Author: ssw15

An extra long post!  As a follow up to the previous years‘ posts on analysis of the year of highlights: in 2014, I had a total of 60 books read, this was probably the least I’ve read since I started counting what I read since 2009 (and I started the count late that year, so it’s not like I can say whether 60 is least at all for me).

A breakdown of the reading list of 2014: 5 literary fiction; 4 children’s lit; 18 comics/graphic novels; 4 memoirs (5 counting Congressman John Lewis’ March); 3 on writing; 3 on law (technically); 8 mystery/thriller; 2 philosophy; 2 spiritual (technically); 1 on living tips (technically); 2 poetry; 10 collection/anthology (not counting the comics/graphic novels); 4 comedy/satire books 39 fiction and 19 non-fiction (not counting the 2 poetry).  21 ebooks.  2 or 3 were rereads.  5 were books for book club.  On, and a list of incomplete reads (for any number of reasons, and I’m hardly going to list the incomplete books, since I gave up trying to keep track of that).

Thanks to the Brooklyn and New York Public Libraries for the majority of the books read (as usual).

I was surprised by how much comics/graphic novels ended up on the list, most of which I read simply because they were available from the library and I was curious to see what they were and if they were any good (mixed reaction, really).   I really enjoyed Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon, a great read, which went along with my reading of writing books, which lead to this year’s NaNoWriMo project of writing a sort-of superhero story.

I really binged on ebooks during the middle of the year, to the point that it was probably unsurprising that I haven’t exactly gotten back to my Nook by the end of the year (well, NaNoWriMo was, as usual, a big disruption to my usual reading).

It turned out that 2014 was not the year in which I finally read Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, or Umberto Eco’s In the Name of the Rose, as much as I was hoping to do last January.  I also didn’t get to Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, even though it somehow was the top of a pile at one point.  And, unfortunately, Linda Greenhouse’s Becoming Justice Blackman was unfinished in 2014, but hopefully will be finished in 2015 (I can’t be that terrible).

Another Barnes & Noble close occurred in 2014, in the form of the closing of the old flagship store.  There was also the closing of Rizzoli.

I really enjoyed the appearance of Congressman John Lewis at Strand, promoting the graphic novel, March, Book 1, which he co-wrote with Andrew Aydin, one of his aides.  Hopefully, Book 2 will come out soon.  With the movie Selma out, there are a lot of ways to explore and re-examine the Civil Rights Movement, and the timing could not be better.

I got sad (and continue to be sad) about not keeping up with the technology of e-reading, as Barnes & Noble discontinued the Simple Touch.  I also increased buying books from Strand.

2014 was the year that I finally read a book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold.  Such a fascinating book.  (unfortunately, 2014 was also the year during which Gabriel Garcia Marquez passed away).

2014 was also the year of the passing of Maya Angelou.  There was also the passing of Eric Hill, the author and illustrator of the Spot the Dog series; author PD James; the passing of Norman Bridwell, the author and illustrator of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series; and the passing of many others that I gave some pause outside of this blog (including, but not limited to, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, and others).

I checked out the New York Public Library’s exhibits on The Beatles and on Sesame Street (see here and here on the promotions of the Sesame Street exhibit).

LeVar Burton’s Kickstarter project to get Reading Rainbow as a different kind of experiment for the 21st Century brought up a lot of thoughts.

The recent question of North Korea and hacking concerns reminded me of my reading Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son – a lot of confusion, fear, and absurdity (real or fiction?  Who knows anymore?).

I also read Oscar Hijuelos’ Empress of the Splendid Season; fascinating reading.  And other authors who I’m so glad to have finally read: Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven was a rich and moving read, and turned out to have been a balance to reading Larry Watson’s Montana 1948, a book on the questions of balancing law and morality in the immediate post-World War II Montana, from the late 20th century outlook and dry but poignant writing.

I attended the Brooklyn Book Festival (and did not resist getting books). I did post some photos from the Festival.

I read a bunch of fascinating memoirs in 2014.  I highly recommend Neil deGrasse Tyson’s book, The Sky is Not the Limit, to inspire and encourage minorities and women in pursuit of fields that they would not have pursued.  Vaclav Havel’s To the Castle and Back was an insightful read, as I noted.  The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee: Observations on Not Fitting In by Paisley Rekdal and The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese American From Number Two Son to Rock n’ Roll by Ben Fong-Torres were really fascinating for presenting different perspectives on Asian-American experiences.

Re-reading Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep was a good time.

I’m glad to have attended what I could of the Moby Dick reading marathon and the reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe in November and December 2014.

I continued reading my favorites, of Batman and Nero Wolfe.  Batman: The Court of Owls was a strange read (if only because DC Comics’ New 52 made things feel a little off) and Batman: L’il Gotham was great fun (Dustin Nguyen’s playing with the Batman characters in the pre-DC Comics New 52 world).

Author Robert Goldsborough revisited the world of Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe, by covering how they met in Archie Meets Nero Wolfe – a fun but weird read, since Archie’s 1st person narration didn’t quite have a period feel of the 1930’s and he seemed older than he was (which, with Archie never aging beyond the age of 30, tends to happen, I think, even when Rex Stout wrote the series).  Rex Stout’s Over My Dead Body was a strange but funny read – the habits of Wolfe and Archie are thrown off the rails by the appearance of Wolfe’s long-lost (adopted) daughter, an adult whose secrets weren’t fully fleshed out (which also tends to happens with Stout’s works).

