Author: ssw15

Holding off on commenting on the “Friends” series finale, since I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who taped it and haven’t watched it yet or else Tivo’d it. On one note though: the clip show that was on before the series finale was absolutely hilarious, showing all the Friends’ best (re: funniest) moments. I like a good clip show, and that was a pretty good one – couldn’t stop laughing.

The Iraqi prisoner abuse news: the whole thing disgusts me, it really does. Pictures say a thousand words, and these pictures about the prison guards – they certainly have more than words to interpret. One thought: I was watching a little bit of the PBS documentary on Asian Americans, “Searching for Asian America,” the other night and they had a segment on Gary Locke, the Chinese-American governor of Washington state. They made an interesting point: Locke is in a position of preserving our “face” as Asian Americans, particularly when “face” is a big deal for Asian Americans. And, then, I realize that I can’t help but correlate that idea of “face” with this situation with the prison in Iraq – the American face has something to deal with here.

There’s the sense in the op-eds that America’s enemies would do this kind of human rights violations – and certainly worse. But, the reality (to me, anyway) is that it isn’t exactly just about America’s enemies but about America itself – what about measuring up to our own moral/democratic standards? What do we stand for, and why is it so easy to cross that line of rendering others as “other”? Have we as a people crossed that line? There’s no question that this news development shouldn’t represent all American troops or all Americans – but it will be seen that way, because it’s our face that’s out there.

As a lawyer, I wonder what is next; what will be the remedies or the procedures? Where is the law in this? Is it in this context at all, in the midst of war? Anthony Lewis’ op-ed in the NY Times kind of hit it home for me.

These are just opinions on my part; I may be wrong; maybe things will work out. Maybe.

Tonight is the night – the end of “Friends.”

Last night:

“Star Trek: Enterprise” – gosh, the last three episodes have been decent. Last night continues the trend – I dreaded the latest time paradox, and kind of knew what the end was (Capt. Archer and Crew had to change the future, and did so – their descendants won’t exist – and yet those descendants helped them…), but in execution, the episode was good. The writing felt tighter, the acting smoother, and even the direction had direction. I agreed with the review on the Trek Nation website – lot of emotional impact and parallels to past good Star Trek episodes and even this past season on “Enterprise.” Moral questions: “I have to do what I have to do, I have no choice…” and yet there is always a choice, Captains – even if it means wiping out your own existence (assuming that that’s what the character Lorian intended – who knows; his life was all messed up, if I accept the suggestion of the storyline) so that your ancestors have a shot at saving the future, or as Archer realizes every single time, trying to save the world is real hard.

“The O.C.” – now that’s a season finale for a 1st year show. Reflecting on what has happened during the past year, the characters’ growth (or maybe even lack of) and possibly even regression. The adults had their moments and the teens did their usual thing. Not a bad show, even with the crazy plot twist turns.

I watched “Angel” on tape delay (well, my taping of it anyway) – nicely funny episode. Angel and Spike vie for Buffy, but she’s not exactly around, as she’s busy roaming around Rome. So, Angel and Spike reminisce and scramble out of a weird situation to get a decapitated head back to Los Angeles. Okay. Very light-weight episode for something short of the series finale. Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Wesley faces an emotional crisis when Illyria, the amoral demi-goddess, develops a shapeshifting/personality-shifting power – she becomes Fred, but so obviously isn’t Fred. It’s so strange and worrisome to know what can happen next to Team Angel.

Oh, and back to “Friends”… (they may be about to be gone, but at least the reruns are always going to be on Channel 11 in NYC in perpetuity…)

Could today please be less “ugh”? Raining on/off (or, rather, torrentially/drizzily) and windchill biting winds – uh, Mother Nature, you do know it’s May, right? She must really want something nice on Mother’s Day.

I thought that yesterday’s Asian Heritage festival at Union Sq. was nice yesterday. Decent weather, despite the nasty morning. Kept collecting stuff – when will I ever learn not to keep amassing stuff?

“Alias” yesterday – well, Secret Agent Sydney is trying to figure it out with her half-sister; her half-sister perhaps loves her own evil dad after all (geez, could you please just don’t go all unconditionally loving on the Evil Sloane?); and the love of Sydney’s life, Vaughn – well, he’s slowly but surely going to lose his mind (you would too if you toiled so hard to fight the bad evil; the love of your life returns from the dead two years later; and your wife is a backstabbing traitor; and your ex-girlfriend’s father is trying way too hard to be empathetic with you because he too has a backstabbing wife. Hmmm…). The season finale is in… THREE weeks? Oh well. Just have to contain myself.

