Triscribe

Month: January 2009

  • Post-Inaugural Stuff

    President Obama and Ch. J. Roberts re-did the oath of office, just to be on the safe side. More description in the Washington Post.

    Arguably, maybe one could blame Ch. J. Roberts’ flub to the Curse of the Split Infinitive and how grammatical people try to correct what they (instinctively) think is not grammatically correct (after all, where would you stick “faithfully” in the oath? beginning or the end of the sentence? split the infinitive? well, it was written back when they didn’t care as much about grammar or punctuation).

    So, there are presidents who re-did the oath of office. It’s really no big deal!

    Uh, so they had to resort to using some pre-recording to support Yo-Yo Ma and Itzak Perlman and their colleagues during the inauguration. I’m not surprised and I’d forgive them; it was really cold and even on the news later on, Perlman was all, “My fingers were frozen…” (paraphrased) – better to make things smooth than not (when there were enough troubles for the inauguration).

    Fascinating story by NY Times’ Jodi Kantor about Obama’s multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-religious extended family – a modern American thing, really.

    Plus, Obama not only brought out the sea of humanity onto D.C., he continued to save tv by bringing out ratings, lots of ratings.

    Interesting story about the state of the ethnic newspapers of NYC.

    Oh, and “Lost” is back, and no less crazier than ever. Priceless line (in the delivery anyway), by the ageless (or time traveling?) Richard to John Locke: “It’s a compass… it points north, John.”

  • A new kind of superhero

    I have heard much talk about superheroes this past week. I tried to get a copy of the Obama Spider-Man comic book last week, mostly because my wife asked me to find a copy. I was relegated to pre-ordering the second printing that should arrive this week.

    But Obama is not Spidey – there were thousands of people who were true-believers in his message of hope, yet would not believe that the dream had become real until the last words of the oath were taken (slightly late, and therefore, Biden was technically president for 6 minutes).

    Like Batman, Obama has no superpowers- he uses brains, brawn, and a Blackberry. When Spidey meets up with Obama in issue 583 after thwarting inauguration disaster, they join as partners not just in an ideological struggle between good and evil, but in the focusing of our shades into facets of light, rather than separating through the polarizing filter of our differences.

    The President gave the American people today the lowdown that we have to dust ourselves off, and start again. He means that we should be asking not what he can do for us, but what we can do for each other.

    Don’t give up – please, don’t give up.

  • Inauguration Day

    History and the peaceful transition of government: welcome to a new era with the inauguration of 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama.

    I felt proud and happy for Joe Biden and being sworn in by J. Stevens. It was a bit of a keystone for a big career and life of Biden.

    But, the key moment was in seeing the day I didn’t think I’d see, but glad we have – history – the first black President of the United States, sworn in.

    Dahlia Lithwick on the little error in the swearing-in of President Obama. I took it as basically two confident men demonstrating how human they are (probably nervous!). NY Times’ Adam Liptak (the Linda Greenhouse successor) explains that the flub during the swearing-in is… de minimus! That’s right, people! He’s still President! 😉 Who’d have the standing to challenge it, and it’s not like Ch.J. Roberts would rule on his own error. I better step off the soapbox before I sound like (gasp) a lawyer…

    I did manage to watch the inauguration from work, in a boss’ office, where we all hanged out in. I’m still catching up on the coverage, since I’m a coverage addict. But, I agree with John Dickerson on Slate (since at this point, I’d have to count myself as someone who has watched a bunch of Obama speeches and can kind of tell that feeling of thrill when it’s one of his great speeches):

    It was a good speech but not a soaring one. This may have been because Obama has given so many strong speeches, he’s graded on his own special curve—or because he wanted the speech to be thoroughly conventional. His call to responsibility and sacrifice was rooted in American history—from the first settlers through the colonists to America’s soldiers. This is a familiar theme in a political speech. In fact, Obama gave his own speech using these themes last June, in which he made a similar call to a new patriotism founded on sacrifice. The use of “I say to you” and “on this day” constructions added to the feeling that this was a speech of the usual order. [….]

    But it goes only so far in helping him with his speech’s larger aim. His goal was to try to inspire us to give something up and reverse “our collective failure to make hard choices,” which he says marked the responsibility-free era that created our current economic mess.

    That kind of extraordinary call could have been helped by something more than historical analogies and drive-by references to brave firefighters. It required the kind of personal speechmaking Obama was so good at during the campaign. When he is at his most powerful, Obama makes you feel the connection with his message through either storytelling or references to his personal journey. [….]

