Category: San Francisco Bay Area

Chilly October

Amy Tan gets braised in San Francisco (rather than roasted).

Mark Bittman with a bak choy with shittake and oyster sauce recipe. The video was also a good watch; seems simple. I’m not into mushrooms, but the oyster sauce – well, that’s brown sauce that’s good for something anyway.

Fascinating story about Tom Dunn, a lawyer who turns to teaching kids, when he couldn’t continue his criminal defense work due to a health condition.

There’s hope yet that we can save the earth with better thinking about our garbage – recycle and make less waste and so on. A huge “maybe” of course.

Didn’t make it to Homecoming this year, but – despite the loss – I think hope still springs eternal for Alma Mater.

Some NYC items:

Living in Hudson Heights (which seems to be somewhere south of Inwood and north or west of Washington Heights).

“When Love is a Schlep” – when singles in the city have to resort to relying on mass transit and the far distances of the outer boroughs (well, true, it isn’t that easy).

Sports radio fans: Mike and the Mad Dog were actually back together (scroll down to Mike and the Mad Dog reunion to listen to it on wfan.com), on Friday, 10/16/09, at the Yankee Stadium playoff opener – however brief a reunion). Well, guess only the Yankees can do that: creating reunions for people’s enjoyment.

I’m behind on “Law & Order” (insert teeth gnashing) – but here’s two of the three on the Law side to give us a peak on what goes on in the behind-the-scenes (Linus Roache in his real accent):

Oh, I just adore the current NYS Lotto “Sweet Millions” ad campaign. The commercials (see below) are so adorable, and the posters of the furry animals are soooo swweeeet!

Post Labor Day

“Even old New York was once New Amsterdam…” — we’re apparently celebrating the 400th anniversary of Hudson on the river, with the Dutch monarchy in town.

The NY Times on bento boxes.

The president making a speech on telling kids to work hard in school and all that stuff — honestly, it’s either going to bore the kids or inspire them; it’s only the beginning of the school year – and it’s hardly indoctrination of ideology.

Meanwhile, Justice Sotomayor is formally taking her seat on the bench, plus the US Supreme Ct in general is about to face a difficult case with an all-star cast (Theodore Olson, Floyd Abrams, Seth Waxman, and even the new Solicitor General, Elena Kagan, in her first oral argument).

Dare we begin to write in italics, to have a more legible America? Hmm…

As Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker notes: it’s the return of “At the Movies” – with movie critics! A.O. Scott of NY Times and Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune – the new guys, since the two Bens were ousted (see here on my acknowledging the arrival of the two Bens). Not that there was anything wrong with Ben Mankiewicz (as Tucker noted), but Ben Lyons bore the brunt of the (bad) criticism of his movie criticism ability (he’s not quite like his dad, Jeffrey, apparently; I didn’t hate him, but I didn’t watch the show at all while the Bens were on, so…).

So, thankfully, A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips are At the Movies (considering that they’ve filled in for Ebert when it was the Ebert and Roeper show, they’ve shown they are able folks). I love that the embedded video that Tucker included in his blog, previewing the new show, is all about how Scott and Phillips are Serious Journalists and Longtime Film Critics (totally trying to make up for the whole Ben Lyons thing, no offense intended for the kid, but guess it’s time to find other things to do; I do miss Jeffrey Lyons though).

I watched it an episode this past weekend and it was pretty good, although I’m not sure of their “see it/rent it/skip it” rating (Ebert has the rights to the thumbs up/down thing, so it wasn’t as if they could use it). But, it is great to see Scott and Phillips talking serious (joy or hate) about movies.

I did see “The Time Traveler’s Wife” this weekend; could’ve been a better movie, but was ok. I’ve heard the book was better, but it’s an adaptation; it does what it can do.

Saw “Adam” last week – that was kind of sweet and sad; I think this one and “(500) Days of Summer” are the dark romantic movies of the summer – can’t really say anti-romantic, since they both suggest that it’s better to have loved than to have never loved at all, but they were both bittersweet movies.

Labor Day Weekend!

I wish summer didn’t have to end.

Catching up on reading: Time Magazine on one man’s attempt to stop the tide of suicides in Japan, not a great trend in the middle of a recession.

Hat tip to Angry Asian Man for some great links, namely:

John Cho, in style, Angry Asian Man notes. Not looking like Harold or (New)Sulu at all. Thumbs up!

California gets some more Asian judges and Angry Asian Man profiles one of his readers, a law student at Howard Law, who is a founding member of their APALSA and he’s currently taking a class with Prof. Frank Wu (cool).

US Open and Ramadan – a Pakistani tennis player who tries to be cosmopolitan, religious, and professional all at once.

Jason Bateman profile. He’s come a long way from the 1980’s child acting gigs. Plus, I loved how the article mentions his Valerie/Valerie’s Family/The Hogan Family days (the one tv series with three different titles (and two networks) – an average comedy that somehow managed to stay on the air for a decent run).


Space has a smell. That’s more than I would have figured, since smell involves someone’s brain, via the senses, to detect.


People in NYC read while underground. No kidding.

More on the High Line.

NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley on the anchorwoman trend.

I can’t seem to find a link to an on-line version of the article, but Richard Huff of Daily News reported that Friday’s edition of Channel 11’s 10pm newscast was likely the first time in NYC metro area new that both anchors were Asians, with Arthur Chi’en filling in for Jim Watkins and sitting with Kaity Tong. They even acknowledged it during the news, just before the sports segment (and had otherwise made it just the usual Channel 11 news thing).

I’m confused with Barney and Robin, but that’s ok. Another season of “How I Met Your Mother” to enjoy!

Last but not least; go vote in the US Dept. of Health and Human Services‘ contest on how to prevent flu. The rapping doctor is the New Yorker, as the Daily News reported.