I closed out the year reading former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins’ Horoscopes for the Dead.  It was funny, poignant, and sometimes even profound.  Full of images and sound, words and feelings; Collins is one of my favorites, and I’m not much of a poetry reader. I was glad to have ended 2014 with this book.  On with reading in 2015!

(cross-posted at sswslitinmotion.tumblr.com)

Extra long post! My personal TV Highlights of 2014, which isn’t really a best/worst list (or maybe it should be) and, as noted last year, it doesn’t help that I’ve really cut back on tv viewing (shocking, I know), I don’t have Showtime, HBO, or even Cinemax (so, no “Homeland,” “Game of Thrones,” “Veep,” “True Detective,” or “The Knick”), and I have not pursued the streaming trend (so, still no “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black,” or “Alpha House,” which I’d still really like to check out, since it’s the Garry Trudeau project inspired by the trivia that a bunch of real US Senators and Congressmen were roommates). And I’m not still on the Downton Abbey bandwagon (still shocking), and I didn’t get to try FX’s “Fargo” either (I kind of wanted to do so, just to see Martin Freeman in a non-British role).

In no particular order:

1. “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS) – series finale. A bittersweet farewell. Guess the journey was far more fun than the outcome (speaking as someone who got off the bandwagon a long time ago, only because of lack of time and my tendency to step away from a show when it reaches mass popularity).

2. “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” (NBC) – nice job, Jimmy! I can forgive Jay Leno (some might say he doesn’t need forgiveness, but the way things did not work out with Conan O’Brien was still surreal to me), but Jimmy Fallon and the Roots make the show fun again for me to watch once in awhile, rather than to avoid.

3. Winter Olympics 2014 (NBC). Probably the ultimate strange reality show (except that there were some far worse stuff, so oh well). Between the pre-Olympic games controversies (not all of which were on display on tv, rather than the print media and Internet), the error with the snowflake during the Opening Ceremonies, Bob Costas’ terrible infection of the eyes, and of course the thrills of victory and agonies of defeat (apologies to Jim McKay and ABC’s old Wide World of Sports for borrowing the phrase) – still amazing tv (and notwithstanding time zones and tape delays). Oh, and international political intrigue and violence (yeah, can’t really forget that).

4. “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC). Hmm, I will hand it to ABC for making things strangely fun (in that “Well, I get some eye candy and entertainment; whatever” way). 2014 was very watchable for Dancing With the Stars with ringers such as Charlie White and Meryl Davis (the Olympic ice dancing champions) and at the end of this year, Alfonso Ribeiro (never give up the Carlton!). Some people were the kind who I didn’t think of as “stars” (not when the pro dancer is more famous than the “star”). Oh, and so inspiring to see Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy go as far as she did. Derek Hough, the pro dancer, was ridiculously talented in choreography and dancing, I have to say, and Val Chmerkovskiy, the third place pro dancer this most recent fall season – so hot.

5. “Masterpiece Theatre” (PBS) – no, I’m still not on the “Downton Abbey” bandwagon (gasp!). 2014 had a lot of great stuff – the return of “Sherlock” (from BBC, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson); the return of Detective Constable Morse in “Endeavour” (complete with an odd cliffhanger); “Inspector Lewis” (with Lewis’ partner Hathaway practically becoming the 21st century Morse, in the brooding and honorable way); the final run of actor David Suchet as Hercule Poirot (with the final episode on streaming online tv, which pissed me off because I wasn’t paying for that, as cheap as I am, and I didn’t get to see it because PBS didn’t air it); and “Death Comes to Pemberley” (actor Matthew Rhys got pretty intense as Darcy and the two-parter was mostly entertaining).

6. Comic adaptations to tv – I ultimately have mixed feelings on “Gotham” (FOX) (other than Jada Pinkett Smith’s Fish Mooney, I’m not sure what to make of the women on this show, and I’m behind on episodes as it is). “The Flash” (CW) had the most fun series premiere, I have to say. I didn’t catch “Constantine” (NBC). “Arrow” (CW) looks as strong as ever (although I’m not much of a viewer and I’m not even on the Arrow bandwagon).

7. Following up on “Sherlock” above, I will say that I’m still a viewer of “Elementary” (CBS) (Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu as Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson). I wish that show does a better job being an ensemble show (I like the moments of Detective Bell (Jon Michael Hill), and for God’s sake, CBS, you have Aidan Quinn as Captain Gregson!). Still: it’s a watchable show.

8. “Gracepoint” (FOX). I will credit FOX for trying to redo BBC America’s “Broadchurch” (back in the UK, “Broadchurch” was from ITV). It was weird to see actor David Tennant as Detective Emmett Carver (who seemed to still be Inspector Alec Hardy but with a bland American accent), in California (but filmed in the area of Vancouver; I thought the show wanted to be northern California). And, Anna Gunn wasn’t quite Olivia Coleman was as the woman cop, Ellie Miller. The changes from the “Broadchuch” could have been a little more and the writing seemed a little weak, but otherwise strong acting. If you hadn’t seen “Broadchuch,” you’d think that “Gracepoint” was better than average tv (and I’d say that it was), but if you saw “Broadchurch,” you know this could have been better (which itself wasn’t great as a British mystery series (I have seen better), but was so intense at the end).

9. Colbert Report / The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) – farewell to Stephen Colbert! What a weird and sweet way to end! (well, the end of “Stephen Colbert,” the conservative blowhard character; I look forward to see how Colbert the real person takes over for David Letterman). Jon Stewart was great this year, in piercing the silliness of everyone out there (sometimes even himself).

