Category: Brooklyn

NYC: It’s quite quiet. And, cold. Etc. NY Giants lost, NY Jets somehow won, but I’m not that into football.

The cover of the New York Daily News tv guide has a picture of the star of “Saving Jessica Lynch.” I do not know if it’s a good thing that there are movies about Jessica Lynch, the woman GI of the recent Iraq war, and Elizabeth Smart, the Colorado teenager who was kidnapped. After much criticism (deserved or not), the Ronald Reagan movie was shifted to Showtime, instead of the producing network, CBS, the same network that broadcasted a movie on Hitler. What does all this say about our society? Then there’s CBS’ “60 minutes,” with a story on the other POW’s of the war, and we have to ask ourselves – who is a hero; what is truth; are we accepting what the on-screen media is feeding us, and shouldn’t we hear other stories and perspectives, to know what is “truth”? Hmm. Some food for thought, I suppose.

WB’s “Everwood” is still interesting tv. The annoying Dr. Harold Abbott, even if annoying, is a portrayed by a subtle actor. I just hope this show doesn’t wind up spending all its time inviting guest stars (maybe it’s just for November sweeps).

“Star Trek Enterprise” is slowly improving, but it’s still frustrating, especially when it lapses into the curse of recent Trek (i.e., hitting the reset button with a time travel episode that returns us to the correct timeline, yet declining to follow up on intriguing potential consequences or focusing on consequences with shortcomings).

I’ve noticed this since the baseball playoffs, and I figure I might as well mention this now – the Delta airlines commercial, where the lady who orders her seat on-line and her seat pops out of the printer and accompanies her to the airport. The jingle is strangely catchy; I would end up singing along with it, while still not actually knowing the words. And, yes, the subliminal (or not so subliminal) message: yes, Delta, let’s see the grandest of canyons and enjoy our traveling campanion, that comfortable seat. It’s campy, but scary too (because, I don’t know, the lady seems to like her seat way too much; and watching a seat with legs dressed in khakis must be a straight out of Twilight Zone). I’d give it extra credit for being a hypnotic commercial; both eye-and-ear catching.

Better Sundays ought to be out there. Really.

I caught most of tonight’s “Angel” – quite funny and angsty, in the best of the “Angel” way, wherein the vampire-with-a-soul, Angel, fights along side these Mexican fighters (guys with masks). Angel’s trying to regain his sense of being a champion for good since he’s been feeling disconnected (since he’s currently running the L.A. branch of The Big Evil Law Firm); finding out what it takes may still take awhile for Angel, but maybe he’ll find his way.

Still can’t get over seeing the Dukes of Hazzard (John Schneider and Tom Wopat) singing tv show theme songs during that CBS 75th anniversary show on Sunday night (11/2/03). It was eerie. The two of them are caliber level Broadway actors (Wopat, in particular, having done “42nd Street” recently) and yet singing the Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle? Aye Carumba, as Bart Simpson would say.

“Alias” on Sunday nights has been a boon for ABC. After finally catching up on the episodes I’ve taped, I think I can offer some comments of my own now. After the 11/2/03 episode, I’ve noticed this: “Alias” is taking some lessons from every great soap opera, science fiction television show (such as Star Trek) , and previous spy drama: “Alias” is also finding aways so that no one (not a major character anyway) gets to die. CIA agent Sydney Bristow loses two years of her life, after having been almost killed in last season’s season finale. Sydney has no memory of what she did or where she went. Evil Francie, aka enemy agent Allison Doren in the physical form of Sydney’s late best friend Good Francie, still has some explainin’ to do. And the tension between Sydney, her ex-handler/ex-boyfriend Michael Vaughn, and his new wife/NSC agent Lauren Reed, is so thick that you’d need a power saw to cut through it. The third season of “Alias” isn’t nearly as plot-twisted as seasons 1 and 2, and I miss Lena Olin as Sydney’s morally-ambiguous mother (she and actor Victor Garber, as Sydney’s CIA agent dad) sizzled on the screen. But, “Alias” continues to be fun tv.

My apologies for being away; baseball drained me and life took hold, I suppose. Reflecting on the month of October 2003, I can say that Star Trek literature has its good and bad moments, but lately, it has been more interesting than the currently broadcasted incarnation “Star Trek: Enterprise” (previously just “Enterprise”, but apparently returning to the Star Trek name in an attempt to reclaim fans who have been unhappy with the lack of consistent storytelling in a prequel series like this). The book franchise has released the special “Lost Era” series, to cover the heretofore unseen gap between the movie “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (the last movie on the original crew of the Enterprise, of The Original Series (TOS)) and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (TNG). These books take lines of references about the “Lost Era” from TNG, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “Star Trek: Voyager” and flesh them into stories, as well as bringing to life characters who have had minimum screen time. I haven’t read book 1, since I was eagerly awaiting book 2 – and I particularly enjoyed reading it.

