Jane's Not-so-deep Thoughts

Iron Man

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:19:54 GMT

Dammit, I finished my last day of law school classes on Wednesday. Never mind finals. I deserve a break, specifically a great movie. And I got one.

Iron Man trailers have had me excited for some time now. I'm not a huge fan of Tony Stark, but like any decent (reformed) comics geek I know who Happy Hogan (amusingly played by the director) is, and the name Rhodey had a specific meaning to me. I was even enough of a geek to LITERALLY smack my head at the end of the movie when one of the jokes had a fantastic payoff THAT I SHOULD HAVE SEEN COMING. Acronyms are easier to catch on paper...

Anyway.

A large part of what makes a movie like this work is casting. Ideally, it should be a good actor who is willing to take the part seriously. Slumming won't cut it for a role (to me) this important. Downey hits it out of the park. Like Hugh Jackman Wolverine out of the park. Downey pulled off all the cheesy cliches about Tony Stark and makes them seem natural. You could understand why everyone around Tony Stark put up with his obnoxious crap. Supporting actors were good as well.

The script and direction were good too. Catchphrases were not being jammed in at every opportunity; lines sounded like people would reasonably say them for the most part. Admittedly I haven't read a lot of Iron Man (or Avengers) but the movie felt consistent to me with what I was familiar with. I will allow for variations as long as the characters feel right to me (see X-Men) and this movie managed to capture that.

The effects were cool, but honestly given the previous two factors were less important to me.

To sum up: I am buying the superdeluxe version of this as soon as it comes out. Go see it. On the big screen where you can really watch Tony fly.

If he does this, he so has my vote

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:14:15 GMT

Rumors abound that Barack Obama was considering going to the Comic Con. Now, I'm sure it's a long shot at best, but he would get my loyalty. Do it, Obama!

I am a nerd, memestyle

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:23:35 GMT

Now showing on NBC.com

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:51:17 GMT

The A-Team. Now there is quality programming for you.

Pure awesomeness.

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:58:42 GMT

The more I see of the Iron Man movie, the more I want to see it. Right now. Robert Downey Jr. would never had occurred to me, but pure genius casting.

Because creationists have standards too.

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:41:34 GMT

Via Slate:

Standards for submitting to a creationist journal. I especially like the part about how to submit your name under a pseudonym in case you are trying to get tenure.

Rant time

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:51:29 GMT

I really like my job. I process serials. I check them into the computer, put various stickers and/or stamps on them, and distribute them to the right people. I also copy the ToC for professors so they can see what is current without having to use the paper copy or return anything.

Certain publishers are getting on my nerves, however.

I accept that there are going to be problems with student-run journals, which is the norm for law journals. Any other academic field, not so much. But there you are. I accept that journals run late; it happens.

Nonetheless.

Do you really HAVE to change the title of your journal? How does changing the title from University of whatever journal of labor relations to University of whatever journal of employee relations make a difference? At least enough to justify the aggro to catalogers and library patrons who are now lost? Libraries are by far the biggest market for these journals - you should be sucking up to us. Everyone else uses databases. Changing your title there isn't that much more useful to your readers.

I'm talking to you, University of Pennsylvania. Knock off the name changes unless your name is actively offensive or really no longer reflects the content of the journal.

Use some common sense on cover design. Give me some damn room for the stamps. If you can't leave me a margin for 3/4" sticker for your glossy, text-jammed cover, you are not doing your readers any favors either. Space is good. Don't get me wrong. I love having A ToC on the cover. Please print it on the inside, too.

By the way - an interesting sidenote on legal journals - generally, the most prestigious the journal, the cheaper it looks. Yale Law Journal, one of the oldest and most prestigious of the law journals, looks like crap. It's printed on newsprint, with a dingy looking paper cover. To look any cheaper, it would have to be mimeographed. Tier 4 journals - glossy, pretty, full photo cover. YLJ is easy to process. There is not an exact correlation, but it's right more often than not.

