Author: ssw15

Be grateful for the many things that are good and for things that haven’t gone bad.

Okay, putting aside the public service announcement, I ought to take a walk before the eating begins.

This feels like such a dead end week, or maybe that’s just me, what with the holiday coming and all that dread (of excessive eating; of needing more exercise; etc.)

The latest “Entertainment Weekly” had good reads – particularly the section where the critics evaluated the tv shows of this fall. I pretty much agreed with the assessment of WB’s “Jack and Bobby” – the show where you watch the future U.S. president and his older brother when they’re teens and how those developments influenced him (the pres) during his administration – basically, as much as actress Christine Lahti is strong as the teens’ single mom, she’s kind of irritating with her sanctimonious liberal stuff (I mean, I may very well agree with her politically, but she’s grating on the nerves – the excess strength and dominance of her or the characters she play have been what turned me off to her work on “Chicago Hope” on CBS a few years ago (well, that show went kaput for me for a load of other reasons, but that’s something else)). On the other hand – my assessment here, not EW’s – I liked Lahti’s character of Grace the last two episodes and in instances where her vulnerability is real and raw – she finally admits that her marijuana habit (yep, a single mom Ph.d with a nasty habit there) is a problem (particularly when it means that she won’t be there for her sons and when it means breaking her promises to Jack so many times) and in the episode where she had to console Jack when his gay friend committed suicide (Grace finally acting like a concerned mother for Jack, who’s taken on the role of adult in this family for too long, especially when Jack is so obviously an annoying teenage boy with the raging hormones (i.e., not ready to be the adult)). Not to say that Grace can’t be strong; I just think she should be an adult, instead of being so domineering and unforgiving.

Plus, the recent episode where Bobby plays chess with Mr. Benedict, the president of Grace’s university, was a nice touch – I get the feeling that Jack and Bobby ought to have a dad figure (not to say that their mom is lousy; they just give the viewer the feeling that they need a counter-balance, and they probably know it).

EW has the take that this season’s “Joan of Arcadia” is really dark stuff. And, I won’t disagree – but it’s sort of an inspiring dark stuff (this is the one series where the death of a character was simultaneously sad and empowering, since it taught the teen characters that they just can’t let their lives waste away). I thought that Joan’s relationship with the kid Adam would have been hard to work (romantic couples in tv shows are never given a happily ever after spin; it’s like no one will let them get away with it and besides, happy couples bore us), but the whole idea of growing pains for kids in love has been nicely depicted. Joan’s mom, Helen, has been in her own spiritual path, to get back on track as a lapsed Catholic – that’s been interesting stuff. The ex-nun helping Helen is a curious character. Wonder whether the writers will continue to reveal more about her (the ex-nun character I mean).

Not noted by EW, but I’ll note anyway:

“Enterprise” – crazy stuff. I think it’s improving, but I still worry if they’ll do something stupid or the like. This latest spin on what is Captain Archer’s role in changing Vulcan is… odd. Must an Enterprise captain always be the guiding force of the development of history? Oh well.

I watched the premiere of “House, M.D.” on FOX last week – British actor Hugh Laurie as the irascible American Dr. House, who’s a real annoying bastard, who figures out mysterious diseases/treatments. Anyway, this series appears to have a better grip on character and plot than “Medical Investigation” on NBC (which I find to be a show that just seems lacking – I’d watch actor Neal McDonough and still feel bad that “Boomtown” didn’t work out for him because that was such a great vehicle for him). Anyway, back on “House, M.D.” – still weird to hear Laurie in an American accent. Robert Sean Leonard, always a strong actor, plays the oncologist/House’s only friend; Omar Epps is the resident neurologist on House’s team (cool to see him; he played the medical student who killed himself in “ER” – so weird that in this show, he’s OK with the medical career and can accept that his boss is such an anti-social prick); Lisa Edelstein as House’s boss/head doctor (the usual “I’m not happy that you don’t do work/But you’re a brilliant dr, so I won’t fire you – yet”) – she does pretty decent work, but they need to give her better lines than the snappy comebacks she and House trade each other. But, after all the CSI’s and Crossing Jordans and ER’s, do I really want to watch a medical show with the usual disgusting special effects? Umm… I don’t know yet.

Turkey day coming…

We New Yorkers are the world’s luckiest people. My sis and I went to the free re-opening of the Modern Museum of Art (MoMA) – 45 minute wait in the rain (turned out it was only 45 minutes – but it felt like an hour and a half to me, which goes to show you how my impatience exaggerates everything) — well, it was worth it – major pieces of masterpieces (Picasso, Matisse – I drool over those two guys – Van Gogh – Mondrian – DeKoonig – Warhol – Pollock; Johns; etc); major new architecture… and it’s such a small world – since we bumped into FC and P-. Of course, whether I’d pay $20 admission to come for another visit – well, I don’t know. But, it’s great stuff.

