Month: April 2006

As 99% of my financial transactions are done electronically, I pretty much only use checks for the rent. However, I’ve finally used up all of my checks this month, so I had to order another box. When I went to my online banking to order them, the first screen said something like “the checks you previously ordered are no longer available. Here is our suggested alternative:”

Mind you, my previous checks were the ultra cheapo safety blue paper. I like Winnie the Pooh and Tiger Too as much as anybody (I had a Winnie teddy bear as a kid) but it just doesn’t give the desired feeling of financial responsibility and professionalism that one would want.

I went with the safety trio (blue, yellow, green) with the duplicate carbon register. And just one box, thank you.

An old friend from my college days is performing in a one man show called “Man of the Heart”, where he embodies the Bengali mystic Lalon Pkokir. My friend now is an assistant professor of theater at UC Berkeley. By all means check out his website and go to his performances this weekend and next: http://www.lalon.org/. I’m going this Friday.

The passing of urban community activist, Jane Jacobs, most famous for the book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” NY Times has a lengthy and fascinating obituary of Jacobs. Jacobs is notable for articulating – if not changing – the way we think about urban development.
The passing of Newsday columnist Dennis Duggan: the NY Times obituary and, more importantly, the Newsday one. There’s the AP one that Newsday posted too.

Great read: “On Bullshit” by Harry G. Frankfurt. A Princeton professor of philosophy (emeritus), he explains insight on what is b.s., and what is the intention (if any) behind it. Very well written b.s., if I may say so, about b.s. Very slim read (bit over-priced for something so small; they ought to release like a collection of Prof. Frankfurt’s writings in one book – far more a bargain), and lots of stuff that flew over my head (Big Words and Philosophical Mumbo Jumbo; then again, I was a liberal arts undergrad, so not impossible to grasp anyway). May require another couple of re-reads (plus a dictionary) to truly appreciate. For some reason, I imagined the voice of Donald Sutherland as the narrator. Although, I doubt that Prof. Frankfurt actually sounds like Donald Sutherland. Or Keifer for that matter.

When you’re coasting until the next payday, you do what you can to budget your meal expenses, not just to stretch the paycheck, but so that you can afford to splurge a little for something better.

Half of the dinners in the past week were home cooked. Wednesday was free dinner at work provided by the student government. Friday was free dinner at NYU’s Asian Pacific American Studies Institute, which celebrated its 10th anniversary by bringing back many of its former faculty and resident artists, and recently moved to the newly formed Department of Social and Cultural Studies.

Tuesday’s splurge: prix fixe at the French Culinary Institute. $35 for 5 courses – a big steal, especially for French food. There are some flaws because they are students: the menu had way too many rice dishes (thai rice, rissoto, then chicken and rice – enough already), our server had to juggle 9 tables by herself and her classmate wasn’t doing buptkus. One of the student chefs blew the budget by putting on 2-5mm slices of truffles on the side of the dish instead of shaving them. The deserts all had custard in them as the theme. Mind you, the dishes were well-executed, but they didn’t get the harmony down pat.

Saturday’s budget eats: The Taste of Chinatown – $1 and $2 dishes of tasty Asian cuisine. The ultimate was the $2 Peking duck – the line went down the block for half an hour. Recommended.

Sunday’s splurge: dimsum in Flushing at Ocean Jewels Seafood Restaurant
133-30 39th Ave. This is how dim sum used to be. Good, attentive service, no plate more than $3, and very inventive and well-executed dishes. Recommended.

On Monday, more rain. Some pockets of sunshine. Slightly better than Sunday? Well, no, Sunday actually had more sun.

“West Wing” on Sunday – sooo great to see Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn again! Sam’s looking like his first several seasons self, rather than the Sam who left some years ago (who was gearing up to be a Congressman candidate himself). Looks like Sam went back to his corporate law firm roots during his off-screen years. How he went from Congress-bound to law firm – well, I don’t know, but I will have to re-watch the episode again to see what I missed. But, the Josh and Sam chemistry is still great and had a top-of-the-game feeling, between the great banter between the actors Bradley Whitford and Rob Lowe. Just great – it was vintage West Wing – or, as Sam put it, nostalgia…

Sam’s engaged to be married to a fellow lawyer (a woman whose identity is being speculated). I had always been fond of the chemistry that Sam had with Leo’s daughter Molly, but I guessed they both moved on (Molly being hardly eager to go with a guy who’s no less workaholic than her dad was; she’s not a lawyer; and that last episode had her with a husband who was decidedly not Sam). But, the idea of Sam being “Josh” to Josh’s “Leo”? Come on, Josh still has his problems coping with stress; I’m finding it hard to see him as the Santos administration Chief of Staff. He’s not Leo, for sure. And, man, will he ever learn, considering his continued lack of stress-coping skills? Should he really be allowed to go back to the White House for another administration?

What Josh really needs is to get further treatment from his shrink (having been played in Season 2 or 3 by actor Adam Arkin, being the only one who could get Josh on track instead of Josh’s usual “I’m really stressed out, and I’ll explode right NOW and take my anger out on you, Poor Fool”). Josh and the Blackberry thing – umm, boy is that a bit much.

And, what will Josh and Donna do with their relationship? Hmm. And, love how President Bartlett and President-elect Santos are working on something to get some traction in foreign affairs.

Previews suggest that Santos is looking to invite Vinick, the Republican candidate who lost the election, as the Vice President. Hmm. Nothing in the Constitution prevents that from happening, I must say! And, look at John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They were one and two in the election and became president and vice president (well, that was back when vice presidents weren’t fellow ticket candidates).

