Month: February 2006

Saw the opening for the Olympics on the DVR. It’s so much more efficient playing it from the DVR – was able to watch the whole thing in 2 hours. Thumbs up for the acrobatics and synchronized dancing – the skier stunt was excellent. Thumbs down for the disco music when the athletes came in – surely they could have found some Euro Dance music. Torch run was excellent as well. The opera closing with Luciano Pavarotti singing “Nobody’s Sleeping” from Pucini’s Turandot was spectacular – it’s the one opera piece everyone must know.

Yeah, it’s Friday! I took the half day off to check out the Alumni Law School’s program on Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the subject of the new biography by Joan Biskupic. It felt like a nice sequel, so to speak, to the Justice Blackmun program, the subject of the Linda Greenhouse book – I mean, both Biskupic and Greenhouse were there! – so it was very, very cool. I so want to read both books. But, I’m not planning to get the books for awhile yet. (supposedly, to stay consistent with my whole idea of not buying too much stuff this 2006).

The passing of Franklin Cover, the actor best known for playing the character Tom Willis, the Jeffersons’ neighbor (whose tv marriage was one of those few bi-racial marriages celebrated on tv, I must say); Tom, George Jefferson’s foil/best friend/son’s father-in-law. A tv thing to note, I guess, but then again, I used to watch way much of the Jeffersons.
I watched Harrison Ford on Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley last night. Interesting interviews – none of the annoying tabloidy feel, more like conversation. Ford’s really no spring chicken – he really looked his age and he seem very realistic, telling Charlie Rose that he’d like to do more character roles and being very gracious to Tavis Smiley, who was being such a fan (well, apparently, it was his first interview with Harrison Ford, so the enthusiasm was genuine). If Hollywood isn’t kind to aging women actors, it’s no less kind to aging male action heroes. I’d like to see Harrison Ford do more than the usual Indignant Man Forced By Circumstances To Be A Hero. I think he might have it to be a character actor, especially when it’s not that believeable for him to jump off cliffs like he used to do (an aging Indiana Jones? Doesn’t anyone realize that getting Sean Connery to play Prof. Jones, Indy’s dad, was a little odd, since he’s not that old enough to be Harrison Ford’s dad?). Good luck to Harrison Ford.

Ooh, the New Doctor Who is going to be on Sci-Fi channel (the 9th Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston). Funny thing is, the 1st season was already shown in Canada and Britain, and they’ve already gotten a 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant (who played a strange character in the latest Harry Potter movie). See, I’m not a Doctor fan at all (only saw the FOX movie with the 8th Doctor), but I like hearing about a sci-fi franchise that won’t die. (as opposed to the franchise to which I keep sticking by, somehow).

Will there be snow this weekend? I so want to go out tomorrow night to see the whole gang…

And, last but not least, time for the Olympics! My VCR will tape the end (?) of “Arrested Development.”

Check out this video about an American Airlines pilot’s 3 day tour of duty to Paris. You gain new respect for the folks flying the plane.

Played the Maitre ‘d role at an 575 person banquet yet again. Tips: 1. have someone else make sure everyone’s paid before they show up, and 2. deal with people’s issues before they get blasted at the open bar. The people arguing tied up everything, and I couldn’t spend any time with P. She got pissed off and went home. If I didn’t have a dozen volunteers to mind, I would have gotten blasted along with the rest of the people. I just had to be satisfied with drinking at home.

Man, this is a weird winter. 40’s/50’s this past weekend, and today, low 40’s,30’s and windchill in the teens or 20’s. It’s the wind, really.

And, in today’s news, Bill Nye the Science Guy Gets Hitched. Congratulations, Science Guy!

In Slate: the dangers of reading memoirs – is a disclaimer good enough? I recall reading Barack Obama’s memoir and saw the little disclaimer. Then, I thought, you know, I would hardly expect Obama, at the time a soon-to-be-elected politician, to be entirely honest. And, he’s a lawyer on top of that – as if he’d really name names of people who passed through what was likely a more ordinary life. If the point of his book is to express his views on race and politics in America, not to express his actual memories, then maybe a little embellishment or literary license is allowable.

And, then I think about Bob Kerrey’s memoir and how, when I read it, I felt there was some kind of holding back about what he did in Vietnam – whether due to his faulty memory or his (understandable) desire not to discuss because he was not ready (whether for personal or political reasons).

