Damin's Journal

djtoell @ 2007-08-28T16:44:00

2007-08-28T20:46:24Z

How you doin', good?

I swear I'm still breathing

2007-04-23T19:31:35Z

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

Random Update

2006-12-28T21:50:50Z

In the random update department, Lisa and I broke up a while back. We decided to call it quits back in May, a few weeks short of what would have been our 6th anniversary of "serious" dating. We spent the next few months of roommates (yes, roommates who slept in the same bed, but roommates nevertheless). We finally parted ways at the end of September. I am now sharing a house in Hicksville with a co-worker and his sister.

In the 'where are they now?' department, Lisa is currently attending Columbia University Teachers College.

djtoell @ 2006-12-08T13:26:00

2006-12-08T17:26:55Z

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a very nice dinner at the China Grill last night.

FWIW, I maintain another blog (although work-related rather than personal) entitled It's No-Fault of NY concerning New York No-Fault Automobile Insurance Law. If you fell asleep reading that sentence, just imagine how exciting the blog is!

djtoell @ 2006-12-07T02:21:00

2006-12-07T06:21:45Z

Happy Birthday, Jen. I miss you.

djtoell @ 2006-08-08T03:03:00

2006-08-08T07:03:00Z

I came across this photo on morganafq's flickr account tonight whilst searching for NinCon pix:

I had no clue that such a (relatively) high res scan of the photo existed. Those old NinCon shots look worse every year, getting smaller on my screen as I keep improving my monitors. Somehow, the advance in technology causes a retreat in my ability to recall what is still more important to me than I let myself realize, then or now. At least a new scan of that shot makes me look young, and actually somehow better-looking than I recall ever being at the time. I think Donna's body does a nice job of hiding all the parts of me that we're all better off not seeing, anyhow.

Still, there's something about the quality of that photo that really strikes me, despite probably not having seen the original since the day after the banquet (if it was even part of that batch of Sunday morning photos we always passed around so excitedly). Something about it makes me...I don't know. Donna's fingers on my much-longer-than-its-been-in-years hair, the other hand on my forearm. Neither of us seeming to be forcing a smile just for the camera (well, at least not me; I can tell my fake smiles from a hundred yards, but perhaps Donna's a better actor than I). My right hand bearing one of the innumerable hematite rings I went through in those days, the painted nails I haven't even done as a joke in forever. Me caring, and me not caring about that fact. The realization that there's no one left that still calls me "DJ" or "Deej," and that I don't really even sign off as "DJ" anymore, anyway. Everyone else's names seem lost to me, too. "Donna" and "stark" and "Vivi" don't seem to connect to anything for me anymore, the artificial nature of 2/3 of that sampling notwithstanding. The photo struggles to send a spark across that dormant neuron, but one that's too weak; no matter how hard I try, I can only recall having looked at a prior scan of that photo on various monitors, but can't remember the original moment itself.

Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I'm somehow incredibly gratified to have found the photo tonight.

Anyway. Donna. I miss you, baby. I hope you're well.

Love,
DJ

It's confirmed...

2006-02-14T06:34:11Z

KLF is gonna rock you.

In 2006.

Faraday's principle of electromagnetic retardation

2006-01-11T08:51:19Z

I really want to know why the Everlife Flashlight changed its name to the Faraday Flashnight. OK, not really; I can guess why. I'd just love to see the cease & desist letters and/or be a fly on the wall when this was negotiated. I also love how the flashlight people decided to use the new name to capitalize on the most idiotic aspect of the commercial. When the ad breaks out the giant equation with the preposterous symbols (I'm pretty sure they throw a conventional-looking sigma in there on TV, a character designed to frighten the math-illterate (or the "innumerate," as Lisa has taught me)), it always make me crack up.

Then again, what do I know? Pat Y. Mah of Hong Kong holds 3 US patents (6,729,744; 6,808,288; 6,893,141) for this thing, and the invention is even titled the "Faraday flashlight." There's also probably a joke waiting within "Pat Y. Mah" (e.g., "Pat My Wahhhh...?"), but I swear that's the real name listed on the patent.

was: re: birthday

2005-12-07T18:23:32Z

My favorite memories of Jen Syme are from 1997 through 1998, when she'd randomly call me on the phone in my dorm room. In addition to her simply being a good person, it was exciting for me as a schmucky college kid (as opposed to me now as a schmucky lawyer) getting phone calls from someone who would tell me things about the financing for Terry Zwigoff's Crumb or about who was appearing in Manson videos. Around 99 or so, I realized that I was probably about 3 phone numbers out of date for her, and I didn't try hard enough to get back in touch with her.

