An incredible book of magic, mystery, and murder

Citizen Kane. The Sixth Sense. The Usual Suspects. The Shawshank Redemption. Ender’s Game. What do these films and books have in common? They have all successfully provided fascinating mysteries and so-called “twist” endings that have excited and delighted audiences and readers since their respective releases. Who doesn’t remember the thrill of discovering the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last word (rosebud) in Citizen Kane? How about the revelation of Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects? M. Night Shamalyan provided many clues to the mystery in The Sixth Sense, but audiences still thrill at the revelation at the end. How did Andy Dufresne escape from Shawshank? How real were the battle simulations in Ender’s Game? No matter how many times I see a certain film or read a certain book, I can tell whether the author or creator is a master of his craft by how easily he is able to manipulate his audience. Mysteries do that, and I have been fortunate enough to take part in yet another such journey. The author is Christopher Priest, and the novel is The Prestige.

I first learned of the novel when doing an internet search on a forthcoming film from Christopher Nolan. My friend Aaron Fraley told me of a new film coming out and directed me to the trailer on the internet (on Apple’s Quicktime movie trailer site). I am a huge fan of the director Christopher Nolan. Although I was underwhelmed by his sophomore effort (Insomnia), I loved Memento and Batman Begins. The trailer for The Prestige blew me away. It was full of atmosphere, mystery, and suspense that bordered on horror. The cast was also intriguing: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson. After viewing the trailer, I immediately went to the internet movie database (www.imdb.com) to get some more information on the film. Upon arriving at the site, I noticed that it was based on a novel that was published over 10 years ago. I immediately procured a copy of the novel and started reading it on Tuesday, August 8.

I finished it on Wednesday, August 9.

The Prestige was the veritable “book that you cannot put down.” The book chronicles the rivalry of 2 fictional 19^th century magicians, Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier, the levels to which the rivalry rose and the depths to which each (along with their heirs) sunk in order to win. There is science, magic, murder, intrigue, love, death, wealth, poverty, and, above all, mystery. Late last night, when I reached the climax of the novel where everything was made known, I uttered aloud an “OH MY GOD” even though I live alone and was READING A BOOK! The climax uncovered the author’s masterful manipulation of the reader (me) throughout the first part of the novel. It did not end there, and in this, the author was even more deliciously devious. My discovery of this mystery with 80 pages left to read lulled me into a false sense of complacency whereby I did not expect the rapid- fire succession of surprises that were yet to come. The novel itself proved to be a most wondrous magic trick. I could barely fall asleep after completing it. I kept turning over the narrative in my mind and marveled at how the author had so easily manipulated me. Moreover, I was amazed by how much I enjoyed the experience. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you are looking for an incredibly fun read that will keep you guessing until the end, The Prestige is the novel for you. The only problem with discussing the novel is that there is no way to tell you about the relevant plot points of the story without giving the whole thing away. I would not have wanted anyone to take away the fun of the journey; therefore, I will extend to you the courtesy of secrecy.

Having discussed The Prestige, I can now turn my attention to discussing a few more films of the summer. First up is Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. In their infinite wisdom (yeah, right), Disney brought back the entire team from the first film and signed them for 2 more (PoC: At World’s End will debut next May). This means that Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, and last but NOT least, Johnny Depp all returned. I’ll be honest: except for Johnny Depp, I could have done without the rest. As with any sequel, when the cast gets larger, the screen time afforded the rest must go down. Here, we are introduced to Davey Jones, Bootstrap Bill Turner, the crew of the damned on the Flying Dutchman, the evil new head of the British east India Company on the Island, the voodoo priestess…do you sense a pattern here? The first film succeeded because of Johnny Depp and in spite of Orlando Bloom. Granted, the ladies might enjoy Bloom as eye candy and I personally think that Keira Knightley is a looker, but the root of the success of the first film was Geoffrey Rush as Barbarossa and Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp gets greatly reduced screen time in order to give service to the rest, and the film suffers as a result. Throwing special effects at the screen does not help matters, and I left the theater feeling rather cheated at the short shrift afforded Depp. Oh well…the film was not as bad as Superman Returns, but it could have been better. The great surprise was the return of Jack Davenport’s character of Norrington (Elizabeth’s suitor from the first film). Where (in the first film) he was a boring officer of Her Majesty’s navy, Davenport had an opportunity to shine in this one as a fallen officer seeking redemption after having fallen into a pit of drunken despair. Norrington will probably be integral to the next film as well (judging by the finale of this chapter). This is a good thing.

Crockett and Tubbs are back..and the summer got a little bit better...

So it has been a while, but with my exam finally behind me, I can get to work enjoying the rest of my summer (in theory). I have been fortunate enough to see 4 movies since my last report. Are you curious as to whether I was able to salvage the summer movie season? Read on.

I will talk about Pirates of the Caribbean in a later entry. Today, I want to talk about “Miami Vice.” Miami Vice has a special importance for me. The year that it debuted on NBC, I was getting ready to start high school. Yes, my formative years were spent during the run of the original Miami Vice television show. You can bet that Michael Mann’s production of Anthony Yerkovic’s dark world of cocaine cowboys during the wild west days of the drug wars in southern Florida had a seismic impact on the pop culture zeitgeist of the mid-80s. I mean, the beginning of the 80s was marked by shows such as Knight Rider, the last days of the Dukes of Hazzard, and prime time soaps such as Knott’s Landing, Falcon Crest, Dynasty and Dallas. In other words, there was precious little for an impressionable teen-ager to watch. Miami Vice stood out because of its realistic storylines, the dangers of the cops walking the fine line of being undercover and actually living the lives of drug lords, and it was shot like a film. Indeed, the show went on to influence the later cop-buddy films of the late 80s and early 90s. Miami Vice was also one of the first shows that I can remember where the bad guy often got away. The show was not about the bad guy getting caught every time. As in real life, the cops were often frustrated in their efforts. It is sad that the show’s name has almost become synonymous with 80s camp. Between Don Johnson’s 5 o’clock shadow and aversion to socks (while wearing fashionable white suits with pastel T-Shirts) and Philip Michael Thomas’s horrendous “Soul Glo” look complete with ugly gold chain, there was a lot to laugh about. It was truly a product of its time. The music was also something that set it apart from other shows that were on the air at the time. Most shows of the time had to rely on sound-alikes if they wanted to feature current rock hits. Miami Vice went one better. The show not only received the rights to play the original songs sung by the original artists; the show became a showcase for the future hit makers (and even some, like Glenn Frey and Phil Collins, who were trying to find fame after losses/changes to their own supergroups). If you wanted to know the hot songs, fashions, and cars, an impressionable teen would look to MTV and Miami Vice. Yes, Miami Vice was the cop show of the MTV generation. I have had the opportunity to revisit the original show when the pilot was rebroadcast on NBC not too long ago. The show holds up extremely well. I was surprised to find so many actors who later became famous in the pilot. Jimmy Smits and Mykelti Williamson were just 2 of the featured players on the first episode of the show.