    Instead of a personal story people could take home, Obama concluded his speech with the story of George Washington fighting for America’s independence. It was a perfectly fine story, suitable for treatment in oil and fit for a gilt frame, but it’s not a story that’s likely to be retold tomorrow at the office.

    Though the speech was familiar, there were some poetic high points. He talked about the “risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things,” and as he spoke, his words echoed back to him from down the Mall, where they were being broadcast on giant televisions. He framed the new spirit of sacrifice we all must embrace by referring to the extraordinary selflessness of the military. This is a smart thing for a commander in chief to do, particularly one who was portrayed by his opponents as unpatriotic. And by putting out his familiar call for “a new era of responsibility,” he has ensured that the phrase will be repeated throughout his tenure. And he hopes that the policies he will promise later, on everything from health care to entitlement reform, will become a part of the larger narrative of his presidency.

    He was alternatively humble and commanding. He repudiated Bush’s foreign policy. “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” Obama said. “Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.” He promised humility and restraint. But then, he tempered that new approach with a clear message to America’s enemies: “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” As he spoke, a fighter plane circled overhead, a tiny black spot against unspecific clouds.

    How long Obama’s words endure is a separate question from the enduring power of the inaugural moment. Though he never mentioned Martin Luther King Jr., Obama faced the Lincoln Memorial from where King articulated a dream that Obama is now helping to fulfill. That monument seemed brighter in the bitter cold, as did all the bleached white buildings that line the Mall. Between them jostled the millions of people who had come to hear and see him, their small American flags creating a blur of red, white, and blue among the museums and monuments.

    Yes, it was more than the speech – the sight of the teeming masses or sea of people – this was America, this is America. Yes, as Obama said: choose hope over fear – this is what we voted for – not against something, but for something.

    Thought it was hilarious enough that Alma Mater tracked down Obama’s college roommate for the alumni magazine (those alumni office resources…), but the Times apparently jumped on board too; well, jeez, Times, but Columbia College Today had the story first!

    Four years ago: the continuation of the Bush era; I don’t remember it now, but apparently, according to the blog post, I had a pretty tepid response to that inauguration. But, time moves on, and we’ll see what’s next.

  • A Cold Saturday

    I am ridiculously behind the Battlestar Galactica bandwagon (I tried, I really did, to get on it; but my access to SciFi channel’s ridiculously hampered and I have yet to get the dvds, if they’re out there already). The last episodes begins, and even the Times is writing up on it; any word on who the last Cylon is? …

    The passing of American painter Andrew Wyeth. I find it fascinating that he was both admired and doubted, as the art writer Richard Lacayo of Time notes as does Larry Rohter in the NY Times.

    The passing of John Mortimer, British barrister and writer of “Rumpole of the Bailey.” An appreciation of Mortimer by NY Times’ Charles McGrath.

  • TGIF

    The passing of Patrick McGoohan, best known for his role as Number Six of “The Prisoner,” and his famous line, “I am not a number!” Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker has commentary, as does David Bianculli. I recommend watching “The Simpsons” episode where they parodied “The Prisoner” – and Homer Simpson’s stealing Number Six’s raft.

    My past link on “The Prisoner” – here.

    The passing of Ricardo Montalban – best known for his roles as Khan in Star Trek (the creepy “Space Seed” episode, and, of course, “Khaaan!” as Kirk says in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”), and Mr. Roarke of “Fantasy Island” (no, Mr. Roarke was not always a nice man). It’s nice to think about Montalban, who helped to bring some diversity in the media at a time when there probably wasn’t much of it; as the NY Times obituary that I linked noted:

    Though Mr. Roarke became Mr. Montalbán’s signature role, it was a mere bump in the timeline of a career that spanned decades, media and genres. Mr. Montalbán embodied stereotypes, fought them and transcended them in his years in show business. His entire reputation, both as smooth Latin seducer and parodist of a smooth Latin seducer, was capsulized in a television advertisement from the mid-1970s in which he served as pitchman for the Cordoba, a luxury car being introduced by Chrysler. He purred over the automobile’s assets, including the seats, upholstered, he said, in “soft, Corinthian leather,” a phrase that became a campy giggle-inducer, especially after it became known that there is no such thing as Corinthian leather, from Corinth or anywhere else: the description was just a marketing invention.

    Plus, interesting commentary on Entertainment Weekly’s website on Montalban as Khan.

    Anyway, I think it was kind of funny that two guys associated with weird islands passed away so close in time like this; plus, “Lost” is coming back, so… hmm… more weird islands and existentialist and mind-blowing entertainment coming our way.

