Triscribe

Month: February 2013

  • Presidents!

    “Talkin’ ’bout the red, white, and bluuuuetooth…” – this President’s Day Honda commercial is ridiculously funny, if only because I had no idea that George Washington had such a nice singing voice.

    Of course, this only makes me miss Christopher Columbus, Action Figure, all the more. (see the previous post on Christopher Columbus, Action Figure).

    Interesting info from the Morgan Library and Museum’s website on George Washington’s life mask and other Founding Father items.

    Check out this: photo slideshow over at Time.com, of colorized presidential photos.  There’s something very striking about seeing past Presidents’ photographs in color rather than in their black and white format. (or course, it’s like this mental trip of reminding oneself that color did exist before 1950). And, it’s really weird to see Teddy Roosevelt as the big game hunter (I know that’s what they did in those days and I’m not an animal rights activist, and TR was someone who tried to preserve nature, but that photo of him and his dead elephant was really sad to look at in color).

    This item is a cute but weird PSA: Big Bird and Michelle Obama appear to be mostly talking to each other, but Big Bird really just looks like he’s amusing himself in the background, randomly dancing behind Michelle Obama. Dance, bird, dance…

    Well, this was an interesting item on Yao Ming, on the Asia Society’s YouTube location.  Nice that he’s more than just a basketball player.

    Enjoy the Oscars weekend!

  • Presidents’ Day Week 2013

    Stuff to catch up.

    Because we here at triscribe are APA’s and lawyers, I note the following:

    This tidbit of news is so awesome, considering that I’m behind on the news: Brooklyn Law School’s 1st US S.Ct law clerk!  Congrats to Sparkle Sooknanan, BLS’10, who’s going to clerk for J. Sotomayor! (who really is awesome to keeping it hometown!). (h/t: Above the Law’s post on the subject of upcoming law clerks at the US Supreme Court).

    What a great story, even if a little bittersweet: Larry Kwong, Chinese-Canadian, was probably among the 1st person of color to be in the NHL, just a little before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in pro-baseball. Kwong only played one game for the NY Rangers, apparently similar to Wat Misaka, 1st Asian-American in the NBA (only 3 games for the Knicks). Not that APA’s have made it big in mainstream pro sports in North America, but hope springs eternal. I think the Rangers ought to honor the guy, if at least to encourage more positive karma for this season.

    An Asian Indian immigrant who gets inspired by the Lincoln movie to find out that Mississippi had neglected a clerical procedure to finalize ratification of the 13th amendment in the year 2013 (h/t: Angry Asian Man’s post). Brings new meaning to how we really don’t know the full consequences of the results of history for years. Plus, have attention to details; so-called clerical errors make you look really – and legally – stupid. But, hey, glad that Mississippi finally decided to make it out of the 19th century.

    In case you want the Above the Law version of Mississippi’s official ratification of the 13th Amendment…

    I have to catch up on many tv shows, as usual.  Suits, Justified, Elementary.  Of course, Community!  According to Entertainment Weekly, James Brolin is going to play the estranged dad of Community’s pseudo-lawyer, Jeff Winger.  Jeff might actually face his dad issues already, forget graduating from Greendale Community College? Hmm!

    Oh, I’m kind of impressed by the weirdness of The Americans on FX (it has Kerri Russell, the ex-Felicity!) – spies during the early 1980’s, when things still looked like the 1970’s and Ronald Reagan was eyed suspiciously.  I have to catch up on the craziness on Archer on FX (that episode where Justified’s Timothy Olyphant guest-starred and its disturbing ending… good gravy…).

    Last but not least: What? Nooo! Ken Tucker – I don’t always agree with him, but he can’t be leaving EW?!  His last blog post at the Entertainment Weekly website? Nooo. TV Gods, what are you doing? … But, ugh. It really is happening. Ken Tucker took a buyout from EW. But, he’s been there since it was before being on the radar!  And, what will happen next with tv reviews?  Time passes…

  • Lunar New Year!

    Happy Lunar New Year! Good luck and best wishes in the Year of the Snake! Gung Hei Fat Choi!

    (apologies for the bad spelling transliteration)

    An interesting item from NPR about how much money should the givers of red pockets give.  I always figured that this was about how traditional one would be about the red pocket stuff, and went along with “It’s the thought that counts” rather than how much money is involved.

