I got to see The A-Team movie; nothing perfect, but if you liked the old tv series, this was a fun.   Plot made no sense; but what was there was an origins story of how my generation’s favorite tv soldiers of fortune got together to be the gang that we know and love.

Oh, and putting aside the excessive CGI and explosions (yeah, I know – explosions in anything related to A-Team) – but the cast was pretty good – Liam Neeson! Bradley Cooper! And, the guys playing the B.A. and Murdoch roles!

See also: Steven James Snyder’s review on Time Magazine’s Techland; and even Richard Corliss’ review (Corliss being the official Time movie critic); review by EW’s Owen Glieberman; and Dana Stevens on Slate.  Roger Ebert really didn’t care for it – which I understand and empathize, but I seriously don’t go into watching the movie on the A-Team to hope that I’d get “Hurt Locker” (seriously – no.).

The Smurfs movie is in progress.   Actor Hank Azaria as Gargamel – there was a picture floating in one of the entertainment magazines catching him in the city in his Gargamel costume.  But, Neil Patrick Harris as Johan?  Oh My God!

Speaking of the 1980′s, the man behind “Voltron,” Peter Keefe, passed away.  The 1980′s as a decade keeps coming back.

World Cup time; Slate has a good explanation for why North Americans call the sport “soccer” while the rest of the world calls it “football.”

Pretty entertained by the US v. England World Cup game: ending on a 1-1 tie.  It seemed festive in South Africa, and even stateside (in the city, anyway).  Not sure how they took it in England, but oh well.

I do thank the Angry Asian Man blog for posting a very hot photo of the Japanese team – these fit men in suits – so hot.

Oh, a funny yet hot look at David Beckham’s reactions to the US v. England tie – the pictures were funny indeed (including a photoshopped look at the Obama White House laughing at Beckham.  Oops!).

What’s with soccer athletes looking so good?

Finished reading Bonnie Tsui‘s book “American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods,” where she examines the contexts for the Chinatowns of San Francisco; NYC; Honolulu; Los Angeles; and Las Vegas.   Smooth read; especially fascinated about the Chinatowns I knew least (Honolulu and Las Vegas).  The rest could have been more original – but then again, the book might be more for an audience who need to be more aware about Chinatowns.

Goodbye to Geocities; an observation by Slate’s Farhad Manjoo on Geocities’ impact on fads in the Internet.

Interesting Angry Asian Man posts:

on the lack of diversity in Hollywood – that is, there is something of an increase on APA’s on tv, but there’s still some lacking on the big screen.

A photo opp of President Obama with the APA’s in his staff, in the Oval Office.

US Senator Daniel Inouye is now the third longest serving in the Senate; Angry Asian Man has some interesting links and observations.

The Mets fans’ dilemma, with the impending Yankees v. Phillies World Series: who to root for?

Hat tip to my brother about this: C. Montgomery Burns for (NYC) Mayor. Eeeexcellent… Actually: Hilarious!!! So, don’t forget to vote next week…

The radio transition in NYC on Thursday night, 8pm – WQXR signing off to a new channel, with farewell from the NY Times, as it’s about to be no longer the NY Times station. Stay tuned.

Fascinating excerpt in Daily News of Soledad O’Brien and her Long Island childhood – and how it was hard to fit in as someone who did not fit in the white majority (but tried to be as Long Island as she could anyway), until she discovered the wider world.

Fascinating story on the family tree of Michelle Obama, highlighting how rich and complex that is American history and the American identity.

Food stuff:

Fried chicken’s now the trend, regardless of regional or national origins. Mmm. Fried chicken.

NY Times’ Joan Nathan on a Jewish Canadian, David Sax, whose book “Save the Deli” – based on his blog – covers the subject of the delis and Jewish cuisine. Fascinating stuff on what transitions and assimilation – and food – work together.

Behind on tv viewing. Argh.

Time writer Ling Woo Liu on China’s acceptance of the work of her great-grandfather as a doctor fighting an epidemic in 1910.

Good stuff on the official re-opening (and exhibit(s)) at the Museum of Chinese in America.

There will be a runoff between John Liu and David Yassky in the NYC Comptroller race. John Liu could be the first Asian-American elected to citywide office. Disclaimer: I had Yassky as a prof back in law school. Further disclaimer: I’m not going to mention who I voted for.

There will be a runoff between Bill De Blasio and Mark Green in the NYC Public Advocate race.

I don’t live in New York County, so I didn’t vote in the DA election across the river. Cyrus Vance, Jr., won; there will be a new DA in NY county, ending the Morganthau era. Funny, Vance doesn’t look like Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy… (never mind; silly joke).

At least three city councilmen have been ousted, including Alan Gerson of lower Manhattan (the district covering Chinatown) who lost to Margaret Chin. More Asians will be representing NYC in city council.

Prof. Peter Kwong answers questions on the City Room Blog of the NY Times on the gentrification of Chinatown.

WQXR will be in a new radio frequency, moving from 96.3 to 105.9. I’m not big on change; it is weird that WNYC bought WQXR.

Change in NYC. Ah well.

Gregory H. Williams, President of City College of CUNY, will be leaving to be President of University of Cincinnati. I still have to read his book, “Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black.”

Apparently, Staten Island has more than pizzerias – a look at some cheap and diverse eats across the Verrazano.

A profile of Chinese tennis player Li Na, in the middle of the US Open – and finding that either Queens or Manhattan Chinatowns suit her fine.

Kind of weird to imagine: Disney doing an exhibition of their treasured stuff.

I’m not a Yankee fan, but I think it’s pretty cool that Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig’s franchise record.

