Blog

Watching enough tv this weekend:

The news’ broadcasting of Lt. Gen. Sanchez’s press conference of the capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq kept repeating Sanchez’s use of the phrase “spider hole” to describe the location in which Hussein was hiding. Today, Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains what the heck is a “spider hole.” Interesting explanation.

Slate.com also has a nice article on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” a.k.a. that show that Charlie Sheen and John Cryer are on, with the time slot after “Everybody loves Raymond.” I thought the article was on target. I have actually caught myself watching an episode of “Two and a Half Men,” and expected it to be below average; after all, I still saw Charlie Sheen as the one who lowered the standards on “Spin City.” However, imagine my surprise when I actually found myself laughing at some of the jokes and watching for the full half hour (granted, I may have been waiting for the 10:oo news). Hmm. Charlie Sheen isn’t so bad when playing a character with whom he seems to identify (there were moments when his character was reminiscent of the Sheen of the gossip pages). But, the series’ writing still seemed weak and one is left wondering if it could be just a little more original. (I haven’t watched it in a long while, so the spoiler in the article about Cryer’s on-screen wife was surprising – but not by much, since Friends on NBC has already done a similar storyline). But, tv shows that are considered “average” can manage to stay on the air; lucky for them, I guess. I still miss “Boomtown” and its challenging elements.

Last night’s “Survivor” was, as usual, riveting. I haven’t really followed it very much this season, but felt very much caught up by watching the last episode. Host Jeff Probst was as sharp as ever, and the “cast” was quite a bunch of crazies. The cast reunion in the third hour wasn’t too revealing, but I thought it was especially unsurprising that Mr. Savage was the contestant who was an attorney in real life, considering the way he analyzed everyone’s strategies in response to Probst’ questioning; could he possibly be less… analytical? Ah, well; a good tv night.

Move over Kama Sutra. http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3717283&p1=0

Interesting reading on the major portals. I find that MSNBC from the MSN homepage and Slate always makes for hilarious to amazing reading. Coupled with a healthy dose of NYTimes and Washington Post and Businessweek, you’re pretty much covered all around. No time for CNN, substitute MSNBC for CNN just for convenience sake. I also prefer the Newsweek articles over the TIME articles. TIME used to be so good 20 yrs ago but now it’s pretty pathetic. Newsweek is so much better I think.

I miss all the snow out there… makes for a really good holiday spirit.

Ho-ho-ho!
=YC

My first blog post and am glad it is on FC’s uber-cool site.

So happy holidays to all … have a happy and healthy one.

If this works ok, I might start serious blather.

Respect mah authoritai!!! 😉
=YC

Umm, okay, I need to come up with better titles for my posts, particularly today. But, I wanted something to cover some rather disparate topics – The White House and ice skating.

On tv this afternoon on ABC, it’s some International Challenge from Detroit, after last week’s ice skating competition in Paris. So far, the American men haven’t done so great (Timothy Goebbel fell a lot; Michael Weiss was rather lackluster). The women are up now and there are more falling (hmm). Dick Button is still a great commentary man and Peggy Fleming’s not so light on the critiquing either. Together, they make Terry Gannon a better play-by-play man – last week, he had Peter Carruthers as his partner, and yet Gannon did a lot of the criticizing himself (it seems he took a lot of lessons from Dick).

Last night’s Channel 11 (WPIX) news closed with a highlight of the White House’s website feature – a short movie on the Christmas adventure of Barney Bush, the Bushes’ little black Scottish terrier. Not that I’d really apologize, but I am a sucker of presidential pets. I still haven’t gotten over the weirdest photo from the 2000 campaign from Time magazine, where George W. Bush is spending quality time with his cat and yet the picture made it look like the cat was kind of trying to mawl Bush’s arm. Anyway, Barney’s the cutest dog and I had to check out the little movie. What Xmas fun!

