Month: July 2008

I wish I had a “staycation”; instead, I’m going to have what will pass for a vacation – a whirlwind of what and a family wedding up in Boston. But, really, I need more sleep. And to cut clutter. The war against clutter has me all but crying “uncle.” The Self-Proclaimed Duchess of Procrastination reigns.

Some stuff:

NY Times does a review of PBS’ “Nova ScienceNow,” which I’ve already raved about. (yeah, that’s right, I was ahead of the NY Times’ curve here!). Anyway, the Times’ Neil Genzlinger writes:

Take a little of the grotesque, a lot of the tantalizing and a heavy dose of friendly analogies, and you have “Nova ScienceNow,” a science program in a newsmagazine format that will leave laymen of almost any age feeling smarter and better informed.

The PBS series, now in its third season, has as its genial host Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan, whose comfort level on camera shatters any stereotypes you might have harbored about geeky scientists. [….]

And pretty much everything gets an analogy, apt or ridiculous. Searching for audio evidence of life in space is like dipping a glass in the ocean and seeing if you catch a fish. Stem-cell treatments would be like putting fettuccine in a blender and making a cheesecake out of it. Yes, Dr. Tyson puts some fettuccine in a blender.

All of this is served up brightly, and at a level that a child can grasp but that doesn’t bore an adult. And the scientists and other experts all seem to have taken lessons from Dr. Tyson: they’re engaging and comfortable on camera. Maybe that stereotype of the geeky scientist never had any basis in reality at all.

Yeah, that’s right too: combat stereotype!

Speaking of challenging misconceptions, the review by Daily News’ Elizabeth Weitzman seems to be the one review I’ve found that isn’t that unhappy with the new “X-Files” movie. She does say that Mulder/Scully fans may be willing to see them back, even if there are episodes that are better than this movie. As a fan, I Want To Believe that it’s a better than average movie…

In “Aliens Are Overrated,” Slate’s Julie Lapidos posits how the better episodes of “X-Files” were the ones not necessarily about the Alien Conspiracy Mythology. She might be right: the Flukeman episode was up there for being strange and compelling and sick all at once; I remembered the episode where Mulder and Scully investigate this community of circus performers/circus freaks as tragic and creepy and funny (particularly the scene where one of the freaks points to Mulder as the example of Good Looking Guy, as Mulder strikes an unintentional (intentional for the actor and writers, though) pose as Good Looking Guy – while also not realizing that Mulder’s a freak like anyone deep inside his own twisted mind).

Checked the mail and saw that Time and Sports Illustrated are doing their Olympic previews. Must…not…get…sucked…in…by…hype…

Hasbro v. Scrabulous begins… Wonder if this means that Hasbro’s going to sue everybody else who’s on the “let’s make a word game that looks like Scrabble” on-line.

Anyway, I’ll see if I’ll be able to blog from Boston/Cape Cod-ish this weekend. Tonight, it’s a game at Shea, to at least take an opportunity to enjoy before the new Citifield opens (I’m not even sure when’s the next Met home game I’ll make, so it goes).

On a rainy Wednesday night – some stuff…

Say it ain’t so: Ebert and Roeper are moving on; the new hosts for “At the Movies” will be two guys named Lyons and Mankiewicz. I saw Lyons and thought: Jeffrey Lyons? But, no, it’s his son, Ben, being paired up with Ben Mankiewicz. Wait a second: two guys named Ben? Hmm. Well, I never quite got used to Roeper, but still miss Ebert on tv.

NY Times’ Mark “The Minimalist” Bittman on a no-bake blueberry cheesecake bars. The accompanying on-line video got a bit funny when Bittman did a Hulk thing to pound the graham crackers into a pie crust. Guess he hasn’t seen “The Dark Knight” yet. 😉 (hmm, so say the Hulk likes cheesecake; what would the Batman like? Hmm.).

Charlie Rose did a fascinating interview with Chef David Chang. Now, I really should try Momofuku, although I may never get to eat at Ko considering the difficulty of getting reservations! But, really, that was a great interview. (see the previous triscribe posts on David Chang, here and here, where you’ll find links to other articles…)

Slate has an article by Huan Hsu, who raises some mixed feeling observations on tennis player Michael Chang, as Chang enters the Int’l Tennis Hall of Fame. Did Chang empower Asian-Americans/Chinese-Americans in sports? Or did he perpetuate stereotype? Or maybe both?