I also share a birthday with Tom Waits, but I knew that already. One year, my friend Adam called me to wish me a happy birthday. He told me that he looked at the date and remembered that it was Tom's birthday. Eventually, it dawned on him that it was mine, too. I'm pretty sure that, while we lived together in college, all that Adam knew of Tom Waits was that he played the guy in the wheelchair in The Fisher King. I played "Mule Variations" and "Swordfishtrombones" in the car as I drove Adam and myself to a The The concert in Kingston, New York just before Thanksgiving 1999. What a pal.

Other awesome 12/7 birthdays: Chasey Lain, Patrice O'Neal, Jeffrey Wright, Priscilla Barnes, Xuxa, T.C.Boyle, W.D. Richter, Peter Tomarken (host of the original "Press Your Luck"), Ellen Burstyn, Ted Knight, Eli Wallach, Leigh Brackett, and Louis Prima.

I'm trying to figure out who is more awesome: Ted Knight or Eli Wallach.

Less awesome 12/7 birthdays: C. Thomas Howell, Edd Hall, Larry Bird, and Noam Chomsky.

lisazombie got me a 20g iPod for my birthday, and this, somehow, is my first portable mp3 player. It is engraved with "DJ Toell" on the back. Unsurprisingly, it is already filled with Foetus songs for my subway rides to the New York County courthouses.

djtoell @ 2005-12-07T02:03:00

2005-12-07T07:03:54Z

I can't recall if I ever knew before that Jen Syme and I share a birthday.

A mouthful of Greek salad

2005-11-02T06:39:41Z

George A. Romero and myself, 10/30/05. Photo by Michael R. Felsher.

djtoell @ 2005-10-12T00:58:00

2005-10-12T04:58:38Z

OK. This is what I hope is a simple request, and if anyone is in a charitable mood, please share any tips. The goal: share files between my laptop and Lisa's latop wirelessly. The hardware: a D-Link wirless router, currently running and properly giving both of our laptops internet connections. The software: both laptops have Windows XP. I have tried the XP Home Networking Wizard, but, on each machine, I can only get as far as seeing the other laptop without actually being able to connect.

I'm sure I can achieve this via a direct USB connection, but, dammit, I want to use the wireless connection.

Thoughts? Help? Various online tutorials I've uncovered tend to give only the most general directions about using the XP Wizard...

Picture this, we were both disclosing sources, reportin' on the newsroom floor

2005-10-08T04:15:50Z

But we've got testimony from a reporter
It wasn't me

Asked you questions under oath
It wasn't me

Even put a reporter in jail
It wasn't me

We even outed your chief of staff
It wasn't me

djtoell @ 2005-10-04T00:11:00

2005-10-04T04:11:46Z

I love seeing Democrats trash Bush for nominating someone who has no judicial experience to the Supreme Court. If they wish to set such a prerequisite for Justices, they might want to consider the background of Chief Justice Earl Warren. Warren was a district attorney most of his professional life and was the Governor of California when Eisenhower nominated him. He was also the Republican VP nominee in 1948. He never sat on a bench prior to his time on the Court. Should we now reconsider the propriety of Brown v. Board of Ed. or Miranda v. Arizona?

Warren serves as a great example of many other phenomena, as well. He is perhaps the ultimate example of the tendency of Justices to either maintain their place on the political spectrum or move the left during their tenure. Warren was a Republican and, as Governor of California, was a supporter of Japanese internment during the War. Eisenhower nominated him to the Court, expecting more of the same. Whoops.

