Category: Links

I never quite like year end reviews in the middle of December, because even though there are only two weeks left in the year, I’d hate to think the reviews miss the year’s end stuff.

The passing of Nelson Mandela earlier this month came almost timely – as we reflected history and current events.  The inspiration, and that hard balance of freedom, change, stability, and equality; idealism and reality; and everything else in between. We can only learn and apply what we learn from him and others; let’s not fail that inspiration and keep trying to meet those ideals.  Maybe aim for something better next year and going forward.  Check out the NPR links – some coverage from earlier this month and how Mandela was able to be both a statesman and a liberator.

The passing of 1010 WINS News’ own legendary Stan Brooks. He was there even before it was 1010 WINS all news, all the time. They really won’t make an NYC news media fixture like him anymore. It’s sad that he passed away right after they had named a room after him at City Hall; but it’s amazing how he covered so many city stories, and his voice had such a rich and youthful timbre to it – it took me a long while to realize that he was a senior citizen.  See here for the 1010 WINS obituary, and here for the NY Times’ obituary.

Change is coming, as NYC has the first mayoral transition in 12 years.   Things are going to be interesting.  We live in interesting times.  Let’s have a Merry Christmas in the meantime…

I ended and validated.  By my count, 55134, but the NaNoWriMo validator said 55,166.  Either way, a win!   It’s an urban fantasy, “The Key to Darker Thinking” and it’s a mess, but the end of the world (as we know it) was halted by magic.  For those still writing, in whatever time zone you are, keep going and validate!

For those who did it: WE DID IT, wrimos!  (you know who you are!)

And, for those who didn’t make 50k: you tried.  And, there’s next year, or pick your own month and do it!  National Novel Writing Month is something worth trying and doing.

Since I don’t know which image to post, I’m posting both.

(cross-posted at sswslitinmotion.tumblr.com)

Happy Hanukkah!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Happy Thanksgivvukah!  Happy Holidays!

The balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade went forward after all.  They didn’t fly as high since the winds were a concern, but at least they weren’t grounded.  That would have disappointed a lot of people.

The trend of starting the shopping mess on Thanksgiving Thursday continues.  Over at Slate, Matthew Iglesias ponders the question and whether it really matters as a social justice issue: is it fair to make some people work on Thanksgiving?  He compares it to the being open on Christmas situation.  He concludes:

Which is just to say that in a diverse nation with more than 300 million citizens, opinions are going to vary on the pros and cons of extended business hours. How strapped for cash are you? Where does your family live? What’s your relationship with them like? How sentimental are you about specific holiday rituals? People will differ. This Thanksgiving there are going to be people with jobs at the Gap who wish they weren’t working Thanksgiving but feel that they’d lose their jobs if they weren’t willing to take an extra shift. There are also going to be people with jobs at Radio Shack who wish they could earn some extra cash and get out from under that credit card debt. I’m not persuaded that there’s a first-order question of social justice here one way or the other.

I get that there are people who are willing to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas.  And, Christmas, in my mind, is more of a religious holiday, even if a lot of secular folk and the American government have taken advantage of it.  If you want to be open and/or work on Christmas, go ahead.  There are a lot of non-Christians who need servicing. I won’t judge.

But, Thanksgiving – notwithstanding its complicated history (much like anything and everything else in this country) – is a uniquely American holiday and unites everyone, because it’s not about race, gender, national origin, religion, lack of religion, or whatever.  It’s about being American and being grateful.  Maybe Thanksgiving is more than grouching about whether you’re working or not and shopping demonstrates greed/lack of greed/save capitalism and the free market/economy and how much free will is involved when someone chooses to work/open the business on a holiday… the debating is endless.

I feel like it comes down to our national values and our culture.  Do businesses have to be open on Thanksgiving – for just one day?  Are businesses just about money?  Do corporations – assuming they’re people too, as former Gov. Mitt Romney said and legally, they are – have one core value?  Do they have one element of patriotism?  Just pick one day where you don’t cross a line and say why.  And, can’t we as Americans have one nice thing to agree on?

The lines are blurred.  All the crazy arguing – this is why we can’t have nice things.  (insert sarcasm there, in case you didn’t catch the sarcasm).

Hmm.

Anyway, don’t overeat and watch too much football.  Just take a moment and say thanks for all the good stuff out there.

