You have to be kidding me! Vladimir Putin is Time magazine's man of the year? What is wrong with the f***ed up liberal meda? Even Al Gore would have been a better choice. And the quote they gave is "For bringing stability and renewed status to his country". Well, they're right, martial law and dictatorship do bring stability. Here's a man who's imprisioned political opponents and not to mention the suspicious murders. And he's now trying to destabilize the world with the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran.
Oh wait, didn't Time also name Hitler "Man of the Year"?
Way to go Time Magazine, excellent choice.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I Am So Sick!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Statutory Rape: Jamie Lynn Spears is Pregnant
People Magazine is reporting that Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney's younger sister) is three months pregnant. Apparently the lucky guy (or not-so-lucky, see below) is named Casey Aldridge, seen in the photo above. The shocking part comes from the fact that Jamie Lynn is only 16 years old. According to "reliable" sources, he is 19 years old. As a law student, I'm a bit more interested in the legal consequences of this story rather than what brand of stroller she'll be buying for her new bundle of joy. My question is, what is the District Attorney going to do about this? I've looked up the statutory rape laws, and here's what they say:
State: Louisiana
Law:
§ 14-80 - Felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile is sexual intercourse with consent between (1) someone age 19 or older and someone between age 12 and 17 or (2) someone age 17 or older and someone between age 12 and 15.
Penalty: Up to 10 years in prison (with or without hard labor)
Law:
§ 14. 80. 1 Misdemeanor carnal knowledge of a juvenile is sexual intercourse with consent between someone age 17 to 19 and someone age 15 to 17 when the difference in their ages is greater than two years.
Penalty: Up to six months in prison
Instead of trying to wrap your mind around the legal language, I'll just tell you up front that little Casey Aldridge falls in the first category. That's the one with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, bunking with guys named Santiago who like to call you "fish." And the whole time you're just hoping that you'll get protection from a guy who calls himself the "Squirrel Master."
The funny thing is, even if the sex was consensual between Jamie Lynn and little Casey, he can still be charged with statutory rape. It also doesn't matter if the parents are ok with it. The final decision is up to the District Attorney. My guess is, the D.A. probably won't prosecute because little Casey is white, looks like he fell out of an Abercrombie catalogue, and he probably comes from money. As my parole officer always says, "don't have sex with girls who are under 18." He's not very witty, that guy.
Disclaimer: Although I am a law student, this article is not meant in any way to be legal advice and in no way does it establish any attorney-client relationship. You should never take legal advice from a law student, although I'm pretty sure that "don't have sex with underage girls" is sound advice.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Ugly Woman Gropes Santa
I ran across this story today on the Drudge Report and I had to laugh. A woman was arrested and charged with sexual assault for groping a man dressed up as Santa. What I couldn't figure out is why Santa decided to call the police on this woman. You'd think that every Santa's dream would be to have a woman grope him on the job. I can't think of any other benefit to that job. It's kinda like when the UPS guy gets to deliver Victoria's Secret packages to hot women.
The woman that groped Santa must have been pretty nasty lookin' because that's the only way Santa would ever report it. Unfortunately, there's no mug shot of this lady just yet.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Arrested Development's Will Arnett will be the new KITT, Hasselhoff squeels with glee!
Will Arnett has been cast as the new voice of KITT (as shown by the pic above) in the big screen rendition of Knight Rider. As you know by now, I have a deep and enduring love of Will Arnett and all things Arrested Development. I also have an affection for David Hasselhoff (he asked me to call him "Hoffy"). Although "Hoffy" will not be the star of the new Knight Rider, he will still be a "Special Guest Star." With that much awesomeness in one movie, I've already started packing up my tent and my sleeping bag so I can be first in line for tickets...
Senator Mitchell Releases Steroid Probe Report
Today, Senator George Mitchell released the results of a senate probe into steriod use in baseball. You can argue all you want about whether the Senate should be wasting time on this issue when a law student like me can't even freakin get affordable health insurance. But whatever, I wasn't surprised by many of the names on the list. It seems as though many of them have been implicated in the past, especially that big baggy of douche, Barry Bonds.
If you're interested, here is the list:
And if you're interested in the potential negative side effects of taking steroids, see the chart below. My personal favorite is the "shrinkage of the testicles."
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The Future of Movies
Ok, I'm not a technology wiz but I don't think it takes one to know that one day the DVD will be reminisced much like the VCR is today.
About 3 years ago I had a conversation with a couple investors who swore that even though you can rent DVD's online easily through Netflix, Blockbuster was the better investment because there would always be a need for a brick and mortor movie business and therefore they had the stronger competitive advantage. I was then shot down when i said that although that may be true the demand for a brick and mortor movie business would shrink and therefore Blockbuster was not a good investment. By the way, how many of you have seen your neighborhood Blockbuster shut down? I've seen 3.
The way I see it is that the movie business is actually in the technology business. The DVD will become obsolete and so will any physical form of a movie. I can already download and order a variety of movies directly to my TV whenever I want. Well it took awhile for Blockbuster to realize that they're actually in the technology business and not just in the movie rental business. I read today their most recent move to save their skin.
