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Before anything, tonight’s Lost was really messed up. Even more than the “someone’s going to die” teaser episode last week, this week Ana Lucida is just turning out to be such a totally despicable person — and everybody knows it, and they have to spend the forseeable future with her on the island. Geez.

Ted Koppel’s last night on Nightline focused not on self-congratulations, but on Tuesdays with Morrie, a reprise of a three episode series three years ago about a Brandeis sociology professor dealing with his own process of death by Lou Gehrig’s disease. To paraphrase, the distance between life and death is not a chasm, but a bridge over a little brook – not far at all. I plan on getting the book.

Today’s Nightline post-Koppel was on Thanksgiving traditions. The most amusing were the turducken and the canned cranberry. Also, there was a focus on Norman Rockwell’s series of paintings depicting Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, including the archtypical Thanksgiving scene. The pictures are somewhat dated, but they are still part of this country’s mythology of political faith, and surely what we ought to be thankful for. Have a good Thanksgiving, folks.

John Kerry is elected… as jury foreman.

PBS this week:

Tuesday night – Nova had “Storm That Drowned A City” – to look at the science behind the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Fascinating viewing, but didn’t really tell us that much new – unless you were really curious to check out the computer graphics of how the storm surge undermined the levees.

Plus, Frontline had “The Storm” – the politics behind Hurricane Katrina. I highly recommend it – makes you feel all the outrage all over again. And, see the history of FEMA. It’ll be re-broadcast again at a local PBS station near you, so do watch.

Tonight, I’m catching the rest of the “In Search of Myths and Heroes” – British host Michael Wood takes a look at the history and historiography behind great myths – Queen of Sheba, King Arthur, Shangri-La, and Jason and the Argonauts. Really cool, as Wood visits different places – literature and history mixed together, the creation of myth and the layering of myth due to the course of history. His enthusiasm is infectious.

At some points, Wood’s journeys are caught up in the politics that keep 21st century traveling no better than that of years ago – ex., Wood had a bit of trouble looking for the ancient city that could have belonged to the Queen of Sheba in the Middle East; but he managed not to be totally turned away because people don’t hate Brits (imagine if he had been an Ugly American? Or maybe it was the vestiges of colonialism – the natives of the countries he visited probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid over a Brit traveling around and getting curious since they’ve seen that type for years). Cool stuff.

Don’t over eat on T-Day! Or is that my wishful thinking at this time of year?…

NJ Asst. US Attorney gets into trouble over his blog, since he never got permission, violating the US Attorney’s office policy to get permission before speaking to the media. Creepy. Be very careful when you’re on-line and you’re an attorney. Or, at least, don’t talk about work, like this guy talking about the federal judges…

I saw “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” on Saturday. Mike Newell, the director of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and other stuff, got to be the first British director with the HP franchise, and he made it feel very British indeed. I kept thinking that Prof. Dumbledore would burst out “There Will Always Be An England,” what with the cinematography capturing the British landscape. “Goblet of Fire” – Book 4 – is the path to real sad stuff, so of course Movie 4 is sad. But, good movie – tight; none of the annoying excesses of Book 4; and the cast did well, even when there was still not enough time to give everybody lines (Alan Rickman as Prof. Snape, amusingly pissed with the students; the cute Cedric Diggory character; and so on). I felt that actor Michael Gambon was settling nicely as Dumbledore – he’s a bigger guy and bigger presence. I felt the grandfatherly side of Dumbledore (but his agenda still puzzling as ever…). And, of course, poor poor Harry. How much can one put a kid through?

I also liked how the movie continues the portrayal of the previous books and movies of a diverse Britain – people of various colors and races coming together to learn and so on. Picking up on FC’s point on Asians in the HP movie: I never thought that Cho Chang (played by Katie Leung) was Scottish – so that’s an interesting twist. The Patil twins (who aren’t actually twins after all, but they were in the book, so maybe they’re fraternal twins as far as the movie’s concerned?) – well, their storyline was consistent with the book indeed – Harry and Ron didn’t treat them that well as their dates to the ball (well, geez, they’re only 14 and have no clue as to how to treat girls!).

Ted Koppel’s last night is Tuesday night on Nightline. Charlie Rose did a nice interview of him Monday night.

Monday night late night tv had George Clooney on David Letterman (funny and charming, as usual – Clooney, I mean, not Letterman); Wentworth Miller on Jay Leno (sigh – so cute and so intelligent – Miller, I mean, not Leno – Miller’s a Princeton alumnus, though… 😉 … ).

So it goes…

Busy birthday weekend…

Saturday, one of my friends passed the New York and New Jersey Bars. While there is a whole another part of the bar application that is required in New York, in New Jersey, once you pass the only thing left is to be sworn in. In one of those quaint but nice things in New Jersey, New Jersey attorneys have the authority to administer the oath to new attorneys, so Saturday night we went to Arthur’s Tavern in Hoboken to perform the deed and have some steaks, both of which went well.

