Author: ssw15

The tv people have to make up for last season’s strike reduced season. So, I’ve had some viewings and there was the big premiere (or as Time’s tv critic James Poniewozik puts it: “the best tv show of the fall”): the first of the Presidential debates!!!

I’ll leave it to the professional pundits and talking heads and critics to say what they will and we’ll all see the polls’ results. But, my impressions… well, Jim Lehrer was trying to stay on top of things pretty well, starting off with gusto. Confession: I stuck with PBS for the coverage, more or less. It’s Lehrer’s home; so, why not?

Not a bloodbath by any stretch of the imagination on either side. Neither really impressed me on the economics portion of the debate – Lehrer couldn’t pin them down on specifics (when this economics mess is still evolving, I don’t really expect the candidates to be too specific; but it was as if Lehrer wanted them present a solution Right Now).

I thought McCain did very well with the foreign policy portion, as expected; well, McCain was being McCain. Obama kept it steady; a bit too wordy, but he was okay. How he persuades the Average Voter viewing the debate, I don’t know; I’m not exactly the target audience (I know who I’m voting for; I’m just watching ’cause this is gripping stuff and it’s living history).

Other debate impressions: no silly sound bites; focusing on the issues. Pretty good, actually – they both came off mature – a matter of agree to disagree (and agree where you do agree). I think they came off even. That may bore the easily bored, but hey, this is how our democracy works. You have to take it seriously.

I missed the David Letterman tirade about McCain’s bailing on his show on Sept. 24:

But, I did see the Sept. 25 episode – and he was still on his tirade! Best quote: “Here’s how it works: you don’t come to see me? You don’t come to see me? Well, we might not see you on Inauguration Day,” Letterman said. Hehehe…

And, thanks to YouTube, I found this fantastic, funny, and on point monologue by Craig Ferguson: “If you don’t vote, you’re a moron!”

I watched most of the series premiere of FOX’s “Fringe” – brought to by J.J. Abrams and Friends, it feels an awful lot like “Alias” meets “X-Files” with a touch of “Lost” (well, when you have a Big Evil(?) Corporation, it’s hard to avoid the “Lost” correlation; and when you’ve the FBI, well, really, what did people think “X-Files” involved? Anyway, don’t be surprised by the “Alias” and “Lost” feelings – this is a J.J. Abrams project after all).

You’d think I’d learn and stop watching the shows that end up sucking me in. But, no, I think I’m a little intrigued. The cast is a bit more amusing than I expected. FBI Agent Olivia Dunham has the toughness and vulnerability of a Sydney Bristow (like our “Alias” heroine, Olivia loses her boyfriend in the first episode, and deals with the implications of that loss); Dr. Walter Bishop, the scientist, is a weirdo who’s funny and deeply troubled (“Let’s make LSD!” he said in the series premiere, when Olivia agreed to undergo the experimental LSD-involved technique to get info out of her comatose boyfriend; it was priceless in the delivery of the line); and his son, Peter, is smart and… well, as Walter says, there’s his medical history to wonder about. A decent summary up on Television Without Pity. The second episode felt even more X-Files-ish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

And, really – Pacey from Dawson’s Creek as Peter Bishop! Joshua Jackson came off all right as a decent guy who doesn’t want to be a hero or a son or anything, but is still something of a decent guy (in the good sense, that is). Better to be Pacey than That Kid from Mighty Ducks, right? Anyway, there’s potential, even if the show’s awfully derivative. The casting’s impressive, to say the least, as EW’s Gillian Flynn noted.

The Emmy Awards on Sept. 21 — well, the show wasn’t nearly as great as I’d like; in fact, I wasn’t excited at all. Neil Patrick Harris got passed over for Jeremy Piven for Supporting Actor? Nuts! Josh Groban did a medley of tv show theme songs that was actually quite impressive, even though it was so irrelevant and ate up time that I would have preferred for winners’ speeches. Still – Groban was versatile and fun!

This past Monday was the return of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Heroes.” I’m scared to get excited again over “Heroes” – there seems to be possibilities of improvement. I have to catch up and watch the premiere episodes, but from what I watched, this season’s latest “Save the World!” hasn’t grabbed me yet.

HIMYM was a fun episode – Ted has to deal with fiancee Stella’s not being a fan of Star Wars (gasp! No! How can you not like Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca?). Marshall’s grappling with being an unemployed lawyer (honestly, if Marshall, a Columbia Law grad, is unemployed this summer, the economy really is going to tank! but, they didn’t make that joke, so…). Lily figures out that Barney is in love with Robin. Barney wants to be in denial, or at least he recognizes that he’s in love with a Robin who won’t be in love with him (oh, geez, a poignant unrequited love! aww! Neil Patrick Harris had to balance Bad Barney / Lovelorn Barney – and did it well). Robin is getting sick of being Tabloid Anchor on the HIMYM universe’s version of a lame NY1 channel; she accepts Barney’s honest encouragement to apply for a big shot job. Setting up for interesting plotlines for this season!

