Month: January 2008

[Pardon some editing…]

Haven’t been blogging, due to after work events (ah, bar associations…), alumni stuff (ah, Alma Mater Law School has improved on its food provisions, has it?), tummy aches (man, what have I been eating? oh, yeah, that…), and Facebook (umm, yeah).

Time’s Lev Grossman has posted on the Time.com blog, “Nerd World” that Hasbro’s a little pissed with the people behind “Scrabulous.” I agree with Grossman, as he writes: “I just hope Hasbro is smart enough to buy Scrabulous and resuscitate it on a firm legal footing. Because I’ve got a wicked bingo to put down.” I agree – please don’t just scrap “Scrabulous”; negotiate!

Meanwhile, NY Times reports on how, as much as Scrabulous application on Facebook is beloved, other applications on Facebook leave much to be desired. Otherwise, yeah, well, the Scrabble/Scrabulous dispute continues…

Jennifer 8. Lee on the history of the fortune cookie – and how it may not be as Chinese American in origin as believed? Lee writes that, although early Japanese bakeries in America brought the cookie to this side of the Pacific:

Early on, Chinese-owned restaurants discovered the cookies, too. Ms. Yasuko Nakamachi [food historian] speculates that Chinese-owned manufacturers began to take over fortune cookie production during World War II, when Japanese bakeries all over the West Coast closed as Japanese-Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps.

[Derrick Wong, the vice president of the largest fortune cookie manufacturer in the world, Wonton Food, based in Brooklyn] pointed out: “The Japanese may have invented the fortune cookie. But the Chinese people really explored the potential of the fortune cookie. It’s Chinese-American culture. It only happens here, not in China.”

That sentiment is echoed among some descendants of the Japanese immigrants who played an early role in fortune cookies. “If the family had decided to sell fortune cookies, they would have never done it as successfully as the Chinese have,” said Douglas Dawkins, the great-great-grandson of Makoto Hagiwara [a Japanese immigrant who oversaw the Japanese Tea Garden built in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in the 1890s]. “I think it’s great. I really don’t think the fortune cookie would have taken off if it hadn’t been popularized in such a wide venue.”

The accompanying slideshow and video are pretty nifty too. Getting eager about that upcoming book of hers, I must say…

Mark “The Minimalist” Bittman on whole grain pancakes. The accompanying video has a different opening theme music, by the way…

So, how far we go in respecting our food? Pretty far, according to this article on how chef Jamie Oliver and others believe we ought to look our meat in their eyes. I kind of respect the idea; not everyone’s going vegetarian, and while we can’t expect to be 100% humane, getting close to it or at least being aware sounds – well – respectful, to our stomachs and the animals.

Can Eli Manning and the Giants pull it off against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers this Sunday? “The Mystery of Eli Manning,” on Slate, explores the perennial problem of being the little brother – you’ll be second-guessed, but you might get a little sympathy out of it, so life can’t be that bad. Hopefully.

Friday night: some dinner at Republic on Union Sq. – good eats.

Oh, and it’s Winter 2008 Restaurant Week.

Pete Hamill lecture, sponsored by Downtown Alliance. Not that I had attended the event (although, I wish I did) – but great stuff in the NY Times’ City Room blog – kind of timely, as we think about diversity and tolerance before the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

The passing of Bobby Fischer, chess genius and – to put it kindly – eccentric (the eccentricity probably having been due to many reasons).

Sunday – dinner at Jolie in Brooklyn with a friend. Three-cheese fondue for dinner; crepes suzette for dessert. Loved the decor; the crepes suzette was a bit strong on the alcohol flavor for me.

Sunday night – missed most of the coverage of the Golden Globes. From what I saw, I was turned off by the NBC version with the Access Hollywood crew; Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell didn’t exactly do a good job of it, and then I found out that it wasn’t even the official presentation, or at least it fell behind the other channels’ airing of the announcements of winners (which apparently, TV Guide channel did a better job without irritating analysis). (TV critic David Bianculli, among others, didn’t applaud NBC). NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley described it as “a weird night, and NBC didn’t manage to make the best of it.”

