After 14 years, perhaps I sorted myself incorrectly..

As anyone who knows me well is more than fully aware, I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. Usually it’s in pretty good remission (and hidden by my other obsessions, i.e. Star Wars, baseball, student government, politics, etc.), but every once in a while (and especially when a new film’s release is pending) it comes out again and I get nice and caught up in the wonderful world that J.K. Rowling has created with her bad, adolescent writing.

Fourteen years ago, when my mother walked into our hotel room and handed me a book with an off-putting-ly long title, I never suspected that I could (let alone would) have the kind of love for the world within that I do.

And, being the ten year-old boy that I was, I did everything I could to immerse myself in the world that I could never truly visit.

What if… (My proposal for a redesigned NCAA/BCS)

Around the middle of this past June, college football saw a rather interesting shake up surrounding the transfer of schools between conferences. Having grown up in Southern California as a USC fan, I have a certain affinity for the Pac-10. So, it came as a surprise (a rather exciting surprise) that it seemed imminent for Texas and half of the rather successful Big XII to be joining the conference.

My mind went wild with thoughts of how the Pac-16 would be THE premier athletic conference in the country, with a legitimate chance to sweep well over a majority of all intercollegiate sports. And then that fell through, the Texas and Oklahoma schools remained in the Big XII, and the Pac-16 fell to the Pac-12 with the inclusion of Utah and Colorado. The disappointment was strong, but a thought had come to me while I fantasized about a USC v. Texas conference championship game: super conferences.

As the idea of even larger conferences grew in my brain, so did the very real possibility of a professional sports style setting for the regular season and postseason. And that eventually grew into what I’ve proposed below.

“SO I’m reading Star Wars novels again..” “Well, there’s that.”

Yeah.. I bought another Star Wars novel. Unless you know me, you don’t really understand this, but it’s been a LONG TIME since I last bought one. Allow me to explain.

New Year’s Resolutions

As this is the beginning of a new school year, it only seems to make sense that I have some resolutions, no? Here goes — let’s see if I actually keep any.

1. I’m going to do my best to sit in the center of the back row of every class. I fully believe in the “T theory.”
2. I’m going to go to the gym every week at least twice (if not three times).
3. I’m going to post on this blog at least once a week.
4. I’m going to stay away from Facebook games as much as possible.
5. I’m going to try and actually like coffee this year.
6. I’m going to eat as little fast food as possible.
7. I’m going to try and force myself to have a Texas accent. Don’t ask me why — I know I’m insane.
8. I’m going to bring my own lunch as often as possible. (This would be more awesome if someone gets me a super cool plastic or aluminum lunch pail.)
9. I’m NOT going to “google brief.”
10. I’m going to go to as many law school events as possible (but only the ones that actually interest me).
11. I’m going to try and wear as few t-shirts (and as many collared shirts) as possible to school.
12. #imgoingtomakeupasmanyrandomandrunonhashtagsaspossible

Auld Lang Syne

So the new year has started here at Chapman Law. The 3Ls already look like they’re stressed out about the bar, and the 1Ls all look terrified of what’s to come. Which leaves us 2Ls to walk around like we own the place, and I gotta tell you — it feels good to do so. Gone is the worried look of many of my classmates, instead replaced with a confidence in their ability both in and out of the classroom.

It’s going to be a good year.

So, as I sit here preparing to take in my third class of the semester (Evidence — I had Federal Income Tax and Remedies yesterday), I have some musings on the first day of classes:

• The 1Ls truly do look a bit terrified. Did I look like that last year? Also, it may just be me, but they don’t seem as up to par as last year — but that might just be a product of being spoiled by my awesome super smart track from last year.
• Fed Tax is the first class I’ve had here that isn’t stadium/Greek bowl seating. It’s actually kind of weird having to look around people’s heads to see the professor and the white boards.
• I’d hoped that my attention span in class would last longer than it did. I was wrong. I found myself falling back into a bunch of old habits, but I’m going to do my best to keep the worst of them out of the classroom.
• My Remedies prof seems to be a cross between my Property and Torts professors from last year, with a slightly less fun sense of humor. But it’s dry, so I’m sure that I’ll deal. And a good amount of that class seems to be 3Ls, which I would hope bodes good for me as they start to get a bit of the law school equivalent of “senioritis.” Then again, there’s a large contingent of 2Ls from my track from last year, so I might still be screwed.

Beyond that, I don’t really have much to say. I had an idea over the weekend for a really good fake brief/law review article, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. If I remember, I’m sure it’ll end up here.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

Inception Explanation — Rebutted (for Matt Barkley .. also, spoiler alert)

*INCEPTION SPOILERS FOLLOW — BEWARE*

Okay, so I went to the doctor’s office today and I was reading twitter in the waiting room. (Big surprise, I know.) And USC QB Matt Barkley had posted a link to a blog post by Adam White entitled “Inception Explained.” Now, I’ve seen a lot of explanation posts in the past (for films and tv shows — Lost, for example) and I tend to be rather skeptical of them because “fanboys” tend to give a lot of extra meaning to things that weren’t meant to have that meaning.

Now, I can hear some of you out there saying, “Well, art should be considered in the eye of the beholder” and blah blah blah. Yes, I agree, most of our intellectual and emotional connection to art are based especially off of our own connections and meanings that we give to art, whether it be film or sculpture or music or anything else. BUT (and this is a big but) there is a limit to which you can over-analyze that art.

To describe the World Cup..

Moritz Resl and The Daily What proudly bring us the “Poster Design of the Day“.

So you understand what you’re seeing, this is all the competing nations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup arranged into the form of a vuvuzela. You think it accurately depicts this particular international tournament?

Vladimir Putin: As badass as Iron Man

This photo

makes me think of this

Just thought you’d like to know.

TED: Ken Robinson & creativity

So I’ve spent some time the last few days looking through the TED talks. For those of you who are unaware, TED is a conference that basically the best and brightest of the world speaking for about twenty minutes to (as JJ Abrams was told) say something profound. They include Al Gore on climate change, The LXD on dance in the internet age, and the aforementioned critically acclaimed director and producer on mystery.

So I’ve been watching, and they’ve been making me think. I’m going to take this chance to share some of the more profound examples of TED with you, and perhaps some of my own thoughts on those matters as well.

Lost explained?

So, I was never really a fan of Lost. I watched the first few episodes and got hooked, but school and a lack of a good television in the dorms got in the way. Follow that by a lackluster second season and I basically gave up on the show. But the finale came up last week, and I decided (with the urging of two of my favorite brothers) to join in and get caught up before the finale. I suppose I’d always known that the show had the potential, but I wasn’t sure that it was able to execute.

So I did what every self-respecting person who had just finished the hell that was law school finals would do: I watched all six seasons in ten days.