One never sees a similar drift to the right during a Supreme Court tenure. This is part of why I never get very worried about Republican nominees.

djtoell @ 2005-10-02T17:37:00

2005-10-02T21:37:02Z

Ever hear from someone out of the blue, and it brightens your whole day? I got an e-mail from my old friend Teressa Tunney today. We haven't spoken in a couple of years, since before I even got my current job. I feel much better now.

djtoell @ 2005-09-30T02:57:00

2005-09-30T06:57:47Z

The LJ Schools feature is making me wistful (this particular emotion seems to be a common prompt for me to post here as of late). Not really finding any former classmates, just current students at my college. They post about their TAs, the sorry state of the city in which the school pretends to be located, their study abroad experiences, etc. I wonder if, had I had a blog during college, would I have written down my memories? Then, I realize: no. I had a blog during law school, and I barely used it then. My laziness is only compounded by how quickly memories fade. As it is, I can barely recall anything or anyone from high school, college is slipping away, and I even have to struggle to recall names of law school classmates when I run into them in court (or at a club in Atlantic City, as has happened). I can't differentiate which is cause and which is effect: that I am lazy, or that I appear to have acquired hardly any friends (or even people with which I'd like to keep in touch on a haphazard basis) between the years of 1996 and 2003. It is a bit odd to spend most of one's waking moments with certain people for 3 or 4 years straight, and then...nohing. Odder still that this doesn't bother me. Am I a psychopath? Or just lazy?

(Echoes of a Chocolate Genius lyric: "Am I gay or just tired?")

At least I found someone from my hometown who has a journal and various websites dedicated to the glory of the Third Reich. Thanks, LJ!

Movie meme

2005-09-22T07:06:19Z

I didn't do too terribly, although it isn't very impressive, either. I also hate admitting not having seen certain films. Anyway, if I counted both films I've seen and films I own on DVD or have sitting on my DVR, it would have added another 11 points. I'd still be in the same category.

I should try to come up with a checklist of essential trash/cult/etc.

From zodmicrobe:

Put an X by the movies you've seen.

(X) The 39 Steps
( ) All The President's Men
( ) Amores Perros
(X) Apocalypse Now
( ) The Big Sleep
( ) Blow Out
(X) Blow-Up
(X) Blue Velvet
( ) Bonnie & Clyde
(X) Charade
(X) Chinatown
(X) The Conversation
(X) The Crying Game
( ) Diabolique
( ) Dog Day Afternoon
( ) $ (Dollars)
( ) Don't Look Now
(X) Double Indemnity
( ) Frenzy
( ) Gaslight
( ) Gilda
(X) Glory
(X) The Godfather
(X) The Godfather, Part II
(X) Goldfinger
(X) GoodFellas
( ) The Grifters
(X) Heat
( ) if….
(X) Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2
( ) L.A. Confidential
(X) The Lady Vanishes
(X) The Last Of The Mohicans
( ) Laura
( ) The Long Good Friday
(X) M
( ) The Maltese Falcon
( ) The Manchurian Candidate
( ) Mildred Pierce
(X) Mulholland Dr.
( ) The Narrow Margin (1952)
( ) The Night Of The Hunter
(X) North By Northwest
(X) Notorious
(X) Out Of Sight
( ) Out Of The Past
(X) Pulp Fiction
(X) Raiders Of The Lost Ark
(X) Rear Window
(X) Rebecca
(X) Reservoir Dogs
(X) Run Lola Run
(X) Saving Private Ryan
(X) SE7EN
( ) Serpico
( ) The Set-Up
(X) The Seven Samurai
( ) Shadow Of A Doubt
(X) The Silence Of The Lambs
(X) Strangers On A Train
( ) Sunset Blvd.
(X) Taxi Driver
(X) The Third Man
( ) Topkapi
(X) Touch Of Evil
(X) Vertigo

(38) of a possible 66

(X) Akira
(X) Bambi
(X) Beauty And The Beast (1991)
(X) Dumbo
( ) Finding Nemo
( ) The Incredibles
(X) The Lion King
(X) Monsters, Inc.
(X) Princess Mononoke
(X) Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
(X) Spirited Away
(X) Toy Story
(X) Toy Story 2

