Author: ssw15

Sadly – with Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw retired or no longer in the network nightly news business, it looks like Peter Jennings also has to take a leave. The Age of the Big Three News Anchors is truly ending. Best wishes to Peter in recovering from the lung cancer.

Prince Rainier of Monaco, widower of Grace Kelly, has passed away.

NY Daily News’ Frank Lombardi reports that Chinatown may be getting its own arch (much like Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Montreal (Montreal is one that I happen to know specifically – there are bunches of arches welcoming you to the – albeit small – multilingual Chinatown that is smack dab in the middle of downtown)). Anyway, Lombardi writes:

Boston’s Chinatown has one. And so do the Chinatown districts of Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.

They all have distinctive arches, or gates, that serve as symbolic welcome mats for Chinatown visitors.

But New York’s Chinatown district – the biggest in the Western hemisphere – has long suffered from arch envy.

That could finally end soon with the help of a $250,000 budget allocation announced yesterday by City Council officials towards building a $1.5 million gateway to Manhattan’s historic Chinatown.

Delighted community leaders hailed the first infusion of public funds to help build what they hope will be “a lucky gate” for Chinatown – whose economy was hard hit by the 9/11 terror attacks – and for the city at large….

“After 150 years of making New York City the great city that it is, it’s about time that Chinese-Americans, who have contributed so much to the Big Apple, get their gate,” added Councilman John Liu (D-Queens), the city’s first Asian elected official.

Efforts to build an arch in Chinatown have been stymied for more than two decades.

The specific site for the arch hasn’t been finalized, but its architect, Tieh-Chi Ho, said the preferred location is across Park Row at Chatham Square.

“Our arch will be the biggest,” according to Ho, who is providing his services pro bono.

It will be 45 feet high, with an 80-foot span, and would take from 18 months to two years to erect after all required funding and city approvals are obtained, he said.

“I’d like to have started yesterday,” he joked.

Personally, the design drawing that the Daily News provided, as designed by the architect, looks weird. Maybe because I just think the arch as designed is too wide (maybe it needs to be taller to look more narrow – and to have space for buses and trucks to go through it); maybe because I think it’s rather weird to smack an arch right there in the Chatham Sq. area. I don’t know; I mean, Montreal’s arches are nice looking stuff (for pedestrians to walk under and use as nifty background for the taking of pictures), without looking gaudy. Can NYC Chinatown’s arch avoid looking gaudy yet be practical? Hmm.

Plus, Brooklyn’s having its own Restaurant Week, from 4/11/05 to 4/20/05 – three course meals for $19.55 (I think it’s in honor of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the pinnacle year of 1955). Here’s the list – check it out! (so goes my plug for the home boro).

George Ross, Donald Trump’s General Counsel and “The Apprentice” sidekick, made an appearance at Brooklyn College, his undergraduate alma mater. (I heard he’s also supposed to make an appearance at the Alma Mater Law School…).

Apparently, there’s a new Chinese tea cuisine restaurant in town, according to Cynthia Kilian in “Temptress with a Teapot”:

As feng shui goes, meeting China’s brightest culinary star in a lavatory doesn’t bode well. Yet that’s where tea alchemist Jin R introduced her self last week at Yumcha, the hotly anticipated haute Chinois restaurant that opens Monday.

For the West Village restaurant, the woman Time magazine recently dubbed China’s first celebrity chef has developed an exquisite variety of tea creations that combine sensual presentation with exotic ingredients….

“A really nice cup of beautiful tea, you will feel touched,” Jin says. “You show the soul, the spirit of the culture there. It is like looking at a painting.”

Jin believes the new China embraces everything different — new architecture, new art, Hollywood. And it’s nothing like our Chinatown.

“Chinatown — I couldn’t believe it!” the 33-year-old super-cook says. “It’s like China 80 years ago. I went there a couple of days ago and thought, ‘I have never seen this place in China.’ ”

A classically trained musician and artist, Jin opened her trend-setting Green T. House in Beijing eight years ago. When her first chef quit, she began concocting her own recipes, using tea in salads and sauces, crafting dishes in which “image is more important than anything.”

Typical of the breathtaking creations that earned her reputation is a dessert that uses dry ice to re-create the smoke and incense of a Buddhist temple. The glittering confection is served on a golden plate, with gold paper, a Buddha statue, gold lotus root, green-tea ice cream and two chocolates….