Sunday for my actual birthday, P and I went to see the new Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire matinee at the local theater. Yes, it was $4 cheaper, but it seemed that there was only one projection guy running three rooms, because there were long delays between the pre-previews, the previews, and the actual show. Much swearing, but the movie finally got on track. Not spilling too many things from the movie, but it was good but dark, and at 2.5 hours, really butt-breaking. It was sort of something of a cross of an intermediate episode of Lord of the Rings with Judy Blume. A lot of horror perhaps more appropriate for October 31 than November, and a lot more adolescent angst perhaps more appropriate for a summer movie. There were several Asian actresses in this one, including the Indian double dates for Harry and Ron, and the unrequited I don’t-know-what scene between Harry and Cho Chang, played by Scottish-Chinese Katie Leung, which lasted all of 5 minutes. I guess I shouldn’t talk, because I have a strong Brooklyn accent and my relatives have strong Carribean accents, but wow, that Scottish brogue was really on. She pretty much looked like my cousin from Toronto, but with long hair. Good movie, but there is obviously more to come.

For dinner, P took me to Babbo, Mario Batali’s flagship restaurant near Washington Square Park. Some restaurants are just marketing — this place actually delivers. Here’s what we had:
1. Free: marinated herbal chickpea crustini – had a garlic-cumin flavor.
2. Babbo salumi antipasti plate – a variety of cured meats made by Mario’s father salami store Salumi in Seattle.
3. Gnocchi with stewed oxtail – amazing! Every cuisine has a archtypical benchmark dish to determine if the kitchen is any good: for Italian food, it’s gnocchi – a dumpling-style pasta. If not prepared carefully, it can either be library paste or rock hard. Prepared well, gnocchi are light, fluffy pillows of pasta flavor. The oxtail is ragu-ed into a stew, and the bones are removed, and then melded with properly prepared gnocchi, and then topped with, as Mario says on his show, “The King of All Cheeses”, grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
4. P had Grilled Lamb Chops with Eggplant and Lemon Yogurt; I had the Duck with persimmion and aged balsamic vinegar. Both were very well made.
5. For dessert, I had a saffron panecotta with cinnamon gelatti, and P had the assorted gelatti and sorbetto. P said that the flavor was very similar to what she had inItaly. They slipped a short candle and a Happy Birthday piped along the top of the plate.
We had a small caraffe (250 ml) of wine, a Montegradella Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2001. According to some websites that I saw, the Valpolicella wines are so underrated, that wineries usually print the appellation in very small print. This was an amazing red wine — it shifted as the courses went along. First it was strong and full bodied; then when we had the gnocchi, all of a sudden, it became spicy with wood notes; then for our main dish, it was fruity and palette cleansing.

Overall, we were very impressed, and a very nice birthday treat by P. Thanks!

Today’s Sunday edition (11/20/05) of the comic strip “Stone Soup” had a “Herstory” bit – proposing we not accept the theory of relativity as that of Einstein’s but that of Einsteins’ – since Albert’s first wife, Mileva Maric, was the mathematician who did the calculations for Albert back in 1905. She had to give up their first child for adoption (since she was born out of wedlock), care for their schizophrenic son, and put up with his general lack of responsibility and adultery. Plus, when he got the Nobel Prize, he gave the money to her (well, that might have been more because of the divorce settlement, for all we care). Mileva Maric was all but forgotten. I thought this edition was educational.

But, the trend in the historiography of science is apparently to reconsider and acknowledge women scientists. PBS’ Nova had a recent docu-drama “Einstein’s Big Idea: The Story Behind E=mc2” was a bit overdramatic (in between the talking head moments, were recreated scenes of young Albert Einstein in love with Mileva Maric, until he leaves her behind; and the lives of his predecessors on the theories of energy, mass, speed and so on – including a French noblewoman, who was a mistress of Voltaire, cut down at the height of life because of – what else? – childbirth and a successor – a Jewish Austrian scientist who never got the credit for the theory of energy in those little atoms (leading to the nuclear bomb). Although this episode didn’t have great critical reviews from the pro tv critics, I ended up watching it. I thought it was a bit overdone (I mean, really, sex and science?), but fascinating. Heck, Nova even already did an episode on Maric (which I don’t remember watching, maybe parts of it, but it was awhile ago).

This week, I did watch this week’s “Nova” – “Newton’s Dark Secrets.” Ok, so Sir Isaac Newton was the man behind the theory of gravity and invented calulus and all that stuff. But, apparently, he was seriously weird – he got into alchemy (perhaps as an alternative way to approach his study for truth and understand nature and to have power over nature – but still weird ); was a young man who had energy and invested it in scientific study (probably to avoid – umm – sex – was he a prim Puritan?); and suppressed his personal religious beliefs, knowing it did not comply with mainstream thinking at that time (Newton, a professor of Trinity College in Cambridge University – whose seat is now that held by Stephen Hawking – did not believe in the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – rather blasphemous at the time). Again, I didn’t like the recreated docudrama parts. But, the revelations of new research and understanding of Newton the man of that time (rather than how we developed the myth of Newton) has been fascinating.