(11) of a possible 13

(X) Adaptation
( ) Annie Hall
( ) The Apartment
(X) Being John Malkovich
( ) Big Deal On Madonna Street
(X) Blazing Saddles
( ) Bringing Up Baby
( ) Bullets Over Broadway
(X) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
(X) Duck Soup
(X) Ed Wood
(X) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
(X) The Gold Rush
(X) Gosford Park
(X) The Graduate
(X) The Great Dictator
( ) His Girl Friday
( ) It Happened One Night
(X) Lost In Translation
( ) Manhattan
( ) M*A*S*H
(X) Modern Times
(X) Monty Python And The Holy Grail
( ) The Opposite Of Sex
( ) The Palm Beach Story
( ) The Philadelphia Story
( ) Pillow Talk
(X) The Player
(X) Postcards From The Edge
(X) The Producers
( ) Pygmalion
(X) The Royal Tenenbaums
( ) The Rules Of The Game
( ) The Ruling Class
( ) The Shop Around The Corner
(X) Some Like It Hot
( ) The Sting
(X) Sullivan's Travels
(X) There's Something About Mary
(X) The Thin Man
(X) This Is Spinal Tap
( ) To Be Or Not To Be
(X) Tootsie
( ) Unfaithfully Yours
(X) The War Of The Roses
( ) What's Up Doc?
(X) Withnail & I
( ) The Women
(X) Young Frankenstein

(26) of a possible 49

(X) The 400 Blows
( ) 8 1/2
( ) The Age Of Innocence
( ) Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
( ) All About Eve
( ) All About My Mother
( ) All That Heaven Allows
(X) Almost Famous
(X) American Beauty
(X) Barry Lyndon
( ) The Best Years Of Our Lives
( ) Billy Liar
( ) Black Narcissus
(X) Boogie Nights
( ) Boys Don't Cry
(X) Breaking The Waves
( ) Brief Encounter
( ) Casablanca
(X) Citizen Kane
(X) The Color Purple
( ) Coming Home
( ) The Conformist
( ) Cries And Whispers
( ) Crimes & Misdemeanors
(X) Dead Man Walking
( ) Déjà Vu
( ) Doctor Zhivago
( ) La Dolce Vita
( ) Easy Rider
(X) Erin Brokovich
( ) Fanny & Alexander
( ) Far From Heaven
(X) Fight Club
( ) Five Easy Pieces
( ) The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
(X) Glengarry Glen Ross
( ) Gone With The Wind
( ) Grand Illusion
( ) Hannah & Her Sisters
( ) Howards End
( ) The Ice Storm
( ) Ikiru
( ) Imitation Of Life (1959)
(X) In The Mood For Love
(X) It's A Wonderful Life
( ) Judgment at Nuremberg
(X) Jules et Jim
( ) The Killing Fields
( ) The King Of Marvin Gardens
( ) The Last Detail
(X) The Last Picture Show
(X) Lawrence Of Arabia
( ) The Leopard
( ) A Letter To Three Wives
( ) The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
( ) Medium Cool
(X) Midnight Cowboy
(X) Million Dollar Baby
( ) Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
( ) Network
( ) On The Waterfront
(X) Paths Of Glory
(X) The Pianist
( ) The Piano
( ) A Place In The Sun
( ) Quiz Show
(X) Raging Bull
(X) Rashomon
( ) The Red Shoes
(X) Requiem For A Dream
( ) The Right Stuff
( ) A Room With A View
( ) Scenes From A Marriage
(X) Schindler's List
( ) Secrets & Lies
( ) Sid & Nancy
( ) Sophie's Choice
( ) Splendor In The Grass
( ) La Strada
( ) A Streetcar Named Desire
( ) Summertime
(X) Sunrise
(X) Three Colours Trilogy: Bleu, Blanc, Rouge
(X) To Kill A Mockingbird
(X) Traffic
(X) Trainspotting
(X) The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
( ) Walkabout
( ) Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf
( ) Written On The Wind

