Author: ssw15

Terrific weather!

Prof. Jed Rubenfield, constitutional law expert, is going to have a novel out. Hmm. I still haven’t read Prof. Stephen Carter’s The Emperor of Ocean Park (which I heard was pretty good), but the idea of law profs going fiction – well, I can’t help being just a little intruiged. Of course, this assumes that the book is any good. I mean, your legal writing may be top notch, but… Well, we’ll see.

NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley writes on how tv’s coverage on terrorism has become normalized. That may be true, in light of the recent news (and considering how in depth all the newspapers have been too, I might add), but I’m almost glad I don’t have cable, lest I’d be even more inundated on the news stuff.

Oh, and I just love that Entertainment Weekly cover of the fall movie previews issue this week.  The movies don’t excite me very much yet, but the cover – the new James Bond, Daniel Craig – hot!  Plus some gag “covers” of the past James Bonds (although, I believe at least two of the past Bonds were within the lifetime of EW – Brosnan anyway, not sure about Dalton).  Cool!

Ah, Tuesday and Wednesday – such perfect weather.  Sunshine; not hot; breeze.  Ah…

Finished reading In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote.  Gripping read.  Fantastic writing.   I recommend it.  All kinds of legal and moral questions for the reader to ponder about.  Hmm.  Dare I now watch the movie, “Capote” to get the story behind the book?

Comics read:

Funky Winkerbean – has got to be the most depressing comic strip of the soapy-dramedy comic strips out there.  Lisa, the lawyer, has an aggressive recurrence of her breast cancer, and this time, the cartoonist has one really wondering if she’ll make it; so, Lisa and her husband, Les, are heading on vacation (their last?) together, letting their toddler stay with their best friends, and it’s really, really sad.  Mortality is just drawn on their faces.  The cartoonist just loves making his characters suffer (or live life as it is, but I read comics to not feel bad, so come on!).

Judge Parker – Randy Parker, the judge’s son, is indeed running for his father’s judgeship.  But, this is going to piss off the client, who wants to be the one helping Randy’s campaign and Randy’s going to somehow tell him, “no, I don’t want you to help…” because Randy wants to be his own man in this effort (and has his own friends to help).  Hmm.  This is going to be interesting, since Horace (the client – odd name) is an odd old fuddy duddy (who tried to push Randy to get married to be a better candidate – like, what era do you live in, sir?).  The plot twists have a way of being a bit interesting in this comic strip, and the new cartoonist (who joined forces with the writer of the comic strip) has solid talent (no longer does Randy, Sam, and the rest of the cast look stiff – they look very animated and arty-looking).

Mary Worth – umm, she’s being stalked.  This guy wants to date her, and won’t take no for an answer.  Scary stuff.

Annie – Annie, Daddy Warbucks, and the gang are on a mysterious island, where the animals have mutated into huge animals and ate three out of the four stranded scientists.  Umm, that seriously sucks.  The cartoonist’s talented; the script’s a bit lame, though; maybe the Judge Parker writer can help.  Oh, well.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick is in Hawaii for the ABA convention – and covers Justice Kennedy’s speech.  Cool stuff.

According to Time magazine’s tv critic, Jamie Poniewozik, people prefer fake people over real people in their ads (and in their lives, in all likelihood) – so, they don’t like Daimler Chrysler’s Dr. Z because… they don’t think he’s a great mascot and has a … fake German accent and, well, he’s … real?  Well, I like Dr. Z, I miss Lee Iacocca too.  But, I’m not the sucker buying these cars, so who am I to say?

Ohmigod – She-Ra on DVD?  What else of my childhood will pop up next?

When NYC landmarks are voluntarily cutting back on lights because of the latest heatwave, well, it’s a pretty big sign that this is pretty bad. Hmm. I’m really feeling like I ought to heed Al Gore and other environmentalists…

