American Movie
 

This is the one about Coven, right? I totally dig this movie.

Booze
 

Wallingford or Middletown? Really, those places are Massachusetts Lite, as opposed to Rhode Island which, in places like Wahwick can outMass Mass.

Booze
 

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
 

I saw this on C-SPAN. (I suppose I could have just gone down to the convention center.) The crux of the issue is that Bill O'Reilly had, in several interviews, defended his tenure on Inside Edition by saying that the show had one a Peabody Award. Franken found out this was untrue, and he called O'Reilly on it.

O'Reilly's point was that it's not a big deal whether he misspoke and called a Peabody award a Polk award. Franken's point was that O'Reilly is an inveterate liar.

As I see it, the problem is that O'Reilly just won't live up to his tabloid past. Perhaps he made the mistake because the show won the award after O'Reilly had left the show. O'Reilly also had said that "we won a Peabody." This use of the second person is also deceiving. He didn't win anything. Of course, if I went to Syracuse, I could say something like, "We won the NCAA Final" and no one would question my meaning. The same wouldn't be true if my old firm won a $100 billion judgment and I said, "We won the biggest case of the year."

I should have watched the O'Reilly Factor yesterday to see his reaction. Franken wondered aloud how the incident would be edited.

My reaction after watching the whole thing was as follows (1) I'm not buying books from either O'Reilly or Franken, (2) Molly Ivins (the other panelist) comes off as Yoda, and (3) Pat Schroeder (wasn't she a presidential contender at some point?) was as ineffective as Cartman's mom ("Now boys, play nice together") at handling the situation.

I suppose this should be on the Politics Board, but whatever....

Booze
 

Did you say something?

I'm thinking about entering some orienteering races this summer. Having had to figure out a new way to/from my office on a weekly and sometimes daily basis, I figure a race where they give a map and a compass should be pretty easy.

Booze
 

Nah, a much smaller town. You are dead-on about RI out-MAing MA. (It's pronounced "Ro Diland")

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
 

Earlier this morning, CNN had a clip posted on their site, but they wanted me to sign up for a trial run with a Real player to see it. If you already have one, maybe you can watch it without paying.

Monster House
 

Anyone see this show? It was hilarious. Brought to you by the folks from Monster Garage, we got to see a bunch a guys transform an ordinary house into a Theme House. The theme? Cars! The kitchen looked like a garage, with tool chest drawers and a pneumatic egg beater. The dining room table was a car hood. The kids room had a sofa made on the back of a Honda de Sol. Plus much, much more! Must See TV!

Booze
 

Just like saying "Lawn Guyland"--a dead giveaway for former Guylanders trying to masquerade as old Greenwich Lockjaw landed gentry.

What do you drink?
 

Hi back to you Mr. Pretty Little Flower! I'm a recently delurked lurker and you are the second nice person here today to welcome me!

Based on what I have seen at findlaw and here, I think that law.com article and reporter are full of crappola! What passes for content at findlaw looks to me like the inside of the holding tank of a Porta-potty!

ole!

Cantinflas

Apropos of socking,
 

it's been a long time since Penske's been around, eh?

"petty and childish"
 

We should all lobby our firms to make the switch from West to Lexis, if they have not already!

Unite GAs! there is strength in numbers!

ole!

Cantinflas

The revival of the crush list, June, '03
 

Who is Maude Lebowski? Goth writer?

ole!

Cantinflas

People are surprised
 

Let's see what surprises people about me.

My age. I still get carded yet I will be 31 soon. I got carded for a movie a year or so ago, and would get carded for cigarettes all the time. I don't think I look that young though. Someone told me I looked 25 the other day. I can believe that. Partially I think people think I am youg because of my next thing that surprises people.

My height. I don't know why, but people often think I am taller then I am. One day they'll see me reaching for something and say daamn...you ARE short. Like I wasn't short the last time you saw me? Duh.

That I do risky sports, rock climbing, kayaking, etc etc and am into nature stuff. My secretary looked at me when I told her I was going camping this weekend and said, "wait, you actually camp?" She was shocked.

I bet you were expecting me to say my orientation weren't you? Well I don't feel like it. :P

yesterday's article
 

Not only that, but I'm cancelling my fucking (ha, I swore!) subscription. I don't care if my firm is paying for it.

Booze
 

A Yankee-fan buddy o' mine was at Fenway rooting on his boys. Bernie Williams hits a home run in a big spot, and my friend turns around and yells "Y'all can go back to Revere. Head on back to Lynn now." (etc.) One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Reminds me of the time I was at a Boston big-firm summer event watching Pedro and Colon go at it for 9 innings. I had Colon in my Roti league that year. When Colon struck out Troy O'Leary with the bases loaded, I stood up in the bleachers and yelled "You can't hit that! You can't hit that BECAUSE YOU SUCK."