10. Cartoons! I really got into watching “Adventure Time” (Cartoon Network), with the weird and poignant adventures of Finn the Human and Jake the (magic) Dog and their land of Ooo. “The Legend of Korra” (Nickelodeon) – such beautiful artistry and world building, continuing the world of The Avatar, even if I didn’t feel that the writing was paced quite right and I was inconsistent about watching it this fall. I also wasn’t sure what to make of “The Legend of Korra” made available only streaming online, but I’m not the one in power…

11. “Cosmos” (FOX/National Geographic) – Neil de Grasse Tyson and Seth McFarland joined forces to bring science to network tv! On FOX, of all networks! (I’m still not sure how FOX News, as a bizarre force of bizarreness – not that my politics should be that obvious – would be somehow related to the entertainment side of FOX (where FX and regular FOX keep making entertainment that might not fit “family values” and, oh, wow – science!).

12. Ken Burns’ “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History” (PBS) – fascinating review of the lives of Theodore, Eleanor, and Franklin. I thought that I couldn’t learn more about them, having read or studied a lot about the Roosevelts, but Burns’ storytelling was engrossing.

13. “Doctor Who” (BBC/BBC America) – Series 8 – with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor (the 12th one, putting aside any quibbles about the numbering of the Doctors) and Jenna Coleman as Clara, the companion. What a great season, despite the plot holes (and sometimes due to them). The Christmas special of 2014 kind of made up for the sadness of the final two episodes – dreams within dreams, and in the end, all you want is to make things up with your friends (or at least, the Doctor and Clara were owed a better Christmas than last year’s, putting aside that the Doctor got a whole bunch of more lives to live; they had a rough time with their crazy adventures this year). The Christmas special of 2014 was memorable for the appearance of Santa Claus, a.k.a. Father Christmas, being played by Nick Frost (whose appearance was a lot more heartwarming than Simon Pegg‘s appearance back during the era of the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) (Pegg was villain-like for that episode; but, hey, if you want to watch Frost and Pegg together again, feel free to watch Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

14. “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (CBS) – I’ve been terribly inconsistent about watching Craig, but I made sure to watch his last episode, which had a nice opening song with all his past guests (so he and Stephen Colbert had similar ideas on that for their shows) and closing with a dream sequence, which brought back Drew Carey and Craig’s character Mr. Wick (from Carey’s old sitcom). I wasn’t sure what to make of Craig’s having Jay Leno as the final guest, but I suppose Craig wanted to end with a forgiving note (well, not from Craig, anyway, but again, from me and an audience who weren’t sure about that O’Brien and Tonight Show mess) and an homage to the traditional late night tv format (which Craig had long made fun of, with the robot sidekick and puppets).

15. “Community” (NBC) – season 5 was funny and odd, but bittersweet too (farewell to the character of Troy (Donald Glover); and what on earth will Greendale Community College do the next season on Yahoo?).

Honorable mentions:

“Vicious” (PBS) – this British sitcom import, with Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen, was biting.

“Selfie” (ABC) – well, it was not successful, but it tried to do well with John Cho as a romantic comedy lead; that title never did the show any favors. Nonetheless, I think ABC’s diversity experiment should continue.

Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” (CNN); “The Walking Dead” (AMC); Key & Peele (Comedy Central); Chris Hardwick’s “@midnight” (Comedy Central); “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO) (well, it was terrific from what I was able to watch on YouTube).

I fell behind on “The Americans” (FX); “Suits” (USA); “Justified” (FX); and so much more stuff, so that I can’t speak about them. I’m almost embarrassed about how I’m so behind (ok, make that very embarrassed, but it can’t be helped).

I didn’t get to watch NBC’s “Peter Pan,”the live musical special, but from the anecdotal evidence that I saw on Facebook (not the most accurate source of information, of course), people had a campy good time (having flamboyant pirates and Christopher Walken as Capt. Hook would cause that reaction). NBC had lower ratings than the previous year’s musical experiment (it’s hard to beat the nation’s love for “Sound of Music”), but they should still keep trying, since at least this is a unique thing that gets us thinking about NBC (in ways that, say, the Olympics and “The Blacklist” do not do, even though they’ve done a lot of good for NBC).

I’m probably forgetting other notable stuff of 2014, but I never promise to be comprehensive!

A Merry Christmas from triscribe.

A photo of St. Athanasius Church, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, 2013. This year, the church is again decked out like this.  It really got me in the Christmas mood, I have to say.

Gothamist posted and shared someone’s video of this year’s Dyker Heights Christmas get up. I have yet to trek out to Dyker Heights for Christmas and haven’t done that in years. They really go all out; clearly the homeowners there do not worry about their electricity bills.

Entertainment Weekly with the list of tv marathons on tv for the holidays.  Or, you could do your own Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or whatever, and binge however you want. I’m more of a traditionalist, so…

A list of links to triscribe blog posts from Christmas past: Christmas 2013, Christmas Eve 2012, Christmas 2011 (with Frosty and a reindeer), Christmas 2010, (with an extra one from December 2010), and Christmas 2009 – which has links to the other posts of Christmases past. Or, you know, you could check the archives.

Peace on earth and goodwill toward all people! Merry Christmas, everybody!