The tea art at Yumcha — which is Cantonese for “drinking tea” with dim sum — includes preparations such as “purple in date, ginger in black,” a rich amber brew sweet ened by honey dripped from a foot-long cinnamon wand.

Yumcha owner Quentin Danté is such a fan of Jin’s that he literally went halfway around the globe to enlist her help with the restaurant.

“She’s the polar opposite of me,” Danté says. “Jin is exhale, I’m inhale. Her life is tranquility, mine has been nothing but turmoil.”

If Yumcha lives up to its growing buzz, Jin and Danté have plans to bring New York a Green T. House, which would be more than just a fashionable spot to sip seductive brews.

Jin believes it would serve as a cultural embassy for the cutting edge of Chinese style. “China has changed a lot, but Westerners don’t know the new Chinese culture,” she says.

“China now, it’s very open, it’s very creative, it’s very refreshing,” she adds. “It’s about energy and creativity and spiritual attitude, and that’s what I want to share with the New York culture.”

Hmm. Modern China coming to NYC, to make NYC’s Chinatown flashier. Hmm. I think this Jin woman needs to become more familiar with NYC’s Chinatown (it only looks old since it has plenty of old-fashioned buildings; it’s vibrant enough; but I’m not familiar enough with Chinatown, so I ought to talk; but I thought it was silly she mentioned she’d never seen Chinatown in China; of course not – Chinatown’s a Chinese American invention; why would you want to find it in China?)….

So it goes. Can’t week for this week to end already.

While I am not Catholic and may not have agreed with some of the positions Pope John Paul II took, I respected him. May he rest in peace.

Last night, my APA alumni group sponsored a group to see “China Doll,” presented by the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. The play is described as a “reimagining” of the life of Anna May Wong, an Asian American pioneer in the Hollywood of the 1920’s to the 1950’s. Switching back and forth between the memories and the fantasies of Wong and replaying of Wong’s movies , with appearances by her contemporaries, like Douglas Fairbanks, Marlene Dietrich. Fascinating portrayal of ironies – Wong was considered too Asian to be doing serious leading roles, yet too American to be Asian. The play tended to be too wordy (a playwrite’s literary work), but I thought it was interesting to see how theater would try to be very cinematic, with the minimal prop/scenery. We were also treated to an illuminating Q&A with the director and cast.

Losing an hour, no thanks to Daylight Savings. More light, less time. Eh.

On the CD player right now: the soundtrack for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” That Yo-Yo Ma and composer Tan Dun did great jobs.

Entertainment Weekly this week – with Boston Red Sox’s Johnny Damon, Red Sox fan Jimmy Fallon, and actress Drew Barrymore on the cover (to promote Fallon and Barrymore’s upcoming Red Sox/comedic romance movie). Cool article on the FOX show “House,” wherein it is more than conceded that the show thanks “American Idol” (its neighbor in the 8pm time slot) for helping with great ratings. Personally, I’m just glad that a show I’ve enjoyed since its season premiere isn’t getting cancelled (that doesn’t happen too often, I might add). For nostalgia’s sake, check out my original posting on “House.”

ABC’s Ted Koppel is leaving “Nightline” and the network at the end of the year. First Tom Brokaw, then Bill Moyers, then Dan Rather, and now Koppel.

The passing of Fred Korematsu, as reported by the NY Times’ Richard Goldstein. Interesting point:

Mr. Korematsu, a native of Oakland, Calif., and one of four sons of Japanese-born parents, was jailed on May 30, 1942, in San Leandro, having refused to join family members who had reported to a nearby racetrack that was being used as a temporary detention center.

Mr. Korematsu had undergone plastic surgery in an effort to disguise his Asian features and had altered his draft registration card, listing his name as Clyde Sarah and his background as Spanish-Hawaiian. He hoped that with his altered appearance and identity he could avoid ostracism when he married his girlfriend, who had an Italian background.

A few days after his arrest, Mr. Korematsu was visited in jail by a California official of the American Civil Liberties Union who was seeking a test case against internment. Mr. Korematsu agreed to sue.

“I didn’t feel guilty because I didn’t do anything wrong,” he told The New York Times four decades later. “Every day in school, we said the pledge to the flag, ‘with liberty and justice for all,’ and I believed all that. I was an American citizen, and I had as many rights as anyone else.”

I had no idea about the plastic surgery. Racial discrimination can be such damning stuff, I say. Korematsu will be remembered as quite an American.

Associated Press reports on the passing of Frank Purdue, the Chicken man:

Perdue was one of the first CEOs to pitch his own product on television in 1971, turning on the down-home charm as he delivered his famous line, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.”

