she said wood.

solid

hohum... nothing too exciting in this post

Lame. Next!

"presumably leading to the expansion of McFarren's own wood pile."

ha! excellent.

Pretty good. Nice use of the wood pile imagery, though I think a master like Lat would have handled it even more skillfully. (The story that is - no comment on the wood).

But use of the MJ avatar with this particular story is a little confusing - it took me a minute to realize which perv the story was about.

Really? Is this the great Marin I keep hearing about I thought this post was average...

The post was okay, nothing too special. Not good enough to risk the Marinheads...

A-

What does this have to do with the law?

Does anyone else think the 3 posts from Marin don't show all that much range? If she wins ATL will be stale in a month.

#11-- good point. Just more evidence if Marin wins ATL will devolve into a mediocre blog invaded by her groupies

Every post by Marin is the same. She picks an old story just to set up a "racy" joke that isn't very funny. I don't understand the Marin obsession in these comments.

boring topic and unnecessarily lewd post.

Marin's comments (e.g., "literally") made a funny story less funny.

Marin < The Field

Besides, just think of the awful awful comments that would come on the backs of the Marinhead hordes.

A run of the mill post that would be fine daily filler, but for a competition where she only writes one story a day I'd expect something more.

Guys at my high school used to JO to swimming neighbors all the time, it was no big deal.

FRAT STUD

The Marin-haters are TTT. Anyone with an iota of legal writing skill would realize she's all over the competition like Halverston on a ham sandwich.

This round goes to.... Kashmir Hill.

I really liked Marin in the beginning of this competition, but every post is now looking the same. I'm quickly losing interest. Hopefully the other posts will be more exciting.

Of tangential relevance and interest, but tolerably handled. Ranking: passably mediocre.

Lat, way to delete my post. Just trying to find something fresh for you -- how bad can it be to consider someone like Big Firm Whore from bitterlawyer?

http://www.bitterlawyer.com/index.php/columns_detail_comment/mental_breakdown_101/?cat_id=1

19 = classic Marinhead

Riffing on an ATL cliche in an obvious attempt to appear authentic while giving herself away through her Marinhead-speak ("an iota of legal writing skill")

C-

Marin's posts are barely connected to the law. This is the type of "funny," trashy story you'd find on cnn.com. Not cut out for this gig - stick to your other blogs.

Don't vote Marin. This is her deal. She sounds like th kind of person that became a standup comedian because her friends laughed at her trite observations and told her that she is so funny that she should become a comedian. She's probably desparately hoping that the ATL gig will get her a writing spot on SNL, the Daily Show, or Colbert. It won't, because her jokes don't rise above the level of the dorm rom.

I think she's great.

Agree with 25. The writing isn't all that bad, but this isn't what I want to read at all. How would she have handled the Cad situation?

Marin Marin Marin Marin

I don't care if Marin is auditioning for SNL or the Daily Show or whatever. I also don't care how she compares to LAT. I only care that none of her posts so far have been garbage. Can't really say that for her competition.

26 is right.

26: "her jokes don't rise above the level of the dorm rom [sic]"

Have you read the comments on this site? Dorm room humor is about right for ATL readers.

That being said, I cannot stand (1) the MJ avatar, (2) her status as an aspiring comedienne, (3) Marinheads who pollute these comments, which is getting worse as noted by 24, and (4) Marin in general, from blog to bio to pic to name. She must go.

No offense, but having read Althouse's bio, I'm (frankly) shocked that she's a published law professor and a judge of this contest. Her writing is clunky and inartful. There must be an interesting back story explaining her success in academia. Please tell!

Passable, and I admit to snorting at the wood joke. Not quite the trainwreck that most ATL Idol posts have been.

@32 Lat and others don't use dorm room jokes as their stock in trade, just the commenters.

I want Marin to have my babies.

This contest is over. Marin wins. When do we get to vote?

19 here. I'm an ATL regular and I'd never seen Marin's personal blog until ATL Idol was intro'd. Marin's just funny. You're going to lose.

No offense, but having read Althouse's bio, I'm (frankly) shocked that she's a published law professor and a judge of this contest. Her writing is clunky and inartful. There must be an interesting back story explaining her success in academia. Please tell!

Lat,

Can you block Marin's IP address? Her comments are worse than her posts.

"I don't roll on Shabbos!"

36 here.

just kidding, Marin.

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/07/autoadmit

This is the worst Marin post yet. I didn't know the background to the story, so it didn't really make sense, the writing was mediocre, and the jokes were weak. I didn't want to click the links because the post was so boring.

This bores me in every way AND I have seen this story on like 5 non-law sites before today. If this is what ATL becomes I'll be too bored to come back

B+

just give the position to marin and be done with it

I think it's time we begin the backlash against the backlash against Marinheads. Too many idiotic "marinhead" comments coming from Alex, Frolic, and the rest of the field.

It's becoming very annoying...reading thru 35 comments and only 2 actually discuss the quality of writing, tone, etc.

(And, of course, this post will welcome everyone to call me a marinhead too...so my response in advance is, "Shut it".)

She's a struggling comedian for a reason. Not good; not good at all.

47 = classic indignant marinhead

47 - witty response in advance.