Plot: Barney’s assigned to help decorate the White House for Christmas and Chief of Staff Andrew Card is demanding no antics until Christmas, when the job is done. Trying to humor the children, I suppose; I think we all know that the decorations aren’t attributed to the dog, no matter how smart the dog is. Pros: Barney is cute. Andrew Card is a better actor, being very convincing at the guy in charge of operations (which he is). General Counsel Alberto Gonzalez (and still referred as “Judge Gonzalez” because he was a judge in Texas) tries to hang a wreath with his… ceremonial gavel. (what? No one could have given him a hammer? Even he knows better than that!). Advisor Karl Rove also there – umm, I’ll reserve judgment on his appearance, but it was amusing. The best appearance was Ari Fleischer, former presidential press secretary. Fleischer’s playing cards with Barney and Card comes in and says, “Barney, go do your job. And, Ari Fleischer – what are you doing here? You don’t even work here anymore!” LOL. Ari Fleischer’s certainly looking less stressed out now that he’s not working at the White House; his Yankees baseball cap was a deft touch. Has the Texas bunch of the White House been giving him a ribbing that the Yankees’ Andy Pettitte has gone back home to Texas?

Fitting the winter/holiday theme – ABC’s rebroadcasting Charlie Brown Christmas tonight. Come on, get in touch with your childhood and watch it.

Today’s New York Times Quotation of the Day got a reaction out of me:

“I’m like a fish out of water. They’ve never run across anything like me. I mean, a guy like me running for the presidency? I’ve never run for anything.”
– GEN. WESLEY K. CLARK, on campaigning, so far.

Hmm. So, how are we supposed to interpret a guy admitting that he never ran for anything before? There are good and bad things about it. For instance, he has no experience in public office; that’s bad – how can he deal with things? But, by not having prior experience in public office, maybe he has fresh eyes and views toward old problems – that’s good. And, the “guy like me” is also an interesting line. A general/Rhodes scholar/West Point valedictorian isn’t devoid of a good resume; in the 19th century, he’d be a shoe-in for presidency (putting aside that there was no such thing as Rhodes scholar in the 19th century). Indeed, in modern era of the last 50 years, we had Eisenhower; so sure, if Joe Schmoe or MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman said, “a guy like me running for the presidency?”, then I’d agree and say, “Yeah, you’re kidding, right?” But, the turn of the 21st century’s environment is where we would give pause and say to a general, “Yeah, you’re kidding, right?” Just my thought to reflect on the nuance of language and society; no conclusions can be made at this time.

Slate.com had an interesting assessment of Teresa Heinz (aka Teresa Heinz Kerry), wife of the other Democratic candidate John Kerry. Like Clark, Heinz is known for saying off-the-cuff remarks. As a modern woman, what she does and says also becomes nuanced by the turn of the 21st century’s environment. The media would go into a feeding frenzy about what controversial thing she says or gossip how she’s one politician’s widow/another politician’s 2nd wife and an heiress. But, Heinz isn’t a rookie at political campaigning and appears to be able to do public outreach, since she can speak the languages of various communities. Heinz’s outspokenness can be an negative (there’s the stereotype of the scary politician’s wife, re: Lady Macbeth), but can be an asset – why not go out there and show what one individual can do and say, quite honestly? (this is the post-feminist age, isn’t it?).

Such a confusing and an interesting time that we live in.

I may never fully understand the problems of campaign finance reform, but the NY Times had the quote of the day:

“We are under no illusion. Money, like water, will always find an outlet. What problems will arise, and how Congress will respond, are concerns for another day.”
– JUSTICES JOHN PAUL STEVENS and SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR, upholding new campaign finance rules.

Hmm. Money like water… Such a needed resource, and yet we can never get enough of it… I like the analogy. Then again, how willing am I to plow through a many-page-Supreme Court decision to find more of the analogies that the nine justices are so good at making?

Law.com directed me to this article about how California bar exam takers should take heart; failing the nation’s toughest bar exam isn’t so bad because lots of people fail it and it’s the toughest bar exam. Then, California gets to pat itself on the back for filtering out incompetents from practicing and yet, what’s so good about being the toughest when it means telling lots of people to either find another state to practice law or else be very realistic before applying to take that state’s bar exam or enter non-certified California law school. It once again highlights how the process can be such a mind game. Plus, there is something very disturbing about the points the article made – for instance, does it really make anyone feel better about not being able to practice law in California because it has the toughest bar exam? What does it say about the profession of law; that California is that progressive or that insightful and that protective of the consumers/clients?