Probably related to my having read C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” (see my previous blog entry), I just finished reading Elaine Pagels’ “The Origins of Satan.” Very readable, fascinating book on the social history of the idea of Satan, a.k.a. the Prince of Darkness, a.k.a. Lucifer, a.k.a. the fallen angel, a.k.a. the one who opposes or makes obstacles. Judeo-Christian history keeps repeating, but with variations, in how how one group demonizes the other group, whether it’s trashtalking the subgroup (such as when early Christians broke away from Judaism, or when later early Christians opposed easrly so-called heretics and established as canon the accepted Gospels as we know them today; language of debate and opposition that became the vocabulary for further division during the Reformation and so forth), or making scapegoats or total enemies of the outsiders (Christians vs. Jews; Christians vs. the polytheistic pagans; etc.).  It makes wonder if society will finally learn its lessons, or again, repeat habits in variations.
There’s this informercial out there that I get a real kick out of watching – no, not the Greg Brady “Get the 70’s Music Collection!” (which is also quite campy, I must say, just for having Greg Brady); it the informercial for the 80’s Gold music collection, with Rick Springfield (once also of “General Hospital,” I believe!) of the hit “Jessie’s Girl” in place of Greg Brady.  Rick doesn’t have Greg Brady’s campy pizzazz (Rick seems way too serious in saying “And I know music…”), but the music – good stuff.  Made me almost want to pick up the phone and call… (no, not going that way; but they actually have a webpage – good grief!).
Have I ever said that I love the air conditioned subways? Really, I do. Forgive me for all my criticism, MTA, I’m at least grateful for the AC. (just not grateful for the oven conditions of the subway platforms).

Today wasn’t too bad – hitting 90-odd degrees F, although the so-called real feel temperature was some 5 to 7 degrees more. Otherwise, I took my sort-of vacation, without leaving town…
–> Saw “Superman Returns” yesterday. Okay movie. Well done, in that art-y sense, evoking memories of the Christopher Reeve series. Major spoilers from here on, although note that I won’t discuss actual plot so much as it relates to my opinion; if you don’t want to know, just scroll on down…

So, anyway, Kevin Spacey clearly enjoyed himself as Lex Luthor. Very eee-vil. Parker Posey as his moll Kitty – aww, she has a sort-of conscience after all, in the tradition of past Luthor-twisted sidekicks.

Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane – she had the requisite moxie of Lois. More “issues,” since she had to deal with (what else?) the return of Superman. The return of Clark Kent – well, apparently that’s not an issue for her (poor Clark!).

James Marsden as Richard White, Perry White’s nephew and Lois’ erstwhile fiance – showed some moxie too. Impressive, considering that Superman’s been the Guy of Lois’ life. Considering that he got shafted as Cyclops in the third X-Men movie, he should feel a little vindicated. (yeah, Cyclops, the love of your life kind of treated you as badly as Lois treated Clark, so don’t feel so bad!).

Brandon Routh as Superman/Clark Kent – well, he did okay. Felt like he had to pay homage to Christopher Reeve, which I don’t have a problem, but Routh gave no sense of making the character his own or displaying actual acting talent (well, sort of, but not nearly as much as I’d like).

For me, it felt like this: Clark was put off on the wayside in favor of Superman/Kal-El – except to Ma Kent, for whom Clark/Kal-El/whoever is and always will be her son – it’s like there is no Clark – Clark is just the secret identity for Superman/Kal-El, long-lost son of Krypton, not vice versa. Superman II or III (or was it IV? It’s been sooo long since I last saw them) had pretty much addressed or resolved the Clark v. Superman/Kal-El issue; even “Smallville” of WB (soon-to-be CW) makes it clear that you can’t have Superman without the aw-shucks, all-middle American values of Clark Kent (who is as much the product of Pa Kent than Marlon-Brando as Jor El, who ironically is voiced in “Smallville” by the actor who played a bad guy in the Reeve Superman movies).

Maybe it’s just me, but I thought by now we’d realize that Clark becomes Superman; Superman can’t exist without Clark. Even the old Teri Hatcher/Dean Cain “Lois and Clark” series made it clear: Clark is the one with the dreams of journalism and fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way (or as this new movie put it “Truth, Justice and the other stuff” – check out a recent NY Times Op-Ed about that issue – we’re kind of losing sight of Superman’s motto, I’m afraid). Only Lois is clueless not to see that Clark’s a good guy (geez, there’s got to be a reason that Jimmy Olsen cared about Clark, after all).

