« June 20, 2004 - June 26, 2004 | Main | July 04, 2004 - July 10, 2004 »
Loaded for Bear
Well, we're off ... to Michigan for the Fourth of July holiday—and then some. Ambivalent Productions—theimbroglio, the bits, and the images—will be quiet for about a week, during which time I'll be busy living life instead of making other plans. I expect that will involve many hands of pinochle, poker, and possibly Wizard w/L's family, as well as some fishing and reading and movie-watching and great food and just generally relaxing and hanging out. Should be fun.
Thanks to everyone who helped with musical suggestions the other day, the iPod is now loaded with old Morrissey (Viva Hate) for old time's sake; the new Pixies single, "Bam Thwok" (no one mentioned it, but it's the Pixies, which makes it, by definition, superlative); Modest Mouse (of course); the Franz Ferdinand single, "Take Me Out" (it is yummy); and Hot Fuss by The Killers. That last one was in tight competition with Snow Patrol, which I really like the sound of for some reason, from the clips on iTMS—I hear some Dinosaur Jr., Led Zeppelin, and other strange goodness. Also I almost went for The Shins, but they'll have to wait for a more money day. Finally, we'll be listening to some "Fuzzy Math" from the George W. Bush Public Domain Audio Archive, and "Novel Writing" by Monty Python for inspiration and fun.
Of course, the iPod will also be spinning the complete Wilco oeuvre, minus the new one which I couldn't spring for yet, despite all the fuss it's getting. I just didn't feel like getting into too much more downtempo stuff for this trip, and it sounds like "A Ghost Is Born" is not a real sing-along sort of album. We'll also have some Jayhawks, Nuspirit Helsinki, Elliot Smith (talk about your downtempo), Weezer, The Donnas, Cat Power, Dashboard Confessional (yikes! more depression music!), Elevator Ride, the White Stripes, Interpol, The Viper and His Famous Orchestra, Weezer, Cake, TMBG, Flaming Lips, and um, um, more. I do think our ears will be pleasantly entertained for the duration of the 11-hour drive—at least until L. gets sick of my musical selections.
Happy Independence Day Holiday, everyone. Speaking of which, if you'd like a great read in the next week, The Corporation is an incredible page-turner. Funny thing happened on the way to independence day....
Oh, and speaking of books, note to self: Upon return, write up some reaction to the books you've finished recently, including Oryx and Crake (masterful! although L. says not as good as The Blind Assassin, which I'm taking with me), The Corrections, and How Can You Defend Those People? (what an interesting Google search that makes). That's all in addition to The Corporation, which I hope to say something more about soon. Gee. Suddenly my leisure reading has turned into a lot of work...
Posted 05:51 AM | Comments (3) | life generally
Not So Big
New in the blogroll: The Painted Turtle random thoughts by kmsqrd, a 20-something engineer who says she wants to live in a Not So Big House. I never knew it before, I but I probably want to live in a not so big house, too. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?
Kmsqrd also has a cool side-blog called Collected Thoughts, "a collection of quotations by others that encourage thought." This is a great idea, and another great use of the blog form. I would only note that a site like this is just begging for categories and keywords; as it grows, it may become difficult for kmsqrd and her readers to find certain quotes they're looking for, so this kind of "metadata" would be really helpful. Does the new Blogger offers such things?
Posted 08:08 AM | Comments (1) | life generally meta-blogging
I'll Sue!
To the jogger who punched me yesterday afternoon:
Hi. How are you? I'm the guy you punched yesterday. Remember? It was around 6:30 p.m. You were jogging toward me, I was biking toward you. We were on opposite sides of a multi-use paved path that was 8-10 feet wide with a dotted yellow line down the middle. There was a jogger ahead of me, also moving toward you. She was on the far right side of the path, you were on the far left, leaving a lane in the middle at least 4 feet wide for me to pass through as you jogged by. But you apparently decided that wasn't satisfactory. As we approached each other, I saw you begin moving toward the center of the path, instead of staying on the far left where you'd been jogging. I wondered why you were doing that, but it didn't matter; there was still plenty of room for me. Then, as we passed, you reached out and punched my arm. You punched me! It hurt, and was also quite shocking. I turned around to look back at you and it appeared you were shaking your fist and yelling at me. I thought about stopping to ask you why you'd assaulted me like that, but I figured I was probably better off keeping my distance from a potential psychopath who randomly punches people.