And a black cover with gold lettering - very declasse. And annoying, I use ink on paper covers but have to use stickers on black covers. Stop being so goth, I don't care if black and gold are your school colors. Besides, how many of us still care about school colors at this point in our careers? Just print your school logo, that's frequently done and can be unobtrusive.

Prepunching holes - please don't, unless your journal is 16 pages or less and explicitly comes with a binder. It's almost impossible to get the tattle tape in. Plus it looks lame.

Print a freaking indicia. I'm looking at you, library journals. If you can't be bothered to print your series number elsewhere, preferably conspicuously on the ToC page or the cover, it should be on the indicia. Which you really should have. I want your ISSN; with all the bloody name changes, it makes it easier to track journals down. I want dates.

And put dates on the journal! I want more than a bare issue number. A year is fine. A two-year span is fine. But put down something!

*pant* *pant*

In my perfect world, the publisher would note when they decided to skip two issues. Or, you know, publish all the issues in order.

Please try to keep the series numbers consistent. Now, admittedly this problem is far worse with comic books, but you are supposed to be highbrow academic people. You can't just start over, people are citing from these articles.

Off to class now. I hope Aardy got something out of this, at least. :)

Happy Birthday Clara!

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:43:17 GMT

Hope you are having a restful, happy, kitty-infested day.

Wikipedia meme

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:47:15 GMT

This one ganked from jim_smith.

Directions: Go to the Wikipedia home page and click random article. That is your band's name.
Click random article again; that is your album name.
Click random article 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album.

He linked his; I couldn't be bothered. My band clearly thinks they are Radiohead or a less coherent Pink Floyd.

Band: T27 Armored Car
Album: Tanks in World War I

Track 1: Tokyo Metropolitan Subway Construction Company
Track 2: List of Sherman Fairchild companies
Track 3: 2003 NBA All-Star Game
Track 4: 5th Bengal European Cavalry
Track 5: Barbocet River
Track 6: Pete Chatmon
Track 7: Real music from chicago
Track 8: Chillingham
Track 9: The Phoenix Foundation (band)
Track 10: Fiona Balfour

I should be working.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:16:38 GMT

Squirrel armor.

The very reason Al Gore invented the internet.

Movie review

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:40:33 GMT

Went to see Beowulf. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't make any effort to see it again. Mostly because I was rooting for the dragon at the end.. Beowulf himself annoyed me. Eric and I were whispering (very quietly) WoW references by the big finale. Adequate effort, but not one for the ages.

But...

One of the trailers got me very excited.

Now this should be a hell of a movie. I love Sweeney Todd to begin with (I'm not quite normal). The cast and director should make this movie spectacular. I am a Johnny Depp fan to begin with (I've liked him since 21 Jump St) but I think he can really pull off the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He's got the right kind of black humor for the part - and enough rage. It should be really good.

It's not fair, I should be a non-lame villain.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:26:22 GMT

I mean come on! Apocalypse? Does he even COUNT as a villain anymore? However, the next two work for me.

Your results:
You are Apocalypse

Apocalypse		70%
Poison Ivy		63%
Dark Phoenix		62%
Dr. Doom		61%
Mystique		61%
Two-Face		61%
Magneto		59%
The Joker		58%
Riddler		58%
Catwoman		58%
Venom		55%
Mr. Freeze		51%
Lex Luthor		48%
Green Goblin		45%
Juggernaut		45%
Kingpin		41%

You believe in survival of the fittest and you believe that you are the fittest.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Comics nerdiness ahead...

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:59:22 GMT

Frank Miller text, Adam West visuals. So wrong, yet so funny. It won't make much sense unless you are pretty conversant with Dark Knight Returns. (If you aren't, get thee to a bookstore and get it now.)

Halloween pet peeve

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:41:07 GMT

People who use their children as props. Clever as you think your costume is, the holiday is supposed to be for children. Using your child as a prop is A) putting the parent's wants first, telling your kid they only matter in how they make you look good and B) depriving your kid of a chance to express themselves.

