Category: Brooklyn

And, last but not least least, a more or less relevant link (relevant to the lawyers out there): The ABA e-Journal had the latest humor column from Sean Carter, wherein he notes his concerns about law firms’ attempts to get new business. I present parts of it for laughs to start the week:

[….] For the most part, law firms subscribed to the Field of Dreams theory of business development–if you a build a law firm, clients will come.

Well, in typical lawyer fashion, it’s only taken about two centuries for us to realize that this strategy is about as reliable as the 9th Circuit, and just as often wrong. As a result, in the past few years, law firms of all sizes have become more proactive in their marketing efforts. While marketing was once the exclusive domain of personal injury lawyers, attorneys in all areas of the law are beginning to realize that all little “piggies” must eventually go to market.

Interestingly, while lawyers have been slow to embrace this reality, I suspect that we will quickly make up for lost time. In fact, if we’re not careful, we’re bound to become a little overzealous. Obviously, this wouldn’t be good for a profession whose members are currently regarded just above head lice in terms of popularity. (Sadly, head lice have us beat in terms of affordability.)

We lawyers aren’t known for our creativity. By nature and training, we seek precedent. Therefore, I fear some law firms will begin to air knockoffs of famous commercials from the past.

I shudder at the possibility. Will I turn on my television one day to see a little old lady standing at a counter, yelling, “Where’s the brief? Where’s the brief?” Or perhaps, even worse, we’ll see one law firm touting its associates as the lawyers “that just keep going and going and going …”

[….]

Of course, no media campaign would be complete without newspaper advertising. A simple quarter-page ad reading “Integrity. Excellence. Service.” would be great. Yet, I already suspect that soon enough, lawyers will want to get more bang for the advertising buck. Therefore, before long, we’ll start to see law ads in the sports section featuring scantily-clad women with captions that read, “For a hot IPO, call Jackie and her friends at Forrest, Gump and Jennings.”

[….]

OK, OK! Perhaps I’ve taken this a little too far. Except for collections attorneys, none of us would stoop that low. Yet, the point still remains that we should all strive to conduct our marketing efforts with the utmost dignity and class. After all, to borrow a phrase from the classic Right Guard commercials of the 1980s, “Anything else would be uncivilized.”

Uh huh, sure Mr. Carter. ;-D He’s not the same as the ABA Journal’s The Rodent, but Mr. Carter is nicely funny.

Take a moment to reflect on D-Day and the passing of former President Ronald Reagan.

Update: dentist visit took long; cavities filled; dentist giving his tips. Dentist does Sundays because he’s the Chinatown sort who’d be open. (got to love the Chinatown sort, especially when they have suitable American education and training).

More update: Smarty Jones, that Philadelphia horse who didn’t win the Triple Crown after all, is promoted in the NY tabloids as “Smarty Pooper.” Yeah, wit isn’t the greatest strengths of newspaper headlines anymore. But, I suppose congrats goes to the horse Birdstone for being a spoiler.

Flipping through the NY Times wedding sections (I just do that once in awhile in case someone from my alma maters is in there or in case the little blurb has some interesting social implications reflecting modern society), I came across this fascinating wedding announcement. Folks who have done bar review will know what I mean. (not sure if it counts as public info, so I won’t directly refer to the personnages mentioned in this article; what say you, ladies and gentlemen attorneys?).

A link I’ve been meaning to include: StarTrek.com had the latest e-chat with Scott Bakula, actor portraying Capt. Archer on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” The most amusing interlude:

simon c: Is Scott Bakula your real name or is that one of those really cool made up stage names?

SB: My real name is Denny Crane. [The name of William Shatner’s character on “The Practice” and its impending spinoff. ]

;-D Hehehe, Scott Bakula, a.k.a. the ex-Sam Beckett of the series “Quantum Leap,” has a sense of humor (and watches tv!!!).

Tony awards tonight: I watched most of it. Very interesting. “Avenue Q” won best musical – looked like a lot of fun. Was amazed that “I am My Own Wife” won the big awards – it’s a show that pushed boundaries, particularly when its male star played all the roles, including that of an East German transvestite. Ah, and Hugh Jackman, the award show host/star and winner for “The Boy from Oz.” Uh hmm. Jackman’s attractive and a great singer and dancer. May America appreciate its stage traditions again; I’m sorely tempted to see the shows now after having watched the Tony show. Congratulations to the winners.

Been behind on Slate.com articles. But, note the fascinating article analyzing David Letterman. Slate associate editor Bryan Curtis concludes that Letterman has gone soft and becoming Leno-like. I can’t quite agree with Curtis; I don’t know if it’s correct to say that Letterman’s Leno-like, but he has softened around the edges. I also don’t quite like the increasingly obvious promote-my-latest-project stuff of the celebrity appearances on Letterman’s show, but it’s not like his guests have never done that before his surgeries and his current domestic life. I still prefer Letterman’s interviewing over Leno (when Letterman’s interested in his guests, there’s a real sense of conversation and sincerity in the guest and in Letterman).