“The Practice” – The Return of Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) – he had five minutes. Umm. Okay. Plus some typical David E. Kelley moments (in the Ally McBealesque style – I’m not trying to be praising here either). William Shatner made me wince way too often. James Spader – hmm. Deep inside his wacko of a character is a… wacko trying to come out anyway, no matter how much every woman who crosses his path says she’ll reform him. Uh huh.

Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains whether Supreme Court justices get protection and to what extent (especially in light of what recently happened to Justice Souter while he was jogging).

Plus, there’s the Slate Guide to Gurus – a silly game to help one decide who’s the best guru for one – and a nice funny spin on how worth it they all are (Re: Dr. Phil – ” You can’t keep your eyes off: His mustache.” So true. So funny. tee-hee). Scary part: that I actually thought that the Slate descriptions made it seem pretty obvious that I’m the sort who’d go for Bill Moyers (he’s a guru? Oh well) and Oprah Winfrey (well, who’d resist that whole empowerment thing?). Well, the others were too easy for satirical targets, but the Moyers description is so dead on accurate for a piece of satire; my remarks in brackets:

“You’re an earnest lefty [I am?]
“Your guru is: Bill Moyers
“You trust him because of: His thoughtful chin-grabbing. [hehe, yeah, he does that]
“His style: Smug piety.
“What he says: Is ” ‘we the people’ a spiritual idea embedded in a political reality—one nation, indivisible—or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others”? [yeah, he’d talk like that]
“What he means: Republicans are evil.
[while I have yet to hear the words “Republicans are evil” out of Moyers’ mouth (I’ve been skipping a bunch of “Now” anyway), the subtext is certainly there (I mean, come on, the man used to be in the LBJ administration).]
“You can’t keep your eyes off: His rimless glasses. [those are better looking frames than what he had for the filmed interviews that he did with Joseph Campbell, I can tell you that]
“Ideal devotee is: Watching PBS. [umm, yeah; where else would you catch Moyers?]
“If he wasn’t doing this he’d be: A celebrity psychotherapist.
“Your sneaking suspicion: He hates dogs. [hehehe…]
“Cost: Nothing. It’s public television, remember? [ooh, gut check; zing at PBS]
“You could get the same advice from: Salon, The Nation, Harper’s …” [yeah, but it’s not like I’d read those; too darn lazy and no forking the money for them anyway… (and no, I’m not that left)]

Just my thoughts on that latest Slate thing.

This week’s “Doonesbury” is apparently about the class reunion at Trudeau’s fictitious Walden University, where the class is divided among the George W. Bush supporters and the anti-Bush side. Funny idea. Personally, with my class reunion coming, I’m half-scared that that can happen to my reunion (on the other hand, coming from a left-leaning university means that the right wing types are the minority, so the whole class divided thing won’t be nearly so daunting, unless we’re talking about a pro-war/pro-Bush vocal minority – but that’s a thought for another day).

Have a good week…

Last night, I saw Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at my undergraduate alma mater – an outdoor show, wherein the student troupe of actors take advantage of the beautiful campus to act out each scene. And, yeah, the audience travels along to watch the scenes. Take your theater fun where you can get them. (sidenote – I think it was my senior year when I watched them did one of Shakespeare’s comedies in the pouring rain).

All in all, it was great, and the cast and crew did a marvelous job with “The Tempest” (which, yeah, was required reading in first year, but I loved the play for being so amazing – even if Prospero the wizard’s intentions made no sense, he was Shakespeare’s ultimate alter ego – directing everything to happen).

It has gotten really popular – a huge crowd last night (most likely made up of supportive families/roommates/significant others of the cast and crew; partly curious passersbys and silly folks like me who are suckers for Shakespeare and/or outdoor theater). I loved how they did the end – where Prospero makes his soliloquy goodbye to the audience – and they re-interpreted it as Prospero’s goodbye to Ariel, the involuntary servant (slave? Ariel the fairy could have always left, I always thought, considering those powers she/he/it had), as he set her free (they made Ariel an obvious her; was it just me, or was there some amusing chemistry between Ariel and Prospero?). They also demonstrated the innocence of Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, who finds first love hitting her in the face and takes it joyfully. Romantic comedy indeed, while it did not ignore the sentiments of the colonization problem (Caliban, Prospero’s other slave on the island, trades Prospero’s stewardship for that under the comedy relief on the drunk jester and drunk butler; his sorrows never fully realized or eased) and political deceit (two or three plans to oust or overthrow either the king of Naples or Prospero). Oh, and great music – the troupe had a nice bunch of musicians and I liked how they weaved music in a play long known for being Shakespeare’s most “musical.”

