Author: ssw15

“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.