I managed to watch most of the new episode of the new show “Glee” on FOX – entertaining, and seems to have potential. I do agree with Time’ James Poniewozik – the show seems to have humor and heart – and flaws. As much as I’m amused by Jane Lynch’s cheerleading squad coach character, I’m a little intimidated by her character (she’s quite a comedic actress; I’d hope for her character to be better than a one-dimensional broad caricature); and I do agree with Poniewozik – Jessalyn Gilsig’s character as the wife of Will, the Glee club faculty advisor – well, she was also way too one-dimensional (although, I think they were trying to move past that by the end of the episode – hard to tell) – and she’s an actress who deserves better than that (she made “Heroes” bearable to watch for me, and I watched “Boston Public” because of her time there). And, the OCD teacher (sorry, guidance counselor?) – well, she’s also a touch annoying.

But, I think Will and the Glee kids are sincere and hopeful (if not a little over their heads). We’ll see how this goes; I’ll give them a chance..

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.

“Fringe” had all those hints about the Trek movie, since J.J. Abrams and friends are The Powers That Be behind these vehicles.

“Lost” – I’m so confused. And, by the way, where was the Trek reference? (besides the whole time-traveling-is-confusing theme; there are probably too many Trek episodes that covered that). Oh, and I think Richard should reveal things soon; like, before more calamity will strike down on our favorite Losties. I see him as sort of a Merlin character – you think he’s helping you, but are you sure and are you really learning anything from him? And, John and Jack – be careful before you cause calamity.

“Law and Order” – finally – Exec. ADA Cutter’s finally won a couple of cases (or at least is sending a bunch of icky people to jail). The firefighters union of L&O’s Alternate Universe NYC might very well regret endorsing DA McCoy – this whole election thing is getting interesting (it doesn’t hurt that it’s coinciding with what might be a competitive campaign for NY County DA in Real New York). Watching the law scenes make me wish I were simply watching a show called “Law,” since McCoy’s really grappling with being a politician and not merely prosecutor (the other shoe hitting the floor for Jack, since it wasn’t that long ago that he was in Cutter’s position) and one of these days, they ought to give a nice closing speech for Cutter to do (or for Connie Rubirosa). And, while Det. Lupo is turning into a cutie when he’s Indignant Cop, I think he’d be a pretty cool lawyer (hmm… would he want to be a prosecutor? Would he rather be a defense side? Or is he planning to use the future law degree for other uses?).

NBC should renew L&O; sad enough they’re not renewing “Life,” and renewing the other L&O franchises (which don’t nearly interest me very much).

John Cho (aka Harold; aka new Sulu) was on The Tonight Show Wednesday night. I liked how Jay Leno asked Cho about Kal Penn (aka Kumar; aka the late Dr. Kutner of “House,” where Cho was once a rather silly patient). Plus, will the character of Sulu ever do anything other than fencing? (and, no, don’t go into asking whether he’ll be the botanist or pilot or physicist; Trekkies/Trekkers already know about that).

Meanwhile, Korean-Americans are vying for the City Council seat in Queens.

I mention the foregoing because they seemed like cool stuff to note – not just because it’s APA Heritage Month. But, heck, that’s all dandy.

The renovations to the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art look really interesting.

Oh Craig Ferguson – you and your puppets are too funny.

Last but not least: the passing of actor Dom Deluise. They really don’t make comic actors like him anymore.

Dinner in Flushing for P-’s mom at the Full House Seafood Restaurant – a whole steamed fish and calamari were spectacular, the chicken and beef dishes kind of ok. The thing to get that we missed out on was the steamed seafood casseroles.

Sunday: Studio photos with my mom courtesy of Microsoft, followed by lunch-dinner at Teresa’s Polish Restaurant, and then a hairstyling makeover for my mom with my hairstylist.  All worked out real well.

After polling our friends, our best resource was my best man’s wife, who is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, and managed to type out everything into Microsoft Word. That was a God-send, as I could then just pump up the fonts and produce a Reader’s Digest large-type version. For kicks I also ran it through Babelfish and Google Translate to get independent rough translations. Some of these translations literally converted the flowery language, resulting in 幸福炒飯 “Two Silvers Fried Rice” (no silver is involved), and the 雙喜伊麵 “North Mushroom Burning of Iraq” (sic) which actually means something like Beijing-style mushroom noodles.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

At the time we were struggling through these choices, P bought for me Jennifer 8. Lee’s The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which is a bittersweet look at the world of Chinese food and its place in Chinese-American identity.

She covers definitively the sources of fortune cookies (not from China), the soy sauce packet (more often than not has 0% soybeans), chop suey (fresh leftovers – that’s what for dinner!), and the take-out container (something recycled from the turn of the last century). General Tso – the man, the myth, the legend of General Tso’s Chicken fame: Lee goes to his ancestral town to learn the truth.

She somehow figures out a way to expense both around-the-world trips to find the best Chinese restaurant (perhaps she can hook up with Cheuk Kwan’s Chinese Restaurants series), and a search through the American Midwest to find Powerball lottery winners that used fortune cookies for their numbers. She is able to connect with those who take the idea of takeout and literally run with it, and those that are not as lucky and run into hard times in the middle of Nowhere, U.S.A.

My biased rule of thumb for determining how thorough a book on Chinese or Chinese American history has been researched is to see whether there is any mention of Hakka Chinese. (I am Hakka, so that is why it draws my attention.) She succeeds in making two mentions, and then has coverage of the Taiping Rebellion, which the aforesaid General Tso brutally put down the Hakka-led revolt. That won’t stop me from ordering his namesake dish, a totally American invention which Lee suggests is the inspiration for the Chicken McNugget.

The book makes for an engaging evening read, all the more amplified by the author’s effervescent appearance on the Colbert Report, which happened to be playing in my living room at the time. Great books are those that you feel that you are having an involving conversation; this was a great one to have with Lee and The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Recommended.