Plus, I’m happy enough that PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre (now known as “Masterpiece” – what the … – come on! I like the same title and the theme song; the new variation of the theme isn’t quite right) is presenting new Jane Austen adaptations. I watched some of the new “Persuasion,” which stars Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot and Rupert Penry-Jones as Capt. Wentworth, Anne’s lost love. I was wary of seeing it – I loved the previous adapation of “Persuasion” (starring Amanda Root as Anne Elliot and Ciaran Hinds as Capt. Wentworth); but from what I saw, “Persuasion” remains the powerful story of love lost and regained.

Thoughts on the new “Persuasion” … Some fascinating casting: Anthony Head (the former Giles of “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer” to the American audience) as Anne’s snobby father; and Alice Krige as Lady Russell (Krige, known to the American sci-fi audience as… the Borg Queen from “Star Trek: First Contact.” Umm, yeah – perfect casting for Lady Russell!).

Strangely amusing: seeing Gillian Anderson as the host/presenter of this season of “Masterpiece Theatre.” I have to watch her in “Bleak House” (which Masterpiece Theatre showed a couple of seasons ago; I’m kind of behind on my PBS drama viewing), but I was/am the X-Files fan, so who am I to complain? (umm, yeah, I was the one still watching the last season of X-Files; it wasn’t that bad, really!).

Some more Sunday items of thought – on the NFL front of things – too bad that Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, and the Colts won’t be going up against the New England Patriots (will someone beat the Patriots? Do we have to wait until the Super Bowl?). The other Manning brother in the NFL – Eli – and the Giants have pulled it off, beating Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. But, still – Tom Coughlin, Eli, and the Giants against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, at the Packers’ frozen tundra? Umm, best of luck!

Some important info, believe it or not – on accessing public bathrooms in Manhattan.

A story on the infamous Verizon building of the city skyline (well, you can’t avoid seeing it during the day on the Brooklyn Bridge). The idea that people would want to live in it as a co-op – all for that window view… Hmm…

Plus, it’s come down to this: the writers’ strike is making Election 2008 the big tv winner. Would this have still happened if the strike didn’t happen? Maybe. We’ll never know, would we? And, as I’ve been saying – the election is the ultimate reality tv show.

And, last but not least: the Smurfs turn 50 (well, in this universe anyway; according to the Smurf universe, they’re at least 100 years old. Or something like that). As a child of the ’80’s, I’m a sucker for this. So, have a Smurfy Day!…

Well, well, well. I’m kind of amazed by what happened with the New Hampshire primary – what a horse race. I didn’t think Hillary would throw in the towel. Surprised by her victory – yes; shocked – umm, not quite. Will be very interesting to see what will happen now between her and Barack Obama (well, okay, Edwards isn’t out of it yet).

Oh, wow – The Met’s Philippe de Montebello will be retiring at the end of the year? Carol Vogel for the NY Times writes:

He allowed that his current job would be hard to top. “I’m the most grateful person on earth,” he said. “I’ve had the privilege to run the greatest institution in the world. How much luckier can you be than that?”

For the museum world, one challenge will surely be to start seeing the Met and its long-term director as separate entities.

“The Met is a huge organization, and too many people have been increasingly saying to me, ‘You are the Met,’” Mr. de Montebello said. “I am not the Met.”

NY Times art critic Michael Kimmelman has a nice tribute about Mr. de Montebello.

Marvel’s ending Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane, by making it as if it never happened? Honestly, I’m hardly a comic book reader, but this is the dilemma of any series – how do you keep the tension going in a long-running series? Superman/Clark Kent marries Lois Lane, but is it still fun? (then again, Superman’s super, so to keep things going, the conflict is in Clark’s own internal battle, I guess). Who likes the happy hero?

But, I don’t feel that much more comfortable with superheroes who’s mired in the misery of his (usually “his”) life – Batman/Bruce Wayne’s practically psychotic, if his series or the various versions don’t constantly remind him of his family – the Bat clan. Then again, even though he has his foster dad in Alfred the butler and his foster kids in Robin (in all the variations) and Batgirls (in all the variations), he has his commitment issues with women – he just can’t be happy. At least that kind of makes sense in comparison to being cruel to Peter Parker and Mary Jane; you’d be a little nuts too if you were Bruce Wayne. And, come on – as geeky as Peter Parker was, his sarcasm/wit got him the girl of his dreams. Should we be glad that he’s spared of a divorce?

Okay, clearly I need to find other things to read about on-line!

The passing of Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mt. Everest. The AP obituary made him sound modest but spirited. And, I especially like how Time magazine opened their obit with quite a majesty on how Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay got up there at the top of the world.