Category: Los Angeles – Orange County

Marching On in March 2011

Yeah, it’s still March.   But, not yet the NCAA brackets time.  We’re getting there…

Hat tip from Roger Ebert’s Facebook fan page (yeah, I checked off that I’m a fan – his blog is great writing): the happiest man in America is Alvin Wong, a Chinese American Jew from Hawaii.  Why am I not surprised that the happiest man in America is in Hawaii?  Angry Asian Man also does his acknowledgment of Alvin Wong.

Interesting blog post on MoCA’s blog – what is in a Chinese-American’s name and the more personal take on the 1882 Exclusion Act.

Hat tip from AALDEF‘s Facebook page: the Washington Post editorial says that Prof. Goodwin Liu don’t have bad values to be a US appellate court judge.  This fear of his becoming a potential US Supreme Ct. nominee is making his current nomination for the 9th Circuit ridiculously more difficult than it has to be, I’d say…

Hat tip from NAPABA‘s Facebook page: interesting post on The Huffington Post about the Goodwin Liu confirmation hearing, from Richard Painter, a former Chief Ethics lawyer of the George W. Bush White House.  Honestly, when even a George W. Bush administration ethics lawyer says that Prof. Liu is qualified to be a US appellate court judge, well, it goes to show how this craziness is.

Yeah, I’m on Facebook way too much…

The whole Borders in Chapter 11 bankruptcy saddens me, because the Wall Street Borders was pretty much my local Borders.  Plus, Wall Street Borders was essentially the successor to the World Trade Center Borders, so it feels really sad.  Yeah, the mega bookstores did harm to the mom-and-pop independent bookstores and so the e-book reader is the comeuppance of Borders – but I still feel depressed about any bookstore closing.  Time.com has an article on how Barnes and Noble might continue doing better in this climate.

Over on “Law and the Multiverse,” the folks there analyze on the legal ethics of the She-Hulk.  I had no idea that She-Hulk is a lawyer.  Actually, of the comic book character world, I only knew that Daredevil is a lawyer.  Kind of awkward to think of the legal implications when you’ve a secret identity and have legal ethics to think about.

Some TV commentary:

“Fringe” on FOX – umm, I don’t know where the arc is heading for Peter “the ex-Pacey” Bishop.  Which Olivia or which universe will he choose?  Assassin (of – spoiler! – shape-shifters)/psycho Peter was a little over the top.  Peter “I hate my father-umm-which-father?” Bishop was also a little… well, the life of Peter isn’t easy.

The episode where Peter’s and Olivia’s first meeting as youngsters was an interesting episode – not only for what it revealed about Peter, Olivia, and the two Walters, but also about Elizabeth Bishop, who I think is a missing piece of the puzzle, no matter which Elizabeth of which universe it is.

Looking forward to the next episode, where the preview suggests that Walter thinks he can bring William “Belly” Bell back from the dead.  Yeah, right, Walter, you crazy troubled mad scientist.

Of course, none of the foregoing commentary about “Fringe” makes any sense unless you’re a viewer of the show.  Or if you do not mind sci-fi tv shows that cover two universes, and/or you don’t mind feeling blown away with simultaneous confusion and amusement over a tv show.

Will still catch up on “Community.”  I sorely need a laugh.

Actually… I think we all need laughs.  The world is too crazy, as usual, what with all the anti-public sector sentiment, political revolutions, continued economic problems, and craziness over Charlie Sheen (sad vs. amusing; Ken Tucker over at Entertainment Weekly posts the contrasting reactions of Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Fallon – it is crazy out there, it really is).

Catching Up on Stuff – or Is it March Already?

I put in my two cents in the comments section of David Bianculli’s blog, in response to his thoughts about Oscars Night 2011.   Some further elaboration on my part below (I sort of live-micro-blogged it on my Facebook feed when I was watching it; kind of fun).

I appreciated that Bianculli and Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker struck a nice note about the night – there were highlights and good stuff.

Really.  There was.

I thought that a lot of reviews about the Oscars broadcast was way too negative and hard on the presentation; honestly, Roger Ebert and Alan Sepinwall made it seem like God-awful tv.  I think that might be an exaggeration (seriously – there are way worse things on tv than a boring Oscars show; pick any night of “Jersey Shore” – and I tried to watch a half hour of Snooki and the Situation et al., of NJ, and I had to walk away.  Really.).

And, okay, comparing this Sunday’s Oscars to past Oscars doesn’t make it great or bad or anything either.  Granted I’m not an Oscars tv historian, but surely the past Oscars nights were not exactly Greatest TV Ever?  Then again, I’m probably the one tv viewer who didn’t hate that David Letterman tried to be funny with his Oscars hosting gig; he tried; the Uma-Oprah gag just gathered no positive response from the live audience.  I don’t begrudge Letterman for that; it just wasn’t his night at all.