Why did you punch me? You looked to be in your 30s or 40s; how did you make it this far in life thinking that punching people was a good way to communicate? I assume you were trying to suggest that I should not have tried to pass the jogger in front of me when you were jogging toward me on the other side of the path, but if so, and if you weren't the kind of person who would rather punch than talk, I would beg to differ. There was plenty of room—plenty!—for all three of us on that trail. If you really think you need at least a 5-foot distance from all other path-users at all times, may I suggest you find another path to jog? The path we met on is very popular, and it's especially crowded between about 5-7 p.m. as people commute home from work and/or get their evening exercise after work. Most of the trail's users appear to understand that we must cooperate to use the trail. It's called sharing—you should really try it. However, if you really need a trail to yourself, perhaps you could try jogging at midnight; I bet the trail is fairly empty at that hour.
Really, I don't care what you do, except, please don't punch me again. If you do, I'll have to stop and ask politely for your name and address. I'm sure it won't take more than a day or two for the summons to reach you and then you can see whether a judge thinks it's ok to punch people for no reason at all.
Thanks, and have swell day. Sincerely,
Your friendly bike commuter.
Posted 07:08 AM | Comments (17) | life generally
Rawk!
A few weeks ago I predicted that "Float On" by Modest Mouse will be "the definitive 'indie' rock anthem of Summer 2004." While I may have overstated my case, if NPR has anything to do with it (and it probably doesn't) the song is on its way:
Music commentator Alexandra Patsavas is a music supervisor in Los Angeles, and we let her listen to all the new albums so we don't have to. Today, she's got five song suggestions that you should consider including in your summer music rotation: "Float On" by Modest Mouse; "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers; "Spitting Games" by Snow Patrol; "Saturday Night" by Ozomatli; and "One Horse Town" by The Thrills.
So what about the rest there? Anyone have any thoughts on The Killers, Snow Patrol, Ozomatli, or The Thrills? And who are these "Shins" I've been hearing a bit about? Bekah, Steve, Justin, (and anyone else, of course) hear my pleas for enlightenment!
Note: Looks like Steve's got some summer recommendations here.
Posted 06:30 AM | Comments (8) | life generally
Nice Tiger
Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) is almost over. Steve Jobs gave the keynote yesterday and introduced the new version of OS X, which they're calling "Tiger." Scripting News has a bunch of good links about the announcements from the last two days. The good news is that Apple keeps adding neat features to the OS. The bad news is some of the most prominenent features appear to be blatant ripoffs of software created by small developers. For example, Apple is adding a cool RSS aggregator feature to Safari, which looks very neat, but it also might really hurt sales of NetNewsWire, the leading Mac RSS reader. (A few comments here from NetNewsWire's developer.) Another new feature called Dashboard will put lots of little widgets on your desktop to allow you to more easily check the weather, stocks, your datebook, etc. Of course, Konfabulator already allows you to do this.
It's a little ironic that the purpose of WWDC is to encourage developers to make Mac software, when Apple's showing up to the conference with software of its own that might put popular Mac software developers out of business.
One feature that I don't think will be putting anyone out of business but which could be pretty cool is Automator, which will allow users to automate repetitive tasks among different applications. Geeks who don't know how to use Applescript (me) should have fun with this.
Hey, and don't get too excited: None of these new features will be available until "the first half" of 2005. Until then, keep your eye out for the QT Bug, a high-tech Beetle that will be touring the country to capture video and audio footage and show off QuickTime-related technologies. Oh, and the car will have an Apple X-Serve built right in:
Gee, I was thinking I'd sure like a new car....
UPDATE: See also:
- Dashboard vs. Confabulator
- discussion on kottke.org
- Matt Haughey's thoughts on Safari's RSS reader
The American President
I can't believe I just watched this movie. It must've been Annette Benning that kept me watching, because it certainly wasn't Michael Douglas. Way back in the early 1990s — the summer of "Shining Through" and "Basic Instinct," I think — I got fed up with Michael Douglas because he always plays the same character and it's generally a character I don't like. But maybe it wasn't Benning. Maybe it was Aaron Sorkin's writing. He can be trite and cloyingly romantic, but he's certainly hit on a winning formula with the idea of a U.S. President who learns that the way to be President is to stand up for what he really believes and to fight the fights that need to be fought, rather than only the fights he can win. People eat that up. You'd think a real life candidate would get the hint.
Watching this movie, as well as old "West Wing" reruns (for which Sorkin is also responsible) makes me wish people in the first few months of 2004 would have confused the fantasy world of movies and television with the reality of a real presidential campaign just a little more. Maybe then we'd have a real candidate to vote for instead of Kerry. Maybe then people wouldn't have been so afraid to vote for someone who stood up for what he believed in. I submit that Howard Dean was a candidate that would fight the fights that needed to be fought, but I'm afraid Kerry's only going to fight the fights he thinks he can win. I still hope I'm wrong about Kerry, but if I'm not, there's still going to be a huge market for Sorkin's fantasy presidents.