And, even though we later walked by Rockefeller Center, home of NBC, we did not see NBC’s Tom Brokaw. Eh. The guy will have the big send-off and he probably would do without me actually saluting him in person (yeah, and he’ll accuse me of watching way too much of PBS’ Jim Lehrer, but it’s not my fault that Lehrer’s at a more convenient time slot for me).

Raining again. What’s with the on-off-on rain today? It just makes for all-around yuckiness…

Weekend!

This whole Senator Arlen Spector debacle is disturbing to me for a wide variety of reasons. A perfectly decent enough senator (an incumbent who had to battle the conservatives in his own party during a nasty primary – just to keep his seat), who’s up for chairmanship by virtue of seniority; the so-called conservatives knocked him for being too “liberal” (whatever that may mean anymore these days; although I read somewhere that the liberals in the world still haven’t forgiven Spector for the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings) because they (whoever they may be) who don’t like his not-conservative views (and haven’t forgiven him for not voting for Bork for the Supreme Court – which is a long time ago already, forget the Anita Hill thing – get over it already, folks!). And, then he made a remark that upset said conservatives, who then demanded that he show he deserves the chairmanship (when even the Judiciary committee endorsed him already). So, Spector has to promise to abide by the conservative agenda, or else swear fealty to the presiden. I know being in the judiciary committee is extremely important, and that the senator is beholden to his constituency – but I still have that bad taste in my mouth about all this.

I’m hoping to watch “Enterprise” (I taped it – or maybe I’ll catch the re-broadcast). And, “Joan of Arcadia.” One of these days, I’ll do a round-up on the shows I’ve been watching this fall.

NY Times’s Bill Carter wrote a nice profile of Tom Brokaw, who is about to step down as anchor of NBC’s Nightly News. I’ve always been more partial to Peter Jennings, but admired Tom Brokaw’s decentness. Very interesting stuff:

[Robert Wright, the chairman and chief executive of NBC] puts it in contemporary terms. “[Brokaw]’s a red state guy and we live in a red state world.”

The crimson state in question is South Dakota, where Mr. Brokaw was born, and which he says still lives in him despite his decades as a resident of Manhattan. [CBS’s Dan] Rather has Texas in his blood, of course, but his connections to his Southwest roots can seem forced, as in his country-fried election night witticisms. [ABC’s] Jennings has no red or blue state background to call upon at all, since he’s a native Canadian.

“I still have a South Dakota-Montana sensibility about certain things,” Mr. Brokaw said. “I have an awareness of what people are thinking and talking about. I don’t treat Middle America as flyover country.”

[Ex-NBC president Andrew] Lack said, “They see him as the guy with the least pretensions. He’s the guy you would want to go have a beer with.”

This is, as even Mr. Brokaw concedes, something of a skewed impression. “People still think of me as from South Dakota,” he said. “But I’m a bright lights, big city guy.” That translates to living in an apartment on Park Avenue and interests ranging from the Yankees to the city’s art
galleries. Yes, Mr. Brokaw, who makes about $10 million a year, vacations on a ranch in Montana, but he often travels there on a private jet owned by Herbert Allen, the investment banker and one of Mr. Brokaw’s closest friends.

In Mr. Lack’s analysis, “Tom loves being hip, which is counter to the ordinary guy. I have been in more trendy restaurants with him that I ever would have imagined. Tom loved Hollywood when he was in L.A. He loves show business. He’s very comfortable in all those areas, even if what he
truly is is a regular guy from South Dakota who married a Miss South Dakota.”

[….]

As for Mr. Brokaw himself, he will very likely offer some kind of valedictory, as he did on election night. But that came at 5:30 a.m. and few saw it. Those who did saw no deep display of emotion, just one more example of Mr. Brokaw’s reserved, man-of-the American Plains grace.

“For me, having done this for 42 years, I find it nothing less than awe-inspiring to sit here and share this information with you,” Mr. Brokaw said. “And I am grateful to you not just for the opportunity to do it, but the graciousness with which you have accepted me into your
homes.”

Well, he’s a gracious guy – a sophisticate who’s still, bottomline, Mr. Middle America. Salute to Brokaw. On the bright side, with Brian Williams at the anchor desk, maybe Williams won’t be so eager to be thrown at (or tethered from) hurricanes in the near future.

Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick notes that being Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is an “overrated job.” Hmm. (there was laughter when colleagues and I speculated as to a possible Ch. J. selection – not the nice and kind kind of laughter either, I might add).