James Poniewozik of Time was more even-handed about his critique, but he conceded that he felt tired about the broadcast.  I guess it depends on what you’re looking for in an Oscars night.  How many surprises or weird moment or great moment do you want?  Oscars isn’t the Golden Globes (thankfully; let the Oscars be the Oscars, I say; let them celebrate the history and present of movies and to continue trying to teach and reach out to us, for better or worse).

Personally, I thought this latest Oscars night was nice, even if not that exciting and a little unsurprising or a tad dull (if only because it had rather unsurprising results: I kept hoping that my sentimental favored movie, “True Grit” would have won something, even if I did like “The King’s Speech”).

At the start of it, I thought it was pretty cheesy.  I mean, really – James Franco and Anne Hathaway entering Alec Baldwin’s dreams to get the secret of hosting Oscars, a la “Inception”?  James, Anne: why Baldwin?  Why not Billy Crystal’s brain?  Billy Crystal was a better Oscars host and he’s funny; I guess I’m not a big Baldwin fan.  And, James entering the Oscars stage with his cell phone (was he really tweeting on Twitter as he did that?  Please!) – that was a bit much irritating for me.

Kirk Douglass was being a good sport/ham.   And, seeing Tom Hanks and Billy Crystal at the Oscars was a real joy.

Some amusing moments included James Franco’s “Congratulations, nerds” to the special effects awardees.  Franco in Marilyn Monroe drag was not nearly that funny – and I kept hoping that Anne Hathaway would have gotten Hugh Jackman up on stage with her (Hathaway sings well, I must say).

Melissa Leo’s winning Best Supporting Actress – well, I liked that she seemed honestly happy and thrilled, and her rambling felt natural.  Kind of amusing that she let out the f-word, and that the silent bleep caught it in time.  (although, I really like Hallie Steinfeld as Mattie in “True Grit”; she was so strong as a strong character).

Christian Bale’s winning Best Supporting Actor – good for him.  Sweet that he got all choked up thanking his wife and daughter; he came off as a real person, not a actor caught up in craziness (which happens).  And he didn’t let out the f-bomb (and had the good humor to reflect on his past f-bomb incident while showing gratitude for his win).

I loved director Tom Hooper’s “Listen to your mother” bit!  And, I thought Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi singing the song from “Tangled” was sweet (when I saw “Tangled,” I kept wondering if that was really Zachary Levi’s voice; so I’m pretty impressed – tv’s Chuck is talented!; and I really liked that they kept it simple; simple can go a long way; ).

The no applause of the “In Memoriam” portion was respectful (although I remain a not-fan-of Celine Dion).  Lena Horne’s quote at the end of the “In Memoriam” was fitting and powerful.

I was charmed by Colin Firth’s Best Actor award acceptance speech.  He even saluted his significant other – how sweet!  (but – as a disclaimer – I, like so many others, have a crush on him since “Pride and Prejudice” and my crush on him will continue unabated…).

I also like this new tradition of acknowledging all the nominees for their acting before announcing the winner.  Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock did such nice jobs of it and I do think that people should be acknowledged for their amazing efforts (even if they don’t get that statuette).

Steven Speilberg’s saying that the nine Oscar Best Picture non-winners were in good company was solid.  The video of the speech from “The King’s Speech” as a foundation/background for the clip montage from all the ten Best Picture nominees was also nice.  I think the Oscar folks really did a good editing to match the right clips to the king’s words (words that observed the eve of World War II and concerned a changing world and desire for better and hope for peace in the face of danger – kind of timeless stuff, actually).

I liked that Anne Hathaway put in a lot of effort and spirit.  I kind of wanted more from James Franco, but then again: I’m not sure how much to expect from actors who usually aren’t in the position of hosting three hours of stuff (and I wasn’t sure how much guidance were they given about their task).

The pacing of the whole thing was probably a bit off (but no worse than usual from past years – Billy Crystal was so right about that, when he came out on the stage and said as much).  I thought the auto-tuning “musical” gag ran too long; it would’ve been funnier if it was tighter (but the gag did make the scenes from the Harry Potter and Twilight movies hilarious).

I was really touched to see all the winners come out at the end with the PS 22 kids’ singing “Over the Rainbow.”  That was a great moment to end the night, with a great song. (even if a little late for the kids…!)

Oh, and take a look at Colin Firth on “The King’s Speech” on Charlie Rose.  Mmm.  Colin Firth.   (yes, I’m very superficial).

Eli Wallach was among those with a lifetime achievement award at the Oscars (along with Francis Ford Coppola).  I liked that they had his clip of “I live to act” remark from his acceptance speech.  A.O. Scott of the NY Times has a charming profile of Eli Wallach, noting that Wallach is his great-uncle.  The accompanying video of A.O. Scott visiting his Uncle Eli and Aunt Anne (Jackson) was also sweet stuff.  A.O. Scott even touched on this in his Oscars video with David Carr.

