Author: ssw15

1st week of Olympics are done – let’s review (and, no, this is not a comprehensive review of any kind whatsoever, since I can only review so much)…

Love the Slate.com’s special Olympics coverage. Funny, sharp, incisive… (well, I’m a big Slate fan, if it hasn’t been obvious already). Some thoughts on the articles:

– Slate.com’s Explainer explains “What’s with that Weird New Vault?” in gymnastics, which is great because I kept wondering “that’s a vault now?” while watching gymnastics.

– An interesting article on “Svetlana the Great,” i.e., Svetlana Khorkina, the diva of the women’s gymnastics. Plus, I liked reading about the “older” women on the US team – Mohini Bhardwaj and Annia Hatch – primarily because I think (a) it’s weird that they’re considered “old” (makes me feel old, since I’m about their age), and (b) it’s great, because they had a certain poise, confidence, personality, and experience that I kept thinking were lacking in the younger pixies. Bhardwaj, Hatch, and Khorkina were the women in “women’s” gymnastics, not mere girls. I’d salute to them, even if Khorkina’s a bit too much of a diva for my taste.

– Slate.com’s article on NBC gymnastics commentator Tim Daggett was funny. Slate’s Bryan Curtis calls Daggett “Scott Hamilton of gymnastics—the sport’s most ludicrous shill” – which I can agree – Daggett reminded me so much of Hamilton’s style of commentating. But, Daggett seems more critical of the athletes than Hamilton was, and therefore seems (to me) a somewhat more objective commentator. So, Daggett’s sort of ok to me. (well, I still sort of like Hamilton too, but he hasn’t done much commentating in awhile). But, Daggett can be harsh on the technique thing. (well, he was a gold medalist in the 1984 boycott Olympics, so he ought to know what’s a good technique).

– I don’t understand how they judge in gymnastics. I thought that U.S.’s Brett McClure did well in the Men’s all around, but his score is lower, because he had a low starting maximum point. Paul Hamm did an amazing recovery – but admittedly, it was so close, because the South Korean did pretty good (and no big slip-up, unlike Hamm). I’d still salute to Hamm, but I can understand the South Koreans’ challenging the scoring/judginig and saying that there has to be an error (oh, that’s a Yahoo link, by the way). I just hope we’re not going to get some bizarre double gold thing like what happened in Salt Lake with the pairs figure skaters.

Time magazine’s Aug. 23, 2004, issue (Time and other magazine’s always post-date their magazines – so 8/23 issue is actually for the week of 8/17) – had a good Q & A with NBC’s Bob Costas (described as this generation’s Jim McKay, ABC’s Olympic tv anchor vanguard). I was glad that the Q & A made note of Costas’ Greek ancestry with a blunt: “So how Greek are you?” Costas’ answer: “My father’s side of the family is fully 100% Greek….” and he was even able to identify where in Greece his paternal grandparents were from. Cool. Know your past, prepare for the present (in his case, cramming on all the Olympic trivia) and for the future (which I’m sure NBC is just hoping that Beijing 2008 will have more crowds in the stand; I’m glad that the Athens Olympics are selling tickets like hotcakes, but if people aren’t in their seats, it doesn’t look like much).

Beach volleyball – hmm. I know it’s an interesting sport, lots of dynamics, etc. And, men drool over the women’s beach volleyball, and all that . But, I think the music they’re playing at that fake beach every time a point scored is annoying. Just a tad annoying. (yeah, we women will just have to accept that our eye candy is in the men’s swimming – ooh, lots of eye candy)… (umm, never mind there….) 😉

Speaking of men’s swimming – I like that US’ Michael Phelps is a team player. All the hype about him expected to get all golds got annoying and he initially seemed like an arrogant 19 year old kid expecting to win so much. But, ever since he and the other swimmers won the relays, he seemed to be appreciating the Olympic spirit and turning out to be an okay guy. Kudos.

Hate the heat and humidity in August in NYC. So yucky… so it goes.

