Blog

The Presidential debate this past Wednesday night… hmm. I missed the first five minutes and felt pretty lost and then decided that I probably didn’t miss anything in between my late dinner and trying to watch the tv. I mean, really – Joe the Plumber? I don’t know if he made it on Saturday Night Live. Joe the Plumber, Joe Sixpack… am I missing anyone else?

But, I did like the roundtable format. It did get the candidates talking a heck of a lot. I don’t have much of an opinion on Bob Shieffer. He was ok, but I think he could have been just a little more tougher on the candidates. Then again, of all the debates, I liked Jim Lehrer best. He was sooo hopped up on caffeine – energy! You need to have energy to be a moderator!

What would have been cool was if the candidates had been on Charlie Rose’s roundtable. They’d talk endlessly; Charlie would wave at them to stop and let him talk endlessly, and then he’d have to tell his panel to chime in… it’d be kind of hilarious (he’d throw it to Al Hunt from Bloomberg; Mark Halperin of Time; and, of course, Doris Kearns Goodwin in Boston…).

10/16/08: John McCain finally got on David Letterman’s show, after about two weeks of Letterman’s amusing riffs over McCain’s skipping out on him. It was kind of funny, sort of. The priceless part was where, after all that stuff about whether Barack Obama’s associations should be questioned, Letterman of all people brought up the dubious associations of McCain; “Say, weren’t you friends with G. Gordon Liddy?” … I laughed; plus, there was a “plumber” connection too – I’m pretty sure that Liddy was one of the so-called “plumbers” of the Watergate debacle (at least I confirmed it wit a check in the linked Wikipedia article on Liddy). Time’s James Poniewozik had a pretty positive review of the McCain-Letterman interview.

The Stumper on Newsweek.com led me to this really fascinating Wall Street Journal article about another McCain family – a black family that descended from the slaves owned by John McCain’s ancestors. It seemed really interesting that the two McCain families have arrived at some kind of reconciliation, even if politics are a bit different.

Fascinating Wall Street Journal piece about Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”

Detroit Pistons’ Joe Dumars (ex-star player; now big-wig exec for the team) finally earned his Bachelor’s Degree. Some 20 years late, but he did it; kudos! Maybe he can inspire more professional athletes, retired or otherwise, to do the same. Heck, even Shaquille O’Neal got his degree late; better that than never.

Neel Kashkari is a son of Kashmiri immigrants, ex-engineer, and now the man in the Treasury Dept. to deal with the $700 billion “rescue” program (formerly known as the so-called “bailout” plan). An Asian in the news, with a job I doubt many would envy having.

And since times are tough, maybe living in the mall (literally) isn’t such a bad idea.

A lovely time at FC and P’s wedding on Saturday!

Great seeing YC too, finally!

I’m trying to enjoy what’s left of the three-day weekend. Operative word on “try.”

I still miss Christopher Columbus, Action Figure.

I don’t usually read Paul Krugman’s columns in the NY Times, but sometimes I do. But, this is kind of priceless. My reaction to the news that Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economics was “Krugman?!” – since the Nobel Prize sometimes goes to obscure and brilliant people, but not always to people whom one has heard of. Time.com’s Justin Fox (the Curious Capitalist blogger) notes that too – lay people know Krugman more for his columns than his day job as an econ prof – even maybe those Scandanavians who determine Nobel prize winners. But, still – Krugman is impressive, so kudos!

Law.com with an article on how to be safe while doing the whole on-line social networking thing. Hmm!

A sad follow up to a Times profile of the actor , which I had posted last year, the passing of actor Kim Chan.

Meanwhile, that stock market’s really something, right?

So, can baseball make a nice, pleasant distraction? Well, I don’t think so. Major League Baseball’s in the middle of playoffs, but I don’t know who to root for. I’m not a Boston Red Sox fan, but know next to nothing about Tampa Bay; I’m so not rooting for Phillies because no Met fan should do that; and yet supposedly, I’m not supposed to root for the Dodgers either, because – well – they left Brooklyn. And, it didn’t help that they didn’t beat Phillies last night. So, there’s a small quandary there.