“Serpents Among the Ruins,” by David R. George III, which came out in October, focuses on the experience of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise-B. Captain John Harriman, of the Enterprise B, was seen in “Star Trek: Generations” (the first TNG movie, and the end of William Shatner as Captain Kirk) as one who couldn’t possibly overcome that giant Kirk shadow. Fortunately, the Star Trek novel “The Captain’s Daughter” by Peter David rehabilitated Harriman’s character and “Serpents Among the Ruins” continues the portrayal of this man and how he fits in the pantheon of Enterprise heroes. I highly recommend this book, for being an intruiging read. It demonstrates the complex galactic politics of the Star Trek universe (yep, the Romulans and the Klingons are at it again, and the Federation don’t exactly come out looking like beautiful angels either). “Serpents Among the Ruins” was probably much too descriptive than it should have been, but I couldn’t put it down. It left me thinking, “Geez, how can Harriman pull that off? Who is he kidding?” but then realized that what he did was clever – his conscience is cleared of wrongdoing and he gets the right outcome, even if his means were questionable and bizarre. Harriman’s first officer, Demora Sulu, was also a good character and the story maintained the great Trek tradition of celebrating ideals and diversity with a good story.

Peter David’s latest entry in his “Star Trek: New Frontier” series , “Gods Above,” continues the adventures of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, a non-human and all-around crazy hero, and his sidekick, Captain Elizabeth Shelby. In this book, they have to deal with the Beings, who had presented themselves to Captain Kirk a century before as “Gods” (of the ancient Greek variety). “Gods Above” isn’t nearly as powerful a punch as I’d like it to have been, but it has its moments (Mac and his one-liners; Mac and Shelby’s maturing relationship; the boy Moke, innocent and brave; and the return of Spock). Good read.

It may be awhile before I splurge on more Star Trek reading, but I’m feeling a little better about the Star Trek franchise after I read something as good as these had been.

[Scene: downtown 6 train , Me reading the Village Voice. The paper is open to the advertisement for the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. All are seated shoulder to shoulder]
Woman, late 40’s, long salt & pepper hair : Are you going to the parade?
Me: No, not really.
W: Why not?
M: Well, my dad’s in the hospital so I’m not really in the trick or treat mood. [My dad’s doing fine, not to worry — he’ll be out on Saturday.]
W: Oh, I can understand, I’m sorry about that. I’m going as Susan B. Anthony. I’ll carry a sign saying “their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it.”
M: Maybe you can throw Susan B. Anthony dollar coins?
W: It’s too bad they never caught on.
M: Yeah, the JFK dollar coins had it right — they were the right size.
W: The new dollar coins were too much like quarters.
W: Have you seen the new $20 bills?
M: Sure, but with that pink background they look kind of fake.
W: I think that they are colorful.
M: I know that they’re trying to stop counterfeiting, but everyone knows what the old bills look like.
W: Other countries have money that have different colors and different sizes, and it works for them.
M: [getting off at Grand Central] Anyway, I hope you have fun at the parade.
W: Thanks, hope everything works out for your dad.

Wow, that was surreal.

The current picture at the top of the webpage is a one inch strip of this picture that I took with my Kodak digital camera. The size is suitable for use as a Windows background. You can right-click on it and select “Save Picture As…” to save it on your computer.

Forty more names have been edited from the list of people lost on 9/11. One of my friends is a claims investigator for the victims’ fund.

I’ve upgraded the WordPress program to the current version, 0.72, which should provide nice new features both in the viewing and editing of posts. Let me know how it’s working for you.