I’m one of those New Yorkers who don’t nearly get around the town as I should, so taking the J train to the picnic the other day was incredibly fascinating since I had never taken the J or go out to Queens very much (umm, taking the 7 train to the Mets games don’t quit count). The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) usually do things ridiculously, but find something with a touch of class: ex., Grand Central (subway) Station still not pretty, but Grand Central Terminal (the commuter train and famous facilities) is so nice; Canal Street station has nicely renovated wall tiles reflecting the Chinatown culture – but otherwise still has leaky ceilings here and there (leaking what, I do not want to know). Weekend service also has a way of being lame, but when the trains work – you get the weird relief that the city still works.

But if having just a little confusion (but not by much, once you were able to figure out which direction was what, due to weekend changes), the J train, was a smooth ride – going along the Williamsburg Bridge (100 years old, as old as the subway system itself) and seeing that the train is right next to the car traffic (so not like the Manhattan Bridge, the way the Williamsburg apparently sticks the trains in the middle). NYC’s elevated train lines aren’t nearly reknown as that of Chicago’s (good grief, did anyone see how Spiderman 2 invented an elevated train in _Manhattan_ that apparently was… Bay Ridge bound – and looking straight out of Chicago’s els. Not accurate). But, gleaning out the window, the J train’s elevated line is amazing.

The J subway stations on the Brooklyn/Queens side were curiously interesting – stained glass panels – so cool to look. The subway passed by stunning churches – Brooklyn being the home of churches – and domed banks. Cypress Hills cemetary made for quite a view from above. The J subway station I got off had an ellipitcal opening with a screen – I thought it was a weird window or something to look out down to the street. But, once I got downstairs to the sidewalk and I looked up, I realized that the screen’s wire was shaped into a 3-D mask of a human face facing the street. Urban art. Wow.

Saw “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.” Cute, cozy PG movie. Nothing too deep but continues the adventures of Mia as a 21st century American princess in Europe. Love Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo – classy actors.

Olympics – good watch as far as the athletic drama is concerned. But, so weird to see the crowds not quite there at the gymastics events on tv.

Enjoy the week…

The passing of Julia Child today. She’ll be missed, particularly in light of her contributions to PBS and foodie/cooking shows. Lots of interesting writings about her, so don’t mind me as I link to them…

Boy, these Olympics opening ceremonies are getting bigger, longer, and more filled with symbolism than ever. Lots of teams with attractive looking people (hot men; hot women; must be something to do with being atheletic and good genes). …

I’ll likely post again later, but here’s something in the meantime…

I like this ad that Sprint has been running lately – “Business is Beautiful” – a bunch of people dancing and singing to a 1970’s disco/rock/gospel type tune; wherein business yuppies and health care providers and so on all sing and dance their love for Sprint’s business software/hardware capabilities. If I can find it, I’ll link to the ads. It’s the kind of ad campaign where you end up singing and dancing along to the tune, even if you don’t quite approve/appreciate/understand the stuff that Sprint is pushing on people (and they’re specifically targetting the entrepenurial sector of the tv audience – not like I’m going to use Sprint for my business purposes). The press release explains it…

CNN.com has this bizarre story that Colin Powell the man is meeting up with Colin Powell the cat (a black cat, on top of that) on Friday the 13th for a photo op. Huh?

Athens Olympics 2004 Opening Ceremony – let the NBC All Olympics, All the Time marathon begin…

Watching this really interesting Great Performances on local PBS (official link not up yet on PBS’ national website) – the world’s greatest living classical musicians playing loads of pianos at once, on the same stage – weird. And they all look so pleased and having fun with each other. Cool.

“Flicks you’re embarrassed to love…” – I haven’t watched most of these (not very good) movies in this posting, although, curiously, local UPN did recently broadcast the weird 1980’s summer volleyball movie, “Sideout” (I watched parts of it, because I had no life that weekend) very B-level kind of odd crap – definitely guilty pleasure stuff for someone out there (no, not me). Oh, and so pleased that someone in this article mentioned “Flash Gordon” – seriously guilty pleasure crap (Channel 11 used to have an annual showing of it at one point – I think people just enjoy it for the Queen soundtrack so you can sing along… “Flash… Ah-aahhh savior of the universe…”). Not that I love “Flash Gordon,” but it is one of those movies which sucks you in when it’s on.

