The Adventures of Chris

After 8 hours of class and studying, I took some time out to see Superman Returns. I hate to admit it, but I was actually interested to see it.

I like how Superman is so old school. He’s the archetype superhero character. The O.G. superhero. He’s super strong, super fast, super nice, and who else shows up and always gets people to say “look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane…?” But as much as I like this old school thing, I realize that it also limits plotlines. He’s so strong and fast, [and free of significant emotional baggage] that there’s only a few conceivable ways to take him out. Kryptonite (a real favorite), blocking the sun (which I think they tried in the terrible Superman IV), threatening Lois Lane, or coming up with some alien/freak that’s even stronger than him (which DC Comics did when they came up with the Doomsday character that “killed” Superman in the comics…for a month).

So I guess it’s safe to say that I wanted to see the movie because I wanted to see how they would update Superman for today’s generation. I thought the movie did a good job of updating Superman in certain ways (the S on his chest has a more contemporary look and texture?), but it also didn’t shy away from the obvious “old school” aspects, like how no one seems to recognize the Clark Kent resemblance or how Superman manages to have a little “Superman curl” in his hair. Still, I thought the plot was a little illogical (even for comic book movies) in certain parts and the movie dragged a little at the end. I think Bryan Singer is good at trying to make superheroes more human in terms of emotion (see: X-Men, X-Men 2) and this movie seemed almost overly sappy at times. Some other general notes:

- There were some nerds lined up at the theater with Superman t-shirts, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I guess I’m a nerd too, but I don’t have a t-shirt.
- The airplane scene was pretty neat.
- James Marsden is going to start getting typecast as the good guy who has the girl, but really doesn’t have the girl. He’s really taking that role to new levels. Like for instance, he’s not only a good looking, cool, nice, understanding boyfriend for Lois Lane, he’s even a good airplane pilot, which of course only sets up the dialogue where Lois tells Superman “Richard [Marsden] takes me flying all the time” to which Superman [of course] replies “Not like this.” This is, of course, followed by Superman taking Lois up above the clouds. Superman 1, James Marsden 0.
- I was glad to see a minority, Kal Penn (Kumar of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) in a somewhat prominent role in the movie, but it turns out he has almost zero lines during his screen time.
- My friend Jason kept saying that he didn’t like Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, but I think she was ok, mainly because I think Lois Lane shouldn’t be a super stunning actress. She’s got to match Superman, who isn’t supposed to be a super stunning looking guy. They both just have to look better than average, and Superman can’t be fat because of the tights.

- Totally random, and I know it’s a joke, but I’m slightly annoyed at how Shaq has all the Superman stuff and thinks he’s like Superman. He’s just a 34 year old who plays basketball for a living.

- I read that the guy who plays Superman, Brandon Routh, won a hundred bucks for the best Halloween costume a couple years ago.  He dressed as Superman (before he got the role).  I wonder how the 2nd place person feels now.  I figure he either is proud to only come in 2nd, or he feels like he should have won the hundred bucks.
- I got to see the “bulletproof scene” in full today. It was pretty awesome. See, these bad guys had this huge machine gun on top of a building and were shooting at cops. Then Superman lands on the roof. The bad guy with the gun turns and shoots at Superman, and all the bullets ricochet off him as he walks towards the gun. Then the bad guy pulls out his own handgun and shoots Superman, only to have the bullet crumple as it hits Superman’s face (his eye actually). Then Superman grins. If I directed that movie, that scene definitely would have been in there. Damn, to be bulletproof!
- I really like the theme song and the Superman/Lois flying song from the old Superman movies. The theme song is so old-school heroic and the flying song is actually really melodic and fitting for a flying sequence. Superman Returns sort of combined those two songs for the intro song, which was ok.

