Hey Cleary Gottlieb (the firm I dislike because Mrs. Cooper):

After our 4-1 beatdown of you in soccer today, I have one thing to say.

Ball don't lie.

I was having the best game I've ever had. For the first time ever, I had passed 10,000 points. I was past that cursed level with the U shape of steel bricks and only a small opening at the top to get at the red bricks. I had two or three lives left and had gotten past some never-before seen levels (to me) that seemed downright dastardly. And I whoopified them. And then...

Brickbreaker crashed.

I was devastated. Did the game save my score? No, it was back to 9750. Argh!

Apparently, Brickbreaker on the Blackberry is a bigtime phenomenon.

"If I am on speakerphone on a boring call, yes, I have been known to play," he says. That can be risky. In December, Robert Davidman, who runs New York marketing company EarthQuake Media, recalls sitting around a table with several clients during a conference-call meeting, when one began repeatedly hitting the space bar on his BlackBerry -- a tip-off to Mr. Davidman that he was shooting bricks.

Soon, others started their own games and were paying little attention to the call. Suddenly, a question came over the phone, spoiling the mood. "Can you repeat that?" one of the men asked, adding, "The phone seems to have cut out."

Hey Duke Men's Lacrosse:

Ball don't lie.

Ball never lies.

This past Monday, I uttered a phrase I never thought I would utter in my life.

"This is too bacony."

I was amazed when I said it. Absolutely dumbfounded. Everyone at the table was too. I think Ben almost fell out of his chair. But I had found something that was actually too bacony for my tastes.

We were at a Brazilian steakhouse in NYC called Churrascaria for Al's going away dinner. I had never been to one, so I didn't quite know what to expect, other than a ton of meat.

Things started off meh. Chicken breasts and sausage. They tasted okay, but I was there for beef. I wasn't disappointed for long, as top sirloin and flank steak came out. They were absolutely phenomenal, and continued to be phenomenal for the rest of the night. They were my "go-to" meats. Three kinds of ribs were brought out, which were a nice change of pace, especially when they cut the meat off of the rib for you. Prime rib was pretty good, while turkey wrapped in bacon was a sucker move.

All through this parade of meats, Ben told me to keep waiting for the bacon wrapped filets. They were his number one. Eventually they arrived.

I cut off a piece of filet, making sure to get some bacon in the bite.

What followed was something that can only be described as what I imagine a two-inch thick piece of bacon fat would taste like. It was just too much bacon! I was overwhelmed. I don't even recall if I swallowed it. But suffice to say, I did not eat more of that filet.

Ben admitted later that it was in fact too bacony. I never thought I'd see the day where we both said that.

It was waiting for me when I first walked in on the first day.

At first, it was simply a way to check my gmail and uva mail, as we had not been given our offices yet. But now, it is so much more to me. It tells me baseball scores. It gives me email when Kim is on the computer. It entertains me with Brickbreaker when I have nothing else to do.

Its a friend.

It only took three days for me to get used to it. How do I know that?

It went on the fritz on Wednesday night. So I had to have someone from work pick it up from my office on Thursday morning. I started walking around. And suddenly, walking didn't feel right. I was off-balance.

I'll miss it in the fall.

Duke cheating case hits Asians hardest

Oh boy.

Lebron's decision to pass to Donyell Marshall in the closing seconds of game 1 might is yet another non-story turned into a story by the sports media. I simply don't get how this could be a debate.

*James was not having a great shooting night, going 5-15 from the field.

*He was single covered with two other players (Hamilton and Wallace) coming over on his drive.

*Donyell Marshall, no slouch at three point shooting (35% on the year, probably significantly higher when noone is within 10 feet of him) was wide open.

*It is "conventional wisdom" to go for the win, not for overtime, when you are on the road.

*James is more passing-oriented than guys like Jordan or Kobe ever were / are.

I mean, I guess I can see how some people might want Lebron to take the shot, as he is the team's superstar. But as Andrew Ayer correctly points out, Jordan was no stranger to passing to Paxson and Kerr for open threes in big moments. So what's the issue here?

