Category: Brooklyn

McCain’s pick for Vice president left me a bit puzzled; I mean, all very nice that you picked a woman (and a governor), but the political positions involved leave me uncomfortable and Governor Palin’s experience level left me a little underwhelmed. John Dickerson of Slate summed up with a “Huh?” in his headline; yes, she was one of those considered, but still… well, it’s 2008 – we have an African-American presidential candidate; had a woman candidate; even had a Latino candidate (in Bill Richardson, even if he was more second or third tier); why not a woman VP candidate?

Democratic Convention thoughts:

Even though I have cable, I stuck with the PBS coverage. It was comprehensive stuff.

Salute to Teddy Kennedy.

Michelle Obama was pretty awesome.

Hillary Clinton was very good and gracious in her speech; the best of Hillary, I’d say (and I’m not exactly a fan of Hillary’s speeches; her sing-song speaking voice has been rather grating for me; but this time, she kept it smooth; I liked it). Mark Halperin on Time.com gave great grade.

John Kerry was actually pretty good speaking on the third night – quite strong. Halperin graded a good grade for Kerry on Time.com.

Bill Clinton did pretty well; hit all the points. Yeah, that’s right – he was a President of the United States – and he sure knows his politics. Halperin gave high marks on Time.com.

Beau Biden, Joe’s son and Attorney General of Delaware (and soon-to-be shipped to Iraq, as a JAG officer) was poignant in giving the intro to his dad; the camera’s capturing Michelle Obama’s getting teary eyed over listening to the tough tragedy of the Biden family was sweet.

Joe Biden – well, he was being Joe. His mother’s reaction to his reference of how she made him get back at his bullies when he was a kid (she mouthed to the person sitting next to her, “That’s true!”) : that was priceless!

Al Gore – “it’s time for a change…” – reminiscent of his vice presidential nomination acceptance speech of 1992, which I so very much remembered for getting my attention. He was right then; he is right now. If only 2000 had been different…! At any rate, I liked his speech; he really got to the heart of the urgency from the environmental front of issues (he scared me, as the news about the Arctic is rightfully scary) and he gave a wonderful analogy of Abraham Lincoln, who was seen as insufficiently experienced – yet inspired and re-shaped America. (well, Lincoln was Republican, but I’d think he’d be amazed and impressed by today’s Democrats and Obama). Anyway, I pretty much agreed with Mark Halperin’s grade on Time.com for Al Gore.

And, of course, the history making moment of Barack Obama as the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party on the 45th Anniversary of the March to Washington — well, it was something. The video preceding Obama was interesting – yeah, it summarized his bio and his career; but, in a way, I thought it was almost a sequel of “Dreams of My Father” – in terms of his bio, it focused more on his mom and his maternal grandparents and had photos of his mom, his sister, and him.

The speech itself – well, the experts grasped it far better than I did. As someone who’s read both his books and heard a bunch of his speeches (at least on-line or on tv, or reading about interviews), much of the speech felt like a smoother re-hash of Obama’s best lines. He really demonstrated his specifics and his wonkish side; in fact, it almost got boring for me – almost Bill Clintonesque, really in the lengthiness of specifics (and, really, Bill Clinton’s past speeches have bored me). I’d give it a very solid B for Obama; he pulled his punches on McCain where he had to, and he tried to sell himself in one of the big moments of this marathon job interview for the top job of this country. I like his lofty rhetoric speeches, but this was where he probably had to get it down solid. He should have smiled more, I think. I like his smiles, but again, this is a marathon. He’ll have more opportunities. Joe Klein posted on an article Time.com and is quite right that by next week, we might not remember this speech; one of the historians on the Lehrer/PBS presentation made the excellent point that if Obama wins, his inaugural speech could outshadow this convention speech. This is just one more step in the process.

Still, I felt a bit of a tug of the heart strings when Obama referred to the March of 45 years ago; that’s really something.

So, we’ll see! Only in America can we have such amazing times in the 40 years since the Civil Rights era; dare we hope and believe?

A funny interview in Newsweek with actor Don Cheadle. I was particularly amused by his response to the question about his former castmates George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt, regarding who’d he date, if he were gay, which he isn’t; he apparently figured Damon and Clooney would treat dates to nice dinners and said Brad Pitt would just go for a burger; hmmm! Plus, a reference to his being in the cast of the “Golden Girls” spinoff, “Golden Palace”!

