Cause and Defect

The Dead Weather - Will There Be Enough Water?

2009-10-13T07:05:00.001-07:00

Great new side project from Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Jack White (The White Stripes), Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs), and Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age). The tracks are swampy, sultry, and sinister. The band seems much more patient in allowing the mood to develop, which I think is in large part due to Jack White not playing frenetically on guitar (he's on drums).

JetBlue - $599 "All You Can Jet" -- Read The Fine Print, And The Finer Print, Too.

2009-08-16T15:19:00.001-07:00

JetBlue has a new ALL YOU CAN JET pass for $599. In general, it is a good idea (September 8 to October 8 is generally a slow travel time for airlines) and it hits a decent price point if you plan to fly cross country more than twice.

At the very top of JetBlue's page, it says "$599 for a month of unlimited travel, any available seat." This sounded pretty radical, so naturally I was skeptical. I figured JetBlue's lawyers would tell you that their best seats are not "available" for this promotion. Nope. They chose a different escape route. They REDEFINED the word "seat"!

Bravo. I didn't see that one coming.

Take a look at JetBlue's Full Terms and Conditions here. As you can see in the excerpt below, they've redefined their best seats as "products and services":

I think what pisses me off the most is not that they tried to exclude upgrade seats, but that they didn't have enough integrity to do it up front. This is especially shady when JetBlue defines its best seats as "seats" everywhere else on its website:

The only way you can get one of these seats is if you (1) pay more up front; or (2) gamble. And by gamble, I mean you have wait until the last minute, and hope that it is the only seat left, in which case JetBlue is forced to give it to you. Seems like a shitty incentive for anyone booking early.

The diagram below illustrates the moral of the story: the leather chair in my living room is not a chair, but my "recliner product and service."

More Listworthy Movies

2009-03-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Fai Talai Jone – ‘Tears of the Black Tiger’ (Foreign) (2000)*

Gomorra (Foreign) (2008)

Das Leben der Anderen - "The Lives of Others" (Foreign) (2006)

No End in Sight (Documentary) (2007)

The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Taxi to the Dark Side (Documentary) (2007)

Pale Rider (1985)

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Documentary) (2005)

The Visitor (2007)

*Award for the greatest film trailer of all time.

Norm MacDonald -- still on top of his game.

2009-02-22T12:07:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks back, I had the honor of seeing Norm MacDonald perform live at Cobbs Comedy Club in San Francisco, where he absolutely killed. My all time favorite guest Late Night with Conan O'Brian, I kept my fingers crossed that he would be invited on one of the final episodes. I lucked out.

A Half Dozen Listworthy Movies . . . finally.

2009-02-18T22:08:00.001-08:00

I've decided to slowly wean myself off of Cosby show reruns and spend more time watching new movies. I've really failed to keep up the last few years, so I've got quite a lot of catching up to do. Here's a start.

The Wrestler (2008)
Chop Shop (2008)
The King of Kong (2007)
Man on Wire (2008)
Milk (2008)
Persepolis (2008)

Dan Auerbach - Keep it Hid (2009)

2009-02-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

A (totally unexpected) solo album was released by Dan Auerbach (of Black Keys fame) a few days back. This was my best birthday present (except for the NetFlix subscription I received).

I beg you -- disregard everything you read about this album from Pitchfork. Much like the way Rolling Stone crushed Zeppelin and Cream for being one-trick ponies, Pitchfork says that Auerbach doesn't offer much new material. Well, I don't know what album they were listening to. Keep it Hid is not nearly as raw as vintage Black Keys. A lot of these songs are much slower and feature much less frenetic guitar work. The vocals are constrained and melodic. It shifts away from the psychadelic, rythmic riffs of Junior Kimbrough to the territory of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

You can listen to the entire album here.

Auerbach is playing at Mimbos in San Francisco on 3/13/09 for 20 bucks. Here's a recent live performance on Conan O'Brian:

Freshly Cut: New Music . . . finally.

2009-02-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP (2009)
Amon Tobin - Out From Out Where (2002)
Amon Tobin - Permutation (1998)
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (2009)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2009)
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast (2009)
Iron & Wine - The Shephard's Dog (2007)
Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us (2008)
Kevin Drew - Spirit If ... (2007)
Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love (2006)
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once OMPST (2007)
M83 - Saturdays = Youth (2008)
M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (2003)
The Anomoanon - Asleep Many Years in the Wood (2002)
The Anomoanon - Joji (2004)
TV on the Radio - Dear Science (2008)
Amos Lee - Last Days at the Lodge (2008)
Santogold - Santogold (2008)
Jason Mraz - We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008)

Australian Open: Federer v. Nadal

2009-02-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

If you didn't stay up last night (12:30am PST to 5:30am PST) to watch the Australian Open Men's Final, do yourself a favor and watch or record today's re-airing of this epic match between Rafael Nadal (1) and Roger Federer (2). This match (and the rivalry) ranks up there with any of the uber-classics between Sampras and Agassi. Virtually every single point played gave you glimpses of a level of play that I've never seen.

The tension throughout the match was unbelievable; I found myself holding my breath during many of these points. The awards ceremony, usually a bore, was also filled with drama and heartbreak.

One of the greatest tennis matches I've ever seen. Period.

Garmin Nuvi 755t Review – 8.5 out of 10

2008-11-23T22:23:00.001-08:00

Overview:

When Garmin announced the updated Nuvi line a few months back, the Nuvi 755t really piqued my interest. With my existing GPS unit (Sony NV-U70) showing its age, I decided to purchase this from unit for 439.99 from J&R Music World ($60 off MSRP).

This is my first Garmin unit, so I was curious and hesitant to see if it would really suit my needs. Apart from some quirks and some design flaws, this is a fantastic all around unit and I recommend it to anyone.

The Lineup:

Garmin has released a lot of new units in this line. The 755t is the “entry” level unit, but this is a bit misleading as the 765t, 775t, and 785t don’t really offer much more, but cost an extra $100.00, respectively.

As you can see below, each unit is almost identical, but the higher end models have features like Bluetooth (which is useless for me because my car has Bluetooth) and things like an MSN Direct Receiver, which is an expensive subscription, based service that is basically useless for me because this unit has built in lifetime traffic for free.

Don’t waste your money; buy what you need and save yourself a few hundred dollars for basically the same exact unit.

Unit Design:

The first thing I noticed about the 755t is that it is thin. My previous Sony unit was a bit stubbier, but this is not only thing, it has a gorgeous 4.3” widescreen (480 x 272 resolution).

In an attempt to look sleek and modern, the unit only has one power switch on the top. However, Garmin missed out on a good opportunity here to include an extra physical button that was invaluable on the Sony. For example, with the press of a button, I could always repeat the last/latest directions just in case I missed it. I didn’t have to take my eyes off the road to fiddle with the unit to find a repeat command, which I have to do using the 755t. Garmin – in trying to make its unit look ultra sleek -- misses a big opportunity to make its unit much more useful by paying attention to how everyday people use these devices. This is a relatively small issue (or at least every major electronics maker today is equally horrible in this department – I call it the “form over function” curse of the iPod).

The power cable is not well designed at all. The end of the power cable is small, delicate, and you can never tell which way it is supposed to fit.

And for reasons unknown, the unit itself does not connect directly to the power cable. Instead, you have to connect the power cable to a plastic portion of the windshield mount. And to make things more difficult, when the unit is snapped onto the mount, it is almost impossible to plug in the power adapter because there is almost no space there.

Interface:

Once you get the unit plugged in, its physical design flaws quickly fade away. First off, the unit turns on in a matter of seconds, which is a welcome change from my Sony. It has the standard annoying warning message, which I am sure causes more accidents than it prevents. Fortunately, the warning goes away after a few seconds.

The display is clear and legible, and the street names are easy to read (even for the ones passing by). The bottom left corner features a small sign telling you what the speed limit is; this is a nice touch, but not a must-have feature.

Entering in addresses is intuitive and effortless, and it gave me the strong impression that Garmin has spent a lot of time on this part of the user interface. But like previous units, it is cumbersome to enter in a custom route. For example, I take a specific route to work every morning and I had to manually plot about ten custom points just to get that set. I wish there was a simple way to hit “Start Recording” and “Stop Recording” and save that as a custom route (maybe there is, but I can find it).

The 755t has great-looking maps and the GPS sensor is very sensitive. The unit calculates routes (and calculates re-routes) quickly and the prompts to make turns are timely. Saving and searching your favorite locations is a breeze. Looking through local points of interest is a real strength as well. I can easily find the nearest airports, restaurants, gas stations and other points of interest. Although pretty cumbersome, it is possible to add custom locations as well.

I do not like how the two fields on the bottom of the screen aren’t fully customizable. As you can see above, there is one field on the bottom left that tells you how fast you are going. But the last I remember, EVERY SINGLE CAR IN AMERICA HAS A BUILT IN SPEEDOMETER – so I would much rather have the choice to change this to something like total distance to destination. The other field does let you customize somewhat, but it is still limited. Again, this seems like the result of Garmin assuming it knows best and overlooking the fact that everyday people might want have different needs than what their designers assume people need. But because the rest of the interface is beautifully designed and pretty intelligent, this is a small quibble.

Other Features:

As you can see below, the top left corner tells you how far you have to go to the next turn and also gives you a hint at which lane(s) you need to be in. This is a fantastic feature.

In fact, I think this makes the unit’s brand new “Lane Assist” feature pretty much pointless. With that said, I can say that Lane Assist works perfectly and is timely and unobtrusive. It’s a nice advance, but not a must have feature.

The websites also say that some cities are displayed in “3D”, but I have yet to drive in any major cities where 3D coverage is available.

I love the “Where am I?” feature. My Sony supposedly had this feature and basically spit out a set of GPS coordinates, which are totally useless. On the other hand, Garmin gives you a real-time readout of the closest street address, which you can imagine is invaluable. Another must-have feature is the way the unit tells you on what side of the street your destination is, which is always useful when you’re looking for a restaurant in town.

The 755t features an audio out port and a built in FM modulator, so you can listen to your GPS through your car’s stereo speakers. The unit speaks out street names and distances, but I generally keep the unit on mute, so that’s not a big deal for me. I can report that the internal speaker is loud and clear. I think the FM modulator is a useless feature because if you really wanted to listen to your GPS on your car stereo, you’d have to keep your car stereo constantly tuned to this station the whole time. This means you can’t listen to music the whole time – which begs the question – if it is quiet in the car, why not just use the internal speaker?

“Integrated” Traffic Receiver:

The most anticipated feature of the 755t is the “Integrated” traffic receiver. Unlike other units which are merely compatible with traffic subscriptions, the 755t includes a free lifetime FM traffic subscription through NavTeq. As you can see, the subscription covers many major cities around the US, and at least for my purposes, it covers the areas I really need, including the Bay Area, New York, and Boston.

If you are in an area with FM traffic coverage, the 755t displays a green circle. If you encounter traffic en route, the circle turns either yellow or red, and tells you how many minutes of delay to expect.

It would be nice if the unit could tell you what caused the delay. Unfortunately, I’ve only driven through traffic once and it wasn’t exactly accurate. All of a sudden there was a red zone and it said there was 20 minutes of delay, and over the next three minutes, that delay evaporated and I never saw any traffic until a half hour later. Judging from other reviews, this may have just been a fluke and the traffic coverage is pretty accurate in general.

Even if you aren’t en route somewhere, you can quickly run a “Traffic Search” and review any nearby delays:

The real tradeoff for the free traffic coverage is that the unit is “Ad Supported.” As you can see below, every once in awhile you can see a small, unobtrusive advertisement, but only when you are fully stopped. I could care less if the unit was ad-supported, especially when a traffic subscription can cost around $15.00/month otherwise. This is a fantastic way to make traffic coverage affordable.

But there is something misleading about the term “integrated” traffic receiver. Garmin doesn’t mention at all on its website that the FM traffic receiver is actually integrated into the end of the cigarette lighter. This means that you can’t get a regular replacement charger if you travel, but always need to keep the traffic receiver with you. This was a huge pain in the ass for me because I like to hard-wire my unit to my car, not use the cigarette lighter. After a few hours of work and cutting a cigarette lighter extension cord up, I was able to sneak the charger behind my dashboard, but it is still easily removable if I decide to travel. The FM receiver is strong enough to receive the signal through my dashboard.

Nowhere on Garmin’s website does it tell you what the model number of this receiver is (after some research, I figured out it is the “GTM 20 Receiver”). I think Garmin did this on purpose because the GTM 20 Receiver retails for over $200.00. Of course, you can find it on eBay for much cheaper, but I think it is pretty shitty that Garmin doesn’t care to tell you that you have to bring that exact car adapter with you if you ever want traffic coverage. Garmin here is trying to get away with some moderate sleight of hand.

You’ll also notice Garmin doesn’t advertise any replacement accessories like a car charger because they don’t want to have to tell you that a replacement charger by itself doesn’t include a traffic receiver.

Software Bundle:

This is a pretty simple section. The 755t doesn’t come with any software, not even a driver CD. The manual and installation instructions are also pretty lame and unhelpful.

Garmin has a ton of different software titles, none of which are easy to access, download, and use. In fact, it is even hard to tell if a particular piece of software is compatible with your particular unit. I believe that the most important software is the Garmin POI Loader, which lets you upload custom points of interest that you can download from the web. Next to that is Garmin Mobile PC (about $60), which lets you plug your unit into your laptop and use your laptop screen instead to navigate.

There is also something called MapSource, but that too is hard to locate, not well documented, and a little difficult to understand. I think, however, with a little homework, I can figure out how to use it.

Conclusion:

Although I’ve highlighted many of the quirks and annoying “features” of the 755t, the interface of the unit is extremely well-designed and well worth the investment. This is the best GPS unit I have owned.

8.5 out of 10.

2007 Acura TL – Suspension Upgrade

2008-11-23T15:27:00.001-08:00

After a few months of research online, I’ve ordered an upgraded suspension. I really miss the way the sport suspension on my Mazda felt and I can’t wait to get everything installed.

For a sports sedan, the TL rides very soft. In tight corners or at higher speeds, the car has a tendency to bob and weave. And although I may be trading off ride comfort for a flatter, more responsive ride, the ride is so smooth right now that it feels a numb and detached from the road.

My upgrades include the OEM lowering springs and struts, which are part of the A-Spec handling kit, as well as an aftermarket adjustable Rear Sway Bar from Progress Technologies.

Do not buy these parts from an Acura Dealer, however. First off, they won’t sell you any aftermarket brands, so you’re not going to find the Rear Sway Bar there at all.

Second, they only sell the suspension parts as part of the larger A-Spec “handling” kit, which costs a few thousand dollars more because it includes body spoilers, another set of mediocre tires, and a whole new set of rims – none of which I need.

Your best bet is finding the parts on eBay – and with a 25% off discount for accessing eBay through Microsoft Live, it’s a great deal.

Parts arrive in a week . . .

How Are "The Walkmen" Still Underrated?

2008-11-10T00:21:00.000-08:00

I don't think any other band better captures the last five years of indie music than The Walkmen. If you haven't checked out their latest album -- "You and Me" -- buy it right now.

It's that good; it's too good. I'm amazed how this New York-based band still manages to fly under the radar. Enjoy some gems from earlier albums:

The Walkmen - New Music - More Music Videos

10 Action Movie Lines I Consistently Quote Out of Context

2008-11-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

"There IS no tomorrow!" -Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), Rocky III
"It's just been revoked." -Sgt. Murtaugh (Danny Glover), Lethal Weapon 2
"They drew first blood, not me." -John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), First Blood
"We're not gonna go see any fuckin' elephants, okay? And don't give me any of your SHIT!" -Lester Diamond (James Woods), Casino
"Cause she's got a -- GREAT ASS!" -Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), Heat
"Around -- I'll be around." -Det. Somerset (Morgan Freeman), Se7en
"Clear the shingles!" -Cap. Miller (Tom Hanks), Saving Private Ryan
"Hold!" -William Wallace (Mel Gibson), Braveheart
"Put it away for now, just for now." -Yves Perret (Jack Palance), Tango & Cash
"You hit me in the ear." -Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), Fight Club

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - Who Pooped the Bed?

2008-11-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

Season 4 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is amazing. This is the best comedy writing I've seen in years. If you haven't seen this show yet, enjoy the video. New episodes are on FX, Thursday's at 10pm.

The Black Keys @ The Fillmore, SF w/ Special Guest Dr. Dog (10/30/08)

2008-10-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

I had high hopes the last time The Black Keys came to town. In April, this duo played The Warfield the day after Attack and Release debuted. I was underwhelmed; Dan Auerbach seemed sluggish and Patrick Carney's drumming seemed out of sync. They just didn't seem well prepared and went through the motions.

All is forgiven after their electric performance yesterday night.

They played a sold out show at the Fillmore (my first time there). The crowd was really into it and pretty chill. Auerbach's vocals and guitar work were crisp, but not to the point they were stilted or choreographed. He spent a lot of time improvising his solos, and Carney matched him every step of the way, just punishing his drum set. Carney's style reminds me a lot of the uber-aggressive drumming of Dave Grohl when he was drumming for Nirvana and again with Queens of the Stone Age.

Best $11 bucks I've ever spent.