MSNBC catches up on the shows we missed.

The season premiere of “House” was pretty strong. The House-Wilson relationship’s on the rocks. Last season, I kind of thought that House was going to use Foreman, Cameron, and – even more likely, Chase – as his substitute Wilson (particularly Chase or Cameron as the conscience or moral agents; there has been less on Foreman’s Housian behavior). The second episode introduced the new character – House’s private investigator, who’s not exactly doing that great a job helping House patch things up with Wilson.

I want more ensemble work from the House cast. Really, I do. Plus, more Robert Sean Leonard!

As a final thing to note from what I’ve found on YouTube, that excellent time waster: an odd video, even if I did kind of like Emma Bunton’s cover of the song “Downtown” — Bunton (ex-Spice Girl) had something of an odd narrative going on in her video.

So, Tropical Storm Hannah went up the eastern sea board. We had humidity. And, rain. Lots of rain.

More people watched the RNC than the DNC on tv? Ok, fine, you had the curiosity factor going, since people were still going, “Sarah Who?” about the Palin as VP choice and maybe people were still in Olympics withdrawal with the DNC on tv (but only on PBS and C-Span with much more coverage – I’m not going to wonder how much the FOX/CNN/MSNBC folks really put in it). But, it’s not really cheering me up that more watched the RNC.

So, a few weeks ago, I linked to an article about how science ought to consider issues of ethics. Yeah, well, the point is that the big ass super collider is going to be turned on and maybe the microscopic black holes could suck us alive. Or maybe help us find those missing socks that the black holes keep sucking anyway.

Well, anyway, black holes would probably kill us, not just suck us in.

Yeah, I’m really excited to find my missing socks. Not so excited about the end of the world due to black holes or uncontrolled singularities; pretty unsure if I really want o know how the world began (not if it means causing the world to end – as seen in an episode of “Eureka” – where the experiment to recreate the start of the universe rendered the smart people stupid and almost destroys the universe. oops.)

On Sept. 14, 2008, it’s going to be the Brooklyn Book Festival! I’m going to miss it this year due to my vacation in Chicago, maybe someone else can go and let me know how it goes?

Politics… I ought to stay away from politics. But… I can’t.

In this linked article, “Whatever Happened to Family Values?”, Slate’s Jacob Weisberg raises the excellent point that this isn’t Dan Quayle’s GOP anymore; the party that criticized tv’s Murphy Brown for choosing to be a single mom would now praise her for being… pro-life (ironically, Murphy Brown made a choice – presumably, she had one). Down with absolutism, I say; Weisberg’s right that absolutism ended up tossing all those other so-called values – which supposedly were pretty important too.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick has tips to Joe Biden on how to debate Sarah Palin – treat her like a man, Lithwick says; I think I’m going to have to agree with that; if you go in scared, you don’t look good for it.

Newsweek’s Andrew Romano on how Joe Biden may have already gotten on the right track with regards to Palin; Biden works with women in the Senate; it’s not like he can’t figure this out; umm, hopefully?

I don’t consider myself a liberal, but in this column of NY Times’ Bob Herbert, he highlights why liberals should be proud – they made great contributions to American history; they made history. (considering that the whole point of being progressive or liberal is to take action, should we be surprised? Conservatives are about status quo – not necessarily about action, at least not usually).

Interesting article on theRoot.com about “From Piyush to Bobby,” as a look at Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and what Indian-Americans (Asian Americans overall) are struggling with their identity and getting their place on the table of American politics. Just in time for the Republican National Convention and Hurricane Gustav! (ok, sure, no coincidence).

So, yeah, I watched the RNC. It was more unappetizing to watch than I realized. I so disagreed with a lot that was said; perhaps I am reaching my own political evolution in my thinking. At the least, I had to hear out the thinking of the opposition, even if I disagreed with it.

Slate has an FAQ on Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), since we ought to know just a bit more about her. Factually, that is. I can’t really swallow silly gossip.

Her speech had good delivery; low expectations – and so a nice surprise for the Republicans, I suppose. Then again, I disagreed with a lot that was said.

John McCain’s speech — well, I suppose it was riveting in terms of biographical aspects; he’s not an orator; but good enough for him. Then again, I disagreed with a lot that was said.