This brings me to the new film. Would I like the new Miami Vice, with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in the Crockett and Tubbs roles? Would the show have the same vibe without the campy aftertaste of the original series? Would the music be as perfectly matched to the scenes as it was on the series? I went to see an afternoon show (much much cheaper!). As the theater lights darkened following the trailers (hmmm...”Snakes on a Plane” looks like it will be a lot of fun), the Universal logo appeared. The screen then went blank, and the opening cords of Linkin Park and Jay-Z’s “Numb/Encore” (eponymous with the “Miami Vice” movie trailer) made their way over the speakers. I was then thrust in the middle of a nightclub. We meet the vice squad in mid assignment, but the assignment was cut short because of a call from a former informant who was in danger. The story went all over the place from there, but in a good way. Unlike a Michael Bay film, where the quiet moments seemed to be merely spacers for the next over-the top action sequence, here the quiet moments fed into the “day in the life” aspect. The frenetic, dangerous, and tense aspects of life as an undercover vice cop in the middle of the major drug weigh station of the US was wonderfully realized. Michael Mann used his Hi-def digital cameras to great effect. There were a lot of moments (if you see the film, look at the shots of the Lear jet and you will understand what I mean) where I was just staring at the screen going “wow.” The action that was in the movie was gritty, realistic, and 100% germane to the plot. The performances of the actors were all right (not great, but at least they played the roles with a certain earnestness). I loved how Mann drops us off right in the middle of the action and then does not let up until the end of the film. Yes, you will get involved with the characters. Yes, the film delivers as promised. If the TV show were to be shot today, this is what it most likely would look like. Now, I am a big fan of police procedurals, but this made me miss the days when the lives of the cops behind the badge took precedence over telling the tale of yet another DNA test for blood. Oh, and lest I forget, the MUSIC was perfectly chosen for the film. Lots of Audioslave and Moby, but it really seemed to work. At the end, what I really appreciated was that nothing really seemed to change from the beginning of the film to the end. The cops went through hell and back, but in the end, it was just a day in the life. It was this type of circular storytelling that I can appreciate. Should we be so naïve as an audience that we can believe that the end of the story would wrap itself up into a big happy bow just for the sake of a happy ending for our protagonists? In an animated film, maybe. In a “feel good film of the summer,” of course. In a gritty cop film about the cocaine war, not on your life. I did not feel cheated by the film. The summer movie season got a little bit better.

No movie review this time, but other odds and ends...

This weekend I went home to see my parents. Visiting my parents tends to be very bittersweet nowadays. I love coming home because we are a close family. As I have grown older, I have a new appreciation for all that they went through as “strangers in a strange land.” I have discussed this with my brother, and we both agree that as we are growing older, there is a renewed interest in our “roots” and our “people.” I always enjoy my visits with my parents for this reason. They are a constant reminder of what is possible with hard work, intelligence, and above all, perseverance. At the same time, I hate leaving them at the end of the day. In my previous visits, my unhappiness on my last day usually manifested itself in a temper tantrum (I know, just like a 3 year old, right), and I would end up ruining the last bits of time with my folks by starting an argument. This time was no different with regard to my unhappiness on the morning of my departure. Because I recognized my own problem, I tried very hard to keep my grumpiness down because my parents do not deserve it. They provided a wonderful time for me, and I look forward to the time when I can see them more frequently. I am lucky to have had such wonderful role models for my life. In the end, the only feelings I ended up with were those involving sadness. There were no arguments; there was only the unhappiness of them pulling away from the curb of the airport. Oh well. I hope to see them sooner rather than later.

The noose is starting to tighten. In short order, I have a very busy six weeks ahead of me. My Criminal Procedure class ends in 2 weeks and the final is 2 weeks from this Thursday (!). After that, I will be pushing full bore in studying for the Patent Bar. I am also moving this week, and I have to get geared up for the fall semester for law school. All in all, the summer has been anything but restful, but it has provided me with a modicum of a brief respite for the full bore pressure of law school.

So, what am I taking next semester? Copyrights and Trademarks, Antitrust, Evidence, Legal Writing III, and Business Organizations. I was only going to take 4 classes, but with my final year in school dedicated to job hunting and studying for the bar exam, I think it prudent for me to get as many classes out of the way this year so that I will not have to pile it on in the end. I think that my future courses will include Patents, Wills and Trusts, Federal Income Taxation and Policy, Trial Advocacy, Real Estate Taxation, Genetics and the Law, Professional Responsibility. and Secure Transactions. If anyone has any other suggestions for good courses for me to take, let me know. I still have some openings for the future!

Legal headline of the month: the Supreme Court ruled in Hudson v. Michigan that police officers do not even have to knock before they enter a home with a search warrant http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1360.pdf . What does this mean? It means that our 4^th amendment rights protecting us against unlawful search and seizure have taken yet another big bite. The exclusionary rule states that any evidence that was gathered in a manner that is contrary to the 4^th amendment’s protections cannot be admitted into evidence at the trial of the D (we have seen this in the numerous police procedurals that are on the airwaves right now). Of course, by negating the so-called knock-and-announce rule, there is a concomitant weakening of the exclusionary rule. The times they are a-changing. We are moving from a country full of freedoms to one where our constitutional rights are being chipped away, yet no one seems to care. I was extremely gratified at the recent decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that enemy combatants (yeah, right!) cannot be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay without coming to trial. At least there is a semblance of the court trying to re-establish the balance that has been tipped away from the people and towards the executive branch of the government (Patriot Act anyone?).

I have also provided the link to the recent US Supreme Court decisions because I think it is important that everyone recognize the protections we citizens of the United States are afforded and how the Court interprets the laws passed by Congress and how the Court weighs in on possible constitutional arguments in some criminal cases. Taking Criminal Procedure this summer has really opened my eyes to the value of the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th amendments, but at the same time, those freedoms that we enjoy are not as broad as we would like to believe. Stay tuned!

Summer Movie Season STILL Sucks! Superman (sorta) Returns

I really wanted to like this film. I have been looking forward to it since the announcement that Bryan Singer (the director of "The Usual Suspects," "X-Men," and "X-Men II") would be directing it. You see, ever since Warner Brothers' intelligent decision to sign Christopher Nolan to direct "Batman Begins," I started to have a renewed faith in the powers that be over at the studio. I mean, Warner Brothers has a stable of incredible comic heroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash), icons known the world over. Bryan Singer is the one who successfully brought the X-Men to the screen, and I had faith that he would show a reverence for the material. Well....he did, but not the right material.

If you have not seen "Superman Returns" and do not like to read plot spoilers, stop reading here and go see the film. If spoilers do not bother you, keep reading. I might be able to save you a good $8.00 movie ticket.

OK, so here I am at the Navy Pier IMAX Theater in Chicago. It is the Wednesday afternoon of the release of "Superman Returns." I have my assigned seat in the top row of the IMAX dead center of the screen. Everything is going perfectly. I know that the presentation is going to have 20 minutes of 3-D, and I am pumped for the film. As the lights dim, a brief prologue written on the screen tells us a little of the legend of Superman. We then get a view of the planet Krypton's civilization as Marlon Brando's Jor-El (Superman's father) provides a voice-over from the first Superman movie from 1978. We also hear composer John Ottman's rendition of "The Planet Krypton," the same piece of music composed for the original Superman movie by John Williams. The camera pulls back, Krypton explodes, and the main title march from the original Superman blares over the speakers, with the same typeface used for the opening credits of Donner's 1978 film. I AM THERE and loving it. And...it was all downhill from there.

What was good about the movie? In a word, Brandon Routh as Superman. I must confess that I was always a fan of Christopher Reeve's characterization of the Man of Steel, and it seemed as if Routh was channeling the spirit of Reeve in his performance. I kid you not...it was downright eerie at times. The action sequences were exciting, and the Superman moments were fun (streaking in space, flying, facing down a machine gun, lifting a continent...all very cool). What else was good about the movie? Jimmy Olsen, for once, was played note perfectly. This is as he should have been played before and how he has always been portrayed in the source comics. That just about wraps up what was good about the film.

What was bad/disappointing about the film? Just about everything else. Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane did not seem to be a hard nosed reporter, and she and Routh had ZERO chemistry (a sad thing because this was supposed to be a love story in parts). Frank Langella's Perry White was just THERE...not doing much of anything. Lois's kid was annoying. I do not have anything against kids in movies, but this kid was horrible. Last, but not least, Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor. Hoo-boy. What a disappointment. There was only one moment that I believed he was Lex Luthor, and that was when Lex stabs Superman with the Kryptonite shank after having his goons thrash Supes. Otherwise, it was a completely over the top uninspired performance. Spacey obviously did no research on the character of Lex other than to look to Gene Hackman's completely missing the mark performance from 3 of the 4 Superman films. In a recent interview, when he was asked whether he tried to stay in character between shots (as most great thespians try to do), Spacey replied: "C'mon! It's a f---in' comic book, not Othello. Umm, Mr. Spacey, more people (as sad as it is) would be familiar with Lex Luthor than they would be with the villainous Iago from Shakespeare's play. Why didn't you do the research? Heck, Michael Rosenbaum does a great job essaying Luthor on TV's Smallville. All you had to do was watch his performance to get a clue. Spacey's performance was reminiscent of Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face character in the atrocious "Batman Forever." Yes, it was that bad. I blame Spacey, but I also blame the writers.

