Triscribe

Category: Brooklyn

  • Other Stuff

    Crazily enough: the Jets have beaten Indianapolis and New England and will be playing Pittsburgh next week.  Crazy!

    PBS posts the view of Brianna Lee, as her father, Edwin Lee, is sworn in as interim mayor of San Francisco, the first Asian-American in the position of mayor of SF.  Lee would be different than the previous mayor (and… he’s an APA lawyer!).

    Brooklyn Historical Society and the 1770 Map restoration.

    An interesting look at old Tavern on the Green, while it’s not in operation (or awaiting something to replace it, whatever that might be).

    I didn’t even realize it: the comic strip of Brenda Starr came to an end.  How sad.  She was a  pioneer woman journalist with the mysterious love interest in Basil St. John (the man with the eye patch) and funny friends and weird adventures.  They really don’t make comic strips like that anymore.  Then again, were there still readers of comic strips, much less readers of dead tree newspapers?

    And, oh yes, as this is triscribe and we’re APA’s and lawyers: let’s not forget the reaction to Yale Law Professor Amy Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”   Wall Street Journal did an excerpt, which sent the APA bloggers into Red Alert.  Via San Francisco Chronicle, Jeff Yang gets further perspective from Amy Chua concerning that excerpt.   On Disgrasian.com, the point is that the book is a memoir, not a how-to – but, as Disagrasian notes: it’s not clear why Chua still had to take the perspective of Immigrant-1st Generation Parent to torture her kids to success – when maybe it wasn’t that necessary to take the hard line.

    Sure, I suppose reading the whole book gives a better sense of Chua’s view of parenting, but still: all that controversy with the book – I doubt that Chua will cry to the bank. (though: I kind of expected that a Yale Law prof would have better sense of responsibility about all the craziness that ensued. Just sayin’).

    And, because we’re APA lawyers: please note that Yul Kwon’s leaving the FCC (them’s the feds) to go back to tv (PBS, but still – tv!). He will likely not be shirtless on PBS. That’s ok. Sort of.

    Slate’s Farhad Manjoo points out why we don’t need to do two spaces between sentences anymore.  Sorry, but I was taught to use two spaces after a period when typing. Yes, it is an ingrained and arbitrary habit done over 20 years now. But, it’s not like I’m really wasting space. Plus, I find seeing space is easier on the eyes. But, that’s just me… 😛

    The new horoscope sign: Ophiuchus.   CNN notes that there’s more to this whole horoscope change than we think though.

    So it goes, I guess.  I’m not impressed by 2011 so far (besides the Jets making the universe all very weird).  Maybe 2011 will get better.  Eventually.

  • Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2011

    Among the things we remember when we think of Martin Luther King, Jr., is the “I Have a Dream Speech,” as David Weigel of Slate notes.  The story behind the speech, in the Washington Post, by Clarence B. Jones, MLK’s lawyer and speechwriter.  Thanks to a hat tip from Swampland at Time.com, I also link to the Stanford collection of MLK materials.

    Thought that it was interesting that the NYC Bar posted this on their website: a reflection of Martin Luther King’s speech at the City Bar in 1965.  Institutions with long histories have really fascinating histories.  The City Bar notes:

    In his 1965 speech, Dr. King called on the moral and practical obligations of the legal profession to justice and the rule of law in America:

    “Standing before you in the House of this Association, whose very cornerstone is an abiding respect for the law, I am impelled to wonder who is better qualified to demand an end to this debilitating lawlessness, to better understand the mortal danger to the very fabric of our democracy when human rights are flaunted.”

    He reaffirmed that, despite violence and legal segregation, his faith in the law and lawyers as instruments of justice had not been shaken, continuing:

    “Your profession should be proud of its contributions. You should be aware, as indeed I am, that the road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land, yesterday and today, have helped clear the obstructions, have helped eliminate roadblocks, by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular causes.”

    Finally, Dr. King expressed hope that America, even in the face of fierce opposition, would ultimately fulfill its promise as a country of legal equality, proclaiming that “I do not despair of the future.  We as Negroes will win our freedom all over our country because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is America’s destiny.”

    NY Times’ City Room blog, with a post by Sam Roberts, notes MLK’s relationship with NYC.

    PBS NewsHour’s Rundown blog has a nice list of MLK-related things.

    Slate posts a fascinating slide show of MLK-related images.

    Things to think about on this day.  It’s the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, when this country’s lack of civility and the revolution took another step to end slavery and make a better union.  Progress isn’t inevitable; but that doesn’t mean we give it up.  We need to figure that out.

  • Happy New Year, 2011!

    Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year 2011!

    Andrew Cuomo has been sworn in; we have a new governor in NYS, and he acknowledges that he has a lot to do and he has already started it.

    Lina Kulchinksy, lawyer-pastry chef-pretzel maker, branching out to a cart.

    The very dangerous and probably illegal but terribly exciting and exotic thing about touring NYC’s tunnels.

    On New Year’s Day, the NHL had to push the Winter Classic – the outdoor hockey game with Penguins v. Capitals – until the evening but still in the rain, since the temperature was too warm.  It’s possible that the tv ratings came off well for NBC and the NHL, but I kind of wondered if NBC got lucky, since the bowl games weren’t on that evening and it was otherwise a quiet tv prime time night.  The Capitals won, with the Penguins star Sidney Crosby getting dinged to the ice by the Capitals.

    I personally like watching the game since it’s kind of crazy to watch hockey be played outdoors, but to make it a new prime time tradition?  Hard to say.  The stunning effect of hockey outdoors in a baseball or football stadium just looks cooler during the daytime.  But, that’s my two cents on the subject.

