soon.

Until then, I leave you The Impossible Quiz.

Well played, Sager

2007-12-16T14:00:00.000-06:00

In an effort to avoid studying, I came across this article in Texas Lawyer regarding the tuition rate increases at the Law School.

Here are just a couple excerpts I found interesting:
“Some of the money generated by the tuition increases would go for scholarships and student loan repayment assistance ‘to soften the burden on students with the greatest need, while sticking it to others whom our computers say can pay for this’ he [Sager] says.”

Ok, I added the last part of the Sager quote. I do have to compliment him on his strategy. He knew a lot of students would be pissed at the tuition rate increase, but that the majority of those students would also be interested in an LRAP. So he got the best of both worlds by proposing an increase that’s more than he needs in order to throw a few bucks over to the LRAP and shutting up the most vocal opponents. I find it interesting that there aren’t any details floating around about this “LRAP,” not even here. I wonder if this LRAP will at least cover the increased tuition.
.........................

“Even with the proposed increases, UT law school's tuition and fees will not be as high as some of the institutions it considers to be peers.”

Not Harvard or Yale. See analysis.
.........................

“McKen Carrington, dean of Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, says his school's current tuition rates are $11,528 for residents and $15,278 for nonresidents. Carrington says the school probably will request "modest increases" but has not come up with specific figures yet.”

I’m just glad that at least one of the two schools with a lower bar passage is cheaper than UT.

.........................

“’We have no idea whether the regents will approve this,’ Sager says of the law school's proposal.”

Sager, if this is true, you are even more inept than I thought. Seriously, you are putting all your tuition eggs in one basket and don’t even know if the regents will approve of this. I know you can’t expect anything from them with certainty, but to have “no idea” is insane. Let’s say your fiefdom is dealt a blow by the regents and shoots down your tuition proposal. Do you mean to say that you are willing to wait another couple years to get this passed? Ask anyone who’s ever done a budget proposal, you don’t ask for approval not having any idea on whether it will pass.
.........................

Well played, Elf Moneybags. Well played indeed. At least well played against the students. As for the regents, only time will tell.

Weekend Distraction

2007-12-16T01:00:00.000-06:00

Given that the weekend is usually a distraction in and of itself, I didn't post a distraction. However, sensing that since finals resume on Monday, many people may be studying today, therefore, I give you the weekend distraction. This one comes from an odd place, NASA.

I'm not sure how distracting this will be, but go ahead, look for the teapot. [Note: I'm not sure if this will actually work here, you may have to click the link above and see the high-res version.]

" Explanation: Is this picture worth a thousand words? According to the Holographic Principle, the most information you can get from this image is about 3 x 10⁶⁵ bits for a normal sized computer monitor. The Holographic Principle, yet unproven, states that there is a maximum amount of information content held by regions adjacent to any surface. Therefore, counter-intuitively, the information content inside a room depends not on the volume of the room but on the area of the bounding walls. The principle derives from the idea that the Planck length, the length scale where quantum mechanics begins to dominate classical gravity, is one side of an area that can hold only about one bit of information. The limit was first postulated by physicist Gerard 't Hooft in 1993. It can arise from generalizations from seemingly distant speculation that the information held by a black hole is determined not by its enclosed volume but by the surface area of its event horizon. The term "holographic" arises from a hologram analogy where three-dimension images are created by projecting light though a flat screen. Beware, other people looking at the above image may not claim to see 3 x 10⁶⁵ bits -- they might claim to see a teapot."

Sorry about yesterday

2007-12-14T10:51:00.000-06:00

I didn't get a chance to post a distraction. But I hope I'm making up for it with Turkey Bowling!

Thanks for the tip, C.

today's distraction

2007-12-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

Maybe not as addicting as others, but should keep you busy for a while.

A productive distraction

2007-12-11T09:59:00.001-06:00

Are you tired of reading that boring old outline for the 23^rd time? Do you wish you had someone to read it to you? How about loading it onto your iPod? Do you find that Speak-and-Spell voice engaging and dynamic?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, than this is for you.

It's Finals Time again

2007-12-10T11:42:00.000-06:00

With Ruth's graduation, and Hawk McGee's premature retirement, it looks like it's falling on me to provide the UT law community a nice distraction.

Enjoy.

-----------
Mid-Day Update

It’s 1:00, here’s how my day’s gone so far:

6:00 wake up ready to face the day

6:02 back to sleep

7:00 really wake up

7:30 get out of bed

8:30 out the door

9:00 hit the corner store, I got a long day of studying in front of me, I can be bothered with such trivialities as stopping to eat

9:20 library, time to check email, news and the blog roll

10:00 Uh-Oh… email from the boss, quick research assignment, shouldn’t take more than 10-20 minutes.

