Who gets Blackacre?

I was going up the elevator in the New York Hilton at a bar association dinner Thursday night, and I saw on the mini TV screen in the car the news of Anna Nicole Smith’s death. While most will be thinking about the parallels to Marilyn Monroe, others in the legal community will be thinking of the twisted bar exam question this has become (AP Wire article). Things still pending include the J. Howard Marshall II estate resulting from the ultimate May-December relationship. Both contestants to the estate, Marshall’s son and Anna Nicole, are no longer alive, leaving an unknown number of heirs of Marshall’s son, Anna Nicole’s long time lawyer and questionably married companion Howard K. Stern, a 5 month old daughter that have three possible dads, and a choice of Texas, California, Florida, or the Bahamas for residency.

Before becoming an oil tycoon, Marshall was an assistant dean of Yale Law School and apparently taught trusts and estates. I wonder if this was what he was thinking of?

Hold Up/Worn Down

Recap of the extended weekend:
Saturday – dental cleaning followed by a visit to the storied pizzeria that is Di Fara in Midwood. P, her brother and I were waiting in the Duncan Donuts down the block because it was really cold, but there were 5 true believers waiting outside the door. It opened 20 minutes late, at 10 to 12, but it didn’t matter – it’s definately slow food – there’s no way you get out of Di Fara’s in under 45 minutes. After a false start with everyone’s glasses fogged up, we managed to order a special pie, and 2 square slices. The squares were magnificant – light yet voluminous, a tangy sauce fortified with cheese and prosciutto (I am told), topped with fresh basil cut directly above the slices, then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Bold and delicate at the same time, it was an amazing treat.

Then the special pie came out after 40 minutes. The crust is micro thin (less than 2 mm thick) yet still durable enough to support the cornucopia of cow’s milk mozzarella, buffalo milk mozzarella, sausage, peppers, more basil, and grated cheese. Not quite foldable, but still delectable. Recommended if you have a spare afternoon.

Tonight I’m coming down with a cold. I’m going to try to brave it out.

The Super Bowl and Stuff

Much, much pre-game coverage on Sunday. I mean, really – CBS had a show at NOON. Yeesh.

Ultimately, though, kudos to Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the Colts. Quite a game. Really scary for a moment there when the Bears came ahead in the first 10 seconds, but then the Colts hanged in there. Sorry, Lovee Smith and the Bears – your Bad Rex Grossman as QB wasn’t quite it, and the Colts knew more of what they were doing.

Bears, maybe another time – I’m sure Smith can become the 2nd African-American coach to win the Super Bowl, next time. But, it was Dungy’s night – the teacher beating the protege; plus it was Peyton’s night, as he was a QB whose Super Bowl was long in coming.

The rain was a downer – lots of instances where the ball just slipped through fingers – but made it even between the teams. Well, not like I really know about football anyway – just my impressions.

Re: The half-time show – Prince was cool. Interesting way to grab the generations of music/football fans. I thought he’d sing more of his classics, but he made it a cool rock thing. I don’t think he much cared for the rain (who would?) – but he seemed to be enjoying the gig otherwise. No wardrobe malfunction, no weirdness (I mean, really – he is the guy who once insisted on being “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” and I guess he’s now “Prince, The Artist Who Was Once The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” and not to mention that he hasn’t given up his – um – symbol (or logo?)). Almost tame, really. Well, okay, I think the marching band was quite a touch, but hey, it was a football game – why not have one? Prince’s guitar riffs were cool, too. Can’t believe he’s gone… dare I say – mainstream? Liked the NY Times’ take on the performance too.

Re: Super Bowl ads – I wasn’t quite that attentive; the ads just didn’t come off feeling as good as they used to be.

I liked the Coke ads – quality stuff, even if not taking risks.

The ad with Kevin Federline (the ex-Mr. Britney Spears) was pointless – it wasn’t so much that he was slamming people who work McDonald’s jobs – it was that the ad was for Nationwide and did nothing for me as a promotion for the product.

The CareerBuilder.com ads – wherein the office/real world is compared to being in a jungle – a jungle you don’t want to be in – good stuff, really – they made me want to click on CareerBuilder.com and – oh, wait, I did register for CareerBuilder.com – and it hasn’t yet gotten me a new job. Oh well. Their ads were funny, as opposed to GoDaddy.com, where the sexy girls were uninteresting (true, I’m not the target for GoDaddy’s “sexy” ad, but I find gratuitous attractions to be simply that – gratuitous; I still don’t care to see what Godaddy.com does).

The Chevrolet ad where people were singing songs that had the word “Chevy” or related reference – interesting – though it reminded me of a Coke ad where the lady was singing a song and handing people Cokes. But, the Chevy singers sure loved their Chevies.

The Blockbuster commercial had the return of the animated pet store animals – trying to use a fellow pet store animal – a mouse no less – in lieu of a computer’s mouse to access Blockbuster’s services… – well, while I did feel sorry for the animated mouse, who didn’t enjoyed being dragged in the sawdust, I thought the ad was funny and cute (and sure hope nobody uses real mice in that manner).

The commercial in the style of Japanese action stuff (kind of like Power Rangers and Voltron and that lot) – well, I have no idea what that ad was promoting, but it was a great parody.

The GM ad with the factory machine that felt sorry for itself … ok, in light of how real people in the automotive industry are losing their jobs – I didn’t care for the GM commercial, even if it was cute.

The CBS promos for its series (Letterman; “How I Met Your Mother”; “The Class”; “Two and a Half Men”; even Craig Ferguson’s show) – funny! Laughed when I realized Craig Ferguson was parodying the old Benny Hill gag of running along with the pretty girls and patting a bald guy on the head.
I didn’t watch “Criminal Minds” after the game – wasn’t that interested. It’s a series with some charm and suspense, but it’s weird to see Mandy Patankin not sing and him back with Thomas Gibson (ex-Greg of “Dharma and Greg” and, like Patankin, an ex-castmate of “Chicago Hope”) along side Shemar Moore (ex-Young and the Restless actor and actor of many cancelled tv shows), and other actors who probably belonged on something like NCIS or CSI but wound up on this show. Hmm. Oh, well. It’s good for viewers out there.

Oh – and other stuff –>
Fascinating story on how the Jewish community of Cuba managed to continue.

A story – a recipe – on General Tso’s chicken and Hunanese cuisine.