    Also, the Daily News in the hockey section (can’t find a web version of this) posed the question of whether the NHL might consider having the NY Rangers host a future Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.  Apparently, Yankee Stadium might not be available for such a venture, since they now host a bowl (seriously?  Yes!: the Pinstripe Bowl with Syracuse v. Kansas!  And Syracuse won!).  I mean, that’s  too bad and all (Fenway did host a Winter Classic, but aren’t Bostonians bigger hockey fans than New Yorkers?).  Then again, apparently, the Daily News noted that it’d be even tougher to do a Meadowlands Winter Classic, since the Devils would want to be in on it and the national ratings for a Devils v. Rangers game wouldn’t be hot at all, even on New Year’s Day.  Oh well.  Wishful thinking!

    Movies that I saw during the holidays:

    Saw “The King’s Speech” at Cobble Hill.  Colin Firth really gets at the feelings and struggles of the stutterer Bertie, a.k.a. Prince Albert, the Duke of York and then George VI, and Geoffrey Rush was great at the speech therapist who had his own imperfections.  Helena Bonham Carter, as Elizabeth, Duchess of York (future Queen Mother to Queen Elizabeth II), was quite good; as Dana Stevens noted on Slate’s Culture Gabfest, Bonham Carter was acting as her old “Merchant Ivory self” rather than her recent career trend acting as crazy costumed woman – see “Alice in Wonderland,” “Sweeney Todd,” the Harry Potter movies, etc.).

    The craziness and the banality of the Royal Family really got through; Firth as Bertie, who struggled with the balance of duty and loyalty to his father and his brother and a lot of other baggage – and happiness with his wife and daughters.  Bertie was also admirable for his loyalty to his country – in the face of World War II, he didn’t have actual power, but had to be the face of one of the un-invaded countries in Europe to stand up to Nazi Germany.

    Is “The King’s Speech” the Best Picture for the Oscars?  I can’t really say, but it had a lot of stuff going for it, I thought, because Bertie was facing a modern world and the traditional trappings behind it.  There were the emotions, hopes, failings, and humanity in all involved.

    Saw “Tangled” at the Park Slope Pavilion.  Even if a little derivative in putting together stuff from “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” the movie was sweet and heart-warming, in a great old-fashioned Disney way.  Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are pretty talented voices actors.  Who knew that Levi (Chuck from “Chuck”) had it in him?  And, it was nice that Rapunzel was no wallflower; she wanted to see the world – and was willing to help everyone else along the way (which it took some time for Flynn Rider to figure out too – talk about a protagonist who was willing to make a sacrifice to do the right thing).

    NY Times’ dance critic Alistair Macaulay makes some conclusions from his project of seeing way lots more Nutcrackers than most of us normal folk.

    Oh, and Time Out New York on what 2011 things to look forward to checking out.

    I hate that the holidays are winding up.  But, let’s see what’s next.

  • New Year’s Eve 2010

    Well, the last week of 2010 hit NYC with a mallet, with the Day After Christmas Blizzard and the horror stories that came after it.  I suppose the pleasantry was short lived – you can have all the cooperation and Christmas spirit and good will and fun in the snow.  Then, comes the crushing reality: if the city can’t get moving, then the city will bite you in the ass.

    At least, I think the fine folk of City Hall and the MTA (so NOT going your way) are realizing that now.

    On 12/26/10, I honestly thought I’d go to work on 12/27.   Hey, it wasn’t like the mayor was calling for a snow day/state of emergency.  Yeah, we had snow-mageddon/snowpocalypse back in February 2010 and it didn’t stop us (seriously: I was at work all day and I was so hoping to leave early, since I was frightened that I wouldn’t be able to get to south Brooklyn, due to my living in an subway line with an open-trench exposure to the weather; it ended up being more than fine.  Sigh.).

    Meanwhile, on Sunday, as I watched “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” on tv, the news became worse about the state of the snow.  At some point, after the movie, I watched the non-stop snow coverage on the local tv.  There’s something addictively entertaining watching the local reporters drag themselves in sometimes dangerous or amusing situations.  NBC/Channel 4’s Brian Thompson brought out his (old-school wooden) ruler!  ABC/Channel 7’s Phil Lipoff stuck in Red Hook, NJ, chatting to people leaving the bars after the Jets game.   People were still shopping at Macy’s at Herald Square for Day After Christmas shopping.  Greg Cergol on Channel 4 wore a nifty hat. Some reporters didn’t have hats!  LIRR was in nasty conditions!  Stay inside!  The mayor had his one press conference that afternoon and everything seemed fine.  Or so he said, anyway.

    Then, the amusing part didn’t seem so amusing.  I lost the cable/Internet/landline phone service, since Cablevision got knocked down for unknown reasons (weather-related?  Who knows; no service for three days; had to enjoy my cell phone and regular HDTV).  I hunkered on, watching “Sound of Music.”

    Monday had no subway lines going out of Coney Island, so south Brooklyn was essentially stranded.  I had a snow day, but the mayor (the “boss,” if you will) didn’t call it for me; Mother Nature did.  It wasn’t like I would have gotten to the subway and if I did, no buses or subways were available.  No plowed streets; I don’t think I had ever seen so much impassable streets in Bensonhurst.