Enjoy the week…

For the members, check out the people on this page at Handong Law School. Anyone look familiar?

Hong Kong Crowds Mark Tiananmen Square Killings (New York Times)

1989: I remember cutting out on my college summer job to read all of the news magazines emblazoned with that emblematic man in front of a tank photo. I felt that I needed to know a lot more.

1995: At a roundtable discussion at a study abroad at Hong Kong University, I got a snooty fatherly lecture from Alan Lee essentially saying that we had no business poking around Hong Kong politics, and that they knew better. Well, of course they would know better, but I thought the whole point of a study abroad was to go somewhere and find out more about the place. Martin Lee, by being far more pessimistic about the Basic Law, was far more supportive.

1997: Graduation from law school was on 6/4. Some East Asian professor from Columbia was the honorary degree recipient; never directly mentioned the significance of the day. Very curious.

2004: Fifteen years later, a cycle curves back onto itself much like the Chinese zodiac. Some people were threatened, many were scared, some became more wealthy and powerful, many became emboldened. No one can deny that many people were killed, and it is up to some to make sure that it is not repeated.

Instant Results (valid for 30 days)

I participate occasionally in the Harris e-surveys. A friend of mine who is in the polling business doesn’t think that they are fair polls, because the participants are self-selected, and tend to attract better educated middle to upper-class people who are computer-savvy. That’s probably right, but I suppose that if they need results in a week, and that is the demographic that the client is looking for, I think for what it’s worth, it’s valid.

As for my partipation, I think that if I’m representing 121,494 people (U.S. population estimate of 293,407,909 divided by 2,415 — some random number quoted in one of their poll results that provides results within +/- 2% for the U.S. population), I might at well pick stuff that I like and further the APA cause. For example, I just took a bank survey, the results of which are quoted above. But the kinds of questions asked actually bring up interesting ones. Banks should be more involved in the community and charity. Yes, I actually would be upset if my customer support is outsourced overseas. I actually care if they can communicate in Asian languages even though I barely can. Well, at least I’m glad that they’re asking.

In other instant gratification, I’m munching on furikake, which is Japanese rice seasoning. Apparently the essential ingredients are seaweed strips, dried bonito flakes, and sesame seads. Often, dried fried eggs or dried fish roe are also added. While it’s supposed to be sprinkled over steamed rice, I’ve — for a lack of anything else to eat — have been munching on the furikake as if they were micro-chips. Recommended, although my sodium levels are probably off the charts.

One has to wonder if putting in new stuff in the blog but not actually writing counts as being “obsesed by blogging”.

Two new things:
1. You’re in control of where you are! Just select the correct category on your post, and the “Writing From” indicator in the upper right corner will update automatically!

2. To answer YC’s questions,
writers are on the same level, and so, yes there is nothing really stopping you from doing edits on each other’s writing. Hopefully you’ll exercise restraint.

Post Slug is meant to contain search terms. This was for backward compatability for those migrating from the Movable Type blogging system. You can pretty much leave it alone. FYI, “slug” is a printing term:

slug ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slg)
n.

5. Printing.
1. A strip of type metal, less than type-high and thicker than a lead, used for spacing.
2. A line of cast type in a single strip of metal.
3. A compositor’s type line of identifying marks or instructions, inserted temporarily in copy.

Definition #5 part 3 is the one that we are interested in. Nowadays, a “slug” in newspaper talk is the nickname for that article that would fit on lists and schedules.

Wednesday night – a rerun of the Jay Leno hanging out with the “Friends” post-series finale. Like, this just happened three weeks ago, and they’re already rerunning it? Eh?

A curiously interesting op-ed from NY Times’ William Safire – he’s advocating the end to the U.S. penny, because no one uses it, everyone loses it, and it’s useless. He says it’s only being continued because:

The answer, I think, has to do with zinc, which is what pennies are mostly made of; light copper plating turns them into red cents. The powerful, outsourcing zinc lobby — financed by Canadian mines as well as Alaskan — entices front groups to whip up a frenzy of save-the-penny mail to Congress when coin reform is proposed.

But when the penny is abolished, the nickel will boom. And what is a nickel made of? No, not the metallic element nickel; our 5-cent coin is mainly composed of copper. And where is most of America’s copper mined? Arizona. If Senator John McCain would get off President Bush’s back long enough to serve the economic interests of his Arizona constituents, we’d get some long-overdue coin reform.

What about Lincoln, who has had a century-long run on the penny? He’s still honored on the $5 bill, and will be as long as the dollar sign remains above the 4 on keyboards. If this threatens coin reformers with the loss of Illinois votes, put Abe on the dime and bump F.D.R.

Umm. Okay. Sure, Mr. Safire. Let’s see the penny really come to an end and go the way of the Indian-head coin.

Well, this was an interesting article in the NY Times on Ken Griffey, Jr., getting there as a star baseball player in his hometown team, Cincinnati Reds. One gets a flavor of his lavish lifestyle, frustrations with the slumps and injuries, and enjoyment at coming back (although he says he was never gone – understandably so – but he sort of was gone). Interesting…

All the stories in the news about the race horse Smarty Jones – it’s about to be horsey time in the NY area at Belmont Park on Saturday; will there be a Triple Crown??? Haven’t we had this story last year? Hmm. A Triple Crown remains to be seen.