"In an experiment that tests consumer appetite for online movies, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures movie, "Jackass 2.5," is skipping traditional theatrical release in favor of online distribution.
The movie, from Paramount and MTV New Media, is the second sequel in a franchise based on the MTV program that features violent, often stomach-churning stunts. On Dec. 19, "Jackass 2.5" will be available exclusively on Blockbuster's Web site for free streaming, meaning viewers can watch but not keep the movie. Starting Dec. 26, the movie will be available for purchase on DVD at all major DVD retailers, but for rentals the DVD will be available only at Blockbuster.
The move comes as the studios explore new media in the face of lackluster revenue in traditional outlets. Box-office sales are down about 7% for the holiday season beginning Nov. 2, according to Media by Numbers LLC. DVD sales are down for the year, dropping 1% so far in the fourth quarter, according to Nielsen VideoScan.
If Paramount can show this tactic brings in revenue, it could become a template for movies aimed at young, Internet-savvy viewers.
The movie was planned as a digital release from the start. "When you think about what people generally consume online it's fairly low-end user-generated content, yet there are hundreds of millions of people online watching video every day," says Tom Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment.
Starting Dec. 26, it will also become available for sale online at other outlets like Apple Inc.'s iTunes. From Jan. 1, downloadable rentals of the movie will be available exclusively at Movielink, which Blockbuster bought earlier this year."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Who's to blame for the Credit Crisis?
In an attempt to save himself from being blasted in history books for causing the recent credit crisis Greenspan has written an article titled "The Roots of the Mortgage Crisis" in today's WSJ.
"After more than a half-century observing numerous price bubbles evolve and deflate, I have reluctantly concluded that bubbles cannot be safely defused by monetary policy or other policy initiatives before the speculative fever breaks on its own. There was clearly little the world's central banks could do to temper this most recent surge in human euphoria, in some ways reminiscent of the Dutch Tulip craze of the 17th century and South Sea Bubble of the 18th century.
I do not doubt that a low U.S. federal-funds rate is response to the dot-com crash, and especially the 1% rate set in mid-2003 to counter potential deflation, lowered interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and may have contributed to the rise in U.S. home prices. In my judgment, however, the impact on demand for homes financed with ARMs was not major.
The current credit crisis will come to an end when the overhang of inventories of newly built homes is largely liquidated, and home price deflation comes to an end. That will stabilize the now-uncertain value of the home equity that acts as a buffer for all home mortgages, but most importantly for those held as collateral for residential mortgage-backed securities. Very large losses will, no doubt, be taken as a consequence of the crisis. But after a period of protracted adjustment, the U.S. economy, and the world economy more generally, will be able to get back to business."
Here's my take. Although Greenspan and the Fed should have seen it coming and could have taken measures to prevent it (such as not lowering interest rates to ridiculous levels and raising rates sooner and regulating mortgage brokers, lenders, and I-Bankers), I don't hold him fully responsible. I put the blame on the irresponsible borrowers, the money hungry mortgage brokers, and the naive investors who allowed these loans to be underwritten, the exact group who should be losing their hats in this whole ordeal. Instead, the whole group has figured out a way to create a work out program for about 1mm of these borrowers to have their mortgage interest rate frozen. Great, so the intelligent, responsible, conservative home owners like me who got fixed rate mortgages and didn't buy houses we couldn't afford don't get any reward while the less responsible home owners who stretched themselves as thin as possible get a huge break? I predict that history will repeat itself and we'll end up back in the same situation. Why? Because these people have learned that no matter what stupid decision they make the government will always bail them out.
iPod Killer? The 32gb Creative Zen
Everybody knows about the iPod. It’s been around forever and everybody has one. My mother, who waited until the 21st century to convert her music collection to CDs will be receiving an iPod for Christmas. In fact, iPods are so common that I found one in my box of Lucky Charms the other day. Anyway, you get the point.
I understand why iPods are so popular. They’re small and good-looking and Apple advertises exhaustively. Apple also has its music world wrapped up so tightly that once you go Apple, it’s hard to go back. It is for these reasons that I do not own an iPod and I probably never will. XM satellite radio has filled my music needs for the past year and the XM device I own has served adequately as my mp3 player. However, this year (or early next year) I will be making another plunge into the digital audio player (DAP) market.
There is a reason why I have waited so long to purchase my next mp3 player. I have known for over a year now that flash memory would be the future of handheld devices. Until now, manufacturers have been unable to produce media players with larger capacities of flash memories in a cost effective way. I believe that 30 gigabytes of flash memory is the sweet spot for the media player market. And just recently, Creative announced that it would begin selling its Creative Zen in capacities of up to 32 gigabytes. Creative has said that the 32gb player wouldn’t be released until first quarter of 2008. What I’m hoping is that Creative will start selling it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January. If that is the case, I will probably blow a big wad of cash on it. Other advantages of the Creative Zen include its relatively large screen for its small size, and its SD card expansion slot which would allow one to increase the player’s capacity to more than 40gb. It also supports more audio and video formats than the iPod.
