Triscribe

Author: ssw15

  • Summery Summer in August

    The last episode of “Top Chef Masters” was great fun. Keller v. Bayless v. Chiarello, with Kelly Choi as host – this was great. (nothing really against Padma Lakshmi, but I have watched way too much Kelly on “Eat Out New York” and got too accustomed to Kelly’s good spirits and enthusiasm). I haven’t watched Top Chef Masters consistently, but I liked watching the masters cook (considering that some of them have their own shows or have been on “Iron Chef America” – well, it’s not like they’re unfamiliar; it’s nice watching the familiar having fun (or getting frustrated in Top Chef style; how do they find time to do these gigs? They’re such busy people!).

    Reading this week’s Frank Bruni column in the NY Times’ Dining section made me wonder — it sounded too much like a farewell type column. I mean, sure, the guy has a book out and all (admittedly, not what you do if you’re going to continue trying to go undercover to critique restaurants, but I never quite believed that he really went to great lengths, since he used to be a political reporter – come on, people can kind of know and you did other stuff and had another life), but he couldn’t possibly be stepping down from the pretty cool position as food critic (putting aside the bad food he must have eaten along the way).

    But, then came reading the Time Out New York interview, confirming that it is his last week. Aww. Ok, so, I’m behind the news (as usual). But, say it ain’t so, Mr. Bruni! Has it been that long since he took over William Grimes’ beat? (I was a little weirded out when Grimes stepped down as food critic, since he actually revealed himself). Time flies!

    So, my denial must end; great little feature on how Bruni’s friends and family put up with his beat (which apparently is fun, but can be exasperating) – plus now hiding his successor, Sam Sifton (Times stayed in-house again; that’s ok, I guess).

    Bruni’s writing has been great reads; past links: here, here, here, here, here (where I acknowledged reading Bruni back on the political news beat and wondered if he could combine politics and food); Bruni on the Momofuku thing and how I tried to get on it.

    Wonder what Bruni will do next; would he become a book critic/critic-at-large like Grimes? Or head back to political coverage? Ok, apparently, he’s off to the Times’ Sunday Magazine, but still… anything can still happen, right? Hmm… I am sorely tempted to get his book; excerpts of it read like solid Bruni.

    Slate’s Explainer explains why we call Galileo “Galileo” and not “Galileo Galilei” (his actual name).

    The passing of Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes.” Time’s James Poniewozik makes some interesting observations on Hewitt’s (mixed) legacy (on the one hand, “60 Minutes” outlasted a bunch of other tv news magazines; on other hand, “60 Minutes” started the concept of high concept tv new magazines – even the crappy ones can trace their lineages back to Hewitt’s work).

  • Summertime

    My little web presence will be discontinued this fall, since Yahoo is ending geocities in October. Consider this your last opportunity to check it out! … certainly feel free in giving me ideas on options; I am in deliberation.

    Watched “(500) Days of Summer” – sweet, sad, funny; I recommend it. Yeah there are odd plot holes and you want to wonder how silly the characters can be – but it’s a human story. I liked it.


    Y.E. Yang beat Tiger Woods    .

    Just me getting on the soap box for a minute: Apparently, there are indeed rational ways to consider how we can reform health care in this country. You know, without screaming at foolhardy legislators (who are a lot braver than I realize; but the mediator in me would want to encourage people to… realize that screaming is counter-productive and not a problem-solving technique; can we hear each other out and read and learn, before we react like fools? This isn’t exactly an easy problem and I just don’t think status quo is supportable, if it’s the thing that will hurt us in the long run).

    NY Times’ Paul Krugman raises the question of how do we deal with an “unreasoning, unappeasable opposition”? — I’d suppose that realizing that they’re there is one step; the next is how to persuade the confused middle (I’m thinking that there has to be a lot of them; how many of us can say we understand health care/ health insurance or have read the bills on the issue?).

    NY Times’ Bob Herbert acknowledges the confusion (great, I’m not the only one noticing it).

