November 2004 Archives

The photographic remnants of Molly and my Thanksgiving weekend are available for your viewing pleasure here. And now, a few highlights.

On Thursday Molly cooked a fabulous dinner, all by her damn self, which was enjoyed by the two of us along with Zack and Lydia. The evening went well except for me dropping half the cornbread stuffing on the floor, and Molly proved to herself once and for all that she's a badass in the kitchen.

On Friday we jackassed down to Orange County, where we hung out with Molly's mom and brother in Newport Beach before Molly and my stepmother got manicures and pedicures. As the women got their hands and feet seen to, Mike, my dad and I went and drank beer and talked about sports and cars. We then regrouped for dinner at an Italian restaurant where I struggled to keep the political differences between our respective families from pouring out on to the table. Mentioning Ted Olsen as a possible Boalt graduation speaker was probably a bad move on my part.

Saturday, Molly and I joined my family along with the Shamrock Club of San Bernardino for an all-day tailgate party leading up to the USC-Notre Dame game. Notre Dame got their asses handed to them, which I wouldn't have minded except that we were seated in a rather high-traffic area and therefore had to endure group after group of USC assholes giving us the business. I countered by pointing out that their school mascot is only famous for having lost a war, but by that time the marching band was playing Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" and the whole stadium was chanting "U-C-L-A sucks!" It was then, and only then, that I regretted not wearing my UCLA Law t-shirt. Over the course of the day I consumed five donuts and four and a half beers. Therefore, it was a good day.

Sunday wasn't interesting at all since we spent eight hours of it in the car. It should be noted, however, that 1000 miles of driving still didn't get us all the way through the Hobbit book on tape, though it got us damn close. I now have this theory that Bilbo represents America, Gandalf is England, and all that crap outside Hobbiton is Europe, but that theory is unlikely to be developed at this time.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is another clumpy strip post. This week there are three. Three strips you shouldn't bother reading. You shouldn't read about my adorable pest problem, you should ignore the archaic language announcing Boalt's daring leap into the 19th Century, and you shoud steer clear of the senseless violence inherent in the Class of 2005 Campaign. And if you read Kristina's blog, you already know why.

Quite simply, once you've experienced the Perry Bible Fellowship, there will be no point in reading any other comic strips, ever again. Nicholas Gurewitch, evil genius that he is, has ruined it for everyone. Like intrusive federal law, Gurewitch occupies the entire available space of comic strip greatness. He exercises plenary jurisdiction over all forms of off-beat mirth. He glides effortlessly between bizarre strips about aliens, bizarre strips about pirates, and bizarre strips about people with no noses that are somehow still drawn with crushing realism. He is everything Andy Singer ever aspired to be.

I should just hold my tongue and let you experience it for yourself. I'd offer my favorite strip, but it's hard to pick one. At first it was "Freaking Vortex," but I've spent a few days now giggling over "QPI Interview." Other gems are "Angry Hammer," "Wise Shitashi," and "Captain Redbeard." But you may as well just start from the top and work your way down, finding your own PBF experience along the way.

I, meanwhile, will continue to draw my stupid drawings for no reason at all.

Meli and I increased our DVD collection by about 50% last night, thanks in part to a 15% discount courtesy of Julie. As we took our booty to the register I commented that our purchases reflected three discrete genres of movie geekdom, though I was only partially correct. As well all know, the portions of Star Wars that weren't ripped off from [Joseph Campbell's interpretations of] classic mythology were ripped off from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, something that enabled me to drive Meli crazy last night by humming the end scene music from A New Hope during the conclusion of The Hidden Fortress.

I'm excited about the Star Wars trilogy, even though from what I hear they've been monkeyed around with yet again for the DVD release by George Lucas. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing [SPOILER AHEAD]

All right, so I'm writing a paper on the FCC Indecency Crackdown of 2004, and I'll be damned if I can decide on a title. Here's a "short list." Votes and alternate suggestions welcome.

(1) The FCC Indecency Crackdown: What the Fuck?

(2) A Really, Really, Fucking Brilliant Paper About the FCC by a Really, Really, Fucking Brilliant Law Student

(3) I Hate Children, and Here's Why

(4) Laying the Smack Down on the Crackdown

(5) I Saw a Tit at the Super Bowl!, and Other Observations

(6) John Paul Stevens, You Stupid, Stupid Bastard*

(7) Lesbian Dryhumping on Will & Grace and Its Effects on Constitutional Law

(8) 32 Pages of Me Making Michael Powell My Bitch

(9) You Know What? The Two Democrats on the FCC Are Even More Puritanical than Michael Powell

(10) Harold W. Furchtgott-Roth's Vision for America: Boobies for Everyone!

* With apologies to Sean Keane.

All right, enough of this election crap. George Lucas has eased our pain by posting a teaser trailer for Episode III today. You can view the trailer here, but since you're unlikely to get through for a while here are some spoliastic snapshots. I'll keep them up until Gene gets a cease and desist letter from Lucasfilm.

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE SCREEN CAPS FROM THE TRAILER.

Yes, this is sort of another post about the stupid election (see Zembla for a truly entertaining and original election post), but it's really about law-geekiness. After a fashion, anyway.

Okay, so Rehnquist is almost certainly going to retire in the next four years, and Old Man Stevens is probably on his way out as well. O'Connor may reture as well, if she doesn't get promoted to Chief Justice. That means Our Leader may have up to three Supreme Court appointments, a prospect which no doubt strikes fear into the hearts of many an American. But, there is good news on this front. Amiable arch-conservative Orrin Hatch is leaving the post of Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, and likely being replaced by moderate Republican Arlen Specter. Specter is reviled by the more mouth-breathing conservatives among us, apparently because he doesn't hate gays and Mexicans enough.

Specter has already drawn a line in the sand, in a way, in the area of Supreme Court nominations. Specifically, the Ghost of Supreme Court Future had this to say:

"When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely."

I've been predicting that Bush would find the most conservative minorities he could fined (a la Miguel Estrada) and try to force their appointments, but now it looks like he may have to relent. If he can't even get his maniac judges through the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee, he won't be able to blame Democratic filibustering when his nominees don't make it through.

Another Specter quote that should appeal to the law geeks out there:

"I would look for justices who would interpret the Constitution, as Cardozo has said, reflecting the values of the people."

Slam! That's exactly the kind of statement that makes Scalia cringe. We may end up with three more O'Connors, in which case the Court would be decidedly non-ideological and almost completely unpredictable.

In any case, I'm tired of waiting. Let's see some retirements, you bastards, so we can get out with our pie-eating contests.

Two things.

(1) For a minute there it looked like there might be an electoral vote tie, in which case the House would get to pick the President. The House would have picked Bush, which would have been AWESOME. A guy appointed President, twice(!), by two different branches of the federal government. You can't make this shit up.

(2) It looks like Prop 72 is failing in California, which was really all I was hoping to get out of this election. Way to go, California.

(3) Steve's taping an(several) episode(s) of Jeopardy! today. Good luck, Steve!

(4) I lied. There were three things.

In addition to Kristina's Halloween snapshots, I've posted a few of my own here. Note the clever title.

If the mood grabs me I may put up some shots from the party we went to Saturday night, but right now they're in this whole nother computer so you'll just have to make do with what's up there. Man.

Edit: Doh. I didn't realize there was a separate sub-album for everyone's Halloween album. I'm a dumb,