May 6, 2008
American Idle
I should be working on my last take-home exam... ever. Which means I'm procrastinating and watching American Idol. Which really sucks this season. I just cannot get excited about any of the final four. They just really aren't very good--and not being very good for American Idol is pretty sad, the bar isn't that high.
David Cook irritates me. I think he's a poseur, not really a rocker. And man, did he suck tonight. His version of Hungry Like the Wolf was, well, like a really bad karaoke version. And don't get me started on Baba O'Riley. He butchered it. My wife remarked that she though he did it just so he could sing "teenage wasteland" over and over, trying to seem cool. I think he just must secretly hate The Who. I mean, why else would anyone do that to them?
Seyesha belongs on Broadway. She'd be great in a theatrical production. She is not good doing Tina Turner. That felt like a bad revue from the Ike and Tina story or something. And oh, I'm sorry, she had no business singing anything by Sam Cooke. Her version of A Change Is Gonna Come was awful. Randy knew it. You do not need to do pointless runs in a Sam Cooke song. It can't just be an age thing, I'm younger than the generation that would have grown up with Sam Cooke, but c'mon, it's like she never listed to him!
David Archuleta is probably going to win this thing, but I've grown to really dislike him as well. At first, I thought he was just a stand-up kid with a good voice. Now I think he's a stepford kid or something. Does he ever show real emotion? It's almost like he's a plastic kid. Creepy. It doesn't help that he did Stand By Me, which I hate... it has to be one of the most overrated songs ever. And Love Me Tender was pretty lame as well. He's definitely the most consistent--the most consistently over-thought and over-produced, but considering the level of the competition, I'd say he stands a good shot.
Poor Jason Castro... unlike Archuleta, I genuinely like this dork. It's probably because he is a dork, and he just can't hide it. But he really did himself in tonight. If he wanted to do a Marley song, there are so many he cold have chosen that he would have had to butcher to fit into the show's format. Instead, he sucked it up with I Shot the Sheriff. And then, he forgot the words to Mr. Tambourine Man. Dude, you're in the finals... that's kind of a rookie mistake.
Anyway, it's been a pretty bad season. I heard a rumor that it might be the last? I think, if these four are representative of the "best" talent they have to offer, it's time to end it.
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April 29, 2008
This is the way law school ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
I am officially done with my classes. No more class meetings. No more assignments. In fact, I only have one last take home final exam, with an 8 page limit.
Eight pages left between me and the end of law school!!!
*With sincerest apologies to T.S. Eliot.
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April 21, 2008
Cimonino Semistagionato Valsassina
I was at Whole Foods the other day with my wife, and while she was buying the food we actually needed for the week, I was hanging out at the cheese counter. (I always say support your local cheese monger, but if you're in a grocery store with time to kill, the cheese section is better than anywhere else!) While there I spotted this tiny little tube-like cheese called Cimonino Semistagionato Valsassina. I'd never had it. It was cheap. I was hungry. I think you see where this is going.
The Cimonino comes in a cylindrical shape, pretty small, and is a cow's milk cheese with a moldy rind. It's quite soft, and to me, slightly reminiscent of a Gorgonzola. Now, I am a salt nut, so salty doesn't bother me--but let me warn you, this is an extraordinarily salty cheese. It's balanced with a slight sweetness when it first hits your tongue, but then, wham! Piquant. That's the polite way of saying it's got some bite. It's a peppery, almost astringent, taste, but without the citrus notes you would usually expect with a tart cheese.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I think it would go really well with a big, in your face red wine. If you like piquant cheeses, or if you like moldy cheese in general, give it a shot. It's pretty inexpensive and would make a nice addition to a cheese plate or paired with wine.
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April 10, 2008
Seed.
Has anyone ever been to the Seed Conference?
With speakers like Jason Fried, Jake Nickell, Jeffry Kalminkoff, Jim Caudal and Gary Vaynerchuk, it sounds like it would be "conference" right up my alley. And with almost four years of law school under my belt, I sure could use a creative infusion right about now.
