Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year, that is. According to the Chinese calendar, it's now the year 4705. It's the year of the boar (or pig, depending on the translation).

15 on 15 - Chick Flick Edition

This month's 15 on 15 topic is Chick Flicks (or Date Movies), ostensibly in honor of the hallmark holiday known as Valentine's Day. I chose to go with chick flicks rather than the more generic "date movies" because I figured it would be a bit easier to restrict myself to fifteen items. But this led to the inevitable question, what qualifies as a "chick flick?"

Searching the internets, yielded a number of different definitions. (For example, check Wikipedia and WordSpy.) Generally speaking, chick flicks are movies that appeal more to women than to men. From there, the genre has several subcategories: those involving romance, those involving a group of female friends, and those with a strong female lead. Now as you might expect, these subcategories are not mutually exclusive. But the inclusion of the last subcategory can lead to some strange chick flick picks; I certainly don't consider movies like Aliens and Tomb Raider to be chick flicks. But apparently some lists have included them. (See some example lists here and here.) So I decided to focus more on the first two subcategories when creating my list, especially since they seem more in keeping with the V-day sentiment. I've also decided not to resort to any "classic movies" - while there are a number of old movies that would make a good date movie, and which probably have a somewhat greater appeal to women than men (e.g., Casablanca, Roman Holiday, Sabrina), I don't really think of them as chick flicks.

And now, my list:

15. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
- A fun little movie. The premise is admittedly contrived, but the ever escalating attempts of Andie (Kate Hudson) to drive off Ben (Matthew McConaughey) are fun to watch. Two final words: Princess Sophia.

14. Legally Blonde
- This movie gets bonus points for being about law school, which was enough to put this movie on my list. Completely unbelievable, but also completely hilarious.

13. Dirty Dancing
- Yes, it's an 80s movie set in the 60s. True, Jennifer Grey really never did anything after starring in this movie. But it's still a pretty watchable movie, with some catchy tunes. Bonus: Lenny Briscoe co-stars as the dad.

12. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
- The characters are delightfully kooky, but the plot doesn't feel quite as contrived as many romcoms. Plus, you'll learn of the magical analgesic properties of Windex.

11. Clueless
- I have concerns about how well this movie will (has?) age(d?), but it's still enjoyable.

10. Meet Joe Black
- Okay, this movie may or may not actually qualify as a chick flick. But there's a love story in there and you've got Brad Pitt, so I say it counts. It's a little long, but the movie is built on an interesting premise and Claire Forlani is pretty easy on the eyes.

9. Bridget Jones's Diary
- In general, I'm not a huge Renee Zellweger fan, but it's hard not to like her character in this movie. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth are both very good and give the film a nice British flavor. Which makes some sense, as it's a loose adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. There's even a Mr. Darcy, played by Firth who was Darcy in the BBC miniseries of Pride & Prejudice.

8. The Joy Luck Club
- This movie chronicles the lives of four Asian women and their relationships - with each other, with men, and with their mothers. The movie is broken down into four flashback vignettes that are all interwoven to form a very interesting tale.

7. Pretty Woman
- This is a classic 80s movie that explores the "hooker with a heart of gold" concept. While I probably prefer the fthe Roy Orbison song that inspired the movie's title, this is still an enjoyable and amusing movie.

6. Shakespeare in Love
- This may be the sappiest movie on my list. But it's still a good movie and an interesting imagining of how Shakespeare was inspired to write Romeo and Juliette. It has its fair share of laughs too.

5. Chocolat
- Women love chocolate, Johnny Depp, and the French countryside. For the guys, Juliette Binoche is hot. Chocolat has it all. Also, the music is great - very lively.

4. My Best Friend's Wedding
- Another fun romcom that probably has wider male appeal than many other chick flicks. The music is pretty good too.

3. Nine Months
- Hugh Grant's character tries to come to terms with impending fatherhood in a romcom that emphasizes the comedy. There's humor to spare here, with Robin Williams and Tom Arnold in the supporting cast.

2. Shall We Dance?
- I prefer the Japanese version (maybe just because I saw it first), but the recent remake (starring Richard Gere and JLo) is actually pretty good too. It's a romantic movie with some ballroom dancing in there as well.

1. When Harry Met Sally
- A great movie. This movie covered some of the most interesting relationship topics of our time: being high maintenance, whether men and women can be just friends, and faking orgasms. In restaurants. (I'll have what she's having.)


