Foolish April

April may be my least favorite month of the year. Though it usually marks the long-awaited arrival of true spring weather, it starts with April 1. April Fools' Day. Aka Everyone-has-an-excuse-to-be-a-jerk day.

I'm not really a prankster type -- my allegiance to sincerity is too strong -- but I do love holidays. So I usually take the lead in coming up with some kind of joke for Above the Law. This year, I presented a racy date between two lawyers. I prefer pranks that contain the reveal, so that you're only fooled if you neglect to read all the way through or to click on a stray link (e.g., TechCrunch's foolery).

But Above the Law played a small part in a massive prank yesterday: a legal blogger claiming to have been chosen by the White House to man a new national law blog. Though some recognized it as an April Fools' joke, the venerable New York Times fell for it.

Though it made Gawker laugh, I feel badly about the Grey Lady's slip and fall. My heart is just not totally into pulling the wool over people's eyes.

I'm in journalism because I want to provide people with information they can rely on. I realize April Fools' Day is an escapist holiday, but pranks that involve the spread of misinformation happen too often in the blogosphere already (e.g., Anyone remember John Roberts's retirement?)

Humans seem to have some innate tendency to believe one another. A day of the year that makes a mockery of that sad, beautiful human condition makes me feel foolishly despairing.

Happy April 2.

Twenty nine of my favorite songs...

...To mark the occasion.

Here are my favorites of 2009/2010:

1) Phoenix - 1901, performed as a La Blogotheque Take Away show in Paris

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque.

2) Dirty Projectors - No Intention, performed live in the XM/Sirius studios


3) Bill Callahan - Too Many Birds


4) Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA

5) Kid Cudi - Day n' Nite

6) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric


7) TV on the Radio - Stork and Owl


8) The xx - Islands


Here are some from 2008 (and earlier) that I discovered or listened to a lot in 2009/2010:

9) The Raincoats - No One's Little Girl


10) Nick Cave - Into My Arms


11) The Kills - Tape Song


12) Interpol - Rest My Chemistry

13) Why? - Brook and Waxing


14) The Knux - Daddy's Little Girl


15) Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You


16) Band of Horses - Cigarettes & Wedding Bands


17) m83 - you, appearing


18) Digitalism - Pogo

19) Matthew Dear - Deserter


20) Girl Talk - Minute by Minute


And some of my all time favorites:

21) Modest Mouse - Dramamine


22) Mazzy Star - Fade into You


23) John Frusciante - Untitled


24) Pixies - Where is my Mind?

25) Ani DiFranco - Not a Pretty Girl


26) Johnny Cash - Hurt


27) Liz Phair - Fuck and Run


28) Ben Harper - Another Lonely Day


29) Led Zeppelin - Tangerine


I also love this song, but it felt hokey to put it on the list...

The new year brings a not-so new job

At the end of the month, I'm going to be switching from associate editor to editor at Above The Law. Which means I'll be writing a bit more there.

I'll continue to write The Not-So Private Parts. And continue to freelance. (Speaking of, the Washingtonian cover story is now online. And the New York Times asked me to weigh in again at the Room for Debate.) And I have one more class to complete this semester to finish my masters degree -- the "long personal essay" with Perri Klass.

So life is not actually changing that much. But I will be spending more time at the Above The Law office.

In other news, New York is really, really cold.

Why lawyers make so much money [Washingtonian Magazine]

Your boss and your BlackBerry [Room for Debate/New York Times]

The whole world is obsessed with Facebook...

... so my story about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's privacy settings fiasco is making the rounds. I'm seeing traffic flowing in from:

-- Germany: "Facebook-Chef Zuckerberg gibt Privatbilder frei" in Golem

-- France: "Le créateur de Facebook s'expose sur son profil" in Figaro Blog's TechNotes and "Le fondateur de Facebook piégé par les nouveaux paramètres "vie privée" du site" in Le Monde

-- England: "Zuckerberg pictures exposed by Facebook privacy roll-back" in the Register

-- Australia: "Privacy overhaul catches Facebook boss" in the Sydney Morning Herald
-- Italia: "Il fondatore di Facebook si mette in piazza, con le sue foto" in Il Corriere

-- Finland: "Facebook-uudistus oli liian sekava jopa Zuckerbergille?" in a publication with a title I can't even read.