Perdue remained the company’s public face for the next two decades, helping build an empire….

Perdue, whose prominent nose, small dark eyes, thin lips and high-pitched voice gave him the impression of a chicken, said he was initially uncertain about whether to take to the airwaves. He said a New York ad man persuaded him to run his own commercials, but also gave Perdue a warning.

“He said, ‘If you do this, you’re going to have some heartaches from it. You’re going to have people yelling at you or maybe screaming at you or criticizing you, but I think it’s the best way to sell a superior chicken, which I think you have,”’ Perdue said in a 1991 interview with The Associated Press.

“It was quite a shock to my nervous system because I’d never been in a school play or anything and I’m basically reticent about speaking in public,” said Perdue, who ultimately did 156 different ads….

When I was a kid growing up, it was Frank Perdue or that Orville Redenbacher (old guy, bow tie, hawking his popcorn) on the tv. These days, Frank Perdue’s son, Jim, is doing the commercials, yucking it up with the chickens. Or an animated version of Redenbacher. Or “Wendy’s” just putting up a photo clip of its late CEO Dave Thomas. Just ain’t the same.

Tonight, Pope John Paul II is inevitably in people’s thoughts.

Man, time’s a changing.

One day before Friday…

I don’t know if there will be a link to an article yet (and if I do find it, I’ll post it) – but in APA news, Fred Korematsu, of the infamous and historical Supreme Court Korematsu v. US case (and the lawsuit in the 1980’s to overturn his conviction), has passed away.

In other thoughts: perhaps spring is indeed for real – flowers have actually been sighted as cropping out from the ground in Brooklyn. Tulips, daffodils/crocuses. More sunshine/warmer temperatures needed.

Has spring finally sprung? We actually had decent temperatures and sun today! But, we’re supposed to be back to rain by Friday. Blech.

Last night’s “House, M.D.” – the hospital’s CEO Vogler is sooo mean, forcing House to fire one of the three doctors under his supervision; the three doctors then pretty much try to metaphorically strangle each other, knowing House has to fire one of them; problem is that Dr. Chase is the rat betraying House to Vogler; Dr. Foreman knows/guesses that Chase is not a nice Australian young man; Dr. Cameron has a serious crush on House and knows House is has feelings for her that he can’t handle – and so she’s willing to resign. Ok, sure.

Tonight’s “Alias” – the plot, as usual, makes no sense, but it was laugh-out-loud funny watching Marshall Flinkman, the tech man, save Sydney from suffocating to death in a coffin and then save the world (well, Hong Kong actually, but Marshall did save the day). So funny. (even a little silly, when Sydney has to talk Marshall through the undercover gig and later, her dad Jack has to talk Marshall through the process of pulling an eyeball out – eww, Jack!).

Otherwise, it’s quiet enough in Brooklyn, besides the whole watching everyone looking so happy to see some sun…

Sad news: the passing of Johnnie Cochran. NY Times has an article already posted.

A hilarious Ad Report on Slate.com: celebrity voiceovers in ads. Seth Stevenson writes on the curious development of Julia Roberts doing AOL ads (huh? really should pay attention the next time), Richard Dreyfuss being the voice of Honda (which I recognized for awhile), and Gene Hackman (!) the voice of Oppenheimer Funds and Lowe’s (which explains why I kept thinking that Gee Whiz Authoritative voice sounded strangely – well – authoritative). So weird! The funny thing I like about celebrity voiceovers (more than mere celebrity appearances/endorsements) is that if you even recognize the voice, it’s like your own little secret. I’ve enjoyed recognizing Liev Shrieber’s voice (yeah, I watch way too much PBS documentaries if it’s getting to the point of recognizing Liev Shrieber’s voice in a tv commercial), and – of course – Patrick Stewart (doing Goodyear commercials – oh, yeah, sure, reliable tires; although, still not quite sure what to make of his voice doing Dr. Seuss style poetry for that stomach problem medication – I mean, geez, Patrick Stewart, are you endorsing this stuff or are you doing it because you need the money?).

On a sidenote, regarding celebrity endorsements: I think Earl Grey tea people should give Patrick Stewart/the Powers that Be of Star Trek a small residual for getting Earl Grey tea out there. I mean, it’s turning into one of my favorite teas, and I just don’t think I’d ever know about Earl Grey tea if it hadn’t been for watching Capt. Picard’s ordering of “Earl Grey, hot.”

