Sunday, May 25, 2008
Character is what you do when you don't think anyone is watching
A while back, Nick Bollea (better known as Hulk Hogan's son) was sentenced to eight months in jail for reckless driving after an accident caused by Bollea's high-speed antics critically injured his friend John Graziano, a passenger in the car, and an Iraq war veteran. At his sentencing, when the judge was contemplating how much jail time to hand out, Bollea emotionally apologized to the Graziano family for what he had done to their son, and Hogan spoke on his behalf as well.
This week, taped conversations from jail suggest maybe remorse wasn't all he was feeling.
This week, taped conversations from jail suggest maybe remorse wasn't all he was feeling.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
You have the right to an attorney - unless...
When might a defendant not have the right to have an attorney appointed for him?
Well, according to a Minnesota Appeals Court - when he beats the crap out of his previous court appointed lawer in front of the judge and jury. Mark Groettum, a deputy public defender in St. Louis County, Minnesota, was trying to defend William Lehman on charges of assault and terroristic threats. Lehman was unsatisified with his attorney's efforts, and asked the court for a mistrial and a new attorney, requests the judge denied. So, when the jury was back, Lehman took a different tack, attacking Groettum and punching him repeatedly until deputies hauled him off. The judge's response to this was to remove Groettum as Lehman's attorney, and instead of declaring a mistrial, forced Lehman to represent himself for the remainder of the trial. Lehman, in one of the legal world's less surprising developments, was convicted of all counts. On appeal, while the Court of Appeals agreed that forcing a defendant to defend himself was about as extreme a step as one could take, allowing defendants to get out of trials that were going badly by attacking their lawyers was even worse, and upheld the judge's decision to force Lehman to go it alone.
One wonders if Lehman had gotten a new trial, and it started to look bad for him, whether he would have figured out the problem didn't lie with lawyer so much as with the guy sitting next to him.
Minnesota v. Lehman may be read here.
Tip - Arbitrary and Capricious.
Well, according to a Minnesota Appeals Court - when he beats the crap out of his previous court appointed lawer in front of the judge and jury. Mark Groettum, a deputy public defender in St. Louis County, Minnesota, was trying to defend William Lehman on charges of assault and terroristic threats. Lehman was unsatisified with his attorney's efforts, and asked the court for a mistrial and a new attorney, requests the judge denied. So, when the jury was back, Lehman took a different tack, attacking Groettum and punching him repeatedly until deputies hauled him off. The judge's response to this was to remove Groettum as Lehman's attorney, and instead of declaring a mistrial, forced Lehman to represent himself for the remainder of the trial. Lehman, in one of the legal world's less surprising developments, was convicted of all counts. On appeal, while the Court of Appeals agreed that forcing a defendant to defend himself was about as extreme a step as one could take, allowing defendants to get out of trials that were going badly by attacking their lawyers was even worse, and upheld the judge's decision to force Lehman to go it alone.
One wonders if Lehman had gotten a new trial, and it started to look bad for him, whether he would have figured out the problem didn't lie with lawyer so much as with the guy sitting next to him.
Minnesota v. Lehman may be read here.
Tip - Arbitrary and Capricious.
How not to get out of a ticket...
A passenger in a car pulled over for a routine traffic stop calls 911 and reports a robbery nearby, hoping the officer will get called away before ticketing the driver.
What, feigning going into labor was too complex a plan?
What, feigning going into labor was too complex a plan?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
All I need to know about life I learned from TV...
The new leading contender for how I want to be remembered when I die now involves a giant straw effigy filled with fireworks placed outside the local big box hardware store.
Tip - Reaper.
Tip - Reaper.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Greatness is not appreciated in its time. Neither, apparently, is suckiness.
A collection of poems from a poet identified as the World's Worst Poet is going up for auction, and bidding is expected to be similar to what a signed first edition of Harry Potter.
An example of William McGonagall's poetry is in the above story:
An example of William McGonagall's poetry is in the above story:
"So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,It holds up all right, compared to say, a Vogon, or perhaps another famous poet named William.
"Until it was about midway,
"Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
"And down went the train and passengers into the Tay."