On the environmental and alternative energy front: the idea of green roofs and the real difficulties of harnessing wind power.

Off to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend!

As four years previously: we jump from the Olympics to the conventions. I still had some Olympics withdrawal. Oh well.

Wrap up of the Olympics:

The NY Times’ slide show on the reaction of Chinese-Americans in Flushing to the Olympics.

So the US’ NBA guys won the gold (with Duke University’s Coach K), beating the rather irritating Spanish team. And, the US Men’s Volleyball team made their inspiring victory for their coach, who experienced his family’s tragedy at the very beginning of the Olympics.

Interesting Slate article on Why Decathelon’s Not As Cool as it was way back in the day of Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang (who was representing Republic of China – okay, Chinese Taipei aka Taiwan) or the day of even Bruce Jenner. (apparently we may blame it on a number of things – the Dan v. Dave ad campaign of the 1990’s didn’t help). At any rate, I rooted for Bryan Clay and present, as a follow up to the story of four years ago, Bryan Clay wins gold in the decathlon. He apparently wants to be on the Wheaties box. Funny thing is that if you click on the link from that post of four years ago, it leads you to the story of his current gold medal.

Larry Langowski may have competed for Mexico in wrestling (he’s half-Mexican, half-Polish), but his story is so American! Olympic dreams really do push people to big heights, whatever the result.

Josh Levin for Slate analyzes the commercials that have been on during the Olympics. Good stuff.

Closing ceremonies had lots of people, weird interpretive dance, Jackie Chan, the Brits, and lots of stuff. A bit of a spectacle. The legacy of Beijing 2008 remains to be seen.

I’m no athlete, but I think this article does raise interesting points on how 1st generation Americans – Chinese specifically, but there’s a study out there that covers Asians overall – aren’t exactly sports inclined. In light of the Olympics, it’s pretty clear that commitment and hard can make athletes amazing.

Topics on Chinese/Chinese-Americans, Asians/Asian-Americans, APA’s broadly:

Jennifer 8. Lee on introducing Chinese to fortune cookies – here in the NY Times’ City Room blog and in the Dining Section.

Second generation Asian-Americans checking out new real estate in the outer boroughs.

Thought this was an interesting article on Time.com – on APA’s and the issue of suicide and the impact and influence of the APA family – a difficult subject indeed; when one’s family is the source of both one’s strength and stress – and trying to find culturally acceptable ways of dealing with one’s problems – it’s just tough stuff. Maybe it’s not just an Asian-American thing; but I’m not surprised by the significance of this study’s findings.

Stuff not about APA’s; fascinating reading:

A great NY Times article on how a science teacher is trying to teach science – particularly evolution – to those who resist it because they feel it’s anti-religion. I don’t think science is anti-religion; the relationship between science and religion seems best summed up by the science teacher in this article: that the two topics ask different questions.

An interesting story about the last stops on the various subway lines.

Politics? —

One thought on Saturday: Biden?! Good and bad feelings arise; excited and worried – Slate’s John Dickerson sums up the good, the bad, and the ugly about Joe Biden. Well, best wishes to the new Obama/Biden ticket.

I’ve much watching of the convention (if only because the historian in me wants to check it out). I suppose I could watch the cable tv coverage, but I’ve still found the PBS coverage most interesting and comprehensive (even the boring parts).

Kind of not quite looking forward to Olympic withdrawal; in the meantime, some stuff:

So, the thing that kind of makes me laugh about beach volleyball as an Olympic sport… well, geez, what’s with the 1990’s music and the DJ’s? (some explanation or analysis can be found on Slate – which was nice, but I still don’t get the 1990’s music thing).

I kind of resent that softball and baseball will be kicked out of the Olympics; why don’t they just get rid of rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming? What’s the deal with speed walking? And, I still don’t care for BMX cycling (putting aside the whole “OhmiGod, that’s dangerous!” element). Oh well. Guess they got to have stuff to attract others who aren’t me.

I don’t care for the mercenary athlete either, by the way. Yeah, so great, you love your sport and you want to play with others and do well. But, there’s something about patriotism – and the real reasons for immigration (you know, like, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not just money and glory).

