¡Fiesta!

So, uh, happy César Chavez Day. The pool was closed, but it was raining so I guess that's alright. I wouldn't have gone anyway.

We're Trying To Ride That Brain Angle

The guys who write the online comic juggernaut Penny Arcade have started recording their brainstorming sessions where they plot out ideas for the next strip. You can hear the latest one here. You have to be a huge nerd to get even half of it, and a much bigger nerd than me (which would really be saying something) to get it all, but it's neat to see how a strip comes together. They wind up paying a lot more attention to pacing than I would have guessed. And in the end, they wind up throwing away everything they thought of in the first half. You can see the final product here.

But in either case, the first minute of the recording is hysterical. Go listen, I promise. "There are so many unanswered questions!"

Do You Quarrel, Sir?

I don't know about you, but when I hear the back and forth about the Sicilian hand gesture Scalia made to a reporter the other day, I can't but think of a play:

Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir.
Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. [Aside to Gre.] Is the law on our side, if I say ay?
Gre. No.
Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

Romeo and Juliet Act I: Scene I

I don't see why anyone is surprised about this. We've known for a long time that, whatever one thinks of his judicial philosphy, Scalia is a jerk. He relishes the role. And if you can't use life tenure to maybe-not-quite flip someone off inside a church, that what is it good for?

Border Skirmishes

I've been reading about the immigration-reform protests in the paper and online, but I had no idea it would get nasty so quickly. I saw footage of police wrestling down a high school student at a protest on the evening news tonight. When they dragged him off his face looked bloodied but defiant.

From watching the politics of immigration in California and Germany, I always expected this debate to be ugly, I'm starting to think I greatly underestimated how much.

Sunny San Diego

So, it's raining. What the hell?

There's No Need To Fear

Underdog Is Here!

Whan your team fails to qualify and your bracket bracket goes pear shaped as early as mine did, you're nothing but thrilled to see all the 1 seeds out of the tournament. Go Bruins!

Going Going Back Back

I have never needed a spring break as much as I need this one. Tonight I'll be back in San Diego, where sixty degree weather is considered cold.

Also, I played this kareoke game on the Xbox with some friends last night. That sort of thing is really fun. It almost makes me want to learn to sing.

A Brief Struggle

I'm off to turn in my appellate brief for Legal Research and Writing. For all the anguish I saw it causing around campus all week, I thought it went surprisingly smoothly. I started editing after dinner yesterday and got to bed by 12:30.

Three lessons learned:
1. It is SO much easier to be a respondent than an appellant. Your argument is much simpler, as you just have to say, "Appellants say X, Y, and Z, but they are being ridiculous. The district court was right. They are way smart. And sexy."
2. Microsoft Word has some stupid powerful features. Learn to mark your headings and citations, and it will make the tables for you automatically. This is so cool.
3. Choose your partner well. Mine was randomly assigned, and luckily I got someone of similar temperament who always got her work done with time to spare. Nicole, I love you.

Now, time to go make red cover pages! Whee!

Spring!

Yay!

Bracketology

In my inbox this morning:

So [student name] leads the pack and the battle for the wine after the first 32 games, picking an impressive 25 of them correctly in an upset-filled round. This places him in the top 2.1% of all brackets filled out on espn, as shown in the right column. Impressively, all non-alum members of Sigep are doing better than the national average. Sorry Trevor, if we were having a contest to fill out the worst possible first round bracket, I’m not sure I could have beat you.

Rounders

I'm proud to announce that I was the very first student eliminated from tonight's charity poker tournament. I went out on the first hand when I was in for half my starting chips with a higher two pair than my opponent and he hit a a boat on the river, and I called to lose all my money.

Sometimes the bear gets you.

After Party

Parody is over. I'm kind of sad it's over, but it will be nice to have those 30+ hours a week back. Maybe I'll learn some law or something.

I met Jeremey Blachman tonight. He's much smaller in person that I imagined.

Foul Trickery

"I can't believe how nice it is today!"
"I know. I heard the high was 65!"
"You know why that is, right?"
"Spring?"
"No, it's admitted students' weekend. It's always warm for that."
"Oh yeah, it was like this last year too."
"It always is. Kagan must have a special deal with God or something."
"God? Dude, this is a law school. Who do you think we'd really make a deal with?"

Our Own Backyard

They found liquid water on one of Saturn's moons. Awesome.

Vagina Monologue

I think I might be the kind of person who gets his ass fired for doing somehting stupid at the company Christmas party. But today Cella reminds how comforting it is to learn that some people have stories even more embarassing than yours.

I Award You No Points

When video of the Parody gets out I will be all but unconfirmable, but if I was a judge, I too would quote Adam Sandler movies in my opinions.

Hangin' Out

Professor CrimLaw:

The overwhelming majority of murders are commited by young people. People my age, we just chill.

Leg: Broken

Opening night was a success! My hall was there and they said they were laughing from start to finish. For a while there I was worried that all the jokes would only be funny to those of us that had heard them for weeks and weeks. But it went great, and I even got to meet one of the people I play after the show.

The cast party afterwards was something else too. I remember playing Champagne Pong, and at some point I lost my shirt and decided to wrestle the producer. He actually knows how to wrestle. This morning, I am bruised.

HLS JD, P.I.

Once someone on the hall learned you can look up marriage licenses on Lexis, he immediately set about researching our families. It was all for laughs until he uncovered one father's previous marriage of five years, that he had never told his children about. Remember what Spider-Man syas, kids: with great power comes great responsibiilty.

Basket Case

Things I thought I'd never learn in law school:

1. How to throw a cheerleader into the air.



2. How to catch a person so thrown.