    Staying cooped up at home, actually feeling guilty to have to Monday off unintentionally (yeah, I felt guilty; how sick was that?), I continued to watch the non-stop coverage on the local news on my regular HDTV (no NY1 without cable, after all).  Anger arose: how do you have no subways?  Where were the plows?  Yes, it’s lovely to see NBC Channel 4’s Katy Tur at Columbus Circle, where people were playing in the snow or seeing ABC Channel 7’s Kemberly Richardson at 23rd Street/Madison Ave., where it was hard to walk but did not look as ridiculous as it did in my neck of the woods.

    But, then the afternoon wore on and seeing Channel 4’s John Noel in a very impassable looking Park Slope in Brooklyn, and you’ve got to start wondering how people in Manhattan seemed to be a little less inconvenienced than the rest of us outside Manhattan.  Brooklyn Boro President Marty Markowitz finally got to ask: while he was not going to knock on the mayor and Dept. of Sanitation, what was going on here?

    The mayor’s press conference on that Monday afternoon seemed to strike the note of: the city’s operating as expected.  Yes, it’s inconvenient, but take mass transit, enjoy a Broadway show.  It’s a near-normal Monday.

    Seriously?  Not really.  When the subways aren’t running (except for the R, which is completely underground), don’t expect me to believe that it’s normal.  When only two people of a city agency unit managed to get to work, don’t tell me that the city’s operating as usual.  Don’t tell me to take mass transit when there is no mass transit!  I walked around my neighborhood just to see how bad was bad; it was bad when the snow was past my knees.

    By 5pm, I checked out Eyewitness News on ABC Channel 7.  David Navarro (who I haven’t seen in awhile; not that I’ve been that dedicated a viewer of Channel 7) was at Ovington Avenue – Bay Ridge-ish/Dyker Heights-ish.  Stranded cars.  No plows.  Navarro began the specter of asking: hmm, this is starting to look like 1969 and the Lindsay thing, right? (paraphrasing Navarro).

    Mayor John Lindsay and the snow-bound Queens – the thing that haunted his administration, no matter its ideals.  Lindsay’s handling of that snow set the bar for NYC mayors since.  Did Bloomberg met the challenge?

    Well, the analyses and investigations are still unfolding.  This NY Times article was pretty illuminating for how short-sighted NYC and MTA were.  Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News questions the workings of Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.

    Honestly, as much as we could blame the workers (and there have been plenty of complaints about the Sanitation and MTA workers), it’s the management and their ideas and actions that bother me.  Morale is as bad as it is because of something other than any worker’s own bad attitudes or sour personality.

    Plus, was it wise for the mayor to promise streets plowed at least once by Thursday, 7am?  Clearly: not really.  My own block didn’t get plowed until after 2pm on Thursday and there are streets that are still horrific, even after one plow attempt, needing one of those frontloader trucks and much more work before blacktop could be seen.

    Honestly, message to the mayor: some promises shouldn’t be made without some actual – I don’t know, let’s call it “certainty” – which ain’t gonna happen in a blizzard that was either as bad as expected (by the meteorologists) or as unexpected (by the very government that’s supposed to serve us).

    Are New Yorkers whining too much?  Does the Internet make that too easy to do?  Yes, on both counts.  But, then again: we’re New Yorkers.  Complaining is what we do.  And, so is trying to get around and expecting the government to do something.  The city handled past storms well; maybe we got spoiled?  Even so – what made this one so bad?  The combination of bad storm, low morale of workers, poor management, and the stupidity of drivers who thought that they could chance and got stranded with their cars, blocking the plows?  I doubt it was one factor.

    I wasn’t surprised by the mayor’s tactlessness; I’m surprised by how surprised some voters are about it (saying that you’re a supporter of him and then “shocked” by this: please!  This is exactly what you get, voters!  Maybe I am setting my bar of expectations too low, but I’d like to think I’m being pragmatic or even a tad realistic).

    Do More With Less is a mantra that can’t work and when lives were at stake, it gets disheartening.  Let’s hope that we’ll learn our lessons before the next snowpocalypse (and it’ll happen – we’re in a state of climate change).

    At least: Dogs had fun in the snow; soooo cute!  And, if you are able to get around the city (and with this nice weekend, yes!) – from us at triscribe to you: NY Times’ Frugal Traveler Seth Kugel spends a $100 weekend in…NYC!  Yep, it is possible to not go overboard in town.  Kugel described a really good time, I must say.  And, the NY Giants – can we still have hope for them as the new year arrives?  Can we have hope for anything?

    Let’s hope for the best for the new year.  Maybe.

  • A White Day After Christmas 2010

    It’s snowing!  And… I’m probably still going to work tomorrow.

    I was watching “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”  TMP never gets much credit, but the more I watch it, the more I feel sentimental about it.  My comments about it, some years ago now, remain pretty much the same.  However, after watching the end again, I felt moved about (spoiler alert!) Kirk’s declaring Decker and Iliya as “missing” rather than dead.  In a way, they had evolved and V’ger – hopefully! – learned about the concept of love, not just humanity’s unstable emotions and free will.

    It’s intriguing that V’ger’s evolution was due to ex-lovers, who regretted not staying together – and who remain together in another way.

    Oh, and those elements of The Next Generation:  the theme song and… well, Decker was a lot like Riker (while Kirk is so NOT Picard, he had to accept Decker), not to mention how the Decker-Iliya relationship was the root of the Riker-Troi relationship.

    And, Spock – well, he keeps trying to deal with logical vs. the illogical – and seems to finally reach some kind of acceptance of these things that are actually already deep in himself.

