Source: www.justin.tv
Video of “The Massie Trials” from NAPABA 2009, including my 6 line acting gig…
Month: November 2009
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Thanksgiving Continues
A former lawyer who has a pretzel shop; lawyers are everywhere.
Well, there’s also Joan Biskupic’s upcoming book on Justice Scalia, as reviewed by Emily Bazelon of Slate. Apparently, Scalia’s just not that pleasant or keen on being persuasive, but he’s very very smart. Not new information, but it sounds like a reasonably interesting book.
NY Times’ Mark “The Minimalist” Bittman with a turkey and spinach curry dish (check on the webpage for the video link – the dish looked tasty, even though I’m not a curry person), as an option for day 2 of turkey leftovers. An Asian-American fusion – plus, just in time for that Obama State dinner with the Indian Prime Minister Singh.
NY Times’ Gail Collins has a pretty sharp column this Thanksgiving, closing with:
When [President Obama]’s not making his way through Thanksgiving photo-ops, he’s adding up the numbers over and over in his mind, and sending mental daggers at the Republicans who are yelling at him about deficits that they created.
Although what else could he expect in a Washington that thinks you can pardon your turkey and eat it, too?
Time’s James Poniewozik with his own on point Thanksgiving post on the Tuned In blog, embedding a very appropriate Simpsons clip:
So, for the record, Homer’s right: be grateful for the occasional moments of peace and love (although, unlike Homer, I tend not to think that solar power is NOT a pipe dream, since the sun’s going to be around a billion more years).
For your viewing pleasure, in between eating and being thankful.:
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Happy Thanksgiving 2009
My goodness, the year is going by too fast.
I’ve been terribly busy with my National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) project. Have now hit the 50k minimum, but trying to see how I can finish this sprawling mess of a story (more like stories, considering the many storylines that are going nowhere fast). Editing this thing (should I be so crazed to do that sometime next year) will be a bit frightening, to say the least.
I enjoyed reading the cover article of the Entertainment Weekly issue of 11/27/09, where they covered the making of the Sherlock Holmes movie by Guy Richie and starring Robert Downey, Jr., and I’m totally excited to see the movie. Holmes is a guy who gets reinvented for each generation. But, my quibble to EW: your sidebar about past actors who did Holmes missed out the most memorable Holmes on tv: Jeremy Brett, who did Holmes during the 1980’s and 1990’s (until his death). He and Edward Hardwicke as Watson were my favorite Holmes and Watson (granted, they were the pair I grew up with). I withhold judgment on Downey as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson (and even Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler(!)) until I see the movie.
Coincidentally, Channel 21 (WLIW) has been airing the Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes. Watching that first season, I was shocked to see a different Watson (there was a previous actor, David Burke), since I didn’t start watching until Hardwicke was Watson, when the old PBS Mystery! series aired it.
The Time photo gallery for the Obama White House’s first State dinner is neat stuff. Plus, they get to celebrate US and Indian relations.
Belated observations of the passings of interesting people:
The passing of Judge Charles Sifton of US District Court, Eastern District of NY. I didn’t remember that he was the judge who found in favor of Mayor Bloomberg and City Council’s changing the term limits law. The obituary also had fascinating reminders of Judge Sifton’s past cases, such as his rulings in employment discrimination, and that perennial federal favorite: mafia cases. Also, I didn’t know that he was the father of Sam Sifton, the current NY Times food critic (just because they have the same last names, one never really knows) or that he was once a son-in-law of the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr.
The passing of John O’Connor, the husband of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, after his long struggle with Alzheimer’s. I think it’s fascinating that behind a very strong and powerful woman was the support of a strong and confident man.
The passing of John O’Connor, former NY Times tv critic. I thought his obituary was fascinating for how it noted that he covered tv during a time when it was The Big Three broadcast networks, and the became the beginning of what we have today – more channels. Things have really changed with tv these days, not that I’m certain that the tv industry was ever out to really entertain the audience.
Sy Syms, founder of the Syms clothing discount chain (the man behind the motto: “An educated consumer is our best customer”) – the story of how he became Sy Syms was fascinatingly described in the obituary (I’ve had to listen to that motto a lot, considering how often Syms commercials were on the 1010 WINS radio, and I work near a Syms).
