I blogged at that waterfront too

Being deeply under the weather this past weekend, I resigned myself to doing the week's reading in advance, with the odd Harry Potter flick playing in the background. (I must remember that since being on the cover of a magazine, these are dangerous admissions to make.) Anyway, pained as I was already, I wasn't helped by the readings themselves. Securities Regulation reading is simple enough, like first-year Economics where authors had you believe the economy could be boiled down to a couple of intersecting lines.

On the other hand, European Union law reading is particularly gruesome. It's not that its immensely difficult to distinguish between the myriad layers of this new government (European Council vs. Council of Europe... go!), it's that each page is actually two pages. You've seen it before - the casebook is slyly put together so that one page reproduces two pages of a flattened textbook with already small print. It's like playing limbo with font sizes. Suddenly, 10 pages feels like 100.

The last time I did this much European Union reading was on a ferry sailing across the English Channel in 2003. I was returning from an educational field trip/unofficial brasserie tour of Normandy and meanwhile preparing an essay on the UK's reluctance to jump on board the Euro money train. I went on to present the topic in my typical anti-all-things-powerpoint style, using Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Richard II as a prime source. No, really.



Though, what I remember most about that ferry ride was that I turned down the chance to see the movie Chicago on board, and am still strangely glad to this day that I haven't seen it.

Or Dentistry without the lollipops

In years past, the first month of law school played out like summer camp. You met a lot of great people, signed up for fun activities, knowing that in a few months, you'd have to write a legal memo and study for days on end. (Or did I just go to the wrong summer camp?)

This year, things seemed to have changed. First years have a much more intensive curriculum, but we third years also seem to have a fair bit of work during the term. And it's not actually as bad as one might think. I've always been an advocate for regular assignments throughout the year - it just seemed like disingenuous preparation for this type of career, like med school without the cadavers.

For instance, I have weekly assignments for my Appellate Advocacy course. At each weekly AA lecture we get an assignment, a quick talk and then have the week to work on it. (Although, condsidering how short the class, is it's really just an AA meeting. "Hi, my name is Ryan Austin and I haven't had a successful trial in ten months.")

Initially I was worried that because Trial Advocacy wouldn't work with my schedule, taking the Appellate level might not be as useful as it could be. I've since realized that it's just as useful, and there's a certain logic to it as well:

If a trial ever goes so badly, there'll be no shock in that, but when we get to the appeals, well, then it's my time to shine!

Exit cat from bag

If you mill around any Canadian law school, you're likely to find a few copies of a certain magazine amidst law firm pamphlets and unsold Law Revue 2006 DVDs (place your order below!) Your natural instincts would tell you that any free magazine is perhaps not worth the paper it is printed on, but thankfully, that's not the case with National. The CBA's in-house magazine's articles are always topical, and particularly helpful to lawyers and law students alike. Plus, I always liked how they publish in English and French in the same issue - if only for how it irks those out West who hope the French language cannot traverse mountains.

Now I have another reason to like the magazine - I'm in it! Or rather, to my great surprise this morning, on it. The cover. Full page.



A while back I was interviewed by Amy Jo Ehman for the mag about this here blog, and why law students in particular blog. I, of course, imagining that the handful of daily visitors who access this site might jump to a whole two handfuls of visitors, leapt at the chance. And, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It's not too often that somebody recalls things you said months ago positively. (I also like the title of the piece, LL.Bloggers, which is a pun I'm surprised I hadn't yet employed.)

The guilty pleasure of this whole thing, of course, was that I got to do my first photoshoot. (As if subsequent offers of further shoots are yet to come.) Prominent Vancouver photog Robert Karpa arranged the shoot near the Vancouver waterfront at a streetside cafe - which, don't know you, is where I write every post... Thankfully, the area around Canada Place is a hotbed of pent-up cruise-ship tourist activity, so being photographed like that wasn't such a rare sight.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the piece. I regularly visit the other sites mentioned in the article, so it's nice to be in good company. And perhaps this whole thing might bolster my claim below and elsewhere, that I really sorta look like R.E.M.'s lead singer circa 1983.

What's the Frequency of this bus route, Kenneth?

I've been through 4 of the 5 classes from this term so far and, since I'm not expecting any nasty surprises from Appellate Advocacy, I can say that this term has the best selection of classes I've taken since first year. It's like an artist's supreme return to form, instead of just going through the motions on previous efforts.

The bad news is that somewhere between the classes I managed to lose my bus pass. It's the kind of surprisingly generous benefit from the school that makes average civilians enroll in one university class and dropout just to avail themselves of cheap bus fare. But now it seems that someone may get the opportunity to ring that bell simply by finding my card.

I suppose I shouldn't make too much of it - it's a minor fee to replace it and the card has photo ID, and friends will know that the only person who could reasonably pass themselves off as me is currently in Georgia reuniting with his original band.



Still, in the unlikely event that you see Michael Stipe riding Vancouver transit, tell him I'd like my pass back please, and that I agree New Adventures is immensely underrated.

The suspense won't kill you

Tomorrow's the last first day of school. Abbreviated though it may be with one class and a BBQ, I thought it was worth mentioning. That way, in years hence, if I break my promise to never, ever go back to school, I can at least look back and enjoy some mild irony.

I ended the summer in style up the West coast, where I finished two books in one weekend, meaning I should have time to finish Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy sometime next May. At least in the meantime the Coen Brothers should have their adaptation of his most recent book out, No Country For Old Men (!) It was one of my favorite reads of the year, and there's no part of the movie description, "ultraviolent neo-Western," that I don't like.

I'll keep this post short because, er, it's a school night. However I can say that in the coming days I'll have some exciting developments to write about, namely things having to do with radio, magazines and me.

See you law peeps at school tomorrow, enjoy some Elevator Music.

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.