As a side note, special guest Dr. Dog was forgettable. They spent so much time making it look like they are rocking out (see generally any commercial for Rock Band or Guitar Hero, or any post-grunge / alternative / hard rock music video in the last ten years) that they forgot about whether the music is any good. I'm not exaggerating either; they spent about 85% of their time jumping around, swinging their guitars from here to there -- but the music was just an afterthought.

JetBlue Announces Terminal 5 at JFK

2008-10-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

On October 22, JetBlue opened its brand new terminal at JFK. I got an e-mail from JetBlue today, tooting its own horn about "this brand new, state-of-the-art terminal with great features and amenities" which include:

Smooth & simple kiosk check-in
Up to 15 security lanes
26 gates with seats aplenty

But here's the kicker: "Please allow yourself a little extra time when arriving or departing T5 for your JetBlue Airways flight[.]" Really?

Really?

Excursion

2008-10-24T22:08:00.001-07:00

22 Listworthy Films

2008-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Batman: Gotham Knight (Animated) (2008)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
Born Into Brothels (Documentary) (2003)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Cache (2005)
Capturing the Friedmans (Documentary) (2003)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Eastern Promises (2007)
In the Valley of Elah (2006)
Junebug (2005)
Juno (2007)
Lust for Life (1956)
Man on the Train (2002)
Michael Clayton (2006)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Northfork (2003)
Perspolis (Animated) (2008)
Ratatouille (Animated) (2007)
The Savages (2007)
Saved! (2004)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2007)
There Will Be Blood (2007)

Food Loves French's - Ay-yay-yay-yai!

2008-08-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

Brilliant randomness. To date, only outdone by the "El Pollo Loco" guy.

The Mazda, She Is No More. Long Live The Acura.

2008-08-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

The time came.

For the last few months, my 2003 Mazda 6s was quickly showing its true GM roots. As it neared the 60,000 mile mark, there were a host of new creaks and knocks. Front suspension, radiator, minor oil leak, 60k-mile service, tires, and rear brakes were all going to need attention -- and the prospect of dumping about 3 grand into a car with 60,000 miles on it wasn't exactly appetizing. And assuming I did pay to get it fixed, I'd still be out of warranty.

Short story short -- the Mazda, she is no more. Long live the [certified pre-owned] 2007 Acura TL!

What can I say? I'm a sucker for the four door saloon. Apart from the fact that the TL has more interior headroom and a better looking rear-end, my taste in styling hasn't changed much. Notice the similarities?

And if you look at each photograph carefully, you'll notice that both pictures were taken in exactly the same location, which is really a freak occurrence because two weeks ago, I moved back to an apartment complex I had lived in years ago. It's like Groundhog Day!

Well -- almost. There are some important advantages to the TL. For starters, first and second gear are not absolutely useless like in the Mazda. At low speeds, the 6 was jerky, heavy, and just all around horrid in stop-and-go traffic (that it was brilliant on the highway is neither here nor there). The TL's extra 38 horsepower and 41 pounds of torque are a welcome addition over the 6's asthmatic and (amazingly inefficient) 6-cylinder engine. I'm actually amazed that the TL has much more power and still manages to get better miles to the gallon.

Other TL advantages include superior build quality and materials, like the leather and dash plastics. There is significantly less headroom noise on the highway too, which makes driving longer distances a lot more comfortable in the TL.

I didn't think I would, but I like the TL's handsfree phone system. The microphone is perfectly positioned and there is no need to talk louder than usual, and the other caller's voice comes through clearly through the stereo. Unfortunately, Acura insists on not reading your phone's phonebook, so it can be a little tricky.

I still think the Mazda's interior cockpit design is above-average in its class, but the lack of basic features like bluetooth, MP3-CD playback, AUX-in, or iPod integration (even in the 2008 model) were especially infuriating because their integrated dash system is very very (very) costly to replace.

What the 6 lacks in build quality and features, it definitely made up for in handling. The firm sports suspension, super-stiff chassis, and great steering wheel feedback made even a simple drive to the supermarket a thrill ride. The TL has a much smoother ride and is, unfortunately, a bit more numb overall. It doesn't bob and weave like a Caddy, but it doesn't feel as glued to the pavement as the 6 did. And no, I can't afford a TL Type-S, so forget it.

The only TL "feature" that bothers me is the advanced Grade Logic Control System and Shift Hold control. So when you are slowing down to stop at a signal, the transmission will automatically downshift for you -- and downshift hard. Although the engine-braking will help you slow down faster, these downshifts to 3rd and 2nd are quite harsh. This makes it very hard to slow down smoothly or just keep your foot off the gas and coast until the light changes. It is quite intrusive and makes every occasion you slow down at a light a real adventure.

Basically, what these features attempt to do is mimic a manual transmission. But the peculiar thing is that most manual drivers -- when stopping at a signal -- will keep it in 4th or 3rd and come to a full stop, then just shift to 1st to get going again. The only time they would really downshift sequentially like the TL is to slow down quickly to hit the apex on a tight curve and have enough low-end power to accelerate out of the turn. But seriously, I'm driving around in the 'burbs of the Bay Area -- I don't need hard engine-braking every time I slow down to get into the parking lot of the local Target! Fortunately, the TL's manual shift mode (tiptronic) doesn't downshift as aggressively, so I tend to just use that.

In terms of upgrades, I always try to keep them understated. I've added an amp and sub from my Mazda, which sound fantastic. Tint has also made a huge difference. With the dark exterior (Carbon Gray Pearl), untinted glass makes this car looked like a plain vanilla Camry you might borrow from your grandmother. But with matching 35s all around, the TL comes alive.

The one thing I have seen that I really like is these illuminated door sills. They are pretty elegant and understated.

I was thinking of getting a rear wing spoiler, but I don't like the way it would add bulk to an already muscular rear end.

On Truth in Advertising

2008-08-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is the name of the public TV program "New Tang Dynasty" incredibly misleading?

Another Moment of Modernity

2008-07-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I was sitting at a signal when a guy with spiked up bleach-blonde hair pulled up in a Ford Focus blasting death metal (I believe Slayer). Normally I wouldn't have paid much attention, but the fact that he was casually wearing a bluetooth earpiece really depressed me.

Did Lucifer Design LG's New Ad Campaign?

2008-07-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I finally put my finger on why LG's new adverts are evil. Each ad celebrates disposable consumer culture without the slightest realization how shallow the message actually is. You somtimes come across advertisers who poke fun at themselves -- but this isn't that kind of ad campaign. This is evil on multiple levels.

LG proudly proclaims that "all" that's standing between you and your wonderful new existence are your "old" appliances. And amazingly, each ad features working appliances being destroyed in rather lame fashion so that the consumer can justify her "need" to buy the latest, faux industrial offering from LG.

And don't think I'm reading too much into the meaning of the TV ads. The print ad campaign is even more atrocious. They feature tag lines like:

"The average lifespan of a washer and dryer is 13 years. Fortunately, there are ways of shortening it."
"What would drive you to sabotage your perfectly good dishwasher? Our dishwasher."
"Whoever said you have to wait for your refrigerator to break to get an LG?"
"The only thing standing between you and your new LG appliances are your old appliances."

Did it ever occur to LG that this commerical could have been spun into a brilliant public service announcement? Did it occur to them that instead of destroying all of the perfectly fine, working home appliances, that they could have just said "donate your old appliances to someone who can use them"?

And I'm not talking about altruism here -- I'm talking about a clever marketing campaign. Perhaps the easiest way to turn off consumers is to make them feel ashamed of their desire to purchase your product. And what has LG done here? It has taken that self-interested, polluting, materialism and made it the center of its campaign! Instead, why not play to the emerging faux-"green" civic virtue (or, if your target audience has none, why not give them the impression that making this purchase will succeed in creating that virtue)? I mean, how stupid can LG be to actually air this?

And did you happen to catch all of the imagery of nature being littered with bits of destroyed appliances? What genius thought that would be a good idea? Just seeing that "Life's Good" motto at the end of each advert just about sums it up. These ads represent a mentality that's about five years past its time. What a horrible, horrible ad campaign. It should put LG to shame.

Natural Born Litigators

2008-07-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's a great feeling to work at a firm where you can to post a parody of a name partner. Everyone's such a good sport.

Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

2008-07-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

There's a highly-anticipated animated Batman film being released tomorrow. It is called "Batman: Gotham Knight", features six episodes done by different directors, and has a pretty interesting anime feel to it. Here's a pretty good preview:

The Dark Knight Returns (1986)

2008-07-03T01:48:00.000-07:00

I loved collecting comic books -- until my mom put an end to it a dozen years back. Luckily, three things happened since then: (1) great cartoons like X-Men and Batman: The Animated Series sustained my interest; (2) I held on to my comic book collection; and (3) I now earn my own salary.

A few weeks ago, I set foot in a comic-book store for the first time in more than a decade. I was like a kid in a comic-book store. I spent an hour in the highly-rated HiJinx Comics (San Jose, CA) shooting the breeze with a very helpful clerk. I can't describe how much more exhilarating the experience was compared to setting foot in a germ-free Barnes & Noble.

When I was in the store, a young kid came into the store with his mom. Both were equally out of their element. The mom had no idea what any of the comic books were about and was in a hurry for her son to just pick something and leave. The boy, now under pressure to hurry, was equally unsure of where to begin. And naturally, he gravitated toward the handful of comic book heroes he'd seen on TV. It hit me not only that I was the same way when I was his age, but that -- having been away from comic books for so long -- that most of the story lines I enjoy reflect what I had seen on TV too. I'm not sure why, but this made me curiously aware of my age.

I asked the clerk to give me the names of some well-regarded graphic novels/trade paperbacks in the last few decades. Some of the common ones came up, including "The Dark Knight Returns" (TDKR), which I had already ordered. He also recommended Alan Moore's "Watchmen" (which I am currently halfway through and loving). But given my bent towards the much darker, more cerebral, literary style, he highly recommended the "Sandman" series. I'm deliberating whether to buy it.

The only reason I recount my visit to HiJinx is because that scene will always remind me of the first time I read Frank Miller's TDKR, which incidentally I was able to buy using a gift certificate, a great coupon, and with free shipping online for just over 25 bucks. I bought this beautifully illustrated "Absolute Dark Knight" hard-cover edition.

I'm not going to go too much into the storyline, except to say that it was a pleasure to read. It is not only beautifully illustrated, it was also an engaging experience to consume the equivalent of a full-length feature film in a format I'm no longer used to. Every night before bed for about a week, I'd pick up the action right where I left off. And having focused lately on 20th century classics, this graphic novel forced me to use a different part of my brain to experience the story being told. It was a breath of fresh air.

Reading TDKR also made me aware of my age. Obviously this has something to do with the fact that Miller chronicles The Batman's return from a decade-long retirement following the death of Jason Todd. But the entire structure and tone of the work -- and how I approached the story -- is so different than what I imagined.

The publication of TDKR in 1986 was a watershed event. It redefined The Batman for a generation -- for my generation. TDKR represents a marked transformation from the campy, crime-solver to the grim, psychologically-deranged crusader. This Batman is personally tortured, vengeful, and aware of his own mortality. This Batman has a depth I yet to experience on the screen.

When I was younger, I was much more interested in piecing together the story lines like a soap opera. But TDKR is a fantastic stand-alone work; it uses the characters as a vehicle to tell us a tale and tell us much more about the author. Put simply, TDKR has made me much more aware of the mythology of The Batman. And as time goes on, new artists, be it writers, cartoonists, or film directors, have been able to put their own marks on one of the most successful franchises of all time (a big part of me wishes this was done for the Star Wars franchise, you know, so it stops sucking).

Christopher Nolan's latest Batman film is due to be released in a few weeks. I was a bit mad when they decided to do the Joker again because Jack Nicholson absolutely nailed that role in Tim Burton's film awhile back. But since then, and since reading TDKR, I'm much more cognizant of the way each generation creates its own Batman folklore. Now I am even more interested to see the late Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker.

Freshly-Cut: New Music!

2008-07-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

(June 2008)

It's been a very good few months and I've stumbled across a lot of great music. Enjoy.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers (2008)
Andrew Bird - Soldier On (2008)
Sun Kill Moon - April (2008)
A.A. Bondy - American Hearts (2008)
Elton John - The Legendary Covers Album (2008)
Everest - Ghost Notes (2008)
Bob Marley - Trenchtown Rock (2008)
Sean Hayes - Flowering Spade (2008)
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (2008)

My Morning Jacket on Conan

2008-06-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Just in case you missed My Morning Jacket's fantastic performance of "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Part 2." This off of their album Evil Urges:

A Moment of Modernity

2008-06-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

I was in the restroom at work today. While in the stall, I began to hear, to my left, the distinct tapping of someone typing an e-mail on a smartphone. Immediately thereafter, I began to hear, to my right, the sound of someone tapping away on another smartphone. About ten seconds later, from the far left, I heard yet another person typing. There I was, sitting in complete silence, and all I could hear is typing.

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions

2008-06-15T23:00:00.001-07:00

Discovery Channel has done it again. I'm addicted to its new six-part series, When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions. And while the imagery is absolutely haunting, unlike Discovery's previous series "Planet Earth," this series doesn't simply rest on its "Hi-Def" laurels. It isn't content at simply showing us some cool scenes, but combines fantastic interviews with above-average narration to create a compelling story of the personalities involved. It is epic.

Revisiting Chappelle's Show

2008-06-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

On Seeking Leave

2008-06-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth (1969)

2008-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

When I think of Alexander Portnoy -- a 33-year old American Jew who grew up in Jersey City -- I imagine Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce rolled into one. Portnoy is the main character in Philip Roth's exquisitely vulgar 1969 novel "Portnoy's Complaint."

What exactly is Portnoy's "complaint"? Given that the entire novel is Portnoy's monologue with his psychoanalyst, Dr. Spielvogel, understandably the novel begins with a clinical definition:

Portnoy's Complaint n. A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Spielvogel says: 'Acts of exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coitus are plentiful; as a consequence of the patient's "morality," however, neither fantasy nor act issues a genuine sexual gratification, but rather in overriding feelings of shame and the dread of retribution, particularly in the form of castration.' (Spielvogel, O. "The Puzzled Penis," Internationale Zeitschrift fur Psychoanalyse, Vol XXIV p.909). It is believed by Spielvogel that many of the symptoms can be traced to the bonds obtaining in the mother-child relationship.

So, to put it plainly, Portnoy's Complaint is that he is somehow prevented from enjoying any of his impulses and this -- at least he says -- forces him to the extremes.

I'm sure you can imagine that Portnoy, Assistant Commissioner of Human Opportunity for the City of New York, is not married and is not not particularly interested in getting married. He's terrified at the prospect of getting bored with his mate -- and considering his frank, mechanical, vulgar descriptions of sex, it isn't surprising why he's terrified of settling down.

Roth's novel has a real shock-and-awe feel to it. Roth is deliberately trying to unveil subject matter that would otherwise never see the light of day -- and amazingly, almost 40 years after its publication, the novel has more urgency, depth, and electricity than any of our sophomoric, campy, "Sex and the City"-ish counterparts.

I finished the novel about two months ago and I've had a hard time trying to mull it over. Obviously, there are some passages that are "shocking," but the excitement is as fleeting as -- well, you know. I find myself wishing now that Roth had spent more time exploring the most exciting themes in the book: guilt, family, and identity. Portnoy's description of his parents -- "These two are the outstanding producers and packagers of guilt in our time!" -- are brilliant. And the way in which Portnoy describes his peculiar sense of alienation when visiting the 'homeland' reminded me of my trips abroad.

"Portnoy's Complaint" is an exploration of guilt (of the middle-class, American-Jew variety). And in comparison to the fleeting impact of Portnoy's escapades, experiencing Roth's part-fictional caricatures of his upbringing and realizing that they were not that far off from my own is lasting.

Father's Day

2008-06-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

Here is an ad that never gets enough airtime.

Legal / Industry News Index

2008-05-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

When I started work in October 2007, I wasn't aware that my firm had subscriptions to several high-end legal news resources. I found out about each one accidentally -- and it often took a few days to figure out who had the login information to access the site. I came up with the brilliant idea of writing those resources down and distributing them to my colleagues, but it got me interested in tackling a broader problem.

I've noticed that the most effective attorneys are generally up to date on current events. Obviously this includes world news, politics, and sports, but they are also well-versed in what's going on in various tech sectors. They constantly use this information to inform their work. I really think this is a critical aspect of professional development, and I think I've been kind of lazy about not keeping up to date.

But it turns out that I have no idea what resources my colleages use to stay up to date. So I came up with the brilliant idea of asking them. I sent out a quick e-mail asking for feedback, and I was amazed to discover an array of fantastic resources I wouldn't have known existed otherwise. And in the spirit of sharing the wealth, here's the list.