Currently Listening Superman Returns Main Theme see related

Thanks to Thomas and Susan, I got to go to my first Radiohead concert on Monday. I’ve actually always wanted to go to a Radiohead concert. I don’t even know all of their songs, and I don’t really know if I really like listening to their stuff that often (especially some of their newer stuff that is too abstract for me). Still, there’s no band like Radiohead in the sense that they are so popular, yet not reliant on the normal channels of popularity, like churning out radio-friendly singles. I like that they are celebrated for being innovators. It’s like they’ve managed to be both avant garde and popular, which is something I thought could never happen.

I was joking with my brother that I only knew about 4 of their songs. Still, I really enjoyed the sound that they put out. It’s really intricate.

Here was the setlist, just for reference:

1. There There
2. 2+2=5
3. 15 Step
4. Morning Bell
5. Kid A
6. Arpeggi
7. Videotape
8. The National Anthem
9. Nude
10. Down Is The New Up
11. Paranoid Android
12. All I Need
13. The Gloaming
14. You And Whose Army?
15. Idioteque
16. Bangers ‘N’ Mash
17. How To Disappear Completely

-Encore-

18. House of Cards
19. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
20. Just
21. Everything in it’s Right Place

-Encore2-

22. 4 Minute Warning
23. Lucky

Finally found a place to post this video.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

After doing hundreds of practice multiple choice questions, I took a break and read this blog. This blog was set up by a girl who took the California bar last summer. Because she took the same bar exam as me and the same prep course as me in the same location as me, her experiences are pretty similar to mine, and reading her blog is sort of a way of both assessing what’s happened so far and what’s going to happen next.

As I’ve read the blog so far, I’ve tried to figure out a few things:

(1) Whether I would find this person annoying in real life. On one hand, she’s not a full-fledged, type A-plus spaz case (she tries to make fun of them in her blog). But on the other hand, she demonstrates some spaztastic tendencies. Yelling at your husband because his father is coming to town to stay for a few days and angrily emailing your husband to refill the dogs’ water dishes aren’t signs of completely laid back, sane behavior.

(2) Whether this person passed with flying colors. Of course, this is impossible to know because if you pass, the bar never tells you how you did. They only tell you your actual percentages if you fail. Still, this person passed the first time, and she appears to be more dedicated (albeit more flip-out prone at this stage) than I am. In fact, my only consolation is that she wasted more time blogging about the bar than I do. Still, if she barely passed, that could be a problem.

(3) Whether she thinks wearing a t-shirt that says “The Bar Exam ruined my summer and all I got is this lousy t-shirt” is funny. It’s not.

(4) Whether she knows her dog is kind of ugly. I know it’s not the dog’s fault, but that’s how life is.

(5) Whether I’ll ever take the law seriously enough to participate in it. In this person’s blog, she posts email exchanges with friends about law-related stuff. That’s just something I can’t envision doing (which is probably why I didn’t have lots of friends in law school).

(6) Whether there is going to be a correlation between the pass rates of the 9am BARBRI class and the 130pm class. The BARBRI prep course is given at two time slots. The 9am slot is by far more popular, with an enrollment in the hundreds. The 130pm slot has an enrollment of a bit less than 100. This blogger was obviously a 9am person. For me, I love the 130 class. Obviously, waking up later is optimal, but it’s more than that. With a smaller enrollment, I don’t have to fight for parking spots. I also don’t have to sit, shoulder to shoulder, with people, or climb over a hundred people to get to my seat. But perhaps most importantly, I’ve noticed that the 130 people are a lot more fun to talk to than the 9am people. The 9am people talk about the bar all the time. A typical 9am conversation is as follows:

Person 1: “I feel so guilty! I only finished the first 72 [of 74] practice property MBE’s last night! I’m going to fail!”

Person 2: “It’s ok! It’s ok! I heard that one of my friend’s friends only did 70 out of 74 each night and he STILL passed!”

Person 1: “Really? Are you sure? Only 70? No way! You’re joking right? Ok…I feel better now. Anyway …did you get all of your grades yet? I’m sooo frustrated about my grade in trusts and wills!”