 

As longtime triscribers might know, I’m a Trekkie.  I don’t go to conventions and, contrary to popular belief, I do NOT own a Starfleet uniform; but I watched a lot of Star Trek, and the movies, and read a bunch of the books, read a bunch of fanfiction, and even got real close to getting published in properly licensed Star Trek fiction (I mean, close).  Part of me wonders if Star Trek should return to its roots – be a television show again and explore all kinds of storylines in an ensemble way again – maybe even in better ways than Star Trek had a chance to do before, considering the current advances in storytelling and the increased focus on diverse casting (which Star Trek had long been a pioneer in the first place).

A brief review of what happened to Star Trek to where we are now:

There came a point when Star Trek was the height of late 1980’s/1990s science fiction (yes, I know, there are fans of Babylon 5 who would say that that series took up the imagination of 1990s science fiction tv, but I wasn’t much of a B5 viewer). The optimism of Star Trek remains the source and inspiration of hope (and of our technology; iPads owe a lot to the devices that the TNG and DS9 crews used). It was something that defied the broadcast networks, dominating the wild and weird world of syndicated tv series (well, then came Hercules and Xena, Warrior Princess, but hey, those series gave us actors Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless, so give them some credit).

Plus, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a series ahead of its time – with its serialization of stories, the wartime storyline of a democratic society facing its values in a candid way, the dramatic protagonist (who just happened to be a person of color), and the way conflict among the cast was addressed and progressed (Major Kira and the Cardassians; the rebellion of the Maquis, whose storyline really floundered when the war storyline hit maximum drive).  And, how DS9 expanded how dark the ideas of Star Trek could go, when humanity reached a lot of its optimism and still explore out there – DS9 didn’t get enough credit for what it did.

Then, Paramount became a network and tried to use ST: Voyager and ST: Enterprise for better or worse.  I stuck around.  I could refer you to AV Club’s Beginner’s Guide to the Franchise as a decent start, if you’re not familiar with the ST franchise. Here’s my list from 2009 on my personal favorite Star Trek moments/episodes (putting aside that I recently looked up the clip of that lovely Captain Picard Day scene, when the kids of the Enterprise entered their drawings and sculptures to honor their role model, Captain Picard, to the amused delight of Riker and Troi).

Then came the reboot, which somehow revived Kirk and the gang, without making me worry that the old ST universe could no longer be treasured. Some might complain that the movies (the original six and the two J.J. Abrams-verse reboot movies) were too much the “Kirk and Spock Show” (putting aside that the original television series was very much a Kirk, Spock, and McCoy show – the Big Three! – with the original six movies giving us the favorite supporting characters of Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov).

And, the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies were exceedingly the “Picard and Data Show” (no, really, it did hit some levels of ludicrousness, and I say that despite my fondness for Action Hero Captain Picard).

But, if there was a way to figure out contemporary issues, how different people can get along (or not), and how a crew becomes a family (something Picard took way too long to figure out, I think) – well, I think our times need such a show on tv! Star Trek could ideally return to tv bigger, better, and more refined than ever (or so focused in a world of niche tv).

And, really, an Abrams-style Star Trek tv series could be great – all of reboot Kirk’s issues could be properly expanded and considered, as would Spock’s (and really, so many of Abrams’ characters – tv and movie – have daddy issues). And, we need a chance to really get at McCoy’s issues on tv (the bad marriage; the “I’m not that bad a dad”; the Southern charm; the good and compassionate doctor; the dogged scientist; the bad astronaut; the not-great Starfleet officer – who got to stick around long enough to be an admiral meeting android Data).  As a sidenote: well, I like to think McCoy wasn’t a terrible father, besides his “I’m going to space to get away from my ex-wife” bit, but the intended episode about his relationship with his teenage daughter never made it to tv, since the space hippie episode became about Chekov’s ex-girlfriend instead. But, McCoy is clearly a remarkable tv character; the big screen still hasn’t figured him out.

And, the ensemble would have have a better shot at evolving on tv – Uhura as the great science fiction tv heroine, at last?  Hmm!  It was made for Abrams-style tv! (or… Whedon-style tragedy? I don’t know; let’s not go there; I’ll refer people to “Firefly” and “Serenity” and leave it at that).

For me, the only question would be what network would take a chance to bring Star Trek back to television?  I’d posit that BBC America would be the right place (it’s where reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation are on), since it seems to be a nice place for a cast of characters and stories, and it doesn’t treat science fiction in a silly way (like a lot of Syfy series seem to be), with the provision of a devoted but niche audience.

It turns out that I’m not the only one wondering if Star Trek should come back to television: like this item over at the Atlantic by Dave Sims.

And, of course, Star Trek’s 50th anniversary is coming in 2016.  I’d like to think that the anniversary could be something big and celebratory, hitting highlights while keep on trekking to the future (like how I really enjoyed that Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode).  But, to do something big, Star Trek is either going to have to be back on tv or the big screen.  And, I’m not quite sure how great the big screen effort might be, because I never quite feel enough room for philosophizing and character development with action (the usual blow ’em up stuff) in a movie (again, see above – the Kirk and Spock Show, Action Hero Captain Picard).

The drive for Star Trek 3 (J.J. Abrams-verse reboot) is turning out to be a a bumpy one though. Changing directors, who knows what the script will be, and oh yeah, Star Wars (which shouldn’t be a factor, but it is, because J.J. Abrams is helming Star Wars; I like both ST and Star Wars, but ST took up years of my life because it was tv).

