Two down. . .

. . . two to go. This means that I'm still waiting on grades for two of my classes. It's like this every term. Our grades are posted electronically, and they are "due" by the Monday of week four (which happens to be next Monday). This means that, between exam week, break, and week four, as many as seven weeks pass while we wait for our grades. Now that wouldn't be so bad if we just got a report card in the mail, but some grades are posted early (graduating students' grades are due on the Monday of week 1, for example, and other classes which don't have exams are posted pretty quickly too), which ends up teasing us into checking . . . every . . . day. Even though we know that they are unlikely to be posted.

The other problem is when a teacher tells us that he turned in our grades two weeks ago, but they just haven't been posted yet. That happened for Con Law I this term. I have the same prof for Con Law II and he told us the first week of class that the grades were in. That was two weeks ago Friday, and the grades were finally posted yesterday. So it takes almost two weeks for them to scan the page and post it online?

Which means we could be waiting even longer, for the grades are "due" on week four, meaning that's when the professor has to have them graded. as for when they are "posted"? who knows.

Another day, another new term in law school

Here we go, today is the start of yet another term in law school. The nice thing for me is (assuming that I passed all of my classes last term) that I'm exactly half-way finished. After grades are in (by week 4), I will have 45 credits, half of what I need to graduate.

This term will be both fun and boring. I don't expect to enjoy Business Organizations too much, though I've heard really good things about my prof. I will have the same prof again for constitutional law II, which is a good thing, and of course I'll be neck deep in the moot court national team until about Thanksgiving (the regional tournament is nov 17-18; after that the national finals are not until Feb). ADR is the wild card for me. I've heard it's easy and very fun, however it is a practice area that I have very little interest in so we shall see. I plan on embracing all, like every term, so it should be fun.

To all others, good luck this term. (DJ, will I see you on Fridays this term?)

Stardust

Yes, this is a post about something that is NOT law school. During break I actually have a little time to do something fun, if you can believe that. This is a post about a little movie, based on a little book, written by one of my favorite little authors.

Stardust is a little book by Neil Gaiman which was either a novel first and then a graphic novel, or the other way around (I have no idea). Either way, it is one of the few of his works that I have not read, so I was not overly tainted when I saw the movie yesterday.

A little bit first about Mr. Gaiman, for those who are not familiar. He is probably most well known for his graphic novel series The Sandman, which I believe is now up to volume 10 or so with a few spinoffs as well. However, those of you who are not graphic novel fans have nothing to fear, he has written a couple fantastic books of late - most notably American Gods, which received several awards and is quite possibly one of the better fantasy tales told in the last several years.

Anyway, back to Stardust, I am not interested in spoiling the movie, only in giving a few thoughts. If you want to find out what actually happens, go watch it. Don't worry, you won't be mad that you paid for it.

It's a little fantasy story told in that similar British style as The Princess Bride, (but of course, I'm not trying to compare this movie to the materpiece that is the Princess Bride, just trying to give some context). It's a happy-ending kind of story with that little quirkiness that keeps the audience entertained without feeding them an overdose of soft cheese. Probably the most important thing to know is that the trailers and previews do NOT do this film any justice at all. The bad witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) is, actually, a pretty bad lady (and very well played by Ms. Pfeiffer). The fallen star (Claire Danes) isn't just a pretty face, and the pirate (Robert DeNiro) is . . . well you'll have to go see the movie. DeNiro alone is worth the price of admission, and I'll just say that he is not what he seems. . .

It has magic, good guys, bad guys, vaguely good/bad guys, a fair dose of quirky humor, and of course a happy ending. I give this movie $7.50 out of my $8.50 admission price, which means that it's definitely worth the price of admission, and a bargain at a matinee.

And, of course, check out the works of the author. I just finished Good Omens, a quite funny tale about the end of the world co-written by Terry Pratchett.

Enjoy!

Exams and Skunks

My last exam was last night, and now I am finished for two weeks. What a relief, I don't have to take professional responsibility again! The evidence exam was pretty difficult but I think I did fine on all of them, so we move on, right? After grades are posted, I'll be exactly halfway finished with law school!

