We're done!!!

Fishfrog is done with the test, and I am done with Harry Potter. My goodness, what will we do now?!?

Notes on Catch and Release

So Fishfrog and I just watched Catch and Release tonight. A quality flick for those of you that haven't seen it. Timothy Olyphant is totally dreamy. Anyway as many of our readership know, both Fishfrog and I went to college in Boulder, CO (best place in the world, Portland a close second). The movie takes place in Boulder and while I'm sure not all (or most) of it is shot there, there are a few things I thought I would point out.

1- there is a scene where one of the characters goes to the hospital. I was born in the Boulder hospital.

2- there is a scene where one of the characters goes to a paint store and looks at color swatches. Fishfrog worked at a paint store in Boulder and he swears that the swatches are of the Benjamin Moore brand, meaning that this theoretically is his store.

3-(this one has a couple of parts) there is a scene where one of the characters is outside a restaurant with a lot of bikers everywhere.
i - the restaurant is the Sink. It is located on The Hill about a 2 minute walk from campus and has really good pizza.
ii - a scene is shot on a sidewalk with the Sink in the background. This was shot right in front of my favorite coffee shop where I spent many a hour studying and drinking Odwalla Super Juices and vanilla lattes.
iii - like in the movie, every biker in Boulder (and there are a lot) is dressed like they are about to race in the Tour de France. What is up with that?

4-there is a scene where two of the characters are outside in a semi-crowded area with some greenery here and there. One of the characters is taking pictures of 'happy people' and the other is sulking. This is the Pearl Street Mall. I worked at a hair salon a few blocks from there and spent many a break walking up and down it while fetching food or just wasting time. They have great buskers there in the summer and more than one begging or guitar playing hippie.

I think that about covers it. If you watch this movie (which really is quite good; by way of example, I started tearing up about 4 minutes in. It usually takes about 10) think kindly of Nell and Fishfrog. Boulder is wonderful. I miss it so!

Essay questions and the first amendment

I refuse to answer any question on the bar examination regarding the commerce clause, because doing so would require me to implicitly accept the liberal anti-constitutional views set out in Wickard and Raich, and thus would violate my first amendment rights. Also, such question would be an illegal state regulation of interstate commerce. Oh yeah, and maybe something about the privileges and immunities clause?

An unsuccessful bar applicant in Massachusetts is suing the Bar for including on the exam a question "about homosexual marriage and parenting." The applicant, as any reasonable person would, refused to answer that question and ended up failing the exam by 2 points. The story is here.

A part of me (a very small part) sort of feels for the guy. There was a time not so long ago that I felt constantly bombarded and under attack by the christian majority. Everything that I saw on the news or that a teacher said in class or that I saw on a billboard I managed to interpret as a direct and personal attack on me. This crazy attitude reared its head every once in a while in law school, as my lunch-mates will attest, but for the most part I have mellowedd with age.

What this guy is going through seems like a normal adolescent reaction to broad social trends. The part of me that still feels like its in high school sympathizes. The part of me that is about to take the bar is baffled that someone could make it through law school and be unable to understand the difference between understanding and applying the law of a jurisdiction and personally signing on to a cause. I mean, come on! Even if you hate homosexuals with a passion, you are still living and trying to practice law under a given state's laws. You have to know what they are and be able to apply them.

Anyway, it's a funny story and provides a good reminder for the upcoming exam: don't be an self-righteous idiot.

Party on!

Sunday Brunch

After a pleasant hike this morning/early afternoon in Tryon Creek State Park, Nell and I were famished and decided to go to the nearby Daily Cafe for a bite. The Daily Cafe has the best food I have ever eaten in my entire life (that was not cooked by my mom, anyway). From here on out, anyone who comes to visit us in Portland and happens to be here on a Sunday will be required to accompany us to the Daily Cafe for brunch. It is like heaven (if there were a heaven, and if that heaven had delicious fresh-baked scones and muffins and griddlecakes).

Anyway, I just thought they deserved the good press that an endorsement on this blog brings. They might have to expand their seating with the flood of new patrons they're liable to have.