Month: April 2004

The last few days were full of momentious change, decision, intriegue, dilemma, and drama. Everything becomes clearer, more complicated, more concise. The emotion is: Jump! Well, what is below?

For those in the know, my co-worker R– prior to retiring, eloped across the street at the municipal hall and got married to D. He’s now somewhere in Gothenberg, Sweeden. Congrats to the lucky couple!

Iron Chefs from Japan pass the torch to Iron Chef America. And they get trounced! Lots of fun.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Go to Union Square on Sunday for the 25th CAPA fair.

Catch up on my month’s pictures here.

– NY Times Quotation of the Day – “Doesn’t the court have some business intervening at some point if it’s the Hundred Years’ War or something?” – Justice Stephen Breyer, on the open-ended detention of Americans as enemy combatants.

Yeah, so, justices of the Supreme Court, what will happen with civil justice in an era of a never-ending (open-ended?) war? See Linda Greenhouse’s article in Thursday’s NY Times or consider Dahlia Lithwick’s coverage in Slate.com (as she ponders whether we’re heading into the dangerous territory of repeating the sins of past destructions of civil justice).

– “Star Trek: Enterprise” this week – quite an episode. Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) continues full-steam ahead to remake the future; Chief Engineer Trip Tucker is trying to grapple with death and moving on with life. If this season had been more consistent and more in-depth with its storylines in the first place, this would have been a much stronger season – and this episode only reminded me of that.

– “Angel” – change, and more change. Gunn returns; Illyria loses her powers (but is still a question mark, because she still has the mentality of an annoying and arrogant ex-deity); and has Angel – again – lost his mind? Hmm.

– Fascinating NY Times’ article profiling the stories of the 9/11 Commission’s staff – which includes a former NYS deputy attorney general (who was at the attorney general’s downtown office on 9/11/01 and had previously prosecuted the 1993 World Trade Center bombers in fed court).

– The problem of parking in NYC’s Chinatown, which is right next to the NY Police Dept.’s hq – and where cops and other NYC officials have taken up the parking and other space issues – NY Times’ article makes one feel the stress of the situation.

– Finished reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold – Sebold is an amazingly talented writer. But, I still thought it was curious that her narrator is a murdered 14-year old girl watching over her family from heaven, as she and her family deal with life, death, and life after death (or afterlife or what have you). It was very unsettling as a story, but lovely writing. It reminded me of the unsettling feeling I had when I read Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” – which also considered life, death, and life after death. What does it mean, where are we going, and maybe all we can settle for is that we’re going at all? But, is that enough? Is that the secret of life? There was that line in the “Dawson’s Creek” series finale (yeah, I know – I’m sick enough to make a reference to that) where Dawson said that the opposite of death was birth; life was that thing in between. Is that it then – not the end or beginning – the journey itself? (which is an idea that even the series’ finale of “Star Trek: Voyager” tried to push). Hmm. Maybe I’m making too many tv references; but, one still wonders if there is such a thing as the secret of life…

TGIF tomorrow….

I’ve been remiss, but last night in the US of A and a quickie post. Flying off to Taipei on my latest life adventure. Too busy and stressed out to get emotional about things but it has been a tough few weeks.

I so hate packing and am so bad at it that i vow this time around I will collect nothing and throw away things. Travel light and live light is the motto.

AJ is off to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding this weekend and I’ll be crashing over his place until I find new digs. I’ll post laters in another week or two.

Cheers!

=YC

You can’t make this up.

Scene 1:
Singing panhandler croons an a capella version of “Stand By Me”. No money gained. William Hung could have done better.

Scene 2:
Black woman with really big poofy hair and bustier as troubadour. Her hispanic boyfriend has the guitar case in tow. Strums a lyric, then asks, “Am I over-analyzing…”.

Scene 3:
Couple playing hand held video games. The girl is singing something unintellible, and then giggles every few minutes.