(31) of a possible 90

(X) 2001: A Space Odyssey
(X) Alien
(X) Aliens
( ) Babe
( ) Babe: Pig In The City
(X) Batman
(X) Battle Royale
(X) Beauty And The Beast (1946)
(X) Blade Runner
(X) Bride Of Frankenstein
( ) The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
(X) A Clockwork Orange
(X) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
(X) The Day The Earth Stood Still
(X) Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
(X) Dead Ringers
(X) The Empire Strikes Back
(X) E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
(X) The Exorcist
( ) Eyes Without A Face
(X) The Fly (1986)
(X) Frankenstein
(X) Freaks
(X) Halloween
( ) The Haunting (1963)
(X) Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956 & 1978)
(X) Jaws
(X) King Kong (1933)
(X) Kwaidan
(X) The Matrix
(X) Metropolis
(X) Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
(X) Nosferatu (1922)
(X) The Others
( ) Peeping Tom
(X) Psycho
( ) Repulsion
(X) Rosemary's Baby
(X) Scream
( ) Séance On A Wet Afternoon
(X) Shaun Of The Dead
(X) Solaris (1972 & 2002)
(X) Star Wars
(X) Superman
(X) Superman II
(X) Suspiria
( ) The Vanishing (1988)
(X) X-Men
(X) X2

(40) of a possible 49

( ) All That Jazz
( ) The Band Wagon
( ) Cabaret
(X) Chicago
(X) Dancer In The Dark
( ) Hedwig And The Angry Inch
( ) Love Me Tonight
(X) Mary Poppins
( ) Meet Me In St. Louis
(X) Moulin Rouge
( ) The Music Man
( ) Oklahoma!
( ) O Lucky Man!
( ) On The Town
(X) Singin' In The Rain
(X) South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut
( ) A Star Is Born (1954)
( ) Top Hat
( ) The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
( ) Victor/Victoria
(X) West Side Story
(X) The Wizard Of Oz

(8) of a possible 22

( ) Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid
(X) The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
( ) High Noon
( ) Johnny Guitar
( ) McCabe & Mrs. Miller
(X) Once Upon A Time In The West
( ) Shane
( ) The Searchers
( ) El Topo
( ) The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
( ) The Wild Bunch

(2) of a possible 11

(X) The Apple
( ) Boom!
( ) Butterfield 8
( ) Can't Stop The Music
( ) Concorde: Airport '79
( ) Deep Blue Sea
( ) Earthquake
( ) The Lonely Lady
(X) Mommie Dearest
(X) The Poseidon Adventure
(X) Showgirls
( ) Skidoo
( ) The Towering Inferno
( ) Valley Of The Dolls (1967)
( ) Xanadu

(4) of a possible 15

My score: 160

Count how many you have seen. Then check the chart below for your movie lover rating.

000 - 045 Do you even like movies?
046 - 090 People's Choice Awards Voter
091 - 135 Broadcast Critics Awards Voter
136 - 180 Academy Awards Voter
181 - 225 National Board of Review Member
226 - 270 New York Film Critics Circle Member
271 - 315 National Society of Film Critics Member

This single usenet post brings back millions of memories at once...

2005-09-21T04:34:29Z

Newsgroups: free.nin
From: circe@cts.com (Christine Bomke)
Date: 1995/11/12
Subject: HELLOOOOOO???

Yo... Prophecy... Wolver... DJ... Hugh/Sharon... Robin... ANYONE...

Can any of you see this?

Christine

  “””””    circe@cts.com  http://www2.connectnet.com/users/saljames/circe/
  “”””  “   
 “””” “” “  "let's see, i've got faded black jeans, shiny black jacket, solid
 “””” “” “  black shirt, semi-shiny/semi-scuffed black boots..... dear lord,
 “””””   “  my blacks don't match! hellfuck! call in airforce 1, and get me to
 “”  “”  “  some trendy clothes store now!"  --lucian X, on the subject of 
 “”  “”  “  gothic color-coordination, or lack thereof. 
  “”””  “   
   “””””    email me for a copy of the alt.fan.chris-randall FAQ

--
i've spent one of those fun evenings thumbing through old usenet posts.

I miss and love everyone. Sorry I'm such a poor excuse for a friend so often (i.e., for decades at a clip).

More or less my usual outcome.

2005-09-20T02:43:38Z

You are a
Social Liberal
(66% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(66% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

djtoell @ 2005-09-19T13:01:00

2005-09-19T17:01:04Z

Just a general retroactive and prospective apology for the fact that I never wish anyone a happy birthday.

djtoell @ 2005-09-14T02:53:00

2005-09-14T06:53:18Z

...And not to mention the disgraceful showing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hey Sens. Biden and Kennedy: when Schumer looks like a restrained and friendly-to-conservatives fellow compared to you, you know you're looking like an idiot.