Then, I gasped: for real, Justin Lin to direct the third movie?!  I thought Justin Lin’s “Fast and Furious” movies reached tv-levels of storyline craziness (in a good way, that is). I’d be very curious to see what Lin could do for Star Trek, especially if the 3rd movie is done by Star Trek’s 50th anniversary in 2016 – honoring the tv legacy but pushing the boundaries. It might even be good (not going to say great; I could be way too premature here). Plus, hey, maybe Lin would give John Cho (reboot Sulu) some meaty stuff for the movie (as Angry Asian Man noted, they worked in Lin’s “Better Luck Tomorrow”).

Forbes contributor Scott Mendelson writes on “Why Justin Lin is a Perfect Fit for ‘Star Trek 3.’”  Mendelson is getting very optimistic, stating:

Now it can be assumed that Mr. Lin was drafted onto the Starship Enterprise because of his experience with large ensemble casts filled with diverse (both in terms of ethnicity and personality) cast of would-be action heroes. And while there is some fear that Mr. Lin’s prior filmography means that Star Trek is going into an even-more action-centric direction, that may not be true. Justin Lin is also the guy who made Better Luck Tomorrow. Although that brings up a different point of why Lin can’t find an original project with which to cash in his F&F capital. […]

More importantly for this discussion, his last two Fast and Furious films were incredibly successful in terms of giving each member of the very large cast a chance to shine in terms of both character and action. If you’re someone who thinks the last two Star Trek films have been somewhat dominated by Kirk and Spock (beyond the extent that Star Trek has often been the Kick/Spock show), then this hire should be welcome news. At the very least, I have to imagine that Better Luck Tomorrow co-star John Cho will get a bit more to do this time around. Also of note, the Fast & Furious franchise’s head-first dive into sentimentality will actually fit right in with the Trek universe.

Say what you will about the “drink every time Vin Diesel says “family” game for Fast & Furious 6, but Fast Five was not just a terrific action picture but a pretty great movie, period, and this is coming from someone who didn’t care much for the previous four films. It was a fifth sequel that used its complex continuity to its emotional advantage, and I might on a given day argue that it’s an even better “franchise all-stars to the rescue” movie than The Avengers. When I first saw Fast Five I was so into the narrative that when Vin Diesel makes his climactic suicide play, I actually bought the possibility of his death, especially since the culminating chapter felt and played like a terrific series finale to a long-running television series. I only remembered much later than the franchise’s skewed timeline would make such a sacrifice impossible. Anyway, point being, the surrogate family themes of the last three Fast & Furious films actually fit the Star Trek universe like a glove.

[….]

We’ll see soon enough what kind of movie Justin Lin brings us for this Star Trek 3, but his experience on the Fast/Furious franchise, especially the superb Fast Five, has me more hopeful not less hopeful. No he’s not a geek favorite and no he’s not a die-hard Trekker, but frankly neither was Nicholas Meyer and he gave us two of the best Star Trek films around (23 years later, and I still well up at Kirk giving the course heading of ”Second star to the right… and straight on till morning”). I remain optimistic at the decision to give the man who made Fast & Furious into an A-level action franchise while actually upping the sentimentality can do the same for the ongoing Star Trek series. He is, to paraphrase the guy who I knew was never going to get the job but I would have loved  have seen get the job, not the first choice. But he is the last choice, and (I hope) the best choice.

My big tip to fellow Trekkies out there: keep hope alive, but don’t go overboard just yet. We’ll see what happens!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This isn’t a law blog (i.e., “blawg”), and I’m not in the area of criminal law or certain areas of civil rights law to really discuss with any great articulation about this week’s news regarding Ferguson, MO. PBS Newshour has a tidy and expansive coverage, and I’m a PBS supporter, so I’m linking it. I’ll also link to the coverage over at Slate, which includes some incisive legal analysis by Dahlia Lithwick and Sonja West.

I’ll also share the commentary by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA legend/writer), posted over at Time.com, and I especially admired his closing thoughts:

But we have to remember that the goal of protesting is to raise awareness in those that don’t agree. This is not done instantly, through one gathering. Nor is it done through the persistent occupation of one space. It has to be a national movement, and it has to keep its energy high. When enough people across the country gather to say something, more and more people will listen.

Second, the violence and looting is counter-productive because it redirects the message away from the reasoned arguments to just the emotion. The roar of the fires and the sound of shattering glass drowns out the voices demanding change. The level of frustration that leads to violence is understandable: When you’re treated as if you’re not a valued member of society, why should you uphold society’s values? But violence turns away potential allies and only provides more targets to start the cycle over again. Yes, we must be passionate about the situation, but only because our passion will fuel the open discourse.

A lot of food for thought, and I can only wish that civil dialog, with the intention of persuasion not merely opposition, could occur alongside civil disobedience. But, we’re living in interesting times, as usual.

So, this year, Slate’s current Moneybox writer, Jordan Weissmann, poses the argument on why one shouldn’t shop on Thanksgiving Day.

I’m linking to last year’s post, a lot of which I said still holds up (and was in response to the past Slate Moneybox writer Matthew Yglesias, on why it might not be so bad to work/shop on Thanksgiving); as I said last year:

I get that there are people who are willing to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  And, Christmas, in my mind, is more of a religious holiday, even if a lot of secular folk and the American government have taken advantage of it.  If you want to be open and/or work on Christmas, go ahead.  There are a lot of non-Christians who need servicing. I won’t judge.

