300: Review

I have never reviewed a movie on this blog until now, and its been about 5 years since I last wrote a movie review (For the Red & White, my high school newspaper) so bear with me.
300 is a movie that is based off the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The story centers around the ancient battle of Thermopylae which pits the Greeks against the Persians around the year 480 BC. The Greeks, which in this case are the Spartans, are led by Spartan King Leonidas (Gerald Butler) who along with 299 of his country men go against the Persian King Xerses and his army of one million strong. The movie centers around Xerses sending thousands of his soldiers into a narrow pass where the Spartans lie in wait for their attack. Each wave of attack is repelled by the Spartans until the very last one.
The movie is more true to the graphic novel than the actual historical event. The cinematography of this movie is first rate as it is made in the same clothe as was Sin City. The movie is by no means of the imagination a historical movie or one that makes it think, it is purely testosterone fun. The action is intense and the violence is griddy that the viewer is foaming at the mouth wanting more. Although there are some scenes in this movie that are so boring you could fall asleep to, the action scenes make up that and then some. Not a great date movie, unless the girl loves to see limbs flying across the screen.
3.5/4 stars

Actors in Herpes Commercials: The Forgotten Victim

Herpes is a horrible disease which inflicts millions of people around the world. There are so many victims of this disease that pharmaceutical companies invest tens of millions of dollars in product research and design, production, and promotion of drugs set to battle herpes outbreak. The major drug designed to battle herpes outbreak and spread is the drug Valtrex. Like many products that are in the market place for sale there is the need to promote them to the general public that such a product exists. The main medium for promotion is the television commercial. The problem that lies in this newest crisis is the treatment that actors face after appearing in such commercials that promote Valtrex. Many of these actors do not in fact suffer herpes, but use their skill of communication to help inform the public that they, the herpes victim, are not alone in the world. Stories of herpes commercial actors being blacklisted on the dating scene, from other media jobs, and being kicked out of their own families is disheartening and sickening. We as a public must support are brothers and sisters in arms to show the world that herpes commercial actors are people too. Therefore, I announce today the creation of a new lobbyist organization; Concerned Citizens for Equal Treatment of Herpes Commercial Actors (CCEQHCA). Together we can fight for justice for these forgotten victims.

The Weather

As the winter comes to an end I can only feel utter disdain for Northwest Ohio weather. I hope to God, that I get a job in North Carolina after law school.

Geneva Convention in the Post 9/11 World

The other day I was fortunate enough to eat lunch with Professor John Yoo of Berkley Law along with the Federalist Society. Prior to the luncheon Yoo spoke to the College of Law on how to battle terrorism in the post 9/11 world. Yoo was the center of controversy back in 2002 when he wrote a Justice Department memo that the Geneva Convention does not apply to suspect terrorists captured in the battlefield. The main reason behind this argument goes to the definition of nation-state. If these suspects were fighting for a nation-state the convention would apply, however since these people fight for terrorist organizations that are not sovereign states they cannot have the protection of the convention. It is amazing how one little definition in the treaty could be the difference between protection or not. Now I have very little knowledge concerning international human rights law so I cannot give an educated opinion concerning his stand point and whether it violates such international law. With that said I had a few problems with his speech. One such problem was using historical comparisons to see if we have a civil rights problem with this. He drew comparisons of what we did in the Civil War, The Alien Sedition Act of 1798, and World War II actions, and stated that what we are doing now pales in comparison to what we did back then. I will grant him that, but yet is it as immoral to unjustifiably kill one person as it is five? It still is wrong regardless of the numbers. Yoo ended his speech with a 20 minute "debate" with him and Professor Davis of the law college. Needless to say it was a very good event.
One major point that I agree with Professor Yoo 100% is that our current laws are way out of date. Prior to the PATRIOT Act much of our intelligence laws were from the FISA laws of the late 1970s. The FISA law was created to help combat Soviet spies and the mob, two types of people that we have little problems from today. Also the technology used in 1978 is drastically different than the kinds we use today. Persionally I believe our intelligence laws should be updated yearly to help adapt to current technology.
In two weeks Justice Scalia comes to visit and talk about constitutional interpretation. I was fortunate enough to read his book A Matter of Interpretation and Justice Breyer's Active Liberty. I recommend these two books to everyone.