Ex-“Full House” actor (and current narrator on “How I Met Your Mother – aka FutureTed) Bob Saget got roasted at a Comedy Central roast, as noted by this Associated Press article. AP also interviewed Saget, asking him who he thinks should act as Danny Tanner, his character from “Full House,” in a possible movie version of FH:

Somebody was talking about (a movie). Who knows? It’s a crazy little world we’re living in, isn’t it? … Josh Radnor (CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” narrated in voice-over by Saget). I don’t think he’d do it. He’s too talented, but he would have to play Danny Tanner. I don’t know if anyone should want to fill those shoes. But it’d be hilarious because I’m playing him as an older man. I’m his voice. I’m the discombobulated “Charlie’s Angels” voice. Who else could be Danny Tanner? Let me think. … Jason Biggs (“American Pie”), and maybe Danny gets caught in the kitchen with a pie.

So, let me get this straight – FutureTed wouldn’t mind if Ted plays him? LOL. My only quibble is that Danny Tanner was the tall thin one of the three guys; Josh Radnor’s not nearly tall enough. But, still, too funny to imagine him playing the role. (and funny that the thought even occurred to Bob Saget).

On a more respectably notable note: a fascinating story on author Dorothy West and the commemoration of her house, as a site on the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard. The article put a smile on my face for referring to Oprah Winfrey’s production of “The Wedding,” based on West’s novel – a movie that starred Halle Berry and was quite an engrossing two-part tv movie (they really don’t make those anymore on network tv). Kind of interesting that the power of Oprah can raise a great writer out of obscurity – and get so much more into the interests of the American public.

Entertainment Weekly’s latest issue previewing fall movies – great read and amazing pictures of the stars. But, they had a moment of oops, with Harry Potter on the cover, but the movie’s delayed until next summer. Apparently, corporate synergy (considering that EW shares a corporate parent with the Warner production) didn’t work. As noted by EW on its website: “EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information.” Info coming too late for magazine’s printing; blah blah blah. At least the issue’s now a collector’s item! (assuming I don’t completely destroy it by folding pages while walking with it in the subway).

But, no, really, does Harry Potter’s latest movie have to be pushed over that late? Bad enough that the Star Trek movie’s delayed! (and I much prefer my ST movies in the fall/winter).

A bronze Fonz is in Milwaukee, in honor of “Happy Days” (or Henry Winkler, anyway).

Roger Moore reminiscing about his days as Bond, James Bond (and probably other stuff).

Slate’s Explainer on “how Causasians got their name.” An interesting article on history and sociology and things like that. But, sometimes I wonder who comes up with the Explainer column questions; sometimes I don’t want to know.

Last but not least – thanks to the Olympics helping NBC re-discover itself as a network, I’m actually looking forward to seeing “Life” again (it’ll be on Fridays – what a rating killer night; why must NBC be so cruel to actor Damian Lewis and his crew?) and even “Heroes” (please don’t let season 3 be lousy!). But, gasp, could it be that tv actors – actors generally – don’t want to admit that they watch tv? I mean, come on! Talk about snobbery. Sometimes I take a look at the British actors and their curriculum vitae (i.e., check imdb.com), and see that they’ve done so much from tv, film and theater and make a living out of it; and then in America, we get people who seem to pooh-pooh tv, but somehow adore film and theater? (well, theater not so much; I don’t think Americans revere the stage quite that much).

I find that pretty disingenuous; tv itself is a different form of entertainment – a different way to approach storytelling – should you have a writer, actor, producer, and a network willing to do it. If you respect the form of media, then the form of media can succeed. Ideally, anyway.

One of the entertaining things about the whole Beijing Olympics is that the time difference of 12 hours makes it confusing as to when what happened; Michael Phelps’ final rounds, for instance, occurred at 10pm EST, but actually the next day 10am local time. At least it was aired live (well, EST anyway; I don’t know if it aired live in the West coast).

The unfortunate story of Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdler who couldn’t compete due to the injury. Time’s China Blog had at least one post. Newsweek’s Melinda Liu had her own observations. “Big Hope” – a lack of guarantees. Perhaps it’s a small consolation that it was a battle over body rather than the mind. George Vecsey of the NY Times with his own words of consolation to China.

The story on US’s Stephanie Brown Trafton, gold medalist discus thrower who has a real day job; she managed to end the American women’s lack of gold medals in the discus.

An interesting story on the many Olympians (once an Olympian, always Olympian, apparently) who live in the NY metro area, long after the Olympics were after.