Narnia 2: Electric Boogaloo
Saw a sneak preview of Prince Caspian last night - excellent movie. If you're a big fan of the book, you should know the movie takes a few liberties. The film begins with the birth of Miraz' son, there's an attack on Miraz' castle that just basically substitutes for Caspian's guerilla war, and when they meet, Peter and Caspian engage in a douche-off over who's actually in charge. There are a few more It all works, though - the cast is mostly very good - in addition to the kids, Peter Dinklage is great as Trumpkin and Eddie Izzard has Reepicheep's combination of swagger and chivalry down to a T. (Reepicheep may be my favorite character in the whole series.) On the critical side, the guy who plays Caspian struck me as adequate at best, and everyone who played a centaur acted like a Vulcan with hooves.
The political intrigue of Miraz' supporters is also done with more depth than I'd have expected - Glozelle and Sopespian are portrayed differently in the film than they are in the book, but their importance to the plot is given fair weight, even though they are neither the Penvesie children, nor a talking animal. The religious symbolism is still there, of course - Lucy's part of the film is essentially a study of the nature of faith, but as the The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, anyone who doesn't want a religious message in their movie should have no trouble enjoying the sword fights and the talking animals.
You probably have to be a huge fan of the books to prefer it to Iron Man, but Prince Caspian is a very good movie, although hopefully Ben Barnes takes a few action hero classes before filming starts on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which in my humble opinion, is the best book in the series.
The political intrigue of Miraz' supporters is also done with more depth than I'd have expected - Glozelle and Sopespian are portrayed differently in the film than they are in the book, but their importance to the plot is given fair weight, even though they are neither the Penvesie children, nor a talking animal. The religious symbolism is still there, of course - Lucy's part of the film is essentially a study of the nature of faith, but as the The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, anyone who doesn't want a religious message in their movie should have no trouble enjoying the sword fights and the talking animals.
You probably have to be a huge fan of the books to prefer it to Iron Man, but Prince Caspian is a very good movie, although hopefully Ben Barnes takes a few action hero classes before filming starts on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which in my humble opinion, is the best book in the series.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Updates on stuff...
In January, a man was arrested after he posted a video on Youtube of himself and a buddy waving guns and daring the police to come and get them.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms found after the police called his bluff. He claimed everything was a big misunderstanding, and he meant no harm. The judge was less than impressed.
In an interesting update for the three of you who saw the movie "Alpha Dog" - (which was actually pretty good), the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prosecutor Ron Zonen would be allowed to prosecute Jesse James Hollywood on capital murder charges. Zonen had been removed from the case by an appeals court following his consulting with the makers of "Alpha Dog" on the details of the case.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms found after the police called his bluff. He claimed everything was a big misunderstanding, and he meant no harm. The judge was less than impressed.
In an interesting update for the three of you who saw the movie "Alpha Dog" - (which was actually pretty good), the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prosecutor Ron Zonen would be allowed to prosecute Jesse James Hollywood on capital murder charges. Zonen had been removed from the case by an appeals court following his consulting with the makers of "Alpha Dog" on the details of the case.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Break out the steel cage...
A war of words is breaking out over the movie Recount, an HBO movie about how the evil Bush forces took advantage of the Gore team's excessive decency and fair play and stole the 2000 election.
No, I haven't seen it. It's a guess.
My actual point is this - apparently former Secretary of State Warren Christopher is taking issue with how is portrayed in the movie (apparently as a bit of a wuss), and is taking on the film's screenwriter, one Danny Strong.
Yes, that Danny Strong.
Warren Christopher, once the face and voice of American diplomacy worldwide, is trying to start something with Jonathan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm going to call Jonathan in this one - he's got a history with people named "Warren."
(Note - the above only applies to the "Superstar" version of Jonathan. Regular Jonathan would probably get his tail kicked.)
No, I haven't seen it. It's a guess.
My actual point is this - apparently former Secretary of State Warren Christopher is taking issue with how is portrayed in the movie (apparently as a bit of a wuss), and is taking on the film's screenwriter, one Danny Strong.
Yes, that Danny Strong.
Warren Christopher, once the face and voice of American diplomacy worldwide, is trying to start something with Jonathan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm going to call Jonathan in this one - he's got a history with people named "Warren."
