Is it Friday yet?

It doesn’t feel like a shortened work week, and I’m apparently not the only one who noticed that feeling at work.

Do we really need another Police Academy movie? Apparently, it’s coming anyway, in a theater near you…

The cast of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” are making the rounds this week on the tv talk shows to promote their movie. I particularly enjoyed seeing Will Ferrell on Charlie Rose last night; when Ferrell reminisced about the local anchormen of his childhood of the 1970’s , the thought struck me: have local anchormen really changed all that much since then? Are they just great targets or what? See, in NYC, the local news stations are becoming really diverse; there are (reality check time) still vastly more female Asian-American television reporters/anchors than male Asian Americans (at last check, two, I believe), and I’m rather curious that each station has a female African-American anchorperson (usually carefully balanced by a white male anchor). There’s also sometimes even the reverse; i.e., the white female anchor with the male African-American anchor. So, Balance is a Big Deal (pardon my sounding quaint, but I like that the news channels are trying to be diverse). Some time ago, when Channel 4 had the instance of an all male set (meteorologist, two anchors, and the sports guy (usually guy, no matter the race)), it got in the newspapers as something not seen in some 20 years.

Yet, despite the passing of local favorite male anchors (by way of mortality or retirement), you have the following:

–> Channel 2 (WCBS) promoting Ernie Anastos (although, Channel 2 is also heavily promoting the new hire of Roz Abrams, the long popular female African-American anchor who’s of a certain age – so, at least congratulate Channel 2 for not going entirely young on its anchors, despite letting go of the old favorite sports anchor Warner Wolf);

–> Channel 7 (WABC) promoting Bill Ritter (“Say hi to Bill when you see him hard at work!” – what a lame commercial, frankly – so not 21st century; and for the curious, he’s the white male paired at the desk with Liz Cho, who is bi-racial);

–> Channel 4 (WNBC), with the celebrated veteran Chuck Scarborough (white male anchor paired with Sue Simmons, an African-American female veteran – the two have been together on the same channel and timeslot for less than two decades).

Anyway, if you listen hard, the sonorous, deep baritone voices of the men (to best convey trust and confidence and all that) aren’t that much different than what Will Ferrell is satirizing. Of course, there may be one or two anchormen who find ways to express their (more than likely; hopefully?) interesting personalities (Jim Watkins on Channel 11 has the requisite Sonorous Deep Baritone, but his sarcasm has its moments). On the other hand, while it’s amusing to make fun of the local anchors, they’re nice to look forward to watching. I mean, it’s no coincidence that last year, when the Daily News made a poll, NY’ers said that they loved Chuck and Sue the best (it doesn’t hurt that those two have been on so long that it’s like watching an old married couple and they’re amusing for their quirkiness (usually Sue) or otherwise (Chuck and that way serious voice of his)). (Pardon me; I’m still a sucker for the local news personalities and making good-natured yet sarcastic fun at them, so the clips of “Anchorman” are just so hilarious to me – rival anchormen having fights with each other straight out of “West Side Story”? Hehehe).

Ooh – the first day of the John-and-John show (a.k.a., the Kerry-Edwards campaign). Loved how this Slate.com entry on the first day makes it easy to satirize the Democratic candidates. I’m still trying to accept how this will work, of course, but at least things are really cooking now in the political landscape. Time magazine’s portrayal of the young Kerry life was deep and sad and interesting. Nice read.

Ok, so Friday is tomorrow. All right already…

What are they thinking?

Amazing Race 5 started today — the first leg was from Santa Monica to Punta del Este, Uruguay– and they are sure not giving a good impression of Americans overseas. Why do they think that saying “muy rapidimente — we’re in a race” is going to get them anywhere faster?

What makes it worse is that a number of teams make some really bogus mistakes, such as missing the clue box clearly stated across the street from the hotel. That forces the top two teams to turn back from the finish line to retrieve the missing clue.

I’m rooting for the Father/daughter team — He’s a Vietnam chopper pilot, she’s a U. Florida law student. If that guy can get 25 stitches and still not be eliminated, that guy’s tough as nails.

On a different note, the New York Asian American international film festival is next week. Tremendous selection this year, and my org is sponsoring a film session. Their website sucks for trying to figure out what conflicts with something else, especially since there are two venues.

I’m thinking about getting a new cell phone in August. My phone wasn’t working over the weekend because a screw in the antenna was loose and I had no way of fixing it until I got to work. I’m considering the Nokia 6820 because it has a decent keyboard and it’s tri band, so it will work in other countries.

For those in the NY area, save Saturday, August 15 for the 7th annual Asian American Alumni Picnic at Forest Park, Woodside, Queens.

Day off was not long enough

Anyway, so it has been back to work. Let’s see what’s in the newspaper…

Ever noticed the Asian musicians in the subway platform who play “The Godfather” theme? Ever guessed at their back stories? “Asian Music, Accompanied by the A Train” in the NY Times profiles a few; fascinating article about a group of immigrants who were accustomed to the grand halls and now trying to make a living underground amidst a time when the reverence for traditional music isn’t nearly what it used to be.

According to Michael Luo of thee NY Times in “Got the Time? At Grand Central, It Has Never Been That Simple,” Grand Central terminal has way too many clocks – and they’re not very consistent. But, soon, they will be. Maybe. At least, Metropolitan Transit Authority’s game plan.

And, so it’s a Kerry-Edwards campaign ticket. William Saletan of Slate.com makes a nice analysis for why Senator John Edwards is such a “wise” choice. Good read.

Looking forward to the shortened work week…