Feel free to suggest others:

General IP
Intellectual property Owners Association: http://www.ipo.org
IP Law360: http://www.ip.law360.com
JurisNotes: http://www.jurisnotes.com
Managing IP: http://www.managingip.com/

Patent Law
271 Patent Blog: http://271patent.blogspot.com/
CAFC: http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/
E.D. Tex. Blog: http://mcsmith.blogs.com/
Hal Wegner's Newsletter (request via e-mail to hwegner@foley.com)
JurisNotes – Patent Extra: http://www.jurisnotes.com/
Last Month at the Federal Circuit Newsletter: http://www.finnegan.com/contact/index.cfm?register=true&newsletter=true
Patent Docs: http://patentdocs.typepad.com/
Patent Lens: http://www.patentlens.net/daisy/patentlens/patentlens.html
Patently-O: http://patentlaw.typepad.com/)
PATNEWS Newsletter: http://www.patenting-art.com/clients/patnews.htm
PHOSITA: http://www.okpatents.com/phosita/
Promote The Progress: http://promotetheprogress.com/
The Patent Prospector: http://www.patenthawk.com/blog/
The Prior Art: http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/
USPTO BPAI Decisions: http://des.uspto.gov/Foia/BPAIReadingRoom.jsp

BioTech Law / Industry
BioWorld Online: http://www.bioworld.com/
FDA Law Blog: http://www.fdalawblog.net/
Orange Book Blog: http://www.orangebookblog.com/
Patent Baristas: http://patentbaristas.com/
Patent Docs: http://www.patentdocs.net/patent_docs/
Pharmalot: http://www.pharmalot.com/
Wall Street Journal Health Blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/?mod=WSJBlog

Tech Law / Industry
ArsTechnica: http://www.arstechnica.com/
Bay Area TechWire Newsletter: http://bayareatechwire.com/
BNA Internet Law News: http://www.bna.com/ilaw/
Chilling Effects Clearninghouse: http://www.chillingeffects.org/index.cgi
CNET News: http://www.news.com/
Geek.com: http://www.geek.com/
IT Wire: http://www.itwire.com/
Silicon Valley News: http://www.siliconvalley.com/
Silicon Valley Wire: http://www.siliconvalleywire.com/
The Dean’s List: http://home.earthlink.net/~deankay/DeanKay_TheDean
VentureBeat: http://venturebeat.com/

General Legal
ABA Section of Antitrust Law: http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/
AboveTheLaw: http://www.abovethelaw.com/
Adam Smith, Esq.: http://bmacewen.com/blog/
American Lawyer: http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/index.jsp
Cal Law: http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/index.jsp
California Lawyer: http://californialawyermagazine.com/
EvidenceProf Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/
FindLaw: http://www.findlaw.com/
HG.org: http://www.hg.org/
How Appealing: http://howappealing.law.com/
Jurist: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/
Law.com: http://www.law.com/
Mondaq: http://www.mondaq.com//
New York Lawyer: http://www.nylawyer.com/
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
SCOTUSBlog: http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/
Wall Street Journal Law Blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/
Wall Street Journal: http://wsj.com/

International
Braina (Japan): http://www.braina.com/
IN-Law Newsletter (Japan): http://www.mag2.com/m/0000096485.html
Patent Salon (Japan): http://www.patentsalon.com/
Potent Potions (India): http://www.moneycontrol.com/pharma/
Spicy IP (India): http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com/

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (1961)

2008-05-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

"What is the nature of the search? you ask. Really it is very simple; at least for a fellow like me. So simple that it is often overlooked. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life."

Winner of the National Book Award in 1961, Walker Percy's "The Moviegoer" revels in the space between the routine and alienation of the post-War era. I wasn't expecting it, but Binx Bolling, a successful stock broker living comfortably in the suburbs of New Orleans, reminded me of Ed Norton's character Jack in Fight Club.

Binx has been content to float along in life and subsist on material enjoyment, often noting his appreciation for his secretaries' backsides. He calls this life of routine the 'malaise.' And on the eve of his 30th birthday, Binx recalls a fleeting moment experienced during the Korean War. Wounded and lying on the ground, he recalls watching a beetle and experiencing a moment of clarity. When I think of this moment, I can easily imagine one of the many masterful scenes from a Terrence Malick film (like The Thin Red Line).

What made that moment so captivating for Binx was its profound immediacy. Binx notes the immediate again when he talks with his cousin Kate about a traumatic accident in which she was involved: “Have you noticed that only in time of illness or disaster or death are people real? I remember at the time of the wreck — people were so kind and helpful and solid. Everyone pretended that our lives until that moment had been every bit as real as the moment itself and that the future must be real too, when the truth was that our reality had been purchased only by Lyell’s death. In another hour or so we had all faded out again and gone our dim ways.”

Kate, who is suicidal and unstable, seems to share Binx's fear of the ordinary. But unlike Binx, Kate can only deal with these moments of alienation with destruction and the manufacture of drama. Binx is more reserved, but is perhaps more afflicted -- and Kate can tell: "You're like me, but worse. Much worse."

And for Binx, the unreality of his modern life is only amplified by the movie screen. At one point during a movie, he realizes that the movie was shot locally and describes a phenomenon called certification: "Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him. More thank likely He will live there sadly and the emptiness which is inside him will expand until it evacuates the entire neighborhood. But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere.”

Percy's writing is unique and mesmerizing -- and is quite philosophically informed. Many critics have traced the existentialist influences of Kierkegaard and Sartre, but not having read too much of either, I'll take their word for it.

I'm sure you can guess that the storyline (if there is one at all) develops rather slowly. But the writing is just epic. Each sentence feels uncrowded, pure, reflective, and not weighed down by the responsibility of spoonfeeding the reader plot developments. Nor is Percy concerned with showing you how smart he is or run circles around you with how witty he can be. To me, Percy's style and tone match up perfectly with Binx and Kate.

It is a seamless work.

10 Awesome Songs for TV Ads for Birth Control Pills

2008-04-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

The Avalanches - Since I Left You

Salt N' Pepa - Push It

The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

2 Live Crew - Me So Horny

NIN - Closer

Peaches - F**k the Pain Away

Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own

Tool - Prison Sex

Rick James - Give it to Me Baby

Ben Folds Five - Brick

Deadliest Catch - Season 4 (All New)

2008-04-15T23:00:00.001-07:00

The fourth season of the Deadliest Catch premiered on the Discovery Channel tonight. Along with Ax Men on the History Channel, this is the closest thing to 'reality TV' that I'll watch.

Brilliant premise, real personalities. If you haven't seen it, give it a try.

Collective Soul (4/11 - At the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom)

2008-04-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Collective Soul? Me too.

I found out just two weeks ago that Collective Soul -- most-known for their 1994 album "Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid" and their self-titled album in 1995 -- released an album called "Afterwords" last summer. I haven't listened to the album yet, but I've spent some time over the past week re-listening to their other albums. I am amazed by how many hits they have.

I recently saw them play at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom for a mere 25 bucks. The two opening bands, Josh Kelley and The Whitest Light, were pretty forgettable, though not terrible.

I really wasn't expecting a great performance from the band; I was expecting to see an aging band to play a handful of their hits, surrounded by a crowd attempting to relive their not so distant youth.

But man -- they were awesome! Ed Rolland really brought the energy and worked the crowd. There was a little something for everybody. Great guitar solos, good vocals, some semi-acoustic songs, some interactive songs, and a general feeling that this band not only enjoys touring together, but also likes playing for the crowd. The best way to describe the show is "balanced."

Collective Soul has largely been successful because of their straightforward, consistent, mainstream brand of rock and roll. At the same time, their lack of a niche musical style or a mystique has held them back. I'm not sure if it is by choice, but Collective Soul seems to have avoided the edgy, counter-culture brand of rock and, instead, embraced the world of adult-contemporary. It isn't a bad thing, but it has affected the band's perceived pedigree and snob-appeal.

At the same time, Collective Soul manages to never sound generic. The albums aren't empty, slavish attempts to emulate the least common denominator of the genre. Although slightly anachronistic, examples of bands like that seem to just mirror whatever the hell everyone else is doing would be Creed, Nickelback, or basically any band caught between post-grunge and pre-"Indie" revolution. And you know what, we've already got a whole boat load of so-called indie-pop bands who are beginning to flood that genre as well, making it even more difficult to figure out what is authentic and what is junk.

Although not unique, Collective Soul is authentic.

The Black Keys (4/2 - At The Warfield, SF)

2008-04-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see The Black Keys play at The Warfield in San Francisco. I haven't been to a concert in awhile, so it was nice to get out. I had very high hopes for this concert because the band released its new album -- Attack and Release -- on April 1.

Apart from some technical difficulties, the show was kind of a letdown. It wasn't bad, just pretty average. And when you have high expectations, it feels even worse. I think my main gripe was that they played for just about an hour, which is kind of stingy, especially if you've just released a new album! More importantly, their timing in general was off. Or, something was off and it didn't quite sound right. This was especially true when Pat Carney's uncle, who is featured on the album, came on stage to play.

The one caveat here is that the new album is actually very good.

This brings me to a broader topic, one that began nagging at me mid-way through the show. Does it seem odd that compared to live music I prefer listening to music that is engineered and packaged in some studio and then reproduced on a lifeless machine for my personal enjoyment? Is that sacrilege? Am I a terrible person for preferring the lifeless reproduction to the real deal?

Whenever I go to a show, I look out at the crowd rocking out. And I have a very good hunch that they would rock out to just about anything just as long as it was loud. Frankly, it doesn't even have to resemble a song. And this seems so odd to me because I'm sure most of these people would be quite discerning if they were listening to the song in the car or at home. They would be candid whether a song sucked or not. But for some reason, the collective music IQ takes a sharp nosedive when you are at a live show.

It's not about the music. It has more to do with being there, at a show -- it feels, collectively, more alive to know you are at a place, a gathering, where it is. And you know what, I'm done with that. It is fool's gold and I'm not interested.

I think this observation of the crowd, and its collective dumbness, poisons my experience of live music in general. I have been to only a handful of shows where the performer's musical skill and talent were on display and transformed an otherwise great recorded track into a completely new emotional experience. But that is more the exception than the rule.

Discern!

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

2008-04-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

As I continue my two-decade quest to complete the Modern Library's 100 greatest English-language novels of the 20th century, I'm already trying to keep track of the wildly different characters I have come across, and can only imagine those who I will meet in the years to come. Captain John Yossarian is one of those characters that will endure in my memory. He's not particularly heroic. What draws me to him his sanity of weakness and fear.

I finished Heller's scathing, ironic, humorous attack on bureaucracy a few weeks back. In fact, in the interim period between finishing Catch 22 and writing this short review, I have completed The Moviegoer by Walker Percy and begun Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. The reason I've been waiting to write about Catch 22 is because I hadn't made up my mind about it -- well, I don't think I've really ever made my mind "up" about any book. I just needed time to digest the material and work through how I felt about the book. I find the act of reading less satisfactory than the two-week period after finishing a novel where I can try to understand it in its entirety.

Yossarian is a WW2 bombardier stationed in Pianosa, Italy. He not particularly interested in fighting in the War. We are told that his job, as a soldier, is not to win the war, but to survive. And more importantly, anybody who stands in the way of his mission to stay alive -- is his enemy: "The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, . . . And don't you forget that, because the longer you remember it, the longer you might live." He's not ashamed of this statement either. In fact, he's afraid to die.

At first, this might seem cowardly, unpatriotic, or self-interested -- especially in a novel set during WW2, where everyone, according to modern folklore, served in the company of heroes. But Yoassarian gave me a jolt of consciousness. Who wouldn't be afraid to die? And especially when surrounded by equally mad commanding officers hell bent on making a name for themselves by sacrificing their squadron?

I think the hallmark of Catch 22 is its mastery of the paradox. Yossarian won't have to fly more missions if he's declared insane; but not wanting to fly more missions is totally sane. And, well, off he has to go to fly some more missions. Catch 22 is full of these paradoxes and, although repetitive and a bit tired in some passages, the overall effect of this repetition pays off. After the first 1/3 of the book, the peculiar, hilariously unique logic starts to make sense. The bureaucracy itself is mad, and the only way to deal with it is with even more madness.

Curiously, I had difficulty picturing the characters in my head while reading the novel and after finishing it as well. For instance, if you were to ask me how I picture the story of Catch 22 being told in film, I can't really think of any I've seen that would be appropriate. I can see WW2 in color, but not in the grainy, muted colors of Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Nor would the faded, 70's-greenish color palette of M*A*S*H really work for me. The world of Catch 22 only exists between the covers.

And now comes my dilemma. By virtue of picking a "Top 100" list as my syllabus, at times I wonder whether I should feel compelled to prove why each book belongs on the list -- which would be my way of justifying canon I've chosen. But where's would be the fun in that? What good is experiencing something if you can't even trust your own instincts?

Even a cursory review of the criticism of Catch 22 reveals that it wasn't universally well-received when published. In fact, the New York Times panned it while others foreshadowed its complete irrelevance.

But here's an opportunity for a knee-jerk reaction that I hate. Usually when someone finds out that a critic disliked a book that eventually becomes a "classic," you'll get the standard line about how dumb these critics must have been at the time not to appreciate the book as a masterpiece. I really can't stand that hindsight bias because the later-acquired fame seems to blind people into justifying why something is great as opposed to just giving their honest opinion about the book and letting the chips fall where they may.

In fact, I have no real qualms about saying that the first 1/3 of the book doesn't appear to be cohesively written and offers little by way of character development; the chapters are so episodic that the book loses whatever momentum it gains the previous chapter, which is pretty frustrating and makes the book hard to get into. The middle 1/3 of the book does a lot of that legwork and begins to build a framework in terms of a plot line, but for the reader, the array of characters and different story lines still don't quite gel together in any meaningful way.

But the last 1/3 of the book makes up for all of this -- and then some. It is stunningly good literature. While reading those last set of chapters, I kept wishing that the earlier portions of the book were as gripping. The sentences tighten up, the paradoxes deepen in meaning by leaps and bounds, and the book gains traction as it embraces a more linear timeline. But the real key for me was that, towards the end of the book, I could actually identify some motivating forces behind Yossarian's attempted rebellion.

With that said, I think over the last two weeks I have been able to think more about the earlier chapters and their extensive use of flashbacks to disrupt time. I'm starting to appreciate that aspect of Heller's writing, especially when he doubles back to describe certain aspects of the same event, which ends up giving the reader an explanation as to why a joke, partially explained earlier in the book, was funny or not. It takes a lot of patience to create something like that. And more importantly, it shows that Heller trusted his readers to do the work to get to the humour.

Yeasayer - 2080

2008-03-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic song and a perfect video to accompany it. Lyrics posted below.

I can't sleep when I think about the times we're living in
I can't sleep when I think about the future I was born into
Outsiders dressed up like Sunday morning
With no Berlin wall what the hell you gonna do

It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
In 2080
I'll surely be dead
So don't look ahead
Never look ahead
It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
And the moon shines bright
On the water tonight
So we won't drown
In the summer sound

If you find me I'll be sitting by the water fountain
Picket signs, letdowns, meltdown it's Monday morning
But it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
It's alright
Cause in no time, they'll be gone, I guess I'll still be standing here

It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
In 2080
I'll surely be dead
So don't look ahead
Never look ahead
It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
And the moon shines bright
On the water tonight
So we won't drown
In the summer sound

Yeah yeah we can all grab at the chance to be handsome farmers
Yeah you can have twenty-one sons and be blood when they marry my daughters
And the pain that we left at the station will stay in a jar behind us
We can pickle the pain into blue ribbon winners at county contests

It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
In 2080
I'll surely be dead
So don't look ahead
Never look ahead
It's a New Year
I'm glad to be here
It's a fresh spring
So let's sing
And the moon shines bright
On the water tonight
So we won't drown
In the summer sound

Yeah yeah we can all grab at the chance to be handsome farmers
Yeah you can have twenty-one sons and be blood when they marry my daughters
And the pain that we left at the station will stay in a jar behind us
We can pickle the pain into blue ribbon winners at county contests

Georgie James - Need Your Needs

2008-03-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

The entire album -- Places -- is strong.

Music!

2008-03-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Whigs - Mission Control (2008)

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (2007)

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin (2007)

Georgie James - Places (2007)

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)

The Black Keys - Attack and Release (2008)

Black Lips - Black Lips! (2003)

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride (2008)

The Sea and Cake - Everybody (2007)

Two Amazing Video Games

2008-03-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This is one of the most visually stunning games I have ever seen. I absolutely loved the game play of Call of Duty 2 and was pretty pissed when Call of Duty 3 was not released for PC. I keep noticing that the sound is mediocre, which is suprising given that Call of Duty 2 had fantastic sound. For some reason, gunshots sound terrible about 1/3 of the time (especially when they are far off or if a bullet is whizzing by you). It just doesn't sound like anything except a funky sound some engineer came up with on his keyboard. You can really notice how off the bullets sound in the extended opening scenes of the first mission. The verbal audio, on the other hand, is devastatingly good.

Company of Heroes

I haven't had this much fun in a Real Time Strategy game since Command and Conquer: Red Alert. The audio in this game, in stark contrast to Call of Duty 4, is stunning. Whenever you order up an artillery barrage, your stomach turns. The musical score is really strong as well. The controls take some getting used to and are a little counterintuitive, but I felt at home within no time. This game was touted as a DX10 title, but I didn't notice too much of a difference between the game in DX9 and DX10 mode.

