Category: Brooklyn

Slate.com’s Seth Stevenson has the latest “Ad Report” to comment on (drum roll, please) – those Budweiser v. Miller ads. You know, the Miller ads have this dorky spokesman who’s running for president of beers against the Budweiser Clydesdale spokeshorse. Apparently, Budweiser got all mad and so unleashed their spokesreptilians and the spokesdonkey to say that Miller can’t be president of beers because it’s owned by a South African company. Stevenson notes:

This assumes, of course, that beer-president campaigns use electoral guidelines akin to those of standard, non-beer, U.S. presidential campaigns, and that corporate parentage determines beer-citizenship status. But I’m OK with that assumption—electoral beer law is hazy on the matter, and the beer constitution offers no clear answers.

Yeah, I’d have to wonder about that darn beer constitution. Is it even written? Do we have to be strict constructionists, or can we read it in a more interpretive manner? Will Scalia and Stevens have a field day over this? (do they even drink beer?) Stevenson gave the Budweiser ads a low grade; I have no particular opinion myself, although it’s interesting to see the lizards again and the cute donkey is still cute. And, yeah, I’m still wondering about the beer constitution. (I’m not a beer drinker, by the way; you can make your own assessment about this stuff).

Oh, and looky here – Hotmail’s jumping on the bandwagon to give e-mail account holders more bytes. Whoa….

This is the article we’ve been talking about at work and so on – “Fear in the Workplace: The Bullying Boss.” Consider the descriptions of the bosses, and see if it applies to your boss; research on the schoolyard bully may now help find ways to deal with the workplace (the adults’ version of the schoolyard soap opera madness).

A book on… Brooklyn. Cool. The article brings discuss this crime stories anthology by Brooklyn authors, “Brooklyn Noir,” with all of Brooklyn’s diversity.

I’ve caught some of the new Tavis Smiley talk show on PBS, and thought it is interesting. Smiley’s a good interviewer, making conversation with his guests. Nice to see a person of color in this role (Smiley’s West coast, so it’s a different perspective in interesting ways from the usual Charlie Rose mode). I’ll corroborate the view of Daily News’ columnist E.R. Shipp :

For so many years, blacks, Latinos and other journalists who form a minority within the profession have demanded greater access and a greater appreciation for a diversity of voices. [….]

In Smiley, who is something of an empowerment guru among blacks, PBS can attempt to build a new audience that is younger and more diverse in race, ethnicity and even geographical grounding (Smiley’s shows emanate from Los Angeles).

He does what too little of talk radio or television does these days: conducts civil conversations with a broad spectrum of politicians, newsmakers, performers and writers in a forum where one first has to declare one’s political alliances. He’s comfortable with conservatives, liberals and the undeclared; with the profound and the profane, with elder statesmen and the hip-hop nation. With such stratification in the country, he provides one place that helps promote dialogues that might not otherwise take place before audiences who might not otherwise think they have anything in common.

Since January, his guests have ranged from Bill .Cosby to Newt Gingrich to Gore Vidal to Alice Randall, a black novelist who has written hit country songs for singers such as Trisha Yearwood. He can discuss Iraq with Richard Holbrooke, the veteran diplomat who advises John Kerry, but also with the nonpolitical comedian Paul Rodriguez. He has also featured the producer of a documentary on Al Jazeera along with one of its leading journalists. He raises questions about why “Baadasssss,” Mario van Peebles’ homage to the groundbreaking 1971 film “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” made by his father, Melvin Van Peebles, has received so little publicity and why so little attention was paid to the end of the Showtime series “Soul Food,” which had a five-year run depicting the complex layers of life in an African-American family.

I’m all for anything that expands the national dialogue and promotes, in more than a figurative sense, East meeting West. [….]

As I write this, Smiley’s interviewing with a Brooklyn ex-mob informant (after he finished interviewing Democratic Party consultant Donna Brazile). Uh huh. Nice going. Thumbs up for being different.

Enjoy the rest of the week….

Funny – I thought yesterday was summer solstice; d’uh, it’s actually today – the time of year when the natural light is out that much longer (even at the hour in which I’m writing this blog). See, I like summer for this one reason – the light (not the humidity – so help me Gosh, definitely not the humidity – I’ll can swallow the heat, but not the perpetual dampness that summer in NYC can bring).

Finally finished reading Brian Greene’s “The Elegant Universe”. Took forever, but I did it. Greene’s a good writer; very poetic stuff in trying to understand the mysteries of the universe and the possibility of one theory to explain all the theories of physics. Greene’s a string theorist and is real smart and it shows. Lovely. My only quibble is that try as I might, I still have trouble understanding the scientific explanations (yep, I’m the one who undermines the Asian-American stereotype by having not been good at higher mathematics and physics (which was not my best science subject)).

Then again, I liked how Greene showed how the latest thought in string theory specifically and physics in general almost cross into philosophy: what is reality; if Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle says that the subatomic world is awfully uncertain, what can we be certain about at the normal level?; if Einstein says things are relative at the galactic level, that’s just… powerful stuff; are there alternate dimensions (Greene says yes; and there are bunches of them) – and what does that really mean for the rest of us (umm, besides being fodder for sci-fi consumers); and what is the meaning of what science is leading us? I liked this one line from Greene, which I’ll note here:

[S]cience proceeds along a zig-zag path toward what we hope will be ultimate truth, a path that begun with humanity’s earliest attempts to fathom the cosmos and whose end we cannot predict. – Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe, p. 20, 2003 paperback edition.

It just sounds nice, that’s all. Although, keep in mind – the book is actually written before 9/11, so there was this odd reference to the World Trade Center (an analogy used to explain something about wormholes, if I recalled correctly); nothing bad, really; notably, Green’s 2003 preface notes that the latest scientific developments are still taking time (doesn’t help that particle accelerators take time to be built and cost serious moola), so his book is hardly out-of-date.

Greene’s from NYC, and he’s currently teaching at my Alma Mater, after having done stints at
other Ivy League institutions and Oxford (yeah, he’s really really smart); in fact, Alma Mater offers “Physics for Poets” (which I heard was no easy class anyway), so thanks to the good Prof. Greene, I guess I can now fully accept that physics can be poetic – no doubt… (sidenote – local PBS in NYC will be showing Nova’s version of “The Elegant Universe” in July – so, set your VCR’s – the three-part series is watchable, in a not-too-explanatory style, but-ok-for-the-junior-high-and/or-not-too-scientific set of folks out there)….

My streak this weekend sucks (pardon my language) – I managed to miss the Madonna interview on 20/20 this past Friday and the Clinton interview on 60 Minutes yesterday. Gee, I hope Barbara Walters and Dan Rather (forget Madonna and Clinton) will forgive me. (I had other things to do, to say the least).

Let’s go Mets; let’s hope we can at least be positive (maybe; hopefully; ideally; eh, whatever goes). The hometown National League team swept the Detroit Tigers this weekend; can we dare look forward to the upcoming games against the Yankees? Can Jose Reyes stay healthy and keep the team energized (and be mature about it)? Can the team owner himself keep things going without resorting to making things go bad? Hmm…

Have a good week….

I just drove 108 miles in the last 12 hours. This may not seem like a big deal to anyone outside of NYC, but 1. this was between 7 PM and 7 AM this morning, and 2. the drive was completely within Brooklyn and Queens, and 3. New Yorkers hate to drive, especially between the stated time periods and especially if they don’t end up going anywhere.

Stop one: a fundraiser for a Korean civil rights group in Astoria. Met Councilman John Liu from Flushing (again — saw him at a dinner the night before also). His speech: if NYC is 10% Asian, and there are 51 members in the Council, there ought to be at least 5 Asian councilmembers, right? Right. His driven determination is what we as APAs need to do.

Stop two: P–‘s house, where I took a power nap. She also happens to live 15 minutes away from JFK.

Stop three: JFK terminal 4, a.k.a. “The Terminal” where Tom Hanks is stranded. I’m there to pick up my aunt. Unfortunately, she’s flying BWIA from Trinidad, which means that they are on island time, i.e. whenever. Scheduled for 10 PM, it was pushed back to 2 AM, and then to 3 AM. So, I’m the one that’s stranded, having to spend $2.99 for a bottle of Pepsi and $9 for parking that should have cost $1.50. Finally clearing customs at about 10 to 4, I drive like a madman to my parents’ place.

Stop four: P–‘s house, where she’s getting ready for a 7:30 am flight to Seattle. The sun’s been out for about an hour at this point.

Stop five: JFK Terminal 9. While my night vision sort of sucks, it’s compensated by the fact that there is virtually no one on the Belt Parkway at 3 in the morning. Now, it gets crowded and limos dart in and out while I get my 30 seconds at the curb.

Stop six: My apartment, where I’m writing this instead of packing for my trip to Seattle tonight. I’m staying out there, making a day trip to Vancouver (dragon boat races!), and returning Tuesday. We’ll have internet, so I’ll blog from there. See you on the other coast (and I get to christen a new location category!)

And no, I’m not driving — I’m going to take the AirTrain.

Following the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Europe, let’s not forget that WWII had a warfront in the Pacific side, and so the NY Times reports how, with less fanfare, Saipan of the Northern Mariana Islands honors the D-Days of the Pacific. The article notes;

[M]any Saipan veterans and their supporters gathered here on Tuesday said that just as in World War II, the American popular mind continued to relegate the Pacific theater to second-class status…. Jerry Facey, co-chairman of the Saipan’s 60th Anniversary Committee, said that during two years of organizing Tuesday’s events, he received a long series of “no’s” from Washington politicians and Pentagon brass who were invited to attend the ceremonies. Recalling the last big commemoration that he organized, he said: “It is just like the 50th, we were overshadowed by Normandy. We are so remote, people just forget.”

Recollecting the liberation of a region from Japanese occupation, and reflecting after 60 years of lives lost and lives changed:

On Sunday, a memorial was dedicated to the 933 indigenous people who died in the World War II battles and their aftermath.

On Tuesday, this new monument was at the end of the short parade, which saw some of the octogenarian veterans walking, others riding while standing in the backs of two balky World War II-era military trucks.

“It’s changed a lot, but we sure love it,” Hal Olsen, a Navy veteran from New Jersey, shouted down from one truck, referring to Saipan, and perhaps to the open-air thrill of riding in the back of a truck.

Hmm. Must be very nice there at this time of year, a nice one more chance for the veterans to enjoy paradise and recall how it was once not paradise.

The NY news cable channel NY1 is having “Brooklyn Week.” Such a nice coverage, especially the stuff on Brooklyn cuisine, (Brooklyn being a place of different restaurants and livelihoods).

Fascinating story on Simmie Knox, the artist who painted the official White House portraits of the Clintons – who just happens to be the first African-American commissioned to paint a presidential portrait.

Interesting article in Law.com – top-notched law professors being poached, traded, and signed like they’re professional athletes, and the law school deans or presidents who talk about this. Amusing.

Law.com also had this inspiring article about Vanita Gupta, a young Asian-American attorney, and the progress of her legal career.

And so there you go. Some stuff.

Hmm. Could it be – that the LA Lakers are going to say bye-bye to its winning ways? Could it be that the Detroit Pistons are the NBA champions? Hmm.

Linda Greenhouse of the NY Times puts in her two cents on the Pledge of Allegiance case. I like the way she highlights irony in the whole situation:

The competing opinions [between J. Stevens vs. the opinions of Ch. J. Rehnquist, J. O’Connor, and J. Thomas] on Monday were portraits in irony, some probably intentional and some, perhaps, not. Justice Stevens, one of the court’s most liberal members, offered a paean to judicial restraint in explaining why the court should not reach the merits of the case.

The “unelected, unrepresentative judiciary in our kind of government” should not reach out unnecessarily to decide cases, Justice Stevens said, quoting from an opinion written in 1983 by the conservative icon Robert H. Bork, then an appeals court judge. Justice Stevens is a consummate craftsman, and the sly reference was clearly intentional.

Greenhouse also notes:

In her opinion, Justice O’Connor called the pledge a permissible example of “ceremonial deism” rather than religious worship, similar, she said, to the words the Supreme Court’s marshal intones at the start of each session: “God save the United States and this honorable court.”

“Ceremonial deism”? Uh, ok. But, just because it’s ceremonial doesn’t mean it’s constitutional, is it? But, if we had struck down the “under God” of the Pledge, what would it mean for “God save the United States and this honorable court,” and “In God We Trust” – traditionally entrenched, if nothing else (“traditionally entrenched” makes more sense than “ceremonial deism”). Well, I’m not a justice of the Supreme Court.

I’m trying to figure out whether the Jackie Chan version of “Around the World in 80 Days” is worth it or not. Stephen Holden of the NY Times says it’s okay, but Reuters says it isn’t. I liked the David Niven version (1956). It felt more like the book (which I also liked), with Passepartout (even if he was played by a Mexican actor) the French valet doing quirky stuff and the Indian princess charming Niven’s Phileas Fogg. Indian princess, folks – an Asian woman presence (even if she was played by Shirley MacLaine, a white woman). Chan’s version foregoes bothering with actresses posing as Asian women; his Passepartout (yeah, Chan plays a faux French valet this time; will Passepartout ever be played by a Frenchman?) works for a Fogg whose love interest in a French woman (huh?). Oh, and California’s Governor Shwarzenegger makes a cameo appearance (which he did before becoming governor). If someone sees this movie, let me know how it went; hard to say if I’ll see it. (sidenote – a tv version with Pierce Brosnan as Fogg was especially good, if I can remember it).

Yahoo.com gives more for free storage. Ooooh. Awesome. See what happens when capitalist competition works? Yahoo felt threatened by Google’s Gmail, and thus gives the Yahoo’ers more. Yeah!

Pardon me as I go Yahoo…

While having a late lunch of fried chicken with my co-workers, there was a sudden commotion. Loud screeching of brakes… a crash… short popping sounds.. thunk. We all dashed to the balcony to see what had happened. A black car seemed to have hit the side of an SUV, causing it to veer left into a telephone booth. The SUV had done a 360, blowing out its wheels as it knocked over a woman standing on the traffic median. The entire NYPD school safety force happened to be around the corner, so the intersection was quickly swarmed by black vehicles. They didn’t seem to have that much experience in traffic control though. The woman was down for the count: someone who seemed to be a doctor was furiously checking vital signs, but not attempting to move. The other cops had swarmed to her. After five long minutes, a fire truck and ambulances showed up. Six or seven people were taken out in back boards, apparently in serious condition. I hope everything works out for the injured.

The news is out – the Supreme Court has ruled on the Pledge of Allegiance case. The NY Times has this posting up (Linda Greenhouse is probably hard at work on her article as I speak). I have not read the Court’s opinion yet, but the Court apparently essentially came down to this: “Eight justices agreed that Dr. Newdow, a nonpracticing lawyer who is also a physician, cannot qualify as a legal representative of his 10-year-old daughter, on whose behalf he filed suit.” Well, the Associated Press seems to indicate that this is a “technicality.” I thought that Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick had a most pertinent conclusion: that Newdow couldn’t win because of the standing problem – that he lacked legal custody of his daughter, which made the Court stuck with custodial issues rather than the substantive matter itself – and in so doing, may arguably be seen as a technicality.

Nonetheless, the Court understandably wouldn’t accept Newdow’s case as the appropriate case to answer the question of the constitutionality. You need standing after all, as my Con Law prof would say (and heavens knows, he spent half the term covering the concept of standing), and I think that this outcome was something that was easily expected. But, would laypeople understand that? First year law students can barely accept that, and I’d agree that this can be irritating of the Court. But, Newdow was a curious party all along (forget the standing problem, he’s something of an eccentric, being the lawyer-doctor). Anyway, the constitutionality question can be explored under better circumstances.

In today’s NY Times, Fascinating article on the history of slavery in America – how slaves lived during slavery, became free, and dealt with what freedom meant – and then they wrote about it in their own slave narratives, which have not been published until the 21st century. I liked how the article traced how a family passed their ancestor’s manuscript in each generation, and the article was nicely noted how the manuscript had the literary value – not just the historical power.

A curious NY Times’ article – NYC’s ex-mayor Ed Koch is in a commercial to get NY’ers to volunteer to facilitate the Republican convention. Quite an idea – the Democratic party town hosting the Republicans, and Koch is telling us to make nice with the GOP tourists. Uh, ok.

Strange weather – cloudiness with sun peaking out now and then. Partly sunny or partly cloudy – technically….

The perfect spring Saturday in NYC! The weather’s so wonderful – sunshine, not too warm, not brisk. Just right. Is Mother Nature holding global warming at bay today? Darn straight she is!

The news junkie that I am – am I amazed by how nostalgic the media has been about the Reagan era this week. They were such lovely times compared to our current state of terrorism, confusion, and polarized politics. Well, and just a thought to put out there: I recall the Ronald Reagan presidency as a warm and fuzzy time, as it was my warm and fuzzy childhood. With his passing, I can say that I can respect the man while withholding judgment on how I feel about his politics.

The passing of Ray Charles – wow, it’s so impressive how his music transcends any one genre.

I saw the latest Harry Potter movie today – it was okay. Pretty art filmy kind of way, compared to the two previous Potter movies. Actor Alan Rickman’s character was less annoying in the 2nd movie; actor Gary Oldman’s character still puzzles me; and actor Michael Gambon – well, he has a presence, but it’s not the same Prof. Dumbledore. Otherwise, I thought that the other characters were all right in the current movie (although that kid playing the Draco Malfoy character is clearly not a physically attractive adolescent – the teenage years never being easy, as they are). I haven’t read the books yet, so can’t say one way or another about accuracy. But, at least Movie 3 is making me want to read the books. Whether I can get to it remains to be seen. (I haven’t read Lord of the Rings yet either, but at least the movies were really great and one felt it so strongly).

