Arguend-Ho

Arguend-Ho: The Return?

2010-04-16T12:26:00.006-04:00

I'm considering a return to the world of blogging. I know, it's been over three years since I've posted anything here and I'm sure the small group of people constituting this site's readership have long moved on to greener pastures. I know that I never made some sort of goodbye post or anything else to mark an end or give some sense of closure to the blog. There were a whole host of reasons that I stopped blogging which I won't go into at this time. But to anyone who felt slighted by my sudden departure, I apologize.

On the off chance that some of you added this site to a reader list and never bothered to clear it, or are simply so OCD that you're still coming back here to check on things three years later, I thought I'd mention that I may soon resurrect Arguend-Ho.

If and when the blog returns, there are bound to be some changes. I'm not yet sure what form the new incarnation of Arguend-Ho will take. It may stay here, or I might move it to a different site. But I can almost guarantee that there will be some shift in tone. For one thing, I'm necessarily a different person than I was three years ago. For another, there won't be the random law school happenings to report on (read: bore my readers with). Future blogging may focus more on philosophical topics or my take on a certain issue. If so, the name of this blog, which was really just a bad-pun way of connecting a legal term* with my name, may actually reflect the content of the posts. But I do hope to continue lightening the mood from time to time with my characteristic brand of humor.

Finally, to anyone reading this: if you have any thoughts as to the direction of this blog, feel free to share them. If you know of a different blogging platform that is better in some way, let me know. Maybe you think the layout or color scheme needs a total overhaul - I'm open to suggestions. If you want to send encouragement, or if we've fallen out of touch and you'd like to reconnect, that's cool too. If you'd like to just keep lurking in the shadows... well, not that I could stop you even if I wanted to, but I fully support that as well.

Okay, this post has already become longer than I originally intended, and most likely I'm simply shouting into the ethereal void of the internets.

*arguendo: for the sake of argument

A bad omen?

2007-03-02T23:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight I received a fortune cookie devoid of a fortune. Not a blank slip of paper inside the cookie, but nothing at all. I don't know if the person trapped in the fortune cookie factory finally escaped, or I am simply fortuneless. That sounds kinda bad, but I guess no fortune would also mean no bad fortune. And if luck is playing no part in my life I guess everything's up to me... which may be even scarier.

But I guess it's good that I don't play the lottery - I mean, how would I know what numbers to pick without the divine wisdom of the fortune cookie's lucky numbers?

On a roll

2007-03-01T23:31:00.000-05:00

After two weeks of less than stellar bowling (too bad to even blog about), tonight I came back with a vengeance. I had a very good first game (151) - but I was just warming up. The second game was nothing short of amazing. It included two turkeys and seven total strikes. Tack on two spares and the final result was a whopping 212. It was the best game I've ever bowled, and the 212 utterly shattered my previous personal best of 160.

Apparently the bowling alley's printer isn't working, so I don't have any physical proof of this phenomenal feat. But I do have a number of very reliable eyewitnesses. Several of them even performed the Arrested Development chicken dance in honor of the turkeys. Sadly, a few of our team members were MIA this week, so they missed out on all the avian celebration.

Happy New Year!

2007-02-18T18:09:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-15T20:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-06T12:29:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

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.

Blogging from sea

2007-01-12T00:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the high seas! I've been cruising the western Caribbean (Yarrrr!) for several days now, and figured it would be cool to send a post from the ship. Ah, the internets are everywhere these days! Anyway, it's been an exciting week full of adventure. I've visited Mayan ruins, snorkeled with tropical fish, floated along an underground river, and traversed a rainforest canopy on a zip line. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures to share, and can't upload them through the ship's computers anyway. I hope to have some images for your viewing pleasure (and stories to go along with them) in a few days. Until then, I'll be spending time soaking up as much good weather as I can before heading back to South Bend for my last semester of law school. So enjoy this mini-update and look for more here in the near future.

Legal sbemail

2006-12-18T15:46:00.000-05:00

Dear ~~Strongbad,~~ Alex,

Now that you’re 5/6ths of a lawyer, I was wondering if you’ve ever written a law casebook, what it was about, and what kind of laws did you try to teach the kids.

Your fan,
Steve Buttz

Sure I've written a casebook. Who hasn't? I mean, law students can barely read as it is, so how hard can it be to write for them? The casebook I wrote is called

Commentaries and Cases of the Law of Business Organization.

Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organizations
No two corporations are the same.

Some people are about to be run over by a frolicking or detouring employee.
Frankie has about 5 seconds.

Some people are very tall and merciless.
Quincy is making a tender offer.

Some people set up LLCs.
Beth looks like a dude.

Some corporations are subject to Revlon duties.
Gregor is a weird name.

Some people have a duty of loyalty.
Some people have a duty of care.
Fran could play linebackers for the Raiders.

Some people have rigged the corporation with a poison pill.
Albert has.

Some people have shell corporations, and those are hot.
Trisha is a severe hottie.

Some people are being fangoriously devoured by a hostile takeover.
Hillary's assets are being digested.

Every corporation is different.
No two shareholders are not on fire.
Awwwww.

So there’s my casebook. Pretty good, eh Steve? And the laws we taught the kids were duties of loyalty, the law of agency, and um, linebacker. You know, education at its finest. Well some people need to go and get a life. Alex needs to go and get a life.

NOTE: If you are totally lost, go watch this, then come back. And if you still don't think this post was funny, well, I don't care. You write a humorous post, NERD.

Special thanks to Honor for inspiring for this post.

15 on 15 - Christmas Songs edition

2006-12-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

Due to this being the end of the semester and the crazy tradition of final exams, explanations for this month's list will be light. And by light I mean non-existent. If you have any questions as to why something is on my list feel free to ask. The general answer is probably that "I have weird/eclectic/bad taste." Just as a general aside, I start the list off with a few humorous pieces that I expect most people will roll their eyes or groan over. Hopefully the top 10 in my list will be found a bit more palatable. But anyway, without further ado, my top 15 Christmas Songs (or Holiday Songs, if you want to be PC about it):

#15 - Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

#14 - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

#13 - Snoopy's Christmas

#12 - Frosty the Snowman

#11 - Blue Christmas

#10 - Good King Wenceslas

#9 - We Three Kings

#8 - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

#7 - O Tannenbaum

#6 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

#5 - I'll Be Home for Christmas

#4 - Let it Snow

#3 - O Holy Night

#2 - White Christmas

#1 - Adeste Fideles

So this is what the inside of a courtroom looks like

2006-12-12T12:37:00.000-05:00

I was in court yesterday, representing an actual client in a guardianship hearing. It was contested, but we prevailed. I've spent a good deal of time on this case this semester, so it was nice to see it come to a positive conclusion to wrap up the semester.

Yesterday's trial, by the numbers:

45 - minutes spent waiting for our trial to start (things were running a bit late)

4 - number of attorneys/law school interns present at the trial

1 - successful motion to separate witnesses (made by yours truly)

0 - number of opening statements given

6 - witness that I called and did direct examinations of

1 - cross examination performed

6 - documents I considered entering into evidence prior to trial

2 - documents I actually tried to enter into evidence

2 - documents successfully entered into evidence

1 - hearsay objection made by opposing counsel (to a power of attorney in probate court)

1 - quizzical look on the judge's face when the hearsay objection was made

0 - number of successful hearsay objections

1 - number of times a witness was distracted by "something shiny" while on the stand

1 - closing argument given by yours truly

2 - approximate number of minutes the judge spent before announcing his ruling

I'll also mention a few other interesting tidbits:

I made no objections yesterday. My supervising attorney did make a few objections, but the judge was pretty much overruling everything. But that's not all that uncommon in bench trials.
The judge didn't seem very interested in all the deferential niceties you learn in mock trail and trial ad. For example, after calling my first witness I asked the Court's leave to proceed. This was met with a somewhat snide, "That's why we're here." Also, requests for permission to approach the witness (with documents) were generally met with silence that I took to mean that I could move about the courtroom however I wanted.

Okay, now back to studying for finals, already in progress. (The studying's in progress, not the finals.)

Troy Smith wins the Heisman

2006-12-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

GO BUCKS!!!

That is all.

Funny

2006-12-08T00:26:00.000-05:00

The BCS computers have deemed that no team is worthy of facing the OSU Buckeyes in the National Championship. So sayeth The Onion.

Some of my favorite quotes from the article:

"No team in America deserves to even step on the same field as Ohio State, let alone actually play in a game against them."

From Lloyd Carr: "[Q]uite frankly, I'd be afraid for our guys' safety if we had to go up against that defense again..."

Urban Meyer admitted that "being the SEC champion was not the same thing as being Ohio State."

Anyway, funny article. Gotta love The Onion.

MPRE update

2006-12-07T18:36:00.000-05:00

The results are in, and I am officially ethical enough to practice in every jurisdiction. Go me.

It's official

2006-12-04T17:45:00.000-05:00

VS.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will face the Florida Gators in the National Championship, to be held in Glendale, Arizona.

And while I'm a fan of Florida's mascot, I'm 100% behind my alma mater. GO BUCKS!

(Maybe the Gators will be crushed by this Giant Buckeye of Doom. Ha ha.)

Yes, I'm still here

2006-12-02T16:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know it's been a little while. But it's getting close to the end of the semester and I'm really pretty busy. But since I just found out today that my first exam is five days later than I thought it was, I figured I could spare a few minutes to update the ol' blog.

My first semester of Legal Aid is wrapping up. And by "is wrapping up" I mean "has me incredibly busy scrambling to get ready for an upcoming hearing and keeping my other cases on track too." I had my last ever class of Fed Tax on Friday. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be going in, but maybe I should wait to comment until after the exam (though I'm not terribly worried at the moment). Civil Rights is the class that has a later exam than I thought - a week this Wednesday instead of on Friday. It'll be nice to have the extra time to work on some of the papers I have due for other classes.

I also did what I expect was my last tour of duty of babysitting the courthouse for Trial Ad. Things went smoothly enough except for all the judges deciding to push through and finish trials before breaking for lunch. Since I have to wait until everyone's done before grabbing grub myself, this was a tad bit vexing. Plus it meant that my "morning shift" ended up being the "all day shift." But all's well that ends with yummy (and free) BW3's.

I'm definitely looking forward to being done with the semester in two weeks. By that time I'll be 5/6 of a lawyer (not counting that pesky Bar thing). Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry if this post hasn't been too exciting, but there should be a new 15 on 15 in a few days. And if that's not exciting enough for you either, well, you can always make a personal blog topic request. Just don't expect me to get to it before December 16.

My friends are AWESOME

2006-11-18T22:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a really good day. Notre Dame crushed Army, and it was a lot of fun watching my last home game as a student here at ND. The Irish broke out the green jerseys - an interesting call. I like them, but they're thought to be cursed. When Notre Dame has used the green jerseys in the past - often in big games - the Irish tend to lose. But this game was supposed to be a sure thing, so we figured this was a way to break the curse and improve the green jerseys' record. But when the Irish started the game looking sluggish and Army jumped out to a 3-0 lead, we were worried. Luckily the team got their act together and ultimately prevailed 41-9.

And Ohio State won The Game - defeating archrival Michigan and clinching a spot in the National Championship. But the big news of the day is that I got to see the entire OSU-Michigan game today despite going to the ND-Army game. How you ask?

Because I have AWESOME friends. Right around the end of the first quarter of today's ND game, Brooke, Adam, Meghan, and Alina (in absentia) surprised me with an incredible gift - a pocket TV to watch The Game with. I wasn't the only person in the stadium watching a portable TV, but I became pretty popular with people seeking updates on the college football duel of the year. (Strangely enough, the ND game announcers didn't give very many updates on the OSU-Michigan game.*)

After the ND game, we headed back to Brooke's for Tortilla Soup (delicious, especially after a long day of standing in the cold) and to watch the end of The Game. Despite an explosive opening (Ohio State led 28-14 at halftime), it was a nail biter of an ending. Michigan played much better in the second half, and OSU had three turnovers. The Wolverines managed to pull within three points, but the Buckeyes held on for the win, 42-39.

So it's been a great day of college football, made even greater by my friends. So here's to Brooke, Meghan, Adam, and Alina - you rock.

* UPDATE: Apparently it was ND coach Weis's decision to not announce the OSU-Michigan score during the game:

"To make sure the Irish weren't focusing on anything else, Weis ordered that the Michigan-Ohio State score not be announced during the game."

But I think they did give at least one score update during the game... so who knows.

15 on 15 - Travel Destinations Edition

2006-11-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

The 15 on 15 has been revived, and so I am now happy to present, albeit a little late, my top 15 travel destinations. These are the top 15 places I would choose to visit if I were lucky enough to be provided free round trip airfare and accommodations to anywhere in the world. (This month's 15 on 15 proposal explicitly excluded fictional locations [like the Beach Boys' Kokomo]. I'm also choosing not to include any off-planet destinations, for two main reasons: (1) presently, one cannot travel commercially off-planet [unless you're willing to shell out $20 million to the Russian government to see the International Space Station]; and (2) Honor wouldn't accompany me.)

And now, the list:

15. Easter Island - Because I want a head like the heads you see on Easter Island. Seriously, those giant head statues (moai) are cool. I also want to send my mom a post card from there. Back in 4th grade I was in a geography bee and was asked, "In what body of water would you fine Easter Island?" My mom, who heard "East Ireland," was shocked when I confidently replied the Pacific Ocean - and even more shocked when the moderator announced, "Correct." She realized her mistake a few seconds later, but it's something I still tease her about to this day.

14. Sonoma County/Napa Valley, California - Ah, wine country. I've been there once, but not when I was of legal drinking age. So I think a return visit is definitely in order. Aside from taking part in plenty of wine tasting (honestly, the road trip idea from Sideways is fantastic), I'd probably want to take a trip on the wine train (great food) and maybe even a ride in a hot air balloon.

13. Grand Cayman - Possibly my favorite Caribbean island. Grand Cayman boasts such attractions as: Stingray City, a sandbar where snorkelers and divers can feed stingrays; a sea turtle farm; and some of the best beaches I've ever been to. It's also the home banks that cater to the rich and powerful - a tropical Switzerland, if you will. Hmm, maybe I should join a tax firm that sends its attorneys to Grand Cayman. Honestly, you can hardly go wrong with a Caribbean island. But this one stands out in my memory as being really nice. And they have an awesome mascot - a pirate turtle! The currency exchange rate isn't really favorable to American tourists though.

12. Paris, France - Ah, Paris. The city of light, the city of love. You can stroll the banks of the Seine. You can have lunch in a charming outdoor cafe. You've got the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Versailles, the Louvre... in short, there's a lot to see and do. Plus, you can easily take a few days to escape the city and venture into the countryside. There are castles in the Loire valley, or if you head further south (and east), there's the French Riviera.

11. London, England - I spent a summer in London a little over a year ago and loved it. There are plenty of sights and attractions and I barely scratched the surface while I was there. It's a bit crazy to navigate the city at first, but that's also part of the city's charm. If I go back, there are a few things on the top of my to-do list: take in a Shakespearean play at The Globe; ride the London Eye; tour Parliament; trek out to Windsor Castle; go to the theatre; ride the top of a double decker bus (stupid terrorists...); and of course, hit up a few pubs. Note: check out the sidebar (if you haven't already) to see photos of my stay in London.

10. Rome, Italy - I would love to get back to Rome someday. I did get to see some of the city back during high school when the Latin Club organized a summer trip to Greece and Italy. In addition to Italian food (and gelato!) , there's the rich history of the Roman Empire to take in. When I was there you couldn't actually walk around the Forum, so hopefully I'd get the chance to do that. It would be a lot of fun to just wander around the city, Roman Holiday style. And with a little extra time, I'd want to branch out and see other spots in Italy as well. The Italian countryside is very scenic, and I think it would be awesome to check out Tuscany. There's also Florence to consider, as well as Pisa and Venice - two cities I've never visited but would love to explore. But I'd still want to keep Rome as the home base of operations.

9. Prague, Czech Republic - I've only been here while staring at Scrabble tiles, and as vexing as that situation is, I'd love to see it for real. Prague is one of the most popular travel destinations in Europe, and everyone I've talked to recommends it. I hear it's incredibly picturesque, even by quaint European city standards.

8. Switzerland - Ah, the land of cheese, banks, and cuckoo clocks. And don't forget Lake Geneva. The country is nestled in the Alps, so I'd be looking to hit the slopes at least once while I was there. Since Switzerland borders Germany, France, and Italy, you can get a flavor of many different aspects of Western Europe. In fact, Switzerland is like the heart of Western Europe, if your heart were isolationist and neutral. Okay, that made no sense. Moving on...

7. Reykjavik, Iceland - No, this isn't on my list just because I like the city's name. That's only part of the reason. Seriously, I've heard Iceland is really nice. The country abounds with natural wonders from volcanoes to glaciers. There are also wildlife sightseeing tours. If you visit during the summer months you can experience the land of the midnight sun. Alternatively, Iceland is a prime location to check out the Northern Lights (aka the Aurora Borealis). Bonus trivia: Reykjavik is the world's northernmost capital, and hosted the epic 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

6. The Greek Isles - Greece is cool, but I'd wager the Greek Isles are even cooler. The Mediterranean is beautiful in general, and the Greek Isles are home to especially breathtaking vistas. I don't really know enough about any specific islands, so I'm listing any/all of them as a potential travel destination.

5. Tokyo, Japan - The world's largest city. I'm not even sure I can articulate my fascination with this destination. Japanese culture in general is intriguing, and Tokyo is pretty much the center of that. I don't know what I expect to find visiting Tokyo, but I know a number of people who've been and really enjoyed it. I imagine it's something of an alternate reality New York City, but with more technology and shorter people. As those comical T-shirts quip, "I'm huge in Japan." Okay, so I wouldn't be huge. But at least I'd probably be able to see over most people for a change.

4. China - Yes, it's a huge country. But I don't know of any particular city that I would choose to visit over any other. There's cosmopolitan Shanghai, the "Forbidden City" of Beijing, bustling Hong Kong... I'd like to see them all. And then there are more things to see that aren't a part of those cities - like the Great Wall and Tibet. Plus, there's the undeniable impulse to reconnect with some of my heritage.

3. Hawaii - The only other U.S. destination to make my top 15. In retrospect, there are probably some great American cities that could bump Easter Island off the list, but that was a much more entertaining entry. Anyway, there's no place in the U.S. I'd rather visit than Hawaii. A lot of that is probably because I've never been there. There are a couple different islands to sample, and there's natural beauty aplenty. I'd also want to check out Volcano National Park. Maybe I'd even get to see my distant cousin* croon "Tiny Bubbles." And it has the whole tropical appeal, with beaches and tropical drinks. In fact, if Honor and I ever decide to drop the whole law thing I've suggested moving out to Hawaii to open a tropical drink stand. (Oh yeah, the natives would hate us.) If this plan is successful, everyone reading this blog is invited - first round's on the house.

2. Australia (Or New Zealand. Or Australia.) - Really, I'd like to see both Australia and New Zealand. And in a perfect world (why not? after all, we're already suspending disbelief to consider the benevolent random stranger handing out free travel vouchers, right?), they'd be part of a package deal. New Zealand is renowned for its scenic landscapes (and sheep - though admittedly, that's much less of a draw), and just seems like a really cool place to visit. I've wanted to visit Australia for about as long as I can remember. Maybe it's the whole southern hemisphere/standing upside down thing. Or the kangaroos and koalas. And duckbill platypuses. All the Aussies I've met (mostly students in London two summers ago) have been very friendly. So put another shrimp on the barbie, mate, and I'll meet ya down under.

