Month: June 2009

Observations

So… Conan O’Brien took Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to the Tonight Show after all.

Very funny Television Without Pity feature on the upcoming GI Joe movie, which isn’t like the 1980’s cartoon whatsoever (which might be the point, but that still feels rather wrong). Not that I’m going to go hating on a movie I haven’t seen or isn’t even out yet (I was already terrified of the idea of a live-action GI Joe movie, but now that it is about to be real, well… I’ll also admit that I’m not thrilled with the Transformers thing either, but oh well). But, if you really want to see a GI Joe movie, as also previously noted, so see that old cartoon movie – major drama with all the characters and the kookiest Cobra Commander scene (the YouTube link I include there include the classic Cobra Commander transformation as well as the sad Duke scene; for reference purposes only; no infringement intended; don’t come after me, Hasbro!…).

The latest Mary Worth comic strip storyline: give me a break – so Mary Worth’s friend, Delilah, a no-longer-newlywed, wants to dump her husband because she doesn’t want to talk to him about making a compromise to spend more time with her, because she knows he loves his career and he travels a lot for it, and to discuss raising children, because … she wants to avoid confrontation and expects him to read her mind? …

I’m sorry, but the whole institution of (heterosexual) marriage isn’t doing too well here when people don’t want to work on marriage (apparently not in Comic Strip land for Delilah anyway; it gets sillier in the 6/22/09 edition) or in someone’s real life – Sandra Tsing Loh’s article really depresses me on how it simply wasn’t worth it to continue (so, if marriage is too much work, give up? Am I missing something here?). Slate’s associated Double XX does present rebuttals by Hanna Rosin and Jessica Grose on how marriage and motherhood (parenthood generally) are pretty ambivalent but beloved stuff in America.

Interesting article in Slate, regarding the study of health care policy in medical schools. I think it’s not easy to pull off, obviously (as if we want more burdens on med students), but reasonable to consider. Imagine – students learning the complexities behind medicine, business, policy and law, and maybe doing something about these complexities one day! Heck, I vaguely remembered there was a health law class in law school as an elective; but in my law school, we studied NY law and practice, not so much theory (and other law schools might do the reverse). Bottom line: Really not easy to balance the study of policy and practice, sadly, but I think our future professionals and those who receive their services might depend on such a balance.

Speaking of NY Law — do we actually have lawmakers or something else in Albany? WPIX’s Marvin Scott with a terribly sad (but funny, if it wasn’t so sad) look at the State Senate mess.

While health care reform is very much a work in progress, President Obama is working on how to deal with tobacco. Considering that he’s still struggling with his own cigarette habit (well, he’s not alone, if that’s any small comfort; lots of people are struggling with their tobacco problems), and well, stress is stress (I wouldn’t be surprised that lapsing into such bad habits is how he or others deal with their stress; like Newsweek’s Gaggler, I could be sympathetic to the president’s situation).

So, does the smoking thing really make Pres. Obama that much of a hypocrite? Although it kind of is fair game as William Saletan notes in Slate, Obama’s only human (not a half-Vulcan — funny how the latest press conference had to make a Spock reference and that Obama made into something involving his ears – he does get sensitive about that too).

Otherwise, much of the health care stuff is going over my head, and I went to law school. Not easy to figure out.

The annual breakfast discussion on Slate about the US Supreme Court’s final decisions, with Dahlia Lithwick, Walter Dellinger, and Linda Greenhouse.

The passing of Ed McMahon, Tonight Show sidekick; link to Time.com’s James Poniewozik’s observation.

Mild Weather in June

Took awhile, but I finished reading “Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions,” by Karen Armstrong (heavy duty reading on comparative religion analyses), in addition to Qiu Xiaolong’s “Red Mandarin Dress” (a Chief Inspector Chen Cao novel; interesting read; still wish Chief Inspector Chen had more of a personality).

Slate commentary on an anti-drug cartoon of my generation; what’s scary is that I remembered watching it during that late 1980’s/early 1990’s period – where the Muppet Babies, Alf, the Chipmunks etc., convince this idiot kid to Say No To Drugs. Upon review, yes, Slate, you’re right – it was a lame cartoon, but it was one of those rare opportunities to see so many characters in one place and at one time – and all acting very patronizing and pedantic… yes, even Alf.

Goodbye to Analog TV; Time with a photo gallery to honor ye olde television. I’m not entirely certain about digital tv, but here goes nothing.

Also, another end of an era: goodbye to the Virgin Megastore. Admittedly, I didn’t shop there very much, but I am concerned by the loss of a big retailer and the lack of commerce in a huge amount of real estate in the city.

Time Magazine poses the question of whether Facebook hurts the school reunion industry. I thought Facebook actually helped my college’s 10th year reunion; people came. It’s hard to tell if that will generate donations for Alma Mater or if the alumni office is really out of business because of Facebook, but that depends on what one thinks is the purpose of reunions and alumni offices, I think.

Hmm, so every time Time Magazine comments on Facebook, so does Newsweek? Well, at least Newsweek tries to remind people that Facebook is only a supplement to enhancing your friendships, not replace them.

Why am I a sucker for cop shows that get cancelled? I like “The Unusuals”; enjoyed watching the leftover episodes. It’s too bad that ABC won’t give it a shot.

The articles on Judge Sonia Sotomayor have been interesting, to say the least. Count on Tom Goldstein of Scotusblog to review all of the racial discrimination appellate cases that Judge Sotomayor sat in (Scotusblog is awfully known for being thorough) and finding that there’s no so-called bias in Sotomayor’s decision-making. Goldstein’s key conclusion: “The public debate ought to be about what the law should command in these kinds of difficult cases. Unsubstantiated charges of racism distract us from these questions and demeans our justice system.”

For a country that doesn’t quite like America, Iran apparently likes the English language, sort of – as the Slate Explainer explains.

Slate’s John Dickerson ponders on President Obama’s response to the Iran situation, which is still developing and with no certain answers regarding the elections (at least, not to people outside Iran, anyway). So, query: how do you respond to a still developing situation? Answer: Very carefully, whether the American people, or the world at large, likes it or not.

That is really fascinating: Obama’s the first president of a generation that grew up watching Sesame Street, not just a parent of kids who watched it? The first generation of Sesame Street watched 1960’s tv at its most diverse and optimistic (and oddly entertaining, in that 1960’s way; Obama was the first generation that grew up watching Star Trek too) – this all pretty much sums up Obama. This was an awesome article on Time.com, plus great accompanying video of Obama praising Sesame Street.

It must be a slow news day if we get excited over President Obama’s killing a fly; well, it was kind of impressive.