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Could today please be less “ugh”? Raining on/off (or, rather, torrentially/drizzily) and windchill biting winds – uh, Mother Nature, you do know it’s May, right? She must really want something nice on Mother’s Day.

I thought that yesterday’s Asian Heritage festival at Union Sq. was nice yesterday. Decent weather, despite the nasty morning. Kept collecting stuff – when will I ever learn not to keep amassing stuff?

“Alias” yesterday – well, Secret Agent Sydney is trying to figure it out with her half-sister; her half-sister perhaps loves her own evil dad after all (geez, could you please just don’t go all unconditionally loving on the Evil Sloane?); and the love of Sydney’s life, Vaughn – well, he’s slowly but surely going to lose his mind (you would too if you toiled so hard to fight the bad evil; the love of your life returns from the dead two years later; and your wife is a backstabbing traitor; and your ex-girlfriend’s father is trying way too hard to be empathetic with you because he too has a backstabbing wife. Hmmm…). The season finale is in… THREE weeks? Oh well. Just have to contain myself.

“The Practice” – The Return of Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) – he had five minutes. Umm. Okay. Plus some typical David E. Kelley moments (in the Ally McBealesque style – I’m not trying to be praising here either). William Shatner made me wince way too often. James Spader – hmm. Deep inside his wacko of a character is a… wacko trying to come out anyway, no matter how much every woman who crosses his path says she’ll reform him. Uh huh.

Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains whether Supreme Court justices get protection and to what extent (especially in light of what recently happened to Justice Souter while he was jogging).

Plus, there’s the Slate Guide to Gurus – a silly game to help one decide who’s the best guru for one – and a nice funny spin on how worth it they all are (Re: Dr. Phil – ” You can’t keep your eyes off: His mustache.” So true. So funny. tee-hee). Scary part: that I actually thought that the Slate descriptions made it seem pretty obvious that I’m the sort who’d go for Bill Moyers (he’s a guru? Oh well) and Oprah Winfrey (well, who’d resist that whole empowerment thing?). Well, the others were too easy for satirical targets, but the Moyers description is so dead on accurate for a piece of satire; my remarks in brackets:

“You’re an earnest lefty [I am?]
“Your guru is: Bill Moyers
“You trust him because of: His thoughtful chin-grabbing. [hehe, yeah, he does that]
“His style: Smug piety.
“What he says: Is ” ‘we the people’ a spiritual idea embedded in a political reality—one nation, indivisible—or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others”? [yeah, he’d talk like that]
“What he means: Republicans are evil.
[while I have yet to hear the words “Republicans are evil” out of Moyers’ mouth (I’ve been skipping a bunch of “Now” anyway), the subtext is certainly there (I mean, come on, the man used to be in the LBJ administration).]
“You can’t keep your eyes off: His rimless glasses. [those are better looking frames than what he had for the filmed interviews that he did with Joseph Campbell, I can tell you that]
“Ideal devotee is: Watching PBS. [umm, yeah; where else would you catch Moyers?]
“If he wasn’t doing this he’d be: A celebrity psychotherapist.
“Your sneaking suspicion: He hates dogs. [hehehe…]
“Cost: Nothing. It’s public television, remember? [ooh, gut check; zing at PBS]
“You could get the same advice from: Salon, The Nation, Harper’s …” [yeah, but it’s not like I’d read those; too darn lazy and no forking the money for them anyway… (and no, I’m not that left)]

Just my thoughts on that latest Slate thing.

This week’s “Doonesbury” is apparently about the class reunion at Trudeau’s fictitious Walden University, where the class is divided among the George W. Bush supporters and the anti-Bush side. Funny idea. Personally, with my class reunion coming, I’m half-scared that that can happen to my reunion (on the other hand, coming from a left-leaning university means that the right wing types are the minority, so the whole class divided thing won’t be nearly so daunting, unless we’re talking about a pro-war/pro-Bush vocal minority – but that’s a thought for another day).