The passing of Estelle Getty, who’s best known for playing Sophia on “Golden Girls.”

I’m so not a summer person. I don’t like heat!

Friday, July 18, 2008: “Pretty to Think So” at the Asian American Int’l Film Festival. A law school classmate of mine was a co-director/co-writer of the film – how cool is it that two fellow APA attorneys made a movie? At any rate, I thought it was a well done movie, with independent film spirit. Some moments turned out to be funny for the audience (and even me), but I don’t think that was necessarily intentional (not necessarily the fault of writing or acting, or maybe I just couldn’t tell). Umm, so it’s not a perfect movie.

But, the actors did well – particularly the slimey Korean-American lawyer – ah, yes, don’t we love seeing an APA attorney on the big screen? Each character was fascinating: Alex, the Chinese-American Christian youth minister, who has a serious and dangerous gambling addiction; Hanna, the South Asian American young woman, who got downsized in the dot com bust; Jiwon, the slimey Big Firm attorney, who thinks he’s in control (umm, no, dear!). I kind of imagined that they could have each anchored their own story well enough – well, actually, I think Hanna was the slightly weaker one, since she could have taken more control – too much passiveness – but then again, maybe that was the point?

The fact that the movie takes place in 2000 was rather poignant – the dot com era; the rise of the Big Firm Lawyer’s power (come on – this was when associates got their six digit salaries, wasn’t it?); the insane 2000 presidential election; plus, the World Trade Center Twin Towers… the recollection of the pre-9/11 world, and that you can’t it get back.

Ultimately, I’m not big on tragic love triangles (as I said, I prefer romantic comedies), but I applaud movies where APA’s get their opportunities. Plus, a nifty little movie website.

With the AAIFF’08 over – some lovely item: “Kissing Cousins” won for AAIFF08 Audience Award-Narrative Feature!

Oh, and the big movie of the weekend: “The Dark Knight.” I didn’t think I would see it right away, but I did catch it on Sunday, since my brother really, really, really wanted to see it. Long movie; I would’ve tightened some parts; some one or two odd plot holes; but a good movie. Is the hype overhype? I don’t know. Entertaining and fun? Well, it sure was grim and dark – which is what being “The Dark Knight” is about when the crazies like the Joker come out.

I won’t give anything away, but I liked the strong cast. I wished I had more time to drool over Christian Bale; really, my heart cries for Bruce Wayne and his sacrifice of anything resembling normalcy. (yeah, yeah, I didn’t watch the Val Kilmer and George Clooney Batman movies and I don’t read the comic books, but I’m a Batfan). The key person was The Joker, not quite the Batman; and so, yes, Heath Ledger did a pretty good job (the Joker is scary, whether it’s played by Ledger, Jack Nicholson or Mark Hamill (who did the voice of the Joker in the 1990’s Batman cartoon – an insane character with his version of logic – nothing but consistent, no matter who plays him, with the variation involved). Maggie Gyllenhaal arguably is better than Katie Holmes in the character of Rachel Dawes; Aaron Eckhart as DA Harvey Dent — well, if there’s a lawyer whose downfall was easy to predict but still hard to watch, that’s him. Gary Oldman was awesome as Jim Gordon. Lovely cameos too by other tv-familiar faces (Nestor Carbonell! William Fichtner!).

Be advised that this is not a movie for the weak of heart or for young children. Otherwise, thumbs up! (I’d like to give a high thumbs up, but I’m not big on long movies that aren’t epics of the Lord of the Rings proportion; some movies – not matter how good – make me wish for commercial breaks or a pause button just to let me take a break; and I guess some people really like wacky violence in their movies).

I don’t always like Time Magazine’s Richard Corliss’ reviews (they tend to give away too much), but his last lines in his review of “The Dark Knight” is quite right; he too said the new Batman movie’s a bit long, but, he notes: “The chill will linger, though. The Dark Knight is bound to haunt you long after you’ve told yourself, Aah, it’s only a comic-book movie.” So true; I keep thinking about it and the psychology and the various implications (or not-implied stuff). As a writer and a lawyer – my head just spins over what the heck was going on there.

Slate’s Dana Stevens has a very good review, but I really loved her spoiler special podcast discussion, located on the webpage – but don’t listen to it until after you see the movie! Meanwhile, if you want to read more reviews, MNSBC.com kindly links to more reviews at the end of their contributor’s positive review.