    Plus, from James Poniewozik on Time.com – his observations on McGoohan (apparently, AMC was in the works to do a remake of “The Prisoner”), Montalban, and the “Lost” connection (well, he’s gearing up for the return of “Lost”).

    Sudden news arose (Miracle on the Hudson, indeed; thank goodness about that the airplane crash-landed in the water without fatalities), but I’ll note that NYS will have a new chief judge – Governor Paterson has appointed Justice Lippman to succeed Chief Judge Kaye on the Court of Appeals. NY state of mind, indeed.

  • Stuff

    Still can’t believe that it’s 2009. NY Times’ A.O. Scott on “The Apartment,” a New Year’s in New York kind of movie, with a touch of darkness but a touch of hope. There’s a lot of darkness out there, so it’s kind of hard to stay hopeful.

    There are plenty of reasons why the US ex-presidents and current president don’t quite talk to each other all that much; still, it can’t be a bad idea.

    Neil deGrasse Tyson – the man who (via the NY Times, possibly) got the general population heated up about whether Pluto is a planet – may be asked by the Obama administration to head NASA (wow!); until then, he’s still host of Nova ScienceNow.

    Speaking of the up-coming Obama administration, the Republicans in the Senate are apparently a little too eager about asking US Attorney General nominee Eric Holder about clients that he had while he’s been a Big Firm lawyer. So, doing work in the private sector gets one scrutiny (not to say one can’t do conflicts checks, because that is the point), but doesn’t this kind of discourages people from going into the public sector/public interest? So Holder made money; nothing says that he can’t do the job of US Attorney General. I hope the Republicans can do their end of the hearings correctly.

    I only read one Nelson de Mille book; but the profile about him in the NY Times was fascinating and confirms how he got all that realism into his books (research and life experience).

    NYC bloggers who blog about NYC. Hmm. Can be kind of crazy, I guess.

    I don’t poke around Entertainment Weekly’s website all that much (it’s kind of kooky over there, not gleaming pretty like the hard copy magazine), so it wasn’t until Time’s James Poniewozik reported on his blog did I learn about Ken Tucker’s Watching TV blog on EW.com; Tucker’s blog seems pretty cool. I’m kind of unsure of what to expect for 2009 tv, but he raises interesting stuff.

    Ken Tucker on Neil Patrick Harris on Saturday Night Live last night. I only caught the opening monologue. Legen-wait for it-dary. Silly me for not watching the rest of the show (when they got the Today show skit, I couldn’t watch; Kathy Lee Gifford mimicry, no matter how dead-on, didn’t grab me).

    I thought the video below was cute: Harry Bellafante v. Animal, in a drumming competition of sorts. Bellafante’s enthusiasm was great and Animal… well, he’s quite the Muppet.

  • Stuff in the New Year

    (Fake) law and tv: this was a great interview with Sam Waterston on NPR, remembering his past roles – not just “Law and Order” (although that’s been pretty cool though).

    Plus, this week’s episode of “Law & Order” was pretty good, actually, considering how many plotlines kept unraveling. Basically, they took off a story that Nightline also covered about Haitian child slaves; added (what else?) murder (the victims: divorce lawyers); and more (moral ambiguities – ooh! grand jury duty – ugh…). The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution was pretty much sullied, and yet it was way hard for DA McCoy and his crew to do much (poor Cutter; there’s no justice when you’re prosecuting something really hard here); Lt. Van Buren and her side of the “Law & Order” did what they could. Det. Lupo once again exploited his position as a law student (trading his con law outline to this guy – apparently another law student but working at the clerk’s office – to access privileged info; what…?!).

    With the Middle East problematic as ever, this Q&A on Time.com was illuminating, with thoughtful answers (which probably lead to more questions) from author Avram Burg.

    If you’re a fictitious person, how do you figure out when is your birthday? It’s Sherlock Holmes’ (arbitrarily determined) birthday weekend!

    Fascinating profile of a Hong Kong chef.

    Asian American in the news: Dr. Sanjay Gupta was apparently broached about the position as US Surgeon General. Is he a good choice? Then, again – still – he’s a tv doctor – a real doctor, but… he’s on tv. But, it looks like this is for real. No more Dr. Gupta on CNN or in Time magazine? Aww!

    An article in the Washington Post about the Japanese retail shops in NYC.

    This article on traveling in Kyoto, Japan, probably gave me much more about “The Tale of Genji” than I wanted to know, more than had ever heard when I was in college taking an Asian studies course.