    And, McCoy – sometimes, there’s something very cool about him being the only one who can call Kirk on his bullshit: McCoy is the one who has to tell Kirk that he was wrong for undermining Decker and to point out the danger to Decker for choosing to stay with V’ger.  The triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was maintained, though, and the movie ends with hope for what else is out there.

    Come to think of it, TMP came off as a mix of The Original Series and TNG, and it then makes sense for why/how TNG developed as it did.

    I checked out others’ top 10 or ten worst of 2010 tv.  Check out the top 10 list of Time’s James Poniewozik (the blog post explanation vs. the Time.com feature version of the list; Poniewozik also has a top 10 episodes list, separate from the best series of 2010).  Poniewozik also has his 10 worst of 2010 and his 10 best performances of 2010 (the Emmies don’t quite cut it, I do say!).  Critic Alan Sepinwall divvies up his list for new vs. returning stuff.  Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker actually has a top 20 list (but he divided it up accordingly with a top 10 and another 10).  Critic David Bianculli directs us readers to his list via the NPR website (so we get to listen to him too).

    My personal notable TV 2010 list would be less exciting than a lot of other lists, since I’ve drastically cut tv viewing this year for various reasons and primarily because I’m such a PBS snob.  But, I came up with the following as making it on my list.  In no particular order:

    1. “Lost” final season – what a season of tv for 2010.  I think FC and I probably blogged all we had to say about it this year.  (I’ll at least link to my comments on the series finale).

    2. “Fringe” – pursuing the alternate universe arc made the season exciting indeed.  Anna Torv as two Olivias was quite the acting feat.  John Noble as two Walters was also amazing – sadly, he didn’t get nominated for the Emmy for it, but that was terrific.

    3. Craig Ferguson and his (didn’t make it on tv/but smuggled on YouTube) Doctor Who opening. (I’ll link to EW’s Ken Tucker’s blog post about it; good stuff…)

    4. Baseball: The Tenth Inning – the extra inning episode covered the harsh 1990’s and 2000’s of baseball.  Ken Burns didn’t ignore the steroids scandal, the strike, and the impact of 9/11/01.  But, he was clearly a Bosox fan.  Oh well!

    5. Macbeth – Patrick Stewart as Macbeth!  Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth!  That was amazing tv! (yes, making up for my not being able to see the show when it was in Brooklyn, which FC blogged about seeing).

    6. Hamlet – David Tennant as Hamlet!  Patrick Stewart as Claudius!  That was amazing tv! (which I blogged about a little)

    7. new Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery! (which I already blogged about)

    8. Jon Stewart and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on The Daily Show.

    9. Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show last episode (see my comments here).

    10. Community – this is turning into my favorite show this year.

    Other personal tv notables : “Justified”; “Archer” (ridiculously sick and funny); the Winter Olympics in Vancouver; “Law and Order” – the final season.  Oh, and I’ll give “Hawaii 5-o” some credit, although I haven’t really caught it since the series premiere.

    Must 2010 go already?

  • Christmas!

    Merry Christmas!  Some stuff to keep us entertained at this time of year…

    Time Out New York has a terrific hot chocolate list.   The list looks soooo tempting – and decadent – and… not cheap… dare I dip into the wallet, in the midst of Xmas shopping, for this… Hmm…

    Time Out New York also has a nice holiday walk through midtown.

    Just a question: if everything’s on sale before Christmas, what’s left for the after Christmas sales?

    And, I just find the Lowe’s Christmas commercial with the APA couple to be great.  They’re APA’s!  And, she’s just buying a power drill for her tool-crazy husband, and he’s just pretending that he’ll be surprised for Christmas!  It’s so normal and so… American!  (now, if only I can find a link to the video).

    Ken Jeong in the Pepto Bismal commercial – that was a little over the top.  I think a little Jeong is okay; too much and it’s a little creepy and not funny.    Plus, he’s a medical doctor in real life (see his imdb entry, after all); maybe he can actually tell us if Pepto really is any good for the holiday over-eating.  Well, maybe medicine and comedy don’t quite work, but Jeong’s pointing out the foolishness of holiday foods wasn’t that much fun.

    I haven’t had much in the way of Christmas cards this year, beyond those so far from a few friends.  Slate has an interesting article about whether Facebook killed the Christmas card.   Well, I still believe in Christmas cards, so I still send them out (holiday cards, at the rate I’m going; thankfully, there are days of Christmas/Kwanzaa and even New Year’s Eve/Day left!).  But, the Internet is both a curse and a blessing…

    And, in case you haven’t gotten the perfect geek Christmas present – seriously: a Voltron USB drive? Angry Asian Man says it does come with a Blazing Sword AND an episode of the cartoon! And, it’s officially licensed by the Voltron people. But, it does not mean you get 5 thumb drives that form into one Voltron. Aww. Still: one can totally geek out on this.

    PBS Newshour’s Jeffrey Brown did an interview with Garry Trudeau, on the 40 anniversary retrospective of Doonesbury.  Kind of cool that Trudeau made some observations about the next generation: Alex Doonesbury and her dating Toggle, the Iraq War vet.  (I’m still puzzled by the whole Jeff Redfern’s misadventures in Afghanistan – Jeff is such a weirdo; but otherwise, the struggles of the armed services in war and at home as portrayed by Trudeau has been rich stuff).

