o n . d o g s

get one.

that's all the advice that i have, currently, for anyone entering a stressful situation - mcat preparation, law school round one or round deux, your first real job...

take care to make it a breed that can handle a little alone time. and adopt. i'm not sure i can really stress that point enough. mixed-breeds are overall healthier, more sociable, and less apt to be aggressive.

that's just a fact.

but i, the owner of a supposedly purely-bred golden retriever, am pro-adoption of any dog, pure-bred or mongrel.

there is nothing at all more calming at the end of the day than a good tail-wagging greeting and dog breath.

and the sound of your dog snoring at night? priceless lullaby.

your blood pressure, and a lucky canine from the shelter, will thank you.

m u s i c

okay. i am a pumpkins fan. scratch that.

i am a pumpkins fiend. lover. adoring, gushing, disgusting worshiper of all things pumpkins.

so how is a die-hard fanatic supposed to feel about zeitgeist, the newest offering from billy corgan and jimmy chamberlain?

it's brilliant, utterly brilliant, just because billy has finally let his inner rock-demon out to play. there's no self-absorption on this record [well, there is, but such a minute amount for mr. corgan that i consider it all but irrelevant].

a few of the songs remind me of previous b-side tracks like "the end is the beginning is the end," but i'm willing to forgive him the occasional recycling of riffs for a damn good wall of guitar wailing.

oh, and jimmy chamberlain = divine drumming machine. that's just a fact. he and dave grohl need to fight it out on a set. i would pay good money to watch that.

i'll be seeing said pumpkins in november, compliments of a generous red-head. i'll let you know how the live show compares to the album.

and for those of you who are from law school out in TV-land, fasten your seat belts. 2L year is just around the corner and that means fall oci. and fall oci means lots of medicinal bar tabs and rehabilitative sex & the city marathons.

i can't wait.

b e l i e ve . i t . o r . n o t

i am utterly speechless.

the palestinian mythology surrounding yasser arafat's death has met with a new, and seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

i'm not sure what to think, except that i both pity and admire the man bold enough to speak the truth on national television. arafat supporters will likely and vocally call for his death. even non-arafat supporters might wish he had kept quiet, since this more or less obliterates israel's "role" in arafat's demise.

of course, i guess they could always blame the ever popular "jewish doctors infected him with AIDS conspiracy." i've heard stranger things.

addendum: you know, stranger things like this video. just when my faith in people was rising anew...

s u n s h i n e

something we in texas haven't seen in a good long time. but while the rain is falling here, and terrorists aim flaming vehicles at unsuspecting people in the u.k., radical islamic terrorists have taken to cross-dressing.

it is nice to see that they're loosening up a little bit.

i . h a t e . o p i n i o n s

well, that's not entirely true. i certainly hate it when opinions are inserted into what is ostensibly objective reporting.

case in point.

because you can be sure that no one at cnn has reported this.

i t . i s . a b o u t . t i m e . . .

well, finally duke university has made amends with the three lacrosse players falsely accused of rape by a district attorney driven by his own political ambitions.

now, it might just be because a certain torts professor at my law school wore a duke lacrosse shirt weekly - or it might be because i have a few friends at duke - or it might be because the whole situation is somewhat stomach.churning for those of us entering the legal profession, but i still am nauseated by the fact that three lives were ruined because of a patently false claim and an overly-ambitious lawyer. of course, now there will be suit after suit pressed by the trio of young men, and i'm fine with that. at least our justice system allows for a balance - a sort of "mess with me falsely and i will ruin you" credo would fit nicely above the doors of most courtrooms, don't you think?

b l a m e

blame has been a hot topic in my life lately, for reasons that would bore and annoy the average reader.

but, it's [blame's]* not only a searing subject in my own experience. turns out iran likes blame as well.

i find that [the idea that israel is trying to restore its perceived military prowess via defensive strikes against ammunition outposts] hysterically funny. clearly, the israeli defense forces are attacking the gaza strip not because of terrorist attack, raining qassams, or a generally offensive paradigmatic claim of, "drive them into the sea!"

no, no. israel is trying to make itself look better by beating up helpless militants.

i guess if you follow that logic, lebanon is trying to make up for its own internal strife by launching attacks on the palestinian refugee camps.

but that didn't make the news.

* i hate ambiguous pronouns.