    Very interesting item: President Obama has nominated three Asian-Americans to be judges in California’s federal district courts. (hat tip to Angry Asian Man, blog of which I’ve been getting into reading of late). Hmm… by the way, there is at least one vacant seat in 2nd Circuit, with Justice Sotomayor now on the US S.Ct…

    The thing that moved me about the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver is learning about the impact she made in the lives of those with disabilities, particularly with the Special Olympics, and getting us to be more aware – back when women were not necessarily expected to be the political ones, in the sense of running for office, and thus having other ways to be advocates for others. I thought there was something powerful in reading how one person with a disability left a note: “She taught us to stand tall.”

  • It finally feels like summer, or We Hit 90

    We had 90 degrees today. Finally, the first time since April 2009. Weird summer, temperature-wise.

    Summer television:

    I managed to watch “Psych” – wherein Shawn and Gus are in Vancouver and go after a thief, amusingly played by Cary Elwes (who – while no longer in his Princess Bride prime, was game for silliness).

    “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” has been a show I’ve managed to avoid for quite awhile now – Vincent D’Onofrio tired me out (plus I miss the lack of lawyers) and I was wary of seeing Jeff Goldblum on the series (I liked him back when he did “Raines” – and worried if he was just playing a saner version of Raines but transplanted in NYC). The season finale, wherein Goldblum’s Detective Nichols works with Detective Eames (played by Kathryn Erbe; the character’s showing more gumption when she’s not overshadowed by Det. Goren’s drama) try to stop a revoluntary terrorist (that’s the best I can describe it). It got silly, but at least it was watchable and entertaining. Summary here. NBC should’ve actually aired it, but so that goes.

    Not that I understand NBC these days; I’m still unsure of their plan to have Jay Leno take over the primetime 10-11pm slot. Time’s James Poniewozik (who’s on vacation, and thus allowed “Robo-James” take over his blog) posts the question of why viewers and/or critics take umbrage of NBC’s low-brow decision-making. He makes the point that, yeah, NBC has a venerable history of scripted tv; but he questions the logic of being attached to a broadcast network when the attachment’s usually to a tv show itself.

    Personally, my reaction to the broadcast networks stem from the years of not having cable (therefore relying on the networks to give me tv) and how they treat my favorite shows and/or how they promote themselves (branding’s the thing that brainwashes us all).

    I resented CBS for how they canceled “Due South” way back when; and pretty much avoided it because they didn’t have shows I cared for (and seemed to target an older audience). I’ve come to respect it for being traditional and stable (which seems to be how they branded themselves for the longest time now; CBS manages to retain the sitcom in its traditional format – and less traditional format – like “How I Met Your Mother”) and having less idiotic reality shows (considering the power of “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” – okay, not “Big Brother,” which I still avoid like the plague that it is).

    I’ve been attached to ABC for a multitude of reasons – their news, their cartoons (back in the day), and their weird tv shows (they took chances, because for a long time, they were in the basement).

    FOX — well, it’s FOX.

    And, NBC was supposed to be better than silly, but I questioned it – and nominated it for worst tv of 2008 – when they gave us “Knight Rider” (and didn’t even bother to do it right; I mean, come on – you can’t quite mess up campiness). If you don’t have the shows I want to watch, you’re not destination I’m going to watch. (Hence, I watch more PBS these days).

    Wat Misaka was apparently the first non-Caucasian player in modern professional basketball. Cool.

    FC told me about how he and P had a great time in Montreal; he referred me to a pretty cool video of the concert they had seen of Coldplay (not by FC):

    Last but not least, as we all could use a little smile: awww… cute dog!

  • Sunday

    Just in time for the “Julie and Julia” movie: PBS has been airing marathons of Julia Child reruns on tv and on-line.

    ABA Journal’s cover article in the latest issue: “The 25 Greatest Legal TV Shows” — well, I’d quibble with some of their choices.