Slate’s Timothy Noah on the scuttlebutt on Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), the VP nominee – hilarious! The big laugh for me: Noah says (I retained his italics; removed his hyperlinks),

The woman who made this complaint about big government taking your money is the governor of Alaska. Please take a moment to look at this U.S. Census chart showing federal-government expenditures, per capita, in the 50 states. You will observe that Alaska receives about $14,000 per citizen from the federal government. That’s more than any other state except Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, and North Dakota. The chart is from the Census Bureau’s Consolidated Federal Funds Report for Fiscal Year 2005. I skipped over the 2006 report, the most recent one available, because Hurricane Katrina put Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Alaska that year. But that’s an anomaly. Alaska held the per-capita record for sucking on the federal teat in 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000. According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, Alaska gets back $1.84 for every dollar it pays into the U.S. Treasury—even though Alaska enjoys a higher per-capita income than 34 of the 50 states. This is a state that preaches right-wing libertarianism while it practices middle-class socialism.

NY Times’ Bob Herbert raises an important point: that the Democrats be very careful and don’t get distracted. His last line in the column was great: “[FDR’s] words echo across the decades because they resonate with the very meaning of America, a meaning that is so much deeper than what our politics have become. ‘We are fighting,’ he told his audience, ‘to save a great and precious form of government, for ourselves and for the world.’”

NY Times’ Seth Kugel on ideas of a weekend at and near Bryant Park.

The passing of Don LaFontaine, the movie trailer voice-over guy.

The passing of Bill Melendez, animator – especially known for the Snoopy and Peanuts cartoons – see LA Times obit. I didn’t know he was also the voice of Snoopy! God bless Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez for making these characters come to life for us.

McCain’s pick for Vice president left me a bit puzzled; I mean, all very nice that you picked a woman (and a governor), but the political positions involved leave me uncomfortable and Governor Palin’s experience level left me a little underwhelmed. John Dickerson of Slate summed up with a “Huh?” in his headline; yes, she was one of those considered, but still… well, it’s 2008 – we have an African-American presidential candidate; had a woman candidate; even had a Latino candidate (in Bill Richardson, even if he was more second or third tier); why not a woman VP candidate?

Democratic Convention thoughts:

Even though I have cable, I stuck with the PBS coverage. It was comprehensive stuff.

Salute to Teddy Kennedy.

Michelle Obama was pretty awesome.

Hillary Clinton was very good and gracious in her speech; the best of Hillary, I’d say (and I’m not exactly a fan of Hillary’s speeches; her sing-song speaking voice has been rather grating for me; but this time, she kept it smooth; I liked it). Mark Halperin on Time.com gave great grade.

John Kerry was actually pretty good speaking on the third night – quite strong. Halperin graded a good grade for Kerry on Time.com.

Bill Clinton did pretty well; hit all the points. Yeah, that’s right – he was a President of the United States – and he sure knows his politics. Halperin gave high marks on Time.com.

Beau Biden, Joe’s son and Attorney General of Delaware (and soon-to-be shipped to Iraq, as a JAG officer) was poignant in giving the intro to his dad; the camera’s capturing Michelle Obama’s getting teary eyed over listening to the tough tragedy of the Biden family was sweet.

Joe Biden – well, he was being Joe. His mother’s reaction to his reference of how she made him get back at his bullies when he was a kid (she mouthed to the person sitting next to her, “That’s true!”) : that was priceless!

Al Gore – “it’s time for a change…” – reminiscent of his vice presidential nomination acceptance speech of 1992, which I so very much remembered for getting my attention. He was right then; he is right now. If only 2000 had been different…! At any rate, I liked his speech; he really got to the heart of the urgency from the environmental front of issues (he scared me, as the news about the Arctic is rightfully scary) and he gave a wonderful analogy of Abraham Lincoln, who was seen as insufficiently experienced – yet inspired and re-shaped America. (well, Lincoln was Republican, but I’d think he’d be amazed and impressed by today’s Democrats and Obama). Anyway, I pretty much agreed with Mark Halperin’s grade on Time.com for Al Gore.

And, of course, the history making moment of Barack Obama as the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party on the 45th Anniversary of the March to Washington — well, it was something. The video preceding Obama was interesting – yeah, it summarized his bio and his career; but, in a way, I thought it was almost a sequel of “Dreams of My Father” – in terms of his bio, it focused more on his mom and his maternal grandparents and had photos of his mom, his sister, and him.

