Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground

GOING TO THE MOVIES? . . .

"Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them” -- Pauline Kael

CHRISTOPER HITCHENS: "AN IMPOSSIBLE ACT TO FOLLOW"

 

 

From the Telegraph: "Christopher Hitchens, the influential writer who died last year, approached the end with his customary wit and charisma intact – and his wife always by his side. Carol Blue recalls their final months together."

Plus a related note from the archives of Beyond the Underground: "A Detour for Shameless Name-Dropping: Christopher Hitchens," in which I recall a memorable night of drinking with Hitchens in St. Louis.

BACKPACKING AND SKETCHING . . .

Two nights ago, I camped in an area near my office then went into work from there (after working out at the gym)--all to test my new backpacking set-up before I head out on the Taum Sauk section of the Ozark Trail with my daughter, Lydia. (Speaking of Lydia, here's her new blog about teaching preschool: Positively Preschool.)

In the morning after emerging from my tiny backpacking tent, I did these quick sketches. They're what I call "pen and wash"--pen followed by watercolors with a Koi "pocket field sketch box." It's a technique I'm still learning . . .

 

A NEW BOOK BY AN OLD FRIEND . . .

It's Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers, by Dennis Kennedy (the old friend) and Allison Shields.

In a blog post, Dennis writes, "I believe that the book is still technically in the pre-order period and is available with a 15% discount as a pre-order. We’re excited about this book and think you will be, too. If your firm or organization might consider using the book for social media training efforts, let me know and I can put you in touch with our publishing contacts for info about volume discounts. If you might be interested in a review copy (and have an audience that will appreciate the review), let me know. And, of course, don’t forget about LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers."

Good luck with the book, Dennis and Allison!

LAWYERS AND DEPRESSION . . .

From Law Practice Today: "A Lawyer's Tale: Recovering from Depression," by Keith Anderson.

Plus, more from this blog in the archives, an old but still extremely popular guest post from Raymond Ward: "Depression, The Lawyers' Epidemic: How You Can Recognize the Signs."

ART QUOTE OF THE DAY . . .

[S]tyle for the writer, no less than color for the painter, is a question not of technique but of vision: it is the revelation, which by direct and conscious methods would be impossible, of the qualititative difference, the uniqueness of the fashion in which the world appears to each one of us, a difference which, if there were no art, would remain for ever the secret of every individual.

                      --Marcel Proust

The quote is from Proust's Narrator in Time Regained, pg. 299--not something regurgitated from the Internet, but something I read this morning as I near my goal of making it all the way through In Search of Lost Time. (A somewhat pretentious thing to disclose on a Monday morning, I'm aware, but I'm beyond help . . .)

The quote continues after another sentence I left out: "Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many worlds as there are original artists, worlds more different one from the other than those which revolve in infinite space, worlds which, centuries after the extinction of the fire from which their light first emanated, whether it is called Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us still each one its special radiance."

Maybe that's why I majored in English Literature as an undergraduate, and have had a serious art habit ever since. (Meanwhile, I'm still searching for an explanation as to why I went to law school . . . )

MY MORNING WITH SAM . . .

This morning, Sam revealed the inner workings of his 3d grade mind. Here is what he said in cartoon form (which I drew, and which I'm posting with his permission, but only after I agreed to pay him $3). . .

Sam has been subjected to many appearances on my blog . . .

--a post about his birth;

--a photo as an infant, being attacked by a "predatory trial lawyer";

--a photo at Halloween as a tiny lawyer;

--a photo at Halloween as a pumpkin;

--a photo at Halloween as a lion.

This blog thanks you, Sam!

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBLOG . . .

"Preparing for Expert Depositions."

THE ANXIETY OF INFLUENCE. . .

"I would’ve liked to have been Poussin, if I’d had a choice, in another time"--Cy Twombly.

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 2001.

PROTECTION FOR TROUBLED TIMES . . .


An iPhone app that will fact-check political ads, from Politico.