    Because we’re lawyers here at triscribe: in light of my current superhero obsession (wherein I’ve been reading a bunch of graphic novels / compilations of Batman and friends), it’s kind of fitting that the ABA Journal and the NY Times covered this fascinating blog (blawg?), Law and the Multiverse, by lawyers who ponder on the legal implications of the superhero world.  Thumbs up!!  (someone has to answer questions about whether Batman’s searching and seizing is unconstitutional and whether Superman can be a US citizen or is a really illegal alien (literally), and whether Hank McCoy (Beast of the X-Men) has a claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act as a mutant).  Awesome!!!

    Because Santa showed up a lot in the DC and Marvel worlds, the Law and Multiverse people did a legal analysis of Santa’s actions.  Cool…

    Some pictures of snowmen:

    Slate had a slide show in honor of winter solstice earlier this week.  Some of the snowmen in the slide show are creepy looking snowmen (which had me laughing like an idiot for some reason).  Unsurprisingly, the photo of the snowcouple of Central Park were the cute snowman/woman; the Tokyo one was funny; and yes, the creepy ones were creepy…

    I loved the NPR photos of “Snowmania” – where the snowmen’s poses were inspired by Calvin and Hobbes’ snowmen stuff.  These photos were kind of sick and funny.

    At Columbia, my undergrad Alma Mater, had this weird tradition of the announcements/voice mail lady reading the “T’was the night before Xmas” poem (yes, voice mail lady was real!).  And, Clement Clarke Moore, the man who wrote the poem was a Columbia prof prof.  Here: we have Harvard scientist saying that the idea of Santa and flying reindeer came from hallucinogenic ‘shrooms…. Thanks, Harvard!

    From Time’s Techland section: Links to holiday tv things. To paraphrase the writer of this blog post, Merry Christmas, to everyone who celebrates; everyone else: have a great weekend! (and enjoy He-Man and She-Ra fight Skeletor and Hordak from ruining the season’s greeting for everyone).

  • Christmas is Coming

    I remember when the neighborhood had people with their crazy Christmas decorations.  Some parts of town are still like that, including the home of Frank Seddio, former Surrogate Court judge and Assemblyman:

    With 250,000 lights, dancing reindeer, hammering elves and talking Santas, a Brooklyn house transforms each December into a holiday wonderland.

    “We have enough electric power in this house to probably light up the whole block,” said Frank Seddio, 64, of the holiday display that kicked off yesterday, a Canarsie tradition since 1963. “At any given time, we’re using enough (amps) to light the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.” [….]

    Seddio, a former Surrogate’s Court judge and assemblyman, has been putting up the display with his family since he took it over from the house’s previous owner 24 years ago. “I caught the fever of it,” Seddio said. “It’s three times the size now.”

    Twenty family members chip in to help, stringing lights and setting up animated dolls starting around Halloween.   “I got no choice. I’m his brother. Besides, it gives you a little spirit,” said Vito Seddio, 62.

    Included are a winter wizard reciting “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” a family of deer in a Victorian holiday scene, dolls from Walt Disney World’s “It’s a Small World” ride, a life-size Nativity scene from Milan, soldiers riding reindeer on a spinning carousel, nods to Chanukah and Kwanzaa, and a tuckered out, dozing Santa. “That’s Santa Claus on Dec. 26,” Frank Seddio said.

    Speaking of judges… there was this thing where Newsweek has Sandra Day O’Connor interviewing her former colleague, John Paul Stevens…  Well, J. O’Connor wasn’t really interviewing J. Stevens, when the Newsweek person had to ask them both questions; but this was an interesting read.  Wonder if Charlie Rose could get them both on his table; now that’d be a cool hour of tv.

    The story on how there’s some compensation for the victims of Bernie Madoff.  Time’s Stephen Gandel made the calculations prior to the breaking of the latest collection of billions, and Gandel still seems to think it’s pretty fair, post-breaking of the story.  I’m kind of impressed by how trustee Irving Picard has managed to get something for the victims of Bernie Madoff (as crazy as it sounds, $7billion split among the victims probably doesn’t do all that much); it seems to me that Picard did all the right things to zealously on behalf of the trust and the trust’s best interest (which is to make the victims whole as best as possible).   Picard did the kind of thing they would tell us back in law school: name all your possible defendants (so long as it’s not entirely frivolous) in your pleadings.  Then, negotiate.

    Plus… his name’s Picard… 😉

    (yes, I know, that other Picard – Captain Jean-Luc Picard – isn’t real.  But, Capt. Picard was good at bringing parties together and making things happen and all that).

    Thursday night, 12/16/10: saw “The Hard Nut” at Brooklyn Academy of Music.  Had such a good time.  It’s one of my favorite versions of the Nutcracker, because it tells such the story in such a funny and poignant and romantic – if not sensual – way.  It breaks boundaries, and brings everyone together.  As “Time Out New York” notes: “It’s funny and gorgeous.”

    Oh, and seeing Mark Morris as Dr. Stahlbaum (Clara’s dad) – that was really something!  In the past, he was one of the Stahlbaums’ drunk party guests (you can’t even recognize him), so he’s taken up more of the spotlight as Dr. Stahlbaum this time (spanking Fritz, being the caring dad, and – really, how did the Stahlbaums end up being related to or were friends of Drosselmeyer?).

    As a side note: the interview of Mark Morris in Time Out New York was witty!  (NY Times also had an interview with him; also interesting for what he says about the source material of the E.T.A. Hoffman Nutcracker story).

    And, NY Times critic Alastair Macaulay’s review raises some nice observations about the Hard Nut:

    Even or especially if you’ve seen it before, it has the freshness of a revelation.