1. Tahiti - This was a tough call, but Tahiti narrowly edged out Australia. I think the tropical aspect is what carried the day (especially given the fact that the South Bend winter is steadily approaching). Lush vegetation, sandy white beaches, the blue green sea lapping at the shore... it's relaxing just to think about it. Plus, there are nice coral reefs to snorkel or dive. And while I'm dreaming of such a getaway, I'd like to get a catamaran and sail around French Polynesia to hit some of the smaller surrounding islands and find those less accessible spots.

No honorable mentions this time around - in part because I'm feeling lazy, and in part because there are just so many great travel destinations out there to choose from. If you're looking for ideas, I'd suggest checking out lists by Derek, Brooke, and Craig.

* Yeah, so he's not really my cousin.

"We have Troy Smith. You don't."

2006-11-17T00:42:00.000-05:00

For an entertaining preview of this season's biggest match up in college football (aka The Game), check out this story. It's a fun debate between an Ohio State alum and Michigan alum. They cover a lot of ground: rowdy fans, the Toledo War, Woody Hayes' infamous 1968 2-pt conversion attempt (OSU was leading 50-14), and even what game plans to expect from each team come Saturday. And don't worry, there's plenty of trash talk.

OSU-Michigan is a big game every year. This time around it's huge. And apparently it's the first time the two teams have met as 1 vs 2. I'm going to miss the beginning of The Game because I'll be in the Notre Dame stands watching the Irish pulverize Army. But after that I'm definitely catching the end of this one.

And as always... GO BUCKS!

Coming soon...

2006-11-16T20:18:00.000-05:00

... is a new 15 on 15. Except it won't be on the 15th, obviously. Probably more like the 17th. I had hoped to get it posted tonight, but it's taking a bit longer than I expected and I have a number of more pressing matters at hand. So check back soon, passports in hand, for an exciting look at my top 15 travel destinations.

MPREally?

2006-11-04T22:46:00.000-05:00

So I took the MPRE today. You can probably imagine how psyched I was to spend my Saturday morning taking a standardized test on legal ethics. At least it's a short test - 60 multiple choice questions in about two hours. But in the grand tradition of all law-related examinations, it's almost impossible to figure out how it went. I've heard that everyone comes out of the test feeling nervous and unsure about how they did. From my experience and in talking with some of my friends, I'd say that assessment is dead on. I won't go into the nuts and bolts of it, but I'll just say that it wasn't quite like the practice tests I took while preparing. But 10 of the 60 questions are "experimental" and don't count, so I'm hoping the thornier problems fell into that category.

I also have to say that in my extensive experience with standardized tests, this one did not seem to run as smoothly as I would have expected. Usually there's a set routine, and the proctor goes through things methodically and mechanically. Maybe our proctor was just less experienced, or maybe the MPRE instructions aren't as scripted. But from the casual offering of #2 pencils to determining when to hand out the test booklets to dealing with addresses too long for the allocated space on the answer sheet, things just weren't handled in the regimented way I've come to expect from standardized tests. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, just different.

So as for this whole MPRE thing... I'm not sure what else to say. I'll get my results back in about five weeks and then I'll know which states think I'm ethical enough to practice in their jurisdiction. And, well, I could always take the MPRE again in March...

A big day for OSU

2006-10-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, one OSU team trounced Minnesota 44-0. Another OSU knocked off USC. It was a good day for both Buckeye and Beaver fans. Oh, and ND beat Navy. The Irish definitely had more momentum (that's mass times velocity, by the way) than the Midshipmen in the second half.

Geeking up football

2006-10-08T12:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, just a quick rant here. Navy is doing really well this year and looks to win the "Commander in Chief trophy" (best record of the service academies) for the fourth straight year. This is all fine and well. But I have to take exception to a quote from one of the Navy players to the AP:

Ballard, who was named the game's MVP, gained the tough yards inside. Afterward, the economics major had a simple explanation for his success.

"A lot of it is just momentum," he said. "You know, mass times acceleration. It comes down to that." (emphasis added)

Okay, I know the guy is an econ major, but if he's going to talk like this someone has to sit down and teach him some physics. Momentum is NOT mass times acceleration - it's mass times velocity (p = mv); Force is mass times acceleration (F = ma). Seriously, what are they teaching these kids at Annapolis?

Beware the sake bomber

2006-10-06T11:54:00.000-04:00

No it's not an ethnic slur along the lines of "I totally got Pearl Harbored!"

And it's not a more successful relative of Chicken Teriyaki.

It's actually a drink - and apparently it's bad news. According to famed tennis player Roger Federer, one sake bomber during dinner can lead to violent nightmares, hallucinations, extreme disorientation, generalized paranoia, and even personal injury.

So I'd recommend skipping the sake bomber and sticking with a pan-galactic gargleblaster.

A brief State of the Alex post

2006-10-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

I realize I haven't talked much about my life on this blog lately. I'm guessing at least some people who visit this site may actally be interested in my goings-on and don't just come for the witty commentary on random stuff.

So, a brief rundown on all things in the world of Alex.

Classes are going well. The current lineup is: Civil Rights, Law & Psychology, FedTax, and Legal Aid. Civil Rights is interesting stuff. So far it's pretty much been all §1983 all the time (not that that's a bad thing). And sometimes we get fun multimedia presentations. Law & Psych is interesting stuff. A fair amount of it is review from my undergrad psych days. For example, we've talked about stats, corrleation not implying causation, and even looked at the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments. But there've also been some fun cases, like the infamous case that raised "the twinkie defense." FedTax isn't nearly as bad as one might think, and we even get to hear about interesting stories like setting up a baseball team as a charity or how Al Capone was ultimately brought down for tax evasion.

The Legal Aid classes are okay (sometimes it's actually fun - Professional Responsibility Jeopardy!, mock motion hearings, and a mock trial of Don Quixote), but the main reason to take Legal Aid is for the clinic. I can't go into specifics of what I do at the clinic (due to confidentiality), but so far it's been very interesting and rewarding. It's introduced me to a lot of law I haven't studied much in my other classes, so there's considerable learning on the fly. I've worked on guardianships, powers of attorney, and a social security benefits. I've also had a successful hearing in court, so my current trial record in actual cases is 1-0.

I only have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I don't exactly have days off - I usually spend Tuesdays and Thursdays at the clinic. The clinic can definitely eat up time, but at least I'm enjoying it.

Outside of classes and the clinic, I've been trying to enjoy my third and final year of law school. There's ND football on Saturdays, with "tailgating without a tailgate" (which sounds like a great name for a show on TBS - along the lines of "Dinner and a Movie" or "Movies for Guys Who Like Movies"). I've had one friend visit and attend a game so far, and this weekend my sister and her boyfriend will be in town to see ND trounce Stanford. My friends and I have also been making regular outings to Fiddler's Hearth, the best Irish Pub I've ever been to. And while the weather's been nice, I've played the occasional round of golf. Or prehaps I should say I've gone out and tried hitting some golf balls around, because calling what I do "golf" is probably an affront to the game.

Ok, so enough about me. I want to hear about what you have to say about me. :)

Interesting legal tidbits of the day

2006-10-03T15:57:00.000-04:00

Strange laws courtesy of my "Legal Lunacies" page-a-day calendar:

Featherbeds were once outlawed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, because they encourage "lascivious feelings."

"My rise to power might have been much more difficult if that one hadn't been repealed..."

In Turkey during the 16th and 17th centuries, drinking coffee was a serious crime punishable by death.

Ye Olde Starbucks's business model did not call for expansion to Ankara.

In Uruguay, duels are illegal -- unless both parties are registered blood donors.

"If only I could have changed the venue to the banks of the Rio Negro..."
[Ed. note: Yes, I know Uruguay didn't even declare independence (1825) until 21 years after the duel (1804). Just go with it.]

So long and thanks for... the prosthetic tail

2006-09-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

Check this out. Surely the dolphin will express her thanks with a surprisingly sophisticated double backward somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the Star-Spangled Banner.

And now, just for fun:

Arrr, it be ITLAPD

2006-09-19T09:44:00.000-04:00

Avast me hearties! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Get ye out the jolly roger and run up the rigging. What say ye? Ye be wantin' to pillage me grog? I be disinclined to acquiesce to your request. (Means 'NO.')

I be doin' me part to help all ye on this fine holiday. Here be a good website describin' the origins of ITLAPD.

Needs ye help learnin' how to talk like a pirate? Check ye out this instructional video. It be a fine piece of work. But remember, they're more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.

Nay, Jim Lad. Ye got to stretch out yer 'arrr.'

Arrr, a happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day to all ye salty sea dogs and saucy wenches. May today be a day of calm seas and smooth sailin'.

Yarrr, it be a good day to be a pirate.

Ouch

2006-09-17T00:31:00.000-04:00

Michigan trounced Notre Dame, 47-21.
It was an ugly, painful game. Let us never speak of it again.

In other news, Ohio State cruised to another victory against Cincinnati, 37-7. At least one of my teams did something right today. GO BUCKS!

The play's the thing

2006-09-14T19:18:00.000-04:00

Last night, Brooke, Alina, and I went to see Hamlet as performed by the Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS). It was a terrific show. The entire play is performed by a cast of five actors who each play many different parts. Characters are generally distinguished from each other by a slight change in costume - usually the addition of a hat or scarf. Occassionally this leads to some interesting and entertaining scenes where one actor is playing multiple roles in the same scene. By far the funniest example of this was the actor who played both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (who always appear onstage together), though a scene featuring Queen Gertrude talking to a scarf representing Ophelia was also amusing. (Although the humor level would increase even more if the programs had contained inserts stating: "In tonight's performance, the part of Ophelia will be played by a white silk scarf.")

There's no scenery and, aside from the small changes in wardrobe, almost no props. Although I have no problem with minimalism, it'd have been nice to have a skull for the graveyard scene and foils for the fencing match at the end of the play. (Incidently, the use of different colored gloves in place of foils was a clever touch.) But the acting was very good. I probably wouldn't recommend this production for anyone looking to see Hamlet for the first time; the minimalism combined with Shakespeare's dialogue might make it difficult for some to follow. But anyone who's already familiar with the play would appreciate and enjoy this rendition. On a related note, I also highly recommend Kenneth Branagh's movie adaptation to anyone who enjoys good plays and good movies.

Bradley comes to South Bend

2006-09-13T23:51:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my friend Brad came to visit. Brad's currently relaxing after finishing law school and sitting for the Ohio bar, so he had a little free time to drive to South Bend and take in the sights.

Bradley is less than impressed with his South Bend accommodations.

On Friday afternoon we played some golf on the Notre Dame 9-hole course.

Bradley hits a nice shot out of the bunker.

Saturday was a day of football. We kicked things off with Brooke's "Tailgate Without a Tailgate"(TM) cookout. After some food and beer, we headed to the stadium to watch Notre Dame crush Penn State, 41-7. Then it was back to Brooke's for pizza and the Ohio State-Texas game. This hotly anticipated game had been preceded with a week's worth of good-natured smack talk between Brooke and me. Best of the week:

Setting: Law school lounge, approximately 9:45am. Brooke has just walked up to our table.

Me: So Brooke, how do you like your steaks cooked?
Brooke: (pause) Um, medium rare. Why?
Me: Well, I figured there'll be plenty of beef to go around after the Buckeyes slaughter the Longhorns this weekend!
Onlookers: Oh, snap!

In spite of this buildup, the banter during the game was a bit anti-climactic. We were all pretty tired at this point and it was all we could do to muster the appropriate cheers for good plays by our respective teams. When it was all over, Brad and I were psyched that OSU prevailed.

Before Brad took off on Sunday, we went out for breakfast at the American Pancake House. The food was great, and I have to go back if for no other reason than to pick up the placemat with an ad for the ultimate miracle concoction, an all-natural panacea for all that ails ya. I'd tell you more about it, but I can't remember what it's called. (You know, because I didn't get a placemat and therefore have to go back.)

All in all, it was a fun weekend and it was good to see Brad again. If you're interested in planning an exciting destination vacation to exotic South Bend, contact your travel agent. And once s/he finishes laughing at you, send me an email.

(NOTE: It probably goes without saying, but the pictures posted above are not actually of Brad, but are instead actors in dramatic reenactments of actual-ish events.)

Back to Blogging

2006-09-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

Okay, sorry about the ridiculously long and completely unannounced blogging hiatus.

My bad. Mea culpa. Je suis désolé. Lo siento. Es tut mir leid. Mi dispiace. Förlåt. Zhen bao qian. (etc....)

As I understand it, the half-dozen people who actually read this were moderately concerned about my well-being and were terribly inconvenienced by having to find something else to read on the internets. To those of you who are such die-hard fans that you kept visiting this site day after day hoping for a new post and were repeatedly disappointed, I offer my most sincere apologies. To those who stopped by occasionally and quickly left when confronted with the same old post, I'm sorry. To those of you who have stopped reading altogether... well, you're not reading this anyway, but I apologize nonetheless. I'll redouble my efforts and promise never to take such a long break without warning again.

I wish that I could say that there was a good reason for the long lapse in posting, but honestly I've got nothing. I didn't join the merchant marines or head off to Africa to participate in doctors without borders. I haven't been sailing the seven seas researching banana sea slugs. I didn't move halfway across the world to teach English to impoverished children. I haven't been studying for the bar, ranching it up in New Mexico, or trekking the Himalayas in search of enlightenment. However, if a touch of self-delusion would help you cope, feel free to let your imagination have free reign with one of the above flights of fancy or one of your own devising (which you could always post in the comments).

If I had a hammer... I'd probably pound the podium.

2006-04-12T17:50:00.000-04:00

Sometimes it can be good to be a rising 3L - at least when it comes to scheduling. There are no other classes ahead of us, so we get the first crack at next fall's lineup. (Not that they're teaching law next year at our law school. Catholic Social Thought? Mercy and Justice? International Art Law? Maybe it is possible to be sick the day they teach law at law school.) Fortunately my registration time was early enough to get all of the classes I wanted. The only one I was worried about was the Legal Aid Clinic, which has far fewer spots than any other class. (Still, it wasn't the first class to fill up - that honor belongs to Sports and Inequality.)

Besides the clinic, the class I'm most excited about is a little course called Law and Psychology. I think I'll make it my personal goal to bring up Abraham Maslow at least once by the end of the semester. Double points for using my favorite quote.

Classes are winding down, which means soon it'll be time for the pre-finals crunch. But before we all go insane, we do get a temporary reprieve in the form of Easter Break - essentially a long weekend. But not all of my classes will be making a mad dash to finish off the syllabus. In my International Dispute Resolution class we'll be conducting a mock negotiation to create part of a mock multilateral environmental treaty. I never got to play mock UN in school, so I guess this will be the next best thing. I'll be representing fair Britannia. It's too bad that I don't have a British (or even faux-British) accent. I was secretly hoping to be assigned to the Russian delegation so that I could hammer the podium with my shoe. But since I'll be representing the UK, I'll have to act much more dignified. Maybe if things get too heated I can make the civilized suggestion that we all break for tea.

Monkeys

2006-04-08T18:16:00.000-04:00

(pic courtesy of ishkur.com, parodying the despair.com demotivational posters)

Yeah, so sorry for the lack of new posts lately. I guess I just haven't felt all that inspired. That, and I don't have worker monkeys to help out with posting new stuff. Although judging from the CareerBuilder monkeys, maybe that's not a bad thing. But if I did have worker monkeys to do my bidding, I think I'd choose the winged variety. They'd be more versatile that way. But I wouldn't dress them up in those bellboy outfits; that's just cruel. Haven't you always wanted a monkey? (Okay, time to stop channeling Barenaked Ladies.)

Anyway, I hope to get a few more posts in before the finals crunchtime hits. A few things to keep an eye out for: ICBM bowling season recap, a new 15-0n-15 (topic still TBD), and maybe even (gasp!) a law school related post or two. So hopefully that'll whet your appetite enough to keep checking back. Until then, I'll still be on the lookout for talented trained monkeys. And if you happen to know any that are particularly adept at taking law exams, get in touch with me ASAP. (Derek and Brad need not apply. [I kid, I kid.])

New pictures -- Barrister's Ball

2006-04-03T12:40:00.000-04:00

New pictures for your viewing pleasure! (Many thanks to Susan who captured the shot above.) You can check out the whole set by clicking the link to the right or by clicking here.

Smoking out the truth

2006-04-03T12:04:00.000-04:00

Here at NDLS, there's a weekly publication known as the Patty O'Herald (named for our infamous dean). It's primarily posted in the bathrooms, though sometimes there are copies taped to the refrigerator and elsewhere in the law school. The newsletter includes announcements of upcoming law school events, SBA news, and humorous law-related or law-inspired news blurbs, jokes, and anecdotes. Today there was one such story that caught my eye. Here's the story:

A Charlotte NC lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires."

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued and won! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous, however; the judge stated that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced him to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

(quoted courtesy of this site)

Now for the kicker. The story's a sham. A phony. Fake. Not true. In short, urban legend.
I suppose one shouldn't expect much from a self-described bathroom rag. But a little fact checking wouldn't hurt. A quick trip to snopes is all it takes.

Honor makes the front page

2006-04-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

... of the South Bend Tribune!

You can see the picture here (for now (third down)) and here (for archival purposes).

Despite being in town for only a few days, Honor graced the front page of last Friday's SBT. We had attended an event on Thursday sponsored by the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty - David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber, came to speak. It was a very moving talk.

Anyway, some reporters from the Tribune came to do a story on the event, and snapped several pictures. The one with Honor in it is one of a couple that made the front page.

The Tribune's story on the event, which doesn't really do it full justice, can be found here (at least for a few days).

Update

2006-03-31T11:10:00.000-05:00

Honor's in town! Things got off to a bit of a rocky start when United lost her luggage on Wednesday, but they finally got it to her later that night. We went out to Fiddler's Hearth. Yesterday was one of the few "nice days" here in South Bend, so we spent some of it outside. Honor and I also grabbed lunch at Mandarin House. Adam and Brooke joined us for pre-bowling dinner at the Mishawaka Brewing Company (MishBrewCo). Bowling was pretty fun.

Tonight is the Barrister's Ball, so we'll be dancing up a storm. I'll try to get some photos of that up in a few days for your viewing pleasure.

That's about it for now. But I want to highly recommend one website you can check out if you're distressed at the lack of updates to this blog. Check out Improv Everywhere -- so incredibly funny. Their missions are comedic gold.

15 on 15(+6) - TV edition

2006-03-21T12:58:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm a few days late on this one. And I don't watch TV too often these days, so my list may be even more eccelectic than you'd expect. Anyway, without further ado:

15. Iron Chef (the Japanese version, dubbed in English) - My all-time favorite cooking show. Top-notch chefs battle head-to-head to fashion tasty and creative dishes that incorporate a specified ingredient. This show is hysterical on many levels. First, there's the host (I think he's called the Chairman or something like that), who's always dressed up in some flashy shirt (my dad refers to him as "The Japanese Mozart") and is the only guy who's voice isn't dubbed into English. He's serious about his food; he even relishes biting into a yellow bell pepper like an apple in the show's opening credits. The challenger enters the arena (Kitchen Stadium) like a heavyweight prizefighter, and then selects one of the Iron Chefs by calling out his name and pointing to a giant mural of that chef. The Iron Chef rises from below the stage with the appropriate amount of dramatic music and smoke. Then the Chairman announces the ingredient and uncovers said ingredient by whipping a dropcloth off of the ingredient table with a dramatic flourish. Then the clock starts - the chefs have an hour to prepare their dishes. The majority of the show follows the progress of the two chefs (and their various sous chef helpers) as they scramble about the kitchen. This is accompanied by play-by-play commentary and general chit-chat with Japanese celebrities (who will ultimately judge the meals and determine the outcome). The dubbing is pretty funny too. All in all, the Japanese version is far superior to the American spin-off.
Favorite episode: I'm not sure I can pick out any one episode in particular. But Iron Chef Morimoto defeating American challenger Bobby Flay was a classic.