The speech itself – well, the experts grasped it far better than I did. As someone who’s read both his books and heard a bunch of his speeches (at least on-line or on tv, or reading about interviews), much of the speech felt like a smoother re-hash of Obama’s best lines. He really demonstrated his specifics and his wonkish side; in fact, it almost got boring for me – almost Bill Clintonesque, really in the lengthiness of specifics (and, really, Bill Clinton’s past speeches have bored me). I’d give it a very solid B for Obama; he pulled his punches on McCain where he had to, and he tried to sell himself in one of the big moments of this marathon job interview for the top job of this country. I like his lofty rhetoric speeches, but this was where he probably had to get it down solid. He should have smiled more, I think. I like his smiles, but again, this is a marathon. He’ll have more opportunities. Joe Klein posted on an article Time.com and is quite right that by next week, we might not remember this speech; one of the historians on the Lehrer/PBS presentation made the excellent point that if Obama wins, his inaugural speech could outshadow this convention speech. This is just one more step in the process.

Still, I felt a bit of a tug of the heart strings when Obama referred to the March of 45 years ago; that’s really something.

So, we’ll see! Only in America can we have such amazing times in the 40 years since the Civil Rights era; dare we hope and believe?

A funny interview in Newsweek with actor Don Cheadle. I was particularly amused by his response to the question about his former castmates George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt, regarding who’d he date, if he were gay, which he isn’t; he apparently figured Damon and Clooney would treat dates to nice dinners and said Brad Pitt would just go for a burger; hmmm! Plus, a reference to his being in the cast of the “Golden Girls” spinoff, “Golden Palace”!

On the environmental and alternative energy front: the idea of green roofs and the real difficulties of harnessing wind power.

Off to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend!

As four years previously: we jump from the Olympics to the conventions. I still had some Olympics withdrawal. Oh well.

Wrap up of the Olympics:

The NY Times’ slide show on the reaction of Chinese-Americans in Flushing to the Olympics.

So the US’ NBA guys won the gold (with Duke University’s Coach K), beating the rather irritating Spanish team. And, the US Men’s Volleyball team made their inspiring victory for their coach, who experienced his family’s tragedy at the very beginning of the Olympics.

Interesting Slate article on Why Decathelon’s Not As Cool as it was way back in the day of Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang (who was representing Republic of China – okay, Chinese Taipei aka Taiwan) or the day of even Bruce Jenner. (apparently we may blame it on a number of things – the Dan v. Dave ad campaign of the 1990’s didn’t help). At any rate, I rooted for Bryan Clay and present, as a follow up to the story of four years ago, Bryan Clay wins gold in the decathlon. He apparently wants to be on the Wheaties box. Funny thing is that if you click on the link from that post of four years ago, it leads you to the story of his current gold medal.

Larry Langowski may have competed for Mexico in wrestling (he’s half-Mexican, half-Polish), but his story is so American! Olympic dreams really do push people to big heights, whatever the result.

Josh Levin for Slate analyzes the commercials that have been on during the Olympics. Good stuff.

Closing ceremonies had lots of people, weird interpretive dance, Jackie Chan, the Brits, and lots of stuff. A bit of a spectacle. The legacy of Beijing 2008 remains to be seen.

I’m no athlete, but I think this article does raise interesting points on how 1st generation Americans – Chinese specifically, but there’s a study out there that covers Asians overall – aren’t exactly sports inclined. In light of the Olympics, it’s pretty clear that commitment and hard can make athletes amazing.

Topics on Chinese/Chinese-Americans, Asians/Asian-Americans, APA’s broadly:

Jennifer 8. Lee on introducing Chinese to fortune cookies – here in the NY Times’ City Room blog and in the Dining Section.

Second generation Asian-Americans checking out new real estate in the outer boroughs.

Thought this was an interesting article on Time.com – on APA’s and the issue of suicide and the impact and influence of the APA family – a difficult subject indeed; when one’s family is the source of both one’s strength and stress – and trying to find culturally acceptable ways of dealing with one’s problems – it’s just tough stuff. Maybe it’s not just an Asian-American thing; but I’m not surprised by the significance of this study’s findings.

Stuff not about APA’s; fascinating reading:

A great NY Times article on how a science teacher is trying to teach science – particularly evolution – to those who resist it because they feel it’s anti-religion. I don’t think science is anti-religion; the relationship between science and religion seems best summed up by the science teacher in this article: that the two topics ask different questions.

An interesting story about the last stops on the various subway lines.

Politics? —

One thought on Saturday: Biden?! Good and bad feelings arise; excited and worried – Slate’s John Dickerson sums up the good, the bad, and the ugly about Joe Biden. Well, best wishes to the new Obama/Biden ticket.

