Month: April 2004

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.

On the Q train, a young Chinese woman faints on the train. Everyone rushes to help her up on to the bench seat. As the train enters Pacific street, she revives and manages to get off the train. She waits again on the R side of the platform with a couple of the other riders from the Q train. She turns white as a sheet and slowly slumps to the ground again, wound down. MTA workers are called for – after a few moments being examined by a female worker wearing an orange construction vest, the woman recovers and jumps into the just-arrived R train, against the advice of the platform crew. I hope she’s OK.

I think I’m caught up on four days’ worth of NY Times and other reading. Maybe! Lots of interesting stuff…

According to the latest ABA e-Journal, Philadelphia Howard Bashman’s blog “How Appealling” has been the recent target of parodies. What really impresses me about the article is that his blogging on appellate cases has now helped him be seen as an expert on appellate law and got him a gig on Legal Affairs magazine. Cool – he got a networking opportunity out of this.

Back when I was a senior in high school, my economics class did a case study (so to speak) of Walmart – how it undermined the mom-and-pop stores and transformed the American economy. NY Times has an article on scholars studying the Walmart effect. I didn’t realize this and find it unsurprising of the Walmart-ness – despite being such a big corporate power, it has allegedly undermined American labor. Walmart declined to participate in the symposia, saying that it was biased against it. Well, I’d have to say that when one become rich and powerful, one must expect the criticism that comes with it, so either respond or adapt to the criticism. Then again, I heard Walmart did reform its anti-discrimination policy to include banning harassment based on sexual orientation, which is sure to make the industry consider what it too does. So, I would think that no one’s saying that Walmart is 100% evil; it just needs to be a little more considerate.

Speaking of corporate power, The Power of Mickey Mouse may be on decline, because we (my generation certainly) don’t know who Mickey is anymore. Interesting article in the NY Times. I’ll note a passage that writer Jesse Green wrote, with my witty thoughts in brackets:

“But that richly drawn, disreputable character, born of desperation and betrayal, got watered down almost from the moment he was introduced…. And although Mickey for a while remained a playful, conniving underdog, like Huck Finn or Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp, he gradually got less mischievous. ‘He couldn’t have any of the naughty qualities he had in his earlier cartoons,’ said Mr. Smith, of the Disney archives, ‘because so many people looked up to him. The studio would get complaints in the mail.’ [I’d say that, ergo, no more mad and feisty Mickey, a la the Simpsons’ Itchy and Scratchy variety – as the article pointed out that 1928 Mickey was borderline sadistic…]

“So, sometime in the mid- to late 1930’s, Mickey settled down. Barnyard cohorts [like Horace the Horse and Clarabelle the Cow] and rail-riding adventures gave way to suburban domesticity with his non-wife Minnie (‘They just lived together as friends,’ said Mr. Smith. ‘For a very long time’) and their unexplained nephews [my response was “You mean, like Barbie and Ken? And, good point on the nephews – no one ever did figure out if they were Minnie’s or Mickey’s and everyone was very clear about Donald’s nephews on the other hand; I almost thought that Green would write “the alleged nephews” – could Morty and Ferdie be – gasp – the illegitimate sons…? LOL]. At the same time, Mickey’s perverse qualities were grafted onto his new supporting cast — Donald Duck and Goofy, especially — who by the 1940’s, according to Mr. Smith, eclipsed the mouse in popularity. ”

Probably explains why I was a Bugs Bunny person than a Mickey one.

Consider this humorist’s take on the whole newsstory on CIA Director George Tenet’s metaphorical hair-on-fire. Very funny. Of course, I tend to get nervous when the NY Times’ op-ed includes some weird humor like this – like, who’s running their newsroom to come up with this stuff?

Yesterday, I attended a symposium on Asian-American/Asian trends at my undergraduate alma mater, set up by the Asian/Asian-American alumni group; interesting event, part of the university’s 250 anniversary and Asian-Pacific-American month. Got to hear the latest on ethnic studies developments; econ/political trends on Asia (which I’m not into usually, but these two young professors certainly pointed out the global scope of developments – not to mention the pop culture trends making things impossible to ignore, so someone ought to get a paper on that – that idea made me laugh); and I thought the panel discussion on Asian-Americans in broadcast media was really interesting (a point of discussion: has American Idol’s William Hung hurt or helped things for Asian-Americans? Scary thing was that everyone in the room knew who he was without much explanation; pro: he’s a plucky guy, which undermines the stereotype of passive Asian; con: he doesn’t sing well, and are people laughing at him rather than with him and confusing the individual image of him as symbolic of Asians as a group? Hmm). The symposium made me feel real good about being Asian American, but also knowing that we have a long way to go before we can get mainstream America to stop perceiving us as mere “Asian” or, worse, alien.

So, in honor of all that Asian good stuff, I will put a plug for this fascinating article on Bollywood from the NY Times. I complain enough about the state of American films, so maybe I ought to watch foreign films for their variety.

Enjoy the nice weather in NYC – the weather is so nice… spring is indeed here. Well, hopefully the temperatures won’t jump into summer though. Insane…