This brings me to the real weakness of the film-the plot. It was a strictly by the numbers affair that was too long by at least 30 minutes. The pacing was horrible, and the story was all wrong. We saw something similar in Superman: The Movie (almost the same scheme by Luthor) 30 years before. Couldn’t the writers have been more original? There was no JOY in this film at all. It was heavy and pedantic. The writers, in their quest for verisimilitude to the source film material, obviously felt handcuffed by the earlier film cannon. Why should they have been? Goyer and Nolan did a great job in rebooting the Batman franchise by forgetting about everything that had gone on before it. Singer would have done better had he chosen to do the same. There was too much sadness in the film. This is SUPERMAN, not Batman. You can have a serious action film with some sadness, but you can also have joy as well. Heck, the Kryptonian symbol for "hope" is the emblem on Superman's chest. No I am not making this up...I am actually so much a geek that I know this. (What, you thought the "S' stood for "Superman"?) If the man's symbol is related to hope, shouldn't you have some hope in the film?

This also brings me to the characterizations. Having said that I loved Routh's work as Superman, the writers got the character of Superman all wrong. Superman is CLARK, he is not just Clark's alter-ego (unlike Batman, whose Bruce Wayne is the real mask that hides his true identity of Batman). The writers completely misssed the point on the character of Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman. The writers only needed to look to the recent animated series or the George Reeves version of Clark from the '50s Adventures of Superman TV show in order to figure out how to write for the Clark character, but because of the writers' failure, Clark Kent is a non-entity in this film.

Another problem is the character of the kid and the situations in which the kid is used. First problem..Lois takes her kid onto a suspicious yacht on her way to the...wait for it...Pulitzer banquet. Yeah...right. Child endangerment and chasing a story that could have waited 2 hours. Next, Lois is being threatened by a goon, and her kid reveals himself to be Superman's kid by throwing a piano into the thug threatening his mom. You read that right. A 5 year old committed murder. Nothing is mentioned about this issue in the film. Later in the film, Superman has rescued Lois, her fiancé Richard, and the kid from a drowning death. Lois convinces Richard to follow Superman back into the danger. Nope..uh-uh...I don't buy it. You see, even though I do not have any kids, I have enough friends with kids to know that in that type of situation, the CHILD's safety is utmost in a parent's mind. There is NO WAY that mother Lois would persist in keeping her kid in danger. NO WAY! I know that you all are thinking "Get a grip, Artful, it's a comic book movie." That is not the point. I am willing to suspend disbelief up to a point, but this takes the cake.

Finally, Superman having a kid with Lois out of wedlock. Great role model, huh? The writers, because of their HUGE RESPECT for the 70 years of Superman stories (note my sarcasm), decided to have Superman knock Lois up and leave her for 5 years. I didn't like it one bit. No child support, no communication, nothing. What a great icon, folks. I became rather peeved at this blatant disregard for the character of Superman. This is NOT the character. I still have not seen a Superman film and will probably never see the one that I want (except for the excellent version of the character from the DC Animated universe). Another thing with the kid is that he will have to be in every sequel. Oh, joy. The Superman Family. Just what I wanted.

Here is my recommendation to Bryan Singer. Read the comics. The ones since 1986. Get a grip on Lex Luthor. Luthor has NEVER wanted money...he has always wanted power. He built Metropolis and owned Metropolis. The Lex Luthor in the comics would never have let Kitty live after what she did in the film. He would have dropped her out of the helicopter without a second thought. Lex's motivations come from a desire for power and a desire to be worshipped, and this worship was stolen from him by an alien who swooped in and took away the good will of the citizens that it took Lex a lifetime of hard work to earn. Geez..what a great idea for a 3 dimensional villain. Do you see my point? This is the Lex Luthor of the comic book world. Also, read the comics to learn about who Lois is and who Perry is. Find Superman through Clark; don’t just use the Clark scenes as filler for when Superman has nothing heroic to do. If not Lex Luthor, use another villain. While Superman's Rogues Gallery runs dry after Luthor and Brainiac, you could give him an extraterrestrial menace. Let's not forget that Superman has the knowledge from the "22 known galaxies" from his fortress of solitude. Remember that the comics are about hope as much as they are about action. The personal stories have always been what have driven the comics, but there is joy in the personal as well. Finally, DO NOT MAKE IT CAMPY OR FUNNY IN ANY WAY! No more villain one-liners, no needless humor. Let the humor come from the situations (see Batman Begins).

The summer movie season still sucks. Here's hoping that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is good.

What a bummer of a movie season....the trouble with "Cars"

I have slowly come to the realization that they just don’t make movies like they used to. Have I become a grumpy old man? No…it is just that when I go to the movies, I am invariably disappointed with what I paid for. This summer movie season is a prime example. I have already bored you all with my mini reviews of X-Men and the Da Vinci Code (both disappointing, especially the Da Vinci code [a book that I still refuse to read]). Last Friday, I went to see the new Disney/Pixar film “Cars.” Now those of you who know me know that I love Pixar films. From the original Toy Story on through The Incredibles, I have witnessed a body of work from a group of individuals who get “it.” What, exactly, is “it”? “It” is the fact that the story is the thing. You can throw all of the special effects, exotic locations, and expensive movie stars you want at a project, but if the story stinks, then forget about it. John Lasseter’s creative group at Pixar really gets “it.” I have never been disappointed in their storytelling. I reveled in the Lasseter-directed “Toy Story (1 & 2)” and “A Bug’s Life.” I enjoyed “Monster’s Inc” and “Finding Nemo,” but my favorite Pixar film is “The Incredibles,” directed by Brad Bird. The one thing that all of these films had going for them was the fact that the stories were ORIGINAL. Oh, of course, there were some recognizable archetypes and paradigms that were present in each case (the buddy picture, the little guy overcoming all obstacles, a father’s search for his child, superheros), but in each film, I could walk away and say that I had never seen anything like that before (both technically and storywise).

This brings me to “Cars.” The first problem that I had was that I HAD seen this story before. It was called “Doc Hollywood,” and it was released in the early 1990s and starred Michael J. Fox. Of course, Lasseter and the 7 OTHER CREDITED WRITERS just substituted cars in for people and changed the story to suit the situation, but it was a little too similar to the earlier film. Yes, I said 7 other writers. Too many cooks indeed…I never bought the story. I never bought into the characters. It seemed as if the storytellers (namely Lasseter) was going by the numbers on this one, a safe film as it were. Maybe it was the cars themselves. In all of the other Pixar films, we are dealing with living things, whether they be toys or monsters..they are all based on something that is ALIVE. Woody might have been a cowboy doll, but he was a COWBOY. Mike and Sully might have been monsters, but they walked and talked like living things (and were masterfully voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman). No, I never felt warm and fuzzy for the cars. Not one bit. I mean, it is not as if I lack imagination (just ask my folks, who, when I was younger, spent years worried that I lived in a fantasy world). I am able to give the benefit of the doubt to any work of fantasy or science fiction.