In other news, one of my dogs killed a skunk the other night, what a mess that was. she didn't get sprayed directly, but she got some in her mouth which really freaked her out. We bathed her, bathed us, washed all the clothes and sheets, and used Ozium to sanitize the air in the house. Worked like a charm! We bathed the dog/us in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, and that worked really well too. If you ever get skunked, I highly recommend both!

Anyway, enough adventure for one week. Now for a little time off before the national moot court problem is sent to us and I have to crack down and write that brief. It never ends!

Time, or the lack thereof. . .

As the term winds down (two more weeks, including finals), here are some random thougts on school, etc.

First, it's time to brag a little. My partner and I won the intra-school moot court competition this past week, and as a result we have been selected for the national team. We compete starting in October at regionals, so it means that my 'break' won't actually be much of a break. Doesn't matter, this is a fantastic opportunity - there are only four students on this team, and we are two of them!

This, of course, means that I have to adjust my schedule for next term. No more five classes, no more scholarly writing. I'm actually relieved, as I haven't been looking forward to writing a law review article, nor have I been looking forward to law review in my future. I know, I know, It looks great on the resume. But to be honest, I'd rather write appellate briefs than law review articles. I do love to write, that isn't the problem, but I prefer the more practical side of writing. Now that I'm on the national moot court team, I don't have to worry. There's no way I can do both at the same time, and this is just as prestigious as law review (maybe more so considering this is exactly what I want to do for a living). Problem solved :)

Which leaves me with my three finals left for this term. Con law I, Professional Responsibility, and Evidence. I hadn't given the first thought to exams until yesterday. Fortunately, I don't miss classes, and I take excellent notes, so I have that going for me, and I have a good grasp of con law and evidence, but PR... well there's a class that pretty much everyone snoozes through. OK OK not exactly, but it isn't the most intellectually challenging, demanding, or interesting class. So people, including me, put very little effort into the class during the term. Considering how much moot court took up my time this term, I suppose I'd be happy with a B out of PR... but that means that I better get cracking. Time to study.

The result? well the frequency with which I have posted here lately will probably continue, for one thing. I will update and perhaps post something about the national moot court problem, which should be out soon. The SCOTUS is off term, so not much interesting coming from them right now, and the news from the world of politics is boring. so school it is, and for now I have to focus on exams and then the moot court brief that is likely due in September. Yikes! Either way, Stay Tuned!

Future of the supreme court?

a good article on FindLaw here on the potential effect of the upcoming election on the makeup of the US Supreme Court.

definitely food for thought, considering the direction the court has moved in the past few years, especially with Bush II's appointments. . .

ahoy

Hello everyone. It's been awhile since I posted here. Sorry I have been quiet lately, between moot court and those other classes I'm taking, I've been rather busy lately. The rest of the term is shaping up to be rather crazy. Moot court competition starts this weekend, and if we advance it will continue for at least one more week. I also have to prepare for finals in my other three classes, but I still have almost a month to do that. At any rate, my life has been rather wacky lately, so I haven't had too much time to pontificate. Rest assured, however, that more will follow.

Thank you, Justice Breyer

Ever since the Supremes decided to overturn Seattle's school choice program, I've been rather too angry to post anything coherent. Thanks to Justice Breyer, now I don't have to. He summarizes his dissent here, and explains why this may in fact be one of the worst decisions in recent memory.

Thank you, Justice Breyer. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain

Yet more shenanigans from our erstwhile vice president. Now he's above constitutional muster. What is wrong with these guys? First we get Nero for president, now it becomes clear that our vice is Rasputin in disguise (please, forgive me for mixing my historical references). 2009 will not come fast enough.

One conservative writer at Slate wants Cheney impeached, and even the British think Cheney is really running things. I have no idea if we'll elect anyone better, I'm not sold on any of the candidates for either party, but at this point I'm of the opinion that anyone is better than this bunch.

No More Bong Hits 4 Jesus

The supreme court today voted 5-4 to uphold the school's authority to limit speech when it believes that the speech is promoting illegal drug use. Story here. I am sure I'll have more to say about this later, but let me first say that I'm not surprised at all, given the makeup of the court, although I was hoping that Scalia would surprise us and side with the rights of students.

ahh well. for anyone interested, the full opinion is here.