A heart-warming story of… the drunk driver who tells the cops to arrest him. My goodness, I had no idea that CNN.com had these kind of little stories linked.

Umm, some stuff:

Empire State Building did tribute to Fay Wray, most known for her King Kong fame. Of the obits I’ve read, I liked the NY Times one – it made Wray’s life and thoughts interesting. This quote from the NY Times obit:

“‘When I’m in New York,’ Miss Wray wrote in The New York Times in 1969, ‘I look at the Empire State Building and feel as though it belongs to me, or is it vice versa?’”

It’s both Ms. Wray – you and the Empire State Building made each other.

The Associated Press obit was also nice, even if less wordy.

This NY Times article on the inequities of internships is not news to me; if you can afford it and tolerate it, sure, go for the unpaid internship for the opportunities and experiences. But, it ain’t a fun thing when you’re not earning money and need a living or else trying to justify a living without that feeling of being exploited. To me, unpaid internships are just part and parcel of the haves vs. the have-nots. Take them or leave them, I guess.

Boy, this NY Times editorial on the selection of Alan Keyes as the Republican candidate in Illinois’ US Senate race is just a tad harsh. Just a tad. And, really, how many editorials refer to… Mighty Mouse and Obi Wan Kenobi in the same sentence? –>

“In the noble tradition of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Seven Samurai, Mighty Mouse and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alan Keyes is leaving home to go to the aid of a pitiable band of outgunned, hopeless supplicants: the Illinois Republican Party.”

Umm, ok. Whoever in the editorial board thought this up gets extra credit points for ingenuity.

Associated Press, via CNN, reports of cannabilism at a wedding banquet in the Phillippines. Guests were too drunk to realize what was happening… oh, good grief, where do these news guys get this stuff?

Tonight (8/10/04) Charlie Rose on PBS doing an interesting profile of Japan, coinciding with the anniversary of the WWII nuclear bombing – touching on politics and cultural topics. And, I’ll end on that positive note.

I’ve read the criticism in TV Guide: Matt Roush notes that PBS can actually hurt itself sometimes with the way it times its fundraising schedule. It’s the August pledge drive, so instead of showing the 4th episode of a Masterpiece Theatre mini-series (as per the national PBS schedule), local PBS did another round of either Jonathan Pond’s investing tips; the Dr. Phil lookalike show; or Great Performances.

Okay, so I like Great Performances; sometimes the investing stuff might be helpful (but the Dr. Phil stuff should really come from, well, Dr. Phil); and, I’ll applaud our local PBS for keeping “Now with Bill Moyers” at its regular time slot and same with Lehrer newshour.

But, I think that if you, Hypothetical Person in Charge at PBS, are going to seduce people into donating, keep doing your good A-stuff, not your weird, New Age-y, C-level stuff.

Example: like, tell people to give any amount for pledges during the convention, especially since you Guys at PBS are the only ones in free-tv showing it and without the partisan talk garbage. Lehrer’s ratings were up for the Democratic convention, so you know people are watching; tell the audience that it’s a public service or something, you know what I mean? (ok, that’s my Public Awareness message for the day; if you want to donate to PBS yourself, go right ahead). (and, yeah, I’m a PBS snob, can’t help it). 😉

Sunday’s NY Times’ does a story on Los Angeles’ Koreatown, a hip happening place, apparently.

Slate.com’s William Saletan parodies the Vet(erans) Against Kerry with his Vet(erinarians) Against Kerry (Vets Who Don’t Buy that Kerry Saved his Kids’ Hamster, because they were really, really there). Too funny. (plus, a weird little picture of a hamster).

Olympics at the end of the week. Cool, even if there are concerns about terrorism; how Athens will pull it off; and figuring out who among the athletes are on illegal performance enhancing drugs.

Is it just me or are these Back-to-School ads getting on earlier and earlier every year?

I know I should, but I couldn’t resist avoiding the previews/spoilers for the upcoming 4th (maybe last?) season of “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Can it get better? I’m still a little pissed about that annoying season cliffhanger. It can’t get any worse, I guess. Just keep an open mind, I’d say.