Person 2: “Really? I aced it.”

Person 1: “Wow, that’s so great.” [with a facial expression that is the perfect combination of both sadness, anger, and jeolousy]
A typical 130pm discussion is on the World Cup, or a post-bar trip, or in the case of one person I know, explaining to me why he transferred out of the 9am section because “every person I hated in law school was in that class.”

Obviously, the 9am people take it a lot more seriously, so it would make sense that their passage rate would be higher. Still, I’d love to know if the 130 people have a similar passage rate.

Ok, enough talking.

Currently Listening A Hundred Miles Off By The Walkmen Another One Goes By see related

Ok, so now that South Korea has been eliminated from the World Cup, I’m going to openly admit that I’m glad about it. Koreans in L.A. were bugging the hell out of me. After the last world cup, so many Korean people suddenly thought that their team was the best in the world (it’s not) and they had suddenly managed to make soccer a completely Korean-centric sport (it’s not).

It also really bothered me that a lot of Korean fans didn’t know anything about soccer. It just kills me to see people pretend to understand something. Here’s an example: Korea played Switzerland today. Korea needed to win in order to advance to the next round, but lost 2-0. A disputed call allowed Switzerland to score their second goal in the 77th minute. When I saw that happen, I knew Koreans would be complaining that the referees stole the World Cup from them. Take this entry from an anonymous Korean’s blog entry today:

EXPLAIN TO ME HOW A OFFSIDE FLAG GOES UP, EVERYONE BUT ONE PERSON STOPS PLAYING, AND THEY ALLOW THE GOAL? THATS LIKE A FREE THROW SHOOTER WALKING UP TO THE BASKET AND DUNKING THE BALL.

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After watching the match, any person who understands soccer would know that (a) Switzerland dominated the game and deserved to win, (b) the call wasn’t necessarily wrong and (c) even if the second goal wasn’t allowed, Korea would have had to score 2 goals in the last 13 minutes of the game…and they scored NONE.

Seriously, I was cheering hard for the US, and they got a terrible call against them in their last game. Compared to the call in the Korea game, the call against the US was a more egregious refereeing mistake and arguably happened at a worse time in the game for the US. Still, I’m not going to go around telling people that the US is one of the best teams. They really weren’t good enough to advance from their group this time, and I can admit that.

By the way, I realize that not all Korean fans are soccer posers, but it seems like most of them are. I’ve got a theory on how intense Korean “pride” and nationalism is just a natural result of an inherent inferiority complex, but I’ll just keep that to myself.

Future Prediction for this blog entry: Comments (0)

There seems to be a general slowdown in blogging recently, and I guess I’m no different (except for the hairy pitted Peking duck experience. Here’s an update of other stuff:

Brother’s Graduation

My brother graduated from kolage. For those of you who don’t know, the most memorable part of my graduation from UCLA was that the announcer called me “Christopher George Lee” even though I clearly wrote that my last name rhmes with “eye.” Damn that pissed me off. Anyway, my brother didn’t suffer the same problem. His name was pronounced correctly. Of course it was. Only that kind of thing happens to me. I did note that there was one graduate this year whose name was Christopher John Lee. I looked his name up in the program. Don’t worry, Lee’s his real name.

Being Ultra-Focused

My brother also told me that some people without ADHD take ADHD medication in order to help them focus more for studying. That idea totally blew my mind. Although I’m sure there is some sort of negative side-effect, I couldn’t help but wonder how those drugs could make you concentrate more. I really want to know - how does it feel to be “ultra-focused?” I envisioned a scene where a guy would be studying intently, amongst crying babies, marching bands, scantily clad women sunbathing, two army battalions shooting machine guns at each other, and two lions mauling a gazelle. All the while, the guy would be reading intently, turning the pages of his book…with his mind. It must be incredible to be ultra-focused.