Of course, people might have assumed from that that I was just a frustrated BoSox fan.

Best part of that night was the recruiting coordinators sitting at either end of the section of Greedy Summer Associates with big wallets filled with 50s and 100s handing them out at will anytime someone got up to get something (or even just go to take a leak). Good times.

By the way, I'm still stunned that Troy O'Leary is black.

Misc. fashion stuff
 

The only reason for any self-respecting San Franciscan to go to Fisherman's Wharf is to watch the tourists shiver in summer. I also enjoy watching them pay for outrageously expensive and cheesy sweatshirts (Alcatraz Triathalon Team) as they attempt to stave off hypothermia.

Can any of you Bay Area folks tell me how the City feels about getting a Hooters franchise at the Wharf? That just seems silly.

Of course, all San Franciscans are still allowed to go to the Ghirardelli's ice cream parlor. I'm not a cruel man. Actually, I liked how San Francisco seems to isolate the tourists from the rest of the city.

yesterday's article
 

That would be me. I wasn't asking if he said it was an opinion piece, I was pretty sure he didn't. I was asserting that, if he said he edited the piece to reflect his personal feelings and conclusions about why GAs left rather than presenting the reasons reported to them by the principals (and then, if appropriate, investigating and presenting supporting or contradictory facts), then it in fact WAS an opinion piece rather than reporting. The snide inuendo was, of course, that any imbicile should know the difference, and that presenting editorial opinion as factual reporting (or using it as a basis for omitting any mention of a set of contradictory information) is somewhat, dare I say, whiffy.

What can I say - based on the non-statistically significant sampling of reporters I've known well, journalistic standards in the English speaking world have totally slid into the toilet over the last 15 years. And I think anyone expecting otherwise was just deluded in la-la land, or misled by the accident of being in a profession (law) that still thinks "ethics" means something that its practitioners have to live up to.

But it's hardly a world crisis; in fact, given the rather tattered reputation the fouth estate has these days, what with journalistic ethics being a widely cited oxymoron just behind military intelligence, I think it's a total non-event. I'm really just annoyed that it sounds like this guy was defensive enough about it that he got snitty with you.

yesterday's article
 

I'm thinking bbboy has infiltrated the american lawyer.

Apropos of socking,
 

Concentrate and ask again.

Ketchup? Where Ketchup?
 

what about the In-N-Out Burger?

not7yS

From the Oh pluhleze file
 

Never invite a cop to your party.

cop not a stripper

Come on. $11?


When a man in a police uniform showed up at a bachelorette party in southwest Gainesville over the weekend, guests assumed he was the entertainment.

It wasn't until Gainesville Police Officer Jamie Hope drove away with the bride-to-be in handcuffs that those in attendance realized not only that the man in blue would not be taking off his clothes, but that the guest-of-honor was under arrest.

"They didn't go so far as to try and grab him," said Gainesville Police Sgt. Keith Kameg.

But they were wondering when the performance would start.

"When he was taking her to his car, everyone thought he was the stripper and everyone said, 'OK, the warning has gone far enough. Are you going to start stripping?' " Kameg said.

Hope, 30, a married, six-year Gainesville Police veteran, arrested the 24-year-old woman on a warrant for violation of probation involving an almost 2-year-old open-container citation. She had failed to pay $11 in connection with the citation, resulting in the probation violation and a warrant, court records show. The woman's bond was later set at $11 and she was released.

yesterday's article
 

I'm thinking West has advertising in the american lawyer, but I'm sure that would be studiously ignored.

Anyhow, to pull the discussion back into abstraction, it appears to me that "journalistic ethics" such as they are are in flux, and are slowly shaking down to be much more like legal ethics: zealous advocacy for your client. Someone else will zealously advocate for the other side if it can pay; some half-assed web-blogger will advocate for a side that can't afford press junkets and color advertising, if he has time and finds out about it; and people seeking to impartially judge the truth of the matter will assume that everyone is artfully lying to them and producing biased shite and 9 times out of 10 they will need to sort out the facts from the advocacy all by themselves and come to a conclusion somewhere in between - or just side with whoever confirms their own bias.

That's sure as hell the way I consume the media these days. edited to add: there's no other explanation for the incredible incompetence of the New York Times, the complete inability of Fox and MSNBC to quit screaming long enough to even make a gesture at impartiality, the cretinous hack-jobs that pass for "intelligent" commentary at once respected journals like Harpers or the Atlantic. The only mystery is if or when the media will fess up to it, or continue to pretend to independence.