What is not a rerun? – check out the strange Six Flags ads – Weird, Frail, Bald Old (WFBO) Man; family quibbling over when to spend quality time together; and then, cue the music; and WFBO Man is surprisingly able and energetic, dancing his way to lead everyone to Six Flags (Great Adventure in the East Coast USA). I got curious to figure out the music and went on-line – it’s “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys. Ah. Knew it was too familiar. As the link above notes:

The surprisingly spry, bald-headed character featured in the television spots travels in a colorful retro style bus bringing his signature music – “We Like to Party” by the Vengaboys – and an irresistible invitation to leave the boredom, stress and pressures of everyday life behind, to families across America. He quickly has Dad dropping the rake, Mom putting down the garden hose, and Junior abandoning the lawn mower in an easy decision to take the short trip to Six Flags and a day filled with sheer enjoyment.

Okay. Yes, the music is great and catchy. But, I just think that WFBO Man looks a little scary. I can’t tell if he is actually WFBO or an actor with pretty good prosthetic make up. Anyway, check out the Six Flags website for the latest commercial. So goes life…

I saw a rainbow today… so did half of Brooklyn. After the miserable rains of the day, the bow arched over the Brooklyn House of Detention, joining Smith Street and Jay Street. You don’t see that happen every day. Pot of gold, anyone?

The weekend was quiet; for the photos of the Sunday wedding featured on today’s banner, look here.

Midnight riding the bus, billy joel playing. Wonder where this message leads.

Uh hmm. Finished reading Entertainment Weekly – pretty good issue. I want so much to dislike anything about the new movie, “Day After Tomorrow” (anything depicting the destruction of my hometown has earned my ire of late the last couple of years), but there’s enough reporting that “Day After Tomorrow” is more cheese and camp than any attempt at Serious Moral Story ™ (I’m weary of listening to the director telling news folks that he’s hoping the movie would make us think more about global warming – there are other ways to do that than with a cheesy movie). I loved this odd paragraph in Entertainment Weekly’s article on “Day After Tomorrow”; writer Gillian Flynn notes:

[T]he film demands not just killer tornadoes and instafreeze hurricanes, not just a storm swell that swallows much of Manhattan, but [a] freighter busting down Fifth Avenue in the wake of a wave the size of the Statue of Liberty. And wolves – did we mention wolves? Their furry animatronic heads loll on a lunch table nearby for a scene in which Sam [played by actor Jake Gyllenhaal], after scrounging food and medicine from the ship, must outrun the pack back to his [NY Public Library] safe house.

Hehehe. Wolves. Hell, I didn’t even knew there were wolves in the five boroughs. Anyway, what is with this movie? If someone sees it, let me know – in the meantime, I’ll watch other stuff. I mean, I like cheesy movies as much as anyone, but disaster movies that are Really Ridiculous just… well, there are other movies out there to watch.

My e-mail inbox had the latest ABA E-Journal newsletter – and an article highlights a reality show where law graduates compete for a job in a (gasp!) law firm. Molly McDonough writes:

After all, as recent grads who passed the bar after April 2003, they are qualified to try out for the show. These would-be contestants are vying to be picked for mock trial teams of Ivy Leaguers versus graduates of lower-tier schools. And they are lured by the prospect of fame and a “major career opportunity.”

Fox announced last week that the program, developing under the working title The Legal Show, is scheduled to air on Sundays beginning in November. The “courtroom showdowns” will take place in front of a yet-to-be-revealed high-profile judge, real jurors (except for the pay) and a national television audience.

Few details have emerged about the show, such as which law firm or company would be willing to turn over a coveted legal job to a game-show contestant.

Career opportunity? From a reality show? And, what law firm is agreeing to be a part of this? (maybe they’ll get something out of this, but maintaining their good reputation is the hard part). Top tier vs. lower tier law schools? Good grief, now that’s just mean (watch the lower tier grads cream the higher tier ones with the skills they acquired from their law schools’ clinics; watch the higher tier kids’ get all arrogant about their higher tier schools; blah, blah, blah). Plus, any concern of embarrassment isn’t there: one law graduate/unemployed gentleman notes, “‘If we could survive law school, we could survive a reality show.’” Yeah, sure. Do we really have to present our profession to the lay people like this? I thought we’re trying to improve the perception of and appreciation for lawyers, not make us look sillier.

Cool stuff: analysis of how television affects or reflects society can be scholarly stuff, as seen in the upcoming conference of “Buffy”-ologists – academians who have analyzed implications of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and her universe (which would cover “Angel”). The Yahoo article links to the related website, which was also fascinating. And, yep, as I suspected, someone did get around to drafting a paper on how “Angel” depicts the Evil Law Firm as it violates codes of professional conduct. Too cool.

Enjoy the weekend. Here comes the unofficial beginning of summer (but I wish spring would stick around as long as it can).