Be the grownup, people.

Shades of Under the Hood

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:27:50 GMT

Convention of superheroes.

But can you kick an underperforming member when you get your objective?

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:59:54 GMT

Via Althouse

Making your workplace into a video game.

This is not actually a bad idea; clear objectives, rewards, a meaningful sense of team. Even the silly stuff like titles makes a job more bearable.

Civilization is catching up.

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:29:23 GMT

I am very pleased with the Snickers Dark - in fact I am getting rather addicted to them. Milky Way Darks may have lost their primacy with me. Maybe. But at the grocery store last night, I found Dark Peanut M&M's. Rapture! I have actual CHOICES now! AND the 3 Musketeers Mint (with dark chocolate) - recommended.

Kudos, Mars. Well done.

Because I felt like it

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:45:07 GMT

My top 20 TV shows of all time. To me. In alphabetical order.

Almost Live
Angel
Batman: The Animated Series
The Black Adder (all)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Columbo
Connections
Dr Who
Farscape
Father Ted
Firefly
Futurama
GvE aka Good vs Evil
Kids in the Hall
Monty Python
Newsradio
Office
Red Dwarf
Spaced
Special Unit 2

I make no apologies for any omissions from this list. Unless I really screwed up and should have included it.

Banality of Evil

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:01:09 GMT

I'm doing a paper on Nuremberg, so I've been reading a lot about what happened at the camps in WWII. Still, it's shocking to look at this photo album made up by one of the officers at Auschwitz. It's pictures of his coworkers on various outings. Nobody is either visibly nasty or haunted by their daily existence; they are terrifyingly normal. These people could have been anyone.

Truth

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:38:22 GMT

from Unshelved

I remember now what my philosophical thought was

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:18:54 GMT

I wonder how much of General Petraeus' reputation is due to what he has actually accomplished, or if it's just that his name is so reassuringly Roman. His name sounds like someone who would have been a major player in the army of Caesar or Augustus. He could have been a schemer that murdered an emperor or planted another. The name could also have been from the Republic - the type of general that retired after doing what needed to be done.

Psychologically, it's a great name for military purposes.

Too good not to share

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:04:26 GMT

Via Quizlaw:

RIAA decision tree.

For Blemt

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:00:21 GMT

Interesting article in the NYT about performance and motivation in women runners. Apparently older women often run faster than younger ones, unlike men.

Reason #5,765,231 that Bush sucks

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:55:02 GMT

On April 25, 1947, Truman opened up the White House bowling alley. He never used it much, but staff were encouraged to start a bowling league. This league is still in operation. However, they got booted from the White House lanes after 9/11 and were never allowed back.

Keep in mind these people were REQUIRED to have security clearances to bowl there in the first place. The league is made up of Secret Service agents, secretaries, gardeners, retired civil service people. There was no good reason to boot them out, and even less reason to keep them out. What a mean spirited administration.

I'm tempted to submit a question to the You Tube Republican debates about it.

Lady Bird Johnson and Richard Nixon both loved to bowl. LBJ liked swimming naked in the pool that is now covered by the Briefing Room better.

Comic nerd challenge

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:38:56 GMT

No, the challenge is from me. Some law professor has written a scholarly article about superheroes and lawyers, and it occurs to me this would make a great exhibit visually. Not to mention a great excuse to get the library to buy some comics.

So, I am trying to think of superheroes who are/have been lawyers. Daredevil counts, Foggy doesn't. Unless I need to fill up space.

My list so far (admittedly this is after about two minutes of research):

Daredevil
She-Hulk

Edit:

Icon

Nightwing
Manhunter
Harvey Dent
Jamie Madrox

I will gladly accept law degrees from people that don't use it - if Reed or Hank McCoy ever got a JD for example.

Edit:

Villains also accepted.

Any suggestions appreciated.