One theory is that the people at Pixar just didn’t try very hard. Why, you might ask, would they not try hard? Well, originally, this was to be the last film that Pixar released under their original agreement with Disney. The evil Michael Eisner (former President and CEO of Disney) and Steve Jobs (the CEO of Pixar and Apple) had a falling out, and Cars was to be the last film. In the meantime, however, Eisner was ousted by a shareholder revolt and Bob Iger, the new CEO of Disney, made nice with Jobs. Disney bought Pixar (which they could have done for a fraction of the cost 20 YEARS AGO!), and Jobs now sits on the Disney board of directors. Anyway, this might have been Pixar’s way of screwing Disney, but this is just speculation. I mean, according to the agreement, Pixar and Disney split the profits 50-50, so Pixar would have just been hurting itself by purposefully tanking the film. BTW, if you want to find out more about the Disney situation, I highly recommend James Stewart’s Disney War, a book that chronicles the rise and fall of Michael Eisner at Disney. This is a real page turner!
So what now for Pixar? Well, the good news is that they had a trailer for their next film in front of “Cars.” The film is “Ratatouille,” and it opens next summer. I must admit to laughing more during the preview of “Ratatouille” than I did during the whole of “Cars.” In addition, the Pixar short that preceded “Cars” is hysterical! What now for the rest of the summer? Well, I am still holding out hope for “Superman Returns” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” I am also looking forward to “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” Will Farrell’s ode to NASCAR. Otherwise, though, I am content to watch my dvds of really good summer films and wonder what has happened to Hollywood.

Do you want my recommendations for good films if you are in the mood for some fun? Well, you cannot go wrong with “The Incredibles” (yes, I know it was released during the winter holiday), “Batman Begins” (the new standard for the superhero film), “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (number 1 on my list of all time favorites), and “Conan the Barbarian.” Yes, I said “Conan.” From the opening quotation from Frederick Nietzsche and the strains of Basil Poledouris’ musical theme “Anvil of Crom” over the opening credits where a sword is created on through the rest of the film, director John Milius really succeeded in doing justice to Robert E. Howard’s Cimmarean warrior. Milius gets the whole primal nature of man (I mean, his filmography includes writing “Apocalypse Now” with George Lucas and Coppola, writing and directing “Conan the Barbarian” (improving on Oliver Stone’s treatment of the script) and writing and directing “Red Dawn.” Taking those three films together, you would have a great testosterone film festival.

SUMMER IS HERE!

And so, my first year of law school is over. My finals were completed a week ago, and I have spent the last week recuperating. Finals always take a lot out of me. It would have been difficult for me to concentrate so hard for a 2 week period, with the requisite late nights/early mornings and the accompanying “brain drain” without suffering some sort of after-effects. At least I get a 2 week respite before my summer class starts. That’s right. I am taking a summer class. There are a multitude of reasons. First of all, this is the first year that 2^nd year students are required to take a legal writing course. We had 2 semesters of legal writing during the 1^st year, but next semester is my last semester of legal writing. It will count for 3 credit hours instead of 2, so I would like to have some extra time to work on writing. Secondly, I will also be a staff writer for the Journal of Art and Entertainment Law. With that commitment as well as my Vice-President commitment to the Intellectual Property Law Society, my time will be more constrained than it was this year. Thirdly, the fall semester is the interview semester for 2^nd year students. It is a time where we go on interviews and are (hopefully) placed at firms for the next summer and beyond (in some cases). Having a 12 credit hour course load would be more beneficial for that reason. Finally, the professor for my summer course (Criminal Procedure) was the professor for my Criminal Law course. He is retiring next year, and this is the last time that he will teach this particular course. He was, by far, the best professor I had my first year. This is saying a lot. I had some incredible professors first year (Weber for Torts, Roberts for Con Law, Greenberger for Civil Procedure, Ashley for Property, and Decker for Criminal Law), but Professors Decker and Greenberger were the ones who never coddled us as law students. They held us accountable while teaching us things that still stay with me. For example, I had a question from a family member concerning case dismissal due to lack of jurisdiction. I KNEW the appropriate rules for this! I have had contract questions that I have been ale to answer and Con Law questions as well. Criminal Law, however, was my favorite course last semester. What does this mean for someone going into intellectual property? Not much other than I intend to take some litigation courses. I see myself in a courtroom, and this is in no small part due to Professor Decker. I am looking forward to taking his class this summer.

I am also doing some legal work for Cabrini Green Legal Aid. This is a non-profit organization that helps the indigent of Chicago with legal questions in a variety of matters. The wonderful thing about this organization is that it provides an opportunity for me to put my legal education to immediate use to help others. Although I do not intend to go into housing law, criminal law, or family law, it never hurts to have a background in all three.

Another goal for the summer is to pass my Patent Bar. The recommended study period for the PatBar is 150 hours minimum, and the summer seems to be the best time to study for the exam. Of course, this means putting out $1800 for the training materials (OUCH!), but in the end, having my PatBar taken care of before the fall interview process will be invaluable.

I also intend to do a lot better with updating my blog (cue the eyes rolling). I know that I have promised this in the past, but there is a lot more free time in the summer. I usually think that what I talk about bores all of you, but thanks to my friend Michelle Suit, I have been informed that many people, amazingly enough, find my ramblings to be interesting. I have always had a hard time opening up about myself. Although I can talk until I am blue in the face about movies, books, and pop culture, I have a greater difficulty sharing what is going on inside my noggin. Sometimes, I don’t even know myself. I suppose that is the purpose of a blog…to sort through the detritus of gray matter and come to a realization of what is going on in one’s head.

The next couple of weeks will be fun. Classes start next Thursday and my folks will be in town the weekend after Memorial Day. My brother and I are looking forward to that, as it gives us a chance to be a family (something that, strangely enough, has not happened in over a year!). I will also regale you with movie reviews of the films that I have seen this summer (thank you, student discount!). Stay tuned!

The first year is almost done!

Exams start in 2 weeks, but for some reason I have not started panicking. I am sure that the panic will set in eventually, but I think that, having gone through the grind of exams once already, I am better able to gauge how to prepare this time around. Furthermore, my approach to class preparation and note taking started out smoothly this semester. Last semester, I was struggling with trying to figure out what to take down in class. In the month since my last update, precious little has happened. Most of the time has been spent studying and working on law school stuff. I still keep in contact with some of my old friends from Bio-Rad and from my previous life in the real world, but for the most part, the only daily personal interaction that I have is with my classmates in school. Most of my weekends are spent in the library or at home studying. Part of me is looking forward to the summer when I will be able to give my brain a little rest, but as I have decided to take Criminal Procedure this summer, I will still be working on the grind for 2 months out of 3.

Yes, this morning we had to schedule our classes for next fall. I will be taking Business Organizations, Copyright and Trademarks, Evidence, and Legal Writing III. A normal course-load is 5 classes, but having spent so much time on Legal Writing this semester, I am well aware that I will have to put in extra time and effort in the class next semester in order to succeed. Taking Criminal Procedure over the summer will help as well, as that class is 3 credit hours. A total of 86 credit hours are required to graduate from law school. After this year, I will have 31 (Wow!). At the beginning of next fall, I will have 34, and at the beginning of next spring I hope to have 46. That means that I will have to take 40 more credit hours spread out over 3 semesters…not too bad.

I have also taken on some other responsibilities. I was elected Vice-President of the Intellectual Property Law Society for next year. We have a full slate of ideas to plan and organize over the summer for the incoming 1Ls, and we have to get going on planning our speaker series for next year. I was also selected to be a staff writer for the DePaul Journal of Art and Entertainment Law. It was a tough competition, and I am glad to be a writer, as journal experience is looked upon most favorably by prospective employers. I haven’t had the time that I had hoped to devote to the blog, but I intend to keep it going and make it more regular. I need to work in some more of the stuff I am reading about in law. I hope that it will not be too boring for everyone.

Well, I am going to sleep now. It is midnight in Chicago, and I have to get up early tomorrow morning to review my notes before Contracts. I hope that everyone is having a good spring…

March 12--new post, but still in school.....