Bar Exam Update

The bar exam worries are starting to materialize. The good news is that I definitely know more things than I did a month ago. The bad news is that I don’t know enough yet. I’m starting to realize that one problem here is that you never really will feel like you are ready. There are always going to be things that you won’t get to - something that was last tested on the 1982 bar, like the secret profit rule of promoters. Sure, they have diagnostics to gauge your performance, but all it takes is an essay or two on a subject that you didn’t get down pat, and all of a sudden, they own you.

Illnesses

Sorry to hear that some people have been sick. I think I’ve been slightly under the weather/not 100%. I can tell because I’ve been getting some headaches and my stomach makes weird noises more often than usual. I also really enjoy sneezing. Does anyone else know what I’m talking about when I say this? I know I’m not totally right when I feel like my sneezes are unstoppable and feel more satisfying than usual.

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I also saw some billboards recently that advertise for cemeteries. One was a silver haired, bearded guy who was looking over his right shoulder while seated in his vintage automobile. The caption was “For a place as unique as I am. Rose Hills.” Another was an old guy on a tricycle, doing a trick, and the caption was “I’m going out in style. - Forest Lawn.” Obviously, I don’t take anything seriously, so there was no way in hell I could take these seriously. I know it’s tough to advertise for something so morbid, but I came up with a few of my own:

- One would be a scene of some grave looters beginning to dig a hole, right next to a Forest Lawn sign. the caption would be “At Rose Hills, this kind of thing won’t happen.” Next to that caption would be a “cemetery guard” in a tank.

- One would have two pictures. The one on the left would be the view of the gravesite, and the one on the right would have a view of the 5 Interstate during rush hour. The caption would be “give him the view that he’s always wanted, forever. Rose Hills.”

- In another two picture shot, the left would be of middle aged guy sitting in his living room, counting the money he saved by getting a cheap burial plot. The right picture would be of a ghost of his mother in law crossing her arms and staring at him disapprovingly. The caption would be “Don’t be a cheapass. - Rose Hills.”

- One would have a funeral scene, with a shocked and angered grieving family. Next to them would be a casket, sitting atop a predug hole that was about a foot too short. The caption would be the “At Rose Hills, this won’t happen.”

- One would be of three gardeners with their tools. The caption would either be “Our gardeners are top notch” or “We won’t let the worms get you. Rose Hills.”

The other day, for Fathers Day, we had dinner at a Lu Din Gee Restaurant, a place in San Gabriel that specializes in Peking Duck. They take it so seriously that you have to call in the day before to both place a reservation for a table and to order your ducks.

Here’s the duck. It definitely was prepared more delicately than at most places, but I think part of the difference was that I wasn’t used to eating Peking Duck with full pancake-type wrappers. I’m used to the bread/bun type wrapper, which I assume is not as high class.

The place is so famous that Martin Yan (from Yan Can Cook) went there too.

The place was so authentic that even the woman server had really hairy pits!

This is so damn funny. [Edit: This match actually happened in real life in the World Cup.]

You know one thing I don’t understand? Is there really such thing as a bad pun? How do you distinguish between a bad one and a good one? I’ve never heard anyone say “that’s a good pun.” People either laugh or they say “that’s terrible.” Some people do both. I’m only asking because a recent Barbri lecturer used some puns in his lecture.
Also, the phrase “That’s so punny” doesn’t make sense right?

I’m clearly in the correct frame of mind for the bar exam.

When I first read this article, as a non-religious person, I thought it was kind of funny. Then I realized it probably doesn’t mean anything since if God existed, he probably wouldn’t waste his energy on saving someone as dumb as this guy.

Lioness in Zoo Kills Man Who Invoked God

Mon Jun 5, 8:31 AM ET

KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.

“The man shouted ‘God will save me, if he exists’, lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions,” the official said.

“A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.”

The incident, Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an “animal island” protected by thick concrete blocks.