Shock the monkey, or I'm shocked to find gambling going on at this casino.
 

I can see that. But, uh...to say the least, I don't run into that specific reaction very often.

TM

Ketchup? Where Ketchup?
 

Barney's Gournet Burgers is still in SF, isn't it? The In-N-Out Burger is just such a SoCal institution. It seems wrong to have it in the City. Like having cable cars in LA. In High School, the cool kids would wear their In-N-Out t-shirts after a trip down south. The stoner/soccer players would wear those Mexican hooded poncho things if they went to Cancun (or had an older brother who did).

I prefer the Fatburger to the In-N-Out burger (especially because of the jukeboxes at Fatburger), but it would be cruel to thwart someone's craving for a double-double, so I suppose I'll make an exception.

Chadguay
 

Axis of Evil Wannabees, by John Cleese

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil", Libya,China and Syria today announced that they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil", which they said would be more evil than the Iran-Iraq-North
Korea axis President Bush warned of in his State of the Union address.

Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new Axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are just as evil . . . in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. "Everybody knows we're the best evils . . . best at being evil ... we're the best."

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. "They told
us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"An axis can't have more than three counties", explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II you
had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So, you can only have three, and a secret handshake. Ours is wickedly cool."

Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain
triumvirate status in what has become a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan and Serbia announced
that they had formed the "Axis of Somewhat Evil", forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar in the "Axis of Occasionally Evil", while Bulgaria,
Indonesia and Russia established the "Axis of Not So Much Evil Really as Just Generally Disagreeable".

With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the "Axis of
Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be
Asked to Host the Olympics". Canada, Mexico and Australia formed the "Axis of Nations That
Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Some Nasty
Thoughts About America", while Scotland,
New Zealand and Spain established the "Axis of Countries That Want Sheep to Wear Lipstick". "That's not a threat, really, just something we like to
do", said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.

While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he
rejected the establishment of the "Axis of Countries Whose Names End in 'Guay", accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the
charges.

Work sucks
 

Work totally sucks. There are days I wish I could do anything else. But off subject - here's something that made me laugh through the tears.
I am a time traveler
Excerpt..."Those of you who listened to my latest interview with Art on Coast to Coast AM on May 19/20 heard me discuss rumors being spread throughout the internet concerning whether or not I am a time traveler (chrononaut from the future). I stated several times on the air that I will neither confirm nor deny that rumor. Here are additional clues a to whether or not my origin is from the future.

If I am a time traveler, I most definitely would be from the 35th century when teleportation is developed as a means of time travel. Teleportation as a local means of transportation is established by the 25th century, as I discussed in my book Past Lives- Future Lives.

The 35th century is truly a golden age. More advance will be made technologically and spiritually in that century than in any other in history! The average age is between 500 and 900 years old due to an energy charging device called the alphasyncolarium that stimulates our adrenal glands and gonads to increase its production of the hormone DHEA. DHEA is a sex hormone that functions as a major component of our immune system and is described in detail in my book Look Younger, Live Longer."

There is space available...

time travelers I have met
:dance2:

He said gonads. heh heh heh.

Hooters
 

"Can any of you Bay Area folks tell me how the City feels about getting a Hooters franchise at the Wharf? That just seems silly."

There have been several articles in the Chron - http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/search/fas...d&word=hooters . Unsurprisingly, I have no problem with it.

What do you drink?
 

Like $9.00 a twelve-pack. I was kidding about the price being an issue -- I happen to like the taste. I have tried just about every beer out there (even did one of those MBA things in law school at the pub across the street and had to drink 60 different beers in 45 days or something like that) and I keep coming back to Bud. I'll have a Brador on occasion if I can get my hands on some. In the summer I like some Mike's Hard Lemonade. I suppose my choices indicate that if I had taken a wrong turn in life I would be perfect white trailer-trash right now. Who knows, maybe I am trash but just happen to have a lotta money.

Shock the monkey, or I'm shocked to find gambling going on at this casino.
 

Go figure.

I've gotten that one, and surprise that a lawyer would spend a whole flight reading Vogue and W (uh, 'cause the UCC is such good plane material).

I've also gotten "you're too nice to live here, you must be new in town" (I've lived in NYC off and on for nearly 15 years, but I admit, I am too nice for NYC).

I've gotten surprise about my height - people usually add about 4 inches. And shock about my weight - people usually subtract about 20 pounds. The two may be related.

I've gotten surprise about my hometown (apparently I don't emote "Patch-ville").