14. The Dick Van Dyke Show - Ah, "classic" television, in vintage black and white. Thanks to the advent of TV on DVD, I recently got to see several episodes from this series, and it's a great show. Dick Van Dyke is a master of physical comedy and has impeccable timing.
Favorite episode: The Curious Thing About Women -- Where we learn that opening other people's mail can be dnagerous, especially when it's a self-inflating raft.

13. The Cosby Show - I have fond memories of this show from my childhood. It brings back memories of the family all sitting together around the television for some good wholesome entertainment. I'm not sure if that actually happened, but that's what comes to mind when I think of the show. Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable is very amusing, and his children's antics are reminiscent of Cosby's stand-up routine Fatherhood.
Favorite episode: Pilot -- Where Cliff uses Monopoly money to teach Theo about budgeting and finance in the real world.

12. MacGyver - What can I say? MacGyver is just cool. Armed with little more than his Swiss Army knife, some household objects, and an extensive knowledge of chemistry and physics, MacGyver could get himself out of any jam. I'm not really even sure what his job was, but I think it was some sort of governmental secret agent gig.
Favorite episode: It's been a long time since I've seen this show, so I can't remember any one episode clearly enough to list as a favorite. But you can check out an episode guide here.

11. Law & Order - It's high drama "ripped from the headlines." And you've gotta love the dramatic gavel sound. Derek and I once thought up a drinking game to this show, but I don't know if we'd be able to make it through a full episode. Although I don't see myself ever being a prosecutor, I'd still like to have Jack McCoy's courtroom presence. And I have to say that watching this show probably had a strong influence on how I portrayed mock trial police officers.
Favorite episode: This show has been on for years, and I doubt I've seen even half the episodes. Nevertheless I have seen quite a few, and they start to blend together after a while. Add to that the complication of the various spin-off shows and I have no clue what my favorite episode is.

10. The Daily Show - A fantastic show. Oh, and I'm talking about The Daily Show in its current incarnation, anchored by Jon Stewart -- not the original with Craig Killborn. This show is like a televised version of The Onion, but funnier because the news stories are real. In addition to Stewart's hillarious take on current event, the show has a bunch of correspondents who do field pieces with the severity of Dateline or 20/20. Throw in a random Lewis Black rant, and you've got one heck of a show.
Favorite episode: Because of the topical nature of the show, it's hard to pick out a favorite. I'd just recommend watching it whenever you get a chance, or catch up on clips of the show over at Comedy Central.

9. The Colbert Report - Stephen Colbert got his start as a correspondent on The Daily Show, and now he has his own spin-off that follows it. Colbert's show is basically a parody of The O'Reilly Factor. Like The Daily Show, it pokes fun at current events. It's brimming with ego and self-aggrandisement as well as self-referential humor.

Favorite episode: Again, this one's topical. Check out the clips on Comedy Central -- especially segments like "The Word" and "Threatdown."

8. Jeopardy! - The king of game shows. This show brings back fond memories of quiz team in high school. Like any good game show, you can play along at home, and either marvel at what kinds of things the contestants know or scream at the television in frustration when they miss an "obvious" one.
Favorite episode: Any episode with a healthy dose of answers I know the question to. :)

7. The X-Files - The truth is out there. This is one of the few series which I followed fairly faithfully while it was on TV. It had its highs and lows, which is part of the reason it's lower in these standings. FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully trek across the country (and sometimes the globe) investigating the paranormal - which invariably turns out to be some amazing or freaky phenomenon that modern science cannot really account for. (And while we as the audience got to "see the truth," Mulder and Scully never seemed to hold onto the crucial evidence that would prove the existence of the varioius phenomena. And amazingly, no matter how many mutant creatures they found, Scully always insisted that it had to be something less exotic and more explainable by science. That's not to say that Mulder was always right; many of his theories were pretty outlandish, and occasionally it was something explainable.) The show tracked everything from weird mutants to werewolves to astral projection, but aliens and alien abduction was a recurring theme. In fact, the backbone of the series revolved around the government's knowledge and collusion with aliens. All in all, the show could be weird at times, but it was suspenseful and frequently pretty funny too.
Favorite episode: The first few seasons were by far the best. The show really went downhill after Mulder left the show; the Mulder-Scully dynamic was a fundamental part of the show. Little Green Men is good, and is probably the first episode I saw. But my favorite is probably Jose Chung's From Outer Space.

6. Arrested Development - I've only just recently been introduced to this fine show, thanks to Adam and Matt. And while I haven't even gotten through all of the first season, it's downright hysterical and I've been promised the best is yet to come. The characters are outrageous and over the top, and I marvel at the minds that devised the bizarre yet amazingly funny plots. It's full of quotable lines. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this series, thanks again to TV on DVD.
Favorite Episode (so far): Top Banana -- Where we learn that "there's always money in the banana stand," and "OH MY GOD, WE'RE HAVING A FIRE... sale."

5. The Practice - A counterpoint to Law & Order - "reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee." It's a great legal drama with compeling characters and interesting cases. There are plenty of trial tactics to love, and the show isn't afraid to confront the ethical turmoil of defending clients you know are guilty. But we get to peek inside the DA's offices as well, and see both the valiant struggles for justice and the potential of prosecutorial abuse of power.
Favorite Episode: Once again, the early episodes were the best. Things started to fall apart as some of the main characters dropped out of the picture. Bringing James Spader on board was a good attempt to save the series, but it wasn't to be. Luckily, Spader's character got spun off to Boston Legal, which while good isn't as good as The Practice. All said and done, my favorite episode has Eugene giving a thoroughly masterful cross examination. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was the fifth episode in the first season (Part V - it was before they were naming the episodes apparently).

4. Whose Line Is It Anyway? - If you want to watch something really funny, watch this show. I think it's only on ABC Family now, which is a shame, but if you've never seen the show I highly recommend it. Often imitated, never replicated. This is great improv comedy. I used to watch the original British version on Comedy Central (back when I had cable); later, Drew Carey created an American version. The British version had more rotation among the participating comedians, which added a little variety. But the American cast (Ryan and Colin were veterans of the British show) is so good that you don't really need any others.
Favorite episode: It's an improv show; half the fun is seeing what wild and zany stuff they'll come up with next. So my favorite episode is probably one I haven't seen yet. But even if it's a repeat, it's still hysterical and I'll still end up watching it.

3. Jeeves & Wooster - Based on the characters created by P.G. Wodehouse, this show is everything that makes British 'humour' great. Wooster and company engage in all types of crazy hijinx and find themselves in increasingly funny entanglements. Luckily the ever-wise and incomparable Jeeves is there to sort things out.
Favorite episode: The Bassets' Fancy Dress Ball (or, A Plan For Gussie) -- Where we meet the infamous (and hillarious) Spode and learn he has a deep, dark secret...

2. The West Wing - A very well written show with great characters. Really, I'm not sure what I can say about this show that Derek hasn't mentioned in his various blog posts. Given the state of government, sometimes I wish Martin Sheen was President.
Favorite episode: Hartsfield's Landing -- The President proves his mental prowess both on the chessboard and in balancing delicate and dangerous diplomacy with China and Taiwan.

1. Firefly - I learned about this show after it had already been cancelled. It had an entirely too-short run on FOX. It's really a great show; I guess given the kinds of shows FOX generally shows, Firefly was just too good for the network. Despite it's short run, the show's done very well in DVD sales and even spawned a movie. I think there are still some efforts to bring this show back, which I think would be fantastic. Firefly is a space-western set aboard the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity. It was created by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel). What really makes the show is its cast of characters. They're fairly complex with dynamic relationships between each other. The episodes that were made had some great plots, and Whedon's sense of humor and knack for snappy dialogue (peppered with some Chinese words and phrases!) makes for some great TV.
Favorite episode: Out of Gas is a great episode that examines how many members of the crew met. These flashbacks are incorporated into a storyline in which an explosion on Serenity illustrates the fragility of life in space. It's beautifully shot and has some great music as well.

Spring Break Update

2006-03-14T10:21:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging this morning via wireless (as opposed to the dreaded dial-up connection); many thanks to the neighbors. :) Actually, I'm just glad that my wireless is working again. Yesterday I took my laptop to a Panera up in Columbus, only to have problems connecting. My computer would tell me that it was connected, but I had no IP address and couldn't use the connection in any way. Well, it turns out I didn't have the correct driver installed.

When Dell sent me my new hard drive and support software, the CD with the drivers and utilities didn't have my model (Inspiron 8600) listed. (This is probably because Dell doesn't make the 8600 anymore, so they don't have the associated stuff kicking around anymore.) But there were some drivers that were supposedly compatible with the hardware I have, so I installed those. Last night I found my old diagnostic discs (the ones that originally came with my computer), and after reinstalling the proper drivers everything seems to be working fine.

I also found a copy of Word Perfect, so I'll be able to read any files that my professors send in wpd format. So all in all, things are looking up for my computer.

I also got to skate yesterday. It was my first time back on the ice in many, many moons. I stuck to dance, so no jumps and spins. Maybe if I'm feeling adventurous I'll try a little freestyle in a few days. But for now it just felt good to be back out on the ice.

Not much else to report. The weather's been a bit crazy here - fluctuating temperatures, wicked wind, huge thunderstorms - but I guess the whole country is experiencing meteorological weirdness right now. Otherwise, things are pretty quiet here in Ohio.

Back up and running

2006-03-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to report that my computer is once again working. My new hard drive arrived earlier today, and I'm working on getting it back to the way things were before the old hard drive conked out. A few observations:

Hard drives are ridiculously easy to install.
Reinstalling Windows XP was less of a pain than I expected.
I have Microsoft Word again, but I no longer have a copy of Word Perfect. This is going to get annoying very quickly since it seems the vast majority of law professors use Word Perfect.
Firefox is still cooler than Internet Explorer.
The new AIM (Triton, or something?) is incredibly annoying.

In non-computer-related news, it's officially spring break! Okay, so more like mid-semester break, as it is technically still winter. But it was really nice outside today, so I could at least imagine that it's spring.

I'll be driving back to Chillicothe tomorrow morning, and I'll spend the first half of the week in Ohio. Then it'll be off to Boston for the rest of the week! So blogging will probably be light for a while.

Technical difficulties, please stand by

2006-03-08T09:47:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lack of posts, and further apologize that there probably won't be any new posts for at least a few more days. My laptop decided to die, and I doubt there'll be a new entry until things are fixed. Hopefully that won't take too long, but who knows. Luckily I have the extended warranty for my laptop, so Dell ought to do something about this. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to be back soon.

Legal News: Sea Sponge Edition

2006-03-05T19:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, this was just too funny to not blog about.

We all know that it's important to proofread a brief before you submit it to the court -- few things undermine your credibility more than rampant spelling errors. But it's important to note that proofreading entails more than simply running the spell checker. (Note to Derek: when running the spell checker, make sure the spell checker knows the proper spelling for "appellant.")

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using the spell check. I even heartily recommend the practice. But you need to exercise some oversight, and not simply have the program automatically make all the corrections it wants. (Seriously, who actually does this? Half the time the spell checker suggests some crazy alternative for a mistyped word...) Word processing programs frequently don't like legal jargon -- I think it has a hard time with Latin. Some might circumvent this problem by adding common legal terms to the spell checker's dictionary. What you don't want to do is let the spell checker run amok. A San Francisco attorney recently learned the hard way about dangers of relying on spell check's automatic corrections.

Almost any first year soon becomes familiar with the term sua sponte. But the spell checker becomes very confused by this string of letters. The closest approximation based on its algorithm is... "sea sponge." Which anyone should recognize means something completely different. (I actually tried this on Microsoft Word, and it came up with "sue sponge.") So relying on the spell checker leads to such wackiness as:

"It is well settled that a trial court must instruct sea sponge on any defense, including a mistake of fact defense."

I imagine it would be hard for a court to take you seriously after a sentence like that. Plus, the judge is more likely to think of this, when you'd rather be pictured as this.

Fun fact: you can reverse the trick at dictionary.com!

So be careful when checking over those briefs. Supervise your spell checker. And read your brief over -- actual proofreading -- before submitting it. Otherwise people may think your head is filled with this instead of this (though it is interesting how they do kind of look similar...).

Grumblin' Gumbel

2006-03-01T17:16:00.000-05:00

I still hope to do a Torino wrap-up with my final general thoughts on all of skating in the past fortnight and the Olympics in general. But before getting around to that I read this post by Ruvym and saw Bryant Gumbel's rant about the Winter Games. (This website has good links to the rant in several different formats (additional video format here); there's also an excerpt of the rant in text format if you can't/don't want to watch the clip. Full text of the rant is available here. It's not very long, so I recommend reading that before continuing reading this post.)

As I remarked in Ruvym's comments, I disagree with Gumbel both in his general sentiment and many of the specific statements. But I want to go a bit more in depth here, in something of a point-counterpoint fashion. (Just as a note: I'm a big fan of free speech, and I in no way mean to suggest that Gumbel doesn't have the right to make any of his remarks. I'm simply exercising my right to disagree, vocally, with those remarks.)

"Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing."

Okay, so the ancient Greeks didn't have many of the sports that comprise the Winter Games. So what? Most of the events in the Summer Games weren't around back then either. The Olympics have grown far beyond the scope of the Games held by the ancient Greeks. These are the modern Games.

"So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."

It's true that there aren't as many black athletes in the Winter Games as there are in other sports. But that doesn't mean that those competing are not the worldn's greatest athletes. Without getting into the "Is it a sport?" question (we'll get back to that one), does Gumbel really mean to suggest that the Olympians are not the world's greatest athletes in their respective events, in part or whole because there aren't many blacks competing? I'm sure there's been discrimination in some sports -- Shani Davis's experience in speed skating comes to mind. And beyond specific acts of discrimination, there are certain financial or socio-economic barriers that may effectively discriminate against blacks. But that's certainly not specific to blacks, and I imagine it's not the full story. Many countries have specific strengths when it comes to the Olympics. We don't see many winter athletes from Australia, but they make a strong showing in the Summer Games, especially swimming. And the Scandanavian and Alpine countries, which often dominate some of the winter events, don't show up in the same record numbers for the summer events. So while I can respect any movement that seeks to break down the barriers that stand in the way of anyone who wants to participate, let's not disparage the athletes that are competing and suggest that they are not among the world's greatest.

But maybe Mr. Gumbel meant to suggest that the problem is more within our own country than the world in general - that really it's the lack of African-Americans that questions the legitimacy of ranking Olympians among the world's greatest athletes. But what about the lack of African-American athletes in hockey? Some people have pointed this out, but would Mr. Gumbel ever make similar comments about the racial inequities of the NHL? It also raises a question of how many African-American athletes are even attempting to enter sports like hockey or Winter Olympic events. (Admittedly, this becomes thornier if one contends that a culture of discrimination disuades such attempts.)

"Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won."

Now we come to a very common debate on whether events like figure skating are actual sports. I could (as many others have - to see both sides of the debate, I'd suggest these two articles that I recently came across) go on at some length to defend figure skating as a sport. Maybe I'll devote a future post to discuss this more. But sport or not, how could you not consider figure skaters athletes? Competitive skaters go through training regimens that are just as (if not more) strenuous than those of just about any non-pseudo-athlete Mr. Gumbel would care to mention. If performing triple axels and death drops do not qualify one as an athlete, then no offensive lineman or outfielder deserves the distinction of athlete either.

There are plenty of events in the Summer Olympic Games that have equally subjective judging. Are gymnastics and diving also non-sports engaged in by mere pseudo-athletes? Subjectivity is found in just about every sport; maybe not to the same extent as skating, but you have referees and linesmen that can have a large effect on the outcome. How many questionable on-the-field rulings have ultimately "decide[d] who won?"

And does it even matter whether the event is truly a "sport?" The Olympics are about the spirit of competition, and it doesn't have to be a sport to be competitive. After all, these are the Winter Games -- an event does not have to be a sport to qualify.

"And try to blot out all logic when announcers and sportswriters pretend to care about the luge, the skeleton, the biathlon and all those other events they don’t understand and totally ignore for all but three weeks every four years."

Maybe the announcers and sportswriters don't care about these events. But just because these events get attention only once every four years or so doesn't make these events less important -- especially to the athletes who compete in them. These events may not be as popular. They're certainly not promoted to the same extent as the activities Mr. Gumbel considers sports. But what's wrong with letting these athletes get a share of the limelight every once in a while? Perhaps Mr. Gumbel would rather just forget about most Olympic events. But maybe with a bit of coverage these events would be better understood and not ignored.

"Face it — these Olympics are little more than a marketing plan to fill space and sell time during the dreary days of February."

This is perhaps the most hypocritical statement of the bunch. Sure, the Olympics are marketed by television studios. And they have become commercialized. But does Mr. Gumbel contend that it's not the same or worse with any number of other sports in the United States? College football. March Madness. The World Series. The Superbowl. They're all about ratings and money too. And the stars of these "real" sports can look forward to lucrative paychecks and endorsements. What monetary reward is there for gold medalists in most Olympic events? They may get a tour on the late night talkshows, and if they're photogenic enough, maybe they'll pick up some endorsements. But most fade into obscurity shortly after the closing ceremonies. If any athletes are in it for the love of the sport, Olympic athletes are; at least far more so than any "real" athlete Mr. Gumble is likely to name.

So I wholeheartedly agree with Mike Wise when he writes, "Gumbel has a right not to like the Winter Olympics. He can trash curlers, lugers and snowboard-crossers all he wants. But who made him arbiter of all things culturally diverse? Superimposing your own idea of diversity upon athletes from 80 different nations, essentially equating diversity with only race, is just inane." It's entirely Gumbel's prerogative to dislike the Winter Games. He doesn't have to watch them, or report on them. (One has to wonder if he thinks any less of his brother for anchoring CBS's Winter Olympic coverage in the early 1990s.) But I think this rant is in bad taste, not only in what he says but in how he says it (I recommend watching one of the videos to get the full effect). There may be some valid points in there worthy of serious discussion, but much of that is lost in Gumbel's overall tone and rhetoric.

Finally, Gumbel needn't denegrate the athletes competing in the Games just because he doesn't appreciate the sports they pursue. No matter my personal preference on college basketball, I wouldn't attack the players. Why can't those of us who appreciate the Winter Games have a few weeks, every four years, to enjoy them? So let us have our games, Mr. Gumbel, and you can keep that March Madness you're so obviously fond of.

UPDATE: ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski has an article that takes a similar view of Gumbel's statements. Thanks to commenter JB from Brendan's blog.

You know you're in law school when...

2006-02-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

...you see this and wonder if and how EU law might handle the situation.

Happy Mardi Gras!

2006-02-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone enjoys their Fat Tuesday. It's good to see that New Orleans has recovered enough to celebrate a bit. But while New Orleans is certainly renowned for its yearly extravaganza, there are plenty of other places partying it up today. In fact, according to Forbes there are six cities with bigger fiestas. Check it out here.

Olympic Recap: Ladies' Long Program

2006-02-26T22:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry this post is a little late, but I wasn't able to see the ladies freeskate as quickly as I had originally intended. I'm sure it's a bit anticlimactic since I'm sure everyone knows the results (how could you miss them?), but I'll share some of my thoughts all the same.

First off, kudos to Shizuka Arakawa. Japan's been having a rough Olympics in Torino, and Arakawa has pretty much turned it around. Japan leaves Torino with one medal, but it's a big one - the gold in the Games' marquee event. Arakawa also owns the distinction of being Japan's first gold medalist in Olympic figure skating. (Midori Ito was Japan's last great skater, who earned bronze at the 1992 Albertville Games and is famous for being the first woman to land a triple axel in competition.) Arakawa will certainly receive a hero's welcome when she returns to Japan. Apparently the country is rolling out golden doughnuts for the occasion.