Scene 4:
Old Chinese woman gets into a Jerry Springer moment with a young black woman. Nobody on the train can figure out what the argument is about, but after four letter words on one side, and the equivilent ones in Cantonese, it degenerates into volleys of “You shut up”…”No, you shut up”.

Sunday’s NY Times had an interesting article on “Alias” – thought it was a good read. The episode itself – well, that was just nuts. So, Secret Agent Sydney and her sister are part of the Rambaldi prophecy and crazy adventures are their family legacy – and yet… the writers may still very well not know what they’re doing. Yet it’s quite a romp anyway, since we were left reassured that Sloane is still an obsessed selfish bastard. And, that Jack Bristow still loves his daughter. Okay…

Doonesbury – wow. B.D.’s taking the whole losing-a-leg thing well, since he and his friend Ray appear to be both shocked more by the appearance of B.D.’s hair. Funny thing that I always thought that B.D. would be bald after wearing his (football/”CHiPs” highway patrol/army headgear) helmet all these years. But, Trudeau’s reassuring folks that he will go into this serious injury in his black humor style (as noted in this week’s Question of the Week on the Doonesbury site, via the Slate.com portal).

For anyone who’s wondering – Quebec’s treasured foodstuff, poutine (the french fries with cheese and gravy mixture), gets explained in the NY Times – and the current generation of Montreal chefs are trying to glamourize it, with foie gras and other calorie-filled and bad-for-your-heart but ooh-guilty-pleasure eating.

Back on April 5, 2004, I noted the fascinating influx of minorities in commercials – namely, the Verizon ads with the Elliot family – that curiously interesting family that has a white, clueless-as-can-be-Dad, busy-yet-doing-just-fine Latina Mom, and their kids – particularly that odd toddler who yaks away on the phone to Nana – and their big dog. The more I’ve seen the ads, the more I really like them – the toddler’s cute and the family’s interactions are incredibly regular life-like – and the latest Slate.com Ad Report from Seth Stevenson more or less agrees with me. Well, remember – I had the exclusive first, folks!

Anyway, according to Stevenson, there are additional families added to the Verizon line up – an African-American and a Latino family. I’ve only seen the Elliots in the NYC tv market – so perhaps the Davises and the Sandovals will be coming to a tv near you soon. Based on what I saw on Verizon’s website, the Davises are amusing – the kids’ setting up their single (widower? divorced?) Dad with potential female mates while his mom gets bemused; the Sandovals, apparently in Spanish tv (Telemundo or Univision, probably), put their dad in funny situations; but I like the Elliots’ pleasant normal charm best. And, where’s the Asian family? Asians make long distance/local calls and go on-line too, you know. Anyway, this is all a positive step – more diversity in commercials please! (more diversity in tv generally, please)…

For anyone who’s interested: the 25th Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival is this Sunday, May 2, 2004, 11:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., at Union Square in Manhattan; check out the website: http://www.capaonline.org/index.htm.

Enjoy the week…

P– and I went to too many Brooklyn Restaurant Week restaurants. Marty’s restaurant week was an astounding success!

Worth another visit: Cocotte (French bistro cooking): excellent coconut-hinted bouillabaisse. Totally tolerant of having one latecomer to our party. Prix Fixe was a worthwhile value.

Worth waiting a few hours on the cell phone: Blue Ribbon Sushi (5th Av): sushi platter modestly sized, but absolutely satisfying and filling. Salmon had the most outrageous stripes of delicious fat, showing its excellent quality. Tip: get there to be on the waiting list early (no reservations), give them your cell phone number, and then hang out at Ozzie’s coffee across the steet. My friend Kam and her husband were also waiting there.

Not worth it: Baccus (Atlantic Av, French bistro): While the scallop appertizer was skillfully done, and the deserts were heavenly, the main dish (lamb ribs – 3 ribs yielding enough meat to make 2 chicken nuggets) was unimpressive. They also litterally left money on the table by forgetting to make our extra side orders, which would have been an additional 12 dollars.