    What’s revealed, though? Here, human innocence; there, artful complexity. Frequently “The Hard Nut” demonstrates — at times better than any other “Nutcracker” — how those things coexist within Tchaikovsky’s score; frequently it demonstrates how they coexist in Mark Morris’s mind. Tchaikovsky’s vision and Mr. Morris’s don’t always match; at times they seem to tug — amicably — in opposite directions. Every “Nutcracker” choreographer at some point imposes a scenario different from the one Tchaikovsky was illustrating, but Mr. Morris goes much further than most, and there are incidental sequences in which his scenario grows overambitious and perplexing.

    The funniest “Nutcracker” and among the most touching, “The Hard Nut” is always a big audience hit. Based on the work of the cartoonist Charles Burns, this hilarious production says a host of serious things and is audacious as sheer theater. It’s naughty, satirical and camp in its vision of 1960s America, but also starkly anti-illusionist in the way some onstage transformations are executed before your eyes by uniformed costume changers.

    It is elaborately layered metatheater and straightforward boy-meets-girl narrative. It refers explicitly to the original tale within the tale of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s original “Nutcracker and the Mouse King” story, to “The Wizard of Oz” film (switching from black-and-white to color), to the Balanchine “Nutcracker” (with its heroine asleep on a spinning bed, here a sofa), to Twyla Tharp’s full-length “Catherine Wheel” (with its nuclear white family and black maid exploding into a new utopian redeployment of human energies). It includes several different accentuations of drag and gender transcendence, and it solves the problem of misrepresentational national and ethnic dances in ballet by way of tongue-in-cheek overt caricature.

    Parts of “The Hard Nut” are constructed intricately around dance motifs that spell out meanings in ways that deserve extended analysis. Parts of it open out — especially in the way the hero and heroine hang upon each other’s eyes and kisses — to celebrate dewy naïveté. Yet once you notice how artful the seemingly artless duets between its child-hero Nutcracker and girl-heroine Marie actually are — with a range of steps and gestures introduced earlier by the Nutcracker with his uncle Drosselmeier; by Marie’s mother, Mrs. Stahlbaum; and by two of the Act I Snow dancers — you may well feel as bewildered as transported.

    This bewilderment is crucial to the Mark Morris experience. He is among the most disconcerting artists before the public today in any genre. I watched Friday’s performance with a friend who had never seen any Morris choreography. During the Waltz of the Snowflakes a single moment made him laugh out loud precisely as it filled my eyes with tears of wonder. Both reactions strike me as right. In this waltz fun and amazement dance in the same steps; the choreography lifts the whole audience through a crescendo of changing emotions.

    There is no Morris work I’ve changed my mind about more than “The Hard Nut,” and I presume this process of re-evaluation will continue in years to come. At times it’s too wise guy, too anti- “Nutcracker” for me; at other times its largeness of spirit — nowhere more so than in its snow scene — carry me away. I could never imagine taking my eyes off it for an instant, but I don’t think anyone can leave the theater with one simple thought about it. [….]

    The dance I hanker to watch again is that grand ensemble to the Sugar Plum’s adagio. Its amalgam of intimacy and impersonality, of faith in purely classical-ballet design and its dramatic masterstrokes, are unlike anything even in Mr. Morris’s work. Characters from every part of the story participate in this vision of harmony, and at times they pass in vertical columns across the stage in academic phrases both selfless and ravishing, like pages of music passing before your eyes. At the end, as the heroine stands motionless, a battalion advances toward and right past her, leaving her alone with the former Nutcracker. The world sweeps by her, but amid it she has eyes for only this one man.

    This was a nice review!  Macaulay gave a lot of food for thought, especially about the whole Nutcracker.  Indeed, the Arts Beat blog on the Times has Macaulay doing “The Nutcracker Chronicles,” having him run around the country watching all the different Nutcrackers.  Great reading about the variations.  Although, I still wonder why we love the Nutcracker; is it the music, the story, the dancing – or what it says about us as a culture – that we love what makes us feel good, without worrying what’s below the surface (not too often anyway).

    I miss “Law and Order,” the mothership version.  “L&O: SVU” doesn’t satisfy me.  And I kind of lost track of “L&O: Criminal Intent” and I don’t have a cable channel that shows “L&O: UK” (or London, to be accurate), and I don’t care for “L&O: LA.”  But, I suppose this video tribute was nice:

    A Salute to \”Law and Order\”

    As soon as it’s up, I’ll link to the “Saturday Night Live” opening of 12/18/10: Jeff Bridges and Cookie Monster, singing “Silver Bells.”  Sweet and weird!

  • Other Stuff

    NPR story on the idea of using ADR in the real estate foreclosures crisis.  Ah, the power of ADR.  Honestly, if banks want some kind of money at all without going through foreclosures for which they can’t prove in court and are willing to negotiate with people who want to stay in their homes, please try mediation.

    I was listening to this feature from NPR about a recipe for stuff pumpkin on-line: stuffed with bacon and bread and cheese and spices – it sounded delicious.  The idea of pumpkin and bacon – mmm.

    I have yet to eat the McRib during its limited availability.  Sigh.  I vaguely remembered that the McRib was pretty tasty, but a big sandwich. Probably more sensible than, say, the McPizza (which never really hit it big nationally) or the little itty bitty McDonuts (Times Sq. McDonald’s had them – they were cute and tasty, but not very McDonald’s-ish).  Hilarious NPR airing about the McRib…

    NPR Pop Culture blog podcast – talking about comic books.  I’ve become very into reading the graphic novels (trade compilations, that is) of Batman, so this was pretty entertaining a listen.