In a field rife with errors, Arakawa had one of the few clean skates. Though she wasn't perfect - she did pop one triple into a double - she was solid where it counted and never lost her artistry or flow. Technically speaking, it was a bit cautious, but it was enough. Arakawa displayed a maturity and elegance that most of her rivals lacked. She was far and away the best skater of the night, which was reflected in her nearly eight point margin of victory.

A lot of the media focus has been on Sasha Cohen and how she let the gold slip through her fingers. True, she was leading after the short program (by the slimmest of margins), and was America's best hope to continue a 3-Games streak of winning the event. Sasha's hopes of Olympic gold were dashed after falls on her first two jumping passes. Considering those substantial errors, she's lucky to have placed second. But while she did get some help from the rest of the field, she earned her silver by bouncing back from her program's rocky start to end strongly. As her coach told Sasha as she left the ice, "you didn't start the program, but you finished it." She looked shaky on warmup, and after two big mistakes it would be easy to let the program get away. But she fought back, nailing every element for the rest of her skate. Even her artistry and choreography did not seem affected. While it's unfortunate that she wasn't able to skate cleanly throughout and hopefully take gold, the greater tragedy is that Sasha Cohen was again unable to put together two clean programs in one competition. This is a demon she's been wrestling with for some time, and one she'll have to conquer if she wants to stay at the top of the ladies' field.

Irina Slutskaya was the last to skate in the ladies' long program. Since she was in second place by only .03 in the short and Sasha had made key errors, it looked like Irina's gold to lose. And unfortunately, lost it she did. Irina turned in a somewhat disappointing performance and finished with bronze. Her jumps looked off; her landings weren't as solid as they've been in the past and it looked like she had to fight more than usual. Though she opened her program without much difficulty, Slutskaya suffered costly falls and errors during her jumping passes in the second half of her program. Her program also lacked artistry and spark. When the judges marks came back, Sasha's spins, footwork, and artistry were enough to keep Sasha ahead of the Russian veteran.

Fumie Suguri, who placed fourth, also turned in a strong program. But with a lower level of difficulty and less artistic expression, she was unable to capitalize on the shortcomings of Cohen and Slutskaya. Joannie Rochette of Canada skated well, and even got the second highest technical marks of the night. And while lyrical and enjoyable to watch, her artistic scores were not high enough to get her to the podium; she finished fifth. Americans Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes placed sixth and seventh respectively. Full results here, long program marks here, and detailed results here.

The Joy of Skating award goes to Silvia Fontana. Although she finished 22nd overall, she was a pleasure to watch and really seemed to be enjoying herself on the ice. She wasn't expected to medal, so she probably did not experience some of the same pressures as the other skaters, but she got to end her Olympic career by skating well in front of her home crowd.
Runner up: Emily Hughes. Emily also came out and skated a great program and really seemed to enjoy every moment out there. Michelle Kwan's withdrawal from Torino made Emily an unexpected Olympian, and every time you see her she just looks thrilled to be a part of it. We'll probably see more of her in the years to come.

The scoring system doesn't seem to be having the same effect in the ladies' event as it has in other places. While the pairs and dancers seem to be pushed to execute harder elements and the men have exhibited greater creativity and more transitions between moves, the women are still doing mostly triple-doubles and are still telegraphing their jumps. After the Nagano Games in 1998, it looked like triple-triple combinations were going to become the new standard in the sport; the triple axel was certainly not materializing as some had expected. And while there are still rumblings about who will be the next woman to incorporate the triple axel or even a quad (Miki Ando did attempt one this time around), there hasn't been a big push to up the level of difficulty.

I think part of this may be due to how the new scoring system rewards putting difficult elements in the second half of the program (those elements skated after the half point mark get a 10% scoring bonus); maybe skaters are holding back some difficulty in the beginning of their programs so that they can try more in the second half. But I'm puzzled as to why there isn't more connecting footwork in the skating between elements. Many of the competitors are still doing basic stroking between jumps and spins. The top skaters - particularly this Olympic's medalists - are the exception, for the most part. And maybe it will be somthing that comes in time. But I don't know why the men seem to be ahead on this one.

Scoring aside, it's been another surprising Olympic free skate for the women. For the fourth times in as many Olympics, it's been something of a surprise finish in ladies' figure skating. In 1994, Oksana Baiul stole the spotlight from the Nancy and Tonya debacle. In 1998, Tara Lipinski leapfrogged Michele Kwan to capture the gold. The 2002 games saw Sarah Hughes skate the program of her life to surpass Kwan and Slutskaya. And this year, when everyone was expecing a showdown bewtween Cohen and Slutskaya, Arakawa bested them both. In one freeskate, Arakawa ended the U.S.'s golden streak in the event and denied Russia an unprecedented figure skating golden sweep. It just goes to show that you never know how things will end up until everyone's skated.

The high-bowlin' Manatees

2006-02-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

The ICBMs had a strong showing tonight, and for the first time the scores counted. Since we're a mixed team, we report our top two mens' scores and top two ladies' scores for the evening. The ladies put in a particularly strong showing, with scores approaching the 150 mark in the second game. Both Conscientious Objector and Private Injury achieved personal bests. Comandant Nugatory En Fuego and Private Injury both bowled turkeys tonight. Major Ho also came within a pin of a turkey. Conscientious Objector was our clutch frame-closer, and she often followed up her spares with strikes. But the amazing feat of the night - a phantom strike - was pulled off by PFC LCD. A well thrown ball knocked out nine pins, and nudged the tenth just enough out of allignment to fool the computerized scoring system into calling it a strike.

Here were toinght's scores (those we reported are highlighted):

Comandant Nugatory En Fuego: 137, 85, 133
Conscientious Objector: 92, 146, 128
Major Ho: 107, 120, 128
PFC LCD: 93, 94
Private Injury: 92, 147, 110

So it was an excellent start to the scoring portion of the law school bowling league. Hopefully we'll be able to build on this. Let's see if next week the men can step it up a bit.

Still to come...

2006-02-24T00:25:00.001-05:00

Recap of the Ladies' Long Program. I haven't seen the skating yet, so I'll post my commentary on the ladies' final skate late tomorrow afternoon. I'm also hoping to post some final thoughts on this Olympic's skaging in general, maybe this weekend.

If you're looking for final standings of the ladies' event, click here.

Olympic Recap, Day 11: Ladies' Short Program

2006-02-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Last night, the women turned in some stunning performances in the short program. The top five competitors all turned in clean, dynamic skates.

Sasha Cohen leads after the short. She skated an exceptional program full of grace and confidence. Her jumps were solid. Her spins were centered. Her footwork was quick. And her spirals were fantastic. It was a dynamic program, and Sasha really sold it. Her showmanship was first rate. Her program component score, similar to the artistic marks under the old system, was the highest of the night.

Irina Slutskaya is a close second - she trails Cohen by only .03 points. Her program was light and lively and filled with athleticism. She skated faster and jumped higher than the rest of the field. Irina turned in the highest element score in the ladies' short.

Shizuka Arakawa from Japan skated to third place. She displayed a natural elegance throughout her program, and cleanly executed each of the required elements. I liked her music - Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu - though the piece seemed a little faster than she could handle. (In all fairness, the fast portions of that piece are probably faster than any skater could handle.) I also felt she could have displayed more emotion and expression; her footwork sequence in particular seemed a bit flat. But Arakawa is hot on the heels of Sasha and Irina, less than a point behind.

Arakawa's teammate Fumie Suguri is fourth after the short program. I really enjoyed her program. It had a fluidity and grace that I liked better than that of Arakawa. I felt she really sold her program through the choreography. But her program elements were not as difficult as those of the top three skaters; many of the elements were only level 3 instead of the highest level, level 4. As a result, her base mark was lower than that of Cohen, Slutskaya, and Arakawa. Still, Suguri is less than five points off the leader, so she's still a medal threat.

Kimmie Meissner, the sixteen-year old from the U.S. is currently fifth. Although she did well enough at Nationals last year to qualify for Worlds, since she was only fifteen she was ineligible to compete last year. She was one of the first to skate last night, and her program set a high standard. She skated clean and with passion. She lacks the maturity of the top skaters, but could still contend for a medal with a strong freeskate.

Emily Hughes, the bronze medalist at U.S. Nationals last month who took Michelle Kwan's spot after Kwan had to withdraw with a groin injury, skated a good program with only a minor bobble on her footwork sequence. Although she is not expected to medal, her seventh place finish in the short still gives her an outside shot at the podium. Full results here, detailed results here.

I was surprised that there weren't very many triple-triple combinations attempted in the short program. I'm sure we'll see a fair number attempted in the long program tomorrow night, but I thought there would be more in this round. I think spin quality has improved under the new system, and there are some interesting positions. But there are also some things that seem to be overdone - particularly Biellmann spins and changes of edge in spins.

Costume-wise, there was nothing particularly unusual or scandalous in the short program. There were only a few music selections that bear separate mention. Yelena Liashenko of Ukraine skated to a somewhat avant garde piece that included chirping birds and reminded me of some of Surya Bonaly's stranger numbers. Canadian skater Joannie Rochette chose an instrumental version of Madonna's Like a Prayer, which was interesting. Finally, Susanna Poykio of Finland skated to a piece that incorporated music from Austin Powers. I don't think any of these music selections were bad, just different. And the skaters even made them work to an extent, though they did not display the same artistry exhibited by the top skaters.

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

2006-02-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

I haven't forgotten about the ladies' short programs. I didn't get to see all the skaters tonight, but from what I did catch, it looked like a good round of skating. Luckily, Alina was kind enough to tape the skating and hopefully I'll be able to watch it sometime tomorrow.

Look for a new post with my thoughts tomorrow afternoon after I've had a chance to see the full event (or at least all that NBC televised).

If you're just looking for results, though, check out this webpage.

Hey, that music sounds familiar...

2006-02-21T01:28:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not talking about the music of tonight's free dances, but rather a little tune that played during the award ceremony - the Russian National Anthem.

If you thought it sounded kind of like the old Soviet National Anthem, it's because, well, it is. It's the same music anyway; the lyrics have changed. For more, check this out. (Thanks go out to Adam for pointing out the Wikipedia site.)

The Russians have already taken gold in three of the figure skating events. Will Irina Slutskaya make it a clean sweep? The ladies skate their first round - the short program - tomorrow night.

Olympic Recap, Day 10: Free Dance

2006-02-21T00:20:00.000-05:00

Belbin and Agosto win the Silver Medal!!!

Okay, now that that's out of the way...

After the excitement in the original dance round last night, tonight's free dance was a bit anticlimactic. There was no movement in the final standings among the top five couples. Russians Navka and Kostomarov won gold, Americans Belbin and Agosto took silver, and the Ukranian team of Grushina and Goncharov won the bronze.

In the free dance, the couples can pretty much skate to any piece of music they desire. It should have a dance or dramatic character. The routines typically fall into one of three categories: traditional (clear dance rhythm, closest to ballroom), dramatic (balletic "story pieces" like Romeo and Juliet), or modern (avant-garde stuff).

Navka and Kostomarov skated a stylized Paso Doble to Bizet's Carmen. It had great energy and expression at the start, but lost a little something as it progressed. The crowd really got behind the music, and their program had some nice dramatic moments, but they didn't sustain the energy. Carmen is a very powerful piece, full of potential. I didn't feel that their rendition capitalized enough on that potential. Kostomarov had an opportunity to ham it up a little and really own this free dance - a Paso Doble is one dance which lets the man express and be more of the center of attention than the lady. Still, it was a well-executed dance full of difficult elements. It was the best dance of the night and the Russians certainly earned their gold medal.

Belbin and Agosto skated to a flamenco medley that flowed well. Though technically demanding, the Americans made it look easy and carefree, giving the dance a playful quality. Belbin and Agosto related well to each other on the ice, but they could have been even more expressive. I would have liked to see some more dramatic leans during the slow section, and I felt they could have lifted their heads a bit - at times they seemed focused too much on the ice. They did have good speed throughout, and did a good job of adjusting their skating to changes in the music's tempo. There were a few small mistakes (including an uncharacteristic touch down by Belbin during a twizzle), but they were still able to score enough points to hold onto the number two spot.

Grushina and Goncharov skated a solid program to Peter Gabriel's The Feeling Begins. It was a little slow, and looked like they skated cautiously. Given the recent slips and falls by many competitors last night, it's understandable; still, it lacked the attack that many of the other couples had in their free dances. Their performance wasn't particularly captivating, and it seemed that the crowd had difficulty getting behind the music or the program. Grushina and Goncharov's program was clean, if not inspiring. But Grushina wins tonight's award for absolute worst costume. The commentators remarked that she was "pushing the envelope" in the costume department. But as Honor puts it, they didn't push the envelope - they tore up the envelope and then burned it in effigy. And please, stop wearing headbands. Goncharov's outfit, while more decent, definitely doesn't win any fashion awards; it looked like something out of the back of Siegfried and Roy's closet.

Delobel and Schoenfelder of France and Denkova and Staviyski of Bulgaria rounded out the top five. Fusar Poli and Margaglio, the Italians who led after the compulsory dance but plummeted in the standings after a fall during their original dance, wound up in sixth place.

The other two American dance couples, Gregory and Petukhov and Silverstein and O'Meara, finished fourteenth and sixteenth respectively.

Dubreil and Lauzon, the Canadian team who suffered the worst in the original dance, did not skate tonight.

Full results here.

With the exception of Grushina, most of the costumes were more reasonable tonight. But black and red seemed to be the predominant theme. In the final flight of skaters, four different dance teams wore costumes combining those two colors.

The worst music choice for the night goes to Chait and Sakhnovski of Israel for choosing to skate to Ravel's Bolero. Not that there's anything wrong with the music per se (though it is a difficult piece to skate to), but it is the piece to which Torvill and Dean skated a groundbreaking performance (perfect 6.0s in artistry across the board) to win their gold medal in 1984. By choosing Bolero, the Israelis immediately drew comparisons to one of the most memorable ice dance performances of all time, skated by one of ice dance's all time greats. Though they skated a good program, the music selection set unrealistic (and quite unnecessary) expectations in the minds of most viewers. For more on the music used for the free dance by tonight's competitors, click here.

All in all, the free dance wasn't as exciting or as enjoyable as the original dance round, but it was still entertaining. And Belbin and Agosto lived up to the pre-Games hype to take home the silver. Their achievement ends a thirty year Olympic medal drought in the sport for the United States; the last American team to win an Olympic medal in ice dance was Collen O'Connor and James Millns - they won the bronze in 1976, the same year that ice dancing was introduced to the Winter Olympics. See a list of all ice dance Olympic medalists here.

Olympic Recap, Day 9: Original Dance

2006-02-19T23:43:00.000-05:00

It was a night of thrills and spills in the second round of Olympic ice dance.

No fewer than five teams suffered a fall during their original dance. To see the grim examples of these falls, see the NBCOlympics.com gallery appropriately entitled 'Carnage.' Tonight's original dance became a contest of survival among a field troubled with disaster.

But before talking about individual performances, a little background on the original dance. For the OD, each team must perform an ice dance to a specified ballroom style; for this competitive season, the theme is a latin medley. Skaters may choose two or three rhythms from a designated list (cha cha, rhumba, samba, merengue, mambo, and salsa). For more on music selection, check this out. The skaters must weave into this routine five required elements:

side-by-side (not touching) midline footwork
diagonal footwork (in various dance holds)
a dance spin
2 different lifts, chosen from: stationary, straight line, curve, and rotational lifts

To score top points, the side-by-side midline footwork should incorporate twizzles (quick, traveling rotation on one foot) as well as good edges, skated with excellent technique and unison. The dance spin should include a few changes of position to get more points. And most couples will opt to do one rotational lift and then either a straight line or curve lift; in a rotational lift, the man rotates while holding the lady, and straight line/curve refers to whether the man skates straight or on a curve while holding the lady.

In general, I like the idea of some required elements. The step sequences in particular are good to see. And the fact that the dancers are limited to two dance lifts is good. I'm not a fan of the dance spin, though. It's a little too close to pairs skating for my taste (although some of the dancers spin better than their pairs counterparts). If the dancers can successfully weave these elements into a dance without it looking like they're merely setting up the next element, I think it really works.

Now on to tonight's original dances:

Russian favorites Novka and Kostomarov turned in the highest score on the original dance and are currently first. They had good expression and well executed elements, but I felt their program lacked flow. They skated a bit cautiously, possibly due to the fact that the previous two teams both suffered serious falls. I probably would have ranked them second in the original dance, but they enjoy a 1.38 lead going into the free dance.

The Americans Belbin and Agosto moved up to second place with a very nice original dance. This was my favorite dance of the night. The Americans had great expression, especially in the upper body. While many eyes were undoubtedly focused on Belbin, Agosto gave a great performance as well. Their expression also fit the music well, making full use of the tempo change to a slower, more sensuous rhumba after a fast start. They did lose a little expression during their midline step sequence, but their footwork was well executed. And after all the falls of the night, it was good to see them come out and successfully attack their program.

Grushina and Goncharaov of Ukraine took the third spot. They skated a clean but cautious program. I felt their performance was a bit uneven, and they were slow on their midline step sequence. I think the judges were a bit generous in their scores for the Ukranian couple, and I don't agree with giving Grushina and Goncharov a higher program component score than Belbin and Agosto.

Delobel and Schoenfelder of France possibly benefited the most from the misfortunes of some of the higher ranked couples. Their high energy dance moved them from seventh to fourth, but it was missing a true "latin feel." But they did have an excellent dance spin.

The Bulgarian couple of Denkova and Staviyski slipped to fifth place. They were skating a good program full of expression, but ran into difficulties on their dance spin. Staviyski missed a grab, and the couple had to fight to maintain their rotation. An awkward lift later in the program also hurt their score. They're lucky to still be in fifth, considering those flaws. See the full results after two rounds here, original dance rankings here, and super detailed OD results here.

That brings us to the big story of the night: the falls. The first victim of the night was Nathalie Pechalat of France (not televised). Then Drobiazko and Vanagas of Lithuania went down when Drobiazko caught a toe pick during their diagonal footwork sequence. Unable to avoid his partner, Vanagas came crashing down on top of her. Both Italian teams suffered terrible mishaps. Failla and Scali took a spill when Failla caught an edge during a step sequence. At this point she should have just let go; instead she held onto Scali, dragging him down. That cost them an extra point, as there's a one point deduction for each skater who falls. The other Italian couple, Fusar Poli and Margaglio (leaders after the compulsory dance), also fell. Their program had gotten off to a great start, but they went down on their last lift.

But the Canadian team of Debreuil and Lauzon suffered the worst fall of the night. During a daring rotational lift, Debreuil lost her grasp and spun out. She fell very hard on her right hip. Without his partner to counter his lean, Lauzon also went down. They managed to finish the program, but it was clear that Debreuil was in a lot of pain. She slowly skated off at the end, unable to take center ice for the customary bows. She was later taken to the hospital on a stretcher. Hopefully the injury isn't too serious, but it doesn't look good at the moment. There's a good chance that they will be unable to perform their free dance tomorrow night.

It's a bit shocking to see so many falls in ice dance, which has always been the least risky - and consequently the least fall-ridden - of figure skating's disciplines. But this is just one example of how the scoring changes have affected the sport. With required elements and specific points available for technically demanding moves, ice dance has gone through a transformation. And overall, this is a good thing. It brings some objectivity to what has always been a very subjective sport. I think the skaters like it too, since there is now a definitive way to distinguish yourself from your competitors. But with each couple's attempt to execute difficult and demanding maneuvers comes the risk of falling.

