The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

I worked once in a legal drama and one of the mandates from the network was "make it realistic". We ended up cutting out most of the actual courtroom scenes because of how boring they were. 

I guess this realistically depicts you at work?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_AmdvxbPT8

Nah, we tend to take these things seriously nowadays. I.e. I once wrote one of these infamous "somebody sewing his own gunshot wound" scenes (scratch that from my bucket list  ) and besides watching actual gunshot wound surgery videos (puke) we had an actual surgeon go through the scene and make sure that everything made sense, even if it wasn't a documentary. We do tend to compress time a lot though, and have some of the most labored stuff happen off-camera.

[DGuller]

I mostly can't stand to watch legal dramas.  It's not a matter of not getting tiny details right, but hardly getting any of the big points right.

The one legal drama that gets widely praised as "getting it right" is My Cousin Vinny.  It gets some details wrong (including Joe Pesci would never be allowed to run that trial in Alabama), but it gets so many right it's a very enjoyable movie to watch.

What are your thoughts on Law and Order?

My one beef with Vinny is that the final dramatic scene in which Marisa Tomei talks about the differential and the suspension relies on Pesci already knowing the answer to the question.

Didn't Pesci put Marisa Tomei on the stand precisely because he thought the same realization about differential would strike her just like it struck him minutes earlier, since they were both mechanics?  The unrealistic part is relying on a witness to get a light bulb moment during the process of testifying, especially when it took you until the last minute to get it yourself.  I'm not sure I'd remember how to add two numbers the first time I would speak in court.

[crazy canuck]

I mostly can't stand to watch legal dramas.  It's not a matter of not getting tiny details right, but hardly getting any of the big points right.

The one legal drama that gets widely praised as "getting it right" is My Cousin Vinny.  It gets some details wrong (including Joe Pesci would never be allowed to run that trial in Alabama), but it gets so many right it's a very enjoyable movie to watch.

What are your thoughts on Law and Order?

My one beef with Vinny is that the final dramatic scene in which Marisa Tomei talks about the differential and the suspension relies on Pesci already knowing the answer to the question.

Didn't Pesci put Marisa Tomei on the stand precisely because he thought the same realization about differential would strike her just like it struck him minutes earlier, since they were both mechanics?  The unrealistic part is relying on a witness to get a light bulb moment during the process of testifying, especially when it took you until the last minute to get it yourself.  I'm not sure I'd remember how to add two numbers the first time I would speak in court.

That goes to another truism about witness testimony - if you can get a response that does not come across as rehearsed, it is pure gold.

[grumbler]

For a witness, sincerity is the key.  Once you teach your witness how to fake that, you are golden.

[Barrister]

I worked once in a legal drama and one of the mandates from the network was "make it realistic". We ended up cutting out most of the actual courtroom scenes because of how boring they were. 

Well I would say that just means you weren't working with very good writers.

Having spent many, many hours in courtrooms 90% of the time it is absolute boring drudgery.  But the advantage to a legal drama is that you can cut that 90% and just focus on the stuff that is interesting and dramatic.

A well done cross-examination can be a delight to watch, for example.

[Admiral Yi]

Didn't Pesci put Marisa Tomei on the stand precisely because he thought the same realization about differential would strike her just like it struck him minutes earlier, since they were both mechanics?

Sure, but that's the problem for me.  The scene is set up to be Tomei's moment of glory, when she breaks open the case.  But actually her super special knowledge, that had the federal car guy all goggle eyed with wonder, turns out to be standard stuff for Italians from Queens who've worked on cars.

The only other way to have done it is if Tomei has the eureka moment *before* she takes the stand, but then you kill the suspense.

[Barrister]

Didn't Pesci put Marisa Tomei on the stand precisely because he thought the same realization about differential would strike her just like it struck him minutes earlier, since they were both mechanics?

Sure, but that's the problem for me.  The scene is set up to be Tomei's moment of glory, when she breaks open the case.  But actually her super special knowledge, that had the federal car guy all goggle eyed with wonder, turns out to be standard stuff for Italians from Queens who've worked on cars.

The only other way to have done it is if Tomei has the eureka moment *before* she takes the stand, but then you kill the suspense.

Marisa Tomei is fantastic in that movie, but the role itself is actually pretty small, and Tomei at the time was a nobody.  That she could win an oscar for that role is all on Tomei herself, but yes the moment is as much/more about Pesci's character then it is Tomei's.

[Admiral Yi]

I would quibble with a nobody since she was a regular on Different World, but it certainly was her first big ticket movie.  I checked her filmography out of curiosity and it's interesting how much stuff she has been in and how few of them I've even heard of.

[grumbler]

So, Brian Ferentz, son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, is Iowa's $900,000/year offensive coordinator.  And when I write "offensive," that's what his coaching is.  His is the worst P5 offense in the country (two years running now) and the third-worst in all of football.

His performance is clearly a reason why he doesn't give press conferences more than twice per season or so, but today's press conference revealed another reason:  he is as bad at press conferences as he is at football.  Here's his answer to a question about whether he would consider stepping down for the good of the team:

"There's two options in life in any situation. You can surrender, and if you surrender, then I think the results are pretty much guaranteed. Or you can dig in, you can continue to fight, and you can try to improve and do things better. I will always choose option A. Done it in my personal life. Done it in my professional life. I wouldn't be able to go home and look my children in the eye if I wasn't an option B person. I think I said option A. I started with option surrender, right? That's not me. Let me be crystal clear about that. That's number one."

 

[crazy canuck]

For a witness, sincerity is the key.  Once you teach your witness how to fake that, you are golden.

Also disbarred. 

[HVC]

For a witness, sincerity is the key.  Once you teach your witness how to fake that, you are golden.

Also disbarred. 

If dishonest lawyers were caught and disbarred there'd be a lot less lawyers

[Josquius]

My sisters rich friend has took her to Florida.
Another friend of mine has visited Florida in the past too.
This strikes me as mad.
Like visiting Britain and just going to Middlesbrough.

[Barrister]

For a witness, sincerity is the key.  Once you teach your witness how to fake that, you are golden.

Also disbarred. 

If dishonest lawyers were caught and disbarred there'd be a lot less lawyers

Okay now to be fair - trying to get a witness to perform their best is a part of being a lawyer. 

People expect certain things about a "believable" witness, so you want the witness to show those things.  I mean someone can be telling the 100% God's honest truth, but if they're long, rambly and argumentative no one is going to believe them.

[Razgovory]

My sisters rich friend has took her to Florida.
Another friend of mine has visited Florida in the past too.
This strikes me as mad.
Like visiting Britain and just going to Middlesbrough.

Is Middlesbrough a bad place?

[HVC]

Some parts of Florida are nice. At least to visit