Have a good week…

Last night, I saw Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at my undergraduate alma mater – an outdoor show, wherein the student troupe of actors take advantage of the beautiful campus to act out each scene. And, yeah, the audience travels along to watch the scenes. Take your theater fun where you can get them. (sidenote – I think it was my senior year when I watched them did one of Shakespeare’s comedies in the pouring rain).

All in all, it was great, and the cast and crew did a marvelous job with “The Tempest” (which, yeah, was required reading in first year, but I loved the play for being so amazing – even if Prospero the wizard’s intentions made no sense, he was Shakespeare’s ultimate alter ego – directing everything to happen).

It has gotten really popular – a huge crowd last night (most likely made up of supportive families/roommates/significant others of the cast and crew; partly curious passersbys and silly folks like me who are suckers for Shakespeare and/or outdoor theater). I loved how they did the end – where Prospero makes his soliloquy goodbye to the audience – and they re-interpreted it as Prospero’s goodbye to Ariel, the involuntary servant (slave? Ariel the fairy could have always left, I always thought, considering those powers she/he/it had), as he set her free (they made Ariel an obvious her; was it just me, or was there some amusing chemistry between Ariel and Prospero?). They also demonstrated the innocence of Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, who finds first love hitting her in the face and takes it joyfully. Romantic comedy indeed, while it did not ignore the sentiments of the colonization problem (Caliban, Prospero’s other slave on the island, trades Prospero’s stewardship for that under the comedy relief on the drunk jester and drunk butler; his sorrows never fully realized or eased) and political deceit (two or three plans to oust or overthrow either the king of Naples or Prospero). Oh, and great music – the troupe had a nice bunch of musicians and I liked how they weaved music in a play long known for being Shakespeare’s most “musical.”

Visiting the alma mater during this time of year reminded me of the tortuous student days of yore. So many students in the library, toiling over their books. I mean, really, at this time of year, the students are practically living in the library. On an absolutely related note, wondering what others think of that whole story about the NYU student living in the library (check out the NY1 coverage of it – video and all) – I mean, it’s a shame that he couldn’t get cheap housing, but I’m surprised that this kind of thing hasn’t happened sooner.

Odd story in today’s Saturday NY Times about the creationists’ own dinosaur theme park. Now, I’m all for tolerance, free will, and freedom of thought, but a theme park to re-affirm one’s beliefs? Do people go to theme parks for “beliefs”? A discomfort over natural history museums because it doesn’t relate with one’s religious beliefs (or, one’s beliefs in science – but can one say science is a “belief”?) – well, that depends – why does one go to natural history museums then? I suppose the creationists may go ahead and open their own institutions; that’s what freedom in this country is about. But, I just wonder, that’s all; no one’s forced to go to theme parks or musuems – if one doesn’t like it, don’t go. But, don’t go and be uninformed about what you’re visiting; natural history musuems are there because they have taken a side about the so-called debate on evolution and other sciences. Well, no further judgment on my part is intended and my apologies if I’ve offended anyone.

ABC “Nightline” last night – moving stuff. Ted Koppel just reading names of the casualties of the war in Iraq. There is no judgment; he left the viewers to decide for themselves. The critics who view him as someone who’s anti-war by just reading names – I’d criticize them for not seeing the power of names for it is – respect for those whose names are read. We would read names on the anniversaries of September 11, or the names of those who have died of AIDS or names of graduates on commencement day – what is inherently wrong with reading names?

For Sunday – hopefully we’ll get more nice weather and not watch us get the rain they had in Kentucky for the derby (talk about muddy race for tv viewing)…

The last few days were full of momentious change, decision, intriegue, dilemma, and drama. Everything becomes clearer, more complicated, more concise. The emotion is: Jump! Well, what is below?

For those in the know, my co-worker R– prior to retiring, eloped across the street at the municipal hall and got married to D. He’s now somewhere in Gothenberg, Sweeden. Congrats to the lucky couple!

Iron Chefs from Japan pass the torch to Iron Chef America. And they get trounced! Lots of fun.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Go to Union Square on Sunday for the 25th CAPA fair.