10 Voices I Can't Get Enough Of

2008-03-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

John Spencer
Marc Summers
Leslie Feist
Norman Chad
The Original Host of "How It's Made"
Steve Kerr
Cat Power
Clint Eastwood
Laura Linney
Dave Chappelle

10 Personalities To Boycott

2008-03-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Stephen A. Smith
Bill Walton
Martin Short
Sue Johanson
Mark Dacascos
Stephen Colbert
Condoleezza Rice
Bob Ryan
Kathy Griffin
Nathan Lane

Two Reasons Why "Top Gear" Is the Best Show on Television

2008-02-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

I first got into the BBC show "Top Gear" when it was played on Discovery Channel. But sadly, Discovery no longer airs the show, but I was lucky enough to have DirecTV and had access to BBC America, so I caught the show regularly. And now, Comcast has weekly episodes available for free On Demand.

I highly recommend this show to everyone, even if you're not a huge fan of cars. The personalities, the stunts, the banter, and the cinematography are all top notch. It makes motor shows like MotorWeek look like rubbish.

On Consumers and Diplomas

2008-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

After a few months, I received my “BAR Card,” which is a rather underwhelming plastic card issued by the State Bar of California with your ID number and other limited information on it. I’m debating whether I even want to keep it in my wallet (and just remember to take it with me when I go to court).

Something else I’ve received in the mail is an oversized certificate from the Supreme Court of California recognizing that I have been admitted to practice in this state. Currently, it is sitting on top my J.D. certificate from Boalt Hall, my B.A. diploma certificate from Syracuse University, and my high school diploma. They are literally collecting dust on top of a bookcase.

Should I bother displaying them in my office? I think about 60% of the other attorneys in my office have them displayed on their walls.

I have two issues.

First, don't people have to assume that if I'm a lawyer, I probably went to (and graduated from) high school, college, and law school? Will posting a certificate on my wall give them some added confidence or is it really for my own benefit? Is its only purpose to allow me to basque in my own satisfaction of having graduated? If it is, then I'm not interested.

I'm always put off when I go into any doctor's office and there are like five or six certificates posted, all supposedly there to inspire me in my doctor's abilities. It doesn't, frankly. And it just exudes self-importance. Maybe doctors are required to have them posted, I'm not sure.

A common retort is that I've spent so much money on obtaining that degree, so I should (somehow) feel compelled to hang it up on the wall because not doing so would (somehow) mean that I'm throwing my education away. I think I have as much interest in a physical diploma as a graduation ceremony. I think we can all agree that both are just for show. My question is, who am I supposed to be showing it to?

My second issues is that I have a profound distrust of any merchandise related to graduation or academic achievement. This includes the cap and gown that you 'rent' for more than the value of the cap and gown, the plethora of honor societies whose entire purpose is to sell you a shoddy yearbook for about $60.00, graduation photos, yearbook announcements, school chairs, folios, and an infinite number of other crap that is geared to make you feel like if you don't buy it, you're missing out on some memory.

And now, I have before me the option of spending hundreds of dollars on a pretty lame wall frame for my certificates. And, of course, for twenty additional dollars, I can get a "special" frame, which basically means that I'm not supposed to buy the regular frame since it is not "special" enough to allow me to commemorate this event.

Diplomas make my teeth hurt.

10 Things I Don't Understand

2008-02-20T16:53:00.001-08:00

Why I don't steal from luggage carousels at the airport.

Why speaker stands for home theaters cost $100 each.

Why the Golden State Warriors thought that Chris Webber was relevant.

Western nuclear proliferation policy.

The reason I find it amusing that 'increased urges for compulsive gambling' is a known side effect of MIRAPEX, a drug used to treat Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).

Why immediately after landing, the airline passengers in the row behind me insist on moving up in the aisle so that I can't get out of my seat or reach for my bags.

Why the "SEND" button on my mobile phone isn't considered the equivalent of "push-to-talk."

Why Zip disks still cost so much even though they are obsolete.

The ending of "I am Legend" (2007).

That nobody seems worried that Steve Jobs is a technology fascist.

"Ace of Cakes"

2008-01-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

Alright. This is going to sound odd, but there is a very good show on the Food Network called "Ace of Cakes." The show is filmed in a cake bakery owned by Duff Goldman, a master baker who makes elaborate themed cakes. And although the cakes themselves are interesting, the way the staff interacts with one another really makes the show. I especially enjoy Geoffrey Manthorne's understated Christopher Guest-like humour.

Returning to Literature

2008-01-22T23:33:00.000-08:00

I used to read a lot in college, though it was mostly critical theory, political treatises and manifestos, gender and race studies literature, and history books. I did read a decent amount of fiction for classes. Ever since I started law school, though, I basically stopped reading any literature on my own.

Most of my time was spent reading case law and journal articles. And while I read a lot in my spare time, I was reading world news, technology news, and various magazines instead of diving into a novel. And of course, I spent a lot of time playing videogames, watching sports, TV, movies, and listening to music. There is really only so much media you can consume on a regular basis.

Looking back, choosing to forego regularly reading fiction was a bad choice. And after I finished taking the CA Bar Exam, I promised myself that I would start reading again. After a few months of sticking with it, I feel curiously re-engaged to all of the same philosophical and political discourses that were second nature to me just a few years ago. Here are a few recent books I've read with some rambling, gut reactions about each.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932): Many people read Brave New World in high school, but we read Orwell's 1984 instead. I definitely see a lot of overlap between the two, but Huxley's futuristic society speaks much more to modern consumer capitalism and its maximation of "happiness" (defined as the consumption of goods) while Orwell's world of big-brother speaks more to totalitarianism. And given where and when I grew up, the subject matter of Huxley's book seems more applicable or relevant -- at least for now.

The world this novel creates is stunning, especially when you consider it was published more than seventy years ago. It is a profound parody of the utopian society. But sadly, whatever this novel generates in foresight is, in my estimation, overshadowed by its utter lack of subtlety and nuance. The dialogue, character development, and narrative structure leave much to be desired in terms of depth. Actually, as the novel progresses, the story devolves into a number of (contrived) episodes created just so that Huxley can give us another heavy handed dose of what's on his mind. The lack of subtlety saturates every part of the novel. The characters' names, for instance, are so loaded (Lenina, Marx, Mr. Savage . . . .) that they end up negating what little character development there is. I kept getting the feeling that Huxley didn't think we were smart enough to pick up on his point, you know, as if we were so socially conditioned that we woudln't understand him.

This makes me wonder if Brave New World would have been a more brilliant short story or novella accompanied by a series of critical essays on "desire" in the Industrial era. With that said, I admit that the critical theorist in me would argue the same thing about every novel! Nevertheless, Huxley seems more architect than carpenter.

I was especially put off by John Savage, a character exposed to the "modern" world but has also been brought up among the "Indians" without modern social conditioning. John is your run of the mill outcast, but Huxley makes him a romantic, Christ-like figure that needs to suffer (perhaps for more than his own sins).

My first objection to the character is part superficial. Huxley tells us that John found a copy of the works of Shakespeare (I actually laughed aloud when I read that part of the story because it seemed TOO EASY), and subsequently learned it like scripture. But John seems to quote Shakespeare for virtually every other sentence. And while we are assured that John is sincere in his use of Shakespeare because it was the only vehicle for a spectrum of emotion unavailable to him in the "modern" world -- I'm not so sure Huxley's copious amounts of Shakespeare quotes was as sincere. The volume of material quoted from Shakespeare just devalues the passages and their effect. It felt like name-dropping.

The more urgent problem I had with John is that he represents a far too simplistic binary vision of modernity. John, the token outsider in both of his cultures, feels torn between these TWO worlds. In fact, a number of characters are pulled between two extremes. At times I wonder if this is my hindsight bias, but a lot of art and literature of the time managed to tackle this subject matter in a much more complex way by problematizing modernity. This story shouldn't be about modernity with a capital "M" -- but multiple modernities with several, conflicting, lower-case "m's."

If you don't believe me, try reading the last few chapters of Brave New World, one of which feature a conversation between John and one of the world controllers. The conversations lack nuance. Huxley just puts all of his cards on the table and doesn't leave much to chew on. And as much as I hate referring to this movie, the conversation between John and the controller reminds me of the almost unbearable conversation in The Matrix Reloaded between Neo and the Key Maker. It went on way too long and it tried to explain everything, presumably becuase viewers were too stupid to figure it out on their own.

The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925): When I started this novel, I knew that it wasn't a complete novel. Kafka never finished it, giving it to his editor/friend Max Brod in 1920. The Trial was published posthumously in 1925 after it was organized as coherently as possible. But despite the somewhat meandering, unfinished feel of the book, I think its abrupt, disjointed timeline really help in the long run because they reflect the legal process itself.

Generally, the novel is about Josef K, who wakes up to find two policemen arresting him. Josef K is not charged or told why he is being arrested. The novel follows Josef K as he is pushed through a cold, dehumanizing legal system, which offer process, but little information. Obviously, the subject matter is grim -- but it is tame by Kafka standards.

I consider this a must-read for anybody starting a legal career. It is really easy to lose sight of how mysterious and anxiety-inducing the legal process can be for the actual people who have cases and controversies. And the lasting effect of this novel is its ability to force me to think about the underlying realities WHO this process is happening for.

I found one thing in the "Publisher's Note" amusing. Kafka wrote to his friend Max Brod: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me . . . in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread. . . . Your's Franz Kafka." And the publisher to the edition responds, "We will never know if Kafka really meant for Brod to do what he asked . . . ." I'm not quite sure how I would feel if Kafka's last request had been honored, but there sure is something beautiful in finality (and, consequently, something empty in publishers).

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980): While I mentioned that the previous novel was published posthumously, the background to John Kennedy Toole's novel is really another character in the story. This was Toole's first novel and nobody gave it an honest read. He shopped it around unsuccessfully and later committed suicide in 1969. His mother shopped the book for years and brought it past Walker Percy (who wrote a fantastic foreword to my edition), who gave it a chance. And since then all we can wonder is what kind of literary career Toole would have had if he was still around. This dark background gives even greater depth to this dark comedy, which won the Pulitzer in 1981.

The other interesting thing about this book is that it is set in New Orleans, so you can't help but read the book while thinking about all that's happened there in recent years. A Confederacy of Dunces does not paint a glowing picture of New Orleans, however. In fact, when it was published, the book was not well received by many in New Orleans.

The book revolves around Ignatius J. Reilly, who I can only describe as a mix between the comic-book store owner from The Simpson's and Don Quixote. He's slothful, 30, and still living with his mother. She puts up with his delusional fantasies of history, politics, and morality, at least for the most part. Ignatius feels that the modern world lacks "theology and geometry," and prefers Middle Age philosophy. Ignatius, who up until now has found a way to avoid manual labor and maintain his sense of intellectual superiority, finds himself forced to find a job to repay a debt from an auto collision. Each job, of course, is a disaster and Ignatius blames a fate-like power ("Fortuna") instead of himself for his bad luck.

This book has brilliantly written dialogue and the tension generated by Ignatius' complete lack of reality made me enjoy the impending train wreck. I suppose my only (very, very minor) criticism is that Ignatius was so much of a farce that I couldn't put up with him. This is definitely a character you end up hating -- like that weenie in Saving Private Ryan, Upham.

Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler (1940): This is the first book I've read by Arthur Koestler and I admit that I never heard of the book until I found it on the Modern Library's reading list. In fact, it was only a few weeks after I finished the book when I realized it was part of a trilogy.

In contrast to Brave New World, this novel seemed to have so much going on behind the story itself. The novel focuses on Rubashov, a Bolshevik who helped create the Stalinist regime. But by 1938, Rubashov finds himself falling victim to one of the public trials/purges in Moscow.

The novel has a slow pace, and Koestler does a masterful job of speeding up, slowing down, and breaking time. It is extremely effective and puts more of a burden on the reader to understand the implications of what's happening at any given point. The chapters about Rubashov's interrogation are riveting. In particular we see two characters who could be brothers, but find themselves at opposite ends of the interrogation table. The real sadness is that Rubashov knows that his interrogator will soon be in Rubashov's seat.

It is amazing how a novel about a prisoner in solitary confinement has a few great characters. Rubashov, for example, communicates with his neighbor by tapping a code for each letter into the stone wall. Communication is sparse between the two, but it speaks volumes.

I was constantly reminded that Rubashov felt--at least partly--that his impending confession and execution was an inevitable result of the Stalinist regime. And, with fatalistic disregard for himself, Rubashov appears to sacrifice himself so the gears of the regime can continue grinding away. And that, for me, is a key insight about Koestler's novel. Perhaps the most dangerous type of control is the kind we desire. This is called hegemony.

This is a great, relatively short read.

The Black Keys - "The Wicked Messenger"

2008-01-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

I just came across this new song by The Black Keys called "The Wicked Messenger." It is a very good cover of a Bob Dylan original. The song appears on the soundtrack to the movie I'm Not There (2007), which I have yet to see.

You can listen to the song for free here. The Wicked Messenger

0 for 6.

2008-01-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

So I started off 2008 with a sniffling thud. I caught a cold (thank goodness it only lasted three days) and then I hit a string of bad luck with retail purchases.

We received a token year-end bonus at our firm, and--after taxes--I used it to build a new computer. I purchased almost all of the components at NewEgg.com, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in purchasing any type of electronics. They have an immense catalogue of goods and have unbeatable prices. Their order processing is also very efficient.

Two of the things I purchased included a computer case made by Thermaltake, a well-known manufacturer for mid- to high-end PC cases. Although it states that the case has a standard opening for a power supply unit, it turns out that the case has a narrow opening inexplicably placed in a section of the case that is inaccessible. After about three hours, I gave up and had to return the case. (NewEgg's return system is automated and online, which makes it bearable).

Another item I purchased was a motherboard from Abit USA. For three days I tried to get this motherboard to boot up properly with no success. I even brought the computer into my local Fry's Electronics and paid 69.99 to have it checked out. A short aside: the computer technicians at the Fry's in Sunnyvale, CA definitely have their shit together -- unlike Best Buy, who managed to lose my cousin's laptop and then find it nine months later (and had the gall to charge him his diagnostic fee).

It turns out that my motherboard was dead on arrival, so I had to send that back as well. 0 for 2.

I also decided to cash in some gift certificates from Overstock.com. I purchased George Orwell's novel 1984. Or well, I thought I did. It turns out that it is an abridged version of 1984 for small children. 0 for 3.

I also purchased a foldable treadmill from Overstock.com, which arrived via FedEx yesterday. It weighs about 85 lbs, so dragging the damn thing up the stairs wasn't that much fun. I put the thing together and it is a complete death-trap. It is dangerous to even stand up on it. I called up Overstock and I was pleasantly surprised that within three minutes, the person on the phone said that UPS will pick up the treadmill free of charge and I'll be given a full refund. 0 for 4, however.

And what really made my week miserable was having to deal with Netgear, which is just one of many pretty shady manufacturers of piece of shit routers (Linksys and D-Link would also qualify). My existing router died after about 8 months, and I decided to purchase a business-grade ProSafe firewall router from Fry's, but that died in just a week. It took me two days in order to return two busted routers. I was on hold for a total of 5.5 hours and once I actually got someone on the line, they wouldn't let me return two items at once, forcing me to call again and wait the long lines. Their staff was unhelpful, though only moderately rude (for an example of technical support staff that is completely rude, think Comcast). 0 for 6.

Hopefully I'll do better in week 2.

10 Recent Lifestyle Changes

2008-01-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

Initiate 10-year campaign to finish the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century.
No more soda; substitute with more cowbell.
Measure sleep in increments of 1/10 of the hour.
Watch one listworthy movie a week.
Feel bad about not flossing daily; use Listerine for the full 30 seconds.
Exercise daily between 6:30am-7:00am.
Grow gray hair.
Take one daily picture of myself for a year and animate it.
Wear sweaters.
Remove "Two and a Half Men" and "King of Queens" from PVR.

DeathStare (2007)

2007-12-21T13:41:00.001-08:00

McDonald's - How Low Can You Go?

2007-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

This advertisment is brilliant on so many levels, though what I like most of all is that the kid is eating apple slices.

10 Real Facebook Applications That Force Me To Rethink Humanity

2007-11-25T00:18:00.000-08:00

Friends For Sale!
By Alexander Le and Siqi Chen
Buy and sell your friends as pets! You can make your pets poke, send gifts, or just show off for you. Make money as a shrewd pets investor or as a hot commodity! Friends for Sale is the bees knees!
OMG! It's Amitabh Bachchan
By Katha Films LLC
Can’t get enough of the legendary icon of Indian Cinema, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, the Shahenshah of India’s Hindi film industry? You can take the Big B fan meter challenge, a series of questions, that a true Bollywood fan would know!
Bathroom Stall Vandalism
By Michael Lubarsky and Anatoly Lubarsky
Bathroom Stall Vandalism - BSV. Write anything you want in your own virtual bathroom. Leave writings ANONYMOUSLY on friends bathroom walls. It may be love letter, freestyle battles or whatever comes in mind just like in real life.
My Dances
By Janet Yan and Chris
This application puts a box on your profile page that lets you display which dances you know and your own self-assessment for each dance! Happy Dancing!
Burp Club
By fiwuz
The Burp Club lets you send a burp to your friends. Share your gas and have fun. See what the top smells are that people are burping so you can burp them too. Burpety Burpety Burp! Egg and garlic are some popular smells. Yum.
Don't send me nationalist posts please
By Dogukan Deniz
this application aims to warn other people not to send you nationalist posts.
I am Spartacus
By Dave
Join with your fellow facebook users and declare I AM SPARTACUS
I love Cupcakes.
By William Lee
Do you love cupcakes? Do your friends love cupcakes? Give your friend a cupcake with this fun and delicious application!
Which Olsen Twin Are You?
By Katherine Barcsay and Tomas Lin
Ever stayed up late at night wondering which Olsen Twin you are? Do you have the grace of an Ashley or the not-eating-ness of a Mary Kate? Find out in this very scientific and important quiz...
Grenade Battle
By Adam Cox
Throw Grenades at your friends and blow them up. Start a Grenade Battle! Become a war hero. See who the top 10 Soldiers are. See who the top 10 Wounded are.