Ultimately, there’s more to Clark/Superman/Kal-El than the Kryptonite (which the movie made every opportunity to point out, in a pretty heavy-handed way).  At some points, the CGI made Superman look a little wax-statue-y, but, special effects are what they are.
Oh, well – I do take my superhero stuff a little too seriously (then again, I’m more of a Batman kind of girl – there’s so much angst coming out of a superhero who’s too aware of his personal flaws; Batman doesn’t need Kryptonite to make him collapse considering the extent of his problems). I believe a planned Justice League cartoon movie will finally address the rather twisted relationship between Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman (they’re friends, really, if only Bruce can get over his problems with trust and psychotic tendencies; and – according to the cartoon series anyway – if Lois can finally realize Clark is the man, not Bruce, but Bruce is too easy a catch, as the millionare playboy (with hidden serious problems); well, there is that Wonder Woman thing, but this is again why the two guys will be rivals and friends for quite awhile).
–> Oh, and for today – heat index be damned; I took in the ambiance of NYC, feeling like a tourist. Okay, not really, but it was nice to enjoy time on my own. Window shopped at Saks Fifth Ave and FAO Schwartz; kudos for the air conditioning!!

Enjoy the rest of the work week; picnic coming on the weekend. Mmm-mmm!

I can take the heat; but not the humidity. The insane rainstorm isn’t any better. At least the high temperature wasn’t there today, but next week will be a scorcher…

More summer reading: C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – wherein Screwtape, a certain high level official of the Underworld, writes letters to his nephew, Wormwood, a rookie member of the Underworld’s bureaucracy. Uncle Screwtape, you see, is giving Wormwood advice on how to keep a “patient” from going to Heaven. Really interesting writing. You could either take it as literature (as satire, there’s lots of great wit, and one wonders: boy, is Uncle Screwtape screwed up or what? And is Wormwood really making stupid rookie mistakes, or is he just not cut out to be a devil?), or as theology/religious thinking: what does it really mean to be a Christian?

Some mild entertainment: the current run of Chrysler (more accurately, Chrysler Daimler) commercials, wherein you ask Dr. Z (a.k.a. Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board) how Chrysler’s merger with the German company Daimler has been great. He even takes you in for a test drive in a Chrysler car, all but ramming you into the test wall. “Any more questions?” says Dr. Z; “Are you an actual doctor?” Well, in the commercial, Dr. Z doesn’t answer the question, getting out of the car with an amiable “Auf Weidersehn!” Since I kept wondering if Dr. Z was real and I thought his bushy mustache made him look like a nice, friendly kind of new company mascot (kind of like how Lee Iacocca was Chrysler’s longtime corporate leader and mascot for the commercials’ schtick), I checked the web (always quite the handy resource) on Dr. Z. Sure enough, he is a doctor, with a doctorate in engineering (auto engineering, I guess). I have to say, though, as AskDrZ.com noted, “awesome mustache”!

So, earlier this week, we had the heat wave that a NYC summer is never complete w/o; one day of near perfect summer day (ok heat, not too humid – excellent!); and then end the week with a few days of on-off rain; torrential rain and thunderstorms (severe pouring, as if you turned your faucet to the end) with sucky humidity. Argh.

And, in other news, Con Edison gets public ridicule because Queens hasn’t been getting the electricity sorely needed, due to outages (well, now it’s “blackout”), and even after the heat wave has been over (and meanwhile, the not-in-my-backyard people aren’t thrilled over letting Con Ed build transformers or power plants and such). The power problems got so bad that the MTA actually slowed the trains down to preserve power (so, MTA can’t handle heat, power outages, and floods. This week can’t possibly be a very good week for the guys who run the subways). And, City Hall approved of changing the way we get rid of garbage, but how is still debatable (as in, where would you like to put a recycling station that serves the five boros? “Not in my backyard…” some people cry. NIMBY is sooo popular.)

Bottomline: NYC needs to change its sanitation practices (like, let’s recycle more, you know?) and improve the electricity generation (umm, alternative forms of power; uh, say fix the 100-year old infrastructure – stuff like that). Oh, and my favorite rant target: the MTA (could you be a bit more efficient?). We may be a big city that never sleeps and have cool buildngs constructed and renovated every day, but we can’t hide the fact that we’re a 300+ year old city and we’re not cutting edge in some areas.