10:45 research done, include note that its time for finals – I can’t be bothered

11:00 reach my blog… man it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. I need to post a distraction

11:05 begin looking for a distraction

11:30 found a few good ones, but nothing quite good enough for my readers

11:40 bingo… found a good (enough) one, update blog

11:45 maybe the other UT bloggers have updated

12:00 Blues Bothers! (thanks Godel)

12:45 still watching BB clips – crap! is it 12:45 already?

12:47 okay, no more internet – time to hit the books

12:50 realize I forgot my outlines

Rest of the day: shot to hell

What The Fuck?

2007-12-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

Sometimes the ubiquitous “WTF” or it’s variants (e.g. “W.T.F.”, “w-t-f”, etc.) just don’t quite capture the anger, outrage, and disgust you are trying to convey. Sometimes, at the risk of sounding crude or unrefined, you just have to say it in explicit language: What the Fuck.

“What the fuck” is what’s going through my head after seeing that “Professor Berman has been selected to receive the 2008 Texas Exes Teaching Award for having had a positive influence on the educational experience of university students at the school of law.”

How on Earth is this possible? I had the misfortune of suffering through his Con Law class when I was a 1L. Before taking his class, I actually enjoyed Con Law, now I’ll do anything to avoid anything even resembling it. I didn’t learn a singe thing in his class. I dreaded attending his class even on day’s it didn’t meet. It is easily the worst class, taught by the worst professor, I’ve ever had – and I had Contracts with Rau! At least with Rau I leaned a little about Law School. With Berman I got squat.

And I’m not the only one who felt this way. I cannot think of a single person in that class who actually thought it was a good class. Well, maybe one person (she pulled all the good posts, but you remember). Everyone in my small section who I’ve spoken to is in agreement: Berman was bad. Sure there are disagreements about who is good and bad. I liked Sharlot, but know others who didn’t. I couldn’t stand my Civ Pro prof (visiting from u of H), but some in my section actually sent a letter to Powers asking he be considered for a full-time position here. I could go on and on, but no one, and I mean no one, has ever told me they thought Berman was a good professor.

Seriously, how could Berman get any sort of recognition for “having had a positive influence on the educational experience of university students at the school of law”? Here are a few possibilities:

1) It’s a typo. They actually tried to spell Smith but if came out B-E-R-M-A-N.

2) One of the following is true: (a) “positive influence” in this context actually means “irreparable harm”; (b) “educational experience” in this context means “degradation of legal scholarship”; or “at the school of law” really means “at every other law school because of his presence here.”

3) April Fools’ day came late this year.

4) It’s in his contract that he's to get some sort of award regardless of teaching ability.

Then I saw it: Law Mail group: Student Government - SBA Student Contact: Lyons, Katherine J

The reason he got this award because it’s sponsored by SBA. The SBA is absolutely worthless and isn’t able to do anything right. There is no doubt in my mind that the SBA can, and will, fuck up everything it touches. Forget Sager, email SBA.

LRAP

2007-12-04T17:34:00.000-06:00

As reported by Coleslaw, it looks like UT will soon be the owner of a bright, shiny, new LRAP program.

I’ve never been for an LRAP, and I’m still not. What I do find interesting is whether any of the soon to be in place tuition increase will go to that. If so, will the same people who were opposed to the in increase still feel that way and be as vocal about it.

Email from Dean Sager, annotated

2007-12-04T06:56:00.000-06:00

To All Suckers--

Several of you have e-mailed me, raising questions or concerns about tuition. Please stop. I haven’t given much in the way of answers in the past (although I am getting better at making excuses) so why should I start now? I am writing to assure you that no decisions of any kind have been made concerning 2L or 3L tuition in 2008-2009, or 3L tuition in 2009-2010. Did you honestly think we would put that much work into this before we went public with it? Come on now, what school have you been attending?

No decisions will be made until we have begun the Spring Semester, and until there has been “consultation” with the student community, you know that worthless group of former student council members, the SBA. But don’t worry, we’ll wait until Spring Break or Finals time to “discuss” this in order to ensure you have plenty of other things on your mind.

Good luck on your examinations, and enjoy your holidays. Now quit emailing me.

--Larry “thinking twice” Sager
Dean and Chief Tuition Officer

free advice (and worth every penny)

2007-12-03T18:29:00.001-06:00

It's the most crappiest time of the year (for law students).