The Italian headline is the only one I can confidently translate. It reads, "The founder of Facebook is put in his place, with photos."

And here's a link to the BBC interview I did. Facebook is at 19:00 minute mark.

I'm still waiting for some hits from Asia...

The Newshour [BBC Radio]

Washingtonian Magazine, NYT.com, and BBC's Newshour

The latest (and longest) "real ink" project: the cover story for Washingtonian Magazine's December issue. David Lat and I answered the question: Why do lawyers make so much money?

Though I'm definitely more comfortable in the role of reporter, I'm starting to be asked to play privacy pundit. In November, the New York Times asked me to write a mini op-ed about Tiger Woods and the right to privacy for its Room for Debate blog.

This month, BBC radio asked me to talk about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook privacy settings for its Newshour, based on this True/Slant post. A Facebook friend reports: "Heard you on the Beeb/NPR yesterday, talking about Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page, all the way down here in Houston."

I'm Accounting Down the Days to the End of the Recession

Well, I never thought I would have a byline in the UK magazine Accountancy Age. But my law expertise takes me to strange places. I did a piece for them on forensic accounting as it relates to billionaire scammer Allen Stanford's trial:

Allen Stanford may still be grabbing headlines as he awaits trial on charges of fraud worth $8.5bn but it is forensic accountants who will play a prominent role in readying the case for both sides and testifying as expert witnesses.

Forensic accountants’ involvement in American criminal and civil litigation has become more visible because of the sensational nature of recent financial scandals, according to 30-year industry veteran Ronald L. Durkin, senior managing director of specialist accounting firm Durkin Forensic.

Read on at Accountancy Age.

Warning: In case its being in a magazine called "Accountancy Age" didn't give it away, it's a bit drier than my usual stuff.

In other news, this e-mail from the NYU journalism school internship coordinator made me want to throw up in my mouth:

Newsday’s features section, ExploreLI, is looking for a full-time two-year intern interested in reporting Long Island entertainment, nightlife, events and other lifestyle features for the daily section, as well as creating multimedia for Newsday.com and ExploreLI.com. Newsday is one of the nation's largest daily newspapers, serving New York's Long Island area.

A two-year long, full-time internship??? In my crazy world, that's called "a job." Where you pay someone a "real salary" and "health benefits."

I can't wait for the recession to end and for journalists to start having self respect again.

The pain of a BlackBerry-induced sprain is soothed by new bylines

When I was in high school, I used to sprain my ankle quite often. Usually in an embarrassing way. For instance, one time I sprained it playing the very politically-incorrectly-named game, 'Smear the Queer.' A favorite game in my neighborhood, one person ran around with a football while everyone else tried to tackle that person. Unlike the game of football, you could not throw the ball to someone else.

For some reason, the Hill family owned a pair of crutches, so I would hobble around on those for a few days, and it would heal. I also invested in a serious ankle brace for the recovery periods -- it has velcro, shoe laces, and lots of straps.

I had to dig it out this week, because I have sprained my ankle again for the first time in 10 years or so. And in a very embarrassing way. I was walking to work on Wednesday reading through my e-mail on my BlackBerry, and I stepped off the curb and turned my ankle. It's now all swollen and painful, though the embarrassment over the way I sprained it is almost worse than the sprain itself: I was engrossed in an article about Sarah Palin's speaker fees.

Ah well. The week improved with two pieces I've written being published by new outlets for me: The Washington Post and Time Out New York. Here are the leads:

"Educational? You Be the Judge." in the Washington Post, written with David Lat

Meet Supreme Court Justice Irene Waters. With her pursed lips and dark hair pulled back in a bun, she bears a passing resemblance to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In her jurisprudence, however, Waters may be more like Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who cast the swing vote in many key cases before retiring in 2006. Waters is more animated than either of those two justices, and even more so than Justice Antonin Scalia.

Read more.

"Virtual Matrimony" in Time Out New York

For those willing to trade the organ for iTunes and the walk down the aisle for a click of the mouse, there are several ceremonial websites (as they’re not legally binding) that allow you to tie the knot online. Your first reaction might be, “I don’t,” but as more and more couples meet through Match, Craigslist and JDate, sealing the deal with a Web-emony may not be such a leap.

Read more.