Visiting the alma mater during this time of year reminded me of the tortuous student days of yore. So many students in the library, toiling over their books. I mean, really, at this time of year, the students are practically living in the library. On an absolutely related note, wondering what others think of that whole story about the NYU student living in the library (check out the NY1 coverage of it – video and all) – I mean, it’s a shame that he couldn’t get cheap housing, but I’m surprised that this kind of thing hasn’t happened sooner.

Odd story in today’s Saturday NY Times about the creationists’ own dinosaur theme park. Now, I’m all for tolerance, free will, and freedom of thought, but a theme park to re-affirm one’s beliefs? Do people go to theme parks for “beliefs”? A discomfort over natural history museums because it doesn’t relate with one’s religious beliefs (or, one’s beliefs in science – but can one say science is a “belief”?) – well, that depends – why does one go to natural history museums then? I suppose the creationists may go ahead and open their own institutions; that’s what freedom in this country is about. But, I just wonder, that’s all; no one’s forced to go to theme parks or musuems – if one doesn’t like it, don’t go. But, don’t go and be uninformed about what you’re visiting; natural history musuems are there because they have taken a side about the so-called debate on evolution and other sciences. Well, no further judgment on my part is intended and my apologies if I’ve offended anyone.

ABC “Nightline” last night – moving stuff. Ted Koppel just reading names of the casualties of the war in Iraq. There is no judgment; he left the viewers to decide for themselves. The critics who view him as someone who’s anti-war by just reading names – I’d criticize them for not seeing the power of names for it is – respect for those whose names are read. We would read names on the anniversaries of September 11, or the names of those who have died of AIDS or names of graduates on commencement day – what is inherently wrong with reading names?

For Sunday – hopefully we’ll get more nice weather and not watch us get the rain they had in Kentucky for the derby (talk about muddy race for tv viewing)…

– NY Times Quotation of the Day – “Doesn’t the court have some business intervening at some point if it’s the Hundred Years’ War or something?” – Justice Stephen Breyer, on the open-ended detention of Americans as enemy combatants.

Yeah, so, justices of the Supreme Court, what will happen with civil justice in an era of a never-ending (open-ended?) war? See Linda Greenhouse’s article in Thursday’s NY Times or consider Dahlia Lithwick’s coverage in Slate.com (as she ponders whether we’re heading into the dangerous territory of repeating the sins of past destructions of civil justice).

– “Star Trek: Enterprise” this week – quite an episode. Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) continues full-steam ahead to remake the future; Chief Engineer Trip Tucker is trying to grapple with death and moving on with life. If this season had been more consistent and more in-depth with its storylines in the first place, this would have been a much stronger season – and this episode only reminded me of that.

– “Angel” – change, and more change. Gunn returns; Illyria loses her powers (but is still a question mark, because she still has the mentality of an annoying and arrogant ex-deity); and has Angel – again – lost his mind? Hmm.

– Fascinating NY Times’ article profiling the stories of the 9/11 Commission’s staff – which includes a former NYS deputy attorney general (who was at the attorney general’s downtown office on 9/11/01 and had previously prosecuted the 1993 World Trade Center bombers in fed court).

– The problem of parking in NYC’s Chinatown, which is right next to the NY Police Dept.’s hq – and where cops and other NYC officials have taken up the parking and other space issues – NY Times’ article makes one feel the stress of the situation.

– Finished reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold – Sebold is an amazingly talented writer. But, I still thought it was curious that her narrator is a murdered 14-year old girl watching over her family from heaven, as she and her family deal with life, death, and life after death (or afterlife or what have you). It was very unsettling as a story, but lovely writing. It reminded me of the unsettling feeling I had when I read Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” – which also considered life, death, and life after death. What does it mean, where are we going, and maybe all we can settle for is that we’re going at all? But, is that enough? Is that the secret of life? There was that line in the “Dawson’s Creek” series finale (yeah, I know – I’m sick enough to make a reference to that) where Dawson said that the opposite of death was birth; life was that thing in between. Is that it then – not the end or beginning – the journey itself? (which is an idea that even the series’ finale of “Star Trek: Voyager” tried to push). Hmm. Maybe I’m making too many tv references; but, one still wonders if there is such a thing as the secret of life…

TGIF tomorrow….