10 Phrases To Avoid In Life

2007-11-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

"She's how old?"
"Tell me about your iPhone."
"Is this habit-forming?"
" . . . Donald Trump . . . "
"Don't sass me, woman."
"So it's just a minor incision?"
"I think it's because subconsciously I . . ."
"No, your Honor, I was just thinking of a joke that's all."
"Oh snap."
"I could go for some Round Table pizza."

To Swear or not to Swear

2007-11-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

So even though I passed the CA Bar Exam, I'm still not officially licensed to practice because I need to be sworn in. And to my surprise, a swearing-in ceremony does not involve a Judge lobbing obscenities at us as a group. In fact, its a big boring event.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), all of the swearing-in ceremonies in the Bay Area occur the week of Dec. 3 when I will be in Boston for trial.

Does anyone know of any ceremonies outside of this week? If I can't find one, I think I'll go to a notary public and have them sign off on it.

I'm Not Sure If I Passed the CA Bar Exam.

2007-11-16T19:16:00.001-08:00

I've been in Boston for a week at trial. I was supposed to fly out this morning at 8:00am, but a partner at my firm pulled some strings and got me a flight out Sunday instead so I could spend the weekend in Boston relaxing.

Well, the one drawback is that the California Bar Exam results came out today. I wrote down my "Applicant Number" but apparently forgot to write down my "File Number." I save all of my e-mail from the State Bar, but its not listed in any of them. It's not even listed in a receipt or any of my applications. I called up the State Bar and they said they can't give me that information.

So I need to basically wait until Sunday to find out if I passed. Argh.

"Not a game, not a game, but we're talking about Practice."

2007-11-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

So I've gone and become a lawyer. This isn't law school anymore, folks. No more unfocused, pointless conversations with endless series of ridiculous questions. This is not a game, not a game. We're talking about Practice.

Coming to Terms

I've been working for two weeks. It still feels strange to have been in school my entire life, and then one Monday, start a whole new era. I certainly don't feel like an adult; I play too many videogames still.

Generally the learning curve for a new associate is fairly steep--and steeper as the firm gets smaller--but my transition to full time practice has been quite smooth because of the time I spent at my firm as a summer associate.

I know a lot of law students who lounged around in Manhattan or L.A.,, spent $60 a meal, and occassionally generated some work product for an assignment ginned up to keep summer associates in high spirits. My firm didn't try to kill me, but they made us put in an honest day's work. If I wanted more work or to be put on a special assignment, they were flexible. Something must be working when you find yourself asking to do more work simply because you find the work interesting and enjoy working with your team.

There were a few nights during my summer where I was up late because of an ultra-short deadline, and my friends kept telling me that I shouldn't have to work that hard as a summer associate. But you know what, it was so much more realistic and rewarding than if I had just skated by. Discovering early on that litigation has a frightfully unpredictable schedule gave me a more complete picture of the kind of personal committment it takes to be effective at this job.

To have come to terms with this two years ago is priceless.

An Aside on Technology

So as you know from virtually all of my previous posts, technology plays an important role in my life. So if you don't like technology, then ignore the rest of this post. Yes, yes, I'm a dork. I mean, , I'm a patent lawyer so I'm pretty sure that any argument to the contrary is an uphill battle. Accept my dorkness and move on.

Amazingly, the most difficult part of adjusting to my job had nothing to do with the work that was expected of me; it was getting all of the IT properly set up in my office and at home.

To me, there's nothing more disorienting than to use a computer you've never used and access an array of document management systems that are less than intuitive. Luckily the IT people were nice enough to give me administrator access to my computer and I was able to make a few improvements. I also immediately got one of those adjustable keyboard trays installed under my desk and swapped out the keyboard and mouse with ones from home that don't suck.

The most satisfying upgrade to the office computer was setting up a dual monitor system, which is INVALUABLE for any lawyer. If you don't have one set up yet, do it. You won't go back. If you're going to spend hours in front of your desk staring at various documents, you may as well enjoy the experience. I'm using my two Samsung 19" LCD monitors that I bought about six years ago. They still look fantastic and, hopefully, will serve me well for another six years (or more).

The biggest advantage of bringing two LCD monitors from home is needing to buy two replacements for my home system. This is something I've been itching to do for awhile.

I did some research and found the Gateway FPD2485W (just rolls off the tounge doesn't it?). At first I really wanted another Samsung because I've had such good luck with it. Dell was also a great alternative because they have the same internal components as Samsung displays. One of the major drawbacks with Samsung displays is that they are hopelessly lacking in additional features. For example, they don't have any USB ports or additional inputs. And with prices equal to or higher than the competition, functionality will always trump the trusted brand name.

When I went to Fry's I saw Gateway's 24" monitor and was amazed at how vibrant the colors looked in comparison to the Samsung that was right next to it. The Gateway gives you a lot of bang for your buck. It has: (1) Analog VGA; (2) Digital DVI with HDCP support; (3) HDMI; (4) 2 Component inputs; (5) S-Video; (6) 4-port USB hub; and (7) picture-in-picture. And with the reviews confirming that the quality of the monitor was on par with the competition, I went ahead and bought two of them.

Over the air HDTV (through my computer's TV tuner) looks absolutely stunning. The wide aspect ratio (1920x1200) makes videogames come alive, and also gives you more than enough screen real estate for documents, email, and various task panes without anything feeling cramped. The LCD can rotate 90 degrees, but as with my last set of LCDs, I don't think I'll ever use this feature.

I recommend this monitor to anyone in the market. It also doubles as a full 1080p HDTV, so you may as well kill two birds with one stone.

Chapter 2

But monitors aside, things are really starting to come together for me. I've felt this nagging sense of suspension the last few years, as if everything in life was temporary or arbitrary in some way. And while that's still true in an existential way, I can at least get some joy in establishing some kind of rhythm in life.

Now, if only litigation would let me hold on to that rhythm . . .

10 Harbingers of Domestication

2007-10-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

The afternoon crowd at Pier 1 Imports doesn't get my "Whatever Happened to Minkus?" t-shirt.
Lack of health insurance is starting to become an issue.
Pewter.
Realizing I need one of those spoon-holders for my stovetop.
Entertaining the possiblity of purchasing an extended warranty.
Watching the San Diego Chargers reminds me that I need serving trays.
Microsoft Exchange.
Ron Popeil is starting to make a lot more sense.
Circuit City.
I put Mercury on my list.

The JetBlue Card from American Express - Your Recipe for Success

2007-10-12T01:39:00.000-07:00

STEP 1: Bend over.

STEP 2: Charge a mere $20,000.00 on your card.

STEP 3: Enjoy one free round-trip flight (subject to JetBlue's phantom blackout dates).

First Impressions of Yosemite

2007-10-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

I recently took a day-long roadtrip to Yosemite National Park. I've never been there before, so I was quite excited to see it in person. My only exposure to the park prior to the visit was from an impressive Ansel Adams photography exhibit in Boston a few years back. Ever since then I've had an itch to see it in person.

The four hour drive there from Cupertino was interesting because the landscape changed so quickly. I got to see parts of California I haven't seen before--and realized that the majority of California east of the bay area smells like fertilizer.

When we arrived at one of the main gates, the entrance fee was $20 per car. It felt a bit awkward to hand a $20 out the window and be handed a map and tickets. It felt like I had entered an amusement park.

That feelng didn't go away as we drove along the loop in the valley. There were tourists everywhere (the irony, of course, is that I am one, too). So even if you'd wait ten minutes to take a picture and get the lighting just right, a busload of geriatrics would just slowly wander across the field and graze.

The park felt almost too manicured and accessible. While there is virtue in policies that ask visitors to stay on one path (and not disturb the wildlife), it really takes away from the experience if you are waltzing through an asphalt walkway in the middle of the wilderness.

I think the main problem was that I was in the valley, which is obviously much more developed than other areas. But to be honest, no encounter with tourists could overshadow what the park has to offer. It was good to see the more "touristy" things. The next time I'll go, I'll head up north and do some hiking instead.

Moto Q9m Review (Verizon Wireless)

2007-09-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Verizon recently released Motorola's Moto Q9m smartphone, a long-awaited update to the original Q. I purchased the Q9m and have used it for two weeks. Here’s a detailed review that I hope will help anyone looking to buy this smartphone.

Ground Rules:

At the outset, I promise to the reader to refrain from using the term "iPhone-Killer" for the duration of this review. Every damn professional technology reviewer throws this term around like they are waiting for a messiah. I’ll also refrain from using the term because the Q9m does not qualify.

Choosing Verizon:

The single most important factor in choosing any phone is choosing the underlying network.

I have had Verizon Wireless since early 2000 and I have always been happy with my service. The Q9m, however, is my first smartphone, so I cannot really give you a comprehensive assessment of how fast Verizon is to other data networks.

I was seriously considering a number of other service providers. I had bad luck with AT&T in the past, so I wanted to stay away from them. And from the myriad of iPhone reviews lamenting AT&T’s slow data network, I just didn’t want to get involved. T-Mobile is a good option, but all of my family and close friends are on Verizon, so free IN-Network calling was a selling point for me personally.

A quick word about Sprint’s SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer). This is a heavily discounted voice and data plan that offers unlimited data for a very good price. You can Google search “Sprint Sero” and find a referral e-mail address to sign yourself up. But for me, I’ve heard enough horror stories about Sprint and its service in New York and Boston that I was scared away. My friend just signed up for Sprint’s SERO plan and has said that in Long Island at least, the service has been good without any dropped calls. For more info, visit Sprint SERO.

Verizon offers a “New Every Two” plan, which is another big selling point for me. Basically it means they’ll give you $100 off any new phone when you resign with them. Apart from the $100 credit, the real advantage is that Verizon offers you the upgrade three months before your original contract expires. Why is this important? Let me throw some numbers at you.

My original contract was signed on December 15, 2005. At the time I purchased a Motorola RAZR V3c, the first RAZR offered by Verizon. Technically I am under contract until December 15, 2007, but Verizon let me upgrade on September 15, 2007 (three months early). So not only do I have a new phone at a $100.00 discount three months early, my resigning date is now September 15, 2007, which means I can upgrade again as early as June 15, 2009.

The point of all of this is that in the long run, I can upgrade more often and also shorten the duration of my contracts without having to pay any penalties. Do yourself a favor, mark your calendars right now when you’re eligible to upgrade. I know a lot of people that wait indefinitely; all you’re doing by waiting on upgrading is prolonging how long (in the future) you are going to be held captive by the contract.

Verizon’s services for smartphones are divided into two major groups: (1) Blackberry and (2) non-Blackberry. I obviously chose the non-Blackberry group. Within this group, there are a number of options for how many anytime minutes you want. Like any regular Verizon voice plan, it includes nights and weekends (9:00pm) and IN Network calling (quite useful).

The other major option is if you want unlimited text messaging. I don’t really text all that often. On a heavy month, I’ll probably only use 20 text messages, so I’d much rather pay per message than fork over an extra $20.00 a month. Thus, the plan I signed up for was “PDA/Smartphone America’s Choice Email.” This plan starts at $79.99 with 450 minutes. I estimate that with working full-time, I will be using my phone more often. So I opted instead for 900 minutes at $99.99. Unlimited data is included. This includes dial-up networking, but does NOT include using your phone as a broadband modem (please see the “Tethering” section later on).

Selecting a Phone:

Verizon offers a few smartphones, and I was deciding between the original Q, the Q9m, and Blackberry’s 8830 Worldphone. I think worldwide usage is not that important to me anymore because I tend to visit the Middle East and Pakistan a lot. I just returned from there and realized that I could buy a basic phone with a month’s worth of minutes for a total of 15 dollars. So why would I even want to bother with any American company’s international billing rates?

So in reality, the fact that Verizon generally only has CDMA phones doesn’t worry me all that much. While it would be nice to just pick up a SIM card in Pakistan and pop it into my phone, Verizon’s site is quite vague in detailing what kinds of SIM cards you could use in the Blackberry worldphone. It is just not worth the headache for me.

This left the Q and the Q9m. They’ve very similar, except the original Q sports Windows Mobile 5.0 versus the Q9m’s Windows Mobile 6.0. The major issue for me was the price difference.

Price:

Fortunately, Verizon has heavily subsidized the Q9m. The base 2-year contract price is $299.99 not including a $50.00 mail-in rebate and a standard $100.00 online discount. This means DO NOT BUY YOUR PHONE AT A LOCAL VERIZON STORE; they charge more for the phones, don’t offer online discounts, and often include smaller mail-in rebates.

In addition to the rebates, Verizon gave me a $100.00 credit for the “New Every Two” bonus, which makes the Q9m a total of $49.99. I don’t have to tell you this, but that price is impressive.
On to the phone itself!

Integration:

Everyone has different needs in a phone. I need mine primarily for work, but also to be able to check my e-mail on a regular basis. For work, we use an Exchange server for contact management, e-mail, tasks, and most importantly, calendars/scheduling. So, compatibility and integration with Exchange is the number one priority for me.

Decent battery life is a must. Moreover, I wanted a phone that didn’t force me to use some proprietary connectors, forcing me to purchase all new adapters and such. The Q9m has a simple mini-USB interface, which is the same as my previous RAZR. This means I can keep all of my existing wall/auto chargers. I will talk more on battery life below.

I will also be reusing my Bluetooth headset, Motorola’s HS850. The headset is a few years old, but works well. Money saved.

The Q9m supports Bluetooth stereo-headsets, but I’m not sure why I want an expensive set of headphones that I need to charge, drain my battery, and have poor sound quality. Yawwwn.

Document Management:

Another major requirement is that my phone must be able to download, view, and EDIT Microsoft Office documents. I don’t need to edit PDFs, but viewing them is essential as well. The two main contenders here is Microsoft’s Mobile Office and DataViz’s Documents To Go, which I used on my Palm Pilot in high school.

Motorola decided to go with Documents To Go, so that satisfies my needs – well, sort of.

Only Documents To Go version 3.0 supports viewing and editing Office 2007 documents. Motorola, cheaped out and shipped the Q9m with version 2.0 (build 243), which will not open or edit Office 2007 documents. You can upgrade to Documents to Go Premium version 3.0, which costs $29.99.

This upgrade might be a good investment depending on your workflow. However, I am going to wait because most people who use Office 2007 save their documents in the legacy “Office 97-2003 Document” format. So for now, I’m going to sit tight.

Let There Be Mediocre Multimedia Features!

Now apparently the “m” in “Q9m” stands for multimedia; or at least that is the way it is being marketed. This is shortsighted for two reasons: (1) business users get the impression that this is a lightweight device; and (2) this device offers little advances in terms of multimedia.

V-Cast Music:

The Q9m has all the basic multimedia features that most PDAs have, including some form of media player. Verizon is touting V-Cast Music, its horrendous music service. The Q9m supports V-Cast Music, but will not support the upcoming TV services offered by Verizon. But to be fair, I don’t really care about either service because I’m not paying for music I already own, especially not at $2.00 a track.

Unprotected MP3s:

Fortunately I can easily drag any of my pre-existing MP3 collection onto the phone using Windows Media Player. The sync process for MP3s, videos, and pictures is fairly seamless and uneventful, and Windows Media Player converted video files automatically when necessary. I am generally not a fan of Windows Media Player, but the experience was not terrible and everything seemed to work as it should.

I especially like how the phone shows up as a “Mobile Device” in Windows Explorer. I can manually navigate the phone’s directory structure and drop files according to my own needs.

And it gets even better, the Q9m is supported by my media player of choice: MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com). I can simply drag and drop all of my MP3s and playlists with ease.

Subscription-Based MP3s:

The Q9m does not support subscription-based protected music. I tried to upload a track from Yahoo! Music, my subscription service. Yahoo!’s service uses Microsoft’s platform called “PlayForSure.” This is a bummer, but a slight bummer.

Streaming Media:

So all the rage these days is getting streaming TV, music videos, and music. But at $4.00 for one music video? Verizon can kiss my ass.

Want a good free solution? Use Orb. I’ve been using it for a few years and it is generally useful, though a bit buggy at times. Orb installs a utility on your desktop or laptop. All you do is select what media you’d like to share (movies, music videos, TV tuners, music, photos, documents) and you can simply log in via your PDA or laptop to stream your content. You also have the choice to share this media with other users, but I prefer to keep access limited.

Unfortunately, live television through my TV tuner cards is quite buggy and re-buffers constantly. On the other hand, streaming pre-recorded media on my hard drive works very well. I was impressed with the sound quality of the streamed music too, which I think is Orb’s best feature. The only catch is that you need one computer that is on all the time. Definitely give it a try even if you don’t have a PDA and just want to access the media on your home computer at work.