Last week was the Downtown NY Alliance’s Restaurant Week – $20.05 prix fixe at selected downtown restaurants. Friends/colleagues and I tried out Les Halles Downtown and Steamers Landing. Les Halles had great French food; Steamers Landing specialized in seafood – and has an incredible view of the Hudson (right next to the World Financial Center). I like these restaurant weeks, trying out places I really wouldn’t try otherwise for pricing reasons!

NY Times’ Alessandra Stanley observes that the American release of the new “Pride and Prejudice” movie has a different ending than the British release of the same movie:

IT was perhaps a little embarrassing to learn that the British producers of the latest “Pride and Prejudice” released a different ending for American audiences: a swoony moonlit scene of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in dishabille, kissing and cooing in a post-coital clinch. [….]

The loudest protests didn’t come from patriots taking umbrage at the concession to New World prurience. Strict Jane Austen constructionists rose up to lament the sexed-up ending as blasphemy. Elsa Solender, a former head of the Jane Austen Society of North America, said that the boudoir scene “has nothing at all of Jane Austen in it” and “insults the audience with its banality.” The current president, Joan Klingel Ray, a professor of English at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, agreed. “One of Jane Austen’s greatest talents is that she presents sexual tension with such subtlety,” she said in an interview on Friday, as the movie, which had its premiere here a week ago, went into wider release.

And they have a point. The smooches and sappy, made-up dialogue between Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen are more reminiscent of Barbara Cartland’s work than Jane Austen’s. [….] One of the less vaunted joys of Austen is that she is one of the greatest writers in the English language who also happened to write witty romance novels. Women enjoy the love stories in Austen the same way men read Hemingway for the hunting and fishing: it provides guiltless pleasure.

The entire romance novel industry was founded by imitators who tried to adapt and adulterate Austen’s work, starting with Georgette Heyer, who is to Regency romance what Patrick O’Brian is to naval action adventure. [….]

The different endings caused a trans-Atlantic stir, but also a backlash. The film’s director, Joe Wright, chose to cut the final kiss for the domestic market after test audiences in England complained, but kept it for the American market, figuring, not wrongly, that Americans are saps with a lighter allegiance to literary accuracy. Or as he put it, “I guess, in America, you just like a little more sugar in your champagne.”

Some critics in the United States and Britain sneered at the ending (in The New Yorker, Anthony Lane, who is British, called the movie’s brooding romanticism a “Brontëfied” Jane Austen), but most were more indulgent. And Austen fans in England who got wind of the American version were incensed that they had been denied a final kiss.

Yeah, that would be my trouble with current Regency romances – they’re no Austens. It’s more the sex and romance and relationships, rather than social observation and excellent writing. Well, we’ll see what the next version of “Pride and Prejudice” will do. (am I at least glad I’ve read the book a long time ago). I know to keep the stuff separate – I’ll read those Regency romances, sure, but if I want Austen, she’s the classic.

Some stuff…

Cliff Sloan, publisher of Slate and a former law clerk of Justice John Paul, writes on the new biography of Sandra Day O’Connor by Joan Biskupic. Sounds like it’s a good read.

Slate’s Michael Kinsley has a view of the British democracy, which really is different from American democracy even if we derived something from it. Kinsley says:

Laws, including constitutions, are supposed to have sharp edges. Even without the help of clever lawyers, they define what is permissible in the process of defining what is impermissible, and they send a strong message that if it’s not impermissible, it’s OK. By contrast, a bone-deep desire to be left alone, a tolerance for eccentricity, a quick resentment of bullies—these are qualities that Britain has more than America, I think. And they may be more important.

Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria notes that Europe really needs to make a change – after all, what do you do when your country has a population of minorities? Zakaria notes:

One country has moved in that direction, with notable results. Britain has over the past 20 years redefined its identity. In a remarkable discussion in Prospect magazine last April, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown explained his definition of British identity: “A belief in tolerance and liberty, a sense of civic duty, a sense of fair play, a sense of being open to the world.” When pushed as to whether these were really in any meaningful sense “British,” Brown persisted, saying, “[These are] the ideas that underpin our history. We were talking about liberty and opportunity long before America was established. And America is based on British ideas… And if you look at British history, then the fact that four nations eventually came together means that Britishness could never be based on ethnic identity.”

Britain has not solved this problem. But it is searching for a solution that honors the past, embraces the present and prepares it for the future. One cannot say as much for the rest of Europe.

So, Kinsley and Zakaria feel Britain is a model of something? Hmm.

A chilly November couple of days.

And the fall movie madness… Harry Potter. Rent. Ooh.

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originally uploaded by triscribe.

Mega Millions was $315 million on Tuesday. Came this close — got the first 3 numbers — 2, 4, 5 — which is worth US$7.