Memoirs are touchy things. I’m not sure who really reads them because they’re accurate, or because they’re about art (artifice?) reflecting on reality. Would you feel cheated if it turns out what you read didn’t really happen? Sure. But, why did you really read the book – because it’s “real’ or because of the way it’s written and what you felt in reading it?
Prof. Tim Wu explains in Slate why patent law seems to allow this nasty guy to go after the makers of Blackberry. I thought that this article was amusing and educational. Hey, who knew that patent law could be funny? (speaking as a non-patent law person – the one IP class I didn’t take in law school, primarily since I didn’t – still don’t – have the scientific technical background).

Tuesday night, the bunch of us went to Virgil’s BBQ after a City Bar event. Good eating. Cheesy mac and cheese – wow. Digestion’s still on-going. 😉

So, the game itself turned out rather boring. I really wasn’t rooting for either side, but then I started rooting for Pittsburgh (because Seattle just doesn’t have that aura of history’s-on-your-side and blue color honor and all that), but then thought a few calls were bad – or at least my brother pointed out that the calls were lousy (was it me, or were those refs really working too hard for Pittsburgh? I mean, those Pittsburgh Steelers got pushy toward the Seahawks guys).

The opening ceremony, honoring the MVP’s of the past 39 Super Bowls was interesting (I mean, wow, how many MVP’s came out for this? That was sure cool of them to do that). It was apparently a good moment for Lynn Swann, the past MVP who had the biggest cheers from the mostly Pittsburgh fans in the stadium (and notably, he’s trying to get the Republican nomination to become governor of Pennsylvania).

Plenty of analysis on the ads:

Reuters has this assessment that the ads played a little safe.

And, there’s the NY Times’ Stuart Elliott – witty and to the point.

The Washington Post, on MSNBC.com. And, even Time magazine. We’re all obsessed with the ads. And, there’s Seth Stevenson of Slate’s “Ad Report” – giving a cranky assessment.

Seriously, I got so bored with the game, I pretty much watched for the commercials during the three quarters. Fourth quarter, I was just waiting for “Grey’s Anatomy.” My assessment goes like this, below:

I was repulsed by the Burger King commercial. Never mind Burger King, who is weird enough – but the Whopperettes jumping atop of each other to form a Whopper – that’s just stupid. I know it was a parody of the old-fashioned Hollywood extravanganza, but it got silly so badly. In fact, it made me not want to eat a Whopper. I assume that’s not what Burger King wants me to do.

Sierra Mist commercial – with comedians Kathy Griffin and Jim Gaffigan as airport security people who remove a guy of his Sierra Mist – well, I got the point, but I didn’t think it was funny.

Fed Ex – the Neanderthal employee who tried to send a package by pterodactyl. Only, he can’t. Subtitles. His boss grunts that he should’ve sent it by Fed Ex. Employee grunts back that it doesn’t even exist yet. Boss grunts: “Not my problem” and fires employee. Employee leaves the cave office, kicks a lizard, and then he himself gets squashed by a giant elephant. Strangely funny. And, the boss – well, haven’t we all had nutty bosses?

The Aleve commercial with Leonard Nimoy – so, he’s at a Star Trek convention, but can’t do the Vulcan Live Long and Prosper hand sign because of his arthritis. Fortunately, the Aleve kicks in, so he can make his convention audience (and himself) feel relieved. Well, ok, so I’m a Trekkie and therefore I’m already biased to like the commercial. But, it was nice and funny! (kind of like how the Priceline.com commercial where Nimoy dropped in on Shatner was funny). And, it makes a point about the product. (and, it feels weird, but wow, that’s brave of Nimoy to go ahead and do an ad about his having arthritis).

I liked the Careerbuilder.com ads – “Yeah, I work for monkeys.” “I understand; I work for jackasses…” There’s something about animals that give me a laugh. And, reminds us about the problem of gainful but irritating employment and thinking about what ought we to do about it.
The Dove ad – which apparently is about encouraging girls to have positive body images – well, I think it was well-intentioned, so I’m not down on it as the professional critics have been. But, I think the problem is that no one felt comfortable seeing it in the middle of the Super Bowl.

The Fidelity (?) insurance ad with Sir Paul McCartney – see, I like the ad – but the problem is that it’s not original. It’s been on for quite awhile. And, it’s not like he’s doing half-time (he did it last year).
I liked the Mastercard MacGyver ad. Even better: it actually had Richard Dean Anderson as MacGyver doing his whole save-the-world-with-tube-socks-and-paper-clips. Hell, he could use the Mastercard to stop a bomb for all I care.

