Hot Coffee

I watched the HBO documentary "Hot Coffee" last night and wanted to flag it for anyone interested.  Pretty good, I have to say.  If I had to sum it up in one sentence, I'd say it's a good look at how voters' ignorance is exposed to pass laws that severely restrict consumers' access to the civil courts.  Just ask your relatives if they know what tort means.

My one small gripe is that it really ignores the flip side.  It paints jury trials as an ideal.  But there's no mention of the cost of conducting a jury trial and the enormous pressure to settle even when facing frivolous claims.  Anyway, watch it, it's good.  And if you're studying for the bar, there's plenty of issue spotting for you. 

As an aside, am I the only one in love with HBO:Go?

EDIT:  And during my morning reading I see that ATL has a rather lengthy post about the documentary as well. So an ex post H/T to them, I guess.

The Royal Wedding

This nation is being torn apart.  One the one side, you have the unabashed Royalists taking up precious space on DVRs across the country with hours upon hours of coverage of the fanfare and pageantry.  On the other, you have the, shall we say, Patrick Henrys.  You've seen their Facebook status updates, often drawing upon all sorts of historical references ranging from our Revolution to the Magna Carta.   

I find myself a bit torn on this.  I recognize the whole thing is rather silly.  It appears William does to, at least according to lip readers who claim he said "We're supposed to have a small, family affair" at the altar.  The silliness is compounded by an outlandish procession, paid for by the public purse (because really the Royals don't have too much wealth on their own).  But I also don't thinks that we Americans are that different than the British.  Are you telling me Americans are not obsessed with a family of do-nothings?  (Kardashians).  Are you telling me we don't have a distinct upper class elites who "dress for dinner" and use the word "summer" as a verb? (The Cabots, the Lodges, the Kennedys, the Walkers/Bushes, etc.).  Only difference is the target of the public's obsession in the UK is passed on by the rules of inheritance.  (Plus there's no employer in the US that would give anyone the day off to watch this nonsense). 

I wish the Duke and Duchess a happy marriage and the best in life.  Now, time to focus on more important things, like the NFL draft.    

And Now For Something Completely Different

I realize that the topic du jour will soon rapidly change course away from OCIP and focus on the radically different issue of proper call back etiquette, etc., but before then, I want to bring this important announcement.

Tonight is the debut of the latest installment of ESPN's 30 for 30 titled "One Night in Vegas."  It's the story of Tupac and Mike Tyson.  Should be very fascinating, given the quality of the previous one on Pablo Escobar and Andres Escobar. 

Also the premier of Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy is tonight.  This is just yet another reminder that whoever is the head of FX's programming is a genius:  Sons of Anarchy, Rescue Me, Louie, Archer, Always Sunny in Philadelphia...just to name the shows that I'm able to follow.  They've come a long way from the days of Tom Bergeron, Jeff Probst, and Orlando Jones hosting reruns of The A Team and In Living Color, not that there's anything wrong with that. 

As a total aside, when in law school, I had a tube TV with wall-connected basic cable.  No DVR.  No HD.  How can people reconcile these two indispensable technologies and the study requirements of law school?  Or does DVR save you 15 minutes per hour by skipping ads? 

And Proud We Are of All of Them

Oscar open-thread.  My quick thoughts:  Happy that Jeff Bridges won.  Happy that Hurt Locker dominated, especially with Bigelow's history-making win.  I'm glad the Academy learned from the travesty that was the Best Picture Oscar for Titanic (up against LA Confidential, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets, and The Full Monty), and snubbed Avatar.

Anyway, floor is yours.