Has tv been much help? … I don’t get “Heroes,” and am all but ready to toss in the towel; I don’t hate the show, but I really need to see why I care for it. “How I Met Your Mother” — well, Marshall found a new job – working as a lawyer for some mega bank. Umm, but surely the economy will make a dent to that? (then again, he is an Ivy League-educated first year lawyer; he has to be employed eventually). But, has Ted really found the future mother of his children?…

A nice read: Aww, men and their cats!… This NY Times article was sweet after reading the depressing stuff on the economy.

Who knew?: Emily Dickinson had quite a murky love life back in the day, any information of which gets suppressed because people don’t believe that she could have had such a thing. I could believe it; her poetry has some elements that makes one wonder of the extent of her love for the mysterious someone.

As a follow up to my gripe this summer about how Hawaii shouldn’t be seen as too “exotic,” I found this article, where Timothy Noah of Slate writes on how Hawaii is American, contrary to the remarks of Sarah Palin (who seems to think Alaska is somehow more American than the entire East Coast) or Cokie Roberts (who strangely thought that Hawaii was too “exotic” for Obama to have had his vacation) — well, really – Hawaii has urban communities, diversity, and coolness. It’s America!

What’s also America: a fascinating look at Ocean Parkway, the tree-lined boulevard in Brooklyn.

The second Presidential debate felt not as exciting to me; perhaps it was the audience’s anxiety over the economy or McCain’s saying “my friends” way too much, and even Obama getting a little boring with his specific non-specific items. The Time.com live blog of Poniewozik, Tumulty, and Grunwald was terribly entertaining; drink every time McCain says “my friends,” indeed! I even almost squealed with glee that NY Times’ Frank Bruni, a former political reporter but now a restaurant critic, was back on duty with his analysis of the debate.

NY Times’ Tom Friedman on criticizing Sarah Palin’s unhelpful view of patriotism:

And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: “You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”

What an awful statement. Palin defended the government’s $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic.

I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.

Sorry, I grew up in a very middle-class family in a very middle-class suburb of Minneapolis, and my parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.”

I can understand someone saying that the government has no business bailing out the financial system, but I can’t understand someone arguing that we should do that but not pay for it with taxes. I can understand someone saying we have no business in Iraq, but I can’t understand someone who advocates staying in Iraq until “victory” declaring that paying taxes to fund that is not patriotic. [….] Patriotic is offering a plan to build our economy — not by tax cuts or punching more holes in the ground, but by empowering more Americans to work in productive and innovative jobs. If Palin has that kind of a plan, I haven’t heard it.

As we get closer to Election Day, imagine a Parallel Earth where Al Gore did become President… umm, well, thanks to this Slate article about what if Republicans were to swear to move to another country (like those crazy liberals who swore they’d move to Canada – but, umm, didn’t), I found a Saturday Night Live opening segment where they did imagine such a goofy Parallel Earth! See below; enjoy!

Well, the highly anticipated Veep debate came off… adequate, I thought. Not really a game changer. I didn’t expect Sarah Palin to do badly (as opposed to how she did with her interview with Katie Couric) – she did fine – but, nothing spectacular, avoided really answering moderator Gwen Ifill’s questions, and spouting off folksy things like “Gosh darn it” and “maverick” and “Alaska!” lots of times. Joe Biden was okay – he was being a slightly more boring Joe – less of the usual passion, but still a moment of poignant Joe. Good on substance at least. Kind of wished he took more of an attack mode, but at least he avoided seeming to be sexist or patronizing. That’s really the best we can ask for.

Time.com’s Mark Halperin gave B grades to both Palin and Biden.

Time’s James Poniewozik, Karen Tumulty, and Michael Grunwald with a great tag-team live-blogging on the veep debate – some priceless lines! Ex., Tumulty on Palin’s remark: “[Palin’s saying that] John McCain ‘knows how to win a war.’ Has anyone told her he was in Vietnam?” — that was kind of my reaction too; when Palin said that, I snapped to the tv, “But, we didn’t exactly win the war that McCain was actually in, so how does he know how to win a war?”