Anyway, as much as I love Bale, I doubt that anyone will quite beat the best Batman, Kevin Conroy, who has done the voice for animated Batman for quite some time (dealing with Hamill’s Joker? Yeah, that’ll never end). The easy thing about an animated Batman is that the violence is supposedly less painful because it’s animated (tell that to Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam though, considering every time Bugs Bunny shoots them).

NY Times’ Bill Carter on “Heroes” 2008-2009 season; here’s hoping that it’ll be a worthy journey. The Powers behind “Heroes” could take my advice (focus on your core group; balance between characters and plot. Why not let the heroes interact with each other more – some of them can work quite well together? Umm, how about not trying to kill Congressional candidate/lawyer/flying man Nathan every season? How about seeing if Hiro still makes that journey towards becoming Dark Hiro? Plus, will Nathan’s brother Peter not be so dense?).

In non-entertainment front (and notably for being about an APA):

NY Times has an interesting profile on Arnold Kim, M.D., who is giving up his day job as a doctor to be a full-time blogger (that is, of publishing on tech news) – and to spend more time with the baby. Aww. Guess majoring in computer science at Alma Mater was worth it (but, really, what about all that time and money in that medical degree…?).

Last but not least: Al Gore’s latest rally for pushing for more action for the environment has some response that he’s being a bit unrealistic (but really, he is right – if we got a man on the moon in ten years, why can’t we save the Earth in that amount of time? On the other hand, all we had to do was spend tons of money to send three guys into space in 1969; having billions of people save the world kind of really, really, really tough). This Time.com article by Bryan Walsh nailed it for me with these last couple of lines: “What we most need is time to make these changes, but that’s what we’ve squandered. If only someone else had been President these past eight years — someone like, well, Al Gore.”

Cool idea: urban “vertical farms,” by Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University. I loved the following paragraph from the NY Times article by Bina Venkataraman:

Architects’ renderings of vertical farms — hybrids of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Biosphere 2 with SimCity appeal — seem to be stirring interest. “It also has to be stunning in terms of the architecture, because it needs to work in terms of social marketing,” Dr. Despommier said. “You want people to say, ‘I want that in my backyard.’ ”

SimCity! Whoa! The futuristic cities of Sim City can be quite amazing too, I must say. Sim City also believed that by the 21st Century, we’d have fusion power plants, but we haven’t reached that either yet. So, as much as I’d think that vertical farms are a cool idea, I’d wonder if the NYC real estate market and other factors might make it difficult to pursue.

Sometimes, I give credit to Slate for leading me to articles I wouldn’t otherwise read about: these magazine summaries led me to a fascinating article in The New Republic (a magazine I really don’t read usually) about Barack Obama’s time at the University of Chicago Law School.

I also liked this article on Law.com by Professor Kyron James Huigens of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, on his observation that he understands Obama’s nuanced thinking because it’s the nuanced thinking of a law professor:

I have to confess that I think I know Obama’s mind. He’s like me — a legal scholar.

Obama is a graduate of one of the best law schools in the country and has taught on a part-time basis at one of the others [hyperlink to a Law.com article on Harvard Law, by Tony Mauro of Legal Times removed]. Every law school produces at least one scholarly journal, usually its flagship journal, that is edited by students. Obama was the president of the Harvard Law Review, a political office of sorts that, nevertheless, gave him an opportunity to work with accomplished, often brilliant, scholars.

Obama’s legal education, his law review work and his teaching have produced a presidential candidate whose positions on major issues have been described as nuanced, compromised, centrist or insincere. They might be all or some of these things, but many of them are also legally sophisticated. This matters to anyone who wants to truly understand Obama’s thinking. Legal analysis cannot be adequately portrayed in political terms, and to push Obama’s beliefs back and forth along the conventional left-right spectrum badly misrepresents them. […. comments on Obama’s recent comments about Supreme Court decisions]

None of this really justifies my sense that I know Obama’s mind. But beyond these issues and the way he handles them, I sense a certain temperament and a style of thinking that sounds and feels very familiar. I would be surprised if many of my colleagues in legal academia did not sense it too. Whether this counts as a reason to vote for Obama is, of course, another question.

I finished reading Obama’s book, “Audacity of Hope,” and the law professor side of him is a very interesting aspect of Obama that was clearly obvious. Ah well. Got to give law profs credit for saying a whole heck of a lot of stuff; whether we listen to them (even when they’re wrong, or just not completely making much sense) is another story.