Notable chick flicks that are not on my list because I really don't care for them (and thus would probably fall on my list of Bottom 15 chick Flicks)*: Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, Sleepless in Seattle, Titanic


*Yes, I fully expect to take some flak for not liking these movies.

Fairweather sherpa

Not that I had any plans to before, but I have now definitely decided that I will never attempt to scale Mt. Everest. No, I didn't just finish reading Into Thin Air, I'm not flashing back to two months ago when those people got stranded on a mountain, and it's not because of the civil unrest in Nepal.

I've decided that there is simply no way that I could take the cold. It was -2° outside yesterday, with a windchill making it feel like -26°. It's a bit warmer today (1°, -7° with windchill). But for the past two days the 15 minute walk between my apartment and the law school has been brutal. Even bundling up and thawing out mid-walk by cutting through the main library wasn't enough to stave off the bitter cold. The parts of my face that were not covered got numb, causing me to momentarily wonder if the grimace of pain would be permanently frozen to my face. And my legs, despite being in constant motion, were on the verge of losing feeling. Fortunately, my exposed flesh did not freeze in ten minutes as indicated in a Weather Service advisory.

I did play a sherpa in Gilbertson v. Everest Experience, but I'm clearly not cut out for the real thing. And while I'm sure I would wear warmer clothes if I were ever to trek up the face of Mt. Everest, I would have to be outside for far longer periods in temperatures that would make the past few days feel like summer.

Tenzing Norgay I am not.

Groundhogs agree: Winter's for the birds

Once a year, we look to the most unlikely of meteorologist to determine the course of the weather. These furry subterranean creatures emerge from their cozy winter burrows to share their wisdom with us and pose for the cameras.

That's right, it's Groundhog Day.

And this year, the three prognosticating rodents (that i know of) are all in agreement. Spring will come early* this year. Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck, and Wiarton Willie all reportedly did not see their shadows.

Incidentally, Punxsutawney Phil chose to write his prediction in something of a Hallmark-esque rhymed verse. Whether he's thinking of switching careers or starting to go a bit senile after 120 years is anybody's guess.

*Surely they mean that spring-like weather is just around the corner, since spring itself will not officially begin - regardless of groundhog forecasting - until March 20.

Going solo, together

The first day of February marked the return of law school bowling. This year, we're bowling at Chippewa Lanes, on the south end of South Bend. It's the third bowling alley in as many years for us 3Ls, which I think means that we've sampled every bowling establishment that the South Bend-Mishawaka area has to offer. Although the beer selection at Chippewa is less than ideal, the facilities are nice. There are lots of lanes, so the entire law school can bowl at once with room to spare. It looks like they'll be keeping the snack bar open for the duration of the night's bowling. And South Bend's smoking ban means that I don't leave smelling of an ashtray.

I'm part of a six-member team called Solo Practitioners. Only five of us made it out to the lanes tonight because one member is on the disabled list due to a snowboarding injury. We decided to join the competitive league, which includes the vast majority of the law school's teams. This means that we go head-to-head against another team for the first seven weeks. Tonight our opponent was a team going by the name of... I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter. Some of you may remember that that was the name of the bowling team I was on my 1L year. But none of this ICBING's members are former teammates - they're all 1Ls. I know it's entirely coincidental, but it would be cool if that team name were always be reserved for a 1L team. Anyway, they had some pretty fun shirts - bright yellow with "I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter" that parodied the logo of the Fabio-hocked product, and the name of a butter substitute (e.g., margarine, canola, olive oil...) on the back.

We had a very strong showing tonight. The team hit the ground running with everyone breaking 100 in the first game. Most of the scores dropped a bit in the second round, but it was enough to earn Solo Practitioners two wins over the new ICBING. Highlights of the night included two near-turkeys, an ICBING bowler dropping the ball on the back swing, our team captain's impressive 142, and the eclectic mix of music spanning about four decades. Here are the scores (aside from my scores, I've used initials for my teammates until I know if they want their identities kept confidential):

Alex: 119, 129
M: 111, 89
A: 123, 98
B: 142, 104
S: 119, 99
A (in absentia*): 66, 52

Solo Practitioners team scores: 680, 571
ICBING team scores: 533, 497

*Because we only had five bowlers tonight and the SBA needs us to report six scores, we filled our empty spot with the lowest score from our opponent's team.

All in all, it was a great start to our last year of law school bowling.