And, the British are prepping for London 2012, with a pretty decent medals showing at Beijing. Loved these lines in the linked NY Times article; Peter Berlin writes:

Britain, which will host the Summer Games in 2012, may not be able to stage a no-expense-spared Olympics the way China has. The week before the opening ceremony, Tessa Jowell, Britain’s minister for the Olympics, said that the Bird’s Nest in Beijing would be the last “iconic” Olympic stadium. Organizers must already be wondering how to follow Beijing’s cast-of-thousands opening ceremony; re-forming the Beatles is not an option.

Yeah, I think it’s tough to get the Beatles for Opening Ceremony 2012, since half of them are in the afterlife. But, really, it’d be awesome to have Sir Paul and Sir Ringo there anyway!

Sooo… and how did the Jamaicans get so good at sprinting? Slate’s Explainer explains!

And, apparently, there’s confusion as to how to pronounce “Beijing.” “j” sound vs. “zh” sound is different; but I’m thinking you’d need a good ear to hear that anyway? Oh well. And least NBC’s Brian Williams aimed to get the pronunciation right.

Non-Olympic stuff:

The fear in upstate NY about windmills: not just that they may spoil the view (which to me is more the eye-of-the-beholder kind of thing; they don’t look that ugly to me) or that they may make noise (generating electricity ain’t without trouble of some kind) – but that getting at all runs the risk of corruption; what a sad story indeed.

Michael Phelps is The Man.

Apparently, Milorad “Mike” Cavic, the guy who won silver (by a mere length of a hair in touching the wall after Phelps) – he’s an American-born swimming for his parents’ homeland of Serbia. If the NY Times is correct, he’s apparently not too unhappy with his silver.

Interesting profile on the Team USA’s Women’s Volleyball team coach, Lang Ping (aka “Jenny” Lang Ping), as her current team played against her old team, Team China (and won).

The USA Women’s Gymnastics made quite a gold-silver pair – Nastia Liukin (Russian-born, Texas-raised) and Shawn Johnson (Iowan with a Chinese coach).

Too bad – Team China beat Team Chinese-Taipei (aka Taiwan) in baseball. Oh, c’mon – they actually like baseball more in Taiwan than in mainland China!

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent the week vacationing in his old home state of Hawaii, to re-charge before the convention. I had to gnash my teeth over the brouhaha over whether this could be perceived as “elitist,” and had to be grateful for the posts and articles that say, “No” since Obama was born and raised in Hawaii and still has family (including his grandmother, sister, and others) there. It would also be where he can pay his respects to the loved ones he lost.

Plus, last I checked, Hawaii was one of the 50 states; to refer to it as “exotic” is nice, but it’s not exactly foreign either.

Plus, Senator Obama did such “elitist” things as … body surfing (umm, that’s what they do in Hawaii; you and me and Joe Schmoe may not do that, but people in Hawaii do), eat snow cones (that’s what they really do in Hawaii), had dinner with his wife, enjoyed his kids, and watched Batman (like millions of other people have).

Sad news from the area of NY Sports Radio: Mike and the Mad Dog of WFAN are breaking up. So weird to think that Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Mike Francesa have split. 20 years and it ends. WFAN’s going to have to figure out what’s next. The NY Times article by Richard Sandomir has more details. At least Mad Dog called in on the show on Friday for a final goodbye to the fans.

Oh, and yeah, five years ago, on August 14, 2003, we had that blackout. Yeah, I don’t think I want another one. Really. But, nice of the NY Times for doing some observance of it.

But, this particular NY Times article seems to posit that maybe this summer might be the nice quiet summer in the city (well, with the waterfalls, the new Ikea, and inconsistent baseball teams). Maybe!

Asian Alumni picnic — well, plenty of food – always something to look forward to having.

Slate’s Explainer on how Georgia (the one that had to deal with Russia this week) has been known as “Georgia” and whether this is the same as Georgia (of United States of America) – with the answer being kind of, but not quite (“St. George” being the derivation, but some differences of how this came to be).

The Olympic controversy, as Team Spain did a Very Bad Thing – at least from the perspective of North Americans of East Asian descent – as noted by New York City Councilman John Liu; even if the Chinese of China don’t feel offended, I sure found the Team Spain’s slanty-eye pose in an ad as repugnant as a minority and as a Chinese-American.

Time.com’s China Blog got on the story.

NY Times’ Harvey Araton ponders on whether Spain ought to be “punished” for this stunt:

Chinese Web sites have reported on the issue but without great energy or emotion. In my office Wednesday, the photo was shown to two Chinese staffers. Neither viewed it with surprise or disgust, but more with bewilderment.

