Font size 8 means you haven't studied enough

I'm eager to being third year, but I suppose I'm just as happy to finally be leaving that demographic to which "back-to-school" sales apply. After 20 years of having Augusts ruined by low-priced pads and pencils, this will finally be the end of it. I'd be afraid of "back-to-work" sales, were there ever to be enough time off during which you'd have to eventually 'go back.'

Of course, since I've been in law school I can't recall buying many supplies. Everything is done on this laptop, from the taking of class notes, to the downloading of better notes, to the "select-all" and "reduce to font-size 7" functions that make open book tests truly possible. It's handy, but also a little disappointing, considering that I'll never be a more prime candidate for yellow legal pads.

So in lieu of real supplies, this Tuesday turned out to be a great day for those things I'll really need in the coming months: new albums from The Roots, Dylan and M. Ward all hit the shelves, along with the final season of the only show to feature a lawblog in its scripts, Arrested Development.

Just one more week till one more year.

Chill with Ceauşescu?

You know a new year of law school is fast approaching when you start to think about the next summer.

Due to the brevity of post-secondary school years and the generous scheduling of PLTC courses, I find myself with four months of unscheduled freedom next summer. I believe the technical, economic term for this period is "frictional unemployment," but to myself and a majority of others with false illusions about their spending power, it's "prime travel time."

I've been lucky enough to visit Western Europe on several occasions, covering most of England, France and Spain. But I believe I'd be remiss if I didn't look North and East, to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe (specifically, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania). It's a region that I unfortunately know little about, save the descriptions I've gleaned from Henrik Ibsen and Bram Stoker. (Ok, Ok... IKEA and Blade II.)

Since this whole trip is still in a flight of fancy stage, I thought I'd see what travel books were available on the regions. There are a lot of these guide books that I avoid like the plague, as they are either so inexhaustible as to take all the mystery out of a region, or padded with too many stock photos to be of little use. I've had the best luck with the Rough Guide brand of book, something I swore by (and most importantly, not at) during my month in Spain.

I couldn't find their edition for Central Europe, assuming it exists, so while I was in the store I perused a random Romanian book. I'm not ashamed to admit that if I ever reached the country, Dracula's Castle would be on the itinerary. So I wasn't surprised to find inside this book, amongst the Top 10 Things to Do in Romania: "Creep in the footsteps of Dracula," (forgiving the absurd notion that he would leave footsteps, Dracula naturally being a glider.) I was even pointed to a handy link where you can plan a trip around ol' Vlad.

I was, however, a little more surprised to find in the Top 10 list, this perplexing suggestion, which I recall verbatim:

"Hang out with a shepherd."

That's precisely what the wolves want.

I'll refrain from excess emoticons

In keeping with the never-asked, reluctant-to-tell policy about job details on this site, I won't mention much about the fruits of this recent articling/interview week save to say that I did, indeed, secure a job. And in case you couldn't tell beneath the excess loquacity of a Victorian-style writing habit, I'm thrilled!

Anyway, on to other matters: while I was downtown I came across a film shoot on the steps of the Vancouver Art Museum - or rather, with American flags displayed everywhere, the steps of some New York Supreme Court building. It wasn't the recent Rachel McAdams shoot that has caused an upswing in public transportation use lately, but rather some new show called Psych. Apparently it's not about what I would have guessed - the exploits of a wisecracking meta-detective who converses with ghosts (such shows being in desperately short supply).

I didn't recognize any of the actors on the shoot except one: Timothy Omundson, who played Brom Garret in my new favorite show, Deadwood. (Well, OK, second favourite show - and fanatics will take note that Omundson actually did appear in an episode of 24 as "suicidal terrorist" - go figure). Anyway, I bring him up because the Brom character was a favourite of mine in Deadwood, portraying a bumbling gold prospector that most closely resembled Niles Crane.



And you can guess how well Niles Crane and the Old West would mix.