“Fruit of the Loom” – the Fruit are back, with a commercial wherein they visit a firehouse to see if their undergarments are approved. Nice to see the Fruit back – there’s something amusing about guys in fruit suits. (the Apple guy gets stuck in the firehouse pole’s hole – forgetting that his foam can’t fit…)

Back to your regularly scheduled Monday…

ABA E-Journal reports on “What Young Lawyers Think,” and apparently, the young lawyers (or lawyers new to the profession – in their first 10 years – since we can’t always be sure about their ages anyway) are more stressed out in the big firms requiring more hours and more billing and all that other stuff. I.e., it’s about the quality of life, not the quantity. Not entirely a surprise to me.

There’s the story in the news that the Illinois Republicans are trying to recruit Alan Keyes to run against Barack Obama in the Illinois US Senate race – even though Keyes doesn’t even live in Illinois. That bothered me, until I remembered that even Hilary Clinton wasn’t really from NY when she ran – but at least she had a year of preparation/listening tour/buying that Chappaqua house before Election Day. Keyes, if he is the candidate, has only three months to go. Slate.com’s Explainer explains how it is possible for Keyes to do this (apparently, he just has to live in Illinois by Election Day).

Flipping through the pages of the latest Entertainment Weekly – and, gasp, saw the ad for the DVD of the 1st season of… “Happy Days.” Fonzie, Potsie, Ralph, and Richie (plus appearances of Richie’s long lost brother) in digital format. Ayy… What isn’t a DVD by now? (umm, actually lots of stuff aren’t on DVD, but I just wish some of this stuff was still in reruns on regular tv like they used to be rather than me paying bucks for DVD’s).

WEEKEND.

Statue of Liberty re-opens… (see YC’s Tues. post below).

The post office across the street from World Trade Center finally re-opens (it has been 9/11/01 since the closure/damages).

Bob Murphy, longtime voice of the NY Mets, passed away. Amusing yet poignant note: I listened to parts of the Mets v. Milwaukee Brewers on the radio, wherein the current voices, Gary Cohen and Howie Rose, reminisced about Murph moments. They then realized that every time they relayed on the air a Murph memory, the Mets made hits – and Cohen and Rose wonder if Bob Murphy was lending a hand from up in heaven. Either way, they were impressed that the Mets were playing well. So, the Mets ended today’s game on a happy note: 12-3 victory. A “happy recap” (as Murphy would say) will be in the newspaper or tv or radio. Mets fans need a little cheer, even in these times.

Bill Clinton’s appearance on Letterman’s show was a good watch (I didn’t even realize that he’d be on; I was just channel-changing and there he was. Promoting Kerry and Hilary? Geez, Bill Clinton).

An interesting story on Slate.com about the Citigroup building.

Plus, on a non-related (yet still about Citigroup) note, Slate.com’s latest “Ad Report” grades the latest Citigroup ads. Seth Stevenson notes that these ads, wherein people make huge errors (one woman mistakes her friend’s weight for a pregnancy; a man tries to duck out of his girlfriend’s request to discuss marriage) and then confuse their friends/significant others by just saying, “Thank you” out of nowhere. As Stevenson puts it: “‘Thank you!’ blurts the first woman, in a total non sequitur. Magically, the insult is forgotten. Says the announcer, ‘It’s amazing what a simple “thank you” can do.’” Apparently, the ads are Citigroup’s attempt to get people to join in some bonus points program.

Stevenson gives Citigroup credit for being “honest”; he says, “Maybe Citi thinks they can win our respect with a no-nonsense take on the situation: They’re going to treat us badly—and we know it—so why not at least get some tchotchkes out of the deal?” He gives the ads a D+ because he really doesn’t like it when the big corps rub it in.

Personally, I thought the dumb boyfriend ad was funny (his suddenly saying “thank you” actually thrills his girlfriend; apparently, he lacked good manners, forget the capacity to commit – methinks that relationship will either end soon or else continue in limbo). The ad where the woman bursts into “thanks” after mistakenly thinking her friend was pregnant – that was just plain stupid; it wasn’t entertaining but embarrassing. Where did Citigroup come up with that one?