An American I know who has spent much time here speculated that the Chinese reaction would naturally differ from that of Chinese people living in the West, where, as with any minority, they would understandably be more sensitive to such a display.

And then there is the prevalent perception that people here do not want to dwell too much on anything beyond the Olympics they have been waiting so long for, prepared for so lavishly and organized so well. They want attention focused on the athletes, on the architecture, on the hospitality, not on causes and controversies.

This being the Olympics, where every perceived antisocial slight is recorded and remembered, the Spaniards will have to carry the fallout of the photo around for a while, not unfairly. Context is important, though. There can be far worse demonstrations in the sporting arena, such as the Iranian swimmer who called in sick to his swimming heat, almost certainly to avoid getting into the pool with an Israeli.

That was a truly revolting development, a flagrant foul.

It’s easy for some of us to demand some kind of resolution, but this isn’t easy – there are people who sincerely don’t get it and don’t feel bothered at all by it – whether the Asians themselves or the offenders who claim it was all in “fun.” Maybe this is at least a teaching moment or an opportunity to learn.

Considering that one of the Spanish players is an NBA player, he might be the one person who could be “punished,” since I doubt that the NBA would want to offend the Asian American community – or at least they want to avoid a perception of double standard, as noted by Adrian Wojnarowski on Yahoo!Sports:

“The simple question is, ‘Would Stern and the league hold the American players accountable?’ And I think the answer to that is yes,” one NBA general manager said. “So why wouldn’t he hold the ‘other’ NBA players accountable – unless the rules only apply to the American players.”

So far, there’s nothing out of the league office. Rest assured, unless there’s an outcry over that photo, the NBA will wish this story away. Maybe the league will even issue a mild rebuke. It won’t be enough. Maybe this doesn’t rise to a suspension, but there should be significant fines and a bold condemnation. There needs to be a message delivered to NBA players everywhere: When you earn your money with us, you are always on the clock. [Jason] Kidd, Kobe and LeBron understand it. It’s time the rest of the league does, too.

As some suggest he’ll do, Stern can’t dismiss this as the business of a federation team. These are NBA players returning to NBA cities this year. Never mind the host country and millions of fans here, but consider the Asian-American season ticket holders in cosmopolitan cities such as Toronto and Los Angeles. One of the reasons the New Jersey Nets traded for Yi Jianlian was to market him to a large Asian-American base in Metropolitan New York.

The NBA is a global league, so understand: Whatever the summer uniform, it’s the players who are forever representing the logo. The idea that Stern shouldn’t act on this behavior because it falls under FIBA and Spanish rule is ridiculous. [….]

Stern is walking a slippery slope here, balancing relationships and partnerships in China and Europe. Already, there are jealousies developing in Europe over the way Stern is fawning over the Chinese market. Some European teams have told American marketers and agents that they’ve felt neglected in Stern’s wanderlust for Asia. FIBA is the governing body for European basketball and they’ve already dismissed this as a non-issue. That’s FIBA’s right, but the NBA has a different responsibility here. It has to take the higher ground.

“It would start an international riot if we did it, but they aren’t us,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “It’s low-rent stuff, but FIBA won’t do squat, so (the) NBA would show them up with any punitive action. I would be shocked if the NBA does any more than condemn (the) action.”

These Games have been a fascinating illustration in the complexities of the NBA’s globalization. The Americans have been treated like rock stars in China. Team USA has handled everything with grace and good humor. After too many trips overseas when this wasn’t the case for America’s national team, it sure is now.

Yes, there are different attitudes in the world, different sensibilities in Europe and North America. But for the NBA, there can be just one set of right and wrong. There should be only a strong voice and strong action now. No one should have to call for accountability from the Spaniards – the way that they would for Americans. Once and for all, David Stern has to be clear that there aren’t rules and responsibilities for different athletes, and different backgrounds – just those for an NBA player.

Meanwhile, Newsweek has an article on how Asian Americans who have mental illnesses have a serious struggle, particularly when untreated. Considering the pressure and stress of culture and life, it ain’t easy.

Last but not least: in medical ethics, there are questions and considerations as to how far we may ethically perform medical innovations, because the idea is to start off with doing no harm to patients. But, should there be a similar question for technological advances? Fascinating article in the Science section of the NY Times on that topic; Cornelia Dean writes:

Many scientists don’t like talking about their research before it has taken shape, for fear of losing control over it, according to David Goldston, former chief of staff at the House Science Committee and a columnist for the journal Nature. This mind-set is “generally healthy,” he wrote in a recent column, but it is “maladapted for situations that call for focused research to resolve societal issues that need to be faced with some urgency.”