Time Magazine noted the passing of Nien Cheng, whose book “Life and Death in Shanghai” Time had excerpted back in the 1980’s (which I remembered reading as extremely fascinating stuff and made me sickened about the Cultural Revolution period of China; I’m amazed that they even had the link to it for their archives, which I too link, so check it out). Angry Asian Man linked to the LA Times obituary.
It’s that time of year where people are asking for donations. Choose wisely!
This is a very interesting Facebook application, whereby Chase Bank is gathering votes on who to donate $5million (two rounds of voting, apparently). 20 votes for round 1 – so vote for your charity!
I’ve also used Good Search, and am currently using it to help raise money for the Brooklyn Public Library Foundation.
Raise money for Brooklyn Public Library Foundation just by searching the web and shopping online! -
C-SPAN2 Live Stream – C-SPAN
Source: www.c-span.orgJudge Denny Chin's confirmation hearing for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled on C-SPAN2 at 2:30 EST today. http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN2.aspx -
Sesame Street & The Origin of Om nom nom nom
Source: www.youtube.com
Om nom nom nom! So that's where it came from! -
Happy Birthday, Sesame Street! (and other things)
A little behind on the blogging, so: yeah, the Yankees won the World Series and there was that parade down the Canyon of Heroes. Some day, the Mets will be there. Some day. I’d just like it to be in my lifetime, really.
It’s the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street!!! Fascinating coverage. There’s NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley on the subject of changes in the world that Sesame Street (and its viewers) exist. Time’s James Poniewozik posits that Sesame Street helped make a couple of generations of discerning tv viewers.
Time’s Top Ten Sesame Street moments.
A Q & A with Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo.
On other television items: behind on “How I Met Your Mother” and missing out on “Community.”
I did get to see last week’s “Fringe,” wherein Agent Broyles turns out to have a back story. His work destroyed his marriage; the idea that he wanted to save his country to save his family, but that work destroyed it, via divorce; kind of mundane, if you really think about it, and then you realize, wait, he was chasing a shadow alien/cosmonaut possessed by a shadow alien that’s killing people? Only on “Fringe” (which was basically doing its variation on an episode that X-Files did, a long time ago, which was freaky to me because of the whole idea of an alien possessing an astronaut and the astronaut’s attempt at self-sacrifice).
Then again, I kind of find that the idea that Broyles has a mundane back story (that of mundane divorce) to be kind of nice, in that it injects some reasonable sense of normalcy in the otherwise weird and wacky world of “Fringe.” I mean, the man otherwise has a chemistry with a woman who has a bionic arm powered by technology from a parallel universe; that whole Broyles/Nina Sharp interaction is pretty fascinating (powerful people, who aren’t young, and who have agendas to pursue; heck, it makes sense, compared to the mundane of Agent Olivia Dunham’s boring sister).
I am completely behind on the whole trend of “Mad Men.” I’ve followed the plot summaries/commentary on various blogs, and I’m intrigued by the show; why am I so not on this gripping stuff? I’m not always on A&E, that’s the thing.
On this Veterans’ Day – take a moment to pause and think about the veterans and those on active duty.
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Who’s Up For Some Go Go Curry? – Midtown Lunch
Source: midtownlunch.com
Yesterday's question was answered: FIVE Free Toppings and a dancing gorilla at GO GO Curry today! -
Big Bird's Birthday: 'Sesame Street's' 40th birthday gets a shout-out from Google
Source: www.nydailynews.com
Happy Birthday, Big Bird! -
Fall into Winter
….in Hong Kong at least it’s not so sudden like say Beijing. The change in weather is nice and also making things somewhat more mellow for me. On the other hand, things have been very busy with the year end and should be full-on until December. Looking forward then to some R&R and spending time with family.
But, the fast approachng year end isn’t giving me a lot of chance to catch up. I have some training courses to take in Tokyo after X-mas from Insights Learning & Development. It’s continuing my journey toward HR and people focus in my professional life. At the end of the day, it’s about the people. It’ll be fun for this and looking forward to it. I’m also going to try winging the CGEIT exam in December.
Hope you folks are doing good there. One of these days I’m going to be able to make it back for a visit. Meanwhile, life goes on here in Asia and the future seems good.