Oh, and for cool PBS documentary voiceovers, there’s always Morgan Freeman. Thumbs up – I was watching this documentary on the artist Romare Bearden, and Morgan Freeman’s voice was just awesome.

Are we ever going to see the sun again? Hmm.

Rain. Heavy rain. Not heavy rain. Blech all around. Gloomy day.

NCAA championship – yep, half of my Final Four picks are still alive – Illinois and Louisville. Problem is, they’re about to oppose each other and only will remain standing, and I picked Illinois. We’ll see…

On the CD player right now: The Best of Sting. Yeah.

Are medical shows back? Hmm. “Medical Investigation” on NBC never got me, even if it did have Neal McDonough (“Boomtown”). But, “House” – I am such a sucker for “House” on FOX (putting aside the fact that I did watch Hugh Laurie back when he was a funny Brit actor) – great show. And, I do like “Scrubs” (even though I can never watch it, because I seem to watch everything else at that time slot on Tuesday nights). And, then, last night, “Grey’s Anatomy” premieres on ABC. I’m not going to say that it’s some kind of great winning show (it’s not – some of the lines were a little lame). But, there was some charm to it. As the NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley puts it:

Now that “Sex and the City” is off the air and “ER” is on its last legs, ABC has concocted a drama that tries to be a little bit of both: on “Grey’s Anatomy,” alluring young interns compete to become surgeons – “Sex and the City Hospital.”

And that is not a bad combination. In this age of “Desperate Housewives” and “The O.C.,” it is refreshing to see a television show whose heroines aspire to meaningful work as well as meaningless sex. Certainly that seems to be the vocation of Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who narrates the series in a soft, Carrie Bradshawesque voice-over. In the premiere episode Sunday night, Meredith wakes up, callously tosses out the handsome stranger she picked up at a bar the night before and races to her first day at Seattle Grace Hospital. Her one-night stand, of course, turns out to be Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), a surgeon and her boss. [….]

“Grey’s Anatomy” is a Girl Power version of “ER,” focusing as much on the interns’ love lives and career ambitions as it does on the patients’ treatment. It is an unsatirical update on “Ally McBeal,” and has a similar sensibility to “The American Embassy,” a Fox drama about an American woman who escapes a bad relationship by moving to London to work as a diplomat. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the executive producers of “Grey’s Anatomy,” James D. Parriott, was a creator of that show. (Fox pulled “The American Embassy” after a few episodes.) [….]

Surgery is known as “the game,” and it is the interns’ obsessive quest to scrub in and get their surgical gloves bloodied. “The game,” Meredith says in a portentous, if inane, voice-over. “They say that a person either has what it takes to play the game, or they don’t.” (These must be the same people who say “Good things come in small packages” and “Beauty is as beauty does.”)

On her first, terrifying 48-hour shift, Meredith bonds with other freshly minted doctors who are as hazed and overworked as West Point cadets: Isobel (Izzie) Stevens (Katherine Heigl), an ethereal blond former lingerie model known to her peers as “Dr. Model,” who is immediately assigned dozens of rectal exams by her scornful bosses; and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh, “Sideways”), a ferociously ambitious and hard-edged intern who always seems an inch away from smashing her helmet into some miscreant’s skull. [….]

Ms. Oh steals every scene as Cristina, cynical and so crudely ambitious she appalls even her hardened superiors. While Izzie keeps a mournful vigil over a breathing but brain-dead patient, Cristina wishes he would hurry up and die so she can assist at the organ-harvesting surgery.

“Grey’s Anatomy” marks the return of women in white coats after a long dry spell. And even viewers who don’t track feminist trends on television may enjoy the sight of a quivering liver being lifted out for transplant and tenderly placed in a thermal picnic cooler.

If you enjoyed the medical textbook, you’ll love the television show.

Ok, so Stanley does a number of things – she mentioned “The American Embassy” (a show that died real fast, but one that I had enjoyed – and I was probably the only one who did – and Stanley’s absolutely right – “Grey’s Anatomy” narration and poignancy felt a lot like “The American Embassy”); she gave Sandra Oh good marks (Stanley’s right – Oh’s character was way tough and felt less-than-compassionate. Boy, is this like a stereotype on Asians in the medical field?); oh, and that weird little sex thing going on with Patrick Dempsey character and the Dr. Grey character… Hmm. Well, I have to say that Dempsey was quite cute; had a few lame lines; but otherwise acted ok. Does his Dr. Shepherd have a clue that Dr. Grey could nail him on sexual harassment if he doesn’t get serious about cooling things with her? (yeah, I’m thinking like a lawyer again). But, then again, Dr. Grey seems to feel awfully conflicted about him – I mean, she did invite the guy home before knowing he’s her boss, and when they were alone at work, she didn’t exactly stop herself from kissing him.