(Note - the above only applies to the "Superstar" version of Jonathan. Regular Jonathan would probably get his tail kicked.)
Monday, May 12, 2008
Could have knocked me over with a feather...
A while ago, there was a news story about man charged in a robbery in Texas who was allegedly shot by the victim. Nothing terribly unusual, except for this one thing - the defendant had a bullet in his head, and the police initially got a search warrant to remove the bullet from his head.
The defendant was quite adamant that he was innocent - he was accidentally shot by a friend and he totally wanted the bullet out because it would prove he was innocent, he just wouldn't agree to the surgery because the cops were jerks. Remember that guy?
Incredibly, it turns out he did it.
I know. I'm stunned too.
The defendant was quite adamant that he was innocent - he was accidentally shot by a friend and he totally wanted the bullet out because it would prove he was innocent, he just wouldn't agree to the surgery because the cops were jerks. Remember that guy?
Incredibly, it turns out he did it.
I know. I'm stunned too.
Sue me, I liked it...
I thought Speed Racer was fun. We saw it on the IMAX this weekend, and even the crazy redhead liked it.
Is it as good as Iron Man? Of course not. But anyone who walked in expecting Speed Racer to meet that standard deserved to be disappointed. Iron Man is based on a comic book character who has a richly developed history sculpted by the finest comic book artists and writers in history. Speed Racer is based on a stupid cartoon that had the same plot for every single episode. (Remember the one where the future of civilization hinged on Speed winning a race against a diabolical opponent who wasn't above cheating by rigging his car with evil weapons? Also the stupid kid and monkey kept hiding in the trunk? Did you see that one?) Speed Racer was never going to compete as art - it just did OK as entertainment. It had its drawbacks - the cartoon style of the movie made the races hard to follow, especially the last one. Also, Spreidel and Chim-Chim win the "Jar Jar Binks Award" for being the characters who, could have improved the movie the most by having their screen time cut in half. That being said, it was an amusing use of a couple hours.
It also kind of came off as decent-sized middle finger to NASCAR and Indy Racing - since the villains were all rich corporate sponsors who were destroying the sport of auto racing. Every other racing movie in recent years has had real-world cameos (Cars and Talledega Nights both had NASCAR stars show up) - Speed Racer would have been ripe for an appearance from an open-wheel racer like Danica Patrick or Helio Castroneves, but in a movie that features corporate sponsors as the root of all evil, I don't think anyone was willing to sit for a lengthy meeting where the Wachowski brothers explain to Danica Patrick's sponsors that "No, we're not talking about you, of course." I'm not sure the kids in attendance picked up on that, however.
Not as good as Iron Man, way better than I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.
Is it as good as Iron Man? Of course not. But anyone who walked in expecting Speed Racer to meet that standard deserved to be disappointed. Iron Man is based on a comic book character who has a richly developed history sculpted by the finest comic book artists and writers in history. Speed Racer is based on a stupid cartoon that had the same plot for every single episode. (Remember the one where the future of civilization hinged on Speed winning a race against a diabolical opponent who wasn't above cheating by rigging his car with evil weapons? Also the stupid kid and monkey kept hiding in the trunk? Did you see that one?) Speed Racer was never going to compete as art - it just did OK as entertainment. It had its drawbacks - the cartoon style of the movie made the races hard to follow, especially the last one. Also, Spreidel and Chim-Chim win the "Jar Jar Binks Award" for being the characters who, could have improved the movie the most by having their screen time cut in half. That being said, it was an amusing use of a couple hours.
It also kind of came off as decent-sized middle finger to NASCAR and Indy Racing - since the villains were all rich corporate sponsors who were destroying the sport of auto racing. Every other racing movie in recent years has had real-world cameos (Cars and Talledega Nights both had NASCAR stars show up) - Speed Racer would have been ripe for an appearance from an open-wheel racer like Danica Patrick or Helio Castroneves, but in a movie that features corporate sponsors as the root of all evil, I don't think anyone was willing to sit for a lengthy meeting where the Wachowski brothers explain to Danica Patrick's sponsors that "No, we're not talking about you, of course." I'm not sure the kids in attendance picked up on that, however.
Not as good as Iron Man, way better than I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.