There is no time worse than Fall Finals season. You have the stress of the 1Ls who have no idea what sort of mess they are in for. Add to that unemployed 2Ls who are trying to boost their GPA in an effort to improve their job prospects. Mix in the paranoid, employed 2Ls who think they might loose their job offer if they don't do well, or they want to improve their GPA to improve their job prospects for next year. Oh, and you have the unemployed 3Ls, who are stressed, but not due to finals, but due to lack of job. Once you have all that in one place you end up with the environment of stress. Those who have never experienced it probably don't know what stress in the air feels like. It feels like shit. My advice to all of you, especially 1Ls: get out. Find someplace else to study. Go to another library, an undergrad or even a community college. Find a park you can read at. Grab a bench on the Mall. Seriously, get out; You'll thank me for it.

Oh, and you could probably do well with a small distraction (Hawk introduced me to it, and it's still one of the best).

Tuition rate increases

2007-12-01T15:50:00.000-06:00

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the forthcoming tuition rate increases. They suck, but they were expected.

When I was a 1L, I learned that the University (or was it the Law School?) was so “concerned” that tuition was rising that they imposed a three year freeze on tuition. “Great for me, sucks for the class of 09,” I thought. I was right. I assumed what the school did was raise it the year before by more than it needed and was going to really stick it to the students as soon as the 3 year freeze was over.

So now many people are pissed. I can’t really say I blame them, but maybe the school really does need to raise tuition. I have no idea if they “need” the money, but I do know, based on my current job situation, there are too many lawyers coming out of law school right now. Maybe I’m just being hypocritical since I won’t be affected by the increase, or maybe I’m bitter because I’m unemployed, or maybe I’m just spending too much time thinking about this because I don’t want to study, whatever the case, I’m tempted to just tell everyone bitching about it to get over it.

Schools do whatever the hell they want and they really don’t give a shit about you until you’re an alum and they can hit you up for $$$ (and tell you if you give, they won’t have to raise tuition). They already have you here and you most likely aren’t going anywhere; they have no reason to do a damn thing you ask for. As for the next wave of students, I doubt this will be a major concern given the majority of students are paying for school with loans. I know a lot of people are thinking how important cost in when choosing a school, and maybe for them it was a major factor. I do think a sizeable majority would still be at UT even if the cost of school was higher. I know I would.

That said, I probably will still send an email to Sager, complaining about the increase, the process, the “secrecy”, and whatever other talking points are circulating. Not because I care, and certainly not because I think it will make a damn bit of difference, but because I like to give Sager a hard time.

Holiday Greetings from UT Law

2007-11-27T12:15:00.000-06:00

President Dean Powers, Dean Sager, and Profs. Rau and Young would like to express their best Holiday Wishes to everyone.

Has it really been over a week?

2007-11-26T16:51:00.000-06:00

Don’t let the fact that I haven’t posted in a while lead you to the conclusion that I’ve been studying. I haven’t.
What have I been doing? Let’s just say I’ve been keeping myself busy.

Thanks Tech

2007-11-18T09:18:00.000-06:00

Sure, your mascot may look a bit like Yosemite Sam on acid, and your band uniforms (esp. w/ the black jackets you wore last week) make you bear a striking resemblance to the Hamburglar, but you beat OU.
Thanks.

Stress Busters

2007-11-14T22:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Stress Busters day at the law school. I wonder how many other schools at the University anticipate their students will be so stressed out that there is a need for veggie trays, chair massages, and hot tea samples? Anyhow, amidst the stress balls and hand sanitizer there were plenty of recommendations on how to avoid stress and how to deal relieve stress in a healthy way.

Then there was the University Health Services table.

I believe they had the most useful information at the event. I guess you can call it a backup plan. Just in case meditating, sipping tea, and squeezing happy faces doesn't do it for you, you can always go to the traditional way of alleviating law school related stress. If you do, I hope you grabbed one of these cards, it just might save your life. I plan on wearing mine around my neck.

Post in which Ex.Coll. is pissed

2007-11-12T23:08:00.000-06:00

Q: What do South Texas College of Law (4th tier law school) and Texas Wesleyan Law School (also 4th tier) have in common?
A: They, along with Texas Tech (2nd tier), U of H (2nd tier), SMU (2nd tier), and Baylor (2nd tier), have higher bar passage rates that UT.

Please join me in a collective WTF?

I used to give Sager the benefit of the doubt, but his head really should roll for this. Being in 7th place in bar passage is unacceptable.

And don’t give me that crap about Texas being about the ‘philosophy of the law;’ classes like Reading Roman Law and Food Law, might be well and good, but won’t mean a damn thing to someone who can’t pass the F’n bar. The truth is that the vast majority of the people who come to law school do so to become lawyers. I just can’t understand how the only top tier law school in the state can only consistently beat St. Mary’s and Texas Southern in bar passage.