The front page of ESPN.com says "LeBron's decision to pass, rather than shoot, thrilled Detroit's fans."

Um, no. The decision didn't thrill the fans. The result did. A missed three pointer by a wide open shooter. I bet that when the decision was actually made and the pass was thrown to Marshall, every fan at the Palace said to themselves, "Oh $hit!" But it didn't go in. You can't blame Lebron for that.

Movie Review: Waist Deep



Warning - Spoilers Involved

There are few things that get me more annoyed than movie endings that make no sense. While War of the Worlds was an absolutely terrible movie, the "ending," which had Tom Cruise's son magically reappear in Boston (strangely unscathed) after joining the army in a fiery suicide battle with the aliens, was just the icing on the cake. I've watched the movie for two hours in order to have some sort of plot resolution, or at least a big teaser for a sequel. It is an insult to the viewer when a director or screenwriter makes everything nonsensically come together for a happy ending.

Here is a quick summary of what happens. Waist Deep begins with Tyrese Gibson's character in a car with his son for some reason. The insanely attractive Meagan Good appears and tries to hustle him out of some money, but he declines. Then he gets carjacked. Gibson manages to run after his car for some time, even killing two of the carjackers, but eventually the third gets away in his car, with his son in it. Gibson then sees Good, and runs her down as he suspects she was in on the job. It turns out that she wasn't, and she becomes his ally after telling her sob story. Gibson then finds out that some gang leader guy will give back his son for $100,000 Gibson and Good then go on a crime spree, robbing two rival gangs and blaming the robberies on the other gang (to have them attack each other), and then somehow rob three banks. They come up a little bit short and have to pawn some jewelry stolen from a safe deposit box, which oddly enough is owned by the guy who is holding Gibson's child for ransom. A showdown ensues where they make the trade, which of course ends in a gunfight and a high speed chase. Gibson manages to throw the cops off of Good and his kid by driving into a parking garage (thus evading the police copter, and police cars are equally discombobulated by this move, as they leave him alone for this lengthy scene) and putting Good and his kid into a different car. Gibson then drives north, with the cops chasing him, while Good and the kid drive south a few minutes later, apparently reaching Mexico safely. Gibson, cornered by the cops, drives into a lake.

You know, I've seen worse plots than this. While the addition of the Meagan Good character magically joining up with Gibson seems really odd, I won't complain about that. Sure, there were some plot holes, but nothing too egregious. No, its the ending that makes this movie completely worthless.

Good and the kid (now a few years older) are shown in a big house in Mexico. The kid is getting ready for school, and says that he was late because he was cleaning up his room in case daddy shows up. Good says that Daddy isn't going to show up, and the kid says, "I know, but it makes me feel better." So they're walking along the beach to get to school, and then Gibson shows up with a couple stuffed animals in his hand.

The End.

WHAT!?!?!?!

What on earth happened? How? He obviously evaded the cops, because if he had been caught, he wouldn't be out of jail in a couple years. He murdered two people (and others that the cops did not see) and robbed three banks. But how do you evade the cops by driving into a lake? And if he evaded the cops, what took him so long to get to Mexico? Wait, maybe he did go to jail, and he escaped! Or maybe, he died, but this is a zombie version of him, brought back to life by the love for his son. Arghhhh! Give me plausible closure dammit!

Of all the shows that Kim has subjected me to watching (Laguna Beach, The Hills, Flip This House, One Tree Hill, Girlfriends), the absolute worst must be America's Next Top Model. Its not one thing in particular that makes this show the worst offender of the bunch; its a bunch of things:

1) It lasts a full hour. While I'm sure some of the other shows may seem like they last an hour (and I'm hoping that One Tree Hill doesn't last an hour, but I vaguely recall the channel guide showing a full hour), the pain they inflict is more fleeting than the monotony of ANTM. Hey look, we have models and they're getting pictures taken. Then we have a bunch of judges all make directly contradictory statements to each other. Lather, rinse, repeat.