My favorite line of the day from Biden: "Go ahead. Go ahead and continue not to answer."

Something tells me Biden didn't whine like that when Justice Ginsburg refused to answer questions during her hearings. With regard to Moore v. East Cleveland, Justice Ginsburg said she agreed with the majority. Judge Roberts says he has no quarrels with the majority. Somehow, this means Roberts isn't answering, and that the refusal to allow a potential Justice the ability to avoid elaborating in depth on questions that could spoil future procedings is a bad thing.

The liberal philosophy on judicial indepedence appears to be: "Went on a trip with someone? Recuse yourself. Stated 8 years prior how you would rule on a given set of facts before you even knew of them? Bravo."

It is also perhaps worth noting that the phrase “I have no quarrels” regarding a given prior Sup. Ct. decision was a praiseworthy one when it came to Justice Thomas, in the view of Sen. Schumer. Schumer enumerates it as an example of answering a question. I guess principles and consistency are out the window when you've got a chance to scream and yell and make a show of trying to impress your base in the face of a losing battle. Perhaps Biden is just trying to work out his vocal chords in preparation for the real meltdown that will occur during the next set of nomination proceedings.

So when did you stop sabotaging the levee?

2005-09-14T05:57:36Z

I found this letter to the editor in Tuesday's NY Times to be amusing (although also sadly typical). It was in response to a column by John Tierny from 9/10/05 which is kind of about Congressional hypocrisy in response to the response to Katrina, but it also kind of singles out Democrats for that hypocrisy. I'm not sure the column has much of a point, really, since the Democratic proposal of an indepedent investigation would presumably mean that this hypocrisy would be exposed, thereby negating the impact of such hypocrisy and making their proposal appear to be a useful one, after all. Whatever. It's not a very good column, and perhaps this confusion has led to this not very good reader response:

To the Editor:
John Tierney should stop projecting Republicans' fear of accountability onto the Democratic Party.
This Democrat, for one, and many I know, could not care less about the political party affiliation of those responsible for the disaster that has been the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
It's time to quit placing our political parties' images ahead of the best interests of our nation.
Americans are outraged at this government's incompetence. The federal government has failed our fellow citizens. Let an independent investigation go
forward; let the chips fall where they may.
Matthew Scott
Goleta, Calif., Sept. 10, 2005

I love that: "This Democrat, for one, and many I know, could not care less about the political party affiliation of those responsible for the disaster that has been the federal response to Hurricane Katrina."

Presumably, Mr. Scott would also be in favor of a committee to determine when I stopped beating my wife. The essence of the problem with party affiliation re: Katrina in the first place is that the Democrats refuse to put any blame whatsoever upon any state or local officials. The Republicans, at least, cave in and allow criticism of the federal response, in addition to their own criticism of the locals. "Federal response" is shorthand for "what Bush and his Republicans did," since it is only the executive branch that had a problematic response to Katrina as far as the federal government goes. Mr. Scott's mock "I could not care less about party affiliation" ploy is too transparent to be taken seriously, although, over the many months and years to come, the joke will stop being funny (, he says, pretending that it already hasn't).

Let the chips fall where they may...so long as we agree from the start that they fall with the Republican-run executive branch of the federal government.

djtoell @ 2005-07-18T22:20:00

2005-07-19T02:20:15Z

Valerie Wilson was outed by...the CIA. Twice. Including at least once in the 1990s.

djtoell @ 2005-07-04T22:55:00

2005-07-05T02:55:55Z

"The number of suspected automobile-insurance fraud cases dropped [in New York State] last year by 17 percent, according to a published report Monday."

And who started defending insurance companies against fraud cases last year? That's right: Senior Associate Damin J. Toell. They're obviously running scared.

djtoell @ 2005-07-02T02:02:00

2005-07-02T06:02:01Z

Is "Bunny (Let's Stay Together)" from the Four of the Apocalypse soundtrack the greatest song ever? I think it's a serious contender. Richard Stanley makes fun of it, but I think it's still tremendous.

Then again, my "greatest song ever" changes every few days. The other day, it was "Next" by The JAMs from the album "What the Fuck is Going On?".