Wait, St. Mary’s is only about 3 percentage points behind us, I better be careful what I say.

Better than I expected.

2007-11-09T14:08:00.000-06:00

and I thought I was bitter

2007-11-06T21:19:00.000-06:00

All I did was burn my books. This dude shot his up.

(Yes, I realize this blog has been turning into just me posting a bunch of links. What can I say, I've become lazy (lazier?). I'll try and change that soon.)

Sometimes irony doesn't even begin to describe it

2007-11-06T08:55:00.000-06:00

I have nothing more to add to this story other than summarizing it up: Illegal aliens working at Hutto Detention Center.

I couldn't even make this stuff up.

Power naps and more Westlaw WTF

2007-11-04T13:51:00.000-06:00

Power naps are a good thing. The only problem I have with them is keeping them short. I hate having to use some sort of alarm to wake myself up if I need a quick nap say, in the library. I have found the perfect solution. Nap Tracks. Just down load them, put them on your iPod or other MP3 player, play, and nap. The tracks play white noise that sounds annoying at first but it quickly blends in and off to dreamland you go. At the end of the track, the noise just stops. Usually that's enough to wake even me up, but if it doesn't the noises that follow will.
---------------
Proof that Westlaw is just messing with me:

Apology

2007-11-02T16:24:00.000-05:00

I apologize to anyone in the library I may have disturbed with my laughing.
I was reading this.

And as a matter of fact, I do call this studying.

If you need me

2007-11-02T10:55:00.000-05:00

I'll be in a spider hole until the MPRE tomorrow.

Good luck to those who will be taking it.
Wish me luck, I'll need it.

On a related note, a Cuge Congrats to those who passed the Texas Bar. You know who you are.

Can someone please explain. . .

2007-10-29T16:16:00.000-05:00

how these three topics are related?

Four years can fly by.

2007-10-28T21:46:00.000-05:00

It had to have been in early November of 2003 when I heard about this. The actual anniversary is today. Michael Barrera was a friend of mine. The day of the funeral, I followed in the procession approximately 15 miles to the church, I experienced one of those moments that people are compelled to photograph and forward in emails. Along the road were groups of complete strangers, some a small as 2 or 3, some with probably a hundred or so, most held American flags as they blew in the wind, some saluted while others put their hand over their heart, all were solemn and respectful. Some people driving the opposite direction, pulled over, got out of their car, and watched with respect as the entire procession, which was probably about two miles long, passed. A small tribute to a person who was willing to make a sacrificed most of us wouldn’t.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Farewell

2007-10-22T22:11:00.000-05:00

I’ve waited a while to post this because over the last couple weeks I’d been blogging quite a bit (by my standards at least) and I didn’t want this to get buried.

Fellow blogger Hawk McGee is calling it quits. I’ll miss the blog, I always thought it was quite good. So Hawk, I bid thee a fond adieu.

His departure is odd in the fact that, unlike in years past (see Amicus Cuarie and Wings&Vodka), it looks like the worst blogger of the class (see: me) will survive the year.

Saturday blogging

2007-10-20T22:26:00.000-05:00

I missed the Longhorns game today, so I went on over to www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com to see how it went. After all it was Baylor, it shouldn’t have been a problem. What struck me first was not the score, but the ad that read “Vote for Colt McCoy Davey O’Brien National QB Award.”

Needless to say, I did not click. Maybe if it were for the Fumble McTurnover award. . .

R.I.P. Prof. William McCormack

2007-10-16T20:08:00.000-05:00

It looks like UT Law lost another fine prof.

Prof. McCormack was teaching this semester's M&A course, and from what I've heard, was pretty good. He was an adjunct here since he was a partner at Fulbright in Dallas.

In typical BigLaw style, here is Fulbright's tribute.

Seen in Austin

2007-10-16T07:13:00.001-05:00

I wish I could make this up.

Watch out

2007-10-15T19:30:00.000-05:00

Eh, this sort of thing never really reaches its full potential, at least not here.
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On another note, today was apparently Blog Action Day. Not sure what that means, but have a good one.

Restrooms

2007-10-09T21:07:00.001-05:00

For over two years now something has bothered me about the law school, something I’ve never understood. Why is it that when the custodians clean a restroom, they always prop the door open? I found this to be most problematic in the library.

There are reasons restrooms have doors. Good reasons. I’m pretty sure everyone would agree that there are sounds that occur in the restroom that really should stay in the restroom.

I for one, always kick out the door stop when go into the restroom. Why doesn’t everyone?

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And while I’m on the topic. . .

