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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

So, imagine my shock and horror when I found out they were doing The Beatles again tonight! I just can't hold back...

Amanda Overmyer
Yes, the "Lafayette" she mentioned is in Indiana and happens to be my home town. But she is such a one-trick pony... last week she was barely tolerable, this week, I wanted her to do Helter Skelter... instead she butchered Back in the USSR.

Kristy Lee Cook
I decided last week, when she destroyed Eight Days a Week in some sort of Grand Ole Opry train wreck, that I hated her. This week, I still hate her. She murdered You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. She couldn't pick a key. She couldn't hit actual notes. Do not mess with The Beatles melodies. She simply cannot sing and is so boring. Please, go.

David Archuleta
It wasn't his greatest performance, but this kid is really likable... and he's much better doing thoughtful, slower songs. The Long and Winding Road isn't my favorite either, but he sang it well.

Michael Johns
A Day in the Life bastardized and chopped down into 1:30? Dude, who thought that would work???! An uninspired performance and a horrible arrangement. I appreciate that he dedicated it to his friend, but it was a pretty bad performance.

Brook White
Oh, poor George. He doesn't get the credit he deserves for writing some truly excellent songs. And worse, people do things like this... oh, what an abomination. And seriously, every time she opens her mouth, I like her less. Considering I didn't really like her to begin with, she should shut up. Bottom three? Fingers crossed!

David Cook
Clearly one of the most talented--even if is resorting to ripping off Whitesnake. Seriously, Whitesnake??? But he is consistently entertaining and did a pretty good job. The "Frampton" effect was super cheesy... and I just. don't. like. him. I couldn't put my finger on it until Simon called him "smug," and then I realized that's it... he comes off as a real smug guy... more full of himself than his performances so far warrant. He's clearly talented, but he just rubs me the wrong way. So I don't really want to see him go very far.

Carly Smithson
Great song, pretty well sung. It wasn't a "blow me away" performance, but it was solid.

Jason Castro
Well, I'm not going to give him much credit for being smart... but his rendition of Hallelujah was pretty great a few weeks ago, and he did a decent job on Michelle. He's the exact opposite of Cook--he's not smug at all--he's just plain goofy. And I'll take a reasonably talented goofball over a reasonably talented jerk anyday.

Syesha Mercado
Yawn. This girl is so cute... and so dull. What did she sing again? It was 30 seconds ago and I've already forgotten!! Oh, yeah, Yesterday... beautiful song, pretty girl, utterly forgetable performance.

Chickezie
Well, last week, he tore up She's a Woman. I mean, it was actually really awesome. This week, he tried the same formula, on I've Just Seen a Face (not a great Paul song to begin with) and it just didn't work as well. I still like the guy.

Ramiele Malubay
There's got to be one true karaoke performance per show. This was it... Bad. High school talent show bad. Karaoke bad. This should land her in the bottom three...

Update: So Amanda was booted... not too surprising. At least Kristy Lee Cook was in the bottom three again! Amanda was really a one-trick pony, so her time was short anyway, I doubt she'll be missed.

But in my mind, the choice for president is quite clear. On one hand, we have an eloquent speaker who is intelligent and experienced enough to understand and articulate the subtleties of racial relations in America—and who isn’t afraid to talk about the issue. While on the other hand, we have a career politician who—while on a trip designed to showcase his foreign policy experience—fails to grasp even the most rudimentary facts in a region that will dominate foreign policy issues for at least the next several presidential terms.

One is a politician—and maybe a decent one—but the other one is clearly a leader.

Well, I knew it would happen eventually... last month, Polaroid announced they will no longer be manufacturing instant film. Many artists are mourning because Polaroid film had some pretty unique properties, which I don't think digital has managed to capture--yet.

I'm no luddite. I gave up 35mm film for my Canon EOS Digital SLR some time ago. And I used to shoot Super 16mm motion picture film, and traded that for HD video a long time ago, too. And in all honesty, I haven't shot with a Polaroid in many years, either.

But over the decades that I've dabbled in photography, Polaroid put out some cool stuff. Among my favorites were the instant slide film (yes, instant slide film... it was pretty damn cool stuff) and the beloved SX-70 (I own several), which is even today one of the coolest cameras ever made. Sadly, Polaroid hasn't made the SX-70/Time Zero stock for a couple of years now...

Things change, and digital cameras are capable of capturing truly amazing imagery. But for a camera nut like me, who was always attracted to photography partially because of the chemistry, equipment and science behind the craft, seeing the "old ways" go like this will always be just a touch melancholy.

Update: Save Polaroid is a group of artists and hobbyists who are trying to motivate some company to pick up where Polaroid is leaving off. If you love the medium, it's worth checking out...

But it didn't seem real until the ultrasound images!

http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/help/dashboard/

Which, at least as of the writing of this post, generates a 404 "Page Not Found" error:

Yep. Helpful.

Seriously, you were late to class anyway, you couldn't finish it outside? Instead, I have to sit here and smell your greasy cafeteria food and listen to CHOMP after CHOMP while I'm trying to fight my own hunger and pay attention to the lecture.

What's worse is this is the second time this week that you've done this. It's becoming a habit, and I'm getting peeved. Please, eat before class or next time, I'm going to bring a bowl of cereal to class, slurp and crunch it down in your face, and then dump the leftover milk on your head.

Thank you.

Irritable Dave.

First, there was just about everything I played on our friend's Wii... she has a 4 year old who got a Wii for Christmas, and man, that thing is just plain fun. The games are fun to play, and the controllers are great... it's not like playing a game with any of the other consoles I've owned in the past.

Then, last night, we went over to a friends house and played Guitar Hero. This is my kind of game! I could seriously enjoy rocking out... and when I found out it's available for the Wii, that clinched it.

I want one.

And they are still impossible to find!