    Some (most, really) on the list were shows that lasted only one or two seasons – not necessarily because they were bad tv shows but because their ratings weren’t very good (“Eli Stone” is an example (although much too recent a show to be on a Top 25 on anyone’s list, in my opinion, frankly); “Murder One” – completely surprised me, since it is barely remembered by most tv viewers – season 1 was a good season, though).

    “The Defenders” always ends up on these kinds of legal tv lists, but I was surprised that ABA Journal neglected the obvious bit of trivia about the show: that the junior lawyer was played by Robert Reed, best known for his later role as Mike Brady of “The Brady Bunch.”

    Thought it was nice they thought about Rumpole and “Night Court,” and hilarious for the “Harvey Birdman” pick; mildly impressed that they even remembered “JAG” as a legal show.

    Not impressed that they included “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: SVU” (which I’m not even linking) – because as much as lawyers and judges like watching these two shows, both shows are much less about the lawyers than they are about law enforcement. Does L&O: CI even have an ADA on the series anymore?

    I liked that they included a little article by Sam Waterston (ok, actually an excerpt of something he contributed to a book on law and tv), wherein he talks about that legal tv wonder, Jack McCoy, and observes how Jack McCoy as DA is getting his comeuppance (yeah, no doubt! He didn’t think his new gig would be so political, plus he has to deal with his own ADAs’ shenanigans – well, Michael Cutter is slightly crazier than McCoy ever was, I think).

    Last, but not least: she’s now Justice Sotomayor:

  • Stuff

    The Clintons and North Korea; setting Americans journalists free — a curious story indeed. There’s even a touch of Clinton/Gore relationship analysis (umm, it is supposed to be about the journalists Ling and Lee and their return, isn’t it? The homecoming was emotional to watch on tv – and must be strange for journalists to make the news that they’d otherwise cover themselves). The story is still unfolding, with details to be determined, however.

    The planet of Jupiter saved Earth from destruction.

    (first) Gulf War pen pals get married, after finding each other again on… Facebook…

    Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her family will be coming to DC.

    And, a link to other links on how Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner cursed out at the Fed and others for not getting more on board on regulating the finance industry. I kind of agree with Time’s Justin Fox in the link – yeah, cursing is wrong, but I also have to have a little sympathy for Geithner. His job isn’t easy and we’ve all piled on him for awhile now. Plus, he’s from New York, so he probably got the cursing thing down really well. (ok, maybe it’s not a NY thing, but these finance people are kind of begging to get a good yelling from somebody already and I just doubt that their lovely world is oh-so-polite and full of good manners anyway). And, really, cursing’s just not that big a deal when the substance is more what’s at stake. Or did Wall Street Journal forgot about that while making it so very clear that the shouting was “expletive-laced”? Oh well.

  • August!

    This year really is going by too fast for me.

    Kitty fight!

    And, for a bit of a laugh, Kermit and Elmo talk about the concepts of happy and sad. Elmo is kind of schizophrenic, and exasperates Kermit (and you think only Miss Piggy and Grover do that to him? No, really, every other Muppet does that to him).

  • Weekend

    Rain on Friday – this is getting a touch crazy, I think – this odd, wet and cool summer, as noticed by NY Times’ Sam Roberts.

    I’m a little behind on this – but this a hilarious edition of “Pearls Before Swine” – the comic strip about Rat, Pig, Zebra, Goat, and the stoooopid crocodiles (intentionally misspelled in the style of the crocodiles’ dialect). Cartoonist Stephan Pastis makes his appearances in the (mis)adventures of the crew, and here, he walks in on their “Hands Across the Comics Page,” a desperate attempt to save the newspapers and comics pages – wherein Pig replies to Pastis’ contention that “papers aren’t going anywhere”: “Oh, good, ’cause if you’re wrong and the comics page goes away, you’re gonna have to be a lawyer again.”

    This causes Pastis join in the holding hands and singing songs for the cause, ’cause he apparently doesn’t want to practice law again. Ha! The official Pearls Before Swine blog also appears to be funny too. Ah, ex-lawyers who go creative!