Wow. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I have a good excuse (really)! The semester has kind of gotten away from me, but I do not mean in a bad way. I cannot believe that I am almost halfway through the second semester. This is gong by a lot faster than the first semester, and I can only attribute this to the fact that I am now fully acclimated to the law school lifestyle. Day in and day out, I have my classes. The funny thing is that I have not missed a single class yet. Last Wednesday, I arrived at school a full 1.5 hours early as is my custom. Upon arriving, I went to the study lounge and sat down at a table with my friend Kwabena. He and I exchanged pleasantries as I reached into my bag to get the power cord for my computer. There was one problem…the power cord was still plugged in under my desk at home! D’oh! I immediately ran downstairs and boarded an El to get back to my place. The problem is that I did not have enough battery power to last throughout the day, and I rely on my laptop. To make a long story short, I arrived back on campus and entered Constitutional Law class about 3 minutes late. Professor Blackmun was in the middle of his recap, so I had not missed anything. The problem was that my seat (we chose our seats for the entire semester in each class at the beginning of the semester) was nearer to the front, and I did not want to disturb the class. I snuck into the classroom and sat at a seat near the back. After class, people came up to me and asked why I had missed. I remarked that I was there but not in my customary seat, but it was kind of gratifying that my classmates noticed that I wasn’t there. I asked a couple of them about this and they said: “Artful, you never miss class. It was strange not to see you there.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I tend to be a bit Type A. I can hear all of you uttering a loud sarcastic “NO!” right about now, so I will move on…..

So what is going on in my life right now? Other than classes, not much. A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Barrister’s Ball (kinda like law school prom) with my friend Susan at the Hilton in Chicago. It was a lot of fun to see my classmates dressed up and to interact with them in a social setting. My classmates tend to be surprised when they find out I am 34. I guess that my immaturity is finally paying off! Actually, I attribute this to being a perpetual student. People sometimes ask me if I am going to go after another degree, and I usually say that after this one, it’ll be time for me to collect social security. I also joke that I want a business card. At the end of my name following the first few degrees, I want my card to read “continued on the other side.” In all seriousness, though, this is my last degree. That sound you all heard was the collective sigh of relief from my family and friends…..

Hmmm…what else….My brother and I are going to Las Vegas this weekend (the first weekend of March madness). I had only gone once before (a short weekend jaunt accompanying my mom), but my brother has never been. I am looking forward to the vacation. I have not had a vacation trip in so long that I have forgotten what it is like to travel for the fun of it. When I worked for Bio-Rad, I practically lived out of my suitcase to the point where the American Airlines personnel at O’Hare knew me by name. Heck, they even stopped “randomly searching” me after the first few months on the job. Anyway, I am looking forward to going out into the desert and seeing the stars, visiting Hoover Dam, seeing the Strip, and taking in some sightseeing. I will have a lot of work to do later in the week, but I actually have a spring break. 34 years old and I have spring break….weird…

I cannot wait until Tuesday is over with. I have a legal writing memo due. I finished the first draft late yesterday and will be whittling it down and fine tuning it all evening tomorrow. After that, the rest of the week is downhill. My friend Stan from Bio-Rad will be in town for the week, and we will probably have dinner on Wednesday night. On Thursday, my classmate Phil (a really good friend of mine) is celebrating his birthday with 20 people at the Whirlyball place in Chicago. What is Whirlyball? Think bumper cars crossed with la crosse. Friday is St. Patrick’s Day. For those of you who have seen the movie “The Fugitive”, I am sure that you are aware that St. Paddy’s is a big day here in Chicago. They had the parade and the green river this weekend, but people will also be out in force next Friday. I intend to get a good night’s sleep and prepare for my trip.

I hope that all of you are doing well. If you have any questions (things that you might like me to comment on, etc) just leave a message on my blog. I guess you could call it “reader’s request.” I never seem to know what to talk about, and this blog is mostly for all of you to keep up with what I am doing. I just don’t know what people would be interested in reading about. Let me know.

The Saga Continues: Year One, Second Semester

And so, another semester of law school has started. My classes this semester include returning favorites (Constitutional Process, Contracts, and Legal Writing and Analysis) as well as 2 new classes (Criminal Law and Property). Already, I have noticed a seismic shift in the way the professors conduct classes. We are now being called on by our first names rather than the traditional “Mr.” and “Miss” titles of the previous semester. The professors are also much less uptight. I can only attribute this perceived “more relaxed” atmosphere to the lackAlready of the need to scare us straight. Having already endured the rigors of the first semester, law school is now “old hat” to all of us 1Ls. My schedule is also (I think) a little more forgiving. My earliest class is at 11 AM. On Tuesday, I have 3 classes (11-12:15, 1:30-2:45, and 3-4:45), and it is by far my most tiring day. The upside of having a heavy Tuesday is that on Thursday and Friday, I only have one class. This has been extremely beneficial with regard to planning out my reading assignments and figuring out how busy my weekends will be. Many of you will remember my extreme level of stress last semester, but this has given way to more routine. I am sure that there will be moments of stress (i.e., when writing assignments are due or around exam time), but the normal stress of keeping up with the reading is not so bad. For example, we have 3 cases assigned for Criminal Law for Tuesday, 100 total pages of reading. Last semester, I would have panicked. That amount of reading would have taken me the better part of the afternoon. Today, I completed all of the cases in 2 hours. Somewhere along the way, I have learned to identify the relevant portions of the opinion while tossing aside the dicta. Breaking down cases is SO MUCH easier than it was last year. I now understand why many people say that the first semester of law school is one of the hardest things to get through.

I also have followed the advice given to me by my Uncle Ravi. He mentioned that when he was studying for his master’s degree, he would get up early on the weekends and get his work done. This left the rest of the weekend free. I tried it this weekend, and I was completely done with the days work by 11 AM on both days. Of course, this meant getting up at 7, but I had 4 solid hours of work and the rest of Saturday and Sunday was mine! If any of you have work that needs to be done over the weekend, I highly recommend this. In addition to enjoying my time, I didn’t have something hanging over my head during the day. I had a nice long workout, went grocery shopping, and relaxed. I even have time to update my blog!
So, what is my favorite class this semester? This would have to be Criminal Law. No, I am not looking into becoming a prosecutor or defense attorney, but the class itself is intriguing. Professor Decker is a dynamic speaker, and the class discussions address more than what is in the cases. People are less reticent about chiming into discussions, and this had made for a very entertaining class. I look forward to Criminal Law. That is not to say that I don’t like Contracts still. We have started with how contracts are policed (looking at contracts made under duress or where there was fraudulent concealment, etc). Professor Taylor is still great, and now that we have the Contracts basics out of the way, we are learning how to apply what we learned to different situations.

The rest of my life is going pretty well. I have figured out a balance for working out, going to school, and sleeping. I just needed to figure out when I could update my blog. I still look forward to hearing from all of you from time to time. Please let me know if you want to read about more cases. I enjoyed writing about Semtek last semester and I might throw an interesting case into the discussion every now and then. Funny thing: if you Google the case name (Semtek International v. Lockheed Martin), my blog entry on the topic pops up at #20 out of 551!).
That’s all for now. Welcome back to another exciting semester of law school!

Vacation time...

Well, the spring semester is just about ready to start. I have had a great respite from the rigors of law school, and I feel refreshed enough to venture once more into the abyss of reading and classwork. I only hope that I will have a better handle on how to prepare for my classes. Last semester, the learning process was exceedingly steep, as I had to get re-acclimated to school after a 10 year absence. I also had to learn how to prepare for law school classes. My classes for the spring semester include second semesters of Contracts and Constitutional Process and 2 new classes: Criminal Law and Property.

The rest of my exams went off without a hitch. I have no idea how I did, but I was fairly comfortable with the answers I provided. There were some things that I could have added if I had more time, but overall I feel pretty good. The Monday after exams, I flew to Virginia to visit my parents for a week. I had not been to Virginia in 5 months and I had not left Chicago in 4 months. I had a pretty relaxing time at home. I was nice talking to Mom and Dad for an extended period of time. My return trip too Chicago was smooth, and as we were touching down in Chicago, I had an overwhelming sense of relief that I was home. This was a strange sensation for me because somewhere along the way, without me realizing it, Chicago had become home. I love Chicago and the surrounding areas. I spent my second week in Chicago just taking care of some business around the apartment. I spent most of the time straightening out the mess that was my room (remnants of the mad days leading up to exams) and bringing out a wardrobe that did NOT consist of my study sweats. It was a very restful week. During my third week, I spent a few days with my friends Aaron and Julie in Cleveland. They had just moved into their new place, and it was a lot of fun hanging out with them during the week. The last couple of days have been spent sitting on my sofa watching the NFL playoffs, cooking, and working out. Yes, I finally have the chance to cook again! My project last week was to perfect Thai red curry, and I hit upon a recipe that really seemed to work well. This week, I will be taking care of loose ends before school starts on Monday the 16th.

