Bar Exam

I took an exam in Roanoke,
Heartily hoping not to choke.
      Having fried half my mind,
      All I want now's to find
A hot bathtub to sit in and have a soak.

Professor Quotations: Spring 2010 Edition

Z.Stauffer: "I think that's the way Tantric stuff works, too.  But, you know, pleasure instead of pain."

Z.Stauffer: "[I used to exclaim] 'I need a kazoo!  I need a kazoo!'  It was a while before a student told me a kazoo wasn't what I thought it was."

Z.Stauffer: "Is it alright if I say pimp?  Do any of your other professors say pimp? . . . This better not make it into the Law Weekly.  That's the real reason we ban laptops, you know."

Z.Stauffer: "Maybe I'll try a little caffeine . . . since I can't do anything harder in front of you.  Although, I was just at the hospital, I could have swiped something."

G.Yin: "There's always the Angel of Death.  You never know when the Angel of Death will come and save you from having to report income from the sale of your asset."

Professor Quotations: Fall 2009 Edition

C.Sprigman: "There's a socially optimal level of production of muffins vis-a-vis poems. For me, the ratio is 2:1."

C.Sprigman: "No one's going to be whistling to Christina Aguilera when the copyright term expires, which is a shame."

Small Joys During Exam Period

In the crowded coffeeshop, he was grateful for just finding a stool at the laptop bar.  His happiness was tempered only by the fact that this particular stool was missing a cross-piece on the front, so that his legs dangled uncomfortably a foot off the floor.  This was an emotionally unsettling experience for the former power forward.

Right Turn

It is disconcerting how many of our small, ordinary actions conceal enterprises of great pitch and moment. Or, rather, it is disconcerting that so many of our complex, important deliberations find their summation in an act indiscernible from one arrived at through the die’s cast.
In turning right this morning, I merely signaled my intention, changed lanes, and altered my heading by 90 degrees. While it looked like only a simple right turn—indeed, I make those same maneuvers every weekday—it really meant I don’t have time for coffee. A morning spent desiring a Café Americano to beat back Somnus’ rearguard, a morning attempting to get showered and dressed with enough time to go 10 minutes out of my way (so I could use a gift card), and at the moment of the crucial turn, realizing that I would be late for work if I did so. A simple act, yet personally profound: I suspect these pregnant moments must occur around us with regularity, and I wonder whether our shared lives wouldn’t be richer for the knowing.

Reasons I am Excited About 2010

In no particular order:

Graduating law school (and correspondingly, finally being done with almost two decades of education)
(Hopefully) Passing the bar exam
A new Golden Sun game(!)

Preliminary thoughts on Richard Kelly's The Box.

Semi-rabid Richard Kelly fan JB convinced me to go see The Box on Wednesday. My only prior exposure to Kelly's work was dropping by a freshman hallmate's room halfway through Donnie Darko, so I went in with few preconceptions. I'll admit that I was hooked from the beginning, as the stellar production values and earnest characters drew me in--though I kept expecting James Marsden either to belt forth a serenade to True Love's Kiss or blast Cameron Diaz with his laser eyes: just payment for her atrocious "Southern" accent. Having spent a fair amount of time in the Tidewater Virginia area where the movie is set, I appreciated the nods to local landmarks and institutions (the Ukrops calendar in the kitchen, for example).

The plot was very quick-moving and well-paced. According to JB, it also managed to avoid the pitfalls of Kelly's prior films, namely overreaching or oversimplification. I only noticed one or two times where I thought, Yes, we get the point, this character is doing X, you don't need to have him tell us he's doing X.

On the whole I liked it, but to voice my few complaints, I did regret that one or two major plot points were rather standard sci-fi cliches. However, this could say more about the the sci-fi baggage I bring with me as a viewer, though, than about the movie itself. Interestingly, I identify this particular cliche with a lot of the SF from the 1970s, when the movie is set, so maybe it's deliberate.

I'd recommend seeing it, but you might not get as much enjoyment as I did if you don't bring someone who screams at every slightest jump scene.

[7.5/10], or an A- on the law school curve.