    Last but not least: the passing of Leslie Nielsen.  NPR Pop Culture’s observance; Time’s Tuned In Blog observance.  NY Times’ A.O. Scott made a nice point this Sunday’s NY Times: “Self-seriousness was always part of the fun, and no one understood that more completely, or made more of it, than Mr. Nielsen. Surely.”

  • TV in 2010

    Catching up on my thoughts from the fall premiere week:

    This fall hasn’t been too good to new shows, according to Entertainment Weekly’s review of the ratings numbers.  I’m also not sure what it says about our civilization when “Dancing with the Stars” is a top show.  Ken Tucker of EW makes some observations (everybody’s trying too hard to make a cult hit; cable?).  But, this fall hasn’t exactly been very exciting.

    “Community” – oh, wow, this has been a pretty darn good show.  I keep watching it online instead of on real tv (man, I’m can’t give up my real tv, but the time slot for “Community” is not good for me), so I end up making myself a mini-marathon to catch up.  Just Good Stuff.

    The season premiere was pretty entertaining, but really: Senor Chang, the ex-Spanish teacher/now student, as the creepy hanger-on who wants to join the gang – creepy.  Ken Jeong can be a bit much; on the other hand, his rivalry with Prof. Duncan, the irritating Brit, is funny.

    The second episode of the season was sadly funny, because Jeff had to realize that getting back to his law firm life was going to be a bit of a joke (Drew Carey as the law firm partner with a hole in his hand (yes, literally) was also sadly funny).

    The “Halloween” episode was ridiculous: zombies?  And, Troy tries to save the day by accepting his inner geek/nerd, and exploiting the Power of Imagination.  Didn’t quite work (the only way to fight zombies is to – well – fight them), but hilarious.  Oh, and the fear of crazy cats – a trope out of the silliest scary movies – too funny.

    Jeff and his Britta and/or Annie problem apparently continues (to whatever extent; I think we should just go with the laughs and the sadness, bearing in mind that Annie is supposed to be 15 to 20 years younger than him and Britta is more of the friends with benefits type of relationship with him, if there’s anything more than friendship between them).

    Yes – that’s right – sadness!  Jeff and Britta are the “we’re too cool for school/but…not really” attitudes; Shirley is hiding her darkness (no wonder she is determined to be Christian – her religion is probably what keeps her sane); Pierce is Chevy Chase pathetic with his aging; Annie tries too hard, and there is that really depressing past of hers (she had to be treated for burnout after high school and before college, after all); Abed is unable to emotionally connect (he’s possibly on the autistism spectrum, or just really human in trying to connect with people); and Troy — I think he really is the most well-adjusted (putting aside his little eccentricities) one of the group.

    That last episode this week, where the gang “celebrates” Troy’s 21st birthday (they couldn’t really celebrate since he’s a Jehovah’s Witness and shouldn’t  be really celebrating if he wishes to be consistent with his religion), but the gang’s attempt at going to a bar so that Troy could legally drink – well, it was a sweet and funny and tragic comedy.  It felt like this episode of “Community” could go along the great traditions of the more classic hard episodes of “MASH” or “Cheers” or even “Frasier” and “Friends” (I’d even say “Office,” but I’m not a big “Office” viewer; which, if you really think of it, none of these were “happy” so much as situational series about friends, family, and work).

    I found the Circus documentary (maybe it was more “reality show,” but it was documentary in its presentation) on PBS very fascinating about how it showed a year in the life of the Big Apple Circus.

    Mike Hale in the NY Times commented on how (New) Sherlock Holmes has too much Doctor Who about him, since the People Behind the Doctor made the new series possible.  The new series was aired on Masterpiece Theatre, and I liked it pretty much.  But, really – Sherlock got ridiculous.  I can’t blame either Watson or Lestrade from wanting to just smack him upside the head.  The modern twist on the relationship of the Holmes brothers was strangely entertaining.

    “Fringe” – I still have some catching up to do, but the alternate universe episodes were far more entertaining than I expected.  Alternate Broyles is still a good man.  It’s nice to see Charlie again, even if it is Alternate Charlie.  Lincoln Lee isn’t a bad guy.  And, Olivia’s dramatic return home to her universe – well, let’s just say there was sacrifice involved and how sad it was.  Actor John Noble ought to get an Emmy nomination for playing two roles (Walter and Walternate).  And, while it took Peter forever to figure out what was going on, he got smart real fast.  I think Broyles was a bit crazy to have given Peter a gun and a bullet-proof vest, as if he were an agent and not a consultant, but maybe Peter ought to think about becoming a real agent already.

    I watched some “House” but I lost my commitment to it a long time ago.  I find the whole House-Cuddy relationship now a big turn off.  And, Wilson and his women problems (particularly how he  so did not get his first wife figured out) – ugh.  They seemed to have made Wilson rather pathetic.  But, it is kind of amusing to see Amber Tamblyn though on “House”; at one point her old “General Hospital” character was going to be / now is a medical student; now she is playing a medical student on prime time.

    The canceled stuff:

    Re: ABC’s cancellation of “The Whole Truth” – I kind of liked this show, even though it still needed some more work (ok, a lot of work).  It was Law and Order with Rob Morrow and Maura Tierney, two actors who ought be in a good show somewhere somehow.  ABC could’ve given them another show entirely – and I suppose it was generous that ABC gave them as much time as they did, as opposed to FOX killing “Lone Star” after only two episodes(!); really, it’s not like ABC had anything else going for it, does it?  (seriously: no.  Not with “Dancing with the Stars” and “Ice Skating with the Stars” and another “Bachelor”…).

