The Seamless Web: A Blog on Law, Popular Culture and Related Issues

Survival of the Fittest

Poets, that is. From the Scientist.com, poetry for a Friday.

The Music of the Spheres?

Science advocate Richard Bowdler decided to try to find converts in unlikely places: music festivals. Here's an article on how he's done it over the past few years, from The Scientist.

CBS' "The Defenders"

Jim Belushi's new legal show "The Defenders" surprised me pleasantly. I watched the premiere yesterday, expecting a run-of-the-mill drama, and got something a little better than that. First of all, while the plot was average--a client shoots someone menacing his brother during a fist fight and decides to fight the charges rather than take a plea--everyone in the cast turns in a good acting job. In particular I like the character of Lisa Tyler (Jurnee Smollet) as the newly hired associate sent into battle without much in the way of instruction from her bosses, and I like Ms. Smollet's take on Lisa. She's bewildered and understandably annoyed, until Pete Kaczmarek (Jerry O'Donnell) explains that the firm, particularly name partner Nick Morelli (Jim Belushi) has confidence in her, and moreover, she has to get her feet wet, and all she has to do is enter a plea. "Not guilty. Got it?" Well, yes, although the kind of unstructured, fly by the seat of your pants training she's getting here is reminiscent of a legal aid office, not of a private firm. Is that what clients are paying for? I also like Ms. Smollet's confidence and air of competence in later scenes as she analyzes the murder case. She's obviously good; we know why Nick and Pete hired her, in spite of her lack of experience in the courtroom. Score one for the image of the competent, successful female African-American lawyer.

What I'm not so happy about is the quite obvious disdain that prosecutor Meredith Kramer (Natalie Zea) shows for Ms. Tyler, a former stripper, especially since Ms. Kramer is having an affair with Mr. Kaczmarek. Seriously? Bad attitude. Bad ethics, if they're on opposide sides of a case, which they are or will be. This sort of behavior is yet another example of the kind of thing that tv lawyers seem to indulge in all the time, and tv writers seem to think real lawyers do, and get away with. Some real lawyers do, but here's the thing. They get caught. Zap--for the image of the blonde female prosecutor--yet another member of the Popular Culture Bar Association.

Onward. Morelli fails in getting the judge to agree to a jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter. When the jury sends out a question which amounts to whether it can find his client guilty of just that charge, he "plays poker" with the judge, who becomes furious with him, fining him, again refusing the jury instruction. The jury ultimately acquits his client. Clever, but the audience can see the result coming a mile away. Is this ploy something a real attorney would engage in? Maybe. We do see Morelli and Kaczmarek discussing what is happening with their client, and presumably they discuss exactly what they plan to do in their conference with the judge with their client (although we don't see or hear the exact plan of action--that would be giving away the plot).

Ultimately, as I say, I like this show so far, and I'm eager to see what future episodes bring. Morelli and Kaczmarek have unveiled an enormous billboard to bring in more clients and we see some of them turn up in the waiting room. Let's see what kind of cases they've brought with them.

The Simpsons and Academia

From YouTube, the Simpsons on PhDs and graduate students.

Wascally Wabbits

The University of Victoria has finally come up with a solution to the 1600 rabbits overrunning its campus and eating its landscape. It is neutering them and shipping them off to rabbit heavens, somewhere in British Columbia and Texas, where they can live out their rabbit lives peacefully, away from college students and administrators who want to balance budgets on the backs of bunnies. The U will keep about 100 rabbits for decorative purposes. I hope they're fixed. Literally. More here from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Doctor Without a Border?

This Auburn, Maine-based physician is making waves--well, maybe ripples--among the medical set. He publishes Placebo Journal, a satiric take on the medical journals that health practictioners are always reading, and is talking reality show, although what that would like is none too certain right now. Yes, Dr. Dan Farrago (great name) loves poking fun at Our Health Care System and Its Users. Says the New York Times,

Fancying itself the Mad magazine of the medical world, Placebo Journal features “True Stories of Medicine” and odd-looking X-rays submitted by doctors, as well as sections like “My Favorite Munchausen,” about patients who invent or exaggerate medical problems. It loves jabbing Big Pharma and insurers; in 2005 Cigna HealthCare complained to Dr. Farrago’s then-employer, a health system, when he printed a physician survey from the fictitious SickNa HealthCare, its logo like Cigna’s tree, but full of dead leaves.

Doctors and patients are fair game, too. A full-page movie ad reads: “He smokes. He drinks too much. He never stops eating. He rarely gets off the couch. He is The American Patient.”

The First Amendment is this physician's best friend.

A New Legal Drama On NBC

Another legal drama for the new season: Jimmy Smits' "Outlaw." I've only seen trailers for the show, but so far I have to say that I'm not impressed. It looks like more of the same. Mr. Smits is such a talented actor. I hope this show is worthy of him.

Jon Stewart's "Earth (The Book)"

Silliness from Jon Stewart: a guide to Earth for the perplexed Alien.