But, Thanksgiving – notwithstanding its complicated history (much like anything and everything else in this country) – is a uniquely American holiday and unites everyone, because it’s not about race, gender, national origin, religion, lack of religion, or whatever.  It’s about being American and being grateful.  Maybe Thanksgiving is more than grouching about whether you’re working or not and shopping demonstrates greed/lack of greed/save capitalism and the free market/economy and how much free will is involved when someone chooses to work/open the business on a holiday… the debating is endless.

I feel like it comes down to our national values and our culture.  Do businesses have to be open on Thanksgiving – for just one day?  Are businesses just about money?  Do corporations – assuming they’re people too, as former Gov. Mitt Romney said and legally, they are – have one core value?  Do they have one element of patriotism?  Just pick one day where you don’t cross a line and say why.  And, can’t we as Americans have one nice thing to agree on?

The lines are blurred.  All the crazy arguing – this is why we can’t have nice things.  (insert sarcasm there, in case you didn’t catch the sarcasm).

Hmm.

I know: weird that I’m quoting myself… Anyway, bottomline for 2014: hey, corporations, as legal people, you ought to have values; give your employees a living wage and don’t be open on Thanksgiving, when it turns out that the deals aren’t even that great anyway (except you want to exploit people’s desire to buy gifts for others).

Past links to past triscribe observances of this great American holiday – the master post.  I couldn’t find a Thanksgiving 2012 blog post. That was the year of Superstorm/Hurricane Sandy, so go figure.

My Nat’l Novel Writing Month project just hit 50k words. I don’t even know how to end the damn “story.”  And it is a glorious mess indeed, without wormholes. Eh. (no, that was not a joke to Christopher Nolan’s movie “interstellar,” which I still haven’t seen yet).

Don’t overeat, watch the parade, and some football. But, take a moment to be grateful for what we have; we are all luckier than we may think we are.

It’s that time of year… when calories might become a problem.

Also, I’m not sure whether to give any credit of any kind – extra or negative – to the house a few blocks away for putting up Christmas lights since Veterans Day.

This week, the bunch of us had a birthday dinner for FC/celebration for the 72 Hour Shootout (celebrating our making the top 35 this year).  See the links here: watch the video and all that. We ate a lot at Hill Country BBQ Market, in Brooklyn. Meat. Dessert. Whoa.

The passing of director Mike Nichols.  I remembered watching, years ago, the documentary, “Nichols and May,” on PBS’ “American Masters” – about Nichols’ career as a comedic duo.  (nice tribute from PBS).  Watching the documentary was great – Nichols and Elaine May were neurotic and hilarious, with ridiculous chemistry.  Their famous Mother and Son skit was smothering (of course), a little incestuous (uh…), and laugh out loud funny (oh, boy).  Embedded below – you should see this!

I looked over the list of Nichols movies and realized that I’ve probably seen more of his dramas than his comedies and not realized that those were his movies (that’s a compliment – while he was the director, the movies seemed to be actor-oriented – so that made those movies that rich in viewing for me, anyway), and I keep saying I’d watch more of those movies in the Nichols list (but… never enough time!).  I was reading how Nichols wasn’t the kind of stylistic director as a Steven Speilberg or a Martin Scorsese, but I admire Nichols’ versatility and interest in characters.

While I’m at it, I’ll also link to NPR’s Linda Holmes’ commentary on the career of Mike Nichols. Good stuff worth reading, on a varied and fascinating career and what Nichols’ storytelling really does in grappling on the what it means to be human question.

Also, glad I’m not in Buffalo.  A winter’s worth of snow… in a week. The lake effect is nuts.  Gothamist posted photos from Buffalo, with the cute dog in the snow (hopefully safe).  Gothamist linked to the news about NFL moving the NY Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game to Detroit because of the snow in Buffalo. According to Gothamist (in one of those laugh out loud lines): “The minute Detroit becomes the preferred weather-friendly destination, you know shit is real.”

That’s kind of funny: some Bills players had to snowmobile themselves to the airport to get the plane to Detroit. And, really, who in Michigan is going to watch the Jets and Bills? And, it’s not like people in Buffalo who aren’t Bills players or coaches or significant others will make the trek (well, free tickets). Jets fans, maybe? (umm, yeah, I’m not really a Jets fan)…

I’m apparently the only one proposing to sell Buffalo’s lake effect snow to California. True, it’d be expensive to ship, but hey, it’s a win-win idea. Help out people in Buffalo and California, and get money moving…

Behind on a lot of tv stuff this week. Bit of a Doctor Who withdrawal (might have to resort to watching Peter Capaldi’s other stuff). And I’m reminding myself that writer’s block is an illusion this month… Back to NaNoWriMo writing.

Some more articles on Loretta Lynch, US Attorney General nominee and US Attorney of Eastern District of NY, in the NY Times on her cases (she had been on the team prosecuting the case of police brutality against the victim Abner Louima) and how the Republicans might make things difficult with the confirmation process to have a proxy fight over executive directives and immigration policy.  Why the Republicans have to be a pain about this, when Lynch has been twice confirmed by the Senate for two tenures as US Attorney (as seen in the analysis over at Slate) – well, politics…

So, the Fulton Street subway hub is going to be finally… done? The MTA is calling it “Fulton Center” and after so much delay, a ballooning budget, and months of scary tarp (I was there a few times – I did not like the tarp and lack of real bannisters, and the feeling of “oh my God, this construction stuff is going to fall on me?”), the place is finally going to open with its glass dome. Very curious to see this thing and whether it was worth the madness.