Sunday’s NY Times had an interesting article on “Alias” – thought it was a good read. The episode itself – well, that was just nuts. So, Secret Agent Sydney and her sister are part of the Rambaldi prophecy and crazy adventures are their family legacy – and yet… the writers may still very well not know what they’re doing. Yet it’s quite a romp anyway, since we were left reassured that Sloane is still an obsessed selfish bastard. And, that Jack Bristow still loves his daughter. Okay…

Doonesbury – wow. B.D.’s taking the whole losing-a-leg thing well, since he and his friend Ray appear to be both shocked more by the appearance of B.D.’s hair. Funny thing that I always thought that B.D. would be bald after wearing his (football/”CHiPs” highway patrol/army headgear) helmet all these years. But, Trudeau’s reassuring folks that he will go into this serious injury in his black humor style (as noted in this week’s Question of the Week on the Doonesbury site, via the Slate.com portal).

For anyone who’s wondering – Quebec’s treasured foodstuff, poutine (the french fries with cheese and gravy mixture), gets explained in the NY Times – and the current generation of Montreal chefs are trying to glamourize it, with foie gras and other calorie-filled and bad-for-your-heart but ooh-guilty-pleasure eating.

Back on April 5, 2004, I noted the fascinating influx of minorities in commercials – namely, the Verizon ads with the Elliot family – that curiously interesting family that has a white, clueless-as-can-be-Dad, busy-yet-doing-just-fine Latina Mom, and their kids – particularly that odd toddler who yaks away on the phone to Nana – and their big dog. The more I’ve seen the ads, the more I really like them – the toddler’s cute and the family’s interactions are incredibly regular life-like – and the latest Slate.com Ad Report from Seth Stevenson more or less agrees with me. Well, remember – I had the exclusive first, folks!

Anyway, according to Stevenson, there are additional families added to the Verizon line up – an African-American and a Latino family. I’ve only seen the Elliots in the NYC tv market – so perhaps the Davises and the Sandovals will be coming to a tv near you soon. Based on what I saw on Verizon’s website, the Davises are amusing – the kids’ setting up their single (widower? divorced?) Dad with potential female mates while his mom gets bemused; the Sandovals, apparently in Spanish tv (Telemundo or Univision, probably), put their dad in funny situations; but I like the Elliots’ pleasant normal charm best. And, where’s the Asian family? Asians make long distance/local calls and go on-line too, you know. Anyway, this is all a positive step – more diversity in commercials please! (more diversity in tv generally, please)…

For anyone who’s interested: the 25th Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival is this Sunday, May 2, 2004, 11:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., at Union Square in Manhattan; check out the website: http://www.capaonline.org/index.htm.

Enjoy the week…

“Angel” on the other night – I taped it, to watch with pleasure. But, the ending freaked me out. Did Connor remember Angel was his biological dad? If so, what did his final words really mean – “I learned it from my father…”? He has had way too many father figures…

This Friday night, the Yankees crumbled against the Bosox. Oh well. It would actually feel worse if I were a Yankee fan, but I’m not a Bosox fan either, so it makes no difference in the balance. I just can’t get over seeing how hairy the Bosox player, Johnny Damon, is – long, flowing hair and a bushy beard. Man, that’s just way overboard…

Check out p. 19 of the April 30, 2004, issue of Entertainment Weekly (Summer movie preview issue): apparently, it’s the legal page. A sidebar article on those crazy kids of UC Berkely’s Boalt Hall Law School naming a fellowship to support a law student pursuing public interest/public service work in honor of the work of the alumnus Sandy Cohen. Funny thing is, Cohen isn’t real – he’s a public defender on the FOX show “The O.C.,” played by the actor Peter Gallagher (a.k.a. the guy with the eyebrows). Apparently, this fellowship was thanks to the student group, “The OC at Boalt” founded by John Kim, and they awarded it to a 1L who said that he wanted to be in criminal law and loved the show. Gallagher himself was inspired to make a $1000 donation. Wow. I see the light now: TV has an impact… – and there are law students who have time to watch tv? Yeah!

(by the way – “The O.C.” is an interesting show – it’s only a FOX show on the surface; the writing’s a lot more crisp than one would otherwise expect – well, putting aside the annoying storyline about Ryan getting dragged back to his ‘hood, because it was and always would be his roots).

