Day: December 5, 2005

B-Day

Thanks for the birthday wishes, guys! I’m a year older, no more wiser!

Channel 13 is broadcasting “A Walk Through the Bronx” with David Hartman and Barry Lewis. I think the only borough they haven’t done now is Staten Island. (I missed the first half hour, so I’ll have to watch it another time! – but great stuff — if this doesn’t make you a PBS member, well, who am I say? Ok, I’m stepping off the soapbox now ;-)).

ABC has announced the new anchors of World News Tonight – Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Familiar ABC faces who are pretty professional and have been substituting for Peter Jennings, so the transition won’t be bad (please don’t change the theme song like you did to Nightline!). In their 40’s, so there’s time to groom them (and I believe they’re contemporaries of Brian Williams, so he won’t be the lonely kid on the block). And with having two, you can let one go once it seems like the American audience likes one more than the other (sort of what I’m hoping they’ll do to Nightline, because having three “anchors” is a pain; but maybe having two will be interesting? There hasn’t been two anchors on the air on nightly national news since MacNeil/Lehrer were both on). Sorry to Charles Gibson, who had rotated with Woodruff and Vargas in substituting for Jennings; Gibson’s only disadvantage was his age (you can’t groom a guy who’s doesn’t need the grooming, but then again, your audience won’t age with him if he’s already older than them). Well, good luck to Bob and Liz. Brian’s got the lead, so step on it!

And, speaking of Brian Williams – I have to say, NBC Nightly News’ Daily Nightly Blog is a fascinating piece of work. You get the behind the scenes look of the crafting of the news; Brian Williams has a nice voice (and his team seem like decent people, not just professional journalists). Is this the wave of the future – network news going the blog route? Hmm. (Personally, I remember the days back when Brian Williams was our local Channel 2 WCBS anchor man. So weird to realize that he’s made it quite big).

I’m almost up to date on “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC. I like it more than “Desperate Housewives,” in that I actually like the characters on “Grey’s Anatomy.” (they’re a bunch of lunatics on “Desperate Housewives,” which is – I suppose – the point).

Wikipedia has to make a change… when Anonymous posts that John Seigenthaler, Sr., was behind the JFK assasination (which is ridiculous), it’s entirely understandable that Seigenthaler would want Wikipedia to change its rules on who posts what.

More snow…

Don’t screw a lawyer

Happy B-day ssw15, co-poster in crime 😀

So, talk about having your head up your ass: Are Lawyers Being Overbilled for Their Test Preparation? Why do that to lawyers? Is that like asking for it???

At least now I know what happened to West Bar Review 😀

Today, did a good thing. We helped a couple get their Taiwan visa immigration papers accepted. Taiwanese government is just really racist and for two years, this couple wasn’t allowed to change status despite trying to do everything the government requested. The problems were (1) one spouse was Filipino which is an undesirable in Taiwan and (2) the government had their heads up their asses and no one knew how to interprete the law. The couple called us and whamo, we got it done. It was hard though and touch and go. But still….. *sigh*

Taiwan’s 3-in-1 elections was done yesterday. Election reading can be had at the Pan-Green (DPP) mouth piece Taipei Times. If the election rout was any more complete, the DPP would’ve been swimming in the South China sea. Losing Ilan and Chiayi must really hurt the DPP as those were both so key to the DPP and anti-KMT that you could say those places were like what Boston and Lexington was to the American Revolution.

It’s finally winter here in Taipei. Ugh.

Eating Out Weekend

BTW, Happy Birthday to SSW!

P-‘s old neighbor who moved back to Japan was in town, so we went out to eat more often than usual this weekend.

Dragon Palace Restaurant (202 Centre St. Manhattan): new dim sum place near Lafayette St. The place is well apportioned, and the siu mai – type dim sums were very tasty. The kitchen needs to work some kinks out, because a bowl of fish congee (“juk”) and a fried rice dish, while tasty and obviously made to order, each took 20 minutes to come out.

Dumpling Man (100 St. Mark’s Place): not bad, but a little pricy. Best value is not order the combo, but order 10 packs. I liked the pork ones a lot, while P enjoyed the chicken, and they had a pumpkin dessert dumpling that was very tasty also. The red monster sauce was too slick and spicy for me – it made it hard to keep the dumpling in my mouth without slipping. The marco polo sauce is your basic Italian basil tomato sauce, but was a lot better than I was expecting. In future visits, though, I’d stick with the free sesame oil and soy sauce. Surprisingly, they do not offer hot tea.

Blue Smoke (116 E 27th): the only thing better than good ‘cue is ‘cue you didn’t have to pay for – while I got the drinks, P’s sister picked up the tab. You have to know that the chef is from St. Louis, so you ought to go with KC wet style BBQ and ribs; Texas dry rub or Carolina vinegar will probably not live up to expectations. We ordered two sides of ribs – the Kansas City ones were meater and more tender than the St. Louis ones, so I say go with the former. Mac and cheese was exceptional, with al dente pasta, as well as the collards and the creamed spinach.