The beer commercials were adequately amusing. GoDaddy’s ad was as stupid as last year’s – with the near naked woman and the foolish men (I won’t even link to it – and I still don’t know what is GoDaddy). There were the funny mortgage company ads, but like the critics said – the problem is, I still don’t know who’s that company that sponsored those ads. Pepsi ads with P.Diddy, Jackie Chan, and Jay Mohr – umm, sort of okay. I guess. Not like I’ll drink Pepsi. And, that Ford ad with Kermit – well, at least Kermit’s still cute.

Rolling Stones doing half-time – well, familiar music’s okay, I guess. But, I was surprised by the story that ABC censored some stuff. I mean, come on – these guys are in their 60’s – they’ve been risque for quite awhile. If the red states become upset, the only response would be: where have you been the last 40 years?
“Grey’s Anatomy” was the post-Super Bowl show. It got over-dramatic with crazy plot stuff (the show’s so much better with character development – then again, it’s not like anyone was acting out of character, so the character moments were still great) – as it would be when one is after the Super Bowl. (ABC did it to Alias, when it had its post-Super Bowl episode). Newsday does a nice profile, for those who don’t know “Grey.”
Whisper it now: Code Black. (yeah, right, like hospitals really have such a thing; do major cities?). It was weird to see Kyle Chandler (the ex-nice guy of “Early Edition”) be the bomb squad guy in “Grey’s Anatomy.” I forgot he’s good-looking, in his own boy scout kind of way. In one of my posts, I theorized that Meredith Grey ought to have a CIA agent boy-toy; bomb squad guy isn’t off the mark… (assuming that even happens; Grey still not over Dr. McDreamy – but, he’s played by Patrick Dempsey, so who can blame her?)… 😉

The Super Bowl episode left us in a cliff-hanger – just like that – “What?! No, wait, you can’t do that!” – so, stay tuned for next time…

Oh, and last but not least: Jo Foxworth, the lady behind the D’Agostino jingle “Please, Mr. D’Agostino, move closer to me,” passed away. Her obit describes her career as fascinating, a true woman pioneer of a male-dominated ad industry.

Sorry to have missed you while you were in town, YC.  Sounds like you guys had a great time back in the city!

Friday: my co-workers and I went to Rain, in time for Restaurant Week. We ended up not eating off of the Restaurant Week menu, but off the regular menu, which had some nice items. A side of pineapple fried rice was quite tropical and refreshing. One colleague had Thai bouillabaisse, which looked good. The ambiance was nice, although if you really want to press me, I’ll say that the music was a bit loud.

The weather has been incredibly mild. 40’s/50’s. Weird winter.

The passing of Betty Friedan, the author of “Feminine Mystique” and feminist. Slate’s Emily Bazelon, a relative of Friedan, posts a tribute.

The passing of Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis. Yahoo has a slightly different version of the AP obit, wherein Grandpa Munster’s age is a bit in question.

MSNBC has this article on the curious so-called “nerd culture” of Japan. I read a similar article in the NY Times Magazine some year or two ago, and I still came out feeling weird and icky. I’ve no problem with nerds or their fascination with technology and anime. But, the erotic nature gets – like I said – icky. I mean, living with a life-size anime female doll?:

The nation has long nurtured a fascination with artifice — think bonsai, rock gardens or even gadgets like talking vending machines. Otaku [the “nerd” culture] have married that with the deep affection for innocence, which sometimes leads to young girls being viewed as sex symbols. [….]

The phenomenon is seen by many as a troubling deviation, reflecting a loss of confidence among youth and a Japanese aversion to personal conflict — typified by the estimated 1 million social recluses known as “hikikomori.” Some critics link the fascination with female characters to crimes targeting young girls.

“Because of fear of being rejected or disliked, people turn to anime characters or idols that pose no personal conflict,” said psychologist Rika Kayama. “But there is a danger. … Otaku who live in the fantasy world of anime often give little thought to how they may look to others.” [….]

The article then goes on to refer to its subject, a man who lives with his life-size dolls, combs their hair, and adore that they’re his dream girls. No intentions of marrying or even dating (real) girls. Umm, ok. Sure.

On a more pleasant note, there’s this Ford press release. Yeah, sure, the company’s losing jobs, but Kermit the Frog will be in Ford’s commercials for the Super Bowl game.

And, last but not least, this nice article on the Brooklyn bagel place, “F-Line Bagels,” that had been in a trademark dispute with the MTA (because the MTA didn’t like it that the owner used the “F” symbol of the F subway). The bagel place man went with a reversed F, and therefore possibly avoiding another trademark dispute. Smart move. And, boo to the MTA – how could anyone be confused about this one guy’s use of the “F” – obviously not MTA-approved and wouldn’t be confused for MTA (besides his being underneath the F line).