recent tracks:

I should have mentioned

that last weekend after viewing Children of Men, I was pulled over for no reason I could discern. The officer shined his flashlight around inside the car (and perhaps caught sight of my back seat law library), then ran a check for whatever exactly it is officers check for, and let us go. (I should, for the sake of full disclosure, mention that I had forgotten my wallet and therefore my license. This did not turn out to be a problem (thank goodness I got the car's title and registration taken care of earlier). It also does not overcome my main issue with the event: that I could discern no reason for pulling me over.)

Perhaps I would have less of a problem with this if I believed that traffic cops (and really any beat cops at all) actually served to protect people rather than raise money, put drug users in jail (thank goodness also that I've never been inclined toward illegal drugs), and inconvenience (in approximate order of likelihood) young minority males, young white males, adult minority males, adult white males, adult minority females, adult white females, young minority females, and young white females. See, e.g., Bill Dedman, Race, sex, and age drive ticketing, Boston Globe, July 20, 2003.

Good news and bad news (and movie)

Good news: wedding site updated.

Bad news: the Supreme Court denied the cert petition in Irving N. (nee Kayla N.).

Movie: Children of Men I enjoyed but was not generally as blown away as I thought I might be. One extremely distinguishing characteristic was the camerawork--sustained shots that followed the characters but swiveled to take in all the action and the characters' reactions, creating a strong feel of being a character yourself, and loads of hand-held shots providing a similar feel. The camera does not permit the viewer the slightest detachment. The premise was interesting, and though I got the distinct sense that there was a message, I couldn't quite figure it out, the resulting headscratching probably resulting in my somewhat reserved judgment. Lots of references to immigration, and the ugliness of adulthood. Actually, taking it from that angle, I'm already enjoying it more in retrospect.

5th post in 24

hours. Everybody wins!

I have forgotten

some of what I was going to note here.

Thursday I read PennDOT updates to see whether a weekend trip to State College would be feasible. Friday I heeded multiple warnings and called PennDOT. I was informed that Interstate 80 had just been opened to traffic. Summer and I hopped in Big Red and sped away into the evening. Some hours later we found ourselves forced onto 380 in Pennsylvania, took the advice of a Wawa clerk, and headed north on 476. In Scranton, per advice, we did an about face and headed south on Rte. 11. Sights: streets too narrow to be plowed, streets just narrow enough to permit a plow headed right at us, a bus stuck diagonally across an intersection. At 2:00 we started looking for a place to stay the night. At 3:00 we found one. At 9:45 we hit the road again.

The visit was worth the drive. Featured: campus tour, Thai for dinner,

Devil's Playground, a documentary about Amish rumspringa and coming of age that prompts many highfalutin descriptors: fascinating, charming, as well as somewhat disturbing,

freshly baked muffins and bacon for breakfast, Penn's Cave, cooking Ethiopian food for dinner, trivial pursuit. Themes: friendship, families, fun, past & future, present(: perhaps comparison of student lives, perhaps recognition of colorfastness of certain relationships). Difficult to describe, hence the incomplete lists.

Monday was my birthday, so Summer drove home while I did my homework. We went out for a tasty dinner. I quite appreciated the many thoughts and kind words sent my way.

Then back into the routine. Class, class, sad to miss a good talk next week (Kozol). Interest in intersection of children & law growing?

The Last King of Scotland
Setting: (Cable Car Cinema, Tuesday night, 9:30 -> rows of empty couches, only two unknown companions) Scotland briefly, then Uganda.
Character: Idi Amin, brilliantly portrayed by Forest Whitaker, and Dr. Garrigan, his personal physician.
Plot: Garrigan seeks adventure working for a clinic in rural Uganda, instead finds Amin; we (who presumably know the history though I did not) see what Garrigan sees:
a popularly supported coups led by a charismatic man with a gregarious public face and lavish western lifestyle. Only gradually do we (and Garrigan) fully realize what we have perhaps suspected (or known) all along: that the public face of Amin masks a paranoid-psychotic despot.
Overall: I have heard mixed reviews of the movie as a whole, and unified praise of Whitaker's Amin. I found the whole thing to be fairly brilliant.

As always, more later? Not much detail here on anything save what I could dredge from my brain.

P.S. particular joy lately resulting from the gift of iPod, which is psychic (plays what I want it to on song shuffle mode as if by magic) and also is teaching me Spanish(?).