I liked listening to this over at NPR’s Fresh Air: host Terry Gross having Bridget Lancaster and Jack Bishop of “America’s Test Kitchen” make Thanksgiving cooking tips.  Alton Brown was over at NPR’s All Things Considered, with very sensible tips on cooking the turkey (including the tip on not cooking the stuffing in the turkey, to avoid food poisoning).  And, Science Friday on NPR had the “How to Avoid ‘Food Failures’ This Thanksgiving” with Jeff Potter of “Cooking with Geeks.”

It’s getting down to the wire with National Novel Writing Month.  Even NPR is noticing… My project continues…

triscribe’s FC and a crew of the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) are at the NAPABA convention in Kansas City, land of the bbq. (pardon the abbreviations; we’re lawyers).  FC noted on his Facebook – as did AABANY on the AABANY blog: Judge Denny Chin and AABANY’s historical trial re-enactments – including the newest one, “22 Lewd Chinese Women,” done at the NAPABA convention in Kansas City – got covered by NPR! (so law and bbq are perfect together). (also: I’m sorry to miss the fun, you guys). FC is quite prominent in the photo there.

Meanwhile, I’m plowing ahead with this year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) project.  I didn’t plan ahead nearly as much as in previous years (work, work, work, trying not to think about work, work).  This year, the aim is just to write fiction and to feel good about fiction, since I haven’t done very much fiction writing for awhile and my legal (work) writing (such as it is) is tiring me out.  Writing in a genre that I usually don’t write – fantasy – has been a challenge.  So far, I have a psychic and some fortune-telling, a prophecy that the world will end, a search for the “Elixir of Elysium” and an FBI special agent who’s sort of wondering why is he in this. Oh, and now there’s about to be a murder (since I seem to need a reminder that I’ve written murder mysteries and those can be more fun, in some ways).  Hmmm.

I’m somewhat blogging about my NaNo project over at my tumblr.

In Brooklyn, we’ve apparently been very excited to see “Elementary” filming in the area.  I liked that the show returned Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft.  Also: they did the latest episode on Silver Blaze! This is all making me want to reread the classic Holmes stories.

Still hoping that “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD,” via the people of Joss Whedon, will keep going (ABC gave it a full season, so…).  I think the latest episode was an improvement. I wanted to hug Agent Phil Coulson, the man who came back from the dead from “The Avengers” (yes, yes, big spoiler, but since so many of us saw “The Avengers” movie, get over it).  I like Phil, and actor Clark Gregg has really pushed the angle with Phil’s toughness and professionalism and… yep, humanity, and not wanting to face the real trauma (like, oh, death and maybe not being afraid about that).

The hard part is building the relationships and getting to the humanity – the stuff that superhero stories don’t nearly get to cover enough (unless you count the countless times of “Let’s keep torturing Batman!”).  Since Agents of SHIELD is about the people who are basically the support staff to the superheroes (with their own adventures besides just cleaning up after The Avengers), they should try to cover more, not just be X-File-like or Alias-like or Fringe-ish.  Come on, Agents of SHIELD, keep at it!  You can do it!

(bear in mind, Whedon’s tv shows have a slow go.  “Buffy” moved quickly to establish the friendship of Buffy, Willow, and Xander, but high school and monsters kind of make that kind of thing happen).

To be airing on PBS: Hugh Jackman in “Oklahoma!” (link to the story coverage over on Entertainment Weekly’s website).  I could have sworn that PBS had shown this years ago, but they’re showing it again as part of a fall arts festival this month (last night was “Company” with Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, etc.). “Great Performances” is the umbrella show airing the musicals.

I wish PBS would take more stuff out of ye olde archives – they’ve got tons of good stuff (oh, and it’s almost pledge time, so…)

Oh, and in sports: Boston Red Sox won the World Series, which we in New York City might just have to say “congrats.”  The New York City Marathon 2013 was great – things are so much better without a hurricane.  And the NY Giants have won two games so far.  Yay.  Columbia football has so far not yet won a game. Ugh.

On to the next thing…

We’re nearing the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.  I can’t believe we’re getting toward the end of October already, because I’m not ready for my writing venture for this November’s National Novel Writing Month…

…And, I have to catch up on getting some posts up here on triscribe or over at my tumblr site.

The thing I love about fall tv is checking out the new shows – trying to be hopeful to find the next new thing (umm, I’m going to hope that Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD will get better. And that Agent Coulson is NOT an android or a clone of his previous self from The Avengers movie, and I wish, for sentimental reasons, that Michael J. Fox’s new show was funny for me) or seeing how crappy a show is and figuring what would be the first show to go down (that turned out to be ABC’s Lucky 7).