On a brighter note, the latin medley brought out some interesting costume - meaning a lot of skin from the ladies. Some highlights of the scraps of clothing passing for costumes:

Margarita Drobiazko
Barbara Fusar Poli
Tatiana Navka
Tanith Belbin

(I was hoping to link to more photo's of tonight's scantily clad ladies, but with all the media attention on the falls, there aren't as many pictures to show. My sincerest apologies.)

In addition to all that skin, just a few more observations on costumes. First, the worst outfit of the night award goes to Tatiana Navka for the leopard print dress with neon blue trim and matching headband. The honorable mention goes to Olivier Schoenfelder for the yellow headband. It's latin medley, Olivier, not iron chef.

Hopefully things will go smoother in the free dance, the final round of Olympic ice dance competition. NBC will broadcast the event tomorrow night at 8 pm.

A little Olympic humor

2006-02-19T17:56:00.000-05:00

If you think the Olympics could be a little more interesting, Jason Fox has a few suggestions.

While we're talking about costumes...

2006-02-18T00:31:00.000-05:00

Earlier today I wrote about some interesting costume selections, both for a number of ice dancers (see this post, throughout) and for the men's freeskate. In particular I brought up Lambiel's sense of fashion.

Well, lest anyone think that Lambiel is alone in choosing bizarre, animal print-themed outfits, I thought I'd offer a flashback to a certain gold medalist from the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

Seriously Ilia, what were you thinking? :)

Olympic Recap, Day 7: Ice Dance Compulsories

2006-02-17T23:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the compulsory dance round for the ice dance event. Each dance team performed the Ravensburger Waltz. Before I go into my assessment of the individual performances, I want to talk briefly about the Rave.

The Ravensburger Waltz is, under the American test structure, one of the international dances - placing it among the upper eschelon of the compulsory dances. It is one of the most technically demanding dances in the sport. As with all waltzes, the music for the Rave is in 3/4 time. But at the required 198 beats per minute, it is one of the fastest dances in the compulsories. One pattern consists of 41 steps skated in 29 seconds.

I've personally skated this dance numerous times. My sister and I tested and passed the Rave a few years ago. The lady's steps are considerably harder than those for the man. The lady performs no fewer than three twizzles (very fast turns done in a fraction of a second; one of the lady's twizzles is a full revolution, the other two are 1.5 revolutions), as well as a difficult rocker-chocktaw sequence. Comparatively, the man skates easy, stroking-type steps. The main role for the man is to provide support for the lady's difficult maneuvres. However, one of the most difficult sections for both partners is the walkaround section at the very end of the pattern; the sheer speed that the dancers carry into the final corner make controlling those steps challenging. If you'd like to see what the dance pattern looks like, check out these two diagrams; step chart here and here. Note that these things are not the easiest thing in the world to decipher, even for skaters. Seeing the dance actually peformed is, in my opinion, an easier way to learn the dance.

The Ravensburger Waltz is to be skated in Viennese style; according to the USFSA rulebook, "the character of the dance should be lilting, graceful, and executed at an even, controlled pace.... The dance should be unhurried and convey a free, unfettered feeling."

Tonight's skaters each skated the Ravensburger very well. I think that is reflected in how close the scores are. The difference between first and sixth places is less than two points. With two rounds of competition still to go, the field is still wide open.

The Italian team of Fusar Poli and Margaglio (bronze medalists in 2002; they came out of retirement to skate in this year's Olympics) are currently in first. Their Rave was light and freewheeling. Most importantly, they made the dance look easy and their steps look effortless. They had good expression and really seemed to be enjoying their skate. No doubt the home crowd cheering them on helped in this respect. But my favorite expression from this team came when they realized that they were in first place. A quick note on their choice of outfit, though. I don't think their flourescent pink with flourescent green trim (and a very open shirt for Margaglio) was the best selection for a waltz. For a latin dance (cha cha, rhumba, etc) it would work, but not a waltz. Nevertheless, this did not adversely affect their scores. It will be interesting to watch Fusar Poli and Margaglio's progress in the next two rounds. According to tonight's commentators, the compulsory round is probably this team's best round and the Rave plays to their strengths - she's the stronger dancer. I don't expect them to maintain the lead.

In second place is Navka and Kostomarov of Russia. They're considered the favorites, but this round is not their strongest suit. I thought they had a strong skate with impressive lines and good expression. But I also felt that their timing looked just a hair rushed, especially in the first pattern. The second pattern seemed to calm down.

Skating into the third spot was the Bulgarian couple, Denkova and Staviski. I liked this team's Rave a lot. They had considerable speed and power, and their rocker-chocktaw sequence was well executed with good expression. I would probably have ranked them over the Russians, unless I were to dock them points for their costumes - purple with green flowy trim. The costumes didn't really fit the image of a waltz.

The Canadians, Dubreuil and Lauzon, hold the fourth position after their Ravensburger. I was not a huge fan of their dance. I felt that they lacked unison in several places, and Lauzon's extensions could have been stronger. During the first pattern, I also felt their timing was just a bit sluggish through the rocker-chocktaw sequence. But I did enjoy their upper body expression throughout the dance. I would have placed them at least behind Belbin and Agosto, in sixth (as it stands, Dubreuil and Lauzon's score of 37.44 is a mere .08 above the Americans).

Grushina and Goncharov of Ukraine are in fifth, with a score of 37.39 (.05 behind the Canadians and only .03 ahead of the Americans - like I said, the teams are very close right now). This team had excellent expression and flow. In particular, I liked Goncharov's leaning throughout the dance. It added to the cadence and character of a Ravensburger Waltz. They also had nice extensions. Grushina also had one of the more "scandalous"-looking dresses (or lack thereof); that never hurts with the male judges.

The American "dream team" of Belbin and Agosto are currently in sixth. But with the scores being so close, especially among the teams in fourth, fifth, and sixth places, this is not as bad as it sounds. Though I'm probably a bit biased, I always enjoy watching Belbin and Agosto skate. I felt they had great expression tonight, and wonderful cadence on the Rave 3-turns on the opening lobe. They had crisp positions with good flow, which added a floating feel to the dance. But they did seem a little tight in places, particularly the last third of the pattern. Belbin's third twizzle looked just a bit forced, and there could have been a freer feel to the rocker-chocktaw sequence. But I'm definitely happy to see they skated well and had good speed. Speed has typically been a lacking element for American ice dancers.

Two other American ice dance teams are skating in Torino. Gregory and Petukhov are currently in fifteenth, while Silverstein and O'Meara sit in eighteenth. You can see the full standings here. Super detailed results here.

A final word on costumes. As Dick Button remarked in tonight's broadcast, the costumes for the compulsory dance round tend to be more "conservative." I think this is because the compulsory dances are the most like ballroom dance. There's also a tendency to try to make the costumes reflect the type of dance, though there were some exceptions. As I pointed out above, Fusar Poli and Margaglio and Denkova and Staviski wore costumes that didn't really evoke a waltz feel. But the rest of the field was decked out in costumes that could easily be seen in any ballroom waltz competition - right down to tuxedos with tails for the men. Now I like tails - they're pretty classy. I was a bit surprised to see practically everyone wearing them. And I'm not so sure I like them as much for ice dance. As the skaters turn, the tails necessarily spin about - and can be a bit distracting.

All in all, it was a good opening round for Olympic Ice Dancing. The couples will be back to skate the next round - the Original Dance - on Sunday.

ICBM Report

2006-02-17T17:13:00.000-05:00

The ICBMs took to the lanes last night in what everyone thought would be the first scoring night of law school bowling. But due to a mistake by those in charge, scores won't start counting until next week. Still, it was a fun night. We had eight team members present, so we bowled in two shifts of four. Here are last night's scores:

Commandant Nugatory El Fuego: 151
Bombradier Brian: 98
Major Ho: 116
Colonel Killin': 91

Lieutenant Luddite: 78
Private Snuffy: 119
Private Injury: 76
PFC LCD: 90

A few highlights: Nugatory lived up to her en fuego designation with a huge 151 - almost a personal best. The Colonel came back from a slow start to almost turkey in the final frame. The snack bar's french fries and onion rings were also very tasty.

It's unfortunate that Nugatory's 151 and Snuffy's 119 won't count beacuse of the scoring snafu, but the Manatees hope to do just as well next week.

Olympic Recap, Day 6: Men's Long Program

2006-02-17T15:30:00.000-05:00

The Men's event this year was a bit of a let down. There were some great moments, but perhaps the pressure of Olympic competition left its mark as most skaters failed to skate clean programs. The quad was not quite the prominent feature that many anticipated.

Yevgeny Plushenko turned in a good, but not particularly inspiring, long program. His jumps and spins were first rate, and Plushenko definitely turned in the most technically proficient performance of the night. And in a field filled with some... interesting... costumes, it was nice to see that Plushenko again wore something understated. He skated to a jazzed up version of The Godfather. From the opening bars of the music, it's hard not to compare the choreography with that of Phillipe Candeloro's performance to The Godfather several years ago. Plushenko had some great moments -- in particular, I felt the choreography during his footwork sequences really worked. But there as still a lot of skate, skate, jump, skate, skate, spin, repeat. But the lack of inspired artistry did not hurt him, and Plushenko easily took gold.

Lambiel of Switzerland placed second, despite some technical flaws. He again had trouble with his triple axel - his nemesis jump, if you will - doubling his planned triple. He attempted a quad, which did net him some points (for completed rotation) despite his fall. The missed technical elements cost him points, but he had enough of a buffer from the short program to clinch the silver medal. I thought his artistry and connecting elements were very good, and he used the music (Vivaldi's Four Seasons) to good effect. But he wins my award for worst costume of the night. Honestly, you have to see it to believe it.

Jeffrey Buttle won the bronze. Though he had stumbles of his own, he attacked his program and really seemed to enjoy himself on the ice.

The story that most people in the media have been running with is the apparent self-destruction of Johnny Weir. He turned in an overall mediocre and lackluster performance. With no quad in his program, he needed a clean skate to keep up with the other competitors. But despite a strong start, Weir had troubles as his long program progressed. He was unable to complete some of his planned combinations due to shaky landings. Weir also did one fewer triple jump than the other skaters, which hurt his score considerably. He ultimately dropped to fifth place. One focus of the media has been Weir's remarks, and some of his final words at the Torino games are certainly a doozy:

"I missed the bus. They changed the schedule. It was every 10 minutes. Today it was every half-hour. I was late getting here and never caught up. I never felt comfortable in this building. I didn't feel my inner peace, I didn't feel my aura. Inside I was black."

Okay, first off, you might want to check the schedule to make sure you don't show up late to one of the most important skates in your life. Second, you didn't skate too badly two days ago considering you "never felt comfortable in [the] building." And your aura?? Just admit it - you didn't skate well yesterday. Don't make crazy excuses.

The other two Americans skated well. After a disappointing short program that left him in tenth place, Evan Lysacek skated an excellent long program which scored a personal best. His score for the long program was third, behind Plushenko and Buttle. He wound up fourth. If he had had a better short program, Lysacek would have secured a spot on the podium. The program didn't have as much technical firepower as Plushenko's, but the expression and artistry was very good. In my mind, Lysacek gave the most impressive performance of the night.

Matt Savoie also skated reasonably well, with a light and lyrical style and great lines. He improved his eighth place finish from the short program to seventh overall. Joubert of France turned in an uneven performance to finish sixth. And I just want to add that my (pirate) hat's off to Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium, who skated a very entertaining program to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Overall, with the general exception of Plushenko, the men's skating in this Olympics has been a story of surviving - he who makes the fewest mistakes wins. This might be understandable if people were falling on the quad, but there were slips and spills on some of the more basic elements.

Two comments on the new scoring system as it applies to the men's event. I really like the fact that the system rewards more balanced skating, particularly the skating between elements. We're already starting to see more interesting footwork and choreography and more inventive spins. I'm a bit concerned about one thing though. An attempted quad will still garner more points than a clean triple; which I think will decrease the number of clean programs. But at least the points are only given for quads with completed rotation. Perhaps that's the proper middle ground for the issue.

Okay, tonight is the first round of Ice Dancing, which kicks off with the compulsory dance round. Check back later tonight for my highlights and to learn a bit more about the Ravensburger Waltz.

Coming Soon: Men's Long Recap

2006-02-17T11:05:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't forget about the Men's Freeskate. But due to bowling, I didn't catch the Olympic coverage last night. Fortunately, Alina recorded it for me so I'll be watching it later today. Be sure to check back for my thoughts and commentary. If you just can't wait, you can get the final results here and NBC's recap here.

Raving for the Compulsories

2006-02-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post for a thought on the upcoming Ice Dance competition.

They're actually televising the compulsory dance. The Ice Dance event consists of three rounds: the compulsory dance, the original dance, and the free dance. Compulsory dancing is the closest ice dance comes to traditional ballroom dance. There are a number of specified patterns to specified music. Each team must perform the same dance, which is selected a few days ahead of time. Unlike the original dance (original choreography within given style parameters; e.g., everyone performs something in a tango style, or waltz style, etc.) and the free dance (rhythm and choreography entirely open to the competitors), compulsory dance is rarely televised. To the uninitiated, compulsory dance is boring because all the skaters are doing the same dance. The subtleties of technique and expression are difficult to detect.

I've often lamented the snubbing of the compulsory dance round, which I would gladly watch. The reasons I like this round:
-- I know the dances. The dances that the competitors skate are the same ones that I have learned, trained, and in many cases, passed.
-- Objective comparison. Since everyone does the same dance, it's easier to compare teams. Sure, there are still different interpretive approaches to a compulsory dance, but the steps are the same. One could theoretically compare teams on the execution of the mandatory steps. It's certainly easier than trying to compare one dance team's interpretation of Irish riverdancing with another team's dramatic rendition of Romeo and Juliet. And let's not even throw Bolero into the mix.
-- Nuances. The steps are the same, but how will each team put their mark on the dance? Will the Tango Romantica be skated with dramatic flair and passion, or will they opt for a softer, more sensual dance?

So, I'm excited that they'll be showing the compulsory dance event this year. This is almost certainly due to Belbin and Agosto's shot at a medal; a top American team will draw viewers.

But what dance will be skated during the compulsory dance round? None of the main media outlets seemed to find this bit of information newsworthy -- maybe because it doesn't matter to most people. But I wanted to know! Simply stating that it will be selected (from the Yankee Polka, Tango Romantica, and Ravensburger Waltz) before the first official practice session is not enough. After all, with the compulsory round being held Friday, one would expect the teams have had an official practice or two.

Finally, I located the information: it's the Ravensburger Waltz. For more information on the Rave and my take on the compulsory round, come back Friday night.

15 on 15 - Favorite Songs Edition

2006-02-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Desert Island Discs! (If you caught that reference, email me.)

Okay, I want to say right off the top that I do not consider these to be the top 15 songs of all time, simply my personal favorite. I have ecclectic tastes, so bear that in mind. And I'll preemptively apologize to any who feel I have bad taste in music. If this list gets just too painful to read, check out some other lists by Derek, Ruvym, Brooke, and Craig.

And a few quick notes on methodology. I enjoy a variety of music, and narrowing my list down to 15 proved difficult (though I'm sure others had an even harder time of it). To make the task a little easier, I decided not to use any classical pieces, movie soundtracks, or Broadway tunes. I could probably do a separate top 15 list on any of those categories. So these are all songs that you might hear on the radio. Also, for all I know the artist listed with the song may not be the original writer/performer/whatever. But it's the version I know, which is why it's that way on my list.

15. You Never Even Called Me by My Name, David Allan Coe

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.

Okay, the last verse or so of this song is just plain funny, and fun to sing along to. Always remember that the key to the perfect country and western song lies in including the following elements: Momma, a train, a truck, prison, and getting drunk. Tying them all into one verse scores serious bonus points, and people will feel obliged to include your song on their albums.

14. Wonderboy, Tenacious D

What powers you ask? I dunno, how 'bout the power of flight?
That do anything for ya? That's levitation holmes.
How 'bout the power to kill a yak, from 200 yards away...
with mind bullets! That's telekinesis, Kyle.
How 'bout the power, to move you?

Ah, Tenacious D. Jack and Derek introduced me to their comedic song stylings several years ago, and I enjoy several of their songs (although I doubt many would pass today's FCC filters). But Wonderboy is probably my favorite if for no other reason than the quote from above. Jack Black just gets so into delivering those lines. It's hard not to crack up or join in the fun.

13. Kokomo, The Beach Boys

Everybody knows
A little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo

Yes, the song was probably played into the ground when it came out. And I know plenty of people don't care for the song. But it's undeniably catchy, and most people can at least sing along to the chorus (listing exotic tropical locales). It's a good song to sing with friends on a car trip. And besides, who wouldn't want to escape to Kokomo (not a real island, Derek), especially when you can get there fast and then take it slow?

12. The Way, Fastball

They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
And when the car broke down
They started walking
Where were they going without ever knowing the way?

Another catchy tune about escapism, only this time without a particular destination. Or maybe they know where they want to go, but just forgot to look up directions on Mapquest. They're certainly not going to the tropical island paradise of Kokomo because (a) it doesn't exist, and (b) they're driving. They could be going to Kokomo, Indiana, though. If they had directions.

11. Mr. Pinstripe Suit, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Now he strolls through the city like a big ol' alley cat
with his pinstripe suit
and a big bad voodoo hat.

Time to throw in a little swing. I like this band, and of the songs I've heard them perform, I like this one the best. It reminds me of a summer a few years back when a bunch of my friends and I went to a BBVD lawn concert. I can't remember if they played this song, but it was a lot of fun. Back to the song, though... I think it'd be fun to skate to this someday. It's already half choreographed in my head.

10. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), The Proclaimers

When I'm lonely yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man whose lonely without you
When I'm dreaming yes I know I'm gonna dream
Dream about the time when I'm with you.

Cheesy, yes. But if it comes on the radio, I'm going to turn up the volume and sing along. I just wish I had the accent (or, um, the singing ability) to do it justice.

9. Hotel California, The Eagles

How they dance in the courtyard
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget

This is the first song that I remember really liking. It was probably playing on a Pizza Hut jukebox. I chose the above quote, because I can identify with the sentiment. There are times we do things to reminisce, and there are times we do things to lose ourselves and forget about our troubles. I've definitely experienced both aspects while skating, and I could see how dancing would be the same.

8. One Headlight, The Wallflowers

I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same

I identify this song with the summer after graduating from high school. It seemed like every time I went out with friends that summer, this song would come up at least once. I'm not sure whether the lyrics are supposed to "make sense" or it's more a string of words that sound good together, but I do understand the feeling that you've changed in some way so imperceptible it's hard to know how or why it happened. Beyond that, this song doesn't hold any deep meaning for me; I just like the way it sounds.

7. The Sound of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel

Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left it’s seeds while I was sleeping

Ah, a reflective piece. I imagine most people have had that twinge of melancholy that inspired thoughts of darkness and dour poetry. But unlike the ramblings of your typical eighth grade girl, this song is actually good. It's a bittersweet piece, probably best enjoyed alone in a darkened room, perhaps with a glass of red wine handy.

6. American Pie, Don McLean

I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store, where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

This one's a classic. I don't know all of the lyrics, or all of their meaning. And shouldn't the levy be dry? But anyway. It's another song that almost everyone knows the chorus, so you can sing it with a group a friends. It's got a catchy tune, and has both upbeat and wistful sections. Oh, and Weird Al's parody is pretty funny too.

5. Piano Man, Billy Joel

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone

The quintessential drinking song: one you'd expect to hear in Cheers. Billy Joel has many fine songs, but I think this one is the most fun to sing along to. While drunk/drinking. With other people who are drunk/drinking. Possibly arm in arm, swaying to the music, trying not to spill anything. You know, German style - which is why those Germans came up with this brilliant invention.

4. You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You, Dean Martin

The world still is the same, you never change it,
As sure as the stars shine above;
You're nobody 'til somebody loves you,
So find yourself somebody to love.