Removable Storage:

The Q9m has miniSD slot that supports up to 4GB of memory. I purchased the 4GB card from Sandisk from Verizon for 79.99.

Verizon does not have it’s nomenclature straight. On the box it refers to a “miniSD” slot, but the main piece of storage is an absolutely tiny (1/4 of a postage stamp) “MicroSD HC” card that comes with an adapter for “MicroSD.” There is also an adapter that says “MicroSD to SD Adapter” but it’s actually a “MicroSD HC to SD Adapter.” It’s not terribly difficult to figure it out once you see the adapters, but what genius named this stuff? Is MiniSD and MicroSD the same thing technically?

The memory cards work just fine. Loading pictures, music, and video was effortless, maybe just slightly slower than my USB 2.0 hard drives. Once loaded onto the Q9m, the songs and videos played immediately and without much lag. However, if I am listening to a song or watching a video while I surf the web, the content in Windows Media Player 10 Mobile tends to skip. This is more indicative of an underpowered processor than slow memory.

The unit in general does seem slightly sluggish when you’re playing media, but for me, the media performance isn’t exactly top priority. So although cNET is right in suggesting that the machine is slightly underpowered, I actually would trade off a more powerful processor for more battery life.

What Headphone Jack?

A major drawback for a phone that touts itself as a “multimedia” phone is that it does not have a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. So now I have to lug around a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter to listen to music with my headphones. It would be a good idea to keep one adapter ($9.99 from Verizon) in your car so you can play MP3s through the car stereo.

One of the most annoying things about the 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter is that one side is a male 2.5mm connector (which goes into the phone) and the other is a male 3.5mm connector. So, if you want to use your headphones, cassette modulators, or FM modulators you’ll also need a coupler that has two-3.5mm female connectors.

This isn’t a giant disappointment because phones have always had 2.5mm connectors, but it is an example of how this so-called multimedia phone is just a regular smartphone with a crappy advertising campaign.

Sound Quality:

The Q9m’s integrated dual stereo speakers are surprisingly robust (for a phone anyway). The speakers is loud but don’t distort the sound the way most phones do. And despite the 2.5mm to 3.5mm headphone converter and the coupler, sound through my headphones matches my iPod Nano, although the volume is slightly lower with the Q9m.

The Q9m sounds phenomenal on my car stereo using a cheap cassette tape modulator. The high and mid ranges are reproduced crisply, although the lower frequencies are a little too strong (so I had to turn down my subwoofer). The Q9m sounds significantly better than my Nano in my car. I’m quite impressed.

Cameraphones:

A number of reviewers on the net have complained that the Q9m has a 1.3 megapixel camera, which wasn’t upgraded from the original Q.

Pardon me but I’m going to go on a mini rant. . . I can’t care less about how many megapixels this built-in camera has. In fact, I’d rather that my phone did not have a built-in camera at all because all they do is waste space and suck power.

I am continually astounded when someone pulls out a cell phone and goes, “Check out this 2 megapixel camera!”

Three responses: (1) the camera still takes piece of shit pictures because it is a CAMERAPHONE; (2) The 2-megapixel FujiFilm FinePix I bought in 1999 is infinitely better than any of these pieces of junk; and (3) who in their right minds think that a 2-megapixel camera is going to make obsolete the need for a standalone camera? Did anyone at Motorola read news about how the market for dSLRs is flourishing and will hit record highs next year? Listen up, ditch the cameraphones and give me a little more internal memory and battery life.

Accessories In the Box:

The Q9m comes with standard accessories. There is a useless sleeve so tight that you’ll miss your call by the time you get the phone out.

There is a standard AC wall adapter that has a mini-USB connector. As noted earlier, this is the same unit shipped with my RAZR. The unit also comes with one storage media card, though I am sure it is a paltry 32mb.

Also included is a standard USB to mini-USB cable. A few reviewers have stated that you cannot charge your phone using this cable, but this is not true. I use my laptop to charge my phone regularly. There is also one useless quickstart guide, and two CD-ROMS. One CD is for VZAccess Manager and another is for Microsoft ActiveSync. More on these applications later.

Battery Power and Performance:

The standard battery (Model BT61) is 1170 mAh. I purchased the extended battery (Model BT91, $49.99) which is 1840 mAh and comes with a battery door because the battery protrudes from the unit. The battery does make the phone a bit thicker, but I actually like it because it makes the Q9m a lot easier to hold.

With normal usage (checking email automatically every 10 minutes, mild surfing for directions, checking hotmail four or five times a day, 60 minutes of calling per day, Bluetooth on, and vibrate and ring on), I got four and a half days without having to recharge the extended battery. I highly recommend this extended battery to anyone purchasing this phone.

I am not sure how long the standard battery lasts because I haven’t used it yet. I would venture a guess that it would last 3 days with the same usage.

Device Design:

The Q9m has stunning build-quality. It does not feel flimsy or cheaply put together. The red accents are fine, but don’t really sway me one way or another. In fact, all “cool” colors really do is date your phone more quickly.

The Q9m looks a lot like the original Q except a few of the buttons have been rearranged. With the standard battery, the unit measures 4.6" (H) x 2.6" (W) x 0.47" (D) and 4.76 ounces. The phone feels light and is ultra thin, but feels a little awkward in my hand. However, with the extended battery, the backside of the phone grows by 5/16”. This added thickness makes the phone quite comfortable to hold in the palm of my hand. In addition, it makes it less tiring to type on the enhanced QWERTY keyboard.

Keyboard and Thumbwheel:

The keyboard is fantastic. The original Q’s keyboard seemed a little slippery to me, but the Q9m features a textured keyboard. I feel sure that I am pressing the key I intended. The keys offer great tactile feedback, with enough tension when you press a button and enough spring when you let go. The keys are also easy to read with the backlit keys.

The 9Qm features a smart backlighting feature that uses a light sensor to determine whether to turn the backlight on or off. I disabled this feature because I found the feature too sensitive in general. I’m sure I could adjust it, but with great battery life, I opted to just have the backlighting turn off automatically after 10 seconds.

The phone features a thumbwheel, though I hardly use it. I find myself using the five-way keypad in the center of the phone instead. Like the keyboard, the keypad is responsive as opposed to the thumbwheel, which has an awkward click movement similar to the scroll wheel on some computer mice. I cannot find any settings to make the wheel more or less sensitive. For people who want a thumbwheel, the option is there, so I can’t fault Motorola for giving consumers options on how to navigate (i.e., it did not commit Apple’s cardinal sin).

One mild annoyance is that the number keys are mixed in with the letter keys, so it takes some getting used to. I noticed that none of the number keys have the standard letters that show up on most telephone buttons. That means if someone tells you to call 1-800-Go-Fedex, you’re out of luck. I actually recall a passenger a few weeks back who had a Blackberry who asked me to if he could see the keys on my regular cell phone so that he could call the airline that had cancelled his flight.

Anyone know how to dial using letters? Very mild annoyance.

Display:

The unit features a 2.4” color TFT display at 320x240 pixels. The screen is bright and the text is legible, with several options to increase text size (including uber-large characters for people with visual disabilities). Most importantly, the screen is easily viewable in direct sunlight, even with ultra-dark sunglasses. The display isn’t stunning, but it does exactly what it is supposed to do. No huge surprises here.

Activation:

If you are upgrading from an existing contract, Verizon lets you activate your phone online, which is a huge time-saver. Out of the box, it took me about seven minutes to activate the phone.

Bluetooth Setup:

Setting up my Bluetooth headset was simple. I just enabled Bluetooth on the Q9m and hit “search.” It recognized the headset and I typed in a pairing code, which I had to look up on the manufacturer’s support page (hint, it’s probably 0000).

Getting the unit connected to my notebook (HP DV2000t) was a tad trickier, but not impossible. It is relatively easy to drag MP3s into the “My Ringtones” folder on the phone and transfer media. However, this only connects to the phone’s paltry 52.36MB internal memory. I can’t access the phone’s 4GB media card via Bluetooth, unfortunately.

I also cannot use ActiveSync with Bluetooth. There is theoretically support for it, but it has been a nightmare of trial and error, and I still cannot get the COM ports set up properly. For the meantime, I’m using the USB cable to sync my calendar, contacts, tasks, and files.

ActiveSync:

For a flaghship synchronization utility, Microsoft’s ActiveSync 4.5.0 (build 5096) is lacking in features and support. The program is generally unresponsive, and hangs from time to time. But after you get all the setup kinks worked out, it all I do is plug the phone in and a little while later, everything is synchronized.

You have the option to sync email, contacts, tasks, calendars, and files (there is support for Microsoft OneNote as well). One annoyance is that when AutoSync searches for changes, it causes Outlook to stall for about 10 seconds every few minutes.

My friend is using ActiveSync for Windows Vista and says a number of features available in XP are missing on Vista. This seems odd because the software itself doesn’t have many features to start out with.

Navigation and Interface:

We will dispense first with the Q9m’s highly advertised “Exclusive Multimedia Home Screen.” This is, without a doubt, the most ill-conceived home screen I have ever seen. The iPod Shuffle has a better visual interface than the Q9m.

For starters, none of the buttons are labeled properly and there are not descriptions on the screen (tooltips, etc.) of what any of the buttons do. The icons are arranged in a circle, which makes navigating using a directional pad an adventure because nothing is intuitive. It took me a total of two minutes to fully appreciate just how bad the home screen was. Fortunately, the phone (unlike earlier Verizon cell phones) allows you to turn off the terrible interface and switch to the standard Windows Mobile interface.

The Q9m comes with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0, so the basic interface should be familiar to most of you. Like most Microsoft products, the interface is fairly simple, but has the standard number of annoying quirks. Fortunately, there are alternate ways of navigating, third-party hacks, or registry tweaks so that overcome most problems.

One of the most glaring oversights is the absence of a command to erase multiple contacts at the same time. This was a major problem for me when ActiveSync decided to duplicate all of my contacts, one with “Last Name, First Name” and the other “First Name Last Name.” Erasing 250 contacts by hand took 50 minutes and when ActiveSync duplicated all of my contacts a second time, I simply hard-reset the phone, which erased all of my settings. Beware, get all of your shit in order before you sync your phone for the first time. Once your contacts are properly loaded onto the phone, the integration between the phone book, call log, email, and SMS are intuitive and well thought out.

One of the things I really like about the phonebook is that it pulls my contacts from Outlook. Normally I use “Categories” in Outlook to make manageable groups of contacts, but for some reason, the phonebook on the Q9m will not sort by Category. Instead, it can only sort by “Company,” so I was forced to manually enter in the name of the Category into the Company field. Again, this is a pain in the ass that could have been solved by a programmer with half a brain (who uses that half a brain).

Adding pictures to my contacts adds a great touch. I first add a picture to a contact in Outlook. This can be quite daunting, but it is very manageable since many of my contacts are on social networks like Facebook. There is one application called “Fonebook” that compares your Outlook and Facebook contacts, and pulls their Facebook photos, Facebook URLs, and birthdays, updating your address book in Outlook automatically. The interface is kind of clunky, but I really only had to use it once. I also took the time to enter in small pictures for the businesses I call, which adds a nice professional touch. Google image search is invaluable for this task.

The phone comes with a decent number of themes, though most are fairly boring and don’t offer great contrast. I don’t know what programmers are thinking when they load default wallpapers that are so busy that there is no way in hell anyone can read anything on the screen with it. Use your head you tools!

Call Quality:

Like every Verizon phone I have had for the past 6 years, the call quality is fantastic. The people I call report that I come in with a clear voice and with decent volume. And all of my incoming calls can be heard clearly. I thought that holding this PDA during calls would feel awkward, but I actually find it more comfortable to use than my RAZR, which was very thin.

The incoming volume is a little low on my Bluetooth headset, but this is a headset problem, not a problem with the phone.

The integrated speakerphone is pleasantly sensitive, so I don’t need to hold the phone up near my mouth nor do I need to scream into my phone (like someone riding the Long Island Rail Road).

One of the drawbacks with having your entire contact list in your phone is that—for the purposes of voice activated dialing—you must say the full name of the contact. I thought saying full names would be a problem, but the built in voice recognition engine is very accurate.

There is also voice-activated digit dialing, which can be enabled after a two-minute training session where you repeat a set of numbers. Voice-activated dialing is a life-saver when I’m driving and using my Bluetooth headset. Most Bluetooth phones have it, so if you haven’t given it a chance, try it out.

Mobile Internet:

The Q9m comes bundled with Internet Explorer Mobile, which is generally regarded as sluggish. At least from my own experience, most of the speed problems were related to the strength of my signal, not the browser.

Navigation is pretty rudimentary, but functional. I think the main factor in whether someone likes a mobile browser is what one’s personal needs are. A lot of people are up in arms that a browser doesn’t completely recreate a real webpage with fully functional Java, etc. etc. I really don’t care all that much because I’m not using the device to surf the web. Instead, I want the device for basic searching, e-mail access, mapping, traffic, discovering local points of interest, movie times, sports scores, and weather.

I gave Opera Mobile Beta a try, but it says my login information for Hotmail is incorrect. I haven’t really noticed any major differences in load times, except that Opera crashed my phone when trying to load up a picture on my blog. I haven’t used Opera enough to give you an opinion on it, however, so I’ll be testing it out for a few more weeks. I will say that IE seems to work fine.

I highly recommend Microsoft’s Live Search, which is a free bundle of small search utilities that are very well integrated. I think it has a better interface than Yahoo! and Google’s offerings. I especially like Microsoft’s LiveMaps, which is easy to navigate and is legible at all zoom levels.

While I am on the subject of mapping, be aware that the Q9m does NOT have built-in GPS. This is a bit of a disappointment because turn-by-turn directions might be useful from time to time. But looking at what Verizon charges for this basic service, I’ll stick to the GPS unit in my car or just do a quick mobile search from time to time. No big deal.

Tethering:

Tethering is the ability to use your mobile phone as a broadband modem for your laptop. Verizon has generally been stingy with devices capable of tethering, so it astounds me that Verizon is not pushing the tethering features for the Q9m more. Tethering is my main answer to the limits of mobile web browsing. If I want to surf the web, I’d be much happier just plugging in my Q9m to my laptop and enjoying a proper experience.

What seems almost inexplicable is that Verizon’s website makes no mention of how much tethering costs. From the way it is laid out, it suggests that you must sign up for something called “BroadBand Access,” which is one of those PCMCIA cards for your laptop. The problem is that “BroadBand Access” costs around $70.00/month.

Wouldn’t it be a no-brainer for Verizon to advertise that tethering the Q9m is an additional $15.00 a month? That is a huge selling point and something that a lot of business users would love to know. But because of Verizon’s carelessness and lack of attention to detail (giant details), a lot of people just won’t know.

I was thinking of signing up for broadband access, but I am going to save my money right now. I am generally near places with WiFi access, and on the road I only want e-mail and basic web access. Thus, if I need it later on, I’ll sign up for it. Does anyone know if you can add tethering for just a month or if you’re committed to it for the duration of your contract?

The Q9m comes bundled with Verizon’s VZAccess Manager. Because I haven’t used the phone as a modem, I can’t offer a review of the software or of the data speeds. Sorry.

E-mail Solutions:

My world will soon be divided between “Work” e-mail and “Personal” e-mail and I’m not looking forward to it.

At home, I use Microsoft’s subscription service called “Outlook Live!” The service is no longer offered to new users, but it basically gives you a supercharged Hotmail account, the latest version of Outlook (2007), and Outlook Connector. Basically Outlook Live! Lets me make changes to my e-mail, contacts, tasks, and calendar items on one computer and synchronizes them automatically with my webmail and with Outlook on my notebook. So, in reality is it a personal Exchange server. This is a fabulous e-mail solution – but there’s one catch.

I was expecting to be able to have access to my e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks through the Q9m’s e-mail interface. But I am sadly mistaken.

Hotmail is Microsoft’s flagship e-mail solution. You would think that they offer IMAP or POP3 support for such a ubiquitous e-mail solution, but no. You would think that people who PAY FOR A SUBSCRIPTION to Outlook Live would have this option; no again. Does someone want to explain to me how a company that designs the operating system figures out a way to lock out its own e-mail platform? Ridiculous.

For the meantime, I can only check my Hotmail using Hotmail’s mobile website. This doesn’t offer me access to my calendar or tasks or give me the ability to update either on the fly. Also missing is the ability to mark multiple messages as “Read.”

For now, I’m stuck plugging in my phone to sync appointments, tasks, and contacts using ActiveSync. This is a major letdown.

The only thing that doesn’t make me want to return the phone is because I plan on integrating all of my schedule into the Exchange account offered through my firm. In fact, I want the integrated Outlook interface for work e-mail only, not personal email. Thus, in terms of calendars, tasks, and e-mail, most of the disaster is averted. But for those of you who don’t have Exchange-based solutions at your disposal, this could be a major drawback.

The bigger problem here is that this isn’t something you can fix by getting another phone. This is a problem with the lack of consumer-grade solutions for getting internet access to calendars, contacts, and tasks.