    Then again, I’d like as much good luck as possible and I keep getting reminded about avoiding the number 4 business

    H/t from Angry Asian Man: The President’s Lunar New Year greetings.  Aww. No video this year from the President. But, a nice greeting anyway.

    Speaking of the President, the State of the Union address is coming.  Check out this interesting NPR item about the 1st State of the Union address.  Believe it or not, a lot of the traditions of the American presidency was because George Washington had to come up with them (being the 1st one does have that effect).

    And, because we at triscribe are Asian American and lawyers: h/t from Angry Asian Man that the movie, “Shanghai Calling,” is heading out beyond the Asian American indie film circuit. Go check it out. Plus: the actor Daniel Henney is really good looking.

  • A Brief February 2013 Review

    So… some quick blogging.

    The Super Bowl – wherein Baltimore Ravens beat San Francisco 49’ers, at the Superdome in New Orleans – the first post-Hurricane Katrina Super Bowl there. The weird power surge and leading to the late end of the Super Bowl. The not that interesting commercials.

    The delay of “Elementary,” which somehow got the post-Super Bowl slot, a strange thing for a 1st season show (with Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes in sexy and violent – of course!) and the not-so-hot ratings out of that.  Oh well.  It was a decent episode of “Elementary” (putting aside the excess violence, for this series anyway, and even an opening with strippers who were thieves dealing with a nude Holmes – it was the post-Super Bowl episode after all), but I had a feeling the ratings wouldn’t be there. The power outage delay didn’t help at all (forget not quite helping the 49ers). If I were a CBS executive (and I’m obviously not), I wouldn’t have put a 1st season show that was still finding its legs after the Super Bowl like that, but so that goes (the early estimates suggest that “Elementary” did worse than “Alias” did in its Post Super Bowl episode, and that was a penultimate episode of that season of “Alias”). Let’s see how this Thursday’s episode will go for Holmes, Watson, and Gregson (a lot of new episodes in a week; darn CBS).

    It’s so hard to predict how next year will be, when NY/NJ host the Super Bowl: we could either have one of those weird warm-ish spells (40 degrees, maybe) or the Canadian Arctic blasts (hide Staten Island Chuck). Who knows? If you pull off an entertaining cold half-time next year, NFL, I’d be impressed. Hell, bring back a marching band for all I care, so long as you don’t freeze someone’s lips and do complete lip synching stuff.

    Or at least we won’t have a blizzard at next year’s Super Bowl.

    Say… did you hear about the blizzard for this weekend?  What the Weather Channel is calling Winter Storm Nemo.  Puxatawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck, the groundhogs, should not be relied on for weather predictions!

    Oh – and “Community” is back!  The delayed October episode!  Oh, NBC…

    Justice Sotomayor’s still doing the book tour. I didn’t quite find her that interesting on the Colbert show (seriously, not everyone can handle Colbert’s brand of role play). But, she was really fascinating on the Charlie Rose show (clearly a show she watches, if she has time for something other than Law & Order, which I read somewhere was a show she liked, but everyone enjoyed that; then again, why would an ex-prosecutor like her watch stuff about the old job anyway, who knows?).

  • February 2013 and Time Passing

    Because this is triscribe and we are New Yorkers:

    The passing of Mayor Ed Koch. See here for the NY Times obituary. The news was a sad one to hear on 1010 WINS first thing in the morning, and the realization that the quintessential New Yorker – even if you disagreed with him – is no longer physically among us.  The mayor of our youth and the road to the New York City that we know now.  Koch would be remembered for his “How’m I doing?” and his legacy – while complicated (since history is never easy) – cannot be ignored.

    I’d read Koch’s movie reviews once in awhile; this NY Times item shared a couple of his hilarious reviews.  And, Koch’s curiously amusing and fascinating post-humus video interview with the NY Times, released after he died per his request, done in 2007 and how he wanted to be remembered.  He was Hizzoner.  (apologies to the NY Times, with its nice editorial and all, but I remembered reading about Koch in the hometown paper of the tabloidy Daily News).

    An interesting overview and clips from Metro Focus on Channel 13 on Koch.  I couldn’t help but like the photo of Koch in front of the city landscape – with the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in the background – the past and time passing.  Different times!