    Priceless photo op for the new year (at least, during horrific times that we’re living in anyway): the presidents and the president-elect meeting for lunch. I remembered enjoying the pictures back when Nixon and Ford joined Carter, Bush and Clinton; been awhile since we’ve had this many living presidents together.

    Odd presidential thing – apparently, a few years ago, someone got President-Elect Obama talking about his favorite food in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago; Michael Scherer of Time Magazine posted the video and his commentary on Time.com’s Swampland blog. Scherer’s comment amused me: “I envision a return to presidential politics for Frank Bruni, the chief gourmand at the New York Times.” Glad to know that I’m not the only one who thinks Bruni should somehow balance his old beat and his current one…! (he’s kind of done it before, as I’ve previously noticed more than once…).

  • Happy New Year! (Or Happy 3rd Day of 2009)

    I can’t believe it’s already 2009.

    Getting ready for the inauguration: apparently, the US Supreme Court’s going to rely on some nifty little traditions; a fascinating look back on history on Law.com.

    Somehow, I shouldn’t be surprised that this NY Times blog post came up – I was wondering the other night on whether the Times Sq. revelers would eat or go to the bathroom…silly me to really wonder…

    As I noted last year, I think this is turning into a way cool New Year’s tradition: an outdoor NHL game! This time, in Wrigley Field?! Awesome! (I’d be too chicken to brave the cold, but this is a nice – maybe insane – way to remember the origins of hockey).

    The Daily News editorial in 1/2/09’s newspaper, honoring Chief Judge Kaye on her retirement (second item; not the one about Gov. Blagojevich of Illinois).

    New Year’s Eve: I joined friends for dinner at Bogota Bistro in Park Slope – pretty good food, I must say; and then board games. What fun – great hilarity ensued!

    New Year’s Day – I actually didn’t get to watch that much of the aforementioned outdoors NHL game on the big screen HDTV at home, since the siblings and I headed out into the frigid cold to enjoy a bit of Manhattan. Dropped by MoMa (or at least enjoyed the shop, since we didn’t get to check out the Van Goghs – hard to get those timed tickets); got cupcakes at Magnolia at Radio City/Rockefeller Center; then some bit of dining at Congee Bowery (thumbs up for the food and decor); and then a visit at Whole Foods (Bowery) (where I understood that the Top Chef season in NYC located the food shopping).

    2008 in review? Hmm…

    Memorable sports stuff: the Giants’ Super Bowl! Can they make 2009 just as memorable? We’ll see!

    The Mets made 2008 an unpleasant one, as do the Yankees, plus farewells to many, including Paul Newman – as this post attests.

    Labor Day Weekend 2008 in Washington, D.C.

    Went to Chicago for the vacation – see here and here.

    Of course, FC and P’s special day in 2008! (a triscribe highlight!)

    Living in history on Election Day 2008.

    I did another novel for National Novel Writing Month; I may actually be tempted to edit it in 2009. I never did say I wasn’t crazy!

    Birthday dinner at Momofuku!

    There is so much more that I’m probably forgetting. Anyway, last but not least: 5 Years of Triscribe! My God, time flies when you’re having fun with the Triscribers! Have a Happy and Healthy New Year, Triscribers, to you and your friends and families!!!

    Dare I do new resolutions? I’ll likely just renew 2008’s resolutions and strive to do better.

  • What We Can Believe In

    Welcome to my annual New Year’s message/note/blog posting. You’re getting this because you somehow participated in my life this year, or – for this year most significantly – are one of the many people I’ve connected or reconnected with through Facebook.

    The procedure is as follows: I  review statistics of the past year, followed by a hopefully amusing anecdote, and then conclude with resolutions for the next year.

    Statistics

    Megabytes of Email this year: 3895 (up almost 300%, also mostly spam, and I’m only counting Gmail, since it is an incredible pain in the neck to figure out with certainly how much space you are using in an Microsoft Exchange account.)

    Miles in a rental car: 0 (I didn’t have occasion to rent a car this year – good thing too considerig the cost of gas/petrol.)

    Miles in a Zipcar car share: 1564 (up 50% from 2007, but now kind of torn between them saving me a bundle not having to own a car or pay crazy amounts for gas, and them screwing up my reservation for the one day I really needed it in October, and then afterwards getting socked for a bogus repair bill ).

    Miles in a plane: 8270 (down 35% from 2007). Will have to do something about this.