Posted 09:42 PM | Comments (9) | ai movies
WIR#5 & 6: Awe, Anger & Radical Lawyers
The past two weeks have been packed with information and learning experiences—so much so that I haven't been able to keep up with them here very well. Here's the short story: In week 5 I started to feel like maybe going to law school wasn't a mistake after all. I started to feel more attached to the work and began seeing myself, potentially, as a public defender some day. That week, I really started to feel like it was a job I could both do well, and enjoy doing. In week 6, those positive feelings were still there, but they were tempered by the doubts I've had since week 1—worries that I'm not really very good at this, and so would not like to make this my career. I'm chalking this roller-coaster impression up to the old cliche that "the more you know the more you realize how little you know." That can be humbling, but it least it means you're still learning. And boy, am I learning.
For example, I'm learning just how much an experienced defense attorney can know, and it's awe-inspiring. Two weeks ago I accompanied the attorney I work with to the jail to interview a new client. In the space of five minutes my attorney expertly fielded her client's complex questions about how the involvement of federal agencies in his case might affect his chances to plea, whether a drug store would really be able to produce the video they say they have, how other charges in other jurisdictions might interact with the charges we were dealing with, and more. This was a potentially complex case, and this client's questions kind of made my head spin, but my attorney handled them w/out the confidence that only comes from experience. I sat in awe, hoping someday I would have that kind of experience under my belt so I could be as effortlessly helpful as she is.
Another lesson that I'm learning again and again and again is how little police actually know, and the levels to which they will stoop to get even the most meaningless of convictions. The show how little they know when they appear in court and have nothing to say except what they wrote in their reports, which are themselves often full of gaping holes that they then fill with speculations masquerading as "fact" when they're on the witness stand. Half the time it seems police witnesses show up to testify at trial and can't even remember the case. They're coached by the prosecutors, and look to them for advice and help answering questions. They apparently think they're on the same "team" with the prosecution. So much for presumed innocent, etc.
The levels to which police stoop are just chilling. I probably shouldn't say much more on this right now since much of my horror stems from cases still in litigation, but I will say that after six weeks in a public defender's office I'm convinced that the legal fiction of "custodial" interrogations (meaning you're in custody, not free to leave) v. "non-custodial" interrogations (meaning theoretically you can leave at any time) makes a mockery of justice. Do you have any clue what I'm talking about? If not, you prove my point. If so, pat yourself on the back. Now see if you're able to keep your wits about you enough the next time the police interrogate you to remember to rely on your rights to their full extent—especially when the police start lying to you.
I've also learned that the police and prosecutors team up to harrass certain people for very stupid crimes. At the top of that list are the crimes of stealing two flowers from a flower pot, and the crime of impermissible horn honking. Yeah, that's right; in our jurisdiction there's a statute that says you can only honk your car horn in order to give a "reasonable warning." Guess who decides what a reasonable warning is. Hint: If you're black and in a neighborhood known for drug sales/use, your definition of reasonable probably won't count for much.
I've learned how trivial much of legal practice (and especially law school) can seem to a criminal lawyer. This hit home last week when I sat in on a civil appeal that just seemed incredibly pointless. Who cares who gets the house (in a divorce) when someone down the hall may be going to jail for life thanks to police misconduct? (And yes, I realize police aren't always acting improperly, but I'll bet you'd be shocked to learn how often and to what degree they really are.) Off the top of my head, it seems much of torts, contracts, property law, and civil procedure focused on trivialities, while crimlaw and conlaw (and legal writing, of course) were what was important. I know those other classes were valuable and I'm glad I've been through them, but it's a perspective thing. If you're a defense attorney, your clients won't generally care much about torts law—they just want to stay out of jail.
So far, the summer internship is great for big picture perspective like this. Both from my attorney and my co-interns (some of whom are part of "Section Three" at Georgetown, which sounds like the critically contextualized law curriculum I dreamed of but have not found at all at GW), I'm also learning a little bit about being a "radical lawyer." I hope to learn more about what this means to them, but reading just about anything by Duncan Kennedy looks like a good place to start.
Finally, I and my fellow interns have begun weekly "Mock Trial" exercises led by the attorneys in the office. So far we've covered interviewing a client, voire dire, and making opening statements. It's incredibly helpful to hear advice on these things from attorneys who do them every day.
