A Life After Law School

Now that I've slapped the New York Bar Exam on the ass, and I am a real lawyer, Im going to use this blog to demonstrate the humor in life, to get a jump on all the non-law-related things I want out of life, and to prove once and for all that YES, THERE IS A LIFE AFTER LAW SCHOOL!

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Free Country? PSSSSHHhhhaw!
















We have come a long way since the time of Dorothy and Toto! The wonderful state of Kansas has passed a law prohibiting virtually ALL sexual activity by teenagers under 16, regardless of whether the teens "consent". According to the Kansas legislature, children aged 16 and under are incapable of consent.











Now, the big debate is whether health care providers and counselors will be required to rat out the juvenile delinquents. How many of you, my dear readers, would have been law breakers, if YOU grew up in Kansas under this law?

Even worse, what if Steve Alexander, assistant attorney general, were your father?
"Illegal sexual activity by minors can lead to S.T.D.'s, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, depression, mental illness," Mr. Alexander said. "To pretend otherwise is foolish." He said the case was in essence a challenge to the law barring consensual sex between young people of a similar age, which he called "a policy argument that plaintiffs would be better served making in the Legislature." (NY Times)

Uh, Mental Illness? Do you know anyone who has gone crazy because they had sexual contact before they were 18? Me neither. In fact, I think there are more documented cases of people who aren't getting any that go crazy! You know, the lady that lived in your neighborhood when you were growing up who was single all her life and had like 26 cats! SHE is the one we should worry about. Not the what the captain of the highschool football team and his beautiful cheerleader girlfriend do in his his Dad's Landrover on Saturday night.

Priorities, people!

Monday, January 30, 2006

BOOTLEGGERS BUSTED

Hey, Im not one to promote stereotypes, I just report it as I see it. To quote the ever observant and philosophical Jay-Z:
Got this Chinese chick, had to leave her quick'
Cause she kept bootleggin my shit - man

Variety has reported that $50,000 bootlegged discs were seized in New York just recently. Can you guess which neighborhood? Full story here.
















Come on, doesn't anyone have respect for copyrights and trademarks anymore? Does it really kill us to pay full price for a movie ticket? Yes, it does! Actors and Actresses get paid too much money, and we, Jane and Joe Moviegoer, are continually disappointed with hollywood flops! Besides the "Five dolla baby turtle" business isn't gonna keep the street lights burnin bright canal street, ya know?

While the US fights terrorism, China has its priorities in tact: focus on intellectual property rights! Thats a country after my own heart!

"China claims it is making progress in the war against piracy, citing 3,250 criminal prosecutions for violating intellectual property rights rules in the first 11 months of 2005, up 28% on the same period in 2004." (Variety)


Don't fear, friends, the bootleggers are like roaches: You can't kill them all, and they're are more of them than you could ever imagine.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Stop falling in love with me!




















I have always felt subliminal messages from the millions of men around the world, including Entourage's Jeremy Piven pictured above, that are mercilessly trying to seduce me with their minds! Finally, NOW I have some acknowledgment from the judicial system! I am the victim here!

The Smoking Gun has reported that a New Mexico Judge has signed a restraining order preventing David Letterman from subliminally seducing a Santa Fe woman:














"'Dave responded to my thoughts of love, and, on his show, in code words & obvious indications through jestures and eye expressions, he asked me to come east,' she explained. A coded marriage proposal would follow, added Nestler, when Letterman announced on a show promo, "Marry me Oprah." The name Oprah, Nestler reported, "had become my first of many code-names." Letterman's lawyers Monday filed an expedited motion to quash Judge Sanchez's ill-advised restraining order."

WORDS OF WARNING TO THE FOLLOWING WHO ARE CURRENTLY ATTEMPTING TO SEDUCE ME:
1. Fred Durst: I let you kiss me once, but that's all there was between us. MOVE ON!
2. Snoop Dogg: You're a great dancer, but you lied when you said I was your "favorite girl". I can't trust you!
3. Will Ferrel: You're married baby, call me when you drop that bad habbit!
4. Jeremy Piven: Stay the hell away from.....ah screw it, meet me in Brooklyn at 9 o'clock!

Friday, January 20, 2006

I am white.

And Murphy Brown, might be related to Larry Brown.