    Re: NBC’s cancellation of “Undercovers” (can’t find a link at the moment) – I wanted to like “Undercover,” because the leading pair was so attractive.  In fact, I thought that Boris Kodjoe as the husband had a charisma and acting ability; he deserves a good show!  But, the series felt like “Alias”-lite. and it needed some more weird stuff, and Alias-craziness. And, polar bears, Lost-style.  J.J. Abrams didn’t push it and neither did NBC, which didn’t exactly make me feel better about NBC really.

    Re: FOX’s cancellation of “Lone Star” (also can’t find a link at the moment) – see, I liked the first episode; I just didn’t see how the series was going to last.  Sorry.  The lead actor was hot and all, but that’s clearly not enough to keep yourself on the air.  You can have a complicated plot line, but not to the point that you can’t find a way out while still building an audience.  Or at least keep FOX happy.

    “Lie to Me” got put on instead.  I want to like it, but… I’m turned off by how much lying is going and I’m not clear as to what Tim Roth’s character Dr. Lightman is really doing.  Is he mostly using his scientific skills to detect lies for good as a detective type?  He’s lost his link to the FBI, so what’s he doing?  Helping the helpless?  Helping whatever arises?  I haven’t committed to watching it, so maybe that’s why I can’t get into it.

    Re: NBC’s cancellation of “Outlaw” – actually, I was stunned by how long NBC kept the show on at all.  Oh, and there is this fantastic article by Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick on  “Outlaw” – such great lines, especially about Jimmy Smit’s ex-Justice Garza.  Says Lithwick: “And Justice Garza is vile.  Not cutely flawed like Dr. House but god-awful, like Skeletor.”  A Skeletor reference! OhmiGod! How often does that happen in a newsmagazine, even one like Slate?

    The return of “Conan.”  I didn’t really watch much (I still haven’t quite stuck with it, because I’m not much of a cable viewer), but I suppose it’s nice that he’s back and he’ll develop what he has.

    I could go on.  But, I’ll leave it to another post…

  • Reflecting on things from the hiatus

    Not that my hiatus was planned (really, it wasn’t!).  But, I’ll try to catch up a little with some commentary and links on things that might be a little old, but still good to check out.

    Some stuff to note, because around here at triscribe, we’re APA’s and we’re lawyers:

    The first Asian American woman elected to be mayor of Oakland: Jean Quan.  PBS Newshour had an interesting interview with her and coverage on the format of election in Oakland (rank-choice voting – almost a little Round Robin with ranking you 1st choice each round).  Oakland has problems to overcome (high crime, poor economy), in addition to its interesting demographics.

    The new White House Chief of Staff, Pete Rouse, is part Asian-American, via his mother, a Nisei.  Meanwhile, I’m not sure how ex-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is pulling off the race for Chicago mayor election, but good luck!  Saturday Night Live won’t be the same without SNL Alternate Rahm.

    Karin Wong of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center raises interesting points about Asian American legal history, on the Angry Asian Man blog.

    I’ve seen others share this Slate article, and I’m passing it along: “A Case of Supply v. Demand: Law schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America needs, and law students aren’t happy about it,” by Annie Lowrey.  The headline doesn’t quite do justice to the issue, though; there are unemployed or underemployed lawyers who are frustrated that law schools are producing more lawyers, since the law students will eventually compete with them (who already are bar-admitted…) for employment. At least, that’s what I noticed from conversations – anecdotal info don’t quite compare to the stats, I guess. But, frustration is out there. How to resolve it is another story.

    I thought this Yahoo post was interesting: NBA player Ben Wallace is looking to one day transition to become a law student and join us lawyers.  I mean, Shaquille O’Neal has a law enforcement alternative path, and if Ben Wallace is serious about law school – maybe the NBA isn’t completely pointless (to me, anyway; I believe a bunch of NFL alumni are lawyers and judges).

    NaNoWriMo got in the NY Times op-ed last month.  Thought it was pretty cool.  I especially liked this line about the point of NaNoWriMo (besides the challenge of writing a novel in a month): “It’s also the pleasure of belonging, for a month, to a community that puts the lie to the myth of the lonely writer.”

    James “You’re Beautiful” Blunt may have prevented World War III, way back in 1999, when he was in the British Army?  Guess I can’t listen to the song the same way anymore.

    I don’t listen to NPR on radio, but I have gotten into listening or reading on NPR things on the NPR website:

    If you’ve got a half hour to listen to something fascinating and you’re a Founding Fathers (and Mothers) history buff, this NPR thing was great stuff.  The interview/coverage of Joseph Ellis’ new book o the Adams’ marriage was fascinating.  Joseph Ellis is also quite the writer/historian; I’d recommend reading anything he writes.  The John and Abigail Adams story is just amazing.

    This particular item is so precious and precocious: Former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and his now-4 year old fan.  It is funny and sweet!

    Plus, really awesome stuff on NPR, with this interview with Garry Trudeau and his 40 years of Doonesbury!  I enjoyed the reflecting on the characters’ development – Mike, B.D. (the helmet! the losing of the helmet! the losing of his leg!), and Joanie.  The interview didn’t touch on, say, Zonker and Uncle Duke (wonder if he’s behind the crazy 2010 election commercials; Uncle Duke is THAT crazy), but it was still awesome.  The Slate interview with Trudeau was also cool.

    The story of the 101 year old woman who got her US citizenship was heart-warming.

    Eventually, I will have to do a post on the fall 2010 tv.  Eventually…