140km/h is not in their algorithms

Between returning from Calgary, driving to Tacoma for a wedding (and beating the Google maps driving estimate by 43 minutes), preparing for interviews and entertaining friends from out of town, I haven't had much time to attend the cruel mistress that is this blog. Lucky for you, nothing much of note has happened. Except for the awesome time I made on that drive.

As is the case at every summer's end, I start to look forward to another school year. I'm not sure if it's a sad thing or not, but this is the last summer I'll have that. Although, third year law will mark my 20th straight year of school, so maybe it's not so much a sad thing.

Thankfully, it's been a great summer. Every December I usually prepare a list of my year end favorites, so now I thought I'd mention some of the favorite parts of these past 4 months:

Film

Go see Little Miss Sunshine. It's as simple as that.

Books

Nothing was more fun to read this summer than The Ruins, as amazing a character study as it is a horror tale. That said, this is the summer I discovered the writer Cormac McCarthy, finishing Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men and recommending them to everyone I know. I recall this excerpt as being indicative of how great the author is:

"They did not noon nor did they siesta and the cotton eye of the moon squatted at broad day in the throat of the mountains to the east and they were still riding when it overtook them at its midnight meridian, sketching on the plain below a blue cameo of such dread pilgrims clanking north."

TV

This is also the summer I discovered Lost, a show so smart (yet popular) that makes me question the argument that Arrested Development was too smart for American audiences.

I also got into Deadwood, the great, foul-mouthed HBO Western that makes up for the fact I watched an awful lot of Saved by the Bell this summer.

Insert Ennio Morricone Music

This blog post is like the Old West (which I imagine is almost conveyed in these photos I took) - pretty lawless. It's the subject matter you get being on vacation away from a law-related job and pre-interview anxiety. So I'll just briefly mention a few news items that have interested me:

The next Die Hard film, while completely unnecessary, still managed to pull through with a decent title.

The next Wes Anderson film couples an even better title and a better premise still.

Both Ryan Adams and Emily Haines have new songs available. Some may argue one is unnecessary while the other has a better title.

Also, if anyone goes to see Miami Vice in the near future, please enlighten me as to where Colin Farrell magically produced that grenade from after being frisked down by those drug lords. Yes, inside that mullet is a distinct possibility.

Transcripts also required

I head back to Calgary this week for a brief vacation. This Vancouver summer has been great, warm weather, a little rain, but I suppose I really crave the unpredictability of an Albertan summer - August snowfalls, flash flooding, etc.

I'll be visiting friends, hopefully taking in a movie or two, as well as carting some of my things from home back to Vancouver (this includes my squash racquet, meaning M, you are officially challenged to a squashing duel). Hopefully with at least one successful articling interview in less than three weeks, I'll be staying in this town for a few more years at a minimum.

I'll try and post some photos from Cowtown - as so far I've been lucky at getting some great vacation shots already this summer.



Oh, and since registration is finally done, here's the official list of classes for the third and final year:

Securities Regulation, Real Estate Trans, Land Use Planning, Admin, Media & Entertainment Law, Civil Procedure, European Union Law, Trusts, Conflicts and Appellate Advocacy.

I'm taking applications for potential study buddies. Post your cover letter in the comments below.

"Gaines" was originally "Anderson"

I'm gravely concerned about this new legal drama, Justice, coming this fall courtesy of FOX. Normally I'm a fan of all things legal on television - excepting, of course, all iterations of daytime judgery (save one). But then I caught a preview for FOX's Justice, describing the exploits of one criminal defence firm and the high-tech solutions they employ to exonerate clients and alternatively create FX demo reels. It's all very glitzy and, with CSI-creator Jerry Bruckheimer's name attached, there are sure to be explosions (some of which are on the figurative level - the show's law firm is called Turk, Nicholson, Tuller & Gaines, or TNT&G... How drole.)



I just don't understand this need in television to make the law... exciting. The law is relatively boring and that's just the way we like it, thank you very much. Lawyering is very much about reading fine print and visiting libraries; it's about presenting a solid case and serving a client. Fancy exhibits are just window dressing.

