40 Post-Bar Exam Hobbies (Updated)

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

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

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

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?

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

July 2007

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


2. Interpol - Our Love to Admire (2007)


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


4. Thao Nguyen - Like the Linen (2006)


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

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

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

D-Day Minus 1

ESPN: MLB GameCast Ticker?

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

D-Day Minus 3

Operation Debacle: Cpl. Trent Thomas' Murder Trial

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

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

One Week To Go

On Discovering "The Black Keys"

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

On Subtlety and BarBri

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

charlierose.com [BETA]

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

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"

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.

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.