This is the worst time of the year for me health-wise. The usual MO: two weeks of spring tree pollen and 20 degree fluctuations turns into itchy, stuffy, sneezing hay fever. The hay fever turns into a scratchy throat, then a full-blown cold. This year it hasn’t helped that I’ve spent the last 12 days in ultra-refrigerated server rooms, then emerging into either balmy 80 degree weather or rainy 40 degree weather. I’m in the final rounds of the cold now, so I’m going to sack out on Saturday. I’m still also in the last stage of healing of my elbow, which was sore through the San Diego trip due to too much mouse use.

I’ve been going to sleep at around 3-4 am each night this week because of the irritating allergy/cold tag team. I awoke to the beeping of my cell phone this morning at 8:30. I tried to answer the phone through my phlem filled throat; after listening to the constant beeping through the phone, I realized that the UPS had failed on one of the servers. I threw on some clothes and made a mad dash to the office. 2 hours later, it was resolved, wanting to go home to do my morning routine, which I actually didn’t get to until after 12.

I revisited the college cultural & fashion show that I ran as a student. Now 12 years later, I am in awe of how far they have gone, and yet, how many things are the same. Best of the cultural stuff were the VariAsians — a cappella and asian heritage — two good flavors blended into one. On the fashion end, I remember a lot of the moves the models made were very similar to what we had done 12 years ago. Some innovations we came up with are still practiced on the fashion show end: projecting the name of the next scene (we invented the technique 13 years ago); dancing by the models (before we did it, everyone did straight catwalks). Good DJ music choices, pretty good food for a fashion show bento box. P– won us dinner for 2 in the raffle. The auditorium was completely rebuilt, and it looks very much like the one that it replaces.. I’m proud of them. Photos will be added when I get a chance to download them.

Exciting day: time to crash and cough again tomorrow.

Oh, yeah — it was AJ’s birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday!

“Angel” on the other night – I taped it, to watch with pleasure. But, the ending freaked me out. Did Connor remember Angel was his biological dad? If so, what did his final words really mean – “I learned it from my father…”? He has had way too many father figures…

This Friday night, the Yankees crumbled against the Bosox. Oh well. It would actually feel worse if I were a Yankee fan, but I’m not a Bosox fan either, so it makes no difference in the balance. I just can’t get over seeing how hairy the Bosox player, Johnny Damon, is – long, flowing hair and a bushy beard. Man, that’s just way overboard…

Check out p. 19 of the April 30, 2004, issue of Entertainment Weekly (Summer movie preview issue): apparently, it’s the legal page. A sidebar article on those crazy kids of UC Berkely’s Boalt Hall Law School naming a fellowship to support a law student pursuing public interest/public service work in honor of the work of the alumnus Sandy Cohen. Funny thing is, Cohen isn’t real – he’s a public defender on the FOX show “The O.C.,” played by the actor Peter Gallagher (a.k.a. the guy with the eyebrows). Apparently, this fellowship was thanks to the student group, “The OC at Boalt” founded by John Kim, and they awarded it to a 1L who said that he wanted to be in criminal law and loved the show. Gallagher himself was inspired to make a $1000 donation. Wow. I see the light now: TV has an impact… – and there are law students who have time to watch tv? Yeah!

(by the way – “The O.C.” is an interesting show – it’s only a FOX show on the surface; the writing’s a lot more crisp than one would otherwise expect – well, putting aside the annoying storyline about Ryan getting dragged back to his ‘hood, because it was and always would be his roots).

And, then, the interesting tidbit scrolled on the bottom of p. 19 of Entertainment Weekly, as this quote states: “Survey finds more future law students inspired by A Few Good Men‘s Tom Cruise than To Kill a Mockingbird‘s Gregory Peck.” Uh. Okay. I was a law student who was not inspired by either, since I was someone who has yet to sit still to watch these two movies and I would like to think that law students are more than inspired by, well, movies and tv shows. But, then again, Entertainment Weekly didn’t define who responded to the survey, what the statistical accuracy, or define what was meant by “inspired.” Okay, okay, I’m being too much of a lawyer with the fussiness of the terms…

Slate.com’s Dana Stevens reviews the latest American edition of Iron Chef” on cable. I don’t have cable, but I just wonder – is it really that hard to Americanize imported tv? Why do we have to Americanize imported tv, if their very charm is being imported?