Go Rhode Island

Following MA's lead, RI will recognize MA same-sex marriages (assuming the state government elects to follow the Attorney General's opinion).

pet case

According to SCOTUSblog, a case in which I am quite interested has a reasonable chance of being heard by the Supreme Court: see here.

words forthcoming

old orchard beach
maine

entrance to penn's cave
pennsylvania

I once again failed to mention

my belated enjoyment of Grizzly Bear's Yellow House, particularly the songs "Knife" and "Little Brother," the virtues of both of which various internetiers have espoused incessantly for several months, and my advance enjoyment of the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, thanks to a little bird; praise more intricate than my own for the latter is likely forthcoming, perhaps sometime in the vicinity of March 6, on which date I intend to purchase the album regardless of its current availability. Hopefully an opportunity to avail myself of their musical stylings live will be equally forthcoming.

At the Moment

I am digesting a gigantic sandwich from Meeting Street Cafe and considering the kitten, who wants to keep playing fetch but did not bring the mousy all the way back last time. I am beginning some spring tutoring. I have homework and law review duties looming, but I am neglecting them to tell you of this moment.

I have begun playing an online game of risk with my good old Delaware friends. I enjoyed a visit from Lauren and Dan this past weekend; although Summer and I were unable to plan any particularly exciting plans, the time itself was perfectly pleasant. This coming weekend will be Anna and Neal. Friends are good.

I read How Lawyers Lose Their Way: A Profession Fails Its Creative Minds by Jean Stefancic and Richard Delgado. The concept was to elucidate some potential reasons for lawyer discontentment, with particular focus on formalism as psychologically draining and the billable hours system as fostering both excessive competition and public mistrust. The argument was presented alongside the stories of Archibald MacLeish (attorney, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, civil servant) and Ezra Pound (literary genius, racist, fascist), their relationship symbolizing the struggle between legal realism and formalism. The analogy seemed somewhat strained but nevertheless interesting.

Now I am reading The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek.

I will be back with RI LS this summer, perhaps in a slightly different capacity, but likely in a very similar one. I hope to dredge a research paper from my experience, regarding the overuse (in my opinion and others') of termination of parental rights proceedings. The Supreme Court may yet have occasion, however unlikely, to give me an angle: see here. Ask if you're curious.

I was very interested to read of my recently excavated Rhode Island connections--will have to learn of them in more detail from their excavator.

Alas, to work with me.

neglected to mention

Big Game music:

I've heard good comments on Billy Joel who (I thought) was AWFUL; he sustained a flat note I'd've been embarrassed to emit in a karaoke session. Prince, on the other hand, rocked the hizzouse hard. Didn't know he still had it in 'im. Interesting song selections for him too.

Happy February

I forgot to mention Grave of the Fireflies which was not happy but rather an incredibly depressing account of Japanese orphans in WWII; excellent and supremely depressing.

Also saw The Good Shepherd which I enjoyed overall; did not seem as long as its runtime and is very engrossing but without any really likable characters, because Matt Damon destroys the lives of everyone close to him. I found the end highly unsatisfying.

Read Ada by Nabokov: too transcendent for commentary. If you're looking for a dense, difficult, incestuous romance, I can't conceive of a better one. Nabokov makes me sad to realize that regardless of future success, I find it difficult to believe I could ever reach his plane. Experience augmented by Ada Online (PSU), with full text and partial commentary.

Life: vacation! SEA and I to deserted Maine beach with snowy dunes and boarded buildings. Lobster for dinner from a local joint, Ada before bed. Went to bed listening to snow and surf; woke up to 6 inches of standing snow: lovely.

Super Bowl had plenty of excitement before Rex let fly a couple of Hindenburgs and brought his team down in flames. Although I'm not a Peyton hater, he did not by any means earn his MVP.

Housing meeting this morning; RI LS Wed; lots of cite-checking; lots of reading. No more Ada to distract me. Made delicious brownies from scratch last week; high butter & cocoa content, low sugar, lots of walnuts. Mmm.

My voice fractured for a moment.

We went to a cogsci speaker from Edinburgh (Andy Clark, Chair of Logic and Metaphysics) this evening, talking about the role of gesture and essentially iterative processes in higher order cognition. E.g. tapping one's fingers helps one think; one's brain unconsciously causes one's fingers to tap in order to aid thinking, just as a fish wriggles its tail to affect local currents and help it swim more agilely. Unconscious effect on environment as a part of the cognitive process? The talk contained just enough depth to get a feel and want to read some papers. Probably no overlap with the law.

Still fractured. Not sure why. Hope you enjoyed!