Law and Magic Blog

Law and Magic Gifts For Whatever Holiday

For those of you wondering just what one can give a favorite magician this year for the non-denominational gift giving holidays, check out the Unemployed Philosopher's Guild website, where I spotted a great Houdini mug. I'm ordering one for my favorite magician.

Another good place to scour for gifts: The For Counsel catalog and website. I've given the Attorney Work Product romper to a young person (actually to the parents, but the kid had to wear it--no IIED claims allowed), and I have the Christmas tree (in our abode renamed the non-denominational gift giving holiday shrub). I covet the beer stein. I don't like beer particularly. I just like the stein. The website also has gavels, bookends with justicial emblems and lots of Lady Justice figures, just so you know in case you are trolling for such.

 

 

Magic Remedies

I Can Has Cheezburger.com

There is no Ash Wednesday magic hangover remedy. Soft purring is the best one can expect from a sympathetic friend as one prays to the Porcelain God. (That should also probably be Purrbon Street).

Ailuromelanotriskaidekaphobia

  Happy Friday the Thirteenth.

From I Can Has Cheezburger.com

Image of the Virgin on a Grill

At the tail end of this NPR story about the flu and traditional Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is a bit about a woman who found an image of the patron saint of Mexico, the Virgin of Guadelupe, on a grill.  She says she couldn't wash the image off the grill, and now prays to the image for assistance to escape both the flu and Mexico's hard hit economy.

HumanLight

NPR has this story about a new holiday, HumanLight, which offers secularists, humanists and those of minority faiths an alternative event to celebrate in mid-December. The official date is December 23, halfway between the winter solstice and Christmas.

NPR's story discusses the search for music for the holiday. I'll suggest, half-seriously, the very amusing theme song to "The Big Bang Theory."

What Santa Wants For Christmas

So, it's the holidays but it's tough economic times as well, and the Jolly Old Elf has turned up on the Hill asking for a bailout.

Atheists' Sign Disappears From Washington State Legislative Building

CNN reports that a Freedom From Religion Association sign reading in part "At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail" has disappeared from inside the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, the state capital. The Washington State Patrol is investigating. Read more here.

The Magic of the Holidays

"Magical" gifts for the holidays, in addition to the usual fun stuff from magic shops:

The Unemployed Philosopher's Guild offers mugs with "disappearing" logos. Pour in hot liquid and writing on the mug vanishes. Choose from a "civil liberties" mug (various amendments disappear), a Democratic Dream or GOP mug (guess what happens to the map of the U.S.), a Henry VIII mug (ditto for the wives), and a lot of other drinking vessels. The site has other buy-ables too, but I'm partial to mugs. I have the Disappearing Civil Liberties mug. It's great. Hand wash only to preserve the "disappearing" quality.

Restoration Hardware has some magic sets and other gifts in its "toys" section, including a magician's table and a magic wand. I haven't seen the items in person so can't comment on them otherwise.

The DVD sets of the first season of Pushing Daisies, a great series, which is going off the air this year, Arrested Development, another weird, quirky series that failed to find a big following. It features one character, Gob, who's a professional magician. The DVDs of the first season of Night Court, which starred Harry Anderson, a magician turned actor, are available; the second season will be available soon. Anderson, who played a night court judge, did magic tricks on the show occasionally.

Joshua Jay, Magic: The Complete Course in Becoming a Magician (Workman Publishing).

Rick Lax, Lawyer Boy: A Case Study on Growing Up (St. Martin's Press).

And something you may have missed, William Rauscher's biography of spook show specialist Bill Neff, Pleasant Nightmares.

Monk, Psych Premiere Holiday Episodes Tonight

Both Monk and Psych are featuring "holiday" episodes tonight. The Monk episode is called "Mr. Monk and the Miracle," and the website asks, "Does Mr. Monk believe in miracles?" He doesn't seem like the type. The Psych episode, "Christmas Joy," directed by John Landis, involves con men and a jailed Santa.