Questions you hate to hear from your boss when she's reviewing your work:

You did take evidence....right?

Food for thought.

Articles keep saying that Lisa Tucker was voted off of American Idol last night. But that's not really true, is it? Since their voting system keeps the people with the most votes, it's not like people vote for the person they want to see go. So wouldn't the correct terminology be that Lisa Tucker failed to be voted onto American Idol last night?

Life of Lawyers

Our building has 2 elevators which face each other. This evening, my associate and I (2/3 of the firm if you're keeping track) happened to be leaving at the same time. As we waited for the elevator(s) to make it up to the 11th floor, I commented that the East elevator is significantly faster than the West. One of the things you notice in the morning when everything moves slower than dirt.

As luck would have it, both elevators opened on our floor. And my associate decided that we should race them. So like the grownups we are, we did.

And for the record, I was right. He took ethe East elevator and was already waiting on the ground floor while I was just passing the 2nd.

Oh, and we're professionals, so don't try this at home.

Music of the Moment

My new music love for the past few weeks has been The Fray. Love them. A couple of weeks ago, I was on their site and noticed they were coming to Indy. I didn't purchase tix at the time because I thought I'd have time since they're relatively unknown. Now they're sold out and I'm kicking myself. Figures.

Edited to add: If you don't know who The Fray are but watch Grey's Anatomy, you heard one of their songs on Sunday. During the second set of surgeries and while they were trying to save stalker chick's life they played The Fray's "How to Save a Life."

Better in Pictures

I must say, I'd get the Ace appeal if he still looked like this. As it is, this perplexed Jesus look is doing nothing for me.

Feel bad for hating Kellie Pickler?

Don't.

Prediction

As promised, my rankings of the Idols based on talent and based on how they will get voted off.

Talent (worst to best):
Kevin
Melissa
Taylor
Bucky
Kellie
Ace
Paris
Katherine
Lisa
Chris
Mandisa
Elliot

Way they will be voted off:
Melissa
Bucky
Kevin
Lisa
Katherine
Paris
Elliot
Taylor
Mandisa
Ace
Kellie
Chris

Looks good on you. And you. And you.

My sister was in Indy a couple of weekends ago to see a comedy show. She was supposed to be going with her husband and their friends, but her husband was in bed with a 102 degree fever so I had to stand in. [Note that the fever did not stop BIL from calling every half hour to check to see what stage we were in of our evening. Note that the fever did not stop BIL from making suggestions from his bed 60 miles away as to what restaurant we should eat in.] But my sis shows up to my apartment, and we find out we're wearing very similar green shirts. Since she and I look so much alike anyway, I debated changing so we weren't mistaken for twins the whole night. But I didn't.

After the show, I decided to drive her back to the Jesus Town so I could hang with the fam and go to church on Sunday. So I throw a couple of items in my overnight bag and we hop in the car.

Sunday morning (after entertaining my niece who had spent the night at my parents' house) I got ready for church and planned on arriving at the safe time of 3 minutes before the service starts. [Just in time as not to walk in during announcements, but not early enough that I have to speak to people who don't know I'm the daughter of the Church Administrator and who are zealously trying to convert me to the church.] I waltz in and head for our usual seating, only to notice that my sis, who is already in the row, is wearing the same color shirt. Not only the same color, she was wearing the same exact shirt. Which wouldn't have been so bad if the Dad didn't happen to be wearing the same color shirt as well. And I'm not talking blue, or black or a normal color. We were all wearing this burnt coral color.

After joking to the sis that she had to stop shopping at MY stores, I sat myself between them and prayed [we were in church] that no one noticed. It took all of 4 seconds for the people behind us to tap us on the shoulders, laughing, to point it out. And then I could hear them snorting and laughing for the next few minutes. It's funny how when you're in church, you forget that the people in front of you can hear everything you're saying. Luckily, these are church people who remember me and aren't trying to convert me, so I let them get by with it.

A few minutes into the service, the Mom has taken her place signing at the front. Which means she's facing into the crowd. I catch her eye for a minute, and she's holding back a chuckle as she signs to me "same shirt" and nods at us all.

And like the good sister I am, I demanded she go home and change before we went to lunch.

Idolic

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, it is my right, albeit my duty to point out when someone's opinion is ridiculously idiotic.

Some people on the American Idol boards are claiming that Kevin Covais is the next Josh Groban.

This belief is not only idiotic, but it is cruel. I keep getting the feeling that this is like a bad joke on him which he is not getting. Last week he thought he was the next sex symbol. This week, he's going to be thinking he'll be able to sell out concerts at $600 a ticket. Let the poor boy return to reality already.

In other Idol opinions, I don't have many. Read the recaplets at Television Without Pity which pretty much sum up my opinion as well. Still loving Elliot, even though he had a poor song choice. Taylor is still weirding me out and looked very much like he was having a seizure on live TV. He reminds me of a creepy guy that doesn't have many friends and probably dominates conversations regaling how fantastic he is with the friends he does have. Ill-impressed by the girls, with the exception of Mandisa. Pick Pickler is like every blonde joke, dumb southerner stereotype rolled into one. Paris can sing, but she's so young and juvenile that she's getting on my nerves.

Over the weekend I'll post my list of the 12 in order of most talent, and then my list in order of the way they'll be voted off.

What's your Life Theme Song?

I heard on the radio this morning that your life theme song is supposed to be the song that was number one on the charts on your 18th birthday. So I went to this nifty little site and checked mine out.

My Life Song is: "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. Great, a song about someone who's died and is shining down from heaven. That's uplifting.

Or on the British Charts: "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson.