2) The girls aren't even hot. At least in Laguna Beach and The Hills you have some attractive women to distract me from the inane "plot," or whatever you may call it. In AMNT, none of them are particularly attractive. This one finalist from the episode I just saw was a Russian mail-order bride who was, dare I say it, actually ugly. The other finalist was okay, but nothing spectacular, and certainly nothing compared to the ladies in some of Kim's other favorite shows.

3) If you actually listen to the "judges" you might have a brain aneurysm. They basically bicker with each other in attempting to quantify the unquantifiable.

Judge 1: Natasha's walk was very strong.
Judge 2: Really? I thought the walk was her worst part.
Judge 3: Well I think we can all agree that her photo was terrible.
Tyra: I'm hungry. Also, I thought her photos have improved remarkably over the course of the season.

And on and on. Then the judges pretend that they are making an impossible choice.

4) Related to above - Tyra needs to lose some weight.

Kim says that this season is over, meaning it won't be on again soon, but I'm not holding my breath. At least this One Tree Hill show involves Duke, point shaving in basketball games, and murders.

Great. Just great. I wasn't able to watch The Sopranos or Entourage last night, because my Mom doesn't have HBO. So I won't be able to see the episodes until Wednesday when I go up to Kim's apartment, which has HBO on demand. So obviously, I don't want to be told anything about the episode.

I went to msn.com to see how the market did today, and I glanced at the lower left hand corner of the site. And I saw it.

Shocking murder shocks 'Sopranos' clan

Damn you MSN!

I wonder who it was. I'm going to go with Paulie. Chris seems a bit too obvious.

This is my new favorite shirt.

Its the calm before the storm.

Finals are over. At the end of 1L year at this time... well I can't recall what I was doing. And I don't know really what happened that day, other than I seem to recall I was walking back from Jaberwoke all the way to Ivy in a drunken stupor. Which is odd, especially since Alissa informed me yesterday that the end of 1L year took place at the Satellite Ballroom. This doesn't bode well for tonight, but 1L year was a bit more stressful, so maybe it will be more low key.

Lets hope tonight doesn't end up in me walking back here. Its quite a hike from the corner, and last time I did it I tried to cut through the undergrad campus and got a little bit lost.

Last semester it was the timely purchase of Guitar Hero that almost submarined my exam taking. This semester, its not Guitar Hero, but a much simpler game. Its called Settlers of Catan, and its basically an XBox Live adaptation of a popular board game from Europe. Charles has written up a nice little entry on it, briefly explaining how to play, and here is a wikipedia entry on it.

Luckily, Charles only downloaded the full game a few days ago, and I only started playing it like on Tuesday, so it has only torpedoed my studying for Remedies, the last thing I have left to do. Of course, its quite difficult to read about how expectancy and reliance damages can converge when all I'm thinking about the relative merits of the Ore/Grain strategy v. the Sheep-o-matic strategy.

I kind of like finals time.

There is a sort of freedom in not having to do reading for a particular class, or having to be in a class at a certain time. Yes, I know you could simply not go to the class, but the semi-obligation is still hanging over your head. During these weeks I only wake up to an alarm on the day of a final. I can go get dumplings on the downtown mall and not worry about getting back to school in time for a 3PM class. Nothing is really rushed. Its nice not having any real obligations other than taking a few tests at some point.

Yes, its sort of stressful, but I think its only as stressful as you make it. If you force yourself to sit in the library for 12 hours a day, then your life is not going to be particularly pleasant during these two weeks. But I'm not the kind of person who really gets much out of studying for that length of time on a daily basis, so I'll generally go the library for the afternoon, and then come back to do other stuff mixed in with occasionally staring at an open book. Like watch TV and play Guitar Hero.

Heck, I got a little tired of watching TV and playing Guitar Hero, so I mowed the lawn yesterday. I haven't mowed a lawn in probably 5 years. Strange.

Two Reviews of Cheap Chinese Takeout Places in Charlottesville:

Taiwan Garden - 3.5 stars

At 2:45 PM on Thursday, I had a strange craving for a lunch special. So, on the recommendation of Mark, I drove on over to where I thought Dragon Lady was. However, I was wrong, and ended up in the shopping center where Tokyo Rose is. I saw that there was a place called Taiwan Garden, and moseyed on in, hoping to hit the special before 3 PM. I made it in time, and found something curious - they have different lunch specials depending on what day it was. Unfortunately, they did not have a duck or pork special on Thursday, so I got the Hunan beef. The beef was a little spicy, but pretty adequate overall. It came with some broccoli and baby corn that I pushed to the side. Additionally, the special included an egg roll (not great, but edible), some brown rice with a little scrambled egg mixed in (pretty good), and a can of soda. All that for $4.25. The lady even gave me a plate to eat it on (I was taking it out). At this price, and considering that it didn't make me sick, I will probably end up there again at some point.

Dragon Lady - 1.5 stars

After my PR exam yesterday (and figuring out where Dragon Lady was), I drove over for yet another try. I got there at around 2:45, and ordered up a pork lo mein lunch special. Supposedly, it would include an egg roll and some rice. Unfortunately, the lady tricked me and didn't inform me that the special ended at 2:30 PM. So I ended up paying like $6.80 for the "special," and they forgot to give me my rice.

Which is just as well, because the pork lo mein was plentiful. It was pretty tasty, maybe a little too salty. The egg roll was just short of terrible. What was really terrible, however, was the way I felt approximately a half hour after I ate it. I didn't recover until after I made some burgers from Omaha Steaks for dinner (Kim was nice enough to send me some burgers and steaks to keep me going through finals). Thus, given the terrible service and the way I felt after eating, I don't think I'll go back to the Lady again.

UVA law students are generally regarded as friendly and not quite as high-strung as some other law students. But even here, we have our inconsiderate morons. People who lack even the basic social skills to function correctly in the world.

For example, yesterday I "met" someone who I will call "foot guy."

I went to the library to study some PR, and we have tables that theoretically could seat four people (as there are four chairs), but the common practice is for two people to sit on opposite sides, diagonally from each other. In times of extreme crowding a third person could be added, but two people per table, diagonal from each other, is the standard.

So its exam time, which means that the library is very crowded. Pretty much everyone has to double up. I see Mark and Berde at a table, and I find a table next to them that has only one guy at it. I put my stuff down, plug in my laptop, and then suddenly notice that he has his bare feet up on the chair across from him. Which means they are sitting right next to me.



Now, a normal person would remove their feet from that chair. But of course, he didn't.

I have no problem with someone putting their feet up on the chair across from them if they are alone at a table. But when someone sits down at that table with you, you need to put those things down on the floor where they belong. Its not like I was even being a jerk by sitting down at the table - the library is beyond crowded, and people need to sit down.

So I started IMing Mark, telling him what a mistake I've made sitting down at this table. I then told him I was going to "will" foot guy to put his feet down. And sure enough, just as I had typed it, foot guy put his feet down!

But it did not last. He put them back up five minutes later.

And this cycle continued.

Eventually, I came up with a strategy to make him leave. I won't burden you with the details, but it involved me making things more unbearable for him than his feet were to me. And by mid-afternoon, he did eventually pack his stuff up and leave the table. Victory!

Around a half hour later, Mark returned from a trip around the library, and told me just how total my victory was. Foot guy had not gone home, but had left my table for a different table.

The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities... It is best to win without fighting. - Sun Tzu

You'll probably disagree with the rankings (I know I did, where's the Jimmy Key / Drafted Sportscenter Anchor clip? Or the one that celebrates New Jersey? I guess they are not available on youtube), but here is one man's Top Ten ESPN Commercials.

Its a good way to waste time during this finals period.

And here is a page with a lot more of them.

Thirty-four first-year master's of business administration students at Duke's Fuqua School of Business were disciplined in the program's largest cheating scandal. Nine students face expulsion for collaborating on a take-home test, violating the professor's rules.

Another proud moment for Duke.