1 down...3 to go

Hi All:

The exams have begun! I had my first law school exam yesterday. Civil Procedure was pretty tough, but it was a fair exam. I struggled with some of the multiple choice questions, but I felt reasonably confident about my essay answer. Of course, those of you who know me probably predicted that, as soon as I walked out of the room, I would start worrying about Torts. This is exactly what happened. I had to force myself to unwind from the exam and take some brain time. I watched the last episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and took a nap. As soon as I woke up, it was back to the grind. I covered a lot of ground last night (making note cards) and went over the entire course. My buddy Justin came over to the house today and we repeated our study strategy from Civ Pro..a full review of the course. 10 hours later, we were pretty much wiped. We had only taken a 1/2 hour break all day, and we were feeling it. I think that talking out the problems in the courses is a great way to study. I know that I will still feel a little panicky tomorrow as I realize that there is only one day until my exam, but I am prepared for that. I plan on taking it easy on Friday night since my next exam is not until Tuesday. The days are going by in a blur. I keep forgetting that this is Wednesday!

Well, I am going to sleep now. I hope that everyone is keeping warm. Here in Chicago, it is a blistery 10 degrees F!

Study blues and a lesson in Civil Procedure...

It has been over 10 years (not counting the LSAT) since I last took an exam. 10 years. Normally, this would be something that might send me into a panic, but for some reason I am calm. I keep waiting for the exam panic to hit, but so far, there has been nothing. My outlines are done, I have done a single complete review for Civil Procedure (mastering the most difficult case of the year in the process) and am now just doing some fine tuning on my studying. I have attended every class and have kept up with the reading and my note taking all year, so I know that I have the materials to succeed. If I should worry about anything, it is that I will fail to expound on some key topic that might keep me from getting the “As” that I want in all of my classes. My classmates are in full blown panic/study mode, but the strange thing is that, as I go though my (voluminous) notes, everything seems familiar. This isn’t to say that I know everything and am fully prepared for my exams, but I know that it’s in there. I liken my brain right now to a disorganized office. Everything that I need to know is in there, but I have to put it all in my file drawers for accurate and quick access.

The general malaise of exam studying has already kicked in. I have rapidly lost track of the days of the week, and I am now looking forward to getting the first exam under my belt. I will be so glad when I walk out of that Civil Procedure exam.

Speaking of Civil Procedure, I will now bore all of you with a law lesson. We will be discussing Semtek International Corp. v. Lockheed Martin Corp. This case was the most complicated case of the year in our class, and you will soon see why. The plaintiff sued the defendant (Lockheed) for breach of contract and other tort claims in CA state court. Because the defendant and the plaintiff are residents of different states, the defendant was allowed to (and chose to) move the case to federal district court in CA. The CA federal court found for the defendant and dismissed the case “on its merits”. The plaintiff then refiled the same claim in Maryland state court. The defendant moved it to federal court again (but not on the ‘different state” grounds as before since Lockheed Martin is considered a “citizen” of Maryland), but the federal court threw it back to the state court (too complicated to explain here). The defendant also tried to enjoin the plaintiff from bringing the suit again because the federal district court in CA had already ruled in its favor. I think that you can appreciate how someone found innocent doesn’t want to have to defend himself all over again. The doctrine of res judicata is one of claim preclusion; courts use it to prevent people from endlessly litigating claims after final judgment has been entered. The CA federal court upheld the claim as subject to res judicata, so technically, the plaintiff should not have been able to bring suit in Maryland. The problem is that, even though the federal could precluded the plaintiff from bringing the claim again, there are no laws or statutes that govern whether a state court has to follow what the federal court says. In a way, this is a preservation of the states’ 10th amendment rights. The Supreme Court had to decide: what law does a state court follow in federal claim preclusions? The answers for other court decisions are all easy. If the preclusion was given by another state (say, the state court in CA instead of the federal court), the Full Faith and Credit clause of Article IV of the Constitution holds that state courts must follow the decisions of other state courts. If the preclusion was given by a state and the plaintiff brought the case to federal court, there is the Full Faith and Credit statute. This forces federal courts to follow the decisions of state courts as binding. If a federal court precluded the claim and the plaintiff tried to refile in another federal court, federal common law (federal judicial decisions) would hold that all federal courts giver deference to a federal district court decision.

This brings us to the problem. In this case, we have a federal court decision on a claim that is being re-litigated in a state court. The defendant is saying that the federal court precluded the claim from being re-litigated, but does the state have to follow what the federal courts say? What about state’s rights? What law of claim preclusion should be followed? Are you still awake at this point?

In this case, the Supreme Court used the judicial decision (federal common law) of Erie RR v. Tompkins. In that case, the Court held that the laws of the state in which the federal court sits would govern cases brought in federal district court. In the current case, the district court of CA passed judgment. Thus, the law of claim preclusion followed by the Maryland State court should be the law of claim preclusion of the state courts of CA. So, in the end, federal common law dictated that the law of the state in which the district court sits will be the deciding factor. When you consider the Full Faith and Credit Clause and how it works, this actually makes a lot of sense. So what happened? Well, the claim was NOT precluded under CA law, so the P could make its case in a Maryland state court. After all of that effort (and all of those lawyers’ fees), the plaintiff gets his day in court again.

Isn’t the study of law fun? If you were able to follow this, you too could be studying law! Note…I wrote all of this from memory, and this is only ONE case from part of a single class this semester. Multiply this by 2(roughly 2 cases per class, with more cases in other classes), multiply this number by 26 (average number of class meetings) and multiply that by 4 (the total number of classes I am taking). This may give you all some sense of the amount of material I am dealing with over the next 2 weeks.

I am SOOOO looking forward to the holidays...

Hello again...

Don’t worry. I am still alive! I have received some frantic voice mails over the past few days from people concerned about the lack of updates on the blog. Rest assured that I am still here in Chicago, plugging away at law school, and eagerly awaiting my vacation over the holidays.

The sheer amount of work that has piled up over the last month is daunting. In addition to the normal reading assignments, the time came for me to compile everything into outline form for more efficient studying. This took quite a bit of work. To give you some perspective, my complete notes set for Constitutional Process alone was 175 pages! I was able to pare this down to a more manageable 75 pages. Now, multiply that by 4 classes and you get some idea of what I (and every law student) am up to this time of the year. People are starting to panic a bit, but I know that the next few weeks will be the real crucible. I am taking heart in the knowledge that the end of the first semester is in sight. I have almost made it through my first phase of law school, and it feels pretty good.

Of course, before I get there I have to contend with exams. For each class there is one exam, and this determines your grade for the entire class. Period. No other grades, just one exam. No pressure there, huh? When you factor in that I have not taken an exam in just over 10 years, this does seem to be an almost heart attack-inducing handicap. For some reason, I am not worried. I have between 2 and 3 days between exams to cram, and I think that I can do it. I have kept up with the reading all semester, so there should not be any surprises as far as that is concerned, and I have plenty of practice problems to work on so that I can test my grasp of the materials.

It is hard to believe that 3 months has gone by. I just hope that the rest of law school goes by as quickly. Of course, then it will be time to study for the bar exam (ugh), but so far, so good. I just hope that I will be able to keep up with the blog a little better next semester.

Thanks again to all of you for supporting me. It really means a lot.

I am still updating....honest....

Well, it’s been a while but I am still alive and kicking. The last few weeks have gone by in a whirlwind. There has been a lot going on, but the gauntlet of the first semester of law school is almost complete. The stress level has started to rise among my classmates, and I have started to feel the tightening of the “exam noose”, to coin a phrase from “A Christmas Story.”