Slate.com also has an interesting article by Yi-Ling Chen-Josephson, wherein she grades the tabloids and celebrity oriented periodicals. National Inquirer gets the good ratings for sheer guilty pleasure. And, yet, I will continue standing resistant to that stuff while I wait on the shopping line at the supermarket. Must resist…

Enjoy the weekend.

Comic strip “Doonesbury” shocker – the character B.D., whom cartoonist Trudeau sent to Iraq as an army reservist, was gravely injured during the Iraq insurgency. Trudeau pulled off quite an imagery – not only has B.D. lost a leg, he’s gone helmet-less (this is a character who has never been without his helmet in the 30 years of the comic strip – it’s an integral part of him as much as his limb) – surely a first time ever, under such horrible conditions. Double whammy, the removal of the helmet surely symbolic of the more bodily loss. One may not always agree with Trudeau, but one has to hand it to him for the impact of his artistry.

Slate.com has an article wherein a panel taste-test gourmet potato chips. Very amusing. Grease makes a chip, but can cause a heart attack; “gourmet”-ness may not do much for either a chip or a heart attack.

As Slate.com points out, the current Supreme Court case about the detainees/enemy combatants/etc. at Guantanamo Bay raises a good question: “How’d We get Gitmo?”

Hmm. This whole Bob Woodward new book thing in the news just seems so puzzling.

Hmm. I kept channel-changing on Sunday, and saw parts of that odd piece of Star Trek canon – “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” I’ve seen it once and thought it was the strangest thing. Of course, maybe I was too young to appreciate it. But, frankly, I still think it’s the strangest thing – Admiral James T. Kirk wants his ship back; he gets it, putting the commanding officer, Will Decker, to the side. Kirk, in fact, brings his entire old crew together – McCoy, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and even Chapel (the nurse in the series, now a doctor). Will Decker gets to swallow his angst over the fact that one of the new officers, Lieutenant Ilia, is an ex-love interest of his. To cut to the chase, Decker and Ilia made for quite the compelling ending for the movie – their lines were kind of dumb, but their chemistry was nice (which says a lot for the actors) and so their end was sad, even if the movie played it as something triumphant and life-affirming – in a strange, surreal, and Kirk-carefree way. This movie could have been done just a bit better. Really, it should have been. But, it goes Kirk all the way, when I think Decker could’ve gotten a lot more. (and still explaining why I can’t watch “Seventh Heaven” on WB without wondering about poor old Decker now as wise Reverend Camden…). Hmm.

Hmm. (4/21/04) Wednesday’s next “Angel” – getting exciting.

Hmm. The current Doonesbury comics strip storyline (follow it in your newspapers or on Slate.com’s portal to the Doonesbury site) – quite dramatic. Various buzz on line is that the Doonesbury scribe, Garry Trudeau, is doing one of his dramatic twists on his characters. For those not in the know, Trudeau sent one of his cast, B.D., to Iraq as one of the army reserves; B.D. appears injured – but how seriously isn’t clear yet. Gosh, I hope he doesn’t go for a character death – his storylines can be compelling and yet make a statement about the current events – but the mortality route of things would be so sad for B.D.’s friends and family (I know, I know, maybe I’m taking it too seriously, but there are folks in the ‘net taking it far more seriously than I am).

On the civil rights front: local bar associations and law schools are continuing the commemoration of the Brown v. Board of Education seminal case. Attend one of them; you’ll learn something about where we have been and maybe where we’re going.

On the Asian front: there’s the NY Times article on the upcoming new musical, “Bombay Dreams” – sounds interesting – all this drama in just creating a drama; and then trying to figure out how to be true to Bollywood tradition but also appeal to British and American mainstream musical tastes. All we need is a good musical, that’s all I ask.