Catch up on my month’s pictures here.

– NY Times Quotation of the Day – “Doesn’t the court have some business intervening at some point if it’s the Hundred Years’ War or something?” – Justice Stephen Breyer, on the open-ended detention of Americans as enemy combatants.

Yeah, so, justices of the Supreme Court, what will happen with civil justice in an era of a never-ending (open-ended?) war? See Linda Greenhouse’s article in Thursday’s NY Times or consider Dahlia Lithwick’s coverage in Slate.com (as she ponders whether we’re heading into the dangerous territory of repeating the sins of past destructions of civil justice).

– “Star Trek: Enterprise” this week – quite an episode. Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) continues full-steam ahead to remake the future; Chief Engineer Trip Tucker is trying to grapple with death and moving on with life. If this season had been more consistent and more in-depth with its storylines in the first place, this would have been a much stronger season – and this episode only reminded me of that.

– “Angel” – change, and more change. Gunn returns; Illyria loses her powers (but is still a question mark, because she still has the mentality of an annoying and arrogant ex-deity); and has Angel – again – lost his mind? Hmm.

– Fascinating NY Times’ article profiling the stories of the 9/11 Commission’s staff – which includes a former NYS deputy attorney general (who was at the attorney general’s downtown office on 9/11/01 and had previously prosecuted the 1993 World Trade Center bombers in fed court).

– The problem of parking in NYC’s Chinatown, which is right next to the NY Police Dept.’s hq – and where cops and other NYC officials have taken up the parking and other space issues – NY Times’ article makes one feel the stress of the situation.

– Finished reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold – Sebold is an amazingly talented writer. But, I still thought it was curious that her narrator is a murdered 14-year old girl watching over her family from heaven, as she and her family deal with life, death, and life after death (or afterlife or what have you). It was very unsettling as a story, but lovely writing. It reminded me of the unsettling feeling I had when I read Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” – which also considered life, death, and life after death. What does it mean, where are we going, and maybe all we can settle for is that we’re going at all? But, is that enough? Is that the secret of life? There was that line in the “Dawson’s Creek” series finale (yeah, I know – I’m sick enough to make a reference to that) where Dawson said that the opposite of death was birth; life was that thing in between. Is that it then – not the end or beginning – the journey itself? (which is an idea that even the series’ finale of “Star Trek: Voyager” tried to push). Hmm. Maybe I’m making too many tv references; but, one still wonders if there is such a thing as the secret of life…

TGIF tomorrow….

I’ve been remiss, but last night in the US of A and a quickie post. Flying off to Taipei on my latest life adventure. Too busy and stressed out to get emotional about things but it has been a tough few weeks.

I so hate packing and am so bad at it that i vow this time around I will collect nothing and throw away things. Travel light and live light is the motto.

AJ is off to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding this weekend and I’ll be crashing over his place until I find new digs. I’ll post laters in another week or two.

Cheers!

=YC

You can’t make this up.

Scene 1:
Singing panhandler croons an a capella version of “Stand By Me”. No money gained. William Hung could have done better.

Scene 2:
Black woman with really big poofy hair and bustier as troubadour. Her hispanic boyfriend has the guitar case in tow. Strums a lyric, then asks, “Am I over-analyzing…”.

Scene 3:
Couple playing hand held video games. The girl is singing something unintellible, and then giggles every few minutes.

Scene 4:
Old Chinese woman gets into a Jerry Springer moment with a young black woman. Nobody on the train can figure out what the argument is about, but after four letter words on one side, and the equivilent ones in Cantonese, it degenerates into volleys of “You shut up”…”No, you shut up”.