    Places visited this year: Washington, D.C.; Red Bank, NJ; Lakewood, NJ; Seattle, WA; Mohegan Sun, CT; London, England

    What We Can Believe In

    In case you haven’t been keeping track, I got married in October to my longtime sweetheart, Pei.  We invite you to check out our recently and extensively updated wedding website at

    http://www.peiback.com/wedding

    Among the features include professional photos, accounts of how we got together, were engaged, and survived our wedding day, a complete musical playlist, and online videos of the ceremony and the banquet. If you were there, several mysteries can now be revealed; if you couldn’t be there, we hope that you will be able to enjoy some of the happiness of our day. We are thinking about a 2009 Asia World Tour, maybe in the latter half of the year, so if you’re in Asia, let’s talk.

    So once you’re done with all that, here is another little story:

    I’ve been a Facebook member for about a year. My wife refuses to join Facebook – she thinks it is just another one of those sites like Friendster and MySpace, and that she would rather network in “real life” (she isn’t a Luddite – you can find her during most any hour engrosssed in instant messaging).

    The thing is that Facebook actually works. Chances are the people that you want to know about are on Facebook;  if they want you to know what is up with them, they can have that info pushed to you in a manageable way. This framework separates the who you are targeting part of message writing (you choose your friends and groups and their privacy settings)  from the actual  drafting of the message, which makes it possible for hundreds or thousands of people to be kept up-to-date.

    We know for a fact that this form of networking was a pivotal factor in the recent U.S. elections, but what did this do for my life? In brief:

    • I went to two Facebook Friends’ (FBF’s for short) independent films, one of which I drove two hours to central New Jersey to see, and the other I was able to arrange sponsorship of a reception.
    • I worked with another filmmaker FBF living in Hong Kong to submit a short film in a contest in New York.
    • I reconnected with a dozen people from my twentieth high school reunion, a number of which I met again at another high school alumni event.
    • I was invited through Facebook back to the anniversary of a college charity fashion show I used to work for 15 years ago, and encountered someone I knew from the Asian lawyer’s association that had worked on the same event a few years before me.
    • Facebook was the “neutral” communication channel between the groom’s party and Pei’s bridesmaids. I kept in touch with one of my groomsmen living in Asia, and planned his tux accessories.My cousins in Canada fed me addresses and spreadsheets from their wedding.
    • One FBF friend whom I recently had traveled with to Seattle was en route to India and narrowly avoided staying in one of the bombed Mumbai hotels. We were able to see that he was OK in real time.
    • One FBF friend asked for tips for a trip to Japan. He used one of my tips to enjoy a fine and inexpensive sushi breakfast in Tokyo.
    • One FBF told me about a Taiwanese singer that was going to perform on the East Coast that I had previously seen in Las Vegas with another FBF, and connected with a third FBF that was attending.
    • One FBF is starting a consulting business where I was able to immediately refer one friend for an interview, and another for use of her services.
    • The farthest FBF reconnects were a neighborhood friend of the family who is now in the toy business in Malaysia, half a dozen people from elementary school, and a member of a religious order who was one of my teachers in high school.
    • We celebrated major life events. Congrats to the 3 other FBFs that wedded, the 6 FBFs that had new babies, one FBF that is still expecting, and the FBFs that are moving from and to New York. In addition to our wedding, I also received lots of messages when I became the godfather of my best man’s daughter.
    • Just this past week, while my wife was caring for me when I was deathly sick with laryngitis and bronchitis, I also received tips, commiseration, and advice from people that noticed my status.

    Now the point here is not necessarily that Facebook is the be all and end all — at some point there will be another next great thing, that’s for sure. And sure, you can probably use the phone, instant messaging, or email to accomplish this the same thing, if you have plenty of time and a social secretary. However, it is astounding that Facebook makes a list like the one above possible today.

    You know, the one thing I learned about this marriage thing is we are not alone, and we don’t have to go it alone. This is what we need more of: the hopes, prayers and best wishes of our friends and family. This is what we can believe in.

    Resolutions

    For two years running, I’ve been putting out two resolutions: the one I’m really going to do (which have included proposing and then getting married successfully to Pei), and the other one that I have spectacularly failed to complete over this time, which is to really learn how to swim. I’ve joined the YMCA, perused the class schedules, looked at the facilities, and even hit the showers, but I have not made it into the pool. I’m going to put this single resolution on again for this third year — let’s see if I can do it.

    Thanks for reading all the way to the end.  Pei and I hope that you will have a wonderful 2009. Oh, it’s your turn on Wordscraper!