Meanwhile, FOX pushed back the series premiere of Almost Human, the J.J. Abrams’ exploration of a human cop-robot cop partnership, with Karl Urban (the Dr. McCoy of Abrams-verse Star Trek) and Michael Ealy. I’m intrigued to see what J.J. Abrams and Friends will do this time, and Karl Urban doing American tv!  But, really, cops and robot cops have been done before on tv. I remembered NBC’s summer experiment, Mann and Machine.  I was too young at the time to realize that something entertaining could be so cancelled, but it was a real series – at least, it’s on imdb; Yancy Butler as the robot who wanted to be human and David Andrews as the cynical cop (who has gone on to be a credible character actor in shows or movies that require an authority figure like a cop or military person; pretty good for an ex-lawyer!)  – with a touch of the battle of the sexes and odd chemistry – since the robot just happened to have a sexy female form… well, I have no idea if Urban and Ealy will go in that kind of direction, but if FOX can give me a solid friendship chemistry, a la Holmes-Watson or a House-Wilson, I could be pretty content.

Speaking of Holmes and Watson, I like watching Elementary. Last season’s season finale was really good and brought on the feeling of “I want more!”  So far this season tries to hit that level of “Gimme more!”  The season premiere took us to London, and has Holmes trying to patch things up with Lestrade (yep, a nut job addicted to fame, and still not nearly a good detective; and probably not as good as Gregson, which probably was the case in the books/stories) and Holmes gets a new point of restraint with Mycroft (yay, Holmes’ brother showed up!).

Holmes and Watson are friends, although trust issues might still crop up.  I’d like them to stay friends because there’s just not nearly enough solid friends shows (not when every show seems to insist on having the foundational romantic relationship; and the Holmes-Watson relationship has historically been fraught with interpretation that should just be left to the readers/viewers anyway!).  Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes is definitely more human than Benedict Cumberbatch’s Holmes – and I like that.  It makes the levels of ridiculous easier to swallow.  Lucy Liu as a smart Watson is also fun.

The recent episode of Holmes’ telling Watson about his first interest in a murder, back when he was a teenager, was a curiously interesting episode, especially once I realized that the actress who played Holmes’ crush/pen pal from his adolescence, Laura Benanti, had also played the first love of Miller’s character, Eli Stone, of the old ABC series, Eli Stone (where Miller was the crazy lawyer; umm, the show was entertaining, I swear!).  Benanti and Miller still have a nice chemistry (which I never quite understood how Eli Stone didn’t push more, but that’s another discussion entirely).

I do think that Captain Gregson and Detective Bell need to have beefed up roles.  An ensemble is more fun tv.  Bell’s sarcasm has had some good moments and could be deepened.  And, why on earth would you waste actor Aidan Quinn by not giving Gregson more lines/action?

Meanwhile, CBS has been filming Elementary in downtown Brooklyn/Brooklyn Heights. I have not yet spotted either Liu or Miller.

The passing of Marcia Wallace (see here for commentary over at Entertainment Weekly), a character actor who popped up in a lot of sitcoms over the years (including Full House) and whose voice is memorable as Mrs. Krabappel from The Simpsons.  As Mrs. Krabappel, she brought a lot of humor, bitter humor, sarcasm, and grace to the character.

My two cents on Mrs. Krabappel: Mrs. Krabappel was exhausted as Bart Simpson’s teacher, as life made things a joke (her husband left her, kids don’t care, and Springfield Elementary…).  The episode where Mrs. Krabappel and Mr. Skinner had their romance (and the whole community so didn’t get it, and Bart was a pawn) was one of those funny and poignant episodes that shows don’t do enough.  Krabappel and Skinner were just two lonely people, so why couldn’t they get it together?  Well, besides the complications arising from, say, Skinner’s mom… and I kept cracking up over Krusty the Klown’s reaction to the town’s uproar to the relationship (as Mrs. Lovejoy – the reverend’s wife – had said something along the lines of outrage over the idea that the teacher and the principal were or could be having “s-e-x in front of the c-h-i-l-d-r-e-n”; and Krusty – who either couldn’t spell or was semi-illiterate – said: “What?  The Sex Cauldron?  I thought that place closed?”)…

Anyway, the point is, Mrs. Krabappel was a great character and I don’t see another actress taking it on.  I understand that the producers of The Simpsons will have to retire her now – it makes sense.  So, farewell to Marcia Wallace; so long to Mrs. K., wherever you are!