I know most people think that the new Microsoft Zune is the best challenger to the iPod, and that may be true with the amount of money that Microsoft is willing to sink into promoting its product. However, I still feel that the Creative Zen is the best bet for me.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Arrested Development, the Movie?
In my opinion, Arrested Development, will go down as the best comedy series of the 21st century to get canceled after 3 and ½ seasons. In all seriousness, I was completely dejected when FOX decided to pull the plug on AD and the last episode was aired on February 10, 2006. For those of you who have never heard of Arrested Development, or just haven’t seen an episode, I suggest that you rent the rent the first season at your local Blockbuster or add it to your Netflix cue. Make sure that you watch a few episodes before you make a judgment because the show builds on each episode in a way that is unheard of in today’s one-and-done stock sitcom formulas. Now that I have made my recommendation, I’ll turn to the reason for this post.
I like to keep up on my Arrested Development news (as scarce as it is), and I found this blog post on the possibility of an AD movie. The blog provides 5 suggestions for a possible AD movie plot, some of them funnier than others. This brought up some serious questions in my mind about whether or not I would even want an Arrested Development movie to be made. Although I am one of the most intense AD supporters out there (I signed my fair share of petitions to keep Fox from canceling), I will be the first to admit that the show was struggling during its third and final season. I always feared that the quality would diminish, due to the complex and witty nature of the humor that needed to be sustained. I would fear that if a movie were made, it wouldn’t be of the same quality that the show was known for and which earned it critical praise and some prestigious awards.
There are other reasons that I don’t feel that an Arrested Development should be made (although I will also admit that if they make it, I will go see it). First, all of the loose ends were tied up in the final episode. To make a movie would have no purpose in continuing any of the storylines, so they would just be making a movie for the sake of making a movie. And finally, when has a movie that was based on a sitcom ever been good? I dare you to name one. If you can, I will crap my pants and jump out of my fifth-floor window, naked. I don’t want a movie to tarnish the image that Arrested Development has created.
So tell me, do you think that an Arrested Development movie should be made?
I like to keep up on my Arrested Development news (as scarce as it is), and I found this blog post on the possibility of an AD movie. The blog provides 5 suggestions for a possible AD movie plot, some of them funnier than others. This brought up some serious questions in my mind about whether or not I would even want an Arrested Development movie to be made. Although I am one of the most intense AD supporters out there (I signed my fair share of petitions to keep Fox from canceling), I will be the first to admit that the show was struggling during its third and final season. I always feared that the quality would diminish, due to the complex and witty nature of the humor that needed to be sustained. I would fear that if a movie were made, it wouldn’t be of the same quality that the show was known for and which earned it critical praise and some prestigious awards.
There are other reasons that I don’t feel that an Arrested Development should be made (although I will also admit that if they make it, I will go see it). First, all of the loose ends were tied up in the final episode. To make a movie would have no purpose in continuing any of the storylines, so they would just be making a movie for the sake of making a movie. And finally, when has a movie that was based on a sitcom ever been good? I dare you to name one. If you can, I will crap my pants and jump out of my fifth-floor window, naked. I don’t want a movie to tarnish the image that Arrested Development has created.
So tell me, do you think that an Arrested Development movie should be made?
After you leave your comments, make sure you check out this classic video of Will Arnett (GOB on Arrested Development) playing the air guitar on Conan:
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Zero House
The other night as I was "stumbling" (word used for when using StumbleUpon in Firefox). For those that don't know what it is, I highly recommend it when you really feel like doing nothing and being surprised at the same time. http://www.stumbleupon.com/--you will be hooked once you start. It is really cool cause you can find some really cool pages on some interesting topics. Anyways back to my story, one of my topics that I selected was architecture and design. Check out this cool house and the features it has for being 100% sustainable. I have no idea how much it costs, but I can imagine it is pretty expensive. That is all.
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Listening to: Box Car Racer - Watch The World
via FoxyTunes
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Tip of the Day: Within Your Means
I hate it when I decide to do a "____ of the Day" because it never seems like I can come up with enough of anything to do it once a day. But that phrase seems so catchy and easy to use that I'm going to throw it up there anyway.
I also have to admit that I didn't find this on my own. Who really has time to scour the internet in search of cool stuff to post on their blogs? I found this tip on Lifehacker, which is a cool website if your ever looking for a way to improve your life with such methods as folding a t-shirt in 2 seconds, or sending emails from fake email addresses.
Enough of the small talk. I've been looking for a good spreadsheet to manage my finances for a while, and I pretty much found the most bitchinest finance spreadsheet on the planet. It's called "Within Your Means," and it's actually a workbook that can be opened in Excel. It comes with handy tips and advice for ensuring that your financial future is secure. What I like the most about it, however, is that it includes planning for items that break down over time (like a car or a computer) and helps you plan for these (usually unexpected) costs.
Although it wasn't as useful for my current situation (law student with negative cash flow. Is it bad when "Total Income" has a minus sign and is highlighted in red?), those of you with a steady salary should definitely click the link below and give it a try.
Within Your Means
Disclaimer: Although this post was written by a law student, it is in no way meant to contain legal advice. In fact, you should never take legal advice from a law student. That's what real lawyers are for. That is all...
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