And, then, the interesting tidbit scrolled on the bottom of p. 19 of Entertainment Weekly, as this quote states: “Survey finds more future law students inspired by A Few Good Men‘s Tom Cruise than To Kill a Mockingbird‘s Gregory Peck.” Uh. Okay. I was a law student who was not inspired by either, since I was someone who has yet to sit still to watch these two movies and I would like to think that law students are more than inspired by, well, movies and tv shows. But, then again, Entertainment Weekly didn’t define who responded to the survey, what the statistical accuracy, or define what was meant by “inspired.” Okay, okay, I’m being too much of a lawyer with the fussiness of the terms…

Slate.com’s Dana Stevens reviews the latest American edition of Iron Chef” on cable. I don’t have cable, but I just wonder – is it really that hard to Americanize imported tv? Why do we have to Americanize imported tv, if their very charm is being imported?

Slate.com also has an interesting article by Yi-Ling Chen-Josephson, wherein she grades the tabloids and celebrity oriented periodicals. National Inquirer gets the good ratings for sheer guilty pleasure. And, yet, I will continue standing resistant to that stuff while I wait on the shopping line at the supermarket. Must resist…

Enjoy the weekend.

Comic strip “Doonesbury” shocker – the character B.D., whom cartoonist Trudeau sent to Iraq as an army reservist, was gravely injured during the Iraq insurgency. Trudeau pulled off quite an imagery – not only has B.D. lost a leg, he’s gone helmet-less (this is a character who has never been without his helmet in the 30 years of the comic strip – it’s an integral part of him as much as his limb) – surely a first time ever, under such horrible conditions. Double whammy, the removal of the helmet surely symbolic of the more bodily loss. One may not always agree with Trudeau, but one has to hand it to him for the impact of his artistry.

Slate.com has an article wherein a panel taste-test gourmet potato chips. Very amusing. Grease makes a chip, but can cause a heart attack; “gourmet”-ness may not do much for either a chip or a heart attack.

As Slate.com points out, the current Supreme Court case about the detainees/enemy combatants/etc. at Guantanamo Bay raises a good question: “How’d We get Gitmo?”

Hmm. This whole Bob Woodward new book thing in the news just seems so puzzling.

Hmm. I kept channel-changing on Sunday, and saw parts of that odd piece of Star Trek canon – “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” I’ve seen it once and thought it was the strangest thing. Of course, maybe I was too young to appreciate it. But, frankly, I still think it’s the strangest thing – Admiral James T. Kirk wants his ship back; he gets it, putting the commanding officer, Will Decker, to the side. Kirk, in fact, brings his entire old crew together – McCoy, Spock, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and even Chapel (the nurse in the series, now a doctor). Will Decker gets to swallow his angst over the fact that one of the new officers, Lieutenant Ilia, is an ex-love interest of his. To cut to the chase, Decker and Ilia made for quite the compelling ending for the movie – their lines were kind of dumb, but their chemistry was nice (which says a lot for the actors) and so their end was sad, even if the movie played it as something triumphant and life-affirming – in a strange, surreal, and Kirk-carefree way. This movie could have been done just a bit better. Really, it should have been. But, it goes Kirk all the way, when I think Decker could’ve gotten a lot more. (and still explaining why I can’t watch “Seventh Heaven” on WB without wondering about poor old Decker now as wise Reverend Camden…). Hmm.

Hmm. (4/21/04) Wednesday’s next “Angel” – getting exciting.

Hmm. The current Doonesbury comics strip storyline (follow it in your newspapers or on Slate.com’s portal to the Doonesbury site) – quite dramatic. Various buzz on line is that the Doonesbury scribe, Garry Trudeau, is doing one of his dramatic twists on his characters. For those not in the know, Trudeau sent one of his cast, B.D., to Iraq as one of the army reserves; B.D. appears injured – but how seriously isn’t clear yet. Gosh, I hope he doesn’t go for a character death – his storylines can be compelling and yet make a statement about the current events – but the mortality route of things would be so sad for B.D.’s friends and family (I know, I know, maybe I’m taking it too seriously, but there are folks in the ‘net taking it far more seriously than I am).

On the civil rights front: local bar associations and law schools are continuing the commemoration of the Brown v. Board of Education seminal case. Attend one of them; you’ll learn something about where we have been and maybe where we’re going.

On the Asian front: there’s the NY Times article on the upcoming new musical, “Bombay Dreams” – sounds interesting – all this drama in just creating a drama; and then trying to figure out how to be true to Bollywood tradition but also appeal to British and American mainstream musical tastes. All we need is a good musical, that’s all I ask.