And then there is the longstanding scientific fear that if they engage with the public for any reason, their work will be misunderstood or portrayed in inaccurate or sensationalized terms.

Francis S. Collins, who is stepping down as head of the government human genome project, said he had often heard researchers say “it’s better if people don’t know about it.” But he said he was proud that the National Human Genome Research Institute had from the beginning devoted substantial financing to research on privacy, discrimination and other ethical issues raised by progress in genetics. If scientific research has serious potential implications in the real world, “the sooner there is an opportunity for public discussion the better,” he said in a recent interview.

In part, that is because some emerging technologies will require political adjustments. For example, if the planet came to depend on chemicals in space or orbiting mirrors or regular oceanic infusions of iron, system failure could mean catastrophic — and immediate — climate change. But maintaining the systems requires a political establishment with guaranteed indefinite stability.

As Dr. Collins put it, the political process these days is “not well designed to handle issues that are not already in a crisis.” Or as Mr. Goldston put it, “with no grand debate over first principles and no accusations of acting in bad faith, nanotechnology has received only fitful attention.”

Granted, if Thomas Edison worried about whether the radioactivity from his inventing applications for electricity would cause health problems, we wouldn’t have the technology we have today, and if not for atomic weapons, well…

We do live in interesting times.

A hiatus from Olympics stuff (which has been pretty awesome, by the way).

Saturday: saw “Mamma Mia.” Fun movie to help one relax; don’t look for much in the way of brainwave activity. Meryl Streep was fun, overdramatic (it’s a musical) and has an adequate voice. Amanda Seyfried – previously Lily Kane, the murder victim of the “Veronica Mars” – plays the daughter trying to figure out who’s her dad before her wedding; she has quite a voice (and she might have quite a career; I mean, really, going from a corpse who haunted her friends in a tv series to being a ingenue in a musical movie? Talk about versatility!). Pierce Brosnan — umm, his singing voice wasn’t very good, but he made an effort for acting in the movie. Colin Firth – the stiff Brit who learns to be “spontaneous.” Stellan Skarsgard, the lone Swede actor in a movie using ABBA music (ABBA, after all, being a Swedish group) – had funny moments, but then had his own odd stiff moments (moments that didn’t seem to fit his character).

The movie was a musical – so it’s odd and strange, yet fun. It seems to take place in contemporaneous times, considering a reference to the Internet, but that just seems impossible, because Skarsgard’s character made references to the era of Flower Power and the disco references also feel weird, and Seyfried’s character is only 20 years old and unlikely to have parents from that era (perhaps if the show took place in the 1990’s and the actors were slightly younger, it’d might work; as it was, Firth was by appearances – and actually is – 10 years younger than Streep, Brosnan, Skarsgard, Christine Baranski, and Julie Walters to really be in the same generation with them; seriously – I even checked on imdb.com on that).

NY Times’ A.O. Scott’s review is pretty much accurate – it’s a train wreck, but an amusing one. Slate’s Dana Stevens notes that it’s a good kind of dorky. And, really, despite the quibbles, it was a fun movie. The cinematography made me want to visit Greece.

But, it did make me think that it’s hard to adapt a musical into a movie. Charles Isherwood makes some good observations about that. To me, some movie versions enhance the experience of the musical – making a thin plot or odd scenes make sense – like “Chicago” or “Sound of Music.” Then again, my experience of seeing musicals on stage isn’t exactly great, so who am I to say?

So, there’s this quibble out there that Christian Bale’s tough guy voice as Batman (as opposed to his almost normal sounding voice as Bruce Wayne) is a touch irritating. I kind of agree with that; but then again, Batman’s got to do something with his voice to sound intimidating. As I noted before, Kevin Conroy kind of got it right and borders on the best portrayer of Batman — but even he had this weird thing of sounding unnaturally kind and gentle tenor as Bruce vs. almost too deep as Batman – making one wonder who’s the “real” man – Bruce or Batman (and Bale’s Batman or Conroy’s might convince one to think that the man is Batman, not Bruce). It probably isn’t easy to find that right sound for this character.