Yes, Natalie Portman won for Best Actress.  She is also someone with a science background back in her Harvard days, somehow balancing her intellectual and acting sides, as this article by Natalie Angier notes in the NY Times.  The article also cites Hedy Lamarr (who helped develop torpedo guidance systems during World War II), Mayim Bialik (ex-Blossom of tv fame and now a recurring neuro-biologist character on “Big Bang Theory” and a real-life neuro-biologist), and Danica McKellar (ex-Winnie Cooper of “The Wonder Years” tv fame; and later a math honors graduate of UCLA who’s advocating for better math education for girls – and currently doing the voice of Miss Martian on “Young Justice”) as examples of actors who understand and work in the science and math fields.

Somehow, James Franco continues his education (pursuing a Phd. in English at Yale) and acting.  I don’t know how he does it, but apparently with little sleep.  Oh well!

MSNBC.com – with a comparison of the two True Grits.   I haven’t seen the original True Grit, so I have no basis of comparison, but I really did enjoy Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hallie Steinfeld, etc., and apparently the Coen brothers tried to be true to the original book “True Grit,” so that goes.

On a not-Oscars movies thing: I had seen the trailer for Josh Radnor’s “Happythankyoumoreplease” when I went to see “True Grit” last week; I was impressed by the preview.  Yes, it’s the guy who plays Ted of “How I Met Your Mother” – again playing a romantic but skeptical artist (this time, a writer, not an architect) with a circle of friends in NYC – and he wrote, directed, and starred in this film.  Hmm!  The NY Times profiles Radnor and his soon-to-be-released film.  I’m looking forward to this…

And, a non-movies and science-related note: Congressman Rush Holt, a former five-time Jeopardy champ and a nuclear physicist, managed to beat Watson in a game in Washington, DC.   Yay, a Democrat is going to save humanity from machines.  Sorry to Ken Jennings.  A nice video from CBS on Holt’s observations – including how we can invest in our human capabilities.  Ain’t that the truth?

More posts later; “Fringe” and “Community” are still good tv as far as I’m concerned…

Happy Lunar New Year and A Super Bowl Sunday

Gearing up for the big game tonight?

If not: PBS has counter-programming with Masterpiece Theatre’s “Emma” (all three-parts).

True, the Jets aren’t in, but it sounds like the Big Game (in Dallas this year) could be interesting with Packers v. Steelers.  Not sure about whether the commercials will be interesting though.

That was pretty powerful though: a 20 second bit of FOX having actor Dan Lauria, who’s playing Vince Lombardi on Broadway, play Lombardi to goad the current Packers, as part of the mega pre-pre-game festivities.

Amid all the drama surrounding Amy Chua’s book (you can check the links I noted), her husband (yeah, another Yale Law professor), Jed Rubenfeld, has another historical thriller/mystery, “The Death Instinct.”

(I did a search – I actually did notice Rubenfeld’s past book; but I never get around to reading it)

Anyway, so Rubenfeld’s latest book seems to have positive reviews so far and when I skimmed the first chapter, it seemed to be pretty gripping.  But, it must be tough to be in a household where you both have books out at about the same time and the reviewer in the NY Times couldn’t resist noting your wife’s controversial book in the review for your book.  Geez.

Check this out: The (PBS) Newshour does a review of how their new format’s been doing.  Impressive that the new format of The Newshour has turned out well (at least, better than I expected; but then again, I’m probably the generation that’s watching more Newshour on-line than ever).

Slate article pondering the popularity of “Hawaii 5-O.”  I haven’t watched the show in awhile. But, I do like Scott Caan and Daniel Dae Kim. And, hooray for diversity for on tv! This show probably has more APA’s on screen than anywhere else, not to mention that it is helping the economy of Hawaii (kind of like how “Lost” and “Magnum, PI” and original “Hawaii Five-O” did).

Mark Bittman moving on from The Minimalist column; he’s heading to the opinion side, to talk about food (as an industry, as politics, as culture – because we’re screwing ourselves with bad food – take a look at the first post of his new blog on the opinion side of the NYTimes.com). Good luck, Bittman! Loved your videos!

With all the horrible weather that we’ve been having: find your inner Cory Booker.  Dig out yourself and your neighbors.

Fell a bit behind on this, but: Fred Korematsu Day in California!   Time coverage here, by Ling Woo Liu, director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education and a former reporter for Time in Hong Kong (I remembered that she used to be part of Time.com’s old China Blog).  More coverage on Angry Asian Man blog: here, here, and here.

Will post more about tv commentary and other things (as usual) later…