Sunday’s NY Times had an interesting article on “Alias” – thought it was a good read. The episode itself – well, that was just nuts. So, Secret Agent Sydney and her sister are part of the Rambaldi prophecy and crazy adventures are their family legacy – and yet… the writers may still very well not know what they’re doing. Yet it’s quite a romp anyway, since we were left reassured that Sloane is still an obsessed selfish bastard. And, that Jack Bristow still loves his daughter. Okay…

Doonesbury – wow. B.D.’s taking the whole losing-a-leg thing well, since he and his friend Ray appear to be both shocked more by the appearance of B.D.’s hair. Funny thing that I always thought that B.D. would be bald after wearing his (football/”CHiPs” highway patrol/army headgear) helmet all these years. But, Trudeau’s reassuring folks that he will go into this serious injury in his black humor style (as noted in this week’s Question of the Week on the Doonesbury site, via the Slate.com portal).

For anyone who’s wondering – Quebec’s treasured foodstuff, poutine (the french fries with cheese and gravy mixture), gets explained in the NY Times – and the current generation of Montreal chefs are trying to glamourize it, with foie gras and other calorie-filled and bad-for-your-heart but ooh-guilty-pleasure eating.

Back on April 5, 2004, I noted the fascinating influx of minorities in commercials – namely, the Verizon ads with the Elliot family – that curiously interesting family that has a white, clueless-as-can-be-Dad, busy-yet-doing-just-fine Latina Mom, and their kids – particularly that odd toddler who yaks away on the phone to Nana – and their big dog. The more I’ve seen the ads, the more I really like them – the toddler’s cute and the family’s interactions are incredibly regular life-like – and the latest Slate.com Ad Report from Seth Stevenson more or less agrees with me. Well, remember – I had the exclusive first, folks!

Anyway, according to Stevenson, there are additional families added to the Verizon line up – an African-American and a Latino family. I’ve only seen the Elliots in the NYC tv market – so perhaps the Davises and the Sandovals will be coming to a tv near you soon. Based on what I saw on Verizon’s website, the Davises are amusing – the kids’ setting up their single (widower? divorced?) Dad with potential female mates while his mom gets bemused; the Sandovals, apparently in Spanish tv (Telemundo or Univision, probably), put their dad in funny situations; but I like the Elliots’ pleasant normal charm best. And, where’s the Asian family? Asians make long distance/local calls and go on-line too, you know. Anyway, this is all a positive step – more diversity in commercials please! (more diversity in tv generally, please)…

For anyone who’s interested: the 25th Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival is this Sunday, May 2, 2004, 11:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., at Union Square in Manhattan; check out the website: http://www.capaonline.org/index.htm.

Enjoy the week…

P– and I went to too many Brooklyn Restaurant Week restaurants. Marty’s restaurant week was an astounding success!

Worth another visit: Cocotte (French bistro cooking): excellent coconut-hinted bouillabaisse. Totally tolerant of having one latecomer to our party. Prix Fixe was a worthwhile value.

Worth waiting a few hours on the cell phone: Blue Ribbon Sushi (5th Av): sushi platter modestly sized, but absolutely satisfying and filling. Salmon had the most outrageous stripes of delicious fat, showing its excellent quality. Tip: get there to be on the waiting list early (no reservations), give them your cell phone number, and then hang out at Ozzie’s coffee across the steet. My friend Kam and her husband were also waiting there.

Not worth it: Baccus (Atlantic Av, French bistro): While the scallop appertizer was skillfully done, and the deserts were heavenly, the main dish (lamb ribs – 3 ribs yielding enough meat to make 2 chicken nuggets) was unimpressive. They also litterally left money on the table by forgetting to make our extra side orders, which would have been an additional 12 dollars.

This is the worst time of the year for me health-wise. The usual MO: two weeks of spring tree pollen and 20 degree fluctuations turns into itchy, stuffy, sneezing hay fever. The hay fever turns into a scratchy throat, then a full-blown cold. This year it hasn’t helped that I’ve spent the last 12 days in ultra-refrigerated server rooms, then emerging into either balmy 80 degree weather or rainy 40 degree weather. I’m in the final rounds of the cold now, so I’m going to sack out on Saturday. I’m still also in the last stage of healing of my elbow, which was sore through the San Diego trip due to too much mouse use.