Sports: umm, NY metro area’s sports aren’t much to speak of, although the NY Jets won, so there’s this bright spot in their misery.  NY Giants could not beat Seattle Seahawks (the reigning Super Bowl champs), with an unpleasant second half (I made it home to not want to watch it). This unpleasantness includes my undergraduate Alma Mater team, which is now 0-9, having lost on Saturday to Harvard (which now has the reverse record, and no loss against the Ivy League).

No spoilers from me, but the season finale of “Doctor Who” last night on BBC America was mostly ok (some odd plotholes, but so that goes). I give lots of kudos to actor Peter Capaldi for bringing the 12th Doctor to life, and actress Jenna Coleman for rising to his game level as Clara (the previous season was criticized for not quite knowing what to do with Clara, writing-wise, and so there was a lot of better character development this season, since the writers – and especially head writer Stephen Moffat – remembered that Clara isn’t just a plot device; but I generally like Clara anyway, so I’m not going to complain). And, of course, season finales (and Doctor Who ones, certainly) has some heartbreaking moments. So, if you hadn’t seen it yet, be prepared!

I was watching a little of “Worricker” on Masterpiece on PBS, starring actor Bill Nighy as Johnny Worricker, the MI-5 agent whose principles get in the way. I wasn’t paying the greatest of attention, but it was a strange watch because I was all “spot the actor” – Winona Ryder! Christopher Walken! Helena Bonham-Carter! Malik Yoba! Rupert Graves! (and Rupert Graves – who has played Inspector Lestrade on BBC’s Sherlock – has aged so well; I remembered watching some of the shows on PBS years ago and thinking that he was one of those dangerously creepy good looking men; so, mmm!). I wasn’t sure what was happening with this episode, but with these big casts, sometimes it can be crazy.

Back to some other writing…

The return of “Inspector Lewis” on the Masterpiece Mystery! franchise over at PBS was pretty entertaining, with an episode 1 that really is about new beginnings. Granted, Lewis totally undermined the whole point of retiring (did he really believe Superintendent Innocent, when she asked him to help, that this was only to help? Or was she really just trying to keep brand-spanking new Inspector Hathaway from burning out, because the man seems so ready to lose it, even though his detecting skills are really awesome now). I couldn’t blame the ire of Dr. Hobson (the medical examiner who didn’t retire and is Lewis’ significant other) – Lewis could have given her the heads up that he missed investigating murders and weird family dramas (that are sort-of red herrings).

Oh, and there was a murder, with lots of red herrings. As usual. And, three bodies. It’s like no one in Oxford/Thames Valley realizes that Lewis and Hathaway must be the cause of the rise in crime, rather than just the ones catching the killers. (like how Batman inspired supervillains in Gotham).

“Gotham” – Episode 3 – “The Balloonman” – If I have to give a grade (and I like to not do that, because with a lot of shows, I start with a “B” and either add or subtract points before it’s still a “B,” because why else would I watch the show?): this episode is a B- (not lame enough to be a C, but awful close). A vigilante appears in Gotham, feeding on the faithlessness of Gothamites on anything resembling law in town. Only, it’s not Batman. And, really, the levels of lawlessness is pretty despicable: there’s the scene of a police lieutenant’s looking for his trophy at the precinct to beat the bleep out of a suspect in an interrogation.

Detective Gordon has the look of “what am I doing here again?” as far as letting it soak in that everybody accepts police brutality as a given (except for the righteous Gordon). And, the appearance of the Balloonman isn’t making things better: he uses a weather balloon to… kill the bad guys – the corrupt cops, the investors who steal others’ pensions, etc.; he’s the vigilante with understandable reasons, but unpleasant tactics. Yeah, not a Batman thing at all. But, the bitterness over the breakdown of legitimate government seems pretty authentic and well-drawn enough. Gordon and Bullock are still fun, as Bullock actually has some decent detecting skills, and Gordon is still trying to figure out who really killed the Waynes. Even Selina Kyle isn’t annoying me in this episode, because she’s only trying to survive to avoid going to juvie upstate (because who wants to go upstate?). She comes across as someone with some kind of purpose, even if it is that bare minimum one to stay alive.

Oswald Cobblepot is still annoying and creepy to me. He’s slowly getting back into the underworld of Gotham, as if he could not pull away from the mess and miss out on the craziness (putting aside that he totally did not listen to Gordon’s warning to not come back to town).  On the other hand, Oswald’s return at least confirms that Gordon didn’t actually kill him (which we viewers and Gordon already knew, but the ridiculous cops of the Major Crimes Unit don’t seem to understand, forget Bullock). But, as Oswald’s alive and ridiculous as ever, Gordon’s semi-promise to Falcone and Mooney is undermined and Gordon will be in a world of trouble. (of course).

Major Crimes Unit do not play it smart, asking questions, but… no proof? As Gordon observes, Detectives Allen and Montoya are acting more like Internal Affairs than Major Crimes people (no wonder they endear themselves to no one; what the hell is their arrest rate?). And, if the two think they’re somehow the “good guys” (as in the pair who are somehow holier because they’re somehow not corrupt or in cahoots with the mob like the rest of the police department) – well, the storytelling isn’t showing how they’re the good guys. Detective Montoya is irritating me.  I don’t think it’s the acting – it’s the writing. As Renee in the comics and cartoons, she holds onto her integrity – and becomes one of Gordon’s good guys. I’m not seeing how she has “integrity” here in her tv version: a lot of talk; no action.