Meanwhile, “The Dark Knight” isn’t quite going to knock “Titanic” off the record-breaking list. Apparently, among other things, “Titanic” had Leonardo DiCaprio to attract the teeny-boppers back in the day; teeny-boppers are theoretically not going to see the Batman v. the Joker. Well, I guess had the movie done a bit more Bruce Wayne and his (ridiculously tragic) love life, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to get more women out to see the flick. But, it’s hard to be a movie for all people (which, allegedly, “Titanic” was that movie; I can’t say I agree or disagree, since I didn’t quite like the movie; I’ll commit heresy and admit I thought it was okay – I liked Kate Winslet but I’m not a DiCaprio fan).

Something that is not a movie, but ought to be (or maybe some kind of stupid tv episode, like something out of “Tales from the Crypt” or something): article on CNN.com, via AP – apparently this guy really loved his UPS job, but this final favor that his co-worker did for him – doesn’t it seem just a tad bit much? Just a tad?

“Brooklyn to Hollywood.” Michael C. Martin, a screenwriter, after doing the day job as an MTA, whose mom still wants him to be a paralegal. Hmm. Well, some paralegals do get more pay than some MTA employees (but MTA employees probably have quite a union).

The passing of comedian and actor, Bernie Mac.

The passing of singer/songwriter/actor Isaac Hayes. “(Theme from) Shaft” and even “South Park” (where Hayes played Chef) won’t be the same.

So, is this a lucky day or what? People getting married and, oh yeah, the Olympics. Tying your wedding to your Olympics – well, I wouldn’t go that far, personally!

I was kind of blown away by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony. Time.com’s main article; NY Times’ blog on the ceremony; and pictures! It was quite amazing – talk about people power! Lots of people – 2008 drummers? Telling them to smile? A spectacle on Chinese history? A gymnastic sort of display of lighting the torch? (yeah, have an ex-gymnast portray a man flying in air!). Fireworks? Yep, tons of it! Intimidating and awe inspiring all at once. Heck, it was even cooler to see on big screen HDTV.

Poignant to see the Sichuan earthquake survivor kid walking with Yao Ming, leading Team China and holding the China flag.

A profile on the Team USA’s flag holder, runner Lopez Lomong.

A profile on Zhang Yimou, the filmmaker who was the brains behind the Opening Ceremony.

I wouldn’t be surprised by high ratings for the Opening Ceremony.

On Saturday, I’m watching some of the Men’s Gymnastics. Asian American Olympians to note for now: Raj Bhavsar of Texas – an alternate elevated to competing member due to Paul Hamm’s withdrawal; and Kevin Tan, captain of the US Men’s Gymnastics team – and a Chinese-American (whose parents came to America from China via Taiwan).

Well, this is the week where we can look forward to the endless Beijing Olympics coverage.

Among other things, much tv shows are airing China-related topics. Channel 13/WNET this past Saturday aired a Frontline episode on the Tiananmen Square tank man, in addition to a Great Museums episode on “China: East Meets West at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” The digital PBS channel kept showing tons of Simply Ming, including one episode where he’s showing the various uses of dim sum wrappers and went to this massive Hong Kong dim sim place. (umm, I managed to catch the food show, rather than the other stuff; call me shallow, I know!).

Slate has a Olympics preview, or at least one that links to some very good stuff (including this NY Times article on a recounting of the 1984 Olympics and an articulation from US Olympics Committee Chairman (and ex-Major League Baseball Commissioner) Peter Ueberroth’s belief that China saved the 1984 Olympics, which I remembered reading and thinking had a rather interesting moral on how networking really, really succeeds).

Of all the China-related stuff that’s inundating tv (just in time for the Olympics), I’m actually looking forward to the Bob Woodruff special this Thursday on ABC. His journalism career started because he got to cover the Tiananmen Sq. story in 1989, when he was previously a lawyer and translator in China. Life’s been tough for him since he survived Iraq, but to see him return to his career after his injuries – it’s inspirational stuff. Daily News’ Richard Huff does a coverage of the Bob Woodruff special.

Some links to posted by us about the Olympics we have noted during the lifetime of triscribe:

In the category of Winter Olympics – from FC and me, stuff from Turin, Italy, including the addendum looking forward to Vancouver 2010.

The last summer Olympics actually began on Friday the 13th. Geez. And, I was so not in Athens. Athens spurred commentary. And, saying Goodbye to Athens, meant saying hello to that last round of presidential year of conventions. We’re going to go through it again, even if we’ve Obama and McCain as the candidates this time around. Hmm. The more things change, the more they stay the same?