TGIF.
Brooklyn doesn’t have the same cachet of exciting diversity and synergy that, say, Flushing has. But, today’s NY Times has an interesting article about the ethnic diversity right on Coney Island Avenue. On Coney Island Avenue, you could have a Jewish nursery school near a mosque – but notably, maybe Brooklyn doesn’t have Queens’ famed tolerance – since, as the Jewish woman tells the reporter (I’ll paraphrase) “Being next to a mosque is scary.” Hmm. In my own Brooklyn neighborhood, there is an Islamic center housed in a building that was once a Jewish school (a change that happened the past 15 years – and I remember seeing the little Jewish kids wearing yarmulkas and playing around that school, so think how old I feel) – and, indeed, its cornerstone still has Hebrew etchings on it, but painted over white as if to white-out the past. What does this say about changing demographics in Brooklyn? Hmm.
Slate.com has an interesting assessment on… Scooby Doo. Of all cartoons still capturing kids’ imagination… I confess that I had my own Scooby Doo thing back when I was a kid (and maybe still do? – well, no – I don’t really like the current incarnation of the cartoon on WB). The most amusing thing from this article – the revelation that Casey Kasem is still doing the voice of Shaggy. He retires from taking long distance dedications (handing his radio Top 40 gig to that “great” DJ Ryan Seacrest) and yet still finds time and energy to be Shaggy, even in the current Scooby Doo incarnation on the WB? Wow. Kudos to Kasem’s longevity.
Plus, last night’s local tv news on Channel 4 (WNBC) honored the local anchorman Chuch Scarborough for his 30 years on Channel 4. Salute to Chuck – his longevity on one station is incredibly admirable, especially in an age when just about every local tv news personality has traveled to each station (all these musical chairs thing can be confusing – ex., weather personality Dr. Frank Fields has done all the channels, and a lot of the old timers aren’t even on the air anymore). (Plus, kudos to the others who share the news desk with Chuck at the 11pm time slot – Sue Simmons, co-anchor, and the sports anchor Len Berman, almost rival Chuck in terms of longevity – the familiarity with them and their hijinks makes them a comfort to watch, even if they’re not perfect news folks).
World Championship ice skating threw me off the March Madness last night (not so much fun anyway, when the brackets are ripped up, but I’ll be back to enjoy college b-ball viewing again, I’m sure). Last night’s same-day tape delay on ABC of the men’s final round: Russian man Evgeny Plushenko won the gold medal, considering that he did so many of the quad jumps and bounced back from a fluke of a fall. French man Brian Joubert (whose name sounds like a hockey player, not a figure skater) got silver doing a Matrix (yeah, that Keanu Reeves movie) adaption. German Stefan Lindemann got bronze, a nice prize for a strong performance and home field advantage (i.e., the championships are taking place in Germany). Americans Johnny Weir and Michael Weiss got 5th and 6th places – mostly because they didn’t throw in quads. The Europeans have incredible depth, I must say. Tomorrow, ABC will show the women’s round – will Michelle Kwan do it? Or is it time for the next generation? Hmm.
Enjoy the weekend; the week was long enough.