Oh, and since I’m mentioning the law, here’s a link to the ABA E-Journal – humorist-at-law Sean Carter experiments that tried and true Socratic Method on his children:

Me: Austin, what did I tell you about hitting your brother over the head with the telephone?

Austin: You said not to do it?

Me: Very good. Do you remember why I said not to do it?

Austin: Because money doesn’t grow on trees, and you didn’t want to go out and buy another phone?

Me: Well, that’s certainly true. But is that the reason I gave you?

Austin: I don’t remember.

Me: That’s very disappointing, Austin. Perhaps, one of your brothers can do better. Matthew, can you tell me the reason that I told Austin not to hit you over the head with the telephone?

Matthew: Not really. I’m kind of dizzy right now.

Me: Well, I’m sorry that you’re dizzy, but a judge won’t care that you’re having a bad day. Go grab some ice from the freezer, and we’ll get back to you in a minute. Brendan, did you witness this incident?

Brendan: Da!

Me: Excellent. Well, perhaps you can tell me what prompted the alleged assault?

Brendan: Da!

Me: If you were testifying in a court of law, you’d have to give clearer answers, mister. And no, the judge wouldn’t care that you’re only 9 months old. Now that you’ve decided to rejoin us, Matthew, perhaps you can answer the question?

Matthew: Which question was that? [….]

Ok, enough with the laughs. Later.

NY Daily News has an interesting profile on Queens Supreme Justice Randall Eng, who’s also an Army colonel after years of service in Army reserves and doing JAG work:

Eng joined the National Guard in 1970 as a way to stay in law school at St. John’s University and out of the draft.

“This was about the same time as President Bush, but I stayed,” he said. “I enjoyed the camaraderie, I enjoyed the service and I thought I could make a contribution.”

Eng has since spent about two months a year in uniform and has been called up to help with a range of circumstances – from presiding in dozens of courts-martial to the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800. [….]

By the end of this month, Eng will be forced to retire from the Army Reserve. Until then, he will travel to armories in Harlem, the upper East Side and Valhalla, Westchester County, to advise his fellow reservists.

A judge since 1983, Eng inherited a sense of service from his father, an immigrant from China who later became a B-17 gunner who flew numerous missions during World War II.

“No one does it for the money,” Eng said in his chambers, decorated with American flags and framed testimonials to three decades of military service.

“You do it out of patriotism. You do it out of commitment. You do it out of a sense of duty and responsibility.”

Missing out on the Chocolate Show – darn it.

I’ve been watching much “Joan of Arcadia” on CBS – gosh, that show is deep stuff.

“JAG” can annoy me somewhat – I don’t always agree with its politics (when it is discernible); and its presentation of litigation is kind of lousy (the defense attorney on Friday night made what I thought was a sanctimonious closing statement, even quoting… G.K. Chesterton. Huh?). But, I like the way recognizable character actors and guest stars keep popping up and their new JAG is a cute actor (I liked his previous work as a stern but strong leader guest-star role on “Enterprise” and lead roles other sci-fi stuff).

Yet another work week awaits. Oh well.

Wow – tonight’s episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise” was good. Jam-packed with action and suspense, and “They’re not going in that direction, are they?… well, after last week’s craziness…” They tacked on a strange next-to-last scene that surprised me, but thinking on it, I should have seen it coming, I guess (“I’ll see you soon, Father,” says the genetically-engineered human to Dr. Soong…).

However, all this plot-focus pushes character development to the side… Well, Capt. Archer’s character development continues to be a good watch – by beefing up the writing, they’ve finally given Scott Bakula more stuff to sink his acting teeth into; Brent Spiner’s Dr. Arik Soong was amazing; the characters of Trip and T’Pol… well… I’ll leave their storyline(s) unsaid for now – much remains to be seen there (hmm, maybe we should get back to the Big Three idea of Original Trek – the Three Amigos of Kirk-Spock-McCoy being echoed in Archer-T’Pol-Trip; Trek likes promoting the idea of friendship being a good thing).

But, really, will the supporting characters ever get a chance to blossom already? Sure, Dr. Phlox is great and Lt. Reed… well, he’s British and he’s the tactical officer, so he gets away with the appearance of character moments (recall Star Trek: Next Generation’s Yar and Worf and ST: DS9’s Odo – they just scowl, fire a weapon with a cool grimacing look, and they’re acting within character (well, Odo was more than that, but that’s because the Trek writers kept torturing his character and mangled with Worf); oh, and of course, let Reed exploit the accent and there you have a character). But, I often feel that Ensigns Mayweather and Sato often get shafted – and they’re the human persons of color. Hmm… what does it mean that they get so little lines – well, besides the fact that their capacities as bridge officers doesn’t leave room for much dialogue other than “Aye, sir.”