In law school, tests are administered differently than they are in undergraduate school. The entire semester’s worth of material is distilled down to one test for each class. That’s it. A single test can determine whether you will be entertaining offers from the big firms or scrounging around trying to find work after law school. 3 months worth of 2 hour classes are in a single test for each class, a 3 hour essay/short answer/multiple choice examination. This is a pressure packed powder keg. I think that I am pretty much in control, but the only way that I will know is when I sit down in front of my computer next month.

There are no real complaints about law school now. Getting called on by the professors is something I no longer stress about. The reason for this is Professor Roberts in Con Law. He still calls on me, and I look forward to it. He doesn’t do it maliciously; I am usually paying attention while others are surfing the internet. I think that he knows too. Contracts is great. I am still enjoying Contracts as one of my favorite classes. Torts is all right, and Civil Procedure is fine as well. I am a little sad that I will be bidding farewell to Civil Procedure and Torts after this semester. They will be replaced by Criminal Law and Property next semester.

What’s going on in Chicago? Well, there are some developments in my personal life that I will not go into right now (I know, you are all thinking “artful, this is the point of a Blog”.) Yes it is, and when the time is right, I will fill you all in. My weekly Sunday breakfast with my brother is still the highlight of my week, especially because my parents call us during the meal. As strange as it might be to say, our family seems closer now than ever before even though my brother and I are in Illinois and my parents are in Virginia. I can’t understand it…I am 34 years old and I miss my parents. I think this is just a testament to how close my family really is. This extends to my other family here in the US as well. My uncle sent me a great pep talk email after one of my (numerous) “gloom and doom” blog entries. His e-mail helped me to realize that I don’t need to stress. I haven’t stressed since! I also appreciate all of the support that all of you have sent my way.

I will get back into discussing some of the interesting aspects of the law next time. We are studying Equal protection under the 5th and 14th amendments right now in Con Law, and I find the subject fascinating. I will also keep you all apprised of my plans for the summer (job, research, classes…who knows at this point?).

GO SOX!

Yes, there is a bandwagon and I jumped on it. Most of you know that I am NOT a baseball fan. I think that the season is too long, the players are too coddled, and the games are too long. At the same time, I can appreciate the jolt of electricity that the White Sox World Series win provides for the city of Chicago. Here in Chicago, we have gone through the usual skipping of autumn and it is now the beginning of the 10 month winter. The Sox have not won a World Series since Walt Disney was in high school 88 years ago (literally, I saw the graphic). Although I am not a baseball fan, I can appreciate the accomplishment and am happy for my friends who are Sox fans. Tomorrow morning, there will be a lot of bleary eyed Chicagoans making their way to work, but all of them will have a smile on their face because their team is a world champion.

Most of the rest of the last 2 weeks has been a never-ending cycle of work. I have just completed a major legal writing assignment (one that will be worth almost ½ of my final grade), and I am tired. At the same time, I feel pretty good about how the weeks are going. I am gaining a better understanding of the law every day and am feeling more comfortable volunteering in class. I am able to get through the reading at a faster clip than before, and I am finding myself with small bits of free time. My friend Aaron came to visit last weekend, and we attended a Chicago Bears football team. Of course, I was stressing about the work that I was not doing, but here it is Wednesday and I have already caught up. I am not stressed even though I have just a month of classes left. Thanks to my friends and family, especially my brother and my roommate, I have been able to keep a proper perspective and not stress out too much. Thanks to all of you who have contacted me directly to encourage me. Although my posts have been fewer and farther between as the weeks have gone by, that doesn’t mean that I am not thinking of everyone. The rest of the week looks pretty good. I have done my reading for tomorrow and Contracts reading for Friday. I would like to get an early start on my reading for Monday, but my class outlines need to be completed. The weekend looks to be a lot of fun (well, a small part of it anyway). After class on Friday, I intend to get a lot of my reading for Monday done. I am then going to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate a birthday. On Saturday, I will be at the library during the day and attending a party in the evening. On Sunday, the day will be spent in the library, but that is all right as I have more than enough work to do. After last weekend, I intend to take advantage of all of the weekends to come.

The only bummer is that I have not been to the movies in 3 months. I think that the last movie that I saw was the Wedding Crashers. Serenity, The Constant Gardner, and a History of Violence have all come and gone, but I have not watched them. With the new Harry Potter film, the Chronicles of Narnia, the second Underworld film, and Walk the Line (the Johnny Cash biopic that is on my list of movies to see) all coming out within the next couple of months, I intend to take advantage of my student discount and catch up at the movies during the holidays.

Well, it’s 11:30 now and I still have some work to do. It never ends!

A serious entry...

It is pretty hard to figure out things to write. I have found myself in the conundrum of trying to please my audience without really focusing on why I started this blog in the first place…namely for maintaining my own sanity while I start this new part of my life. Allow me to apologize (again!) in advance if the entries are boring; I won’t take it personally if you tell me that this is so.

The weeks have been flying by. Before I knew it, over half of the semester has flown by. My life is pretty simple at this point. It consists of work and school. I try to fit in the occasional football game every once in a while and I still get my workouts in, but the monotony is starting to get to me a little bit. For those of you who don’t know, allow me to put my current life in perspective with my immediate past. Last year at this time, I was flying around 4 days a week. Most of these trips were overnight trips for the company I worked for, Bio-Rad. I was a field scientist for them (based out of Chicago, but covering around 14 states). The life was pretty fun. I was the consummate business travelers and knew where are the electrical outlets were at the most out of the way airports (Grand Forks, anybody?), ‘where the coolest restaurants were in most cities around the Midwest and Colorado (the Rio in Fort Collins is still tops), and access to some of the coolest science tools a geek like me could imagine. I had an expense account, a free car, a nice salary, and the support of my superiors. With this as the backdrop, many of you might wonder why I left it all behind. In all honesty, this move to law school is something that I thought about since getting my doctorate 5 years ago. I started my research into law school when I started my fellowship in Chicago. I knew that I wanted to work in intellectual property litigation, focusing on biotechnology, but I figured that the best way to get the experience that I need was by working in academia for a bit and then switching over to the private sector. With 4 years of this behind me (2 years for each), the time was right for me to make my move. Now, here I am, a 34 year old student. It is hard living on less than half of what I used to earn, but at this point I am thankful that law school take up so much time. There isn’t any time to go out and spend any money. I have many friends in law school, especially within my 2 study groups, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to socialize. I have forgotten how much energy 22-24 year-olds seem to have, as my fellow students can seemingly move from an evening of drinking straight into marathon studying. I have to recognize my limits in this regard.

So here I am, halfway through the first semester and beginning to feel it. I am thankful to have a great support system in place-my friends in Chicago. Over the last 2 weeks, the most important thing is that I have regained contact with 2 very close friends. My friend Mike and I have seen each other through thick and thin during these last 4 years, and due to a combination of my travel schedule and some stresses within his life, we lost touch. This is now behind us and we are speaking again. I have also regained contact with my friend Missy, a fellow law student and one of my best friends from my time at Northwestern. I tried to pull away from many of my friends as law school started just to keep my focus, but Missy has always been one of my closest confidantes. I screwed up royally by shutting her out. Now my sanity is returning, and I can’t help but think that it is more than coincidence that I am communicating with Missy again. So, to Mike and Missy, thanks for your patience with me.

The list is still long of people that I have been shutting out, but with these 2 lifelines intact again, I hope to work on the rest. Missy, Mike, my roommate Eric, and my older brother have been awesome in helping me through this first semester. I can almost see the end in sight. The thought of exams are not filling me with dread (yet), my classes are completely manageable, and I am getting a handle on balancing my life as a student with my life as the Artful Blogger.

I'm back!

Well, it has been an eventful few days! It all started on Friday. As you might recall, I was on call for Torts last Friday. When the professor called on me, I nailed it! I was pretty happy about knowing the case and having the professor let me go on with no corrections. The high lasted until Contracts class. Halfway through the class, the professor called on me for the first time, and I tanked. I was horrible. I might have felt better had I not known the answer, but I knew the answer. I just froze like a deer in headlights. My friends tried to make me feel better, but I just wanted another chance.