I attended the Knicks game last night at Madison Square Garden, to watch my home team, the Detroit Pistons, teach former coach, Larry Brown a lesson in poor decision making.

Our seats were great, thanks to my roomate's boyfriend who has a cool job, and we were directly behind all the rich people/ celebrities. My friends were eagerly pointing out the famous elbows we were virtually rubbing.

"Look, its Q-Tip", my roomate said.
"Hey, look, there's Fat Joe", exclaimed her boyfriend.

"That's Spike Lee in front of us", noted cousin Tom.

Then, I made my embarassingly enthusiastic, and glaringly caucasian observation:
"Look, isn't that Candice Bergen of the hit tv show, Murphy Brown?"















Yes, folks, unfortunately, that is how my mind works.

It should be noted that Candice Bergen had better seats than John McEnroe, which means her real name must be Murphy Brown, and that she must be the long lost sister of Knicks coach, Larry Brown, because she certainly doesn't have any pull anymore from her MB days and bit roles in movies such as Sweet Home Alabama!

Ok, so she's on Boston Legal, but real lawyers don't watch fake lawyer shows, and everyone knows that James Spader is the coolest cast member on that show! She's older than the game of basketball itself, and her gleaming whitish-yellow feathered mullet certainly does not earn her a seat behind gorgeous Nia Long, best known for her role as Lisa on the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire!

Beyond Belief!

Check this out: Hollywood is Magic, and so are the drugs!

for once, Im speechless!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Night of Horrors

You have started to read, what will soon become your worst nightmare, it was for me, and I hope you never have to experience this ever in your lifetime!









When I was still living in my old apartment, the luxury building in Manhattan, which resembled a hotel that none of us can actually afford to stay in, I had an encounter with an alien from outerspace. Skeptics say I merely had a run-in with the New York City mascot, the cockroach (tied for the title with the ever popular Rat), but I tell a different story….

One evening, when I was spending the night alone in the apartment, because my roommates are infinitely cooler than me and actually have cool friends, boyfriends, and alternate places to sleep, I awoke a few hours into my evening slumber to take a pee. To this day I still scoff at the blasted apple juice box that set this entire travesty into motion.

I ventured to the bathroom, from my bedroom, drowsy, and angry that I had to interrupt my R-rated dream of Eddie Vedder to drain my annoying bladder. My eyes crusted with newly formed eye-goobers, and completely unadjusted to the light, I sat atop the potty, and dreamily glanced along the floor next to me at the rug in front of the shower. This rug, being a dark maroon color, appeared to have a lump, of the same shade upon it. I scratched my eyes, focused, and looked again, harder this time, and more intently, while I continued to dribble my relief into the bowl.

Suddenly, my brain caught up with my tired eyes, and I realized that I was staring at an obscenely gigantic half-roach, half-extinct-terradactyl, right there in my bathroom! It wiggled its antennae, while crooning its elongated neck from side to side looking for sleepy, urinating prey! My body did not allow my brain to process this revelation, and my legs sprung me into the air, dripping and naked from the waist down, into the living room, where I had to regroup, and devise a plan of action.













The first step was to jump into my rain galoshes which I keep conveniently next to my bedroom door. Now, wearing nothing but a tee shirt and green rubber boots, I stopped for a second to catch my breath, slow my racing heart, and think of how the hell I was going to fight this creature without a sword, shield, or any suitable armor.

I stretched my neck as far toward the bathroom as it would reach without moving my feet any closer, to make sure that my enemy was still there. It was. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed my sword and shield substitutes: Tongs and a dust pan. These would have to do.

I tip-toed into the bathroom, so that this thing would be caught off guard when I arrived to destroy him, but when I came to my destination, I became paralyzed with fear. What if I squashed him, and he squirted out millions of baby tarradactyls that ran all over the place and infested my home??? “Oh God”, I whispered, “give me strength”. I lunged forward with one leg raised, intending to bring my foot heavily upon the thing, but I moved too slowly, and apparently, I was not the only one with a plan of action.

The beast, ran right past my bare, booted ass, and into the living room, where it stopped, cornered, between the Will Ferrel DVD and the TV stand. “Its now or never Talia”, I said to myself, upon realizing that his only means of egress beyond this would be into my room, in which case I would lose track of it altogether and have to evacuate to a hotel, STAT!

