Blawg Review

It's not just a blog carnival; it's the law! ~ a fool in the forest

I'm in Las Vegas, Bitch



Blawg Review #231 is Legally Unbound in Las Vegas, and the editor of Blawg Review is in town to find out what the hell is going on here!


Mmm, you're gonna look so cute
Sunglasses, bathing suit
Be the baby of my dreams
Like the ladies in the magazines
Yeah, we're gonna be so neat
Dance to the euro beat
Oh yeah, we're gonna be so cool
Twistin' by the pool


From Twitter: RT @legallyunbound: @blawgreview, Remember, "Dancing is considered an art," I hope you're enjoying the Las Vegas art scene while you are here.

Speaking of art, it's Tattoosday at Wet Republic, the MGM Grand's afternoon hot spot.



Is the editor of Blawg Review a legal rebel, or what?

Blawg Review Awards


Colin Samuels was going to thank everyone for honoring him with another Blawg Review of the Year Award when someone grabbed the microphone... Hopefully, the ensuing controversy in the blogosphere and the twitterverse will be behind us by the time Colin and Mike take the stage for Blawg Review #230, a duet.

Digital Nomads Love ExOfficio


Digital Nomads like the editor of Blawg Review travel will all the latest tech tools and toys, an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry Bold, and a Netbook on steroids, the Acer Aspire 1410 running Windows Vista with 3 Gigs of Ram on an Intel Centrino chip. Tethering the Acer to the BlackBerry with virtually unlimited data plan liberates the Digital Nomad from wifi.

Digital Nomads may disagree on which computer or smartphone is the ultimate tool for the traveling executive. However, what separates the Digital Nomad from the novice business traveler is the high-tech adventure clothing that makes the trip a breeze.

On this current trip, billed as the Blawg Review Bucket List tour, your editor has packed 4 ExOfficio shirts and 4 pairs of his favorite ExOfficio underwear. Sorry, no pics, but you can visit the ExOfficio website and just imagine how comfortable this stuff is in the 105F heat in Las Vegas as this adventure takes me from JFK, where the ExOfficio store is conveniently located in Terminal 5 for JetBlue departures.

Speaking of JetBlue, did you see that it's the official airline sponsor of the New York Jets football team?


The camera-shy editor of Blawg Review was tempted to get his photo taken with these lovely women posing today at JFK to be sure we didn't miss this announcement.

The Adventure Begins Today



Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way


Today marks the first day of the Blawg Review Bucket List tour, beginning with a meetup with Tom Colson, a patent attorney and CEO of IP.com Inc. and host of Blawg Review #217, a Father's Day presentation. Appropriately, it was a family get-together on a holiday weekend, with my son joining me to visit the Colsons in Buffalo.

Sunday morning, bright and early, I travel by Amtrak to Rhinecliff, NY to rendezvous with Monica Bay of the Common Scold, who's taking me to relax at her cottage and then to New York City on Monday to see her Yankees take on the Rays in a Labor Day double header.


Yankee fan Monica Swisher

Where the Editor of Blawg Review goes from there, who knows, but I hope the adventure includes a motorcycle ride in California with our friends Craig Williams of May It Please the Court and Norman Fernandes of the Biker Law Blog.

The adventure continues...

Sherpa Sabbatical



Blawg Review Sherpa Colin Samuels has hung up his chuba.

I don't remember when, exactly, Colin took on the heavy lifting around here, guiding novice and expert blawg reviewers alike in their quests to reach new heights with each successsive presentation of the carnival of law blogs. It seems like he's always been the one without whom Blawg Review wouldn't be what it is. Those who've hosted during his tenure as a Blawg Review Sherpa know well his contributions above and beyond the call of duty.

As quietly as he's served, so also he departs. No fanfare, no parade. But not without these words of thanks on behalf of our hosts and our readers. Colin, you're the best. And I'm not just sayin' that because you've won the award for Blawg Review of the Year four times in four years! (See the sidebar at Infamy or Praise for links to some of the most amazing presentations of Blawg Review, ever.)

The reasons for Colin Samuels giving up his sherpa duties remain a mystery, although we suspect he's under a lot of pressure now, as the date for his annual Blawg Review at Infamy or Praise appears closer than we think. Not to mention, Colin is also co-hosting an upcoming Blawg Review at Unsilent Partners with CharonQC in just a few weeks. They don't throw these things together in a week, you know!

Colin Samuels, Sherpa Emeritus, will always be a key player in Blawg Review (he's got the login and password keys) so he remains, officially, the editor in waiting should I kick the bucket. Truth be told, Colin is more afraid of that eventuality than I am. Good luck to both of us.

Image Credit: copyright Ilan Adler

Simple is the New Complex

by Colin Samuels, at Infamy or Praise

The theme of this week's Blawg Review #227 is themelessness. I know that it's all very meta, but Sheryl Sisk Schelin does us proud with this effort, hosted at her The Inspired Solo site. As the "next guy [who went] all Dante on you" referenced in the third paragraph, let me just say that I for one am appreciative that Shelin's arrested (at least temporarily) our Blawg Review theme arms race.

Her objective was to produce a simple Blawg Review which delivered "the good stuff from the blawgs" and she's succeeded. Highlights in this edition include resolving trust issues in deal-making, considering the impact of "Skanks" on anonymous internet speech, and lamenting (or not) the putative death of the billable hour. Is law still cool if the billable hour is no more? We'll find out next week when Law Is Cool hosts Blawg Review #228.