Verizon’s Wireless Sync:

Verizon offers its own e-mail solution called “Wireless Sync.” This is a service included in my dataplan, but Verizon doesn’t really do a great job of describing what it is or why you need it. When I discovered the horror of not being able to get my calendar, contacts, and tasks wirelessly, I decided to try Wireless Sync.

The setup process is a disaster because it asks for a password that doesn’t exist. Verizon insists that one exists, and sends you a text message with a temporary password. Except when you enter in the password on your phone, it says it’s incorrect. I must have had at least 6 different passwords texted to me until I tried setting up the account on my laptop instead. This worked.

The Wireless Sync setup first asked me to choose between “Corporate e-mail” or “Internet / POP3 / IMAP e-mail.” I chose the latter, which produced a puzzling set of options:

Option 1: USE OUTLOOK TO RETRIEVE MY EMAIL: Your PC must remain on, connected to the Internet, and in a condition to send/receive email with your ISP. This option also provides wireless synchronization of your Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes between your mobile device and your PC. Outlook Monitor currently supports POP3 email sources such as Verizon, Comcast, Gmail, etc.

That sounds like a mediocre option, but one that can work. But wait, Verizon gives you one more small nugget of information. Option 1 does NOT support Outlook 2007. What? Why the hell not? On to Option 2.

Option 2: RETRIEVE MY EMAIL FOR ME: The Wireless Sync server can retrieve your email for you from most POP3/IMAP email accounts. This option does not require you to leave a PC on and connected. You will not have wireless synchronization of your Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes with this option, but you can synchronize this data through your cradle or cable. Yahoo! Standard, Hotmail, MSN, and Gmail are not currently supported within this access method.

What kind of e-mail solution is this? It doesn’t support synchronization of anything and it doesn’t support virtually all of the major e-mail platforms. Verizon Wireless Sync is a debacle. Don’t even bother trying it out. It also changes the entire interface of the phone.

By the way, after I ditched the setup process, Verizon kept texting me that my setup was incomplete. It sent me 14 text messages in a matter of a few hours telling me that the setup was incomplete, each of which costs me 15 cents to receive. What a shakedown!

Conclusion

Pros:

1. Exceptional build quality
2. Great price ($49.99 if resigning with Verizon)
3. Robust Verizon data network
4. Stunning keyboard texture; great tactile feedback
5. Good call quality and speakerphone
6. Phenomenal sound quality via 2.5mm jack
7. Well-integrated contact management
8. Tethering available (+$15.00/month)
9. Great battery life (with extended battery)
10. Well-integrated with Windows Media Player (also supports MediaMonkey)
11. Support for manual editing/transfers using Windows Explorer
12. Simple mini-USB interface (allows for charging via laptop)
13. Ample removable storage (up to 4GB)
14. Bluetooth file transfers not crippled by Verizon
15. Outlook compatible (sort of)

Cons:

1. No integrated support for Outlook Live!, Hotmail (i.e., Windows Live Mail)
2. Atrocious “Multimedia Home Screen”
3. Lacks 3.5mm headphone jack
4. No support for Office 2007 documents without Documents to Go 3.0 (+$29.99)
5. No support for PlayForSure, subscription-based music (protected .WMA)
6. No GPS
7. ActiveSync clunky and unresponsive
8. Verizon Wireless Sync is a complete disaster
9. Pricey data/voice plan package
10. CDMA-only

Moto Q9m - Rating 7.0 out of 10

Expresso Bookshelf Collection

2007-09-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

I was able to find rather good-looking bookcases from Target which were in stark contrast to the one's from IKEA I've been using for awhile now. "Billy" in Swedish must mean "cheap son-of-a-bitch."

Although they look wonderful all put together and with a small lamp mounted on top of each unit, they were a real bitch to put together. And having to build four of them one after the other was dreadful.

Visiting The Pacific Northwest

2007-09-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Apart from discovering that drivers in Oregon don't believe in concepts like "right of way," "passing on the left" and the "speed limit," my trip to Salem, Portland, and Seattle was fantastic.

Moving To Cupertino, CA

2007-09-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

On The Psychology of Disease:

I got back from Boston, New York, Dubai, and Karachi about two weeks ago. I did in fact contract ghiardia and campylobacter when I was in Karachi.

Before I left, my cousin in New York tried to tell me that because I was expecting to get sick before I even departed, I would probably get sick. I'm never one to downplay the importance of psychology and how a positive attitude can affect one's health -- but tell that to the doucebag cook who leaves food out for two days and then washes it with parasite-filled water. I doubt the cook really cared about the state of my psychology before I ate the chicken kabob.

Anyway, it took about two weeks for me to get better. The antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl) is about as dreadful as my stomach virus. I think this is what they give horses if they're misbehaving.

On Cupertino, CA:

I've moved to Cupertino, CA. I lived in the area for two summers now while I worked and now I've moved here to be close to work. I'm only about three or four minutes away from work, so that should ease my mind in terms of worrying about traffic or going home.

Cupertino reminds me a lot of Long Island, both good and bad. It's a nice, calm place to live and somewhere you could raise a family, but it seems so affluent that I worry I (or, later on, my kids) might take this lifestyle for granted. I guess all I really can do is stay vigilant and make sure I stay grounded.

On the US Postal Service:

When I was in New York, I packed 11 boxes full of books from college. Each box was approximately 55lbs and I had it shipped through the US Postal Service. I used their "Media Mail" service, which is about half as expensive as regular shipping.

The US Postal Service really decided to beat the hell out of these boxes. I couldn't do this much damage unless I hit each box with an aluminum bat Casino-style for five to ten minutes.

On Hiring Movers:

When I got back from Pakistan, I had about four days to pack up my entire apartment in the Berkeley HillsI called about fifteen different moving services and virtually all of them sounded shady.

So I hired a company called "Happy Moving" for my move from Berkeley to Cupertino (in part because this was one of a dozen companies that spoke intelligible English). I negotiated a $65.00/hr rate with no fees for travelling except the hourly rate.

Two things happened. First, I kept getting calls from people who claimed to be "Happy Moving" and have a job with me, and they kept trying to increase the hourly rate. It turns out that this other company lies to people and tricks them into using their services. Needless to say they were fired.

The second thing that happened is that I realized I should have fired the real "Happy Moving" company too. Without even notifying me, they showed up almost two hours late. The truck was covered in graffiti and two guys jumped out, neither of which spoke very much English.

I asked to see licenses and insurance and they said they didn't have any. I called their "boss" and he assured me they did. Then he had the nerve to INCREASE the hourly rate AND add a $40 "gasoline fee." Needless to say I gave these guys a piece of my mind. I escorted both of them off my property and had to hire a new company for the next morning.

Even the replacement movers showed up and hour late. But once they got there, they did a decent job. So that was one huge headache solved.

On Unpacking:

I'm really going to miss my place up in the Berkeley Hills. Hell, even the movers asked me why I was leaving such a nice place. It's too bad that the commute would kill me.

Unpacking just about killed me. It took forever, but as you can see with the video I posted above, I decided to pass the time by setting up a time-lapse photo project.

I am all moved in now, though, and it feels nice to have some time to settle in and make this place feel like home.

Travelling Some More

2007-09-12T14:28:00.001-07:00

In early-August, I went to Boston, New York, Dubai, and Karachi. I went to Pakistan for my brother's wedding and it was quite an experience. I really like the fact that I am older now and can connect with my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins in a whole new way. I appreciate my family history so much more now. In fact, I was able to update my family tree substantially during my time in Karachi. We've managed to trace our ancestry for a total of 9 generations, which is pretty amazing to me. I went through old photo albums and found people that were forgotten, too. I'll post an image of the family tree in a few days.

I was in New York for another day when I got back from Karachi. Then I flew to my apartment in the Berkeley Hills and packed everything up to move to Cupertino, CA. I'm working on a longer post about moving, so more on that later.

After I moved, I flew to Oahu and then the Big Island of Hawaii. On the way back, ATA cancelled our flight and then told us there was a 19-hour delay (which eventually turned into a 25 hour delay). Luckily we forced ATA to book us a flight that same night to LAX and a connecting flight to SFO. Of course, the flight to SFO was delayed and we sat on the runway for about an hour and a half due to fog in the Bay Area.

But even when we finally arrived in SFO, we had to get our bags and then take the BART all the way to Oakland Int'l Airport, where our car was parked. That trip took another hour, followed by us having to call a shuttle to have us dropped off to the parking lot. And if that wasn't enough, we had to drive another hour down to Cupertino to get home. Surprisingly, I wasn't dead tired.

Soon I will start fasting for the holy month of Ramadhan (most likely tomorrow). I am looking forward to it this year, although the fasts are getting longer and longer each year because Muslims use the lunar calendar. When I was younger, the fasts were in the dead of summer, so it was hot and humid and the fasts would not open until 8:45pm. Then during high school and college they became amazingly short because they were in the winter. A few years back we finally jumped the daylight savings date so they end between 7:00pm and 7:45pm depending on the day.

Anyway, I'm going to be away for a few days while I take a road trip to Portland, OR with my friend Jeremy. I promise some more awesome pictures when I get back.

Capturing Kailua-Kona

2007-09-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

I Am Away From My Computer Right Now

2007-09-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

I Visited Lick Observatory and All I Got Was The Herpes

2007-08-29T21:31:00.001-07:00

One of my best friends from law school (and former roommate) Willie was in town today. There wasn't much to do in South Bay and all of the movies out in the theatres completely suck. So what else would you do on a scorchingly hot day out?

Go to where it is even hotter.

We made a deceptively long trip out to University of California's Lick Observatory. It was completely desolate up there, but the drive up was worth it.

McDonald's McArabia Value Meal

2007-08-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

Glimpse of Karachi, Pakistan

2007-08-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

5 Things I've Experienced in Karachi

2007-08-18T01:27:00.001-07:00

Record monsoon with four-foot flood water
My brother's wedding
Curious combination of excruciating diaherrea and horrendous constipation
Long-term effects of a diet based on 65% soda
An August 14 Independence Day celebration uncannily similar to Mad-Max

Victory! -- Rhodia R18000 Classic Blank Writing Pad

2007-08-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friend Jeremy who suggested I visit "Artist and Craftsman Supply" in Downtown Berkeley, my quest to find a high-quality blank writing pad is over.

When I started to describe to the two clerks at the counter what I was looking for, one of them smiled and immediately blurted out "Rhodia." Both of them were totally cool with me not knowing the specifics, which only confirms my observation that art store-clerks are MUCH nicer than bicycle store-clerks (want independent confirmation? Just visit Berkeley's Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative).

Anyway, Rhodia began as a stationary company in Lyon, France in the 1930's. Two brothers, Henri and Robert Verilhac, sold mainly in Southern France and North Africa. Obviously, the market has expanded since then, but the company's writing pads, once a marginal product, is now its premier product. The distinct orange cover is (apparently) well-known -- though I'm not sure how well-known because nobody I know of has ever heard of this company.

The paper and binding quality are superb. Gel and ballpoint pens glide effortlessly from start to finish. The paper is slightly on the thin side, though thick enough so that bleeding is not an issue. Although the cover has grooves in it so that you can fold it backwards, I found the cover to be in the way and cut it off.

I have two main complaints. First is the lack of a substantial cardboard backing for the pad, which means the pad bends easily. It doesn't feel like a self-contained writing pad, but instead something you have to attach to a clipboard or a planner. This is true even if you keep the cover attached and use that as backing.

The second drawback is the price. Granted it is a high quality pad, but $6.80 per pad is on the high side. And given that price, I'd at least expect cardboard backing.

Nonetheless, this pad makes writing a pleasure. And for someone whose hands usually start to hurt after a few minutes when taking notes in a regular spiral notebook, I consider it a good sign when I can now write out fifteen pages of notes without skipping a beat.

40 Post-Bar Exam Hobbies (Updated)

2007-07-30T17:33:00.001-07:00

So, I've had a few days of free time on my hands.

Seek immediate dental care.
~~Start fight club in Cupertino/Sunnyvale.~~
~~Check happiness level of my Tamagotchi.~~
~~Ignore the Bill Engvall Show.~~
~~Figure out what aperature actually does on my camera.~~
More Kafka!
~~Find 2BR apartment in South Bay.~~
Handle live poultry.
~~Uninstall Windows Vista.~~
Become blues harp afficionado.
Locate a financial advisor.
Collect comic books again.
Write no more than 3 manifestos.
File no more than 3 2 complaints with the ITC.
Await October release of Call of Duty 4 for PC.
Watch Kieslowski's The Decalogue.
Toblerone-jenga.
Roadtrip to Portland, OR.
Buy business suits I won't use at the office.
~~Everybody Loves Raymond~~.
Contract ghiardia in Karachi.
Learn Adobe Premiere.
Initiate game of Scrabble through correspondence.
Secretly begin drafting Edition 19 of The Bluebook.
Night vision goggles.
~~Allow Economist subscription to lapse.~~
Sleight of hand.
See Solaris again.
~~Detail the Mazda.~~
Spend accumulated Macy's giftcards.
~~Resume personal vendetta against Steve Jobs.~~
Throw playing cards at least 50 m.p.h.
Learn how to iron shirts.
Build a dragster with K'Nex.
Buy a radar/lidar detector.
~~Rename MP3s.~~
Force myself to enjoy Sonic Youth.
Purchase drafting table.
Master night photography (also master regular photography).
Re-learn patent law.

What The Hell Is Cat Power Doing Singing on a DeBeers Advertisement?

2007-07-30T07:39:00.001-07:00

I was catching up on some TV last night and I came across this commercial for diamond jewelry. The unmistakable voice belongs to Cat Power (also known as Charlyn "Chan" Marshall), who generally has hauntingly beautiful lyrics to match.

This song is a cover of an old Cat Stevens song called "How Can I Tell You," which is a very good song in and of itself. Unfortunately, it appears that the cover was recorded for the commercial only, so it isn't available.

Now, I recall Cat Power doing a Cingulair commercial in the past, and that was jarring enough. But the diamond industry? Seriously? This seems out of place from a blues and indie artist who has crafted an image far far away from anything remotely close to the diamond industry.

Here's an MP3 available from Matador Records. It's the title song of her 2006 album called "The Greatest."

Have You Seen My Subway Sandwich?

2007-07-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

I picked up a sandwich from Subway after I went apartment shopping today. I ate half the sandwich at the restaurant and took the other half with me.

I put it in the front seat of my car on top of my clipboard. I parked in my driveway at home, brought the sandwich in with me, and put the sandwich on my kitchen table.

Ten minutes later, the sandwich is nowhere to be found. I live alone. This is no joke.

How the hell can could I have lost a sandwich?

Freshly Cut: Albums of the Month

2007-07-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

July 2007

Stars of the Lid - And Their Refreshment of the Decline (2007)

Interpol - Our Love to Admire (2007)

The Stooges - Fun House (Deluxe Edition) (2005)

Thao Nguyen - Like the Linen (2006)

Merideth Bragg & The Terminals - Vol. 1 (2005)

10 Things To Do To Keep Yourself Occupied During The First Day of the California Bar Examination

2007-07-24T19:32:00.001-07:00

Confide in strangers that you totally missed that equal protection issue on the second essay.
Illegally download music using the test center's wireless network.
Secretly calculate the date when Hermione Granger will be legal.
Figure out how that girl a few tables over got to wear Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones during the exam.
Projectile vomit contest.
Flashcards with rudimentary drawings of naked ladies (also known as "women").
Determine the thought process by which students told not to bring any bags to the test center end up bringing ROLLING SUITCASES.
Race for pinkslips in the parking lot of the Fort Mason Center.
Realize that cars don't come with pinkslips anymore.
Figure out a cool attorney nickname that doesn't include ". . .'The Hammer' Shapiro."

D-Day Minus 1

2007-07-23T11:39:00.001-07:00

ESPN: MLB GameCast Ticker?

2007-07-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

There's something strange about ESPN's GameCast for MLB. The top right keeps the pitch count, but it only has three circles for "Balls," two circles for "Strikes" and "Outs."

It's sort of puzzling because it's very difficult to follow if someone has been walked or if there are just three balls. You also can't tell if someone struck out or has two strikes. Even worst, sometimes I can't even tell if the inning is over.

Am I just reading this incorrectly?

D-Day Minus 2

2007-07-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

D-Day Minus 3

2007-07-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Operation Debacle: Cpl. Trent Thomas' Murder Trial

2007-07-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Cpl. Trent Thomas of Madison, Ill. was the senior corporal of a squad of seven Marines and a Navy corpsman who was in the middle of a high-profile military trial at Camp Pendleton.

According to the testimony of the four Marines and a Navy medic who were there, the total group of eight decided on April 26, 2006 to kill Saleh Gowad, who was a "known insurgent." They couldn't find Gowad. So instead, they intentionally abducted another man, 52-year old Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home. Reports indicate that Awad was a disabled police officer.

The group bound Awad, marched him to a bomb crater a half-mile away and shot him to death. The squad members tried to cover up the killing by planting a shovel and an AK-47 by the body so that it would look as if Awad was killed while planting a bomb.

Thomas was charged with conspiracy, first degree premeditated murder, larceny, kidnapping and lying, facing a lifetime in prison without parole. Under the original plea bargain, Thomas plead guilty to unpremeditated murder, kidnapping, conspiracy and other charges in exchange for 12 years in prison. Four of the Marines and the Navy medic already plead guilty and testified against Thomas, but Thomas stunned the military court when he withdrew his guilty plea awhile back and decided to try the case.