So it goes…

It’s not a good feeling when you wake up in the morning, thinking, “Oh, I’ll just sleep in; it’s Sunday,” and then – thwack – uh, no, it’s Monday; you have to get to work. Ugh…

More police officers in downtown Manhattan. This is the new normal, I guess.

In a previous post, I referred to this NY Times’ Travel article profiling NYC for the tourists and recommending that people do the Staten Island Yankees since it’s extremely hard to do the Brooklyn Cyclones. It occurred to me that part of the reason why the Cyclones have been tremendously popular as they have been is because of that baseball legacy in Brooklyn, the one cursed (or blessed) upon us by the Dodgers.

But, the real question is, has the Cyclones been that great for Brooklyn, or more particularly, Coney Island? NY Times’ Lydia Polgreen explores the answers (if any) to the question. Apparently, people would come, maybe buy a hotdog at Nathan’s next door, but ultimately leave. They’re not staying to really revitalize the neighborhood. And, all plans to rebuild anything remain plans. The subway terminal is almost done, but the people driving in aren’t going to stick around. Troubling. We can be optimistic, but it’s troubling to me.

NY Times’ James Barron tries out a fascinating experiment: Send a piece of mail to Leonard Bernstein Place (aka West 65th Street) and will it get there? Barron reports that the US Postal Service “says it recognizes the city’s alternate street names, just as it recognizes streets that New Yorkers still call by their older, snappier names, like Sixth Avenue, which became Avenue of the Americas in 1945” and the findings are that the Postal Service sort of does it. Kind of:

To add the slightest trace of scientific methodology to the experiment, letters with the conventional street addresses were mailed at the same time. So two letters went to each addressee. All the letters were mailed from Midtown Manhattan at the same time, on a weekday afternoon. Of the ones that reached their destinations, most arrived two days later.

All the recipients received the letters with conventional addresses. But of the letters with the alternate street names, 4 of the 10 did not reach their destinations.

The Postal Service returned two addressed to people on Josh Rosenthal Way (72nd Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West). It marked one “Returned for Better Address.” On the other, it put a yellow sticker with R.T.S. in big letters and, for those who do not know their postal abbreviations, “return to sender” in small letters. Of three options on the sticker, one was checked: “Not deliverable as addressed – unable to forward.”

Nor did the Postal Service deliver letters to people on David Ben-Gurion Place (East 43rd Street between Vanderbilt and Madison Avenues) or Joe Horvath Street (West 52nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues)…

But letters went through to addressees on Alvin Ailey Place (West 61st Street between West End and Amsterdam Avenues), Leonard Bernstein Place (West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, beside Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center), Isaac Bashevis Singer Boulevard (West 86th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue) and Edgar Allan Poe Street (West 84th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive). Nevermind that the envelope misspelled Poe’s middle name with a tell-tale ‘E’ in place of the second ‘A.’

Plus, a very interesting article on what it means to be Japanese-American, when the children of the nissei (second generation) are now sansei (third generation) yonsei (fourth) and gosei (fifth)? One becomes more identified as American, culturally at least, considering the drive for assimilation during the years after World War II; and has to recognize the need for instilling cultural education of the hapas (because, if you don’t count the hapas, the idea of “Japanese-American” gets harder to count).

So glad to have finally gotten “Entertainment Weekly” today. EW thought well of “Harold and Kumar” as it transcends stereotypes while still doing the pothead thing. EW also rated the dvd release of the 1st season of… Knight Rider. (oh, geez, there goes the flashbacks of watching mucho Knight Rider and each instance of KITT driving at faster speeds to rescue the day). But, EW was behind on the news on James Bond – so I understood it, Eric Bana is the new Bond (or really close to it). Personally, I still liked Clive Owen, but at least he can go do other projects. Eric Bana is not as chiseled looking, or as famous (“Troy,” “Hulk”), so I guess the folks behind Bond thought that made him a great pick. Plus, a very cute EW interview with Anderson Cooper (EW happily notes that he’s a Celebrity Jeopardy winner who ought to go up against perpetual Jeopardy winner Ken Jennings). Ah…