Posted 06:31 AM | Comments (1) | 1L summer
Huge Day at the SCOTUS
The opinions from the High Court are coming fast and furious, with some good, some bad, and probably some ugly. I can't keep up, but if I'd could, I'd start with this overview of the decisions in the Hamdi and Padilla cases. Then I'd probably be pretty interested in these Miranda cases, too. Then I'd read about there being no presidential monopoly on war powers.
Nevermind. What I'm saying is, if I had time I'd just read everything on SCOTUSBlog. And there's more to come tomorrow.
It's kind of mind-boggling to realize how much American law can change in a few days thanks to a flurry of Supreme Court decisions. And these people are appointed for life. A little scary sometimes...
Posted 09:53 PM | law general
Book Research?
NaNoWriMo 2004 is still four months away, but it's not too early to start thinking about what you're going to write. The rules say you can't write anything before midnight, November 1, but that doesn't mean you can't think about it. Last year I spewed out some 28,000 words and none of them were very good except possibly some bits about a character I was calling a "professional finder." The idea, roughly, was that in the future, some people might make a profession out of finding things from the past, then selling those things to collectors. Of course, people do this already, but think "Nth" degree. This week's City Paper features a new non-fiction work about "finders" who seem to find to live or live to find. It's called Mongo: Adventures In Trash, by Ted Botha. It could be good research for a "professional finder" character, or it might just be a good read. (Thanks to L for pointing this out.)
Introducing: Ambivalent Images
Welcome, everyone, to ambivalent images. This is a little project I started back in March, because, well, once the EJF Auction was over and all I had to do was catch up on my reading, outline, and study for finals, I really had way too much time on my hands.
As I explain here, the idea was to take a picture every day and post a picture everyday. So far, I've been able to keep up with the posting, but actually taking a picture every day is the hard part. What you'll see is that I almost never post a picture the same day I take it. Generally, the time lag is a week or two (or more). So it's not exactly what I intended at the beginning, but it's been great fun, nonetheless. Perhaps with practice I'll get better at the daily photo and be able to cut the time between taking and posting. We'll see. The bonus to the delay between taking and posting the photos is that every time I post a photo I'm reminded of what I was doing a week or two ago. I'm pretty forgetful, so it's been an interesting perspective-adjuster.
Anyway, beginning today, a portion of the daily photo will appear here on ai as a new feature in the right column. Click the photo excerpt to go to the full version, which includes explanation and commentary from your humble blogger, as well as comment links so you can tell me if you ever see or read anything that grabs you. Enjoy.
Tech note: ambivalent images is just a simple MT blog. The MTOtherBlog plugin allows the daily image to appear here. If you'd like to start your own "photoblog" based on MT, you might want to take a look at the MTPhotoGallery plugin and the MTEmbedImage plugin. I may play with these at a later date.
Posted 06:44 AM | Comments (3) | meta-blogging
Whew: MT 3.0
Allrighty then, ai is now running on MT 3.0. Thanks again to Falconred for helping make this upgrade possible. Advice to anyone planning to upgrade: If you're already running MT, be sure you download and install the upgrade version of MT 3.0 rather than the full version. I didn't pay enough attention and copied the full version right over the old version, meaning I erased my config files and basically broke my MT installation. After a little hair-pulling and searching through the documentation, I think everything should be in working order now.
Matt asked what's new, but I'm afraid I don't have much to offer there. So far the big new thing is the stuff having to do with TypeKey. Other than that, the interface is shiny and new looking, but functionally unchanged (at least as far as I can tell). Others have reviewed MT 3.0 at some length, and you can see from the guide to new features that there really aren't many. So I paid and upgraded why? I guess because I could. As L always teases me, I always have to be "in the new" when it comes to things like this.
UPDATE: It looks like the upgrade broke something in the comments system. Right now, if you type a comment and click "post," your comment really will be posted, but it won't show up on the page. It will be emailed to me, and it will be added to the system, it just won't publish for some reason. I'll have to look into this another time—tomorrow evening, perhaps. For the time being, if you'd like to comment you can do so knowing that I'll see your comment via email but it won't actually show up on the page until I get this fixed.
Posted 06:50 PM | Comments (6) | meta-blogging
Movable Type Licenses Right
After all the kvetching a few weeks ago when Six Apart announced a new licensing scheme for Movable Type, it looks like all the wrinkles have been ironed out (at least so far as I'm concerned). They've fixed the licenses so that you can run as many blogs with as many authors as you like, just like you could before (so long as you don't make any money from the proposition). I'm thinking it's time to upgrade.
Posted 09:22 AM | Comments (2) | meta-blogging