Slate did a funny Twitter for the debate. Make it a drinking game indeed!

I don’t quite understand the so-called bailout (or what I prefer to think of as “Save the Economy!”) plan, but apparently, once he has that $700 billion, it won’t hurt for the Treasury Secretary to think like Warren Buffett and actually get some money out of this for America. Somehow. Maybe?

A very unrelated matter to the election or economy (well, probably economy related, since the city’s budget’s going to make libraries’ funding harder): Brooklyn Public Library’s doing a book drive to raise money, at Central Library, this Saturday, 10am-3pm. I’m going to try to make it! Brooklyn rules!

An explanation for Sarah Palin’s accent, in Slate’s latest Explainer.

People are figuring more nifty uses with rice cookers – but I figure that Asians/Asian-Americans have that worked out pretty well solid.

NY Times’ Kim Severson on Paul Newman and his legacy in food – and organic food specifically – via “Newman’s Own.”

Pro-bloggers don’t exactly have it easy to make the money, apparently.

Plus – how powerful a swing vote are Asian-American voters? — Slate’s Christopher Beam with an analysis. And, that article provided a fascinating link to another article posing the question of whether Barack Obama could be the first (metaphorical, anyway) Asian-American president…

Anticipation for 10/2’s Vice Presidential debate? Hmm!

(credit to Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish“)

A Happy Anniversary to Triscribe, as we get all excited about an exciting future. Or, at least, notwithstanding the unfortunate state of the economy, we’re living in some interesting times…

NY Times’ Edward Rothstein on an exhibit on Babar — and the implications of Babar; I think I want to see this exhibit at the Morgan Library now.

I’m not a Yankee fan, but I’ll give them respect; what a sad thing to say goodbye to Yankee Stadium and reflecting on the history and legacy.

At least the Yankees won their last home game. The Mets… oh, those Mets. A sad farewell to Shea Stadium, as the Mets lost to the Marlins in a nail-biter loss. Ending the 2008 season much like the 2007 season is just sad.

Congress – the House, anyway – rejected the so-called bailout plan (or whatever you really want to call it; calling it a “bailout” plan apparently turned a lot of people off). Goodbye, plan; back to the drawing board to find something to save the economy from collapsing.

And, but not least: the passing of Paul Newman – salute to an American icon (even if he never saw himself as one, he touched people with his acting, his philanthropy, and his passions).

The tv people have to make up for last season’s strike reduced season. So, I’ve had some viewings and there was the big premiere (or as Time’s tv critic James Poniewozik puts it: “the best tv show of the fall”): the first of the Presidential debates!!!

I’ll leave it to the professional pundits and talking heads and critics to say what they will and we’ll all see the polls’ results. But, my impressions… well, Jim Lehrer was trying to stay on top of things pretty well, starting off with gusto. Confession: I stuck with PBS for the coverage, more or less. It’s Lehrer’s home; so, why not?

Not a bloodbath by any stretch of the imagination on either side. Neither really impressed me on the economics portion of the debate – Lehrer couldn’t pin them down on specifics (when this economics mess is still evolving, I don’t really expect the candidates to be too specific; but it was as if Lehrer wanted them present a solution Right Now).

I thought McCain did very well with the foreign policy portion, as expected; well, McCain was being McCain. Obama kept it steady; a bit too wordy, but he was okay. How he persuades the Average Voter viewing the debate, I don’t know; I’m not exactly the target audience (I know who I’m voting for; I’m just watching ’cause this is gripping stuff and it’s living history).

Other debate impressions: no silly sound bites; focusing on the issues. Pretty good, actually – they both came off mature – a matter of agree to disagree (and agree where you do agree). I think they came off even. That may bore the easily bored, but hey, this is how our democracy works. You have to take it seriously.

I missed the David Letterman tirade about McCain’s bailing on his show on Sept. 24:

But, I did see the Sept. 25 episode – and he was still on his tirade! Best quote: “Here’s how it works: you don’t come to see me? You don’t come to see me? Well, we might not see you on Inauguration Day,” Letterman said. Hehehe…

And, thanks to YouTube, I found this fantastic, funny, and on point monologue by Craig Ferguson: “If you don’t vote, you’re a moron!”