OK, this is going to be more Joyce than O’Neil — here is my stream of consciousness from my Boston trip.

buzz it’s 8:30 couldn’t go to sleep until 3 busy day yesterday randomly met janet reno the bus left at 7 supposed to have lunch with s– at noon dropped off my laundry grabbed my laptop bag got to fung wah bus at 9:30 in chinatown looks like nobody’s there bought a ticket woman doesn’t understand round trip gave me only one ticket walked to get a lai cha and cha siu bao crowd gets bigger woman walks out with shoulder pack leads everyone around the block to the arriving bus chinese mob overruns english tourist in the virtual queue the bus is clean better than greyhound read honolulu frommers guidebook on the way up called the office dealt with three people the bus took a reststop at mcdonalds diesel filled up 30.00 connecticut seems to go on forever ezpass is called fastpath in mass turnpike leads to back bay then to south station then to the gate at chinatown four hours later wizened ticket man with nyu stern cap leads people off of bus woman waits patiently while druggies and vets walk aimlessly s– shows up go to chilean chicken sandwich place guacamole spread yummy around downtown crossing go shopping in filenes basement shirts too new no discount found survivor black and white tv sets with flashlights compasses flashing reflectors for 25 bucks walked to the commons s– had to go to class took a look at the changing colors of the foliage and changed direction quickly to avoid the drug buy dude with red flannel jacket I tried to ditch walked around squirrels jump around and pose for the camera i took pictures went into the cemetery and took scary pictures of paul reveres tombstone creepy skulls on top shopped at cvs with my member card wonder what the mbas must be thinking i’ve used the card in brooklyn, nj, dc, vegas, sf and now boston thought about walking to south station but i’m freezing my ass off so take the t kind of a mistake because it’s rush hour but at least i’m warm get free metro papers and a map which should come in handy walk up atlantic avenue along the wharfs walk past franks lobster roll maybe when i get back walk across the bridge to boston world trade and back by then franks was closed so thought i should find fanuleil hall new world plaza hotel has awesome architecture then under I93 the highway that the big dig should be getting rid of so many yuppie asian probably chinese on the streets two wrong turns finally get to fanuleil hall walked through nothing changed in three years then through to quincy market took a pass on the dry looking fish and chips went for the japanese teppanyaki chicken teriyaki instead so much better sales guy sat next to german guy tourist trying to pick up german girl tourists japanese couple having clam chowder owen the guitarist not doing well but looks good from balcony dome lights reflect from the windows walk out saw cheers the replica bar then rushed off to cambridge stupid me put a dime into the turnstile spent five minutes trying to find the token in my pocket transferred from green to red went past mass gen central station harvard five before seven couldn’t find the pit nor bittle street s– called met at the out of town newsstand made two wrong turns but then comic book guy set us straight around eastern mountain sports then to the biddle theater screen is rear projected clock with purple neon the movie robot stories actually four stories well worth the trip director was there doing q&a he was an android office worker connecting to another hapa female android in the film stories are like twilight zone or outer limits episodes actually emphasizing the humanity to be found anywhere even a machine there’s flurries greeting us outside one hour before the last bus we go for drinks at the red house wonderful bar full of fireplace smell 2 whiskey sours yankees losing on tv mad dash for bus almost left laptop bag behind get to red train that arrives central station looks like the sign for central in hong kong mgh park green train group of chinese teens one looks like vivian chow only 20 minutes left get off the train at boston commons no idea which way is chinatown get pointed in the right direction find the dunkin donuts s– mentioned found the bus but its travelpath not fung wah made sure it was a new york bus conductor says i have to buy ticket from ticket booth got on and collapsed s– called and made sure i was all right p—im-ed me but i just told her i was running for the bus watched iron chef wayne brady and las vegas on the laptop dozed off at 1 suddenly awakened in nyc chinatown walked to the f train not going to pay 20 bucks for a 5 minute taxi ride after a 10 buck 4 hour bus ride the train came right away walked down the alley to the apartment looked at the pedometer racked up 20656 steps or nearly 10 miles in 24 hours downloaded my camera and collapsed in bed by 4 am buzz it’s 8:30

I’ve been negligent in contributing this week; it’s been busy. My uncle from Toronto showed up unexpectedly. I judged a moot court (law student) competition in Newark; they were short of judges, so I ended up judging three rounds, which was mentally exhausting. I’m going to Boston in the morning to watch the movie Robot Stories.

The New York Times has a story on how a paralegal was ordered to produce a three page memo on sushi restaurant options because that day’s sushi delivery was so poor. See also, Gawker. Sometime soon I will compose here my epic on pizza.

Head to www.dilbert.com (or check your comics pages in the newspaper first and then go to the Dilbert website) – it’s Dilbert Mystery Artist Week, where a guest mystery comics artist fills in for Dilbert’s regular guy, Scott Adams. Hilarious stuff so far. (of course, today’s strip is particularly funny if you’re already familiar with the mystery artist and his usual comic strip, a funny odd one).