Category: Brooklyn

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.

I’m off to try to pick up Nagila Lawson’s Feast, an autographed copy from Barnes & Noble. P- made coq au vin yesterday for dinner — very tasty! More cooking would be more welcome.

I had some problems finding the book, but it was eventually found under the first name after frantically going floor to floor.

—
This post was made with a trial version of BlogPlanet, a photo blog client for mobile phones. For more information visit www.blogplanet.net.

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.

I’m at dfw airport right now waiting for my flight to board to jfk. There are a lot of military shipping out to Iraq here. They seem to be going by 1’s and 2’s. Outside was ugly – the (non-Asian) speaker at Saturday’s luncheon, the robbery of some law students’ auction items. My time here ultimately was great for what was inside – our people, the people there, the beautiful art interiors. Ok, we’re boarding – more writeup later.

—
This post was made with a trial version of BlogPlanet, a photo blog client for mobile phones. For more information visit www.blogplanet.net.

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…

The race is on again… On my way to LGA in car service. On these early departures, I can never sleep until I’m on the plane. I think that I have everything. I’m travelling way light – only a duffle bag and my laptop.

—
This post was made with a trial version of BlogPlanet, a photo blog client for mobile phones. For more information visit www.blogplanet.net.

I’m heading to Dallas tomorrow morning to judge a moot court competition and pick up some BBQ. I think that I have the mobile blogging setup all ready, so posts will be more concise and more rapid for the next couple of days….

I’ve upgraded the WordPress software to version 1.2.1; seems to be without a hitch, but let me know if you find anything wrong.

In “cover-up” news, Band Aid has announced that they will have a third remake of “Do They Know It’s Christmastime?” to raise money for African famine relief. The remake will have some of the original artists, such as U2’s Bono, but will also feature the musical styles of current artists such as Coldplay and Dido.