The only drawback for me is the price tag ($500). With four years of law school student loans about to go into repayment and a baby on the way, it's hard to justify $500 on a one-day conference.
I'd love to hear about your experiences...
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Whee!
Okay, I've been having way too much fun with the Wii lately. I got hooked when I played with one at a friend's house for their little boy's birthday party... but I was going to hold off on getting one--until I found out I could get guitar hero for the thing. It was all downhill from their.
I've had my Wii for over a month now, and it just seems cooler to me all the time. The games do not look amazing--far from it. The graphics are nothing to write home about and if you've seen an XBox 360 or PS3, you'll wonder how Nintendo could do it. But I know how: the games are fun. I mean, really, really, fun.
Yes, Guitar Hero is available on other platforms. But I'm having a blast with the Wii Sports and Wii Games stuff, too... and so is my wife. We even play a trivia game on it (Smarty Pants) that is so much more fun than you'd think. Then, the other day, I discovered you can buy (really cheap) games from old Nintendo systems and play them on the Wii! They are downloadable right from the Wii store, if you put your Wii online. There's a lot of classic stuff up there... Donkey Kong... Pac-Man, Zeldas... and Mario Kart 64, which is just a damn fun game.
I can't recommend the Wii enough. Nintendo really got it right with this one.
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April 8, 2008
Clinton: A Fundamental Misunderstanding of Voters
I don't think it's a secret I'm an Obama supporter. However, recently, I've crossed over to being a Hillary opponent. If Hillary is the nominee without winning the popular vote and pledged delegates, I will not support her run for president. And here's why...
I can forget her desire to stay in the race for the nomination, even though it's looking mathematically less and less like she has a chance.
I can forgive her "misstatements" which keep piling up at an alarming rate, to the point where we she's almost going to have rally chants that contain the words "pants on fire".
But her contempt for the democratic process I cannot forgive or forget. Today on All Things Considered (NPR), she was asked about suggestions from her campaign that pledged delegates should change sides--even though those delegates are chosen by the voters based on their promise to support a particular candidate. Here's what she said:
"There is some fundamental misunderstanding of the way this whole nominating process works," Clinton says. "Every delegate has the right to choose whom they will vote for. ... At the end of the day, there is no requirement that anybody do anything other than make their own best judgment."
No, Hillary. When I, and millions of other voters across America went into the voting booth to vote in this primary season, we voted for delegates who had pledged to support you, Obama, Edwards, etc. You can be damn sure we, the American voters, expect thoe delegates to keep their word, and not "make their own best judgment." Clinton grouses excessively about the voters of Michigan and Florida being disenfranchised, yet, when it suits her own political goals, she's willing to disenfranchise every voter in the Democratic Party in every state.
Each and every day, Hillary is demonstrating to me that she merely wants to win at all costs, no matter if the Democratic Party is decimated in the process. I expect a certain amount of double talk and politics in any campaign. I understand rhetoric and campaign promises. But Hillary is becoming a routine liar, showing nothing but contempt for the process, the party, and the American people.
I think Hillary Clinton has a fundamental misunderstanding of the way this whole nominating process should work, and the way the American voters expect it to work. We expect that the candidate who wins the popular vote and the most pledged delegates (even should that turn out to be her) should be the party's nominee for President of the United States.
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March 30, 2008
Baby Stuff.
No, seriously. Baby stuff. I had no idea babies had so much stuff available for them: clothes, blankets, bedding (which is more than blankets), changing pads, wraps, carriers, car seats, nasal aspirators, humidifiers, wipes, wipe warmers, diapers...
It's all making my head spin. How did humans survive as a species for so long without all this stuff??!
Well, I know the answer... but undoubtedly, some of this stuff is helpful and some of it is utterly useless crap. If you have any stories of "must have" items that are time/sleep savers, please let me know. I'm trying to figure out as much of this stuff as I can now because with the bar exam over the summer, and the baby due in September, I have a feeling that I need to use my spare time now, while I still have it.
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