I was published a while back on precisely this subject - needlessly sensationalizing the law - and while CSI wasn't the focus of the piece, it sure deserves more grief. One reason I dislike that show is because it assumes its audience cannot concentrate on a spoken investigation for too long, and subsitutes computer-generated imagery to keep you from remembering that the much superior 24 is likely on elsewhere. Now it seems that Justice has transposed that same audience into a jury box, where twelve people won't be able to render a verdict unless it's been through the MTV editing booth.

Anyway, I'll stop there - because this show will likely become a hit. But for future reference, if you're trying to spice things up, at least put your attorneys in a cape.

The nun, of course

'Tis been what we call in the blogosphere a slow news week. But since it's also a slow TV night, I'll do a recap:

First, congrats to a fellow law student on winning his first case in court. Not only is that a great way to start off a legal career, but I believe you're now also eligible to be the subject of a John Grisham novel.

I went to the horse track last weekend for the first time. (Incidentally, this is the first summer I've been away from the Calgary Stampede.) Apparently one law school course I should seriously think about taking is the Law of Averages. I sympathized with Marge Simpson: "Can't I just bet that all the horses will have a good time?"

I love this new Thom Yorke album. And what it lacks in actual instrumentation and Radiohead members it more than makes up for expansive, album-lining woodcut illustrations. I'm a fan of this style of art, and Stanley Donwood does it in spades.



I snagged tickets for myself and friends for Bard on the Beach. Unfortunately, the seasonally apt Midsummer Night's Dream was sold out, so it looks like it'll be Measure for Measure, a play I last read for an essay comparing Isabella, the nun from that play, and Lady Macbeth. Guess who came out crazier?

I think I'm the only one who has yet to see Pirates of the Caribbean, but I did see Superman and appreciated the fact that Lex Luthor wasn't so much the main villain, that honour instead going to the system which set him free from jail. You guessed it, the legal system!

Lastly, I managed to do the Grouse Grind one more time this week, beating my last time by 15 minutes. I believe I'm now eligible to be the subject of a John Grisham novel.

Blunderbusses, Plagues & Pig Iron

Maybe it's a credit to law school that it makes you pursue more erudite endeavours, or maybe it's just that law school screws with what I now find enjoyable in my spare time, but this last holiday weekend when I wanted to bring along something to read, I chose a book about Shakespeare.

It turned out better than expected. Will in the World is an amazingly detailed biography of the bard, as if Guns, Germs & Steel had been written about the formation of one man let alone all of human civilization. I'm immediately adding this to my list of favorite books, because it makes eminently vivid and interesting what was previously torturous for many in high school and beyond.

To boot, I learned a few new things about Bill Shakespeare that, to a law student, were pretty amusing. For one, Shakespeare was incredibly frugal and went to court a lot, even if it was just to secure the return of six pounds.

Even better, it turns out the famous playwright likely worked at a law firm(!), and I'll let my friends in similar positions this summer determine if Greenblatt's description hits the mark: (p.71)

"The strong presence of legal terms in his plays and poems ... has led to recurrent speculation that he worked in the office of a local attorney, someone who handled minor lawsuits, title searches and the like. No doubt much of the work would have been boring..."

Zingeth!

Now accepting non-perishable items

A long-weekend roundup, a study in contrasts.

The good: Escaping for a spell to a coastal island of good company, on-demand sunsets, and unsullied sea scents.



The bad: Returning to a different kind of smell. The kind you can't place at first while walking around your apartment. The kind you think you can ignore by opening windows, or thumbing your nose at biology and breathing through your mouth - until you realize the smell has a friend (for the smell is now personified) in the form of erratic clicking. The kind of staccato/stench that can only come from a fridge running with a broken motor, which is to say, no fridge at all, but a repository of rotten food and abandoned plans for chicken curry on Tuesday.



So long General Electric model "Coquette," you gave me some good times and then left me sickened - how apropos your product name was you may never know.