I’ve been going to sleep at around 3-4 am each night this week because of the irritating allergy/cold tag team. I awoke to the beeping of my cell phone this morning at 8:30. I tried to answer the phone through my phlem filled throat; after listening to the constant beeping through the phone, I realized that the UPS had failed on one of the servers. I threw on some clothes and made a mad dash to the office. 2 hours later, it was resolved, wanting to go home to do my morning routine, which I actually didn’t get to until after 12.

I revisited the college cultural & fashion show that I ran as a student. Now 12 years later, I am in awe of how far they have gone, and yet, how many things are the same. Best of the cultural stuff were the VariAsians — a cappella and asian heritage — two good flavors blended into one. On the fashion end, I remember a lot of the moves the models made were very similar to what we had done 12 years ago. Some innovations we came up with are still practiced on the fashion show end: projecting the name of the next scene (we invented the technique 13 years ago); dancing by the models (before we did it, everyone did straight catwalks). Good DJ music choices, pretty good food for a fashion show bento box. P– won us dinner for 2 in the raffle. The auditorium was completely rebuilt, and it looks very much like the one that it replaces.. I’m proud of them. Photos will be added when I get a chance to download them.

Exciting day: time to crash and cough again tomorrow.

Oh, yeah — it was AJ’s birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday!

“Angel” on the other night – I taped it, to watch with pleasure. But, the ending freaked me out. Did Connor remember Angel was his biological dad? If so, what did his final words really mean – “I learned it from my father…”? He has had way too many father figures…

This Friday night, the Yankees crumbled against the Bosox. Oh well. It would actually feel worse if I were a Yankee fan, but I’m not a Bosox fan either, so it makes no difference in the balance. I just can’t get over seeing how hairy the Bosox player, Johnny Damon, is – long, flowing hair and a bushy beard. Man, that’s just way overboard…

Check out p. 19 of the April 30, 2004, issue of Entertainment Weekly (Summer movie preview issue): apparently, it’s the legal page. A sidebar article on those crazy kids of UC Berkely’s Boalt Hall Law School naming a fellowship to support a law student pursuing public interest/public service work in honor of the work of the alumnus Sandy Cohen. Funny thing is, Cohen isn’t real – he’s a public defender on the FOX show “The O.C.,” played by the actor Peter Gallagher (a.k.a. the guy with the eyebrows). Apparently, this fellowship was thanks to the student group, “The OC at Boalt” founded by John Kim, and they awarded it to a 1L who said that he wanted to be in criminal law and loved the show. Gallagher himself was inspired to make a $1000 donation. Wow. I see the light now: TV has an impact… – and there are law students who have time to watch tv? Yeah!

(by the way – “The O.C.” is an interesting show – it’s only a FOX show on the surface; the writing’s a lot more crisp than one would otherwise expect – well, putting aside the annoying storyline about Ryan getting dragged back to his ‘hood, because it was and always would be his roots).

And, then, the interesting tidbit scrolled on the bottom of p. 19 of Entertainment Weekly, as this quote states: “Survey finds more future law students inspired by A Few Good Men‘s Tom Cruise than To Kill a Mockingbird‘s Gregory Peck.” Uh. Okay. I was a law student who was not inspired by either, since I was someone who has yet to sit still to watch these two movies and I would like to think that law students are more than inspired by, well, movies and tv shows. But, then again, Entertainment Weekly didn’t define who responded to the survey, what the statistical accuracy, or define what was meant by “inspired.” Okay, okay, I’m being too much of a lawyer with the fussiness of the terms…

Slate.com’s Dana Stevens reviews the latest American edition of Iron Chef” on cable. I don’t have cable, but I just wonder – is it really that hard to Americanize imported tv? Why do we have to Americanize imported tv, if their very charm is being imported?

Slate.com also has an interesting article by Yi-Ling Chen-Josephson, wherein she grades the tabloids and celebrity oriented periodicals. National Inquirer gets the good ratings for sheer guilty pleasure. And, yet, I will continue standing resistant to that stuff while I wait on the shopping line at the supermarket. Must resist…

Enjoy the weekend.