Many of my readers may remember this song from the opening credits of Swingers. It's a simple song, but it's catchy. And the world is a much brighter place when somebody loves you. So find yourself somebody to love and go out for Italian.

3. Unchained Melody, The Righteous Brothers

Time goes by so slowly and time can do so much.
Are you still mine?
I need your love, I need your love, God speed your love to me.

"My illness at the time took the form of believing that the Righteous Brothers' recording of 'You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin' ' on the London label was possibly the most haunting, the most deeply moving noise ever produced by the human spirit..."
But I'm going to go with Unchained Melody instead. Okay, so this song was almost ruined by the movie Ghost. I don't care. I still like it. The words are simple, but meaningful. And Underhill and Martini performed an outstanding pairs routine to this piece.

2. I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles

Whoah, we danced through the night,
And we held each other tight,
And before too long I fell in love with her.
Now I’ll never dance with another
Since I saw her standing there

Derek will undoubtedly disagree with me (because he's crazy), but you can't go wrong with The Beatles. Narrowing it down to one song was difficult (although I tend to prefer their earlier songs). But I chose this one because it has special significance to me: it's the first track on a Beatles mix that Honor made for me.

1. A Kiss to Build a Dream On, Louis Armstrong

Give me a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination will thrive upon that kiss
Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A kiss to build a dream on

I don't really have much to say except that I really like this song. It's simple and elegant. It's about hope, love and romance. It's an optimist's song: though two lovers are parting, all it takes is a kiss to endure the time apart. If I hear or even think of this tune, it'll be with me all day (but in the good way, not the "arggh, I'll never get this tune out of my head" sort of way).

No honorable mentions this month. Not because there aren't any, but because there are just too many. And you're probably tired of reading this post already.

Olympic Recap, Day 4: Men's Short Program

2006-02-15T00:24:00.000-05:00

The Men's Freeskating event got underway today with the short programs. Yevgeny Plushenko jumped out to an early lead. He skated a clean performance with a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination. His score of 90.66, a personal best, puts him more than ten points ahead of the next skater. I was pleased to see that he chose a simple black outfit instead of the more extravagant costumes he's worn in the past (and similar to those worn by other skaters tonight). I still have a problem with some of his choreography though, particularly some hand and arm gestures that at times seem too over the top and/or ill-fitting to the music. But personal preferences aside, Plushenko was hands down the best of the night -- he was the only skater to turn in a clean program.

In second is Johnny Weir. He turned in a good program, but double footed his triple flip out of footwork. He also chose not to attempt a quad, but his triple lutz-triple toe combination was excellent. His outfit reminded me of what Russian skaters have tended to wear in the past. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise though; Weir has openly admitted his admiration for former Soviet skaters and even practices in apparel bearing "CCCP" logos. A solid performance in Thursday's long program will assure Weir a medal, and if Plushenko isn't careful, America may take the coveted gold.

The reigning World Champion, Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, sits in third place after the short. He doubled his planned triple axel, costing him some points; without the mistake he would probably be in second. Brian Joubert of France and Daisuke Takahashi of Japan rounded out the top five. The other two American skaters are still in the top ten (Matt Savoie placed eighth, while Evan Lysacek placed tenth), but will probably not be a factor in the medal hunt. See the full standings here.

Aside from Plushenko's performance, the mens' field was riddled with a variety of mistakes. And in what Scott Hamilton called "a very unforgiving scoring system," any mistake, large or small, can have a devasting impact on a skater's placement. Hopefully the free skate will go a little smoother, but I doubt it will. Many will be attempting quads, which few can land consistently. The lower placed skaters in particular have little to lose, so they'll likely take some big risks. It may be difficult to catch Plushenko, but anything's possible.

The men will skate their long programs on Thursday, which you can catch on NBC this Thursday starting at 8pm.

Olympic Recap, Day 3: Pairs Long Program

2006-02-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight saw an emotional and dramatic conclusion to the Pairs competition. There were thrills, there were spills, cheers and tears. The American pair of Inoue and Baldwin skated fairly well, but they were unable to repeat the impressive throw triple axel they had in their short program. Nevertheless, they finished seventh overall.

The German team of Savchenko and Szolkowy climbed a spot to end in sixth place. Their program was not as technically strong as some of the other competitors, but their use of creative interconnecting moves demonstrated how the new scoring system rewards the strength of overall skating.

The Russian pair of Petrova and Tikhonov turned in an uneven performance. Their side-by-side jumps were off, with several "popped" jumps (doubles or singles performed instead of triples). The skating between moves was also on the weaker side.

The other Russian team and heavy favorites for this year's Olympics, Totmiyanina and Marinin, wound up taking the gold with decisive numbers. Their skate was technically proficient and mostly free from error, but lacked a certain spark. They skated conservatively, and their program simply did not look inspired. It's not uncommon for this to happen to the top skater weighed down by big expectations. And they did skate very well; they deserved to win tonight.

But the biggest story is the trio of performances by the Chinese pairs, who finished second, third, and fourth. In fourth place was Pang and Tong. It really looked like they were enjoying themselves out there, and their choreography and musicality to Phantom of the Opera was a joy to watch. Shen and Zhao captured their second bronze medal in as many Olympics. They turned in a good performance, slightly marred by a handful of small errors. But considering Zhao's recent injury, they skated remarkably well.

The most courageous performance of the night came from Zhang (Dan, f) and Zhang (Hao, m), the silver medalists. They had planned the most technically demanding skate of all the competitors tonight, opening with a throw quad salchow. A throw quad has never been completed in competition, but Zhang and Zhang had been exhibiting a 40-50% success rate on the move in practice. But mere seconds into their long program, disaster struck. Zhang Dan did not complete the necessary rotations in the air and went down hard; she was unable to go on. The music was stopped, and China's team physician assessed Zhang Dan's condition. After a few minutes, Zhang and Zhang elected to finish their program, picking up where they had left off. Zhang Dan bounced back, nailing the next move of the program, a double axel-triple toe loop combination. With the exception of a turnout on their throw triple loop, Zhang and Zhang skated a very nice program.

The crowd responded to their performance with a standing ovation. When the scores came up (a personal best for them) earning the team a silver medal, Zhang Hao lifted Zhang Dan in his arms and waved to the crowd. This team showed remarkable fortitude, persevering where many others would have crumbled -- commentators remarked that this was the exemplar of the Olympic spirit. They may not have won gold tonight, but their skate was more memorable by far.

Americans Hinzmann and Parcham finished 13th, and the North Korean team withdrew prior to the long program. See the full results here.

Olympic Recap, Day 3 (Non-Figure Skating)

2006-02-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

Americans won a handful of shiny medals in non-figure skating events today:

Joey Cheek won gold in the Men's 500m long track speed skating event.

And following in the footsteps (snowboard trails?) of the men's team led by "Flying Tomato" Shaun White, Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler captured gold and silver in Women's Halfpipe.

The U.S. currently sits third in the medal count, but we've got the most golds!

Olympic Recap, Day 2

2006-02-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

I didn't follow much of the Olympic coverage today. I've always intended to focus mostly on the skating events, as those are the ones about which I am most knowledgeable. But there are a few stories that may be of interest to American Olympic fans.

Apolo Anton Ohno had an uncharacteristic stumble today in the Men's 1500m short track speed skating event. This appeared to be the result of a tactical error on Ohno's part as he tried to take the lead. The South Korean duo of Ahn and Lee won gold and silver respectively. Ohno still has three events to go. (I'd also like to offer my condolences to Apolo on what the sports journalists have been doing with his last name when writing headlines to this story.)

The much talked about Bode Miller came up short today in the Men's Downhill. Miller came under fire going into the Olympics for being a bad role model; he's (in)famous for late night partying to excess and making comments about skiing while hung over. He finished fifth. His teammate Daron Rahlves, considered by many to be a favorite for this event, finished tenth.

But it wasn't all bad news for team U.S.A. Shaun White (aka the Flying Tomato) and Danny Kass took gold and silver, respectively, in the Men's Halfpipe.

Kwan withdraws

2006-02-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

Michelle Kwan announced today that she will be withdrawing from the Olympics. She had a rough practice yesterday, during which she had difficulty with her triple flip. One of her attempts on the jump resulted in a fall that exasperated the injury that kept Michelle from competing at Nationals last month. The injury was to the adductor muscle in her right hip, also commonly referred to as a groin strain.

Torino was to be Michelle's third Olympics and her last shot at Olympic gold. But she has always maintained that if her injury would prevent her from skating at an Olympic level, she would step aside. During a press conference today, Michelle remarked: "The Olympics is the greatest sporting event in the world and what's most important is that the United States fields the strongest team possible. As much as I'd love to represent the United States in Torino, I would never stand in the way of that.”

Taking Michelle's spot in Torino will be the bronze medalist at last month's Nationals, Emily Hughes. She's the younger sister of reigning Olympic champion Sarah Hughes. She is expected to leave for Torino as soon as the weather clears (read: blizzard subsides) in the eastern U.S.

Olympic Recap, Day 1: Pairs Short Program

2006-02-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

The Pairs Skating event got off to a great start tonight. The technical elements were solid, and most teams skated relatively clean programs. The Russians and Chinese teams dominated, as expected. The Russian pair of Totmiyanina and Marinin have almost a four point lead over the next team, Zhang and Zhang of China. Totmianina and Marinin are the heavy favorites for this event, especially since one of China's top teams, Shen and Zhao, is coming off a serious injury. Despite that injury, they skated well and are currently in fifth. The throws were amazing tonight.

A little bit of skating history was made when the top American team, Inoue and Baldwin, completed the first throw triple axel in Olympic history. It was a risk that paid off. It increased their level of difficulty, and they're currently in sixth place. The other American team, Hinzmann and Parchem, sit at 13th. See the full results here.

Now for my personal take on tonight's skating. I was glad to see that the level of skating was very high. Pairs can sometimes be riddled with mistakes to the point that the "least bad" team ends up winning. That wasn't the case tonight. (Nor was it at the last, judging scandal-filled Olympics in Salt Lake City; and of course they had to talk about that debacle during tonight's broadcast.) The Americans skated well. What our teams need is more speed and power. Inoue and Baldwin showed that we can throw up some impressive technical elements, but we still need more creativity and difficulty between moves. Hinzmann and Parchem show a lot of promise. They haven't been together as long as many of the other teams, but they're already exhibiting a grace and elegance that hint at what they could achieve. If they can hang in there for four more years, I like their chances at the next Winter Olympics. On a more personal note, it was nice to see Marcy in the Olympics. She looked incredibly happy to be there, and she skated great. The commentators even brought up Columbus, Ohio, and the OSU Ice Rink. Way to represent, Marcy!

The Russians, especially Totmiyanina and Marinin were fantastic. They're definitely the team to beat. What I found most impressive about this team was the rotational speed in their pair combination spin. Heads and shoulders above the rest. The Chinese are strong as usual. It's sad that Shen and Zhao are coming off a recent injury. They've matured so much over the years and might have given the Russians a good run for the gold. As it is, Zhang and Zhang will still give the Russians a handful.

Finally, I have to comment on the new scoring system. It's been in place at international competitions for a little while now, but I'm still coming to grips with it. It's still hard for me to see a score and know what it means; is 61.27 a good score? (Yes and no; tonight it was good enough for Inoue and Baldwin to get sixth.) I'm sure this will change over time and I get more used to the system. What I do like about the new scoring system is that it rewards good skating, beyond the ability to do one or two tricks (namely, jumps). Spins and footwork get more points and attention. I think this is good for the sport as a whole; we'll start to see (as we in fact already are) more intricate and interesting skating. I also like what the new system means for the long program.

Under the old scoring system, skaters in the top three slots "controlled their destiny" in the long program - if any of the top three teams after the short won the long, they were guaranteed to win the event. Anyone lower than third needed help to win; even if they won the long program, they would need at least one other team to throw in a great performance to knock down the higher placed teams. But the new scoring system has changed things around and keeps it interesting. Since the scores are based on accrued points, rather than ordinal placement, a stellar performance by any skater/team could vault them to the top of the podium.

But there's one thing I really don't like about the new system. Judging has become more secretive and confidential. While computes will randomly select marks from different judges to apply to the score, no one will ever know the marks of individual judges. This means that it is still possible for a judge to "fix" results. It may be less likely because there's only a chance that any one judge's marks will be selected, but it is still possible. And worst of all, no one will know. Maybe the ISU will know, but without transparency and public pressure, there's no reason to hold the judges accountable. After the events of Salt Lake City, I think greater transparency in judging, not less, would be more appropriate.

But I'll stop ranting and get off my soapbox now. Tonight's skating was great, and I look forward to the final. The Pairs long program will be broadcast on NBC at 8pm EST on Monday night.

P.S. For all the people who have been finding my blog searching for the Korean Olympic Team, I'm sorry to report that the North Korean pair team of Yong Myong and Yong Hyok are currently in 20th place after the short.

Alex on XL commercials

2006-02-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

Yes, I went to a Superbowl party. Susan and David hosted a fine shindig in the clubhouse of their apartment complex. Five TVs, a pool table, ping-pong table, cards, plenty of snacks and even a pinata. All in all, quite festive. Good times.

I didn't really watch much of the game. I spent most of my time playing pool and euchre. But I did catch some of the famed commercials. (For a complete recap on advertising's holy day, see Derek's recaps here and here.) But of the commercials I did see, here are my thoughts.

My five favorites:
1. Mastercard's MacGyver commercial - Because Richard Dean Anderson can save the world on a shoestring budget (pun intended). The final scene of the commercial with MacGyver at the checkout lane: priceless. I suggest a sequel in which a captured MacGyver uses his credit card to cut himself loose, unlock a door, and disarm a nuclear warhead.
2. Prehistoric FedEx commercial - Okay, the anachronism of dinosaurs and cavemen bothered me at first, but the commercial redeemed itself with the whole "But FedEx doesn't even exist yet!"/"Not my problem." exchange.
3. Diet Pepsi, The Client commercials - I liked both of these commercials, but particularly the stunt double commercial featuring Jackie Chan. Swapping out the Diet Pepsi for Diet Coke was amusing. I wonder if Diet Coke could run with this though -- "Diet Coke: Tougher than Diet Pepsi."
4. Careerbuilder Monkey commercial - Monkeys are funny. Monkeys dressed up in business attire and partying in a conference room are funnier. Monkeys in business attire partying because the company growth chart is purposefully rotated 90 degrees? Hilarious.
5. NFL Dr. Seuss commercial - Ah, the places you'll go. I think this football-themed commercial was more interesting than the game itself. And it had Harrison Ford.

Least favorite:
Monster Hummer commercial - Okay, maybe I just don't like their ginormous gas-guzzling SUVs. Maybe I'd rather not think about the love child of a city-rampaging robot and Godzilla's kid sister.

Most bizarre:
Emerald Nuts commercial - Um, say again???
Runner up:
Burger King Musical Number commercial - Women dressed up as burger ingredients? Ooookaay. "Springtime for Whoppers and Burger King..."

Fiddler's, chocolate, and the kindness of strangers

2006-02-07T14:10:00.000-05:00

A bunch of us went to Fiddler's Hearth on Friday night, in lieu of the law school's Winter Formal. It was really crowded, possibly because an Irish band was performing that evening. We got to hear them play a little bit before leaving. They were a three-person group (though they usually have four), including one guy who played the bagpipes. But as Brooke noted, they did not have a fiddler. Maybe he was on the roof. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

The service at Fiddler's left something to be desired. Still, the food was good, the company was good, and we even had a mysterious benefactor. Apparently a woman gave our waitress a $10 gift certificate for our table. We have no idea who it was.

For dessert we headed over to the South Bend Chocolate Cafe. It was also quite busy; we stood around for a while before a table opened up. They have lots of tasty treats to choose from. After perusing the selections, I finally overcame indecision and got some dark chocolate coconut haystacks and dark chocolate raspberry truffles. Both were very good.

Manatees roll on

2006-02-03T00:23:00.000-05:00

Despite attrition in our ranks, morale was high tonight. Blacklights, 80s music, and potent potables -- what's not to like?

Not much to say in the way of highlights tonight. Nugatory did manage to bounce a ball out of the gutter once, and I demonstrated the meaning of "choke" by following up two strikes by bowling a 1. I didn't get a turkey; I simply bowled like one. Well, maybe a turkey would've done better.

"I could've bowled better than that."

Yeah, so consistency continues to be our weak suit, but hopefully that will improve over time. Supposedly this was the last night of "practice," meaning that our scores didn't count. It all starts for real next week.

Phil says six more weeks

2006-02-02T11:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Groundhog Day!

Punxsutawney Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter. Who is this pint-sized furry meteorologist? Phil's been making weather predictions in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, since 1887 (see his all of his predictions here). He's billed as America's most famous groundhog, and was featured in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day and starred alongside Bill Murray. Phil's birthdate is listed "c. 1887," which would make him 119 years old. I don't think groundhogs, no matter how well pampered, live that long, so my guess is that it's similar to a Dread Pirate Roberts thing. Or maybe it's more like the typical sitcom plot involving replacing pets with a lookalike.

Want a second opinion? Staten Island Chuck and Wiarton Willie both predict an early spring. No word on whether resident weather nerd, Brendan Loy, saw his shadow today. :)

Exceptional Skaters

2006-02-01T16:12:00.000-05:00

I'd like to take a minute to preview some of the U.S. figure skating medal hopefuls for this year's Olympics. We're fielding some good skaters this year, but some have qualified for the event in rather unorthodox ways. As is frequently the case in such situations, there are a number of grumblers and naysayers. But as Stephen Colbert recently noted, "People who are good at something are exempt from the rules." (Go here and click on 'T.O.') In this case, however, it may be more appropriate to say that people who are good at something have special rules just for them.

First, consider the U.S. ice dance team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They're the reigning national champions. Belbin and Agosto also won the silver medal at last year's World Championships, America's first world medal in ice dance in 20 years. But until recently they were not eligible to represent the U.S. at the Olympics because Tanith Belbin was not a U.S. citizen (she's Canadian). Although she was in the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship, it would not go through in time for them to compete in Torino.

At least, that was the status of things until a few months ago. In December, during the waning days of 2005, Congress changed the law to speed up the naturalization process. In short, the legislation decreases the waiting period (from five years to three years) for "aliens of extraordinary ability." As a result, Belbin was sworn in as a U.S. on December 31. Now that Belbin and Agosto can compete on Olympic ice under the U.S. banner, America has its best chance at an Olympic medal in ice dancing since the sport's debut at the 1976 Games in Innsbruck. I didn't realize that U.S. Figure Skating had such a powerful lobby in Washington. But based on the timing and speed which this bill was passed and signed, it's pretty clear that the entire intent of this law is an attempt to grab a few extra medals later this month. For more on the inequities of the new law, check out this article.

The other U.S. figure skater who qualified for Torino in an unusual way was none other than Michele Kwan. She's the most decorated skater in history, and has won at every event save one -- the Olympics. Kwan's competed twice in the Olympics, earning silver and bronze medals. She has nine national titles and five world titles. Her mark on the sport may be second only to Sonja Henie. And now she's going to make one last bid for Olympic gold.

So what's the controversy? Michelle didn't compete in this year's nationals, the qualifying event for America's Olympic team, due to an injury. Instead she petitioned to be added to the U.S. Olympic team by what amounts to a medical bye. Usually the top three finishers at nationals will advance to the Olympics; Michelle basically asked U.S. Figure Skating to bump the bronze medalist in favor for placing her on the team. Such medical byes, while not commonplace, are certainly not unprecedented. The most famous example was the medical bye given to Nancy Kerrigan for the 1992 Lillehammer Games. Kerrigan won the silver that year, but success from a medical bye is the exception rather than the rule.

