Dagger in hand

A man of prodigious fortune, coming to add his opinion to some light discussion that was going on casually at his table, began precisely thus: "It can only be a liar or an ignoramus who will say otherwise than," and so on. Pursue that philosophical point, dagger in hand.

--Michel de Montaigne, Of the art of discussion.



Stab back: cmnewman99-at-yahoo.com


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Tuesday, October 21, 2003
 
Rips
So Paola and I went to see Intolerable Cruelty. I went despite some misgivings, mainly because it was by the Coen Brothers. Well, they've squandered that trust. Next time I won't go unless I have good reason to think it will be worth it. This wasn't. Cathy ZJ is nice to look at, but that only gets you so far.

As a lawyer, I can't help but be amused by the talismanic significance accorded to pieces of paper in movies like this. One rip, and the legal universe shifts around you. As though the signed piece of paper were actually the contract itself in some metaphysical sense, rather than merely evidence that a binding agreement had been entered into. As though there wouldn't be other copies of it on file in the offices of the lawyers for both sides. I can just imagine going into court and arguing, "Well yes there was a contract, but you see my client ripped up his copy so it's not binding anymore."

That's one of the reasons it sucks being a lawyer. You can't help thinking about stuff like that when you're supposed to be just watching the movie.


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