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and jumped, landing directly upon it, before it could contemplate it’s next move. I felt the crunch below my foot, as if I had stepped on one of those disgusting cough drops with the liquid in the middle. Horrified, I removed my boot from the debris, and gazed upon the oozing remains of the beast. With the tongs, I held the dustpan, and swept the carcass inside. With one hand, I threw on some shorts and carried the whole contraption down the hall to the trash room where I laid it to rest eternally.

I had survived, unscathed, with only a wet leg to report as a casualty. Never again, will I drink an apple juice box before bed.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Anything to be famous.......

and it works!

Read about the guy that takes fake dead pics of himself all in the name of fame HERE on my other blog, According to Talia. The most troubling aspect is that this guy's story appeared in Today's New York Times! His lame/ creepy pictures have actually gotten him his 15 minutes of fame. Where the hell have I been? I have a camera and a dream too!

He's not even remotely attractive! Is the internet viewing public 65% Blind? I would actually rest easy if you could assure me that a majority of his hits come from people who were hoping to fulfill sick necrophellia desires, rather than people actually interested in some middle aged, dodge caravan driving, freako with a jones for celebrity status!

Moral of the story: Mild retardation + equally challenged wife (or trained monkey)+ camera and PC= key to the world!
CRAP

Friday, January 13, 2006

A Coloring Book for Lawyers

I got this in an e-mail today and I thought it was FANTASTIC!! I don't know who created this, but whoever it was, deserves a HIGH FIVE!









THE COLORING BOOK FOR LAWYERS





















THIS IS ME. I am a lawyer. Lawyers are important. They go to important offices and do important things. Color my underpants important.























THIS IS MY SUIT. Color it grey or I will lose my job.






























THIS IS MY TRAIN. It takes me to my office every day. You meet lots of interesting people on the train. Color them all grey.






THIS IS MY ELEVATOR. It takes me way up high. People who are not lawyers stand right next to me in the elevator. They are all right, but I would not want my daughter to marry one of them.

THIS IS MY DESK. It is mahogany. Important people have mahogany desks. My walls are mahogany, too. I wish I were mahogany.

THIS IS MY TELEPHONE. It has five buttons. Count them. One, two, three, four, five. Five buttons. How many buttons does your phone have? Mine has five.

THIS IS THE SENIOR PARTNER. He hates me. He calls me bad names, but he gives me lots of raises. My wife calls him "Papa".

THIS IS MY WIFE.

THIS IS MY SECRETARY. I hate her. She is mean. I used to have a soft, round lady.

THIS IS A CLIENT. He smells bad. He has money to spend. I like him.

THIS IS MY FIRM'S LUNCHROOM. Sometimes I walk through it and smile at the staff. "Hello, staff," my smile says, "I am one of you." I never eat there.

THIS IS MY PILL. It is round. It is pink. It makes me not care. Watch me take my round, pink pill.... and not care.

THIS IS MY SIGNATURE. It is big. It is hard to read. Some people have little signatures that are easy to read. They never make over a thousand a week.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

New Yorkers are Stupid Drunks





In re Integrated Beverage Group Ltd., Petitioner-Appellant, v New York State Liquor Authority.

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division for the first department has concluded that New Yorkers are too stupid to decipher the difference between alcoholic products and non-alcoholic products. The court upheld the judgment of the Supreme Court, New York County, entered on or about December 27, 2004, which denied the petition of the Integrated Beverage Group to annul the State Liquor Authority's determination denying petitioner's application to register proposed labeling for three malt beverage products.

The product in question, "Freaky Ice"

"(characterized on the labels as a "malt beverage with natural flavors") is intended to be consumed when frozen solid, which is unusual for alcoholic beverages. Like many ice treats appealing to children, "Freaky [*2]Ice" is packaged in packets, from which a person apparently extrudes the frozen product to consume it. The product comes in three different fruit flavors (Passion Cocktail, Cherry Fusion, and Lemon Stinger). Although the "Freaky Ice" labels indicate that the product contains alcohol, and should not be sold or served to children, the SLA accurately noted that this warning is set forth in 'small type."

Apparently drawing from their own mild retardedness which impairs their ability to read and associate alcoholic beverages with adults only, the SLA decided to do the world a favor and protect humankind one evil beverage at at time by banning the sale of this devil product in New York.