Just a rant; it may not mean very much and I should really find other things in the news to peruse…

Check out the latest “Explainer” on Slate.com on a humorous look about to whom Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is NOT related.

The latest “Build-A-Bear” commercial, where this blonde kid’s singing an odd song before she goes to “Build-A-Bear” for a custom-made bear that has a microchip that replays a recording of said child’s own song: the kid’s singing voice reminded me of someone who thinks too well of her voice before Simon of “American Idol” cuts her down to the size of a teddy bear. It’s not something that’ll convince me to go to the store for the product (then again, I’m too old for it). Or to endorse the child’s continuing singing career. (pardon the harshness; I just saw the commercial, and it didn’t make me feel good anyway).

December is the perfect storm. Partially because of my November travels and partially because I have several unexpected expenses totalling a few thousand dollars, this month’s budget is extremely tight, as in it’s going to be instant noodles and microwave burritos until at least the 24th. Thankfully my college friends have Christmas on the Saturday after Christmas. Much elsewise in the way of worries, but I’m not going to get into it here. I’ve received a lot of love and affection, though, for which I am grateful.

Not to mention Verizon sent my DSL bill for collection when it was actually paid. As soon as Time Warner gets phone service operational, I’m switching.

Happy B-day last week to SSL!

The latest Sprint commercials are interesting. Actually, what I’ve really loved is the crossover Sprint commercial with the Pillsbury Doughboy. Sprint Guy (the man in the trench coat with the mission to educate customers on the values of Sprint) is at a family dinner table listening to the woes of a family who should have used Sprint. The wife’s upset; Husband was supposed to pick up her uncle at the airport. Pillsbury Doughboy is walking sadly on their table; Husband says, “You said he’s short and wears a hat.” Husband apparently had picked up the Doughboy by mistake. (Query: why did Doughboy even go into the stranger’s car from the airport? Maybe Husband picked him up and there was no way for Doughboy to get out of the car.)

Wife says, “‘Uncle Pillsbury Doughboy?!” Doughboy, being a nice guy, waves to the little kid; little kid looks like she’s pretty sure she has no Uncle Doughboy. Sprint Guy then introduces the family to a camera cell phone, so that Husband will be able to identify the uncle appropriately. Sprint Guy then says to Doughboy, “Do you mind?” Doughboy sighs and says, “Everyone does it.” Sprint Guy pokes Doughboy’s tummy and Doughboy, of course, giggles. Great commercial. Stays on message (“yes, go get Sprint” and avoid picking up the Doughboy at the airport”) and is very entertaining.

The fraternity/sorority commercials aren’t so bad either (the ones where Sprint Guys tells the college kids about the new plan where Sprint counts evening from 7pm on and the kids are REALLY happy, shrieking at the top of their lungs at 7pm). But, those ads do seem a little on the dumb side (what do we expect, they’re just the kids of the Greek system, so they’re apt to react in a certain manner, even if they’re not that intellectually challenged).

Click here to view the commercials on-line…

So it’s still snowing. The meterologists must be enjoying themselves. All news, all the time. Channel 4 (NBC) seems to have sent all the reporters outside, braving the storm. One was smart enough to go into the airport to make his interviews, and he got a good-nature ribbing by the anchormen. One reporter at Paramus Mall, outside; she conceded that she snuck in between on-air moments to buy some sweaters. That people are out in the malls seem just a little crazy; it is a little dangerous there. But, there are only two weekends left before Xmas and when you’ve got nothing else to do at home, well, you could go out there, if you’re that foolhardy. At least in NYC we can still use subways to get around and so it’s not that bad.

Last night’s “Joan of Arcadia” was quite good – the angst of Joan’s wheelchair-using brother is momentarily abated and so is Joan’s angst (sort of; God’s still pushing her to do things that are good for her and that cause that chain reaction of miracles that this series specializes in; in this episode, Joan gets her driver’s license). Joan’s dad, the police chief, finds that he’s questioned about being a good person, not just a good cop; it doesn’t get easier when the chief is a victim. Joan’s other brother Luke learns that coffee may make your brain smarter, but you start coming up with real weird ideas.

Stay warm.