Hmm. The rookie diplomat heroine in “The American Embassy” kind of had that same kind of conflicting emotion in terms of her romance thing with the CIA agent. But, there’s the obvious difference between “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The American Embassy”: the rookie diplomat, like intern Dr. Grey, was professionally competent – but the diplomat had a romance thing going with the male character whereas it feels like Dr. Grey’s going for the sex thing, which makes her more… well, I guess more modern and/or independent. Meredith Grey, after all, isn’t looking for emotional attachments, unlike her predecessors of Starring Women on TV. Meredith just wants to be a doctor, even if maybe she doesn’t want to be the kind of doctor her Pioneer Doctor Mom was (her mom was apparently the Great Surgeon of Seattle – which goes to show you how cool this show is – don’t go assuming that Meredith’s medical parent is a man when they say she’s the daughter of a doctor). I’ll have to see the second or third episodes before I give a true thumb’s up on this series.

So it goes. Let’s sing it now: Rain, rain go away…

Thursday night – Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays the irascible Dr. House on Fox, made an appearance on Jay Leno’s show (since NBC produces “House”). So good!

Entertainment Weekly – Star Wars preview. Whoa.

EW reports that “House” is No. 4 in the ratings. “Joan of Arcadia” may be risking cancellation.

EW also highlighted the new trailer for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” the movie – check out the official website. So cool! I was getting all excited about the upcoming Batman movie, but whoa – Hitchhiker’s Guide! The book was funny, but the movie’s looking good. (ok, I never watched the tv show or the heard the radio version, but the movie trailer seems to capture the book’s humor). Plus, Marvin the Chronically Depressed Robot has the voice of Alan Rickman. So funny… 🙂

Umm, ok, maybe I ought to get a life. Oh well. Enjoy the weekend.

Apologies for being on hiatus of late; it’s a time for reflection, in regards to our friend FC and his family; and, in my real life, work and professional matters have preoccupied my mind. I could go into a rant about work, but I’ll spare you folks of that!

At any rate, I keep watching the news and reading the news – and I could say stuff about the whole euthanasia matter of Terri Schiavo of Florida, but I’ll refrain. It’s heart-breaking; it touches family law, federalism, and government in our lives (or not) and so forth – and as a lawyer and human being, I just find the whole situation as quite an exercise of watching law get twisted and tossed and lives caught in the middle. The hypocrisy of politicians. The manipulation of the media. The judges who must feel emotionally tortured, but bound by law (for this is still a country of laws, even if certain right wingers in Congress did not seem to appreciate that)… Well, ok, let me refrain from talking politics. This news has all been quite… something.

“Amazing Race” – ah, Rob and Amber – the people we love to hate. Personally, I wouldn’t have given up holding my breath until the plane left, so it was funny watching the other contestants look in shock that Rob and Amber get onto the plane at the very last second. They were much too confident that they evaded Rob and Amber.

“American Idol” – an error in presenting the telephone numbers for voting the contestants made it so that they re-aired yesterday’s songs today. Hmm. I liked how the rock singers, Bo and Constantine, sung so well. And – even more amusing – Constantine sang the “I Think I Love You” song (made famous by David Cassidy of Partridge Family). I get a kick out of hearing that song in the Cheerios commercials, but Constantine did a cute spin of it (well, he is kind of cute as it is).

The comic strip “Cathy” has taken quite a turn the last couple of months – Cathy, that perennial Single White Female Feminist/Career Woman, finally got married in February (marrying her longtime on-off boyfriend, Irving (who had his own bizarre mid-life crises over the years, forget Cathy)). I mean, their marriage was shocking enough. But – gadzooks – we finally learn Cathy and Irving’s last names!! “Cathy Andrews” and “Irving Hillman” in the 3/23/05 issue. Good grief, Charlie Brown. What will happen next?!

NCAA basketball tournament continues – in one of my brackets, half of my Final Four are gone. But, so long as Illinois and Louisville are still in, the other half of my Final Four are still there. Hmm… So it goes…

Just wanted to take a moment to give my condolences, thoughts, and prayers to FC, P, and the C family.