bar exam #4: Procrastination abounds. This time - The World Cup.

Anyone who read my earlier posts probably read Dave Eggers piece in Slate about the World Cup. Right? RIGHT?!?

It starts off like this:

"When children in the United States are very young, they believe that soccer is the most popular sport in the world."

and it actually uses the word excelsior (complete with exclamation point!) in the middle of a sentence about flopping.

probably because i'm an American and i realized that i know nothing, I've at least taken to researching the world cup. but, seriously, i think everyone and anyone should be totally interested in the World Cup or learning about it if you have no idea what the world cup is or that they are playing with lighter balls - thank you adidas - which are supposedly the cause of "high" scores like 4-2. [Due to the"Teamgeist" (team spirit) ball, "There's going to be a lot of goals when the World Cup starts. But I guess that's people want to see."]

here is some information, which someone looked up for me when I asked how the world cup is set up (is it like the NBA championships? like baseball? how long are we talking? weeks? months? is there an eastern conference and a western conference? communism v. capitalism? american league and national league? er...the United States and Britain v. the United Nations? see. complete ignorance.):

"America is agog with World Cup fever. OK, let me refine that slightly. The vibrant slice of America that spends every weekend coaching or "scrimmaging" or glued to the Fox Soccer Channel or GolTV is agog with World Cup fever. The rest of the nation is dimly aware that something slightly bigger (but no less alien) than the Eurovision Song Contest is on the way."

Also,

"the top 2 teams in each group (of 4) go on to the next round in the world cup. The 32 teams are broken up into eight groups. Each team plays the other three teams in its group. The top two teams from each group advance to the round of 16. The winner of each group plays the second place team of another group. The winners advance to the quarterfinals. Win again and you're in the semifinals and guaranteed two more games -- yes, World Cup teams play for third."

other information: May 27th's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me had a "Football expert" on for "Not my Job" - I recommend that.

"Soccer expert and radio host Steven Cohen plays our game called "Do whatever it takes to win, and then promise an investigation afterward." Three questions about cheating in sports."

and, of course, there is even a podcast (not sure if there is a textcast) about the world cup too.

Err, and Kirk sent me this: ""Also, Liverpool striker Peter Crouch (he's 6'7" and weighs about nothing) has been selected to start, and maybe he'll break out The Crouchbot, his goal celebration 'robot dance'..." (i can't stop thinking barty crouch & quidditch world cup).

Kirk loves the robot dance. (he won't stop!)

PS/ a note to the grammar police: In addition to my normal run-on sentences, misspellings, and incorrect use of commas, sorry about the quotations & the block quotes. i didn't think i was gonna block & then i did. now, i'm too lazy to fix it and would rather apologize.

bar exam #3. Subtitle: you know it's bad when you start sending e-mails like this to friends...

"I *expect* you to know that I am *obsessed* with [an] ex-UPN show, (now on the CW network)
called, [insert TV show here...].

Here, i'll make it multiple choice just like a bar exam question (complete with trick/ambiguous answers). The best choice to fill in the blank above is:

a) Lost

b) America's Next Top Model

c) Veronica Mars

d) All of the above

Answer key is posted below your message."

...friends msg...

"Answer Key:

While I do *love* Lost - it's on ABC, not UPN. Therefore, A is wrong. ANTM is a UPN show that was picked up by CW. It could be an answer. Plus, I like ANTM but I'm not *obsessed* with it. It's one of those shows that I can't stop watching once I start but I hate myself for liking it (see: our mutual feelings for MTV's My Sweet 16). Therefore, B is wrong. Therefore, D is wrong. And, obviously, the correct answer pick is C. Go Kristin Bell!!! (hottest female vegetarian, says PETA. and, she's from Detroit.)."


(yes, it is 11:06 on a Friday night)

BUT guess what?!?!?! tomorrow night, i'm taking off to the Three Rivers Arts Festival to see the Eels. The Eels are one of my three favorite bands, all of which I saw perform live at least one time in the past twelve months. (i guess after tomorrow i can die a happy music fan) (the other two bands: the wrens, the essex green). The Eels or Eels (as you may want to correctly correct me) are not a very consistent group in my humble opinion (see: blinking lights and other revelations vs. beautiful freak or daisies of the galaxy) but when they're on, they're on. I think my all-time favorite song is "Grace Kelly Blues." Again, for more proof, one of my saddest let-downs was the eels' cover of "Pretty Ballerina" by the Left Banke (another top twenty-five favorite). I was so excited to see the cover...but, while others may disagree, this version was too fast for me!.

Anyway, the Eels open for Tom Verlaine. (excerpt from amg bio: "Famed for his trailblazing work as the singer and guitarist for the seminal New York punk band Television, Tom Verlaine also carved out an acclaimed and eclectic solo career."). OH!!! so that's who he is. punk-legend?

I'm happy to see the third part of my "perfect concerts" trifecta. (um, am i using that word correctly? i try! says Wikipedia: ""Trifecta" is also gaining popularity as a slang term to describe any successful phenomenon that comes in threes, for example: "She has the 'trifecta' of attractiveness, intelligence, and career success.""