His defense team didn't argue that the killing did not occur the way described above nor did they argue that Thomas didn't participate. Thomas' lawyer: "Under the circumstances, Corporal Thomas had no alternative but to do what he did." He was just following orders.

The absurdity of Trent's defense was overshadowed by the less than one hour deliberation of a military jury (consisting of 3 Officers, and 6 enlisted Marines). The court sentenced Trent to a bad-conduct discharge and reduced pay when the jury acquitted him of murder.

Thomas told the court that he wanted to return to military service: "I've never been good at anything until I came to the Marine Corps. It's pretty obvious Michael Jordan was meant to play basketball. Tiger Woods was meant to play golf. The Marine Corps, it's me."

See: AP Story.

40 Post-Bar Exam Hobbies

2007-07-19T16:33:00.001-07:00

Seek immediate dental care.
Start fight club in Cupertino/Sunnyvale.
Check happiness level of my Tamagotchi.
Ignore the Bill Engvall Show.
Figure out what aperature actually does on my camera.
More Kafka!
Find 2BR apartment in South Bay.
Handle live poultry.
Uninstall Windows Vista.
Become blues harp afficionado.
Locate a financial advisor.
Collect comic books again.
Write no more than 3 manifestos.
File no more than 3 complaints with the ITC.
Await October release of Call of Duty 4 for PC.
Watch Kieslowski's The Decalogue.
Toblerone-jenga.
Roadtrip to Portland, OR.
Buy business suits I won't use at the office.
Everybody Loves Raymond.
Contract ghiardia in Karachi.
Learn Adobe Premiere.
Initiate game of Scrabble through correspondence.
Secretly begin drafting Edition 19 of The Bluebook.
Night vision goggles.
Allow Economist subscription to lapse.
Sleight of hand.
See Solaris again.
Detail the Mazda.
Spend accumulated Macy's giftcards.
Resume personal vendetta against Steve Jobs.
Throw playing cards at least 50 m.p.h.
Learn how to iron shirts.
Build a dragster with K'Nex.
Buy a radar/lidar detector.
Rename MP3s.
Force myself to enjoy Sonic Youth.
Purchase drafting table.
Master night photography (also master regular photography).
Re-learn patent law.

One Week To Go

2007-07-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

On Discovering "The Black Keys"

2007-07-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Gods of Blues Rock

If I were to name you some of my favorite rock artists of all time, they would include (just to name a few) Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Obviously, the full list would include the likes of Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and whole slew of others. But, what distinguishes Cream and Hendrix from other artists is how much I enjoy listening to their music.

Both of these artists have created bodies of work that I can always come back to. Every time I fire up a track I've listened to a hundred times before, I can't help but get caught up in the display of raw talent bequeathed to me through a fairly large, consistent body of work.

Inconsistency

But what about since then? I wasn't even born when Cream and Hendrix were in their prime (I don't count Cream's reunion tour). I just can't think of many "go to" bands that are as consistent and enjoyable to listen to.

Don't get me wrong. I've heard plenty of good music that has come out since then. I've heard plenty of great--even phenomenal--music that traverses indie, folk, rock, and blues in ways I'd have never imagined before. All of these other bands surely have their places in music history, but . . . something has been lacking.

I'm not enjoying it.

The Detroit Revival?

Take The White Stripes for example. Jack White clearly sold his soul to the devil in order to generate that much sound from his guitar. Yet, despite the exhibition of talent, I've only really enjoyed a handful of tracks on each album ("Ball and Biscuit" on Elephant still blows me away). And unfortunately, even the best tracks are overshadowed by a cloud of rubbish songs with jilted transitions and mediocre filler. I'm left feeling that the music itself is fleeting.

(I know this is sacrilege, but I'll admit to it: 20% of the stuff Zeppelin put out is borderline unlistenable. That number is probably higher with The Who, which is a band I can't quite learn to love).

Tempo Tempo Tempo!

These days, the yardstick by which we measure talent on the electric guitar is how fast you can up the tempo. And sure if you up the tempo enough you'll get something like The Strokes, whose sound I love. Nevertheless, I really do miss the way Soundgarden generated a wall of sound that made you feel like you were trudging through mud.

The push to play faster and faster has had harmful effects, I think. I wonder if bands, in an attempt to remain marketable, feel the need to constantly reinvent themselves on every album. Despite all their talk about stripping the music to its essential elements and only using three instruments at a time, the tracks on every new White Stripes album seem woefully undercooked. Sure the music is still great, but I get the feeling that they're so busy evolving that they've overlooked some great niche sound. I suppose a niche is a bad thing these days.

Reinvention is overrated.

The only artist I think of that can consistently pull off reinventing himself is Beck Hansen. But despite all of his avant-garde flavor of rock, even Beck knows a good thing when he hears it. His slower, folksy, country-twang has matured on Mutations and Sea Change.

Sometimes I wonder what Jimi Hendrix would have sounded like if he had been alive another twenty years. Would he have been a die-hard rocker like Neil Young and stuck to his roots? Would he have evolved like Eric Clapton? Would he be puttering along, almost irrelevantly, like Tom Petty?

A Discovery

If I had to name a band whose music I have enjoyed the most in the last decade, I'd be hard pressed to give you the name of anybody but The Black Keys.

That's right. The Black Keys.

I don't remember when I first listened to The Black Keys. It must have been after I moved to California, though it is quite hard to imagine not having listened to their music before then.

The band consists of Dan Auerbach (on guitar and vocals) and Patrick Carney (on drums). On your first listen, you can easily imagine this brand of blues-rock wafting through the Mississippi Delta, but this duo is from Akron, Ohio. They officially started just five years ago, but from the sound of Auerbach's voice, you'd think he was at it for a few decades.

Out of the Bog

The Black Keys are an anachronism. Their sound is distant and swampy. The vocals are distorted, bluesy, and guttural. I'm a complete sucker for it; I can't get enough.

And what's even more interesting is that the band doesn't really consider itself a blues band. There's a great interview by Patrick Corcoran that makes some very interesting comparisons to Wu Tang that I would never have thought of.

Under the Radar

Inexplicably, Pitchfork has given most of their albums lukewarm reviews. The review for Magic Potion notes specifically that the band doesn't add something 'new' to this album. And in reading those reviews, it occurred to me: Pitchfork IS the epitome of the culture of tempo. Every week, they give me a list of new artists they think are absolutely amazing (and for the most part, they make decent picks). But like fickle critics, they won't appreciate the same sound in the next album because its no longer novel.

Maybe that's what I like the most about The Black Keys. They've found their hook and are content at letting the sound develop and move at their own pace. Their albums do sound alike. But while some thought Magic Potion didn't really offer anything "new," it succeeded in deepening a consistent body of work. It it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Auerbach and Carney seem much more committed than Jack and Meg White to stick to their roots and explore sound through (albeit repetitive) wildly infectious riffs. And the fact that Patrick Carney knows how to play the drums is an added plus. Each track is full of soul. It doesn't just sound cool, but it feels as though the music has an emotional depth that is missing in even the best tracks by their contemporaries.

Enough With The Bad-Asses Already

Imagine if you met Jimi Hendrix. Sure he would be way cooler than you were, but I just don't get the feeling that he'd be an asshole about it. Incidentally, I'm not sure if he'd be sober enough to figure out I was in the room, but it's clear that Jimi wasn't an asshole.

Similarly, you don't the feeling that Auerbach and Carney are giving the finger to everyone as they play their unique brand of rock-and-roll (you know, like the way Neil Young does). Nor do you get the feeling that they'd be flipping you off even if they weren't playing music (you know, like the way Iggy and The Stooges probably would).

The point is this. They're not playing rock and roll out of spite. They're not playing because its a chic retro thing to do. This duo just seems to have a genuine affection for the music--and it shows.

Auerbach and Carney's sense of humour shines through. Give a look at this video for "Your Touch."

Of course, the video takes the cliche of dying in a barrage of gunfire on its head. The high point is a great exchange between the two discussing the gunfire:

Auerbach: So, how do you feel . . . about being dead?
Carney: I dunno. My neck hurts.
_____

Carney: You didn't look that cool out there.
Auerbach: Well, at least I died doing what I love. You know, lip-syncing. I love that shit.

I'm sick of bad-asses. These guys are hilarious.

A Recommendation

It's only through The Black Keys that I've discovered a legendary (and unknown) blues singer named Junior Kimbrough. He'd been recording since the 1960's and died in 1998. The Black Keys have done an amazing cover album with a half dozen of his songs. The album, named "Chulahoma" pays homage to an artist I have, unfortunately, just discovered.

I strongly urge you to give a listen to the album. I recommend My Mind is Ramblin'.

You can also listen to The Black Keys on Rhapsody (Free) here.

Let me know what you think.

Summer Fashion: Chuck Norris Action Jeans

2007-07-13T14:17:00.003-07:00

On Subtlety and BarBri

2007-07-09T13:26:00.001-07:00

So today we're supposed to be taking a practice written exam for the CA Bar. It consists of three essays in the morning followed by another three hour session in the afternoon that consists of a performance exam.

I looked at my syllabus over the weekend and it suggested that I "Review Professional Responsibility, Community Property, and Wills & Trusts" the night before the practice exam. And what do you know? The three questions in the morning exam today were -- professional responsibility, wills, and community property.

Real subtle.

Is this yet another lame attempt at building our confidence?

Is there anything more unrealistic than studying the three exact subjects the night before the exam? If they were smart they would have asked you to study the material, but given you at least one or more realistically two questions from an unrelated subject.

The worst part is that--much like their practice MBE--their attempt at playing God only succeeds in wrecking my expectation of what the experience will be like. A practice exam should in theory give you a recreation of WHAT TO EXPECT on test day. Now, am I going to expect that I will have studied in depth the three essay subjects that night before the exam? Hell no.

Moon Over Berkeley

2007-07-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

charlierose.com [BETA]

2007-07-06T00:14:00.000-07:00

I was pretty happy when Charlie Rose episodes were released on Google Video awhile back. The first problem was that the shows were not free, but that changed soon enough. The second problem--and by far more annoying--was Google's website itself. It was woefully undercooked. And well, Google has done next to nothing to update it, so it remains frustratingly difficult to use. There isn't even a basic catalogue and it's hard to even find a complete listing of episodes. In this case, less is less.

But in late April, charlierose.com received a substantial facelift:

The efforts that have gone into this unprecedented venture are truly remarkable. For over a year dozens of individuals have worked in partnership with Google to archive over 4,000 hours of Charlie Rose programming. They've broken shows into individual segments, created pictures and collected biographies for guests. Charlierose.com was created by Code and Theory, a design and software development company, in close collaboration with the Charlie Rose team. What we now bring you is a collection of 8,000 segments, over 6,000 guests and 3,600 program hours that currently date back to the 1994-1995 season of the show. This is the single largest enterprise of its kind currently available.

The online library of programming is staggering. The site is quick and loads up without any major hiccups.

However, like any beta site, there are a few kinks to work out. The most annoying problem is that the Search features force you to scroll through a cramped section at the top left of the webpage (see below). There's no way to expand the listings so that you can actually see what you're looking at. It's the equivalent of using an iPod interface on your home computer, which means I am looking myopically at a handful of listings at a time without much context (or ease).

Nevertheless, this is clearly a quality website that is generally very well thought out. And what's even better is that the content is high-quality and free.

Man v. Wild - Everglades

2007-07-03T11:33:00.001-07:00

This is probably the best episode I've seen to date. Host of Man v. Wild, Bear Grylls, gets dumped into the waist-high swamps of the 1.5 million acre Florida Everglades with nothing more than a water bottle, a knife, and a flint. The swamp is murky, muddy, and covered with debris, so Bear couldn't see where he was stepping. And by the way, there are over 1 million alligators in the water.

This episode was just terrifying and the tension doesn't let up for at least 40 minutes. What's best is that you could see that Bear was clearly spooked as well. This is the kind of tension that the Blair Witch Project should have had.

If you've never seen the series, this is a great way episode to start with. The Everglades episode will be re-airing on Friday, July 13, at 10:00pm on The Discovery Channel.

iTunes 7.3 Crashes Outlook 2007 -- Disable "Outlook iTunes Sync Addin"

2007-07-02T23:22:00.001-07:00

Even after turning off all of the junk that comes with Apple's iTunes and Quicktime bundle ("ituneshelper.exe," "ipodservice.exe," the Quicktime tasktray icon, Apple Updater, and a mess of icons), Apple still manages to run an auto-update utility without my permission.

Today I got a notice saying I should update to the new version of iTunes: version 7.3. I clicked YES (right, I know that was my first mistake).

It didn't ask me a single question until it told me it was done updating about ten minutes later. Amazingly, Apple manages to make iTunes bloat to the size of 56mb (for an update!?). I really don't know what the hell is taking up that much space.

Anyway, Spybot noticed that Apple, again, was trying to install the Quicktime tasktray icon and reinstall the "ituneshelper.exe" file at startup. I said no as usual. But it didn't pick up something else --

I tried to start Outlook 2007, which has worked almost "perfectly" (by Microsoft standards) since I've had it. It kept crashing until I got a notice that a new plugin malfunctioned. What the hell? It recommended that I disable the plugin. Apparently Apple, in "updating" iTunes, decided to install a plugin called "Outlook iTunes Sync Addin" without asking my permission.

As soon as I disabled it, things are working perfectly again. This problem was noted in some forums today as well as here.

Apple seems to evade any reprimand for this -- RealNetworks-esque shenanigans. Microsoft has pulled very similar stuff with Windows Update, and was promptly called out for it (and rightly so). But somehow, we give a pass to Apple.

In Apple we follow.

JULY.

2007-07-01T15:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it was July until I ordered something at a local art store this afternoon. The clerk asked me what the date was while he was filling out the order form; I was a bit surprised when I looked at the date on my cell phone.

July. The same month as the bar exam. This means that I can't use the "Well, it's just June" excuse anymore.

__________

On an unrelated note, I've been to Picante's, a Mexican restaurant in Berkeley, a few times now. Up until now I've found the service to be great, but the food to be mediocre. They were serving brunch today, and it was the best food I have had there yet.

The Quest Continues: A Blank Writing Pad?

2007-06-29T16:42:00.001-07:00

Does anyone know where I can find a perforated "legal" pad (bound with glue and/or staples on the top) that is 8.5" x. 11" which has NO LINES?

Think of a regular legal pad you'd find at any office. Now think of that same pad, but with blank paper instead of lined paper. Why is this so hard to find?

Call it one of my neuroses, but I can't stand writing on paper that has lines on it. It is damn near impossible to find a "legal pad" (or "scratch pad," "easel pad," "writing tablet," or "planner refill") that is just BLANK.

I can't quite figure out why nobody seems to make this product. I'm stuck buying these spiral bound sketch books, which are cumbersome because I'm a lefty and the spiral is always getting in the way.

What the hell? Any thoughts on where I could find one or order one? Has anybody ever seen one?

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup -- That Song

2007-06-27T18:57:00.001-07:00

I was up at around 3:00am watching an episode of Conan O'Brian I taped awhile back, and while skipping through the commercials I caught a few seconds of this ad. I couldn't get the tune out of my head for a few days.

The song is done by a Canadian techno band called Chromeo. The song is "Needy Girl."

It's . . . gitchy (or kitchy, I can't remember which).

uni-ball 207 Premier: Seriously, Go Buy This Pen.

2007-06-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a pen whore.

I know that by posting about a pen, I'm taking a risk in outing myself as a real geek. But then I realized, I'm practicing patent law in a few months, so I'm not fooling anybody at this point.

I've managed to keep my pen addiction to a minimum for the last 7 years. I don't lose my pens very often, so I've been able to use the same core set of pens since high school. And because I have used a laptop to take my notes, I haven't felt the need to take too many notes by hand.

But during my preparation for the CA Bar Exam, I find myself having to handwrite a lot of notes. So when I finished my last exam, I treated myself to a minor shopping spree at Office Depot. I found a decent Cross ballpoint pen, and on my way out of the aisle I took a risk and picked up uni-ball's 207 Premier, priced at a mere $4.50. I didn't have the highest hopes, but what the hell.

Seriously, go buy this pen.

The medium (0.7mm) ink throws out an ample amount of gel ink, which is acid-free, and fade- and water-resistant. I did try a bold (1.0mm) refill and I don't recommend it unless you're about to sign the Declaration of Independence; and even then someone else is likely to ask who the jerk is that used that really inky pen.

This pen is on the light side, but remains well balanced. Unlike these uber expensive pens that are always top heavy, a little blurry, and therefore more difficult to control, the 207 Premier is even-keeled, sharp, and agile. It has a decent squishy grip that is contoured, but the pen overall doesn't suffer from that pandemic "Dr. Grip"-bloat. This isn't the size of a magic marker.

This pen isn't flashy, but its a joy to write with.

Freshly Cut: Albums of the Month

2007-06-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

(June 2007)

Junior Kimbrough - Most Things Haven't Worked Out (1997)
The White Stripes - Icky Thump (2007)
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris (2007)
The National - Boxer (2007)
The Good, The Bad, and The Queen - The Good, The Bad, and The Queen (2007)