I’ve much watching of the convention (if only because the historian in me wants to check it out). I suppose I could watch the cable tv coverage, but I’ve still found the PBS coverage most interesting and comprehensive (even the boring parts).

Kind of not quite looking forward to Olympic withdrawal; in the meantime, some stuff:

So, the thing that kind of makes me laugh about beach volleyball as an Olympic sport… well, geez, what’s with the 1990’s music and the DJ’s? (some explanation or analysis can be found on Slate – which was nice, but I still don’t get the 1990’s music thing).

I kind of resent that softball and baseball will be kicked out of the Olympics; why don’t they just get rid of rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming? What’s the deal with speed walking? And, I still don’t care for BMX cycling (putting aside the whole “OhmiGod, that’s dangerous!” element). Oh well. Guess they got to have stuff to attract others who aren’t me.

I don’t care for the mercenary athlete either, by the way. Yeah, so great, you love your sport and you want to play with others and do well. But, there’s something about patriotism – and the real reasons for immigration (you know, like, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not just money and glory).

Ex-“Full House” actor (and current narrator on “How I Met Your Mother – aka FutureTed) Bob Saget got roasted at a Comedy Central roast, as noted by this Associated Press article. AP also interviewed Saget, asking him who he thinks should act as Danny Tanner, his character from “Full House,” in a possible movie version of FH:

Somebody was talking about (a movie). Who knows? It’s a crazy little world we’re living in, isn’t it? … Josh Radnor (CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” narrated in voice-over by Saget). I don’t think he’d do it. He’s too talented, but he would have to play Danny Tanner. I don’t know if anyone should want to fill those shoes. But it’d be hilarious because I’m playing him as an older man. I’m his voice. I’m the discombobulated “Charlie’s Angels” voice. Who else could be Danny Tanner? Let me think. … Jason Biggs (“American Pie”), and maybe Danny gets caught in the kitchen with a pie.

So, let me get this straight – FutureTed wouldn’t mind if Ted plays him? LOL. My only quibble is that Danny Tanner was the tall thin one of the three guys; Josh Radnor’s not nearly tall enough. But, still, too funny to imagine him playing the role. (and funny that the thought even occurred to Bob Saget).

On a more respectably notable note: a fascinating story on author Dorothy West and the commemoration of her house, as a site on the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard. The article put a smile on my face for referring to Oprah Winfrey’s production of “The Wedding,” based on West’s novel – a movie that starred Halle Berry and was quite an engrossing two-part tv movie (they really don’t make those anymore on network tv). Kind of interesting that the power of Oprah can raise a great writer out of obscurity – and get so much more into the interests of the American public.

Entertainment Weekly’s latest issue previewing fall movies – great read and amazing pictures of the stars. But, they had a moment of oops, with Harry Potter on the cover, but the movie’s delayed until next summer. Apparently, corporate synergy (considering that EW shares a corporate parent with the Warner production) didn’t work. As noted by EW on its website: “EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information.” Info coming too late for magazine’s printing; blah blah blah. At least the issue’s now a collector’s item! (assuming I don’t completely destroy it by folding pages while walking with it in the subway).

But, no, really, does Harry Potter’s latest movie have to be pushed over that late? Bad enough that the Star Trek movie’s delayed! (and I much prefer my ST movies in the fall/winter).

A bronze Fonz is in Milwaukee, in honor of “Happy Days” (or Henry Winkler, anyway).

Roger Moore reminiscing about his days as Bond, James Bond (and probably other stuff).

Slate’s Explainer on “how Causasians got their name.” An interesting article on history and sociology and things like that. But, sometimes I wonder who comes up with the Explainer column questions; sometimes I don’t want to know.

Last but not least – thanks to the Olympics helping NBC re-discover itself as a network, I’m actually looking forward to seeing “Life” again (it’ll be on Fridays – what a rating killer night; why must NBC be so cruel to actor Damian Lewis and his crew?) and even “Heroes” (please don’t let season 3 be lousy!). But, gasp, could it be that tv actors – actors generally – don’t want to admit that they watch tv? I mean, come on! Talk about snobbery. Sometimes I take a look at the British actors and their curriculum vitae (i.e., check imdb.com), and see that they’ve done so much from tv, film and theater and make a living out of it; and then in America, we get people who seem to pooh-pooh tv, but somehow adore film and theater? (well, theater not so much; I don’t think Americans revere the stage quite that much).

I find that pretty disingenuous; tv itself is a different form of entertainment – a different way to approach storytelling – should you have a writer, actor, producer, and a network willing to do it. If you respect the form of media, then the form of media can succeed. Ideally, anyway.