The Textcast

Some of you may know that I now have a slight obsession with Slate.com. I'm a *huge* fan of their podcasts (although, while I usually like British accents, I like Andy Bowers much better than June Thomas). I especially like the gabfast. Except, lately, I find myself criticizing it more than agreeing with it (re: Emily Bazelon saying that recess is not going away, but the richer you are the more you get it - i.e. discrimination starts young - and then saying that *her* kids get plenty of recess). I'm a fan of Dahlia Lithwick's take on the Supreme Court. In fact, if I had the time, I would write a "made-for-cable-tv" version of every major Supreme Court case (not just the ones involving Anna Nicole) because, yes, I *am* that much of a nerd. I am a fan of blogging the bible, middlebrow, the dilettante, and hey, wait a minute (i won't link to all - you'll just have to look up all of the good stuff for yourself!). And I'm not even just saying this because Slate verified my ocd about stds.

"(It's vital that girls be vaccinated before they have sex for the first time, since each new sexual encounter brings a 15 percent chance of HPV infection.)"

But, this is all beside the point.


I am a huge fan of podcasts but I think that I may be an even huger fan of the textcast. I'm not on top of the ball, so there may be many other textcasts, but Slate.com's is the first that I have seen. And, I love it. Why? B/c while I'm not taking public transportation as much anymore, all of my weekly podcast addictions are slowly getting backlogged (this may also be because I am studying for the bar). As a good friend of mine had said, it feels kinda weird just sitting around and listening to a podcast. I try. I listen to podcasts while cleaning my house - straightening up, doing my dishes - but in all reality those things don't get done all too often.

I think the textcast is a perfect mix. I can just sit down and read the textcast quickly and quietly. Plus, in more, um, candid terms: an iPod or other mp3 player, (which are supposedly more popular on college campuses than beer...which, btw, my friend pointed out "makes sense because iPods and mp3 players are for rich, privileged people and look at UCLA's % of incoming minority freshman), can be more discretely brought into a stall at work, school, play or otherwise than, let's say, a newspaper.

so much stuff

i've wanted to blog about so much stuff - the frequency of seeing batwoman or batman last week (wtf!), the taxonomy of gay comic book superheroes, my (ill-timed) addiction to 24 (shhh! don't give me any spoilers; i'm only on season 4).

but last night i thought my computer had a virus. there was about 2 hours worth of changing all of my passwords; virus scans; internet research for mac viruses and the like. i think i'm all safe & it was a false alarm. still, it was kinda scary.

anyway, the sun is out & the weather is not incredibly hot or humid. it's perfect weather now...to be inside...studying...

i'm exhausted (5 hrs of sleep). all of the sudden I got very nervous last night - which is strange b/c I got back my first NJ essay and for not knowing the law at all, i didn't do that bad. In fact, I did pretty okay.

anyway, my friend kiren and i are going to make a website. any technical help would be nice or graphic designers...actually, here is an open call for all creative people. Kiren & i need to schedule a skype conference call (we were supposed to have one on Friday & I bailed)...so you can be in on that...

and unrelated to Kiren.

My friend (who is around my age and I'm 24) called me last night to get advice on having sex with a 19 year old. He had recently hooked up with a 34 year old. He was worried about the obvious - emotional attachment, not being able to go to bars, etc.

so my (not-so) comedic response as to my twenty-something friend's love life was to discriminate against old people by saying - yeah, go for the "crazy" sophomore in college, the youngin', the impressionable, innocent girl. I brought up STDs. I feel like the older we get the more and more I know people with STDs.

Now that I think through everything, it all seems kinda backwards.

Still, by rumor, or, in another friend's situation - a workplace e-mail that warned about crabs on the communal toilet seat - the older I get the more I hear about stds. Which also obviously means, the older people get, it's more likely that they've been in contact with an std. Personally, I'm std free (I've been tested!!). But, probably due to my anxiety/ocd, this is one of the first things that comes to mind when getting involved with someone new.

So non-age discriminatory advice: I know it's safe (albeit awkward) to ask people if they've had an std before getting involved. But, also, be smart about stds & don't discriminate against people with stds (despite my bad advice above).

one good article that i read recently on a related topic:

AIDS at 25: An Epidemic of Caring

By ABRAHAM VERGHESE

I won't put a link up b/c of the NYTimes login. but here is an excerpt:

I wonder now what I would have done if I had known in 1981 that AIDS would be as huge as it turned out to be. I am ashamed to admit that I might have gone into another field — say cardiology or gastroenterology. Which is why I have such optimism for the future, because I meet so many students and residents now who, knowing the magnitude of the problem, are still going into infectious diseases. They want to do something about global health, and have put their money where their mouth is by volunteering abroad before medical school.

I think perhaps that is the legacy of my patients, the legacy of the nurses and physicians' assistants and social workers who taught me so much, the legacy of people from all walks of life who toiled against AIDS when there was no hope. My students seem to know what we had to so painfully learn: the secret in the care of the patient is caring for the patient.