I liked how this tumblr had put it, showing a set of images from the episode where Bart had foolishly set Mrs. K. up with “Woodrow,” who had the face of hockey legend Gordie Howe (at least I think those images came from that episode; it might be from the episode when everyone thought that the meteor was going to wipe out the town, which was also bittersweet).  Mrs. K to her kids, with a sad faced Bart: “Well, it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to all of you. /  We’ve had a lot of fun together. / Where does the time go?”before fading to black to the show’s credit of Marcia Wallace.

I’d like to think that Mrs. K. finally found happiness somewhere.

Thinking about the retirement of Mrs. K reminds me of this article over at Slate from September: the proposition that the powers behind the Simpsons seriously consider letting the Simpsons age already. Frankly, for me, the more poignant and funny moments from the earlier seasons were the flash-forwards to the future – like the episode where Lisa got married, or the glimpse of Chief Justice Bart Simpson of the US Supreme Court finally getting to watch the Itchy and Scratchy movie, or the other alternate universe where US President Lisa Simpson has to ask her deadbeat brother Bart talk the allies into letting the US off the hook (or buy more time) on debts.  If the Simpsons were to age, it might even motivate me to watch the show again.

See, it didn’t seem so funny anymore when Apu’s octopulets were suddenly older toddlers than Maggie Simpson.  And, I can only watch so much “Homer is a bad dad and then realizes he loves his family after all” or “Marge tries to find a new hobby” stories and how many ways can the show go to focus another character? (did Bumble Bee Man have an episode yet?).  Can the Simpsons go on forever doing the same thing, over and over, and being the same while time moves on for the rest of us?  Bart was once a kid in the late 1980’s/1990s – the episodes recalling Homer and Marge’s past as youngsters of the 1970’s were sweet stuff. Rebooting the Simpsons as if Homer and Marge were youngsters of the 1980’s… that doesn’t work for me. (I think FOX had an episode that time-shifted when Homer and Marge were young; it really felt wrong).

Aging the Simpsons would at least explain why Bart is no longer being taught by Mrs. K and we can all move forward and move on already. The character development (yes, even for a cartoon) would be fascinating to watch.  So, come on, FOX and the Simpsons’ producers – let’s do it. Think of Marcia Wallace, Phil Hartman, and all those who passed and how we can never forget their characters – and think of finding a resolution.

(or if you really want a cartoon where no one ages or learns a lesson – well, you could bring back Futurama. Again.)

And, FOX – or your sister entity, FX Speaking of cable tv – AMC: thanks for that final run of Breaking Bad. Powerful, well-written, and just nicely done.  The series finale was good stuff.  It didn’t hit the levels of brutal-what-the-eff level of the other episodes of the final eight, but I think it hit the right note.  And, I’m speaking as someone who didn’t get to jump on the Breaking Bad bandwagon during the rest of the series.

New York metro area sports at every level is not spectacular. NY Jets isn’t nearly as bad as expected, but suffered a crappy loss today.  NY Giants is 2-6 as of today; being 0-6 was horrid.  NY Mets and Yankees didn’t make it to the playoffs.  Yankees gave Mariano Rivera a nice farewell, as the great reliever retired, but how will the Yankees fare in the future? Meanwhile, the NY Rangers as a team isn’t very good either.  Let’s see how the NBA teams will be.  (my alma mater hit new levels of bad college football by losing yesterday to Dartmouth, with the score of 0-56; you can understand how I probably should not follow college football).

Well, the World Series between Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals has been weird and wacky. May the best team win…

Postscript: according to A.V. Club, Mrs. Krabappel actually re-married to Ned Flanders, of all people.  Seriously, I fell so behind on The Simpsons.  In my mind, for all the bitterness and banter between Mrs. K and Principal Skinner, they would always have the little spark between them.

I’m off by a couple of hours/a day, but…

Best wishes to FC and P on one month since the arrival of Baby A!

For your pleasure, consider this photo below that I had taken while off the Highline and near Chelsea Market, from a couple of years ago.  I’m not sure if Oscar is still there, but he looks strangely cheerful in this photo.

And, I think Sesame Street is appropriate for kids of all ages… And then there is this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had taken that photo of the sign on the City Store, when they were selling like hotcakes awhile back (and properly licensed for such) (I think the time stamp on the photo is right; I never quite get it correct on my digital camera). Cookie Monster Cop is cute.  And funny that Big Bird is the cabbie, when Oscar was the one with a cab (and, according to his performer, Caroll Spinney, Oscar’s voice was inspired by a NYC cabbie who drove Spinney to the very day he first does Oscar).  And Oscar used to be carried around by Bruno, a sanitation guy.  Hmmm….

Welcome to the world, Baby A!