Besides, if you were getting confused as to whether these were innocent kiddie pops or mind altering grown-up mouth tasties, you could always ask this super serious, scantily-clad helper, who apparently comes with every Freaky Ice display:


















Are these people just straight up MEAN? Do they despise all things fun and tasty? What could possibly be funner and more delicious than a pop cicle that gets you drunk? Maybe brownies that make you hallucinate? Next thing you know, some Natzi is going be taking those off the market!

special thanks to Tony for making this post possible :p

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

That was MY IDEA!

Read this article from today's New York Times: Korn Sells a Stake in Itself, as Its Partners Try to Find a New Way to make Pop Music Pay.



















Ok, so maybe it wasnt MY idea per se, but its definately an idea that I have been advocating for the past two years, and about which I even wrote an article in 2004.

(I'll upload MYarticle shortly, for your reading enlightenment). I highly suggest you read it, and not just to show you how smart I am! :)

The idea Im speaking of is that of the recording artist joint venture agreement, whereby the publishers and/or the promoters, the record label, etc, become partners with the recording artists, and share ALL profits and revenues evenly, instead of the traditional recording agreement where the major label makes all the money and the artist, with a platinum album, sees NADA and still eats ramen noodles!

It doesn't take a genius to realize that all the revenue is generated in merchandise and promotion deals, so it makes sense to get everyone on board in a more equal business model to counter act the inherent inequities.

I must credit Donald Passman and his almighty bible entitled All You Need to Know About the Music Business. I must also credit EMI Music Publishing, where I worked in the royalties and label support department and found out first hand how little funds went to the hard working artists, and how much goes right back to the all powerful and ever so greedy record labels!

















This is a big idea, and as an entertainment lawyer, a huge opportunity to step in and advocate for our clients, whomever they may be!

Monday, January 09, 2006

Lawyers are entertaining, says FOX

According to Variety, FOX has picked up a new show about the most entertaining people in the world- LAWYERS!

"Fox has ruled in favor of the legal drama pilot 'Damages,' "........."'Damages,' from scribe Jonathan Lisco, revolves around "the pathology and personal hazards" lawyers face in juggling their career and personal lives."

Uh, I would say that "personal hazards" just about sums it up. They want drama? They should set the story in law school when the real f'd up stuff happens- oh hey wait, thats how Im gonna make MY millions!

I can picture it now, you follow two separate characters, one male one female, from two complete separate walks of life.

Suzie, homemaker from Iowa becomes Suzie homewrecker, having slept with 8 of the 10 male students in her legal writing section.

Arnie, the uptight, overachieving rich kid from Connecticut, fails his first year contracts exam and after an audible confession to himself that he was the one who broke into the dean's office to try to change his grades commits suicide from the top floor of the law library, where....

coincidentally Suzie happens to be "doing the nasty" with her Super Hot, and married Civ Pro professor, and they both witness the whole thing.

Total dilemma!: Do they fess up to doin it on the roof to help investigating authorities, or do they keep quiet because Hottie prof is up for tenure, and Suzie just might make law review????


Stay tuned.......dun dun dun........

Thursday, January 05, 2006

My Observation Of...........

The Warlock
war-lock
n. A male witch, sorcerer, wizard, or demon.

















There is this fellow that hangs out on the corner of my street who we have named “The Warlock.” He is basically an enigma, as most of the street population is to me anyway. This man is out before sunrise, but disappears at sunset. He is always located in the exact same spot on the sidewalk, rain or shine, nestled up next to the side of the Mexican market on the corner.

His vehicle: A shopping cart.
His attire: A black cloak (much like that of the grim reaper, which was his first nickname, till we failed to connect him to any deaths in the neighborhood)
His wares: He sets up a small end table and chair next to his shopping cart. On the table he neatly and meticulously displays various used books, tiny vials of scented oils (aka poisons), and sometimes multiple issues of popular magazines such as US Weekly and People!
His purpose: as yet unknown, but he is certainly consistant. His presence is more regular and and dependable than the results of a high fiber diet.

My observation: Hey, if playing pretend yard sale dressed in your Halloween costume every day makes you happy, and if you have the means to do that which makes you happiest, then right on brother! I dedicate this song to you.