UPDATE:  Some military folk are griping about The Hurt Locker winning because, among other things, it glorifies a character who would normally be disciplined, rather than rewarded for his recklessness.  This strikes me as a truly bizarre criticism.  Ever since the history of the medium, there has been a great divide between what's on the screen and what's in real life.  I think we can all agree that law school was neither The Paper Chase nor Legally Blond.  Even sticking with the genre, I can watch A Few Good Men, The Hunt for Red October, Patton, etc. for ever, yet they all have very lengthy literary licenses with the subject matters they portray.  Unless we're talking about documentaries, there's little relevance of accuracy of subject-matter to the craft of film-making.  To go back several decades, the film The Grand Illusion portrays an almost romantic image of WWI--completely divorced from the reality of war.  But it is a cinematic masterpiece.   In short, I can appreciate the gripes about the accuracy of a subject-matter, but I think they are misplaced when directed against Kathryn Bigelow's and the rest of the cast and crew's achievement with the film.  

Toe Pick

Alright, I realize this may generate a lot of angry comments, Booo-urnses, rotten tomatoes, or immediate clicks to the HuffPo link in your bookmark, but I need to get this off my chest.

First, I may be slightly biased about the sport of figure skating because I think the greatest figure skating move around is two hockey players holding each other suggestively and spinning around the ice while bashing each others' brains out.  Plus there's an honorable element to that (50 seconds in).    OK, D.B. Sweeney moment out of the way. 

Second, as a product of the former Soviet Union, I've had to watch a bit too much figure skating than I care to admit.  In fact one of my earliest childhood memories is a Soviet couple winning gold by skating to Albinoni's Adagio in D (the couple on TV right now is dancing to Albinoni's Adagio in D).  And I've come to the conclusion that the sport is just like network TV...very uncreative.  (The limited song rotation in the sport is probably just another symptom of the lack of creativity).  I realize there are specific elements that they have to hit.  I get that.  I also realize the limits imposed on the sport by the laws of physics (you spin faster when you move your hands closer to your body).  But despite all that, the sport as a whole just borrows whatever move garners the max points at the present time.  For example, all the spinners grab their skates now because that gets a tenth of point extra or something.  Similarly, the jump du jour is a triple toe loop.  The axle is apparently too easy these days.  The phenomenon exists in other sports. The Miami Dolphins had marginal success with a new offense, and next thing you know, every friggin team is doing a version of the "wildcat offense." My earlier analogy to network TV is also appropriate because for every American Idol (a British show), you have America's Got Talent.  For Dancing with the Stars, you have So You Think You Can Dance.  For every successful season of 24, you have another season that takes the precise story arc, erases the penciled in recycled characters and "terrorist countries", and calls it a wrap. 

Third, the NBC announcers, for figure skating at least, are TERRIBLE.  "They're just savoring the moment right now."  Huh?  What the hell does that mean?  I just muted them and pretended John Madden was calling the skating:  "You know Al, if the Chinese want to take home the gold, they really can't afford to slip...and I might add, Brett Favre really looks like a kid having fun out there on the ice."

Your Guide to the Late Night

If you've been following the kerfuffle over at NBC regarding their 10 PM prime time and late night programming, well then you too must read the HuffPo.*  I think an overview of the cast of characters is helpful.

Jay Leno -- Ex Officio Member of the Homeowners' Association.  Former Chairman.  Unfunny.  Egomaniac.  He has two remotely amusing bits:  Headlines and Jay walking.  Neither of those funny bits requires any humor on Leno's part.  Just rebroadcasts the stupidity of the masses.  Failblog is a lot funnier.

NBC (as played by current CEO of NBC-Universal Jeff Zucker).  Contrary to the Princeton-grad, self-assured, and devilishly handsome Jack Donaghy (see starting at 13:00 mark of this), Zucker is more like the battered spouse who just can't stand up to Leno and say "no more." 

Conan O'Brien  -- sarcastic, smart, and funny child of Leno and NBC.  The parents' troubles at home have repeatedly stifled the growth of his genius mind, though he was the graduation speaker.  As a child prodigy, he gave the world "Homer Goes to College" and "The Monorail."  It's time he left the abusive household and went on to greener pastures.

David Letterman -- Ran for the chairman position against Leno, but lost. Relishes the fight in his neighbor's household.

The Viewers -- Long ago realized that cable has by far the better, more original programming.

*Donaghy:  "Way to tell me something I already knew. What are you, The Huffington Post?"