U.S. Figure Skating accepted Michelle's petition subject to a review of her abilities in late January. Last Friday, the five member team met to watch Michelle perform her short and long programs, and they ultimately agreed that she may compete later this month in Torino. I'm sure that being Michelle Kwan didn't hurt her case.

While it will be undoubtedly exciting to see big names like Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto and Michelle Kwan competing for the U.S. later this month, I can't help but feel for the alternates. There will always be people who can say, "That could have been me," but these athletes have a slightly stronger claim to the sentiment.

Just as an interesting aside, I know two of our Olympic competitors. Back when I used to compete, I actually competed against Ben Agosto (who had a different partner at the time). And Marcy Hinzmann, who will represent the U.S. in pairs with her partner Aaron Parchem, used to skate out of my home rink in Columbus as a member of the Columbus Figure Skating Club. Marcy and Aaron have a website that you can check out here.

Oscars, and me being a grouch

2006-01-31T15:11:00.000-05:00

Well, the nominees for this year's Academy Awards are out (see the list here). Looking over the list, it seems like I've seen even fewer of the nominated movies than usual. But perhaps even more interesting is that more than ever I'm not particularly interested in the movies considered to be the best of 2005. And given my lack of knowledge/interest in this year's crop, I don't think I'll be participating in any Oscar-picking contests.

I'm already aware that my taste in movies tends to be very different from the critics. I probably just don't appreciate fine filmmaking when I see it (for further evidence, check out my list of favorite movies). But I do have one particular bone to pick with the Academy. Why didn't the most recent Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, get a nomination for best visual effects?! Say whatever you will about the merits (or lack thereof) of it as a movie, but if there's one thing the Star Wars movies have it's eye candy. I don't mean to say that the nominees (Narnia, King Kong, and War of the Worlds) don't have some impressive visual effects. And I know that (for whatever reason) the Academy has chosen to limit this category to three nominees instead of the five for most other categories. And Revenge of the Sith did get a nod with a nomination for best makeup. But it still feels like a snub. I mean, War of the Worlds and not Revenge of the Sith? I know it's a Spielberg flick, but does War of the Worlds even deserve one (let alone three!) nominations?

Okay, rant over. Let's hope the upcoming year brings some more interesting movies, including a few I might be able to back come this time next year.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-29T15:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year, that is.

2006 (or, by the Chinese calendar, 4703) is the Year of the Dog.

China goes to the dogs.

For more on the Chinese New Year, click here, and for pictures of the big celebration check this out.

So to everyone out there, Kung hei fat choi! (Congratulations and be prosperous!)

UPDATE: Firework videos from Shanghai!

South Korean Olympic team prepares for Torino

2006-01-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, so not really. :) But these pictures are pretty funny. Check out all of them here.

A rose by any other name...

2006-01-27T00:53:00.000-05:00

Apparently the NDLS administration believes that the terms "Socials" and "Happy Hour" carry negative connotations of heavy drinking and drink specials. To combat this very serious problem, the administration has decided that such events shall be renamed "Hours of Fellowship."

Because clearly this name change is going to solve the underlying problem.

ICBMs

2006-01-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

Introducing this year's bowling team, the ICBMs. That stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Manatees. (It's a reference to a certain manatee that was inadvertently launched through the air in Professor Tidmarsh's torts exam from last year.)

Not our bowling team.

With our first strike capability we hope to rocket to the top of the standings, so long as our general lack of talent doesn't blow up in our faces. (Okay, I'll knock it off with the puns, I promise. Bet you're wishing I hadn't returned to blogging now, huh?) Tonight was just practice, so no real scores or highlights. But stay tuned, things are bound to get interesting in the upcoming weeks.

The secret weapon.

Back with 15 on 26

2006-01-26T15:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, yes, I know. Long time no post. Apparently people still read this thing. Or they would, if I would only post something for them to read. My recent lack of posts has even alarmed some, as emails and some blog posts have questioned my continued well-being.

Why haven't I been posting, you may well ask. I'm afraid that I cannot offer any really good or satisfactory explanation beyond a certain lack of creative vision. I won't go so far back as to recount the holidays, as nothing particularly eventful transpired anyway. But I will (hopefully soon) post some tidbits from Honor's recent visit to South Bend, as well as a few other odds and ends. It's spring semester, which means law school bowling is about to start up again (tonight, in fact). I plan to reprise my role as bowling blog correspondent for my team. Also, the Winter Olympics kick off next month, so there will be some skating-related posts to come.

And now, without further ado, I present my late entry for this month's list o' 15:

Top 15 Books

15. The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, Joshua Priven and David Borgenicht
I suppose you could consider this my (tongue in cheek) response to Derek's entry of the Boy Scout Handbook. While this is technically a series of books with advice for a wide range of situations, I'm most familiar with the original book. I'm not much of an adventurer myself, but it's good to know that if I ever find myself needing to land an airplane, escape from quicksand, fend off a shark, or perform an emergency tracheotomy, I can at least say I once read a book that told me how to do it.

14. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
Jules Verne's authored a number of visionary classics which were the forerunners of science fiction. I read many of his books as I was growing up. In 2KLUTS as I call it (okay, I really don't, but just didn't feel like typing out the title again, which is funny because I have now typed even more words just explaining the crazy acronym), Verne imagines life under the sea in the Nautilus, captained by the mysterious Captain Nemo. These ideas were later used by Disney and Pixar to create (a now defunct) amusement ride, a song title for an animated movie about a mermaid, and an animated film about a clownfish with asymmetric fins.

13. I, Robot, Isaac Asimov
Another fine entry under the genre of sci-fi. Asimov's creativity is astounding, and as with all science fiction, his stories speak as much to the human condition as the possibilities of future technology. I, Robot is a collection of short stories (cleverly tied together to a larger narrative) that considers the three laws of robotics and the philosophical problems they create. It's a wonderful and thought-provoking read.

12. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
Although Dan Brown is better known for The DaVinci Code, I think this is the better work (of the two -- I'm not familiar with his other titles). It features the same main character and a very similar formula, but I found it more exciting. The book features Rome and Vatican City, some clever riddles, and an interesting take on the relationship between science and religion.

11. Harry Potter (series), J. K. Rowling
I was skeptical when I first heard of Harry Potter, but after reading the first few pages of the first book a few years ago, I admit I'm hooked. Maybe they're kids books, but I find them very entertaining. Part of this is because Rowling's books have successfully balanced fun kid-oriented material with a deeper meaning and subtext that adults (and assuredly, precocious children) can pick up. In that way, the Harry Potter series lies somewhere between popular recent movies like Shrek and Finding Nemo and sophisticated classic comic strips like The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes.

10. The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
I'm all for great swashbuckling tales, and this is one of the greatest. Engaging characters, political intrigue, swordfights, this book has it all.

9. The Odyssey, Homer
My father was a big fan of classical mythology, and some of that love for the subject rubbed off on me. It's understandable how the tales from Greek mythology could appeal to a kid -- the stories are full of heroes, monsters, and very human-like gods and goddesses. The Odyssey is full of such great mythical characters.

8. Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Macbeth has a special place in my heart as the first Shakespearean play I ever read. In fact, for a school talent show I once acted out part of the play. Macbeth captures a very mysterious, almost creepy mood. It's full of murder, mayhem, and the supernatural. The Bard does fine work, and this tale has only gotten better as I've aged and re-read it.

7. The Brethren, Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong
As a general rule I prefer fiction to nonfiction, but The Brethren is an excellent book. It offers an inside look at the Supreme Court, a behind-the-scenes glance at the workings of the Court under Warren Burger. It covers many prominent cases and explains how things really work -- how opinions are assigned (and the headaches of "writing by committee"), how much the law clerks do, how deliberations go on -- it's a fascinating read. I highly recommend this book to anyone in/contemplating the legal profession or anyone curious as to how our country's highest court operates.

6. Contact, Carl Sagan
Sagan's Contact is probably my favorite science fiction work. It's a very thoughtful piece on the possibility of extraterrestrial life and how first contact might occur. But at its core, Contact is about how humans relate to each other both individually and as groups of people (nations, science and religion).

5. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
There are some pieces of literature that are (virtually) incontestably classics. This is one of them. It is sometimes funny, sometimes inspiring, and sometimes heartbreaking. Large themes like race and justice are showcased alongside the pains of growing up. Future lawyers who have read this book almost can't help wanting to be Atticus Finch. Saying that it's a very good book would be an understatement.

4. Hamlet, William Shakespeare
My favorite piece by Shakespeare -- the Best of the Bard. Great characters, great speeches, great plot. Eminently quotable. And as with all good Shakespearean tragedies, almost everybody dies.

3. The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard
Ahh, most people may expect a Tom Stoppard entry following Hamlet to be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Fooled you! But seriously, this is a fine play which holds a special place in my heart because I performed it on stage. Many thanks to my friend Monica who introduced me to this play and directed the performance. It's very witty, chock full of interesting takes on relationships and romance, and has some very quotable lines. Honor and I frequently quote bits and pieces back to each other. If you haven't read The Real Thing, you should at the next available opportunity.

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series), Douglas Adams
A trilogy in five parts. The HHGG is quite possibly one of the funniest things ever committed to paper in the written word. At any given time I could probably pick up one of the books, flip open to a random section, and just read for a while. This is one collection of books that may be dangerous to read in public if you're self-conscious about laughing out loud. The characters are lovingly crafted and the dialogue is very funny. But the occasional random musing on the nature of life and the universe is outright hysterical.

1. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton
Maybe it's not the best book of all time, but it is certainly my favorite. I'm pretty much a fan of all of Michael Crichton's books, but this one stands apart from the rest. If you were to glance at my bookshelf, you'd notice that Jurassic Park is the most worn book there. It works well as a thriller, as a science fiction piece, and a cautionary tale on technology gone amok. The characters are lively and engaging (particularly "chaotician" Ian Malcolm). And don't forget the star attraction: the dinosaurs.

Honorable Mentions:
Pride and Prejudice, Julius Caesar, King Lear, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Around the World in Eighty Days, Treasure Island, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Sphere, Fahrenheit 451, The Illiad, The Aeneid, many works my Poe, any number of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and some random children's books

Note: There are probably any number of books that I have not yet read that may make the list (or at least warrant an honorable mention) once I've finished it. This list is current as of 1/26/06.

The 15 on 15 -- Top 15 Movies

2005-12-15T13:34:00.000-05:00

I'm jumping on the bandwagon. The idea comes from Derek, who along with Ruvym and Ariel (and now Brooke) have posted their top 15 movies of all time. What follows is is a list of my favorite fifteen movies, not what I consider to be the "best" movies of all time (aka, I did not evaluate exclusively on quality of acting, cinematography, script, etc.). These are movies that I personally enjoy, and to me have a high "rewatchability" factor. Repeat viewing was an important factor in making this list, which adversely affected two groups of movies: recent releases and suspense/thriller/plot twist movies. A few movies that I enjoy that belong to those categories are included in the honorable mentions after the list. Now without further ado, my top 15:

15. Monty Python & The Holy Grail -- Wacky British humor, and eminently quotable. Absurd? Undoubtably. Hillarious? You bet.

14. Aladdin -- My vote for best Disney animated film. Casting Robin Williams as the voice of the geenie was a stroke of brilliance.

13. Hamlet -- Yes, the four-hour epic Kenneth Branagh version. Marquee cast, beautiful sets, and accurate down to the Bard's last line.

12. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (extended edition) -- Okay, so there are three movies here but I justify it as one entry because a) J.R.R. Tolkien intended it to be one story not three and Peter Jackson filmed all three at the same time.

11. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon -- A breathtaking piece of work visually - the martial arts scenes seem more poetic than belligerent. I recommend watching it with the original Mandarin dialogue and English subtitles. Dubbing would detract from the movie.

10. Pride and Prejudice (BBC miniseries) -- Another long piece but only because it does right by Jane Austen and remains faithful to the book. Often imitated, never duplicated. Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy.

9. The Shawshank Redemption -- A movie about hope and the triumph of the human spirit. First and foremost, this is a great story. It's well paced and very thought-provoking. There's a reason that so many people list Shawshank as one of their favorite movies.

8. Jurassic Park -- What can I say, I like dinosaurs. The T-rex scene is still one of my all-time movie favorites.

7. The Cutting Edge -- Practically obligatory for any ice skater. Sure it's a cheesy romantic comedy (and incredibly unrealistic on several levels), but anyone who's been in the world of competitive skating will appreciate the in-jokes and portayals.

6. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- Best of the series. Sean Connery makes the film, and he and Harrison Ford have an excellent rapport.

5. Amadeus -- An interesting take on the life of Mozart as seen from rival composer Antonio Salieri. Great music and a great movie.

4. A Few Good Men -- Come for the law drama, stay for the snappy (and quotable) Sorkin dialogue. For me, this movie has become practically synonymous with undergrad mock trial (mostly thanks to Derek). But much like Law & Order and almost any other lawyer movie, don't try this at home (er, at work?).

3. The Mask of Zorro -- A fun, fun movie perfectly complemented by popcorn. This is a great example of the Hollywood summer blockbuster. Swashbuckling s-word action? Check. Explosions? Check. Dashing rogue hero seeking revenge? Check. Compelling villians? Check and check. Sultry spanish dance scene? Check. And CZJ is easy on the eyes too.

2. Star Wars: Episode V --The Empire Strikes Back -- It was hard to pick one Star Wars movie for the list, and it's a close call between Empire and A New Hope (or just plain ol' Star Wars to most people). I like many elements from both movies, but Empire seems to age like a fine wine - I appreciate this movie much more now than I did when I was younger. I feel like I get a slightly different twist every time I watch it, and not just because of the prequels or the fact that George keeps changing things. I prefer the original or the '97 special edition.

1. Casablanca -- A timeless classic with engaging characters, a touching love story, and a wonderful non-stereotypical Hollywood ending. Also very quotable.

Honorable mentions (in random order):
Sabrina, Serenity, Pirates of the Caribbean, When Harry Met Sally, Contact, True Lies, Goldeneye, Gremlins, The Matrix, 12 Monkeys, The Usual Suspects, Sneakers, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Chicago, Roman Holiday, Some Like it Hot, High Fidelity, Ronin

A few harmless flakes

2005-12-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

That's right, we're talking snow.

We've had a few snowfalls this year in South Bend, but yesterday was the first significant snowstorm of the season. Up until then we've had maybe an inch or so of accumulation and lots of flurries (some have remarked that the flurries seemed like "movie set snow"* -- the kind that just seems to hang in the air). Yesterday's storm dumped several inches (maybe 9"?). Brooke told me this morning that it took her 45 minutes just to dig her car out of the snow. What a great kickoff for finals season here at NDLS.

As the storm headed east, Derek had to spend the night in a hotel rather than head home. His car was covered in snow, though that's nothing compared to the cars here in the Bend. Things got even more interesting further east -- Honor experienced an interesting phenomenon known as "thundersnow." This is the first I've ever heard of such a storm, but then again I'm not much of a weather nerd.

It's been more or less clear all day today, and when I don't have to be out trudging around in it, the snow is pretty to look at. With a little imagination, I can picture myself in a cozy little ski village rather than here in Indiana. A day of skiing (and perhaps some après-ski) sure beats studying for/taking finals. And by skiing, I mean downhill skiing, not cross-country. I'll let gravity do most of the work, thanks. There's also a part of me -- call it my "inner child" -- that would rather be fashioning snowman works of art. After all, that too would far beat the whole finals rigamarole. But at least this time next week I'll have another semester of law school behind me. We're supposed to get a few more inches of snow tomorrow, but hopefully things will be clear for the drive back to Ohio.

* Take the movie snow challenge! Name each of the following movies (by leaving a comment or emailing me), based on these snowfall images:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

First person with the most correct wins a prize of my choosing.

Get those Tostitos ready...

2005-12-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

It's official: Ohio State and Notre dame will head to Tempe, Arizona to duke it out in the Fiesta Bowl. It's a can't-miss game for an "Irish Buckeye." It'll be an interesting matchup, and one I didn't expect to see for a while.

In anticipation of the occasion, here are links to each school's fight song:

First, Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame...
Then hear the Buckeye Battle Cry!

For more news on the BCS bowls and the impending OSU-ND Fiesta matchup, check out Brendan's blog.

Sopranos in the Stacks

2005-12-01T17:24:00.000-05:00

The ND Law Library staff has apparently become so fed up with the behavior (specifically, not adhering to the law library rules) of some law students that they've resorted to threats and beatings. A recent email sent to law students explains:

Turns out [Day Access Services Supervisor Mary] Cowsert told [the law student] she always “gets upset” when students don’t observe the rule about cell phone use in the library. She then followed up her statement with a right cross and a left hook. As [the student] hit the floor, she finished him off with a swift kick to the mid-section.

The email concludes with the following thinly veiled threat:

Students who enjoy maintaining possession of their teeth or who prefer their brown/green/hazel eyes to “black and blue” ones should follow the library cell phone rule.

Is it just me, or does this sound more like South Jersey* than South Bend?

*I apologize in advance to the fine people of the state of New Jersey.

Psych LOTD

2005-11-28T16:36:00.000-05:00

I think I may have read this article before...

Irish-Buckeye Fiesta?

2005-11-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

Ohio State and Notre Dame both had good seasons this year, and both ended with 9-2 records. Both are BCS eligible, and could end up facing each other in a bowl game this year -- the Fiesta Bowl. That would be quite the matchup for an "Irish Buckeye."

Should OSU and ND duke it out in the Fiesta Bowl, my loyalties would be divided between my alma mater (OSU) and my current school (ND). I didn't expect such a situation to arise, since the two schools weren't scheduled to play each other (during the regular season, which schools have some control over) for any of the three years I'm here in South Bend. But the general rule is that your alma mater trumps all. [Of course, I feel that there should be some exceptions to this; if OSU and ND were scheduled to play during the regular season, and ND was on a possible national championship run whereas OSU wasn't, I think I'd have to root for ND.] So if Ohio State and Notre Dame are selected to play in the Fiesta Bowl, I'll be sporting scarlet and gray. Although I may wear some Notre Dame apparel as well. Fortunately for my ND friends, I'll be at home during the Fiesta Bowl and not around to harrass them when OSU wins. :) Although I'll have to make a note to avoid wearing my OSU shirts and sweatshirts for a while at the beginning of next semester if the two teams do play over break.

Despite the divided loyalties thing, I'd actually look forward to such a pairing. It's sure to be an interesting and exciting game between two very good teams with different playing styles. But perhaps the biggest benefit of an OSU-ND matchup is not having to switch channels during the game to check up on both teams.

For those interested in sports stat stuff: The Fiesta Bowl has been kind to OSU in recent years; they've been to Tempe twice in the past five years (2003, vs. Miami; 2004, vs. Kansas St.), winning both times. One of those wins was for the 2002 National Championship, where the Buckeyes bested Miami in double overtime. Notre Dame's last two trips to the Fiesta Bowl (1995, vs. Colorado; 2001, vs. Oregon St.) were considerably less successful: both were losses for the Irish.

Munch and crunch time

2005-11-27T22:38:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving. As usual, I didn't get as much work done as I would have (ideally) liked, but I did get some stuff done. I also got to catch up with parents and sister, relax a bit, eat plenty of food (two Turkey Days, actually), and most importantly, spend time with Honor. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and she's definitely at the top of my list.

But unfortunately, it's now back to work. And it's a bit more than the daily grind, as finals are fast approaching. But at least it's good to know that in three weeks time I'll have another semester of law school behind me -- it'll be the halfway mark of my legal eduacation.

Pillaging, plundering, and litigating

2005-11-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

As I've posted a few times before, I really think a career in pirate law would be incredibly exciting. Think of it: sailing, sunny and exotic tropical locales, payment in rum and Spanish doubloons... what's not to like? Adding to the allure of this swashbuckling vocation is the opportunity to make commercials like this. Yarrrr... so who want's to join me floatin' law offices?