I watched most of the series premiere of FOX’s “Fringe” – brought to by J.J. Abrams and Friends, it feels an awful lot like “Alias” meets “X-Files” with a touch of “Lost” (well, when you have a Big Evil(?) Corporation, it’s hard to avoid the “Lost” correlation; and when you’ve the FBI, well, really, what did people think “X-Files” involved? Anyway, don’t be surprised by the “Alias” and “Lost” feelings – this is a J.J. Abrams project after all).

You’d think I’d learn and stop watching the shows that end up sucking me in. But, no, I think I’m a little intrigued. The cast is a bit more amusing than I expected. FBI Agent Olivia Dunham has the toughness and vulnerability of a Sydney Bristow (like our “Alias” heroine, Olivia loses her boyfriend in the first episode, and deals with the implications of that loss); Dr. Walter Bishop, the scientist, is a weirdo who’s funny and deeply troubled (“Let’s make LSD!” he said in the series premiere, when Olivia agreed to undergo the experimental LSD-involved technique to get info out of her comatose boyfriend; it was priceless in the delivery of the line); and his son, Peter, is smart and… well, as Walter says, there’s his medical history to wonder about. A decent summary up on Television Without Pity. The second episode felt even more X-Files-ish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

And, really – Pacey from Dawson’s Creek as Peter Bishop! Joshua Jackson came off all right as a decent guy who doesn’t want to be a hero or a son or anything, but is still something of a decent guy (in the good sense, that is). Better to be Pacey than That Kid from Mighty Ducks, right? Anyway, there’s potential, even if the show’s awfully derivative. The casting’s impressive, to say the least, as EW’s Gillian Flynn noted.

The Emmy Awards on Sept. 21 — well, the show wasn’t nearly as great as I’d like; in fact, I wasn’t excited at all. Neil Patrick Harris got passed over for Jeremy Piven for Supporting Actor? Nuts! Josh Groban did a medley of tv show theme songs that was actually quite impressive, even though it was so irrelevant and ate up time that I would have preferred for winners’ speeches. Still – Groban was versatile and fun!

This past Monday was the return of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Heroes.” I’m scared to get excited again over “Heroes” – there seems to be possibilities of improvement. I have to catch up and watch the premiere episodes, but from what I watched, this season’s latest “Save the World!” hasn’t grabbed me yet.

HIMYM was a fun episode – Ted has to deal with fiancee Stella’s not being a fan of Star Wars (gasp! No! How can you not like Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca?). Marshall’s grappling with being an unemployed lawyer (honestly, if Marshall, a Columbia Law grad, is unemployed this summer, the economy really is going to tank! but, they didn’t make that joke, so…). Lily figures out that Barney is in love with Robin. Barney wants to be in denial, or at least he recognizes that he’s in love with a Robin who won’t be in love with him (oh, geez, a poignant unrequited love! aww! Neil Patrick Harris had to balance Bad Barney / Lovelorn Barney – and did it well). Robin is getting sick of being Tabloid Anchor on the HIMYM universe’s version of a lame NY1 channel; she accepts Barney’s honest encouragement to apply for a big shot job. Setting up for interesting plotlines for this season!

MSNBC catches up on the shows we missed.

The season premiere of “House” was pretty strong. The House-Wilson relationship’s on the rocks. Last season, I kind of thought that House was going to use Foreman, Cameron, and – even more likely, Chase – as his substitute Wilson (particularly Chase or Cameron as the conscience or moral agents; there has been less on Foreman’s Housian behavior). The second episode introduced the new character – House’s private investigator, who’s not exactly doing that great a job helping House patch things up with Wilson.

I want more ensemble work from the House cast. Really, I do. Plus, more Robert Sean Leonard!

As a final thing to note from what I’ve found on YouTube, that excellent time waster: an odd video, even if I did kind of like Emma Bunton’s cover of the song “Downtown” — Bunton (ex-Spice Girl) had something of an odd narrative going on in her video.