One of the nice things about law school is the anonymous grading policy. This way, students can interact with professors without having it influence your grades. After tanking in class, I sent the professor an e-mail apologizing for my performance and my desire to have another chance. I have a feeling that my contracts professor takes it as a personal failure if we fail her, and she is my favorite professor. But first, there was the weekend.

On Saturday, my roommate and I had some friends come over for a night of relaxation. We even ended up having a live band, as one of my classmates is a fiddler in a bluegrass band here in Chicago. He and the band came over after finishing their gigs, and they set up in my living room. They were awesome, and everyone at the party enjoyed it. Morning came too soon, and Eric and I set about cleaning the apartment. I ended up finishing up my Civil Procedure work for Monday and enjoyed a pretty good football game in the evening.

With Monday came the dawning of the new week. In Con Law, Professor Roberts called on me (again!), and I did all right. In Civil Procedure, we were studying about how jurisdiction is assigned among the states. I was just ready to get started on the afternoon’s work. I finally got home at 9 PM and finished work at 11 PM. Tuesday arrived with Torts and Contracts. In Contracts, I figured the professor would not call on me, as she hardly ever calls on the same people 2 days in a row. She ended up calling on me, and this time I didn’t freeze. Furthermore, she was very encouraging. Even though she never responded to my e-mail, I think that she appreciated my efforts. It has been a very long time since I had a professor who has challenged me as much as my Contracts professor, but I know that I am getting an excellent education in the theories of contracts because of it.

The rest of the week looks to be pretty relaxed. I will start work on my outlines tomorrow, as there is no project due in legal writing (yes!).

I'm on call today!

The weariness of the end of the week has really set in, but the weariness is tempered by my knowledge that I only have 2 more classes to get through. That’s the good news. The bad…well…worrisome news is that I am on call today in Torts class. Being on-call means that you have to be ready to answer questions on any of the assigned questions. The system works differently in each class. For Civil Procedure and Contracts, we are always on call. Professor Greenberger in Civil Procedure usually chooses 2 or three students and calls on them for the entire class. Every class has a different set of students. Professor Taylor in Contracts calls on everyone at anytime, but she usually asks one question at a time. Even though I am a bit nervous about the always on-call thing, I still think that Contracts is my favorite class. Professor Roberts takes volunteers until someone doesn’t volunteer. He will then call on people directly. This is fair, but we end up hearing from the same people (myself included) every single class. I don’t raise my hand in Con Law anymore because I didn’t want people to get sick of hearing me. Professor Weber is, by far, the most fair when it comes to being on-call. He goes by the alphabet (last names). Now, at the beginning of the semester, I organized an Excel spreadsheet with contact info for everyone in the class. Thanks to the alphabetical sort function, I have been able to pinpoint when I will be called on. There is only one name ahead of me for today, so I know that I am up. Professor Weber’s system really is a double-edged sword. I can relax most days because I know that I am not on call. The problem is that, since I know I am going to be on-call, I had better be fully prepared. I think that I prepped pretty well in this class, but things can change under the penetrating glare of the law professor.

The last 2 days have gone pretty well. I have gone home to study instead of studying at the library. I have a dining room table that is in this little breakfast area in the kitchen. I can spread out there and not seem very isolated. When I want to be isolated, I use the desk upstairs. The classes have been good as well, and the days seem to pass by in a blur. There always seems to be work to be done, and I realized with a shock that I only have 2 months until final exams. Yikes! It’s time to work on those outlines. It has also started to get cooler in Chicago. This is perfect because it will allow me to save a bit on my heating and cooling bill. The Chicago Winter seems to be lurking right around the corner. Here comes the snow and the frozen Lake Michigan!

Should Sam's Club guard the parking lot?

Well, it’s Wednesday morning. I only have 2 more days for the weekend, and I am glad. The usual tiredness starts to creep in on Wednesdays, but at least I have done all of my reading for Friday’s Torts class. I just have to worry about Civil Procedure and Contracts for the rest of week.

Torts was up first on Tuesday, and we continued our discussion of the duty owed by landowners to people on their land. We covered an interesting case where a woman was robbed in a Sam’s Club parking lot and lost $18,000 worth of jewelry. The robber had hidden beneath her car. This was in the middle of the afternoon in a neighborhood not known for crime. She ended up suing Sam’s Club for negligence in performing their duty to watch out for her! The court recognized that for Sam’s to watch over their entire massive parking lot where there had not been any crime in over 10 years was a little to much to ask, and I agree with them. While I recognize the importance of being safe when shopping, I would only expect there to be a duty when I am in the actual store, not when I am in the parking lot. I am sure that some of you may disagree with this line of reasoning, but I see it as the job of the police to make sure that the parking lots are safe.

Over lunch, my study group and I met to continue outlining Constitutional Law. I am feeling better about my handle on the material. With the beginning of October looming, I have targeted the first week for outlining each of my classes for September. During lunch, I was also able to get some of my legal writing finished. I flipped through Contracts and it was then off to Contracts class.

In Contracts, we continued the discussion of moral obligation as the basis of a valid contract where there is no contract. Prior to this class, I had assumed that there is a lot of difficulty in enforcing any contract that is not written, and to some degree, this is true. I have been relieved to discover that there are some remedies at law for contract disputes. After Contracts, I headed home and went grocery shopping. I then studied for a few hours, finishing up Con Law for today. I worked a little more on my legal writing assignment and headed to the gym for a quick workout. My life at this point isn’t terribly exciting, but I suppose this is a good thing. It helps keep my focus.

Week 6 kicks off...

Well, Monday has come and gone. This weekend was interesting and a little restful. I spent most of Saturday in the library trying to prepare for Torts for the coming week. The good news was that I was able to finish all of my Torts reading with no problems. The bad news was that this was what my Saturday consisted of. I was able to watch the Bears game on Sunday, but then it was of to the library for my study group. 4 hours later, I was done. It was not much of a relaxing weekend, but I was able to get some rest in.

The first class of the day was Con Law. We were discussing the taxing and spending power of Congress and the Civil War amendments. In reading some of the opinions of the court, all I could think was it was a good think that the decisions are not final and that the court turns over. In the 20 years after the Civil War, the power of Congress to enforce the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments was severely limited by the Supreme Court. The Court’s reasoning was that Congress had no legal right to pass laws that eliminated discrimination. They said that slavery was over and racism was not a problem. What the heck? This was in response to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. We would have to wait almost 90 years before a federal statute ensuring that discrimination would be prosecuted would be passed.

During lunch, I did my Contracts reading for tomorrow and worked on Civil Procedure. Civ Pro was interesting because we were discussing a case in which a plaintiff alleged violation of his civil rights under 24 USC §1983. This statute states that a plaintiff can sue law enforcement if they can prove 1) that their Constitutional or other rights were violated and 2) the officer who violated these rights were acting under color of law. What was interesting was that this was an appellate case (3 judges), and 2 judges agreed and one didn’t. The court upheld summary judgment in favor of the officers. This pretty much dismissed the case and ensured that it would never go to the jury. The point of view is what intrigued me here. The opinion painted a picture of 2 officers who feared for their lives and took actions to save themselves. There is nothing wrong with that. The dissent, however, painted a picture of a black plaintiff stopped on the side of a deserted highway in rural Texas late at night. The officers never arrested him, but they told him to lie down face down on the ground. The plaintiff refused to comply, and the officers’ affidavits state that they shot him (he survived) because they feared for their lives. Now, summary judgment should only be granted if the defendant’s can refute the facts in this case or show that there are no facts that a reasonable jury might find to be contrary. The fact that one of the judges dissented told me that there was enough of a question of fact that this case should have gone to the jury. Although I was starting to feel tired at the end of the day, this discussion woke me up.

I had another study group meeting right after class and then it was off to the library for 4 hours. I am now home and am unwinding by watching Monday Night Football.