Feeding the Blog Monster

2005-11-16T11:51:00.000-05:00

"Bloggy"

To all of you out there racked with disappointment because of the lack of recent posts, rest assured that new posts will be coming soon. Until then, I leave you with this portrait of Bloggy the blog monster, an internet dwelling creature that draws sustenance from the ramblings of the world's bloggers. In order to better acquaint you with this character, Bloggy recently agreed to sit for an interview. An excerpt of that interview follows.

Mr. Bloggy, is it true that your very existence depends on the posting activity of the blogging community?
Bloggy starve with no food. Bloggy want eat.
Do you bear any relation to Pac-Man or The cheat?
Me Bloggy. Me hungry. Feed Bloggy.
Your torso looks like a Pollock painting gone terribly awry. Is it true that you are actually a malevolent piece of fuzz and/or lint?
FEED BLOGGY! (unintelligible) Bloggy eat now... Bloggy eat interview! (unintelligible crunching and munching sounds)

Okaaaaaaaaaay, yes I am insane. Anyway, I hope this little piece of utter randomness tides you over until my next *real* post.

Boston Saga, Part 4: From Asia to Italy

2005-11-07T00:46:00.000-05:00

Honor and I spent Friday afternoon exploring Cambridge and poking around some of the shops. We had lunch at a nice little Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong (aka "The Kong"). The food was really good, and there was plenty of it. Later that night we had Indian food at a place called The Bombay Club. Again we were served a large quantity of excellent food.

After sleeping in on Saturday (a pleasure in which we law students don't get to indulge too often), we set off to explore some of Boston. First we visited Chinatown, where we had dim sum at Chau Chow City (why is it that practically every other Chinese restaurant feels obligated to make a bad pun with its name?). I've had dim sum on several occasions, but never had I been responsible for ordering the food. For anyone's who's not done dim sum before, you have to understand that this is not your typical dining experience. You don't get menus; instead, waiters/waitresses come by with carts of different small dishes, and you pick out what you want. I recognized a few things from prior dim sum outings, but I was mostly flying blind. Still, Honor and I did pretty well. Notable highlights: the sticky rice and meat cooked in lotus leafs, steamed pork dumplings, and red bean buns. Disappointment: shrimp still in their shells, with all legs still attached.

Saturday started out as cold and drizzly. The weather only got worse as the day progressed. We spent most of the afternoon ducking in and out of shops. In Chinatown, Honor and I visited a Chinese grocery store (she'd never been in one before) and a kitschy little store that sold the cheesy knick knacks that you usually only see in Chinese restaurants. When we got downtown, we went to a few clothing stores where Honor looked for a new coat. Alas, we weren't able to find anything to her liking.

Then it was off to the North End and Little Italy. Along the way, we experienced the wind tunnel known as Congress Street. The combination of wind, rain, and cold was absolutely brutal. We stopped at a gift shop along the Freedom Trail to get our bearings and thaw out a bit. Unlike the micro mini umbrella Honor had purchased* (generally ineffective against the typhoon conditions of Congress Street), the laminated (and thus, rain-proof) map of Boston proved to be an excellent investment.

We continued our trek to the North End and after braving more of the wind, rain, and all-around lousy weather, we found ourselves in Little Italy. We decided to warm up and dry out a bit in an Italian coffee shop. We sipped our coffee, chatted, and had a good time. Eventually the coffee shop began filling up, and we decided to free up a table and leave. We weren't quite ready to have dinner yet, so we perused a CVS for a little while.

Our original plan was to have dinner at Pomodoro, but it was really crowded and there were people waiting outside in the rain for a table. So we went down the street a bit and had dinner at Piccola Venezia instead. We were told it would be a half hour wait, but at least there were some open seats indoors where we could wait. We only had to wait for fifteen minutes before a table opened up. The food was very good, but the portions were large (and we were still a bit full from the dim sum), so we took a good portion of our dinners home in boxes.

Our trek home was, if anything, colder, wetter, and windier than anything we had experienced all day. By the time we got home, we felt a glass of wine would really hit the spot. But in opening a bottle of Spanish wine, the corkscrew broke off in the wine cork. I've never seen anything like it. After about half an hour (maybe longer) of chipping away, we finally got to the wine. Thankfully, the wine was very good and worth the effort.

Sunday morning was fairly uneventful. I retrieved my wallet, and Honor and I had a light breakfast in Harvard Square. We said our goodbyes, and I boarded to subway back to South Station to catch the train back to South Bend.

*I confess that I more or less recommended buying the small umbrella. I figured it would fit in her law school bag better (her last umbrella had fallen out of one of the side pockets). Plus it was kind of cute. Anyway, I must admit that it was not one of my better suggestions.

Boston Saga, Part 3: The One L Crucible

2005-11-07T00:24:00.000-05:00

I got to sit in on a few CivPro classes with the legendary Arthur Miller (note: not the playwright). If you've ever read One L by Scott Turow, I think the evil Contracts professor was modeled off of Miller. (I also envisioned the Contracts professor in The Paper Chase.) It was interesting sitting in on the class, and rather enjoyable (although I attribute that in large part to the comfort of knowing that I would not be called on). I found the Thursday CivPro class to be fairly benign, especially considering Miller's reputation.

But on Friday, the gloves came off. Friday also happened to be Harvard's Alumni Fall Visit day (or something), so the back of the classroom was filled with (mostly not-too-recent) graduates of HLS. Many of them were now prominent lawyers and judges, and many of them had had Miller when they attended HLS. Given this audience, it seemed Miller felt the need to "show off" a bit. And by "show off" I really mean "be sadistic to some 1Ls." I felt bad for the poor soul who was the day's cold call victim for the Erie case. But I must say the student took all of Miller's jabs in stride. He even managed to engage in a bit of witty repartee himself, though Miller took care to have the last word in every exchange. But by far the worst comment of the day was, "Whatever happened to the vaunted interdisciplinary education of our Harvard law students? Did we make a mistake in admitting you all?" It even made me cringe. Frankly, law school (and especially the first year) is hard enough when you're asked questions out of the case and the following notes. Some of Miller's queries came from beyond what students should be expected to know (and yet he made it seem that the answers should be obvious). It's the kind of "hiding the ball" stuff that drives many a 1L crazy. I can only hope that Professor Miller eased up a bit once his audience of alumni departed.

After CivPro Honor and I went out to lunch with several of her classmates. Alas, I was ID-less at the time and could not partake of the lunchtime spirits. Honor assured me, however, that the Pumpkin Ale was quite tasty. (And it was -- I did sneak a sip.) Though I didn't get a chance to talk much with Honor's classmates, they seemed like a good bunch.

Once lunch wrapped up, Honor was off to her Legal Research/Writing class. I waited out in the hallway and did some reading. After that, we went to a "happy hour" held on campus - basically a kegger sponsored by the Students Against Domestic Violence group. We felt very safe drinking in the courtyard that had been designated a "Rape-Free Zone." Thursday night we had dinner at a cool little Thai place.

Happy Halloween

2005-10-31T16:27:00.000-05:00

Generally I'm not a fan of dressing up pets. But this was just too funny not to post. (Picture taken from this site.)

It also provides a perfect segue into my next story. Professor Velasco made it totally worth it to go to BA this morning. He came into class wearing a Darth Vader helmet (the new one that comes with sound effects). After striking a few classic poses, he took off the helmet to start class. But even this was part of the show; because of the way the helmet is constructed and Prof. Velasco's prefered "hairstyle," his unmasking played out very much like the end of Return of the Jedi. It was undoubtedly the most amusing BA moment of the semester.

Boston Saga, Part 2: Lost and Found

2005-10-30T13:25:00.000-05:00

As I crossed to street to greet Honor (in Harvard Square), my wallet slipped out of my back pocket. Honor saw it fall, and immediately let me know. I retrieved it and, genius that I am, I put it back in the same pocket. We headed off, leaving Harvard Square to go to Honor's dorm. We decided to take the scenic route through Harvard Yard (where, surprisingly, no cars were parked). About ten minutes into our trek, I realized that I had once again lost my wallet. Leaving my bags with Honor, I retrace my steps hoping to find my wallet where I had dropped it. After a fruitless search, I returned to where Honor was waiting, and enlisted her help in going over our steps again and adding a second pair of eyes to the search. Again, we found nothing. I had been in Cambridge for less than an hour and already lost my wallet. Unbelievable.

Upon reaching Honor's dorm, I called the Harvard Police and the Cambridge Police to let them know I had lost my wallet. I described it, and then left my name and cell number in case it turned up. I also cancelled my credit card. Still, I was thinking about what else was in my wallet: cash, some gift cards, my student ID, and my driver's license (which incidently has my SSN on it). It's actually amazing to me how much of my life is inside my wallet. So there I was in Cambridge with no way to prove who I was and about $1.50 to my name. Thankfully I was with Honor. She was very helpful, understanding, and supportive. I can't imagine what I would do if I had lost my wallet while travelling/staying on my own.

As the weekend progressed with no word from the police, I really began to worry. Not only would it be a hassle to replace my various IDs and such, I could easily become a victim of identity theft. Ironically, I had been reading all about phishing and online identity theft (for my Cyberlaw paper) throughout my trip.

Then Saturday night, I got a call from my mom. She had received a call from the Harvard police that my wallet had been found. (The call actually came on Thursday afternoon. My mom was out of town at the time, but my dad was home. He has a habit of never answering the phone, but I don't know why he didn't call be after hearing the message (assuming he even listened to the message, that is).) Interoffice communication must have broken down, and they ended up calling my mom instead of me. I got in touch with the Detective who had called my mom, and picked up my wallet Sunday morning. It was completely in tact, cash and all.

So this little crisis had a happy ending, and I was only inconvenienced for a few days. I'm not sure who found my wallet and turned it into the Harvard police, but this is proof that there are good people out there. While it's unfortunate that this happened, at least it's reaffirmed by belief in the goodness of human nature.

*Note: My trip to Boston was actually really wonderful, despite the impression you might get from reading the first two posts about the Boston Saga. I'm just retelling events in a more or less chronological fashion, and as you can see things got off to a bit of a rocky start.

Boston Saga, Part 1: Derailed

2005-10-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

The day before I left for Boston, I saw an ad for this movie. Meanwhile, Honor had been reading some of the train accident cases for Torts. Though these less-than-auspicious portents might worry the average traveler, I intrepidly headed out to embrace my train destiny.

Things started out a bit rocky. I had thought that the Amtrak station was at the South Bend airport; it's not. Oh, there are trains that leave the airport - the South Shore line with service to Chicago. Not what I was looking for. So I arrived at the airport about 45 minutes before my train was scheduled to depart only to realize that no train bound for Boston (via Albany) would ever be leaving from the South Bend airport. A sense of dread overtook me as I started back to my car. Fortunately, I knew Meghan was in town for the week and she was far closer to an internet-connected computer than I was. She was kind enough to look up where the actual Amtrak station was and give me directions to there from the airport.

Fifteen minutes and fifty cents later, I arrived at the South Bend Amtrak station. Which is basically a shack in the middle of nowhere that just happens to be next to some train tracks. I picked up my internet-purchased tickets from the window and found out that the train was running a little late. This was not terribly surprising, as many people I'd talked to had warned me that Amtrak is notorious for running behind schedule.

My train was scheduled to depart at 9:25 pm. Actual time of departure: 11 pm. So I'm running about 90 minutes behind. But no worries, the connection in Albany is guaranteed.

The train was nice. The seats are larger than airline or bus seats with a lot more legroom. The seats can be reclined quite a way back. There are even footrests. And there's plenty of room for your luggage.

I drifted off to sleep for a few hours. At about 4:30 am I woke up and realized the train wasn't moving. I looked out a window and realized that we were at a train station, so I figured it was just a scheduled stop.

I had just started to nod off again when a conductor began to address our car. It seems we weren't as far along as I had thought we'd be -- we were only in Toledo. Additionally, we would be in Toledo for much longer than the time generally alotted for the stop. A freight train ahead of us derailed, and was blocking us from going any further east. The conductor explained that he didn't know much more at that time. Depending on the extent of the derailment, we might be bussed elsewhere. Great. As we waited for more information, the conductor told us we'd be free to get off the train and wait in the Toledo station. I was still sleepy and fiarly comfortably situated, so I elected to stay put.

A short time later, the conductor once again addressed our car. The Toledo station had all the necessary equipment on hand to put the freight train back on the rails, but it would take some time. On the bright side, I wouldn't have to take a bus. But it did mean we'd be running WAY behind schedule.

The train was supposed to depart Toledo at 1:30 am. Actual time of departure: 10 am. I'm now running 8 1/2 hours behind. Lovely. It's about this time that I began to really regret taking Amtrak. I should have just sucked it up and bought a plane ticket.

After talking to a conductor, I found out that no matter how late we arrived in Albany, there would be a train to take me to Boston. So at least I don't have to worry about missing my connecting train and being marooned in Albany.

At around 1 pm (the time my second train was supposed to be leaving Albany), I called Honor to let her know that I'm running way behind schedule and wouldn't be getting into Boston that night. It looked like we had made up a little time, and now were only running 8 hours behind. So I told Honor that I'd give her a call when I got to Albany, around 8:30-9 pm.

But somewhere between Utica and Schenectady, more delays cropped up; signal "difficulties" brought our train to a crawl. At 9, I call Honor again and let her know that I'm still not in Albany, though I'm getting closer. We arrange to meet in Harvard Square early the next morning.

We finally pulled into Albany at 10 pm. We're back to 8 1/2 hours behind schedule. But at least there was a train there waiting to take me to Boston. That train pulled out of the station at about 10:30. After settling into my seat and giving my ticket to the conductor, I leaned back and drifted off to sleep. This leg of the journey went remarkably smoothly. We even made up quite a bit of time. According to the schedule, the second part of my trip was supposed to last 5 hours, 20 minutes. So I was expecting to get into Boston at 4 am at the earliest. Instead, we arrived at about 3 am. But at this point, the made-up time was of little consequence. It just meant I'd be waiting around the Boston's South Station until the subway opened up instead of sleeping onboard the train.

I killed about 2 hours at South Station, doing some reading and playing around with my laptop. Eventually one of the train station shops opened up (au bon pain) and I got some breakfast. A little after 6 am, I headed down the stairs to the South Station T stop. After an uneventful subway ride, I finally arrived at Harvard Square. I waited for a few minutes on a bench outside the T until Honor showed up. Although I arrived at Harvard Square about 11 1/2 hours later than I originally planned, it was all worth it when I saw Honor walking toward me.

Update snack

2005-10-18T16:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but alas the drought will last a little while longer. Consider this post a little tidbit to hold you over. Of course if you get bored with checking for new posts here, feel free to peruse some of the blogs over on the right. Brendan and Derek tend to be far more prolific in their updates.

Now for a quick whirlwind tour over what's been going on:

Callback interview - I enjoyed the trip out to D.C. I really liked the firm. That's all I'll say here; if you want more details, be sure to contact me via email, IM, or in person.
"Thanks, Danny. I love Washington." -- Col. Nathan Jessup (A Few Good Men)

College football - Ohio State got off to a rocky start but ultimately prevailed over Michigan State. Notre Dame played its heart out against USC but lost in the final seconds. The hardest part of swallowing the defeat was the fact that the officials let the clock run out, so ND fans thought we'd actually won the game. Side Rant: I'm tired of hearing USC fans saying that ND played its best and was still beaten by a USC team that wasn't playing its best. Even if I buy the argument that USC isn't playing up to its potential, so what? Let's face it, USC has been scraping by. At best, they're (lazily) doing just enough to get by the teams they face (with the help of a few lucky breaks here and there); at worst, USC just isn't the team USC fans keep saying it is. My take is that USC is no longer the powerhouse team they were last year, and they are definitely beatable. We're halfway through the season, and frankly I'm not all that impressed. USC will get its comeuppance soon.

Chillicothe, OH - Still boring. But sudoku is pretty cool.

Skating - Yesterday I returned to the ice after a nearly two month absence. Luckily, I can still skate, and even remember my dances. I need to work on stamina though... maybe I can hit a few sessions during the second half of the semester. If I feel bold, I might even try jumping. I just have to put 911 on speed dial first.

Boston, MA - In a few hours I'll be boarding a train headed to Boston, via Albany, NY. It'll be a very long trip (I won't arrive until tomorrow night), but it'll be more than worth it. And I have plenty of work to keep me busy along the way. I'll get to check out Beantown, stroll through Harvard, and most importantly, see Honor. Fortunately the Red Sox are done for the season, so there won't be any baseball craziness in Boston this year. Look for a Boston recap when I get back next week.

The wonders of modern marvels -- Cyberlaw QOTD

2005-10-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

"TiVo changed my life!" -- Prof. Bellia

Our professor then went on to explain how useful TiVo was for situations where you have to put your children to bed during a Boston Red Sox game.

When a student pointed out that that shouldn't be a problem anymore (since the Red Sox are out of the playoffs and therefore done for the season), Bellia retorted, "It's a good thing you're auditing this class."

A pat on the back

2005-10-12T14:43:00.000-05:00

Funny clip of the day.

Thanks to Nugatory for the tip.

Great Bilbo's Bones!

2005-10-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

...or alternatively, Concerning Hobbits.

Today's "Truth is Stranger than Fiction" story will probably be of interest to LOTR fans.

A 12,000 year old jawbone discovered in a cave in Indonesia adds to evidence suggesting the existence of a separate species of early humans. Most anthropologists believe that a diminutive hobbit-like species of humans lived on the island of Flores, apparently stranded there along with a whole host of miniaturized animals, including dwarf elephants. However, some scientists have proposed a different theory -- the specimens recovered are simply bones of modern humans who suffered from microencephaly (a broad genetic disorder that results in small brain size) or dwarfism. You can read the full story here.

I think the next time I want to make fun of someone for doing something dumb I'll have to ask them whether they suffer from microencephaly.

From the random holiday files

2005-10-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Columbus Day.

The benefit of being a judge or some other government employee is that you get random holidays like today. Unfortunately I still have class.

Razzle-dazzle weekend

2005-10-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

"I Strenuously object? Is that how it works? Objection. Overruled. No, no, no, no, I strenuously object. Oh well if you strenuously object, let me take a moment to reconsider."
-- A Few Good Men

Just a quick post as I take a break from my trial prep for this weekend. It's going to be an all-Trial Ad, all the time weekend. I'll be in a total of four trials, two as lawyers, two as witnesses. Ah, just like the ol' mock trial days.

The two "important" trials are the ones in which I'll be a lawyer (as this is all part of a law school class). Saturday afternoon I'll be defending a liquor store which allegedly knowingly sold alcohol to someone who was allegedly intoxicated. (Note the use of "allegedly," the defense attorney's favorite word.) Then Sunday morning I'll be prosecuting a former police officer who brutally shot her boyfriend twice in the chest. (Note the absence of the word "allegedly.")

My co-counsel for both cases is Kristine, another former mocker. We're something of an unholy alliance -- she's a Michigan grad.

My witness roles: a police officer (somewhat less shady than Officer Gerch -- at least I won't be accused of planting evidence) and a Belgian marketing director.

It's like Mock Trial: Gold Edition -- now with all new features: juries and real judges!

I'm looking forward to it: the rush of adrenaline as you start an opening or closing; the satisfaction of pinning down a witness on cross; the momentary panic of an unexpected response; nervous pacing during the breaks... Ah, good times.

And I'm sure there'll be a number of interesting moments (think neglify, pot machines, and pits of shale -- if you're not familiar with these stories, I'll have to fill you in sometime) over the weekend. Look for a highlight reel of memorable moments sometime next week.