Clearly, this is not a DC Universe where Gordon, Bullock, and Montoya are a trinity anytime soon. No, Montoya’s too busy telling Barbara that Gordon’s not trustworthy, but more as an attempt to get Barbara back in her life (and Gordon isn’t noticing something about his fiancee and the other detective? Hmm!). Not liking this at all; Renee doesn’t have to come off as a sainted figure, but neither she nor Barbara are looking brilliant (or at least Barbara has some sense: she’s going to stick with the fiance who’s trying really hard to be a good guy than the ex-girlfriend who evidently is not that good in her personal life – hmm! It doesn’t help that the actresses playing Barbara and Renee don’t have much chemistry).

The appearance of Sal Maroni – yep, that impending mob war is still just impending (so, maybe Gordon should just step out of the way and let them kill each other?). The Maronis of Gotham are interesting if only because their name is a reminder of one of the creepier (to me, anyway) Batman stories: “The Long Halloween” – how Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent join forces to fight the mob, and how the killer Holliday is making the mob war really crazy, Dent becomes Two-Face, and there’s a lot of killing (the Wikipedia entry there really reminded me that there was a lot of death). And, Poison Ivy tries to seduce Bruce therein (a very weird and stylized scene; maybe she did seduce him, but I think some hallucination was involved so…). I don’t think we’re going to get any of “The Long Halloween” on live-action broadcast network tv (prove me wrong, tv, prove me wrong!).

The Bruce and Alfred scenes are brief but great – Bruce is deep in boy detective mode, but not in any useful way (more like brooding as usual; will Bruce ever stop brooding?). Alfred is trying to get him to eat and exercise (their fencing scene was kind of cute), but it’s not clear if Alfred’s attempts are effective to get Bruce to be mentally healthier (like that’s going to happen). But, Bruce is already thinking far more sensibly than the Balloonman; Bruce isn’t keen on killing. A storyline that’s actually going somewhere, as far as development of a character goes! (something other than Gordon trying to hold onto the righteousness).

I really enjoyed the pilot episode of “The Flash” this week. There is a real sense of awe and fun, balancing the pathos. Definitely way better special effects/filming quality than the old “The Flash” series (technology has way improved since 1990!). Barry Allen believes his father was wronged for being found guilty of the death of his mother (which appeared to be due to a supernatural/unknown anomaly, but no one believed Barry on that); he struggles to find a right way to justice, since as a CSI guy, he has the smarts but not seen as the cop guy. And then comes the famous origins scene. And, it turns out that this is a DC tv universe where we have (Green) Arrow, as the non-superpower superhero guy, and a superpowered The Flash as the current pillars in a world in need of some superheroes, as opposed to the traditional trinity foundation of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Curious…

But, I like how “The Flash” hints at the campy (because The Flash is the campy one, compared to everybody else in the DC Universe). There’s even a – spoiler alert! – Linda Park (a character from the Flash family – i.e., the love interest of the 2nd Flash a.k.a. Wally West); Iris West is here, but will Barry get the girl?… and which girl? (maybe this really is a universe where Wally doesn’t get to exist – again – so who knows what will happen to those who were supposed to be in Wally’s life?).

I like that “The Flash” has some fun and familiar actors: Jesse L. Martin, now practically typecasted as a cop after years of “Law & Order”; Tom Cavanagh, as the mysterious Harrison Wells of STAR Labs – who appears to be mentoring The Flash for now, but … that mystery scene at the end.. because when there’s speed like that, there will be problems with the space-time continuum (the Flash has caused a lot of problems/been the solution to problems in the DC Universe). Of course, I still see Tom Cavanagh as Ed, the bowling alley-based lawyer. I just hope his character on “The Flash” isn’t one of those problematic (evil?) mentors (of which there are probably a lot out there).

Barry Allen has a nice brief scene with Green Arrow, who has a Batman-mode moment (I’m not much of a “Arrow” watcher, so really: I know he has always been the stand-in for Batman in comics and cartoons (other than his blatant liberal politics and his “my sidekick is a junkie!” factors), but since when did Green Arrow use the grapple hook as the BatFamily have used it?). Barry and his dad’s moment – worth watching! (especially because it’s actor John Wesley Shipp, the ex-Flash!). I don’t assume that a strong pilot episode means that a series will do well, but I’m really interested now.

I also caught a chunk of the season premiere of “Arrow.” Oliver Queen thinks life is going to be better, or he’s hoping it will. Then comes this interesting Ray Palmer guy (who may or may not be The Atom, but is currently played by Brandon Routh, who played an ok Superman/Clark Kent in the not-great “Superman Returns” movie). I don’t know. Ray Palmer/The Atom was great in the “Justice League” cartoon, played by the awesome John C. McGinley. (clip!). And, then came the distressing closing scene of the season premiere. Crap. I wouldn’t recommend that Oliver and Bruce ever get together to debate who has the crappier, tragic filled life, but their love lives are such jokes considering what happens to the women in their universes, forget their parents, siblings (semi-siblings), wards, and friends.

I’m not sure what it says about the “Justice League” cartoon and its DC Animated Universe (DCAU) awesomeness that I keep comparing everything on DC regular tv to that cartoon series (like this one scene, where Green Arrow and Red Arrow – a.k.a. Speedy, a.k.a. Arsenal – bantered while unsuccessfully fighting superbad guy without the rest of the Justice League’s help). But, DC does tv well, somehow, even though (as far as the live action, broadcast network stuff goes) it really shouldn’t work that well (I’ll see how it goes with “Gotham”; it needs way more).

Back to more tv viewing…