Really getting into “Gilmore Girls” on WB (the future CW). I watch it now and then, but thought it was interesting to watch how Rory’s Korean-American friend, Lane, had pulled off her bi-cultural wedding(s): a Buddhist ceremony to satisfy her conservative Buddhist Korean grandmother and a Christian ceremony to satisfy her conservative Christian Korean mother, an alcoholic-free/Korean cuisine reception to (again) satisfy her mother’s inclinations (and allowing Lane to get a whole heck of a lot of moola from generous and pleased non-alcohol inclined Korean relatives who promptly left with all the packaged Korean food), and a rock-n-roll wedding party for the entire town and her rocker friends (plus the Korean cousin who liked Avril Lavigne music – okay). Quite something.

Hmmm… could it be that “Nightline” is finding its legs? I get cheered up seeing Chris Bury and John Donvan do their in-depth pieces and Terry Moran’s recent piece on illegal immigration was interesting. In fact, I think Moran has his moments in being a good host, with the right balance of traditional “Nightline” and New “Nightline” (although, he’s no Ted Koppel). Martin Bashir hasn’t really won me over (maybe because I still remember his interviews with Michael Jackson and Princess Diana; maybe they should have him do some serious news stuff, like interview actual important people), and neither has Cynthia McFadden. The “Sign of the Times” segment irks me; too light. If you have to do rotating hosts, can’t you put in people who maintain the feeling of “Nightline”?

A NY Times article on ImaginAsian and Asian films.

A NY Times article on the recent Silent Mascot in the Burger King and McDonald’s commercials (Burger King, I might add, is all very creepy), and even in the Quaker Oats commercial (and, I might really add, the plastic Quaker is really, really creepy).

Rain. We need it anymore. But it is cold.
I watched most of this week’s return of “Alias.” Crazy. As usual. And, just a tad predictable. (well, I was one of those people who felt pretty sure that Agent Vaughn wasn’t really dead. But he was pretty darn close to dead, so I’m not sure how they’ll explain that).
The news is that J.J. Abrams, the creator of “Alias” and “Lost” (and the man behind the new “Mission: Impossible” movie), is going to be making a new Star Trek movie:

The as-yet-untitled “Star Trek” feature, the 11th since 1979, is aiming for a fall 2008 release through Paramount Pictures, the Viacom Inc. unit looking to restore its box-office luster under new management, the trade paper said.

The project will be directed by J.J. Abrams,

whose Tom Cruise vehicle “Mission: Impossible III” will be released by Paramount on May 5. Abrams, famed for producing the TV shows “Alias” and “Lost,” will also help write and produce.
Daily Variety said the action would center on the early days of “Star Trek” characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer-space mission.

Look, I applaud Abrams for “Alias,” and “Lost” and even for “Felicity” (well, I didn’t watch as much of that show as I could have), but I’m very skeptical of anyone’s pulling off a new Star Trek movie by 2008. I don’t pretend to speak on behalf of fans, but I’m still trying to get my Trek bearings oriented again and I’m of the view that Trek fatigue needs time to simmer. Plus, I don’t know if 2008 is too soon after “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

And, really, do we need yet another prequel?! Look, a prequel done well is all well and good, but I really have no big desire to see Kirk and Spock’s pre-Enterprise days. And, I could have sworn that Kirk and Spock did not meet each other during their Academy days? At any rate, I feel the need for something new and hopeful but relevant if I want to see new Trek again, not a re-visit or re-making of the past. I’m not asking for a return to “Deep Space 9” or “Next Generation” or “Voyager” either. I just want some well-done Trek. It’s a big thing to ask, I guess.

And, speaking of a blast-from-the-past, apparently, “Captain Planet” is coming back on a Time Warner’s network. In honor of Earth Day, Boomerang network will air a “Captain Planet” marathon:

His shaggy green mullet gives away his age, but the animated superhero Captain Planet is, improbably, mustering enough midlife energy to fight a few more villains seeking to destroy the world.
To commemorate Earth Day today, Boomerang, the digital cable and satellite channel, is showing two commercial-free marathons of 13 “lost” episodes of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” Ted Turner’s sometimes ridiculed pet television project for teaching environmental issues to children. First shown in 1990 on Mr. Turner’s TBS network and in syndication, the series, which tried to make children environmental crusaders — its slogan is “The Power Is Yours!” — ran for five seasons in the United States. [….]

Except for an episode in which villains try to renew the cold war, the plotlines of the sixth season are surprisingly topical, considering that they are 10 years old. The five international Planeteers, who invoke powers of wind, fire, water, heart and earth, combat evildoers like Dr. Blight and Looten Plunder, who are clear-cutting old-growth forests, running puppy mills, destroying the Mississippi Delta, even running for president. The messages are hardly subtle. In the “Twelve Angry Animals” episode, the Planeteers are tried for humanity’s crimes against their fellow species. “Fry ’em, fry ’em,” cries a raven when the humans are found guilty.

As one of the last vestiges of Mr. Turner’s slate of cause-related programming, the “Captain Planet” episodes are as much artifacts as entertainment. Not content just to devote his wealth to foundations, Mr. Turner in the 1980’s and 90’s also loaded his networks, including CNN, with programs and shows promoting his favorite concerns. [….]

Yeah, I remember “Captain Planet” as a campy kind of cartoon back when our local syndicate showed it. But, I really like that Ted Turner had his good intentions. Environmentalism is tough stuff, and if we can teach kids via a weird cartoon, so goes it.