I've gotten surprise about my education (I do "sweet as sugar little unthreatening nice-girl you'd bring home to mama 'cause she'd make a fine wife" really well - this is an invaluable negotiation strategy).

I've gotten total shock about the subject I studied. (I have no clue why.)

I used to get surprise about my age (usually thought to be older). Apparently now I look about right (early 30s).

I always, always get surprise about the language I use after a couple drinks. I will just say anything.

Shock the monkey, or I'm shocked to find gambling going on at this casino.
 

I get this all the time - a guy in the elevator asked me what I do (in a non-hitting on, just making conversation type of way) and when I told him he said I didn't look old enough to be out of college yet. Might have been the casual dress and ponytail that did it that day, but I'm pretty sure I look my age. I went to pick up something from a (non-law related) city office and had told the person on the phone I was an attorney. When I got there (yes, in a suit) she asked "Where's your mama? - because you ain't old enough to be a lawyer" which cracked me up. What do you say to that?

I know I don't look mean either - some people are just intimidating even when they don't mean to be - I envy those people....If I want to intimidate someone I have to put a lot of effort into it.

-TL

Work sucks
 

I want his "Fifth Dimension Travel exercise or cassette tapes." They sound like a rockin good time.

yesterday's article
 

Think of it as market forces in action. The New York Times has a monopoly -- it is the paper of record, and no other paper in the country is going to spend the money it would take to compete with it. The Washington Post and LA Times and some others will compete on individual stories, but not on the overall package. So the NYT is going to be arrogant, which produces the recent sloppiness.

Fox and MSNBC are selling attitude, because it's cheap to have a point of view, cheaper then spending the money it would take to do solid reporting that's better than the other guy's.

The Atlantic hasn't been interesting in a while. I don't know why, because I haven't been reading it, except on long plane flights. I like Harper's, even if Lewis Lapham should leave that poor dead horse alone for a little while.

(We can decamp for the Politics Board with this stuff anytime.)

yesterday's article
 

Thanks, and sorry, I didn't understand you right but I do now. I felt it read like an opinion piece too, and was amused when he got, as you say, snitty with me for sharing my opinion on it. And no, it isn't a world crisis. Actually, kind of amusing, if a sad statement on the press. What do we expect. The New York Times cannot get it right, why would we expect a legal journal to do so.

Work Sucks
 

What is a travel exercise or cassette tape? Do you travel and exercise with them. And don't forget the "time traveler magnets" that no home should be without.

What do you drink?
 

I know it probably didn't take a lot of effort but hell I was touched that you did that. I mean that too -- absolutely no sarcasm. I guess that means I don't get nearly enough protein. I like really sharp cheddar cheese (once I get past the milk thing) so maybe I should eat more of that to get some protein. This is definitely something that I will look into because I am getting older and more worried about things like this.

Thanks
:kisscheek

What do you drink?
 

Try beans, also.

Ketchup? Where Ketchup?
 

Amen. That's why I scrupulously avoid the In-N-Outs in Northern California, and only patronize the Mountain View and Gilroy locations.

There is a rumor going 'round that the only empty lot within five miles of my house is going to be an In-N-Out/Krispy Kreme combo (which is how they build them up here nowadays). This will test my resolve. Within three weeks I'll look like John Goodman swallowed Taxwonk.

Misc. fashion stuff
 

I only go because the run from Chrissy Field to PacBell Park is great exercise. It's like your own obstacle course every day from Aquatic Park to Pier 31 or so, hurdling tired tourists, boxing out the peddlers on the sidewalk and skirting the "angst-filled" skateboarders who can't even learn to ollie a 6" curb.

As for Hooters, don't really care. Most residents of the City never really spend time at the Wharf, so we won't see it. It will bring in revenue from the tourists and San Rafaelians. We have bigger problems to bitch about here, including the Interim Chief of Police, Willie Brown STILL being in office, the looming fights over care for the homeless, and taking down the Fell St. offramp from the 101.

C(and dodging the Bachelors as they struggle to stretch their 15 minutes)deuced

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher?
 

Is he smokin crack?
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are going public with their romance — sort of. The 41-year-old “Charlie’s Angels” star and the 25-year-old “Dude, Where’s My Car” hottie — who have been coy about whether they’re indeed an item — stunned partygoers with their heavy petting at Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ post-MTV Movie Awards bash over the weekend. “THERE WERE a lot of famous faces there, but everyone kept staring at Demi and Ashton,” says our eyewitness. “They were all over each other the entire night. It was embarrassing!”
Among the other guests at the Beverly Hills soirée, where Combs played D.J., were Michael Jackson, Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, Josh Hartnett and Beyoncé Knowles.
Spokesmen for the stars weren’t available for comment.