I'm Finished

Again, it's been over a month since I last blogged, and a few posts since I actually wrote anything, so first a little catch up.

Yes, I am finished! July 29th and 30th, 2008 were the two days I took the IL Bar Exam, and if I passed that most daunting of exams, I will officially be a licensed attorney in November. As for Day 1 of the exam, which was all essays, the morning had me pumped up as they were some of the easiest essay topics I could have asked for, but that afternoon had me freaked out. It's frustrating to spend a whole summer learning and memorizing 14 areas of law and inane acronyms, anticipating that the bar examiners could throw anything at you, including the impossibly confusing Secured Transactions, only to get a bunch of essays on the MBE topics (Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Real Property, Criminal Law, Evidence). Day 2 was the multiple choice. While I had done my fair share of practice problems over the course of the summer, it's still nearly impossible to say how it really went. It's a long wait until October to see how it went, and I'm trying not to think about it too much, but it's obviously a nerveracking wait.
I still can't believe I had to wait a week and a half to see The Dark Knight. The summer Batman Begins came out, I was going to every midnight screening I could (although I was also living in the suburbs with my mom so entertainment was short at hand), but thanks to the Bar Exam, I had to wait. Seeing it the night before the Bar Exam was not the great idea it seemed it would be. I had heard from a lot of people that one should unwind, relax, and distract one's self by catching a movie before the exam. When that was suggested, no one probably had a sold out show at the Navy Pier Imax in mind. It wasn't quite as bad as the time I watched Beatrix Kiddo get buried alive the day of my Poppy's funeral, but it probably ranks right under as one of my worst theater going experiences. And no, this does not reflect on the film, which I thought was very good, but not the masterpiece that some are claiming (Ah, if only I had a large readership who could flame me in my comments for not saying it's perfect). With all the commercials claiming, "It must be seen twice," what I like to think is that they mean, "You must see it twice if you saw it under a high stress situation seated next to a little girl who could not have been more than 2 years old who babbled endlessly and clapped every time the Joker was on screen while her brother rummaged through plastic bags next to you for ten minutes searching for snacks and a distraction because he was also too young to see the film and was scared." Please, leave the kids at home next time. I am the Batman.
Luckily, I've been able to stay pretty busy since taking the Bar Exam as I am now currently funemployed and my days are wide open. Even the day after, I went to my sister's law firm and picked up a small assignment. After spending a whole summer studying, it felt suprisingly light and easy and fortunately paid extremely well. Then, it was off to Lollapalooza for the weekend. I also am trying to avoid making comparisons to last year, because it at least felt like a let down, but I think that's a little unfair. It's easy to look back at last year and only think of the highs like dancing at Interpol or standing in the rain at Spoon and forget about the down times when this year also had its own share of highs and lows. Mark Ronson blew me away, Bloc Party reminded me that I forgot how enjoyable they are, Foals and Flogging Molly were energetic highlights, and Nine Inch Nails were a suprisingly fun way to end the festival by singing along to Hurt and jumping around to Head Like a Hole. While I claimed countless times that this might be my last year of the festival, we'll see if I can resist next year.
Yesterday I saw Pineapple Express. While it was really funny and James Franco was hilarious (so nice to see him in something good), it was definitely on the lower tier of Apatow productions. With another script by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, the heart of the film couldn't help but feel like a retread of Superbad, being about male comradare and friendship. With the announcement of Knocked Up, I was so excited to hear that Seth Rogen would be a Hollywood lead, but two years later, Rogen already seems to be overstaying his welcome with his limited range and annoying laugh. Again, I didn't hate the film. The first three quarters were really funny, but the last quarter simply fell apart by transforming into an action movie. I felt the film was trying to do what Hot Fuzz did so well and become a parody of action films with such over the top and cliche action, but the problem is with the direction. David Gordon Green grounds so much of the film in some semblance of reality, shooting the over the top action in a way that still makes the viewer wince and groan, that when Red gets shot for a third time, it's hard to know whether to just laugh and accept it, or roll your eyes at such implausability. Still, it was a good time at the movies.

Wrapping up, my time is honestly wide open right now expect for a short stint at CD City in 11 days where although I will be "working," my time will comprably be just as free. I'm thinking of doing something comprable to what I did when I was watching Skins and blogging every episode of a series, but can't decide what to do it with. If I can figure it out, I may add a poll (although I don't actually know if I have enough readers to actually vote) but in the running are Mad Men, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica.