Category: Brooklyn

‘All or nothing’ gamble succeeds’, BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3618883.stm

Thirty-two year old Londoner Ashley Revell sold everything he had, including his apartment, his car and his clothes, went to Las Vegas in a rented tux, and bet it all on red on roulette, and won. I don’t know if he did it for a dramatic Spring Break stunt, the adrenaline rush, or just to see who his true friends and family were. I’m just happy it worked out for him.

I think that is actually the lesson of Easter — that perhaps we should be prepared to give up what we are comfortable with in order to take advantage of new opportunities in our lives. I am sure that is what YC is up to in going to Taiwan.

Some interesting bits:

– Fascinating NY Times’ article on the joy of Passover, when Orthodox Jews find a way to enjoy the Ringling Brothers’ circus and still be kosher.

– An Easter thing: Slate.com’s Explainer explains the meaning of the Peeps and Easter. Cool. So glad those little marshmallow-like chickies are only available once a year.

– Fascinating NY Times article on a Henry Louis Gates’ project of a database on a database of African-American biographies. Gates feels that this an opportunity to fills gaps in history. Shelby Steele and other African-American conservative scholars worry that such a project only serves to put African-American stories outside the mainstream, i.e., it separates their stories under the guise of putting them on a pedestal. John McWhorter, another conservative writer, questions the impact of these stories being put out – will they really inspire people, or convince people that African-Americans are tragic – considering the many stories of sadness and injury.

– An Asian-American law school friend and I had this conversation that is sort of relevant to what I read in that article about the African-American bios and I wonder, so, what are stories telling us about others/ourselves? See, my friend was unhappy by how the American mainstream media, particularly the NY Times, seems to always cast Asians, particularly China and Chinese, in a negative way. I didn’t necessarily agree with her that the media was anti-Chinese – but then again, I tried to counter that it wouldn’t be consistently easy to cast China in a certain positive a light when the mainstream doesn’t approve of Communism (as it officially still exists in whatever guise in China, putting aside other questionable things about China, like human rights dilemmas and environmental fears, etc.). Plus, I took the view that the mainstream media in general didn’t report on international news properly anyway.

But, really – how do the stories that get told, and the manner in which they’re told, affect us? Do people perceive Chinese people in America or Chinese in China more negatively than they should be, because the media reports them negatively, if it bothers to report their stories at all? Will the African-American biographies – and by extention, African-American history in general – be seen as just tragic? I just don’t know. I’d like to be positive and say that media consumers are savvy enough to not just accept stories at face value and realize that history isn’t inevitable – nothing in history says that things must follow a tragic end. Some stories turn out to be inspirational, but we don’t that they are either sad/happy until we even look at them. History develops; it’s only in hindsight that we think/realize that there’s is a direction.

Sometimes, I think blaming the media is too easy. Sometimes, I wonder if more people can be independent thinkers and weigh what they read before they say anyone is tragic or inspiring. There’s no quick and easy either-or anyway – just a lot of grays, since no one, in contemporary times or in history, is perfect.

Well, enjoy the spring; nice weather today.

Recap from my friend’s niece bowling birthday party in Pasadena.
[Typewritten on the back of an AMC bowling party post card:]

To: FC & P--

3/29/04
Hi P-- & FC:
Your Godiva chocolate were
delicious. I ate all of them
without sharing with
anybody. My brother stole
one chocolate & the nut got
stuck in his braces. He
deserves it! Thank you
very much for coming to
my party & thanks again for
the fancy chocolate.
L--

That was really sweet!

I’m off today; my department’s some of the only people who did not have this week off from work. However, I just laid in bed at P–‘s house (she had to go to work) so my penance today was to clean up after her sister’s 2 dogs. They are generally indoor dogs, and one of them must have had a serious case of the runs. While she did manage to mostly hit the newspaper, it still doesn’t make it any easier to pick it up.

My co-worker’s retiring and taking a CFO job in Sweden; we’re having a celebratory BBQ at his house this afternoon.

I’ve been awfully busy the past few days. Have been terribly remiss with postings. Am moving, packing, shipping stuff and running around getting paperwork finished.

Flying back to the East Coast Saturday and then back and then onto Taiwan and a new adventure.

The whole Iraq thing has been really troubling me …. I just want to scream.

=YC

Various stuff:

“Proudly Answering to ‘Jersey Girl,’” – writer Helene Stapinski traces the origins and the definition of the true “Jersey Girl.” Being from Brooklyn, it’s not like I know what being from Jersey means, but I thought that this article was fascinating. Apparently, the Jersey Girl is not just some 1980’s invention with the Big Hair/Make-Up/Thick Accent; she is the sweet but spirited gal of the 1890’s, back to the early development of Miss America’s Atlantic City origins.

So, even NJ – the state perpetually caught between Philadelphia and NYC – has some history none of us realizes. And, speaking of the turn-of-the-century, Times Square is celebrating its 100th Anniversary. Cool. Is everything celebrating something in NYC? The subway’s 100 years old; my undergraduate alma mater is celebrating 250th anniversary. People forget that NYC is an old city, since it’s constantly re-inventing itself and seems always new.

Connecticut (one of the newspapers quoted Coach Jim Calhoun of the men’s basketball team describing his state as one trapped between NYC and Boston) – is celebrating how UConn’s men and women basketball teams are NCAA champions. How does one school do it? It’s amazing – or maybe I’m a little jealous. Seeing one’s school like that – that’s just way too cool (well, putting aside the whole rioting-burning-the-school/town-down). Hmm.

Some Asian-related reading that I thought was interesting:

NY Times’ Dining section on Vietnamese cooking; sounds very interesting.

Slate.com is celebrating poetry month; poetry editor Robert Pinsky (former Poet Laureate) selects “Reading the Poetry of Meng Chao” by the 11thCentury Chinese poet Su Tung-p’o (translated by Burton Watson), a poem about reading bad poetry. Interesting poem – one feels the frustration of Su Tung-p’o in reading a not-very-good poem – apparently, a perennial feeling, no matter the century.

Some notable stuff:

UPS commercial – the Brown/Brun/etc… ads, wherein UPS men all over the world are doing their thing. I liked the one where the Chinese guy is telling the Chinese woman (in Cantonese, I think) about a UPS guy on the other side of the world… while the American UPS guy is doing the exact same thing with the American woman – and both women look at their respective UPS guys skeptically. Meanwhile, there’s still that FedEx ad, wherein Chinese man, muttering angrily in Cantonese about his delivery thing, and the young Chinese mailroom guy saying one thing: “FedEx.” “Oh,” said older Chinese man, feeling much better. Hmm. Two delivery service ads using Cantonese. Say, I bet if I watched more tv ads in Cantonese, I mights actually learn the mother tongue. (Umm, sure, in fantasy land, maybe!) But, at least I’m entertained (although, I really hate the idea of referring UPS as merely “Brown.” I mean, that’s just stupid – why on earth do I have to call you by your – umm – color? Can you really make the word for a color your trademark? Arguably, yeah, you can, but, it just isn’t a great idea to me, that’s all).

And, then there’s the interesting Verizon ads of late – where you have this Hispanic looking family using every Verizon product possible, while their three-year old is messing around the house. My brother noted to me that the family seemed bi-racial to him – since the dad looked a little too light-skinned and, well, a shade too clueless about importing his digital pictures to his e-mail. While dropping by NY Times.com, there was the link to the Verizon’s website, for more info on (what else?) their products and how the Perez-Elliotts use their phone/DSL/etc. service. I couldn’t resist and I clicked to see more info on the family. Personally, I like the idea of this multicutural/multiracial/multiethnic thing – it’s seems like a sunny look at the 21st century America. Plus, the mom turned out to be a lawyer – great plug for the legal profession and its demographics (“Yes, a Latina woman with four kids, a techno-clueless husband, and a really big dog can do her job just fine, thank you very much”).

In honor of baseball season’s opening, here’s a link to a profile of the 1986 NY Mets and how they made us feel good.

I could link this, but I’ll resist it for now – the latest Mary Worth comic strip storyline is mondo bizarre. The new tenant in Mary Worth’s condo is apparently a male chauvinist pig, as he expresses his view that he cannot marry a woman who has an “agenda” outside the home. Uh, okay, what century is he living in? You get the bubble thought from Mrs. Cameron, the neighbor, who’s pretty confidant that the guy is not going to do well in his new advertising executive job with his view of women. And, yet, there’s a hint that the guy may have a reason for his view – maybe he was scarred for life by his – gasp – evil, hard-working mom who abandoned him for her career. Jeez, this better unfold properly. I didn’t like the way Mary Worth gang ended their previous storyline.

And, another comical comic strip note – today’s Doonesbury was hilarious take on the Condileeza Rice v. Richard Clarke spat… (link to the Slate.com, wherein you too can find the link to the 4/5/04 edition of Doonesbury).

I was actually watching “Ten Commandments” last night – or most of it, anyway (I’m too much of a channel changer to watch the whole thing properly). Stuart Klawan’s NY Times article about Cecil B. DeMille indicated that ABC aired DeMille’s “Ten Commandments” to coincide with Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” (Klawan’s otherwise interesting article specifically includes this remark: “You may catch DeMille’s ‘Ten Commandments’ (1956) tonight on ABC (evidently broadcast in response to the success of ‘The Passion’)”) – I think Klawans had it slightly wrong to allude to such ridiculous intention on ABC’s part – ABC aired “Ten Commandments” every year around Holy Week/Passover time. Mel is the one with the sense of timing to get “The Passion…” during Lent. (ABC airing a movie on Judas a couple of weeks ago, when Mel’s movie came out – yeah, _that_ was crude of ABC; but the same cannot be said about what ABC did with “Ten Commandments”). I’ll give ABC that much credit for trying to stick with some shred of tradition.

To the Jewish folks – have a nice Passover. To the Christians – have a nice Holy Week. And, may we please have some warmer temperatures in NYC?….

OK, I had not gotten my California travelogue entries in yet, but the pictures are here.

To summarize:
Saturday, March 27: JFK to SAN; arrive 10 AM, get a rental car from Hertz with Neverlost GPS (recommended), drove to the Carlsbad Flower Fields in bloom, visited El Camino Mortuary Park to do an early Ching Ming for my grand aunt and uncle; was running late to Newport Beach, so detour to Pasedena to catch my friend’s niece’s 11th bowling birthday party. Visited the Bona Vista revolving bar at the Westin Bonaventure. Went to Hollywood, saw Mann’s Chinese Theatre, and the Kodak Theater. Ordered massive amounts of Tommy’s chilli-topped dive through menu items. Slept in Newport Beach.

Sunday, March 28: Went to Balboa Island for church. Someone fainted in the middle of the service; the woman standing to my right turned out to be a doctor. Passed out myself for a few hours as my friend’s husband helped all of us run for the border in his car. Crossed into Tiajuana, bought Mexican car insurance from a clean, if a bit shady tourist info station. Did a straight run to Ensenada on Mexico’s route 1-D, an excellent 2 lane toll road with spectacular vistas. Randomly drove up and down Ave. Reunion trying to find the church my boss said his son was at to drop off his birthday present. Found one of the other missionaries that worked for him, who accepted the package. We then drove to Puerto Nuevo, capital of fried Pacific lobster. $14 for 3 halves of 1 1/2 lb. lobsters. Delicious! Had drinks while watching the sunset at Villa Ortega’s, 2 doors down. In pitch darkness, bought ceramics. Drove back to Newport Beach; customs didn’t even bother checking documents — just asked “Everyone American?”.

Monday, March 29: Had a wonderful brunch across the street. After taking it easy, we drove towards San Diego. Parked at the Embarcadero across the ship Star of India. Ate super-fresh sushi at The Fish Market. Rode the carousel at the Seaport Village (originally made in Coney Island!). GPS guided us to P–‘s friend Steve’s house. Examined his new mobile home.

Tuesday, March 30: Checked out downtown, bought our mandatory See’s Chocolates. Visited the Chinatown Museum. Spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo. Hua Mei the panda was sprawled backwards on the ground, while her son was high up in the trees avoiding view. Finished up at the Hotel del Coronado, where I had a wonderful half-hour massage in the spa to take care of a nagging right elbow sprain. Went back to Steve’s house to pack and eat, made it to the airport with time to spare. Took the redeye back to JFK and work.

Total travel: over 6,000 miles by air, 900 miles by car. Won our American Airlines Gold Challenge, and Fly NYC Challenges, coming out with an extra 5634 FF miles, a free ticket anywhere AA flies, and AA Gold status. Travel proven and with nary a disagreement, my relationship with P– is ever closer and stronger. It was well worth it.

Sunday NY Times’ reading – “For Japanese Girls, Black is Beautiful” – Japanese obsession of African-American hip-hop culture leads artist Iona Rozeal Brown to explore Japanese art – or, as the article caption puts it, “Iona Rozeal Brown’s works are a cross-cultural hybrid: a black artist using a Japanese style to paint Japanese women who are obsessed with black culture.” There’s irony atop of irony. Even Brown feels that the Japanese enthusiasm has some offensive elements to it, but she in turn doesn’t want to co-opt Japanese art. The article closes with Brown curious to look into China and Korea’s interest in hip-hop. Synergy is good, even if co-option may be negative.

Buddhist sculpture really does reflect Buddhist evolution, as Buddhism navigated from West to East, incorporating elements of India, China, Korea, and Japan. The Washington Post has a most enlightening article on a current Wasington, D.C., exhibit of Buddhist sculpture.

35th anniversary of “Sesame Street” – and somehow the Washington Post has this strange interview with Grover (who confesses that Julianne Moore broke his heart onetime – huh? The little blue guy gets around).

Have a good week.

One more entry for the day – I was away for awhile, so might as well make up for lost time, right? (and, FC, where are more California stories? Post them, if not a picture or something!)

– Men’s final four on Saturday – Georgia Tech v. Oklahoma State. As of this hour, Georgia Tech has won – not a team I picked at all. Duke v. U Conn is about to begin….

Need some on-line or news reading? Some suggestions…
(a) Political reading?
– Slate.com’s William Saletan has an interesting analysis on the George W. Bush camp’s criticism of the George W. Bush’s opponents and critics. If everybody who started out as supporting GWB initiatives/policies then didn’t like the execution of the initiatives/policies (or lack thereof), are such “flip-floppers” really so wrong, as the GWB camp would say they are? Well, I don’t think they’re traitors – maybe they legitimately changed their minds. Maybe they’re not just being “political” averse to GWB. Hmm.

– NY Times notes the Conservative Republicans’ attempt to oust moderate/old-time Republicans who aren’t as conservative, as seen in the example of a bunch of the conservatives out to take down Senator Arlen Spector (R-Pennsylvania). There is something not smart about what the hard-core conservatives are doing – they’re not being any better than George W. Bush camp’s “either you’re with us or you’re against us” line of thought. Why attack an incumbent senator, when your real target should be the opposition party, i.e., the possible Demoractic candidate? Have they not learned anything from the Democrats – intraparty problems won’t help in the long run? On the other hand, the Bush camp will likely make everyone in the GOP unite in time for the convention in NYC (heavens knows that some of these hard-core conservatives are scared out of their minds to be coming to my hometown because, you know, the hometown is Sin City to them, especially when there are a bunch of liberals around here) – but, seriously, I miss the true moderate Republican, and the conservatives’ blatant opposition to the moderates of their own party is unappetizing stuff.

(b) NY Times’ early posting of the travel articles – nice article on Macao. I’ve never been there, so I wonder if this article does it any justice. On the other hand, I thought it was fascinating anyway – never realized that the Portugeuse influence was so strong in Macao.

The latest American Express commercial with the golf course and the gopher from the “Caddyshack” movie – it’s funny – the gopher’s cute, in a psycho way (as he was in the movie – disclaimer: I have yet to watch all “Caddyshack” from start to finish, but have watched the commercials and parts of it often enough when WPIX Channel 11 used to show it every year). Anyway, Tiger Woods as the Bill Murray role (the guy out to get the gopher and couldn’t) – funny and very expressive (has Tiger been improving on the acting thing?). I almost didn’t realize that it was Tiger – he had the whole slacker-Murray look down well.

Plot: Tiger almost destroys the golf course because of his Ahab chase of Gopher. His clever move to get Gopher – using his American Express card to hire a terminator who knows the best way to get Gopher – using that darn song from “Caddyshack” will apparently “always works” to get Gopher out of the hole and do his little dance and create an ample opportunity to dump Gopher into a bag. Tiger is happy. Golf course back to normal. Does it make me want to use my American Express more? Umm, no. But, it does make me want to watch “Caddyshack.” And, again, Gopher’s so cute and furry, even if, well, destructive. B+ commercial.

So it goes. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Sleep to keep some shred of the lost hour…