And I always wondered why I love the Bee Gees, but now I have to wonder no more. "How Deep is Your Love" was number one the day I was born. Gotta love that.

Permission to Speak Clearly

Sometimes I just love the judiciary. Case in point, a Texas Bankruptcy Judge dismissed a Motion due to incomprehensibility and quoted Billy Madison in the Process.


The name of the Motion ruled upon: Defendant's Motion to Discharge Response to Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Response Opposing Objection to Discharge.

I love how the footnote tells counsel that s/he invited this ridicule.

Surveillance

Every once in a while, I post something which catches the eye of The Legal Underground and I managed to get linked in a law school roundup. Which is fabulous, because it tends to increas my traffic for a day. Or maybe 2. Until people come and find out that there's not much to see.

But when I check my sitemeter, it's always those who linked from Legal Underground which make me scared. Like the person who visited this morning from the United States Department of Defense in D.C. It just makes me a little nervous.

And for the record, I swear, I didn't look at the dude's ass.

Oscar Predix

This was a bad movie year, for me in particular. I have yet to see any of the movies which are nominated for Best Picture. Or I guess even Supporting Actor or Actress. Sad. But that doesn't stop me from having opinions. Therefore, I offer my predictions.

Best Actor
My Pick: Joaquin Phoenix. He was fabulous as Johnny Cash and in my opinion was robbed for Gladiator.
Who will win: Philip Seymour Hoffman. I haven't seen the film but from the fact that he's won countless awards and the short clips of it I have seen, he seems like a shoe-in.

Best Actress
My Pick: Reese Witherspoon. It's her year and time for people to see her seriously.
Who will win: Reese Witherspoon. Although the Academy has previously show they like to award the pretty who turn fugly (see Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts), I just don't think Felicity Huffman got enough exposure for Transamerica. Though I do love Felicity and my love dates back to Sports Night, not from Desparate Housewives.

Supporting Actor
My Pick: Jake Gyllenhaal. Since I haven't seen any of the films, I'm going with an actor I like. I think he's fabulous and should be recognized if not just for this film for all those indie films from years past.
Who will win: George Clooney. He's gotten so much exposure over the last year and everyone seems to love him right now.

Supporting Actress
My Pick: Michelle Williams. I must say, couldn't stand her on Dawson's Creek, but I've seen several clips of her performance and she wowed me. And after years of living in shadows, I'd like to see her overshadow Katie Holmes, even if just for a minute.
Who will win: Michelle Williams. I have nothing to substantiate this, just a gut feeling. (And although Heath is 3rd on the list of who I think will win Actor, wouldn't it just be so cute to see these two both win at the same time.)

Best Picture
My Pick: Since I haven't seen any of these films, I have no opinion.
Who will win: Crash. I think it's going to make a late surge and overshadow Brokeback. But just a guess.

Idol Chatter

Chuck asked for it, so here it goes. My opining of the XY group:

Ace: 1 word. Overrated. He absolutely butchered that song this week. I think he's this year's pretty boy that will go further than he should because people think he's cute. Nothing he has done so far has made me do anything other than yawn.

Kevin: Ok, seriously. Simon is right here. They need to stop stringing this poor dude along. They even have him thinking he is the next sex symbol. Please. Not that the guy doesn't have a girl fanbase, but he's no more the next sex symbol than Meatloaf would be.

Elliot: By far the best in the competition. That song had so much difficulty and yet he nailed it like he'd been doing it for years. I know people think his looks aren't "Hollywood" enough, but I think that's tough. He's actually the first singer in the history of Idol that may cause me to pick up the phone and vote so he doesn't get lost in the mix.

Chris: I like Chris. I think he's good at what he does. I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if he were the ultimate winner. But I still think he's cut out for a band. I think American Idol is geared at finding a stand alone, solo artist. And I don't think his type of music is cut out for that. He's not going to be able to pull off a career as an artist unless he has the band backing him up. I agree with someone on TWOP who says he should run from AI and find Fuel because they are presently without a lead singer. After he rocked the Fuel song this week, he'd be perfect. Probably my second fave at the moment.

Gedeon: Like his voice. Not sold on the personality.

Will: If he made better song choices he's show off his talent. I think vocally he has potential, but is easily overshadowed. He kinda reminds me of Donny Osmond and I think he needs to sing a song that will make me forget.

Bucky: Oh, Bucky. I give his voice a B. I just don't know what to think of him. The "aw shucks, I'm just a country boy" only goes so far. He just doesn't have any charisma which turns my head.

Taylor: Ok, this guy is odd. It's not that he has a different style or anything. He's just odd. I see him and think he should be going to work, not trying to live out the dream of becoming a star. I just don't see the "breath of fresh air" or anything other special about him. He honestly gives me the creeps.

David and Sway: David looked like he was in pain when he tried to sing. He physically had to shake to get his voice to vibrato. I always felt like his singing was so forced and would have loved to hear him just sing, instead of fashioning his voice the way he did. And Sway, never saw much of him, but think he was a victim of song choice. I cringed the first week and was ill impressed this week. He just didn't have any spark that was going to make him stand out. And now he's home.

I like big butts and I cannot lie.

I was walking back through the mall this afternoon carrying my Boloco burrito and minding my own business. All of the sudden, as I was passing this couple coming from the other direction, this woman reaches out to me, points to the guy she's with and says, "Hey, check out his ass when you walk past us."

Is it national look at someone else's ass day and I didn't know it? And who does that?

And I turned because I didn't think I heard her right, and she was probably thinking I really was looking at his ass. And I'll stop using the word ass now because I can just hear my mother's commentary on that point right now.

Lucas Oil Stadium?

Veto.