In fact, Mayweather and Sato are awfully reminiscent of their Original Trek predecessors (or successors, if you go by the series’ timeline), who had little lines. But, Original Trek supporting characters did get to be memorable and end up with appearances in the movies (seriously – watch Original Trek, and notice how Sulu had minimal lines and yet is remembered as the favorite navigator and Uhura, just by being the galactic telephone operator, as the inspiration of African-Americans in science fiction…) well, let’s just say I wish we can see more of Mayweather and Sato; even in Star Trek:Voyager limited Paris to just flying the ship (but then tossed in a few character moments). I need more character stuff to go with the cool plots.

If you miss the episode, it airs again this Sunday at 7pm on Channel 9 in the NYC metro area. And, ok, I better stop before it’s obvious that I am an unrepetant Trekkie (I go for the “Trekkie” for the camp factor; “Trekkers” are seriously hard core fans – and I hardly reach that level)….

Watched most of “Saving Private Ryan” on ABC tonight – never seen the movie, but had heard about its harrowing first 20 minutes – very graphic depiction of D-Day invasion. If there’s anything that makes you wish for an end to war, that was it. Goodness. And, I’ll give ABC credit for showing the movie largely unedited – including the harsh language. But, I am disturbed that some ABC affiliates were worried that the FCC would get them for showing the movie and therefore decided not to show it. Hmm.

On a sad note, I’ve read about the death of Iris Chang, a Chinese-American author whose book, “The Rape of Nanking” brought to light of the World War II atrocities of the Chinese city by the Japanese. She was an incredible Chinese-American writer.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918 – World War I ended – and the 20th century world was born. We have yet to see the true war to end all wars, but I guess we can still hope for true peace. Salute the veterans.

God, I really have to stop reading the political stuff. U.S. Senator Arlen Specter has some baggage to deal with before he can be named the new judiciary committee chair – liberals recall his digging at Prof. Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation process; the conservatives haven’t forgiven him for not backing Robert Bork. And, reading the articles about him, I had no idea that he had even more baggage – a Democrat in his youth, and a bright lawyer (and we all know how popular lawyers are these days …). Sigh.

And, Ashcroft as Attorney General is moving on (applause) – but that leaves us with what – well, we’ll see, I guess.

Oh, and of course, NYS politics is insane – if, nationally, the Democratic party is feeling lost in the wilderness – the NYS Republicans really feel lost. (it doesn’t help that the state legislature is dysfunctional – I’d have linked to an article about this topic, but they’re all sad and depressing).

Well, it’ll be back to work tomorrow – so looking forward to seeing how “Star Trek: Enterprise” will end the 3-episode arc – I don’t say that very often of this series in awhile too…

Ok, I’ll quit it with the political stuff, but I can resist these links…

Slate.com’s “Why Americans Hate Democrats – A Dialogue” – a fascinating series of articles. Really nice civilized reading (I’m still hoping that Democrats won’t cannabilize each other in this post-election period).

NY Times has an op-ed by Gary Hart (yeah, that guy from 1988’s presidential election), a Democrat who discusses how “When the Personal Shouldn’t Be Political”:

My political philosophy springs directly from Jesus’ teachings and is the reason I became active in the Democratic Party. Finally, in the qualification-to-speak category, I will seek to pre-empt the ad hominem disqualifiers. I am a sinner. I only ask for the same degree of forgiveness from my many critics that they were willing to grant George W. Bush for his transgressions.

As a candidate for public office, I chose not to place my beliefs in the center of my appeal for support because I am also a Jeffersonian; that is to say, I believe that one’s religious beliefs – though they will and should affect one’s outlook on public policy and life – are personal and that America is a secular, not a theocratic, republic. Because of this, it should concern us that declarations of “faith” are quickly becoming a condition for seeking public office. [….]

If we are to insert “faith” into the public dialogue more directly and assertively, let’s not be selective. Let’s go all the way. Let’s not just define “faith” in terms of the law and judgment; let’s define it also in terms of love, caring, forgiveness. Compassionate conservatives can believe social ills should be addressed by charity and the private sector; liberals can believe that the government has a role to play in correcting social injustice. But both can agree that human need, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and sickness must be addressed. Liberals are not against religion. They are against hypocrisy, exclusion and judgmentalism. They resist the notion that one side or the other possesses “the truth” to the exclusion of others.

I had no idea that Gary Hart was so eloquent – I’m mightily impressed. (then again, in 1988, I was too young to understand what were the virtues of Hart – among other things – so noticing him now is interesting)

Plus, powerful language from John Dean – will Bush-Cheney really pass an olive branch to that other half of the country? Hmm.

Ok. ’nuff said.

Sports – NYC marathon was such a cool watch. (on tv, anyway – not so lucky enough to go out to see it on Sunday).

So it goes…