What’s up with the men’s room on the 4th floor near the Civil Rights Journal? Why would they install not one, but two, urinals literally inches away from the sinks with no sort of divider? And why do people use them? Do you really think that I want to wash my hands while some guy’s taking a leak standing right next to me?

I suppose it could have been worse. After all there are three sinks and two urinals so it could have been sink – urinal – sink – urinal – sink.

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A post entirely devoted to restrooms, how’s that for raising the level discourse?

2007-10-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

Lord of the Ring

2007-10-03T05:36:00.001-05:00

I got an email this week offering the "official" class ring of the University of Texas. Unlike Baylor and Tech, Texas doesn't have a ring specific to the Law School (unless I missed it).

How many law students who didn't go to UT undergrad get one? To any 3Ls who read this blog, are you getting one?

I'm thinking about it, especially since I never got one for my undergrad.

It's about that time

2007-10-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Time to bust a rhyme?
Time to shoot a mime?
Time to change my line?

No, it's time to pick your classes for the Spring. That's right, ladies and gents, it's time to start constructing your perfect Spring Schedule.

How do I know, because the Spring schedule isn't out yet. [interrobang?]

Oh. . . and I looked at the calendar.

Longhorn "football"

2007-09-30T13:31:00.000-05:00

This week’s game Sucked. Sucked big. And it rained.

For the life of me I can’t figure out what the heck Mack brown is thinking. I know this is college ball, but can we fire Colt. He’s can’t throw, he can’t run, but he sure as hell can take a concussion. And what’s up with special teams? Are they really “special”? Returning not only a kick-off, but also a punt, for a touchdown is unacceptable.

I am genuinely afraid of next week and I don’t even know if I have the nerve to watch.

On a related note, after the game I needed a drink. So I hit a local watering hole to try and wash the idea of a 20 point loss away. After several rounds, none of which seemed to help, I gave up and decided to call it a night.

I walked out into the parking lot looking for my car, when I saw a guy looking pretty depressed. He was sitting on the curb of the parking lot without a friend in the world. He was next to my car so I couldn’t avoid him. By the time I got to my car, I saw it was Colt McCoy.

He looked up at me: “Why did it have to rain? I could have done better, but why was it raining?”
I explained to him as though he were a child: “It rained because God was crying.”
Colt wiped a lone tear from his cheek and asked: “Why was God crying?”
I took a knee next to him, put my hand on his shoulder, looked him square in the eye, and told him the honest truth: “Because he saw the way you were playing.”

I went home thinking I had at least done a little bit of good.

westlaw still sucks

2007-09-26T00:36:00.000-05:00

I was researching some state cases and came across a weird abbreviation in a citation I'd never seen before. I searched and searched and searched, but couldn't find what the abbreviation stood for, but I saw it had been used literally thousands of times. I gave up and decided to click that little Help box and asked for the live researcher support. I posed my question: what did this abbreviation stand for. This was the answer I got:

Thanks westlaw. Thank you very much.

My new favorite punctuation mark

2007-09-25T00:23:00.000-05:00

I don't think I ever had an old one, but my favorite one is now the interrobang.

Reward: 1 beer to any 1L who uses one in their final LRLW memo.

NFL

2007-09-24T01:51:00.000-05:00

I usually don't comment on NFL games, but today was a rare day that my two favorite teams lined up: the Chicago Bears and Whoever's Playing the Cowboys.

I'm double disappointed.

Texas Football

2007-09-23T15:01:00.000-05:00

Finally. It's about Texas performed well. I admit, when Texas fumbled the ball after only 11 second of play, I was scared, but 58 points later, all (most) was forgiven. It was a pretty entertaining game. I think the best thing Rice put on the field was The Mob. While I can't say I like the "7" formation and the underlying joke, the Michael Vick stuff was great.

Here's a good summary of the game.

UT v. Rice

2007-09-22T12:00:00.002-05:00

Will the Horns show up for the game? For the whole game? We'll see.

What does a $15 whore look like?

2007-09-19T22:18:00.000-05:00

Take your pick gentlemen:

Yes, for the low low price of $30, you can have this mother/daughter team. Read the story.

As for the story, I have to ask, was it really necessary to include "the majority of the Duncan’s clientele was believed to be Hispanics"? Seriously, does it matter the race of the Johns?

Ahoy!

2007-09-19T05:38:00.000-05:00

Yar! Avast ye maties. Tis Cap’n Ex.Coll, here remindin’ ye all that today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Make sure ye be talking like a pirate all day when ye be called on in class or when ye be knowin the answer. I’ll see any dirty landlubber in Davy Jones’s locker if ye don’t.

Should ye see any bloddy landlubber who don’t be speakin like a pirate, make em walk the plank!