Nice, Marin...entertaining...A-

33 -- so true. I can't believe Althouse is a professor, and at Michigan, no less. The few times I've posted a comment on her blog she's made a point of responding with some poorly-thought-out, vaguely ad hominem remark that occasionally has some relevance to what I said. This is why Mich will never crack the top 5.

Marin has the best avatar and should win for that reason alone.

41, That's what I thought when I saw the photo too. Alas, no Walter references in the story.

I'm a fan. She's the only one who has written anything remotely funny thus far.

This is hilarious. Witty! Although I was really rooting for Alex, Marin is winning me over. Waiting for more.

This is hilarious. Witty! Although I was really rooting for Alex, Marin is winning me over. She is the only one that has me coming back for more.

Marin>F&D>Alex. Alex's "personality" is too present in his posts.

No lawyer or law student angle. Not really ATL material. Better than Alex's post today.

I don't really see the legal angle. Its just an easy excuse for a cheap joke. Whatever, its passable but barely.

As an ATL regular who had never heard of Marin or her blog before this, and who doesn't really feel very strongly about any of the ATL Idol contestants (except that I vaguely dislike F&D's style), I have to say that the whole alleged Marinhead Menace seems way overblown. There just aren't that many pro-Marin comments that clearly come from non-ATL types, so get over it. And if I had been a fan of hers from before now, I wouldn't want her to get this job - I wouldn't wish our comments on anyone I liked very much at all.

Best one of the day! The other competitor posts are boring. this is much better!

Not stellar, but better than the competition. Lat > Kash >> Marin > the rest.

These "Marinhead" comments sound like someone's idea of performance art: Since similar slurs successfully irratated Obama fans on political comments sections, why not try it here?

Why isn't Kashmir Hill up for this job?

I was for Marin until this post. None of the substance of the story has anything to do with the law. It is like a long, drawn out Fark caption with an even lamer punchline.

Dear All,

Read Sophist's post before you try and claim that Marin's was better. Kthxbai.

To all you people asking why Kash isn't up for the job...don't you realize that she's been associate editor for months??

This was average, not bad like Exley's or F&D's posts today, but nowhere as good as Sophist's. For those keeping score, here is the current ranking:

1. Sophist
2. Alex
3. Anyone else
4. Marin
5. Exley
6. F&D

68, come on. Alex's post today was the second worst of the entire competition (Exley's post of today being the absolute worst). You really want ATL to turn into a Bar-bri class on local law issues?

The real problem here is that all five of the candidates are mediocre at best.

Marin is just plain awful, but really no more awful than Sophist.

F&D is in her own class of terrible.

Exley continues to disappoint.

Alex sh*t the bed today, but is otherwise the best of these clowns, which is not saying much.

This ATL Idol should be like the Apprentice episodes where Trump a/k/a Lat fires the whole boardroom.

New candidates, please!

PSA:

All regular ATL readers who like Marin (not the Marinheads who have been sent here by her to corrupt the comments and eventually the vote):

PLEASE read Marin's blog. It is terrible. Reading that blog will confirm for you that she should not be the new chief at ATL. Read that junk and decide.

If you still like her as ATL editor, well then seek immediate medical attention. Be sure to ask the treating physician to focus on the head area. Perhaps there has been blunt trauma or some other brain damaging injury / disorder.

Agree with 71. I posted an entry from her blog in the "Meet the Contestants" comments. Its terrible. Here it is again for those who missed it the first time:

Um, I just got this ad on my Gmail. That's right, my computer has determined from reading my emails and gchats that I might be interested in dating other singles with Herpes. Apparently the way the algorithm works is that if you use the word "single" in all your gchats for 2 years in a row this indicates to the computer that you must have Herpes because no one could possibly be single for that long without having an STD. This reminds me of when Sean was trying to set me up with his "really hot and funny" friend and I so asked what this guy's problem was, and Sean said that there was no problem at all, he was tall, attractive, divorced and employed, at which point I asked Sean if my name was Emma Lazarus and whether people should just feel free to set me up with the poor, the tired, the struggling masses yearning to breathe free, divorced people, amputees and people living with AIDS. Unfortunately, several weeks later I made this joke in a bar to somebody else, and in a ridiculous turn of events, unbeknownst to me there actually WAS someone with HIV sitting at our table so I looked like a racist jerk. I later took a survey of people and asked them whether they would date someone with AIDS and everyone admitted they would not

71 -

Judging how someone would write on Above the Law based on a personal blog makes about as much sense as judging Exley on her legal work product. If you hate the stuff that Marin writes here, vote against her. But it seems to me she shouldn't be punished for not keeping her identity a secret.

Good job.

Very good--best of the examples so far. Quick, readable, and clever. I vote Marin.

73 -

Marin is not being punished without cause. She put that info out there about her blog, as if we should all read it and realize how schmazmazing (or whatever the hell she thinks she is) of a writer she happens to be. The blog stinks and it is her fault for making it public.

ATL readers will use all of the information available to them, including any known blogs. Why has Marin's Blogger profile had over 1000 hits? Because ATL readers are checking her out. The counter was probably at 30 this time last week.

And... how someone writes on Blog A is much more indicative of how they will write on Blog B than their attorney work product. Did I really have to point that out? Are you a Marinhead?

- 71

Great post. Need a new icon still.

best of the day, but that's not saying much

You lawyer types are clowns.