NJ is telling lawyers they can’t advertise themselves as “Super” or the “Best Lawyer” (even if the leading lawyer publication assess that these lawyers really are the “best” and/or are “super”).  Super Lawyer.  🙂  Sorry.  Sounds like a funny kind of comic book hero.  Although, so far as I know, the only superhero lawyer I know of is Marvel’s “Daredevil,” who’s a lawyer and a person with a disability.
For restaurant week this week, the gang and I went to City Hall – the Restaurant. I had the prix fixe special: roasted veggie salad (mmm, vinagrette); the poached salmon with couscous entry; and the red velvet cake dessert. Mmm. Yummy. Loved dessert. And, the bread – I could arguably live on bread and butter and water, if the bread is good bread. And, the ambiance – gorgeous. High ceilings, earthy woodiness, and pictures of the by-gone era (but we’re in a smoke-free environment, so old Boss Tweed and Tammany hall folks of the 19th century City Hall wouldn’t feel that comfortable, I’m sure). Oh, and the restrooms – honestly, fantastic. Clean and beautiful. Thumbs up on that alone.

Oh, and with the weather today, hard to see if the NY Mets will play – but they’re doing so great. Sports Illustrated did a cover article on them two weeks ago that I just loved, regarding the clubhouse’s chemistry and confidence. Like a nicer version of a frat, but more baseballier. Let’s just hope that the so-called Sports Illustrated cover curse won’t apply here (there was this odd trend where people on the cover find lack of victory thereafter; so very much don’t want that for the Mets). Go Mets!

Boy, is it hot, and it isn’t even the worst of it yet.  Heat wave in NYC…

Last Saturday, saw “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”  If you’re a Johnny Depp fan, you’ll be delighted.  Personally, I thought that Stellan Saarsgaard, Bill Nighy and Jonathan Price, as talented actors (of non-action/special effects movies), would’ve deserved some more scenes (or, in Nighy’s case, scenes where the CGI tentacles wouldn’t have to mar his face).   The movie had action, more action, and lots of action.  Can be annoying.  And quite long.  (2:30).  And, it’ll be a year before we get the resolution (the sequel will presumably answer all questions).  Ah, well.

Summer reading:

The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon.   A novella wherein the retired Sherlock Holmes is confronted by the second World War and the Holocaust.  The mysterious numbers, a sad boy, and the England that will never be the same again.  I liked the writing and the richness.

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni.  An early Italian historical novel.  The betrothed 16th century Italian couple.  An Italy in conflict.  Plague.  Famine.  War.  Many meandering pages (if you read early English novels – Moll Flanders, or others of the 18th Century), you’ll have felt like you’ve seen it before, but this is a book that apparently influenced Italian literature since.   It’s okay reading.

Back to feeling broiled…

Saw the documentary on Al Gore’s Power Point Presentation on Global Warming: “An Inconvenient Truth.” Quite a movie. After all the weird rains we’ve been having the last two weeks, what with the floods on the East coast – one wonders… and then there’s Al Gore and his global warming message.

The movie is more than about Gore, as the NY Times film critic A.O. Scott noted in the linked review (although the Gore in this film really, for me, was the man I recognized as the man I respected prior to the debacle of Election Day 2000). Indeed, the film struck quite a cord for me, watching Gore point out the before and after pictures of various glaciers and North and South Poles – the ice is melting, and we’re facing a damned future – if we don’t do something about this. This is obviously what Gore cares about, and what he feels we should too, as he put it a “moral imperative,” not just a political one. This is something. The movie does get a little didactic, but there were some humorous moments (including a Matt Groening clip from “Futurama” (? – I think; it was obviously not the “Simpsons”) and the message – again, quite a message. I highly recommend seeing the movie.
Speaking of national figures, apparently former US Senator from South Dakota, Tom Daschle (D) is mulling his (presidential-contending?) future. Hmm.

Kobayashi wins the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest, once again. Look, I like hot dogs like anyone else, but it’s a bit much to eat all that much of the stuff. Really.

I’d be very curious to see if the Emmy rules changes actually does change who gets nominated.

Because Italy won the World Cup game against Germany, my (more-or-less still Italian-American) neighborhood has had an interesting afternoon-early evening of Italian-American neighbors blasting their car horns. Umm, okay, folks. Good for you.

An analysis of Justice Kennedy by Dahlia Lithwick.
Bill Moyer’s “Faith and Reason” on PBS has been interesting, as he interviews authors and philosophers on faith and reason.  Are they incompatible?  Or maybe not?  I wonder if he will interview scientists on their view of faith and reason.

Meanwhile, Slate has an analysis of Senator Barack Obama’s views on faith and reason.  Interesting stuff.