u/perfectpowerbanned

I just finished the abridged version for the second time and loved it just as much as the first read. It has got me thinking I should dive into the unabridged version (via e-book, I don't have 1.5k lying around unfortunately), but the length is intimidating. I was wondering if anyone has read it. If so, what did you think?

Hi All!

I was wondering how UVA Graduation honors work? What are the general cut offs and is it latin honors or some other system?

I have hardly started studying, and it's 5 weeks out. Tomorrow I plan on starting and doing around 10-12 hrs of studying a day.

I graduated top 10% at a T14, and received straight A's (technically one A- in Civ Pro) my 1L year, so I felt I could push things off, but now I'm worried that I doomed myself. Has anyone passed with only 5 weeks of studying, assuming they actually do 10-12 hrs a day.

Just graduated from law school, and I was wondering if I am competitive for more competitive district courts (think SDNY, D.C., C.D.Cal., etc).

Magna/Coif at lower T14

E-Board on secondary journal (i epically failed write-on)

I took basically only doctrinal classes

Note published in my school's flagship journal

I will have 1 year of litigation experience by the time I would start my clerkship (looking for 2027-2028).

Thank you!

I will say first I am a lawyer, and so my desire to write well is within the context of the law, a discipline not known for its clear and effective writing. Still, I have always wanted to write well, and as it stands I am just so-so.

So far, I have been practicing with "Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace" by Williams and Bizup, and it has been surprisingly helpful. I also have a couple legal specific books I have been using. I was wondering if anyone here has anything that that has improved their writing?

I have no one else to discuss this film with, so I thought I'd post here. It's a deep enough cut that I'm unsure anyone here has actually seen it lol, but here goes.

The film’s central conflict is the girl, Satsuki, coming to terms with her sexuality. 

The beginning of the film is a normal teenage romance. Hidaka (the main male character) is revealed to be a pervert/masochist who steals Satsuki's (female main character) socks and panties, takes photos of her while she isn't aware, and records her going to the toilet. When Hidaka and Satsuki begin to date, he throws away all the perverted stuff in a vain attempt to be normal. Eventually, however, his perversions win over, and he returns to collecting socks and panties and bathroom recordings, and she finds out what he's been doing and breaks up with him. In my view, he has accepted his deviant nature, even though it hurts him.

At first, she tries to hurt Hidaka as revenge. Telling Hidaka to follow her around while she dates other men is not, at this point, sexual for her. She just wishes to cause Hidaka pain. However, after a little while, it becomes clear that he still loves her, and not only that, he enjoys the pain and humiliation she dishes out to him.

At first disgusted and confused by this masochistic side of Hidaka, Satsuki eventually comes to enjoy the pain and humiliation she inflicts on him. There is a scene where she explicitly says she likes watching him cry and be in pain. Then, in the scene immediately following her saying she enjoys hurting him, she is seen having sex with another man while Hidaka, tied up in the closet, is watching. While sexually engaged with this other man, she keeps looking to the closet where Hidaka is hidden because his humiliation is what is actually providing her sexual gratification, rather than the physical act that she is performing with the other guy. After they are done having sex, she immediately tells the other guy to leave so that she can return to being sadistic to Hidaka, demonstrating that it's the twisted relationship with Hidaka that is her focus.

As for the climax at the waterfall, she verbally screams at Hidaka that she wants him to leave her alone, but she is actually screaming and crying because she cannot come to terms with the person she is. Satsuki says that she wants to be "normal," and that she wants to go on dates to the movies, and do all the cute stuff teenagers in love do with each other, but Hidaka "won't let her." Her anger towards Hidaka is actually fear and revulsion at herself. She understands that her desires put her outside the normalcy of society, into uncharted waters, and she blames Hidaka for her discovering her sadism because it was through him that she began to realize who she is. When, at this point, she speaks to the other man and says, "It's you I love!" This is a lie, but perhaps not an intentional one. To me, it is reminiscent of a person realizing during puberty that he/she is a homosexual, and attempts to affirm to himself or herself that he/she isn't homosexual because of the consequences that would have to follow acceptance. When she tells this other man, "It is you I love," she is really saying, "It is you I wish I loved," because of her desire for normalcy. She tells Hidaka to kill himself by jumping off the waterfall because, perhaps, with his death, things can go back to the way they were before, when she was just a normal teenage girl with normal teenage girl desires.

The final scene, I have read online, is considered ambiguous, but to me it seems fairly clear-cut. They sit outside and hold hands, demonstrating that the conflict has been resolved. Hidaka then says, "When your cast is off, let's go to the beach. And bring [some guy who is friends with Hidaka and also is revealed to have had a crush on Satsuki at the beginning of the film]." This ending shows that she has accepted who she is, that she's gonna bang this other guy at the beach, that Hidaka is gonna get in the closet and watch, and that they are gonna be freaks together.

whaddyall think?

Finally finished law school, so I'm getting back into reading.

I've been going through Effingers the past few days and I've been blown away. It's basically Jewish Buddenbrooks and I won't say more because it's 5AM and I'm tired but I highly recommend for anyone who wants a big doorstopper of a read!