    There’s also the running series in the Daily News about the comic/lawyer Alex Barnett, the latest being where Barnett talks about contract lawyer work still giving him stress even as he’s trying to move up in the career as a comic. I thought the juxtaposition of the photos of Barnett as a lawyer in front of 60 Centre v. him as a stand up comic was funny.

    As noted previously, I’m not a big Paul Krugman reader. It’s not that I’m intimidated by his shiny pretty Nobel Prize in Economics; it’s that me and economics don’t quite get along. But, his latest columns are very clear in talking about health care/health insurance reform. A lot of these issues fly over my head, but Krugman makes some good points here on why free market isn’t the answer (link to the Krugman blog; I guess that’s why he’s a Noble Prize winner; he seems to know what he’s talking about anyway).

    Plus, Krugman makes some good points that not enough of us understand health care/health insurance and how much the government is already involved in it. The topic isn’t easy, but are we willing and ready to get ourselves educated on it and make it better?


    DiFara’s pizza is now $5 a slice    ; this better be the best pizza in Brooklyn, or else is it worth it? You could always do what Grimaldi does – sell by the pie, not by the slice. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t been to DiFara’s yet; it’d be cool to eat the pizza there).

    Re: Obama’s hosting Henry Louis Gates and the policeman, Jim Crowley – “Sometimes a beer is just a beer” … Well, I thought this whole commentary on what beer will be drunk at the White House went too far, but Slate’s John Dickerson explained it better. Plus, I do think it’s a male thing, but anything that encourages dialog, I’ll applaud.

    Plus, Gates – since he has a website and he is a writer – put in his own final comment, before he’ll get to work (and let Obama go back to the many other things on the plate).

    Obama’s awarding Justice O’Connor the Medal of Freedom (and others, like Archbishop Tutu, the late Jack Kemp, the late Harvey Milk, and so on).

    The passing of Corazon Aquino – see Time magazine and NY Times observances.

  • TGIF

    Another AAIFF observation: I asked FC what he thought of “Fruit Fly,” which he saw at AAIFF on this past Sunday. He liked it, although he said it’s of the musical genre – people suddenly breaking into song. But – to me – that is the point of the genre! 😉 I hope I’ll see it soon; I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff.

    As we get closer to the inevitable, as feared – the opening of the live-action G.I. Joe movie (“G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” – man, the titles for G.I. Joe has yet to really improve). The trailers for the G.I. Joe movie kind of highlight some odd things for me:

    Christopher Eccleston – a.k.a., the Ninth Doctor – as Destro? What? For a moment there, I thought it was the Doctor trying to take over the world; I do fear that he is going to be typecasted – he might have to go back to doing independent films. Sienna Miller as the Baroness? She doesn’t have the requisite creepiness for me (perhaps because she has more callow youth to her than I would have expected of the Baroness).

    What made the trailers least original for me – see one below – is how it seems vaguely similar to the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie trailers. You have the deep inspiring tones of the elder leader – General Hawk (Dennis Quaid) in a G.I. Joe trailer, versus Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) of Star Trek. You have the young leader-in-waiting (Channing Tatum as Duke in G.I. Joe; Chris Pine as Kirk in Star Trek – even having them both yell, “Go, Go, Go!!” — huh?). Even similar parachute scenes? Granted, the Big Reveal didn’t get shown in either trailer (Cobra Commander or Spock (Prime)), but still – they loom. G.I. Joe taking cues from Star Trek? Who’d a thunk it?…

    I will say that I’m a bit perturbed that they didn’t use the old G.I. Joe theme song (maybe they will in the movie – I’m still not sure I want to see it) and that there was the ironic line reading of “Real American Hero” in the trailer — aww, come on!

    Something that looks seriously cool (well, besides a good Star Trek trailer): the preview of AMC’s “The Prisoner,” coming in November, after being shown at the recent Comic-Con in San Diego. I have to say, kind of saddened with the recent passing of Patrick McGoohan – the original Number Six – but this will be fascinating. Ian McKellan as Number Two? Jim Caviezel as the new Number Six (but American — oh well). Ian McKellan – now that’s a casting coup; you need a good Number Two to go up against an intense Number Six (and Number Two is a character that was divvied up into different actors – probably to drive Number Six crazy – Leo McKern being the most memorable to me of the Number Twos – (1) because he later became Rumpole of the Bailey and (2) he was the last Number Two (I think)).