Wednesday night: watched more Asian American Int’l Film Festival movies; I think I’m really getting into this.

Kissing Cousins at Asia Society – thumbs up! Very well done romantic comedy. Actor Samrat Chakrabarti as Amir, a professional “relationship termination specialist,” who has to learn to appreciate love — terrific acting. There were some weak moments of either acting or writing (Amir’s sister was a tad weak character, and the character of Bridget, the friend’s sister, could’ve been given a bit more to work on), but the movie worked because of Amir and his cousin Zara. (umm, yeah, they’re cousins, which makes the kissing just a little “uh…”). Nifty little movie website, by the way.

Also watched “Gone Shopping” – hmm. Interesting movie got the glimpse of mall life in Singapore. It kind of felt like an Asian “Desperate Housewives,” with its mix of satire and pathos (well, “Gone Shopping” was far more watchable than most episodes of “Desperate Housewives” – I’m not much of a DH fan anyway). The cast was quite strong and the writing felt impressive. This movie also has a pretty nifty and informative website, with the whimsical soundtrack too.

But, I personally like romantic comedies with the happy endings; that’s just me!

So, check out what’s left of the next few days; embedding the AAIFF ’08 trailer from YouTube:

So… I forgot to mention a couple of things — let’s see, on July 4, besides seeing Wall-E, the siblings and I did get to check out the new Ikea in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It’s Ikea with a view of the New York Harbor. Nothing too spectacular, but fascinating in a Swedish-Brooklyn kind of way. We then took the NY Water Taxi, free thanks to Ikea, to Manhattan. This got us a nice view of the Waterfalls.

We then did shopping at the Strand annex on Fulton Street, which is sadly closing (aww shucks; check it out soon, by August). Soon, cheap book shopping in downtown Manhattan may be only found at Strand’s main store near 14th Street.

Frankly, we need more bookstores in Lower Manhattan, as the linked article notes: too many Duane Reades. (even though there’s now a Barnes and Noble in Tribeca on Warren Street, near West Street, it’s bit of trek; the apparently exciting aspects are Bed, Bath and Beyond next door, and that the new Whole Foods below both B&N and BB&B should be open by now).

With the loss of Strand’s annex (and I still miss Ruby’s on Chambers and this used bookstore that was on Nassau) — it’s a little less literary around where I work (well, can’t discount Borders off of Wall Street though; that Borders is cool, but not nearly as cool as the Columbus Circle one).

Otherwise this week was about anticipating this year’s Asian American International Film Festival. Asia Society hosted panels, in addition to the AAIFF films. I think FC will blog more on it. On Saturday, 7/12/08, which was when FC, P-, me and others watched and seemed to have positive responses to the fortune cookie documentary, The Killing of a Chinese Cookie (check out its official website). Quirky and entertaining, it pretty much covers much the same ground as Jennifer 8. Lee’s “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.” FC and I wondered if we saw Jennifer 8. Lee herself on the premises, but I don’t remember being very sure of that.

That afternoon, FC, P-, and I also checked out the “On Asian/American Aesthetics” panel, where playwrite David Henry Hwang, film director Wayne Wang, architect Billie Tsien, and fashion designer Mary Ping. A bit dry during certain points, I’m not entirely certain still on what is “Asian American aesthetics,” but it was fascinating to think that generational differences and the very meaning of “Asian American” make things no less complicated.

I also attended the panel on “China and the Environment” – a topic that makes me feel more depressed than not; the best we can hope for is that more people can become aware and demand more from their authorities; but “awareness” is different than “action.”

Well, no, I did not get to check out Jon Bon Jovi in Central Park on the night of July 12; and well, yeah, he may be a little on the generic side, but he makes people happy. We need more happy these days.

Plus, Billy Joel at Shea Stadium soon (fascinating article in the Times profiling how he’s been these days compared to what his past has been about), and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Fan Fest at Javits Center (probably tons more fun than, say, the dreaded Bar Exam later this month at Javits), and the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium — well, do we really want to think about $5 gas?

Other stuff to note:

As probably known to fellow triscribers and readers, as well as friends and family, I am/was an X-File fan, and so I’m a tad nervous about the upcoming movie. NY Times has an article catching up with Chris Carter (the man behind X-Files), along with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as they reprise their roles. Oh, heaven help us: is it really the return of Mulder and Scully? Has it really been (gasp!) 10 years? Am I really going to watch this movie? … Sigh, I think I will, ’cause I’m a sucker…

Cool slide show on Slate: fascinating look at what Whistler’s influence made possible.