I think I’m caught up on four days’ worth of NY Times and other reading. Maybe! Lots of interesting stuff…

According to the latest ABA e-Journal, Philadelphia Howard Bashman’s blog “How Appealling” has been the recent target of parodies. What really impresses me about the article is that his blogging on appellate cases has now helped him be seen as an expert on appellate law and got him a gig on Legal Affairs magazine. Cool – he got a networking opportunity out of this.

Back when I was a senior in high school, my economics class did a case study (so to speak) of Walmart – how it undermined the mom-and-pop stores and transformed the American economy. NY Times has an article on scholars studying the Walmart effect. I didn’t realize this and find it unsurprising of the Walmart-ness – despite being such a big corporate power, it has allegedly undermined American labor. Walmart declined to participate in the symposia, saying that it was biased against it. Well, I’d have to say that when one become rich and powerful, one must expect the criticism that comes with it, so either respond or adapt to the criticism. Then again, I heard Walmart did reform its anti-discrimination policy to include banning harassment based on sexual orientation, which is sure to make the industry consider what it too does. So, I would think that no one’s saying that Walmart is 100% evil; it just needs to be a little more considerate.

Speaking of corporate power, The Power of Mickey Mouse may be on decline, because we (my generation certainly) don’t know who Mickey is anymore. Interesting article in the NY Times. I’ll note a passage that writer Jesse Green wrote, with my witty thoughts in brackets:

“But that richly drawn, disreputable character, born of desperation and betrayal, got watered down almost from the moment he was introduced…. And although Mickey for a while remained a playful, conniving underdog, like Huck Finn or Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp, he gradually got less mischievous. ‘He couldn’t have any of the naughty qualities he had in his earlier cartoons,’ said Mr. Smith, of the Disney archives, ‘because so many people looked up to him. The studio would get complaints in the mail.’ [I’d say that, ergo, no more mad and feisty Mickey, a la the Simpsons’ Itchy and Scratchy variety – as the article pointed out that 1928 Mickey was borderline sadistic…]

“So, sometime in the mid- to late 1930’s, Mickey settled down. Barnyard cohorts [like Horace the Horse and Clarabelle the Cow] and rail-riding adventures gave way to suburban domesticity with his non-wife Minnie (‘They just lived together as friends,’ said Mr. Smith. ‘For a very long time’) and their unexplained nephews [my response was “You mean, like Barbie and Ken? And, good point on the nephews – no one ever did figure out if they were Minnie’s or Mickey’s and everyone was very clear about Donald’s nephews on the other hand; I almost thought that Green would write “the alleged nephews” – could Morty and Ferdie be – gasp – the illegitimate sons…? LOL]. At the same time, Mickey’s perverse qualities were grafted onto his new supporting cast — Donald Duck and Goofy, especially — who by the 1940’s, according to Mr. Smith, eclipsed the mouse in popularity. ”

Probably explains why I was a Bugs Bunny person than a Mickey one.

Consider this humorist’s take on the whole newsstory on CIA Director George Tenet’s metaphorical hair-on-fire. Very funny. Of course, I tend to get nervous when the NY Times’ op-ed includes some weird humor like this – like, who’s running their newsroom to come up with this stuff?

Yesterday, I attended a symposium on Asian-American/Asian trends at my undergraduate alma mater, set up by the Asian/Asian-American alumni group; interesting event, part of the university’s 250 anniversary and Asian-Pacific-American month. Got to hear the latest on ethnic studies developments; econ/political trends on Asia (which I’m not into usually, but these two young professors certainly pointed out the global scope of developments – not to mention the pop culture trends making things impossible to ignore, so someone ought to get a paper on that – that idea made me laugh); and I thought the panel discussion on Asian-Americans in broadcast media was really interesting (a point of discussion: has American Idol’s William Hung hurt or helped things for Asian-Americans? Scary thing was that everyone in the room knew who he was without much explanation; pro: he’s a plucky guy, which undermines the stereotype of passive Asian; con: he doesn’t sing well, and are people laughing at him rather than with him and confusing the individual image of him as symbolic of Asians as a group? Hmm). The symposium made me feel real good about being Asian American, but also knowing that we have a long way to go before we can get mainstream America to stop perceiving us as mere “Asian” or, worse, alien.

So, in honor of all that Asian good stuff, I will put a plug for this fascinating article on Bollywood from the NY Times. I complain enough about the state of American films, so maybe I ought to watch foreign films for their variety.

Enjoy the nice weather in NYC – the weather is so nice… spring is indeed here. Well, hopefully the temperatures won’t jump into summer though. Insane…