  • Rain, Rain, Go Away

    Hey Seattle, you want your weather back? – I don’t want the 100 degrees that you’ve been having (sorry but we had that a couple of years ago, and that wasn’t fun), but I’ll take a sunny dry 90 over monsoons (even if it is not hot).

    Helen Hong, comedian and television producer, brings to us speed matchmaking at a comedy show – a way for East Asians (and soon others) to enjoy a laugh and not be so shy. Speed-dating, speed networking, and now this?

    John (H.) Doe is a Korean-American who lives in the Upper West Side. I’m amazed that people get all crazed that he goes by John Doe. (and I wonder to the fates of people named Roe; do they get the whole Roe v. Wade barb?).

    A pad thai recipe in the Times.

    Apparently, there’s a reason why we swing our arms when we walk.

    Fear of 2012 – what it might mean, according to the Mayans (or Fox Mulder of X-Files).

  • An AAIFF Follow Up

    Asian American Int’l Film Festival in NYC:

    Thursday – missed seeing “Paper Heart.” 🙁 It got sold out.

    Friday – 72 Hour Shootout – on YouTube. The Asian American Film Lab announced the Top Ten. (with a cross-posting by Angry Asian Man).

    The winner:

    “Time’s [Not] Up” – I liked it. Poignant.

    Number Two was “Grace and the Staten Island Fairy” – I really liked it. But, I’m a sucker for funny and crisp looking films.

    “Just a Burger” was fourth, but hilarious.

    Later, I might post more on the ones I watched that didn’t make top 10. The screening was at the renovated MoCA – well, during the soft opening anyway. I like that the space is so spacious!

    Saturday – as noted, I watched “Karma Calling” and “You Don’t Know Jack“.

    “Karma Calling” was fun – The Raj family of Hoboken deals with this thing called “life.” The eldest daughter falls for this outsourced call center operator – played by Samrat Chakrabarti (who I enjoyed seeing in last year’s “Kissing Cousins” – what an actor to switch accents!), who tells her that he’s from Connecticut (rather than several thousand miles away in India). The brother falls for a girl who came all the way from India to marry the 99 cent store owner. The baby of the family wants a bat mitzvah. And, the elephant god Ganesh is voiced by the guy from The Sopranos (Tony Sirico; “G” apparently has a NJ accent because he’s in Hoboken). I like romantic comedies, with a touch of fantasy. I also liked the Q&A afterward, where the director Sarba Das talked about how she was inspired to make a movie that touched on Asian America (and her love of 1980’s movies).

    “You Don’t Know Jack” – filmmaker Jeff Adachi (who previously made “The Slanted Screen” about Asian American actors) on Jack Soo, a pioneer – and to think I barely remember the guy as the Asian one in the Barney Miller series. They don’t make actors like Soo (or tv series like Barney Miller for that matter). During the Q&A, Adachi touched on how it was difficult to get the info, but it certainly seemed worth it. Adachi also mentioned his other life – that of being Public Defender in San Francisco. Lawyers and their creative sides – wow.

    Sunday – saw “Pastry” – a young woman’s love of egg custard tarts – the dan taat – and how it revolves around her family life and her love life. I thought the movie started strong – but thought it end was a little different than the amused tone at the beginning seemed to suggest about the movie.

    Wanted to see “Fruit Fly” (its own website)(because I’m a sucker for musical comedies), but didn’t get to see it. I think FC did?

    Winners of AAIFF announced – documentary “Whatever It Takes” (its own website) won Audience Choice; hmm, maybe I’ll catch it another time.

    Pretty enjoyable, even though AAIFF seemed quieter than previously (recession seems to be affecting a lot of non-profits); still I’m glad to have been a part of it.