The newspaper reviews for the Garfield movie (i.e., the one where Garfield the comic strip cat is computer animated but no one else is) is mostly negative, but Garfield still looks cute to me (more like a stuffed Garfield come to life and very kitty like, so I at least enjoy watching the trailer and commercials, even if I won’t watch the movie; Garfield’s certainly more easier to swallow than what Hollywood did to Scooby-Doo – ugh, cannot believe that Scooby got into two movies and he looks sillier than he ever did). Sort of amazed by how underwhelmed the critics are about it – I mean, at least demonstrate some sincerity about it (one critic made it seem like the vet Liz came out of nowhere – but Garfield followers would know that Liz has been in the comic strip for awhile) – one can pooh-pooh a less-than-average movie only so much. On the other hand, Slate.com has an interesting article noting that Garfield hasn’t really sold out because he has always sold-out anyway. Wow. Talk about putting down the fat cat. I thought that the analysis was really sharp toned stuff.

I can re-read this article and still think it curiously interesting: – YiLing Chen-Josephson did a comparison shopping for Slate.com to figure out which pens are best. I used to be very partial to Papermate pens, but when they’re about to run out of ink, they get all smudgy and ink gets on your fingers. So, I have no favorite pens for now, but Chen-Josephson has given me some thought on what I like about my writing implements.

The poem of the week, on Slate.com – “Holding Hands” by Michael McFee – is nice. I love the imagery and the lyricism.

Enjoy the weather, whereever you are….

Just saw this one — it pretty much encapsulates the Asian American experience in a single scene. It would be a great script for a short film.

http://www.minjungkim.com/archives/001623.html

The weather is way strange in NYC. Today is summer, as opposed to the three previous days of a nice spring. Eh.

–> Asians in the news:

Being the sucker that I am for news on royalty, it appears that Japan’s Crown Princess Masako is just buckling under the severe public and personal pressure that she’s under. A Harvard-educated woman who had a career in Foreign Service until she married the Crown Prince, Masako has since become “dowdy” and has only produced a daughter, contrary to the desires and expectations of the promoters of primogeniture of the Japanese royal bureaucracy. Considering that Crown Prince Naruhito’s brother himself has only daughters and there are no male descendants, Japan is going to have to quit it with the whole primogeniture thing. This Chicago Tribune article (via Yahoo) notes that Masako is “more or less a prisoner of her womb.” It makes me wonder what it means when educated, high class Asian women feel so oppressed, whether or not they put the stress on themselves or that it is their society that does it.

UC law professor John Yoo is in the news about his legal memoranda to the US Justice Department. Findlaw has an interesting analysis by Julie Hilden; she appears to say that while Yoo’s memoranda may be covered under his role as a lawyer advising the government (and therefore not a legal violation and to say otherwise would chill attorneys from advising the government), what he did may be morally wrong. Hmm. May the lay public, forget law students and lawyers, accept the distinctions between morality and legality? Hard to say.

–> Non-Asian-related (so far as I can tell) news: I couldn’t resist reading this article, while I was passing through Findlaw: “Man Charged With Chalupa Assault” – it’s a Taco Bell tort, apparently. ;-D

–> weddings and stuff like that… On Sunday, I highlighted the NY Times’ wedding announcement of the Piepers, of bar review fame (to be more precise, Mr. Pieper’s son – who I heard also teaches some of those classes). Therefore, upon further elaboration: the bride is a medical doctor; Pieper the Younger is a lawyer; plus Pieper the Younger’s parents are, well, dedicated to the family business (the wedding announcement notes that Pieper the Younger’s mom is an editor of the Pieper materials); so, I figure, hopefully, the bride can fit in this family’s activities (she could cover torts, I guess, or treat the students for carpal tunnel syndrome for writing their notes so much). (sidenote: thanks to FC for ruling on the side that the Piepers are public figures who can be referred (see his comment to my post); I had my guess there, considering that they’re in the business and are well known).

Well, June is wedding month (putting aside that it is bar review time, which the Piepers ought to know); congrats to the Piepers and to… [drum roll] J. Lo and Mark Anthony (hmm. was a pre-nup signed there? Any other rules of NYS Domestic Relations Law to consider? Oh, wait – Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony weren’t even married in NYS; but aren’t they still domociled in NYS? Oh whatever)….