Last, but never least: Linda Greenhouse in the latest NY Times’ Week in Review, as she proceeds to retire from the NY Times. I liked her closing:

It has made a substantial difference during these last 21 years that Anthony Kennedy got the seat intended for Robert Bork. The invective aimed at Justice Kennedy from the right this year alone, for his majority opinions upholding the rights of the Guantánamo detainees and overturning the death penalty for child rapists — 5-to-4 decisions that would surely have found Judge Bork on the opposite side — is a measure of the lasting significance of what happened during that long-ago summer and fall.

It is also a reminder of something I learned observing the court and the country, and listening in on the vital dialogue between them. The court is in Americans’ collective hands. We shape it; it reflects us. At any given time, we may not have the Supreme Court we want. We may not have the court we need. But we have, most likely, the Supreme Court we deserve.

July 4th – watched “Wall-E” – great movie! Highly recommended. Leaves a lump in the throat about the fate of humanity – and the life of one little robot.

It also strongly reminded me about Asimov’s rules for/about robots. Ah, that Asimov.

TV on the 4th of July consisted of watching the fireworks and enjoying viewing on cable “1776,” the movie version of the musical (probably should be seen more as a play really, according to Wikipedia, considering how much lines are spoken rather than sang) of the Continental Congress and the grappling of how they agreed on independence.

And, yes, that’s right, that was William Daniels, the former Mr. Feeney of “Boy Meets World” and the voice of KITT of the original “Knight Rider,” as John Adams. Take that, Paul Giamatti! (who did John Adams in the HBO miniseries)… well, actually, if Paul Giamatti could sing, maybe he could try “1776” too.

A day after Venus Williams beat Serena Williams in Wimbledon, the Big News of today: Nadal beat Federer in Wimbledon.

Anyway, it’s soon that time of year – the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Voting continues until Jully 10 for starters; the game’s at Yankee Stadium, to enjoy before it goes away to history.

Recent reads; generally all good subway reads:

Following up on a previous post that previewed this, I finally got to read the book (and FC already read it): “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles” by Jennifer 8. Lee – what a great read! Not just a look at Chinese American cuisine, but also about what it means to be American. Highly recommended read (plus the official blog is pretty awesome too).

About two weeks ago, I attended Jennifer 8. Lee’s presentation on the book at an APA alumni event sponsored by another Ivy League institution (not Alma Mater); nifty! She’s engaging, and the slideshow she presented supplemented the book in a really invigorating and entertaining way.

“Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President,” by Lincoln Chafee – a read I got from the library. Chafee wrote about his experience in Congress as a frustrated moderate Republican – illuminating and disillusioning; but I’ll take off points toward his book as a moderate manifesto; it’s kind of hard to motivate moderates to become active fighters when the very nature of moderation is not to fight. It was an easy read, but sad – sad as in the sympathy I felt for Chafee, but I felt frustrated with him for how he described his frustrating situation – he could have done more to stand up to the problems with the Bush administration and the weak Congress, but he was only a junior senator who was dealing with his own Democratic-dominated state. Also, while I’m not as hard on either of the parties as Chafee may be, but he has an interesting perspective.

“Death by Black Hole” by Neil deGrasse Tyson – terrific read!! A collection of the astrophysicist’s essays, it makes you appreciate science. He’s opinionated, in a traditional NYC manner (he is a native New Yorker, after all), and smart and writes persuasively. Highly recommended read. Barnes and Noble has the hard cover edition as a bargain (well, that may actually depend on the store, but it’s available).

Neil deGrasse Tyson has also been a nifty host on Nova Science Now. See, I have a theory that if kids and adults watch more of this stuff, we might have a more educated populace. In theory, of course; I’m not sure what is the status of education as it is.

Hmm… okay, as noted in the previous post, I have a crush on Juan Diego Florez. 😉 He has such a charm and a voice, and can act very well (at least of the comic operas that I’ve seen so far on Channel 13). YouTube has quite some stuff, notably the report on how he got to those high C’s in such an easy sounding way (it probably isn’t easy!; plus, I didn’t realize and was fascinated that Pavarotti was made famous by that same role):

Sometimes I think that the NY Times has some fascinating obituaries of fascinating people – these are not just accomplished people – they’re people who cared about what they did and who they were; consider the recent passing of Kermit Love, the costume designer for various ballets – and behind Big Bird.