Following up on a previous post on Prof. Goodwin Liu: Governor Jerry Brown nominates Prof. Liu for the California Supreme Court, the highest court of California.  See the post from Angry Asian Man blog on the subject (he further links to an LA Times article).  See also NAPABA’s official press release.

I guess Prof. Liu will get that judicial experience he supposedly needs.

Although, it’s kind of interesting that this news comes right on the heels of this article over at The National Law Journal, “Law Professors Find a Hard Road to Federal Appointments.” I’m really not sure what it means when being a law professor isn’t a plus, but kudos to Prof. Liu, Gov. Brown, and California for bucking a trend, even if it is in the state level.

Hat tip to Angry Asian Man blog: the US Senate has confirmed Edward Chen, US magistrate judge, to be US federal district court judge for Northern District of California.

As Angry Asian Man notes: Judge Chen will be “the first time an Asian American judge has been appointed to the federal district court in San Francisco, and he’s only the second Asian American federal district court judge in the Northern California district (after Lucy Koh, who was confirmed last year).

See also the NAPABA press release on Judge Chen’s confirmation.  Congratulations to Judge Chen!

Thanks to the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball March Madness, my brackets are completely a mess. Pittsburgh’s out, as are much of the Big East. Me and my Big East sentiments. And, I didn’t pick Princeton, but I did kind of rooted for them (had to support the Ivy League); then again, who were we kidding? Cornell’s amazing run of last year couldn’t possibly be repeated.

But, the Princeton kids seemed like a good bunch, playing in memory of their young fan, who had passed away due to cancer. Plus, before last year’s Cornell was that other amazing Ivy League upsetters – the Princeton team of 1995-1996, in the 1996 March Madness; a nice commemoration over at Time.com by Sean Gregory, who was a member of that team.

Re: the APA legal community – Judge Edward Chen gets another go-around with the Senate confirmation hearings for a federal judgeship.

YC linked to this on Facebook; I’m forwarding it along: perhaps the tv series “Outsourced” on NBC isn’t that offensive, as Geetika Tandon Lizardi suggests in an op-ed in the LA Times? I don’t know – when I catch a little of it, I find myself wishing it were more funny. I want so badly for talented Asians/Asian Americans to have a shot on mainstream tv, whether in writing, producing, or acting (Parvesh Cheena is seriously talented; I liked him in other roles), but then again, with sitcoms, sometimes it does take time and development. I guess NBC’s giving it a shot; what else can it possibly air, after all? (certainly something far worse).

NASA’s Messenger has finally made it to Mercury.

Thought this article on Newsweek.com about George H.W. Bush was fascinating to show how a different perspective might change the way we think about a president that was perceived to be “weak” (and who was far more strong and wise than we thought at the time).

Granted, I have nothing personal at stake (thank God), but my thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected. And, honestly, where are the good news?

So, I had to turn my attentions elsewhere. Currently reading: the satirical textbook, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher’s Edition: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction.” Sick and funny. Humor makes things a little better. Sort of.

Via Angry Asian Man, I found out about “fuck yeah asian/pacific islander history,” a photo blog of APA (API) history. Really fascinating stuff. A review of the APA photo album, so to speak.

Relating to us as APA lawyers/people into APA legal history: a photo of Chinatown leaders taking a break while at court under subpoena, from the San Francisco Library. According to the blog post, in 1956, after a 1955 report from the US Consul in Hong Kong making an unsubstantiated claim that Chinese immigrants were all illegal sleeper agents/criminals:

the US Attorney Lloyd Burke subpoenas 40 major Chinese American associations demanding a full accounting of income, membership and photographs within 24 hours. Chinatowns on both coasts are raided frequently and business are disrupted at a loss of $100,000 a week. A federal judge eventually rules in favor of the Chinese, calling the subpoena attack a “mass inquisition.”

Poignant stuff: at least there was some justice. At least history says there has been some hope.

NY Times’ Nicholas Kristof observes his sympathy and admiration of Japan, under these circumstances. He had been the Tokyo bureau chief for the Times and so he has some experience about his perceptions of the Japanese:

Uncomplaining, collective resilience is steeped into the Japanese soul. We sent our eldest son to Japanese school briefly, and I’ll never forget seeing all the little kids having to go to school in shorts even in the dead of winter. The idea was that it built character. I thought it just gave kids colds. But it was one more effort to instill “gaman.” And it’s “gaman” that helped Japan recovered from World War II and tolerated the “lost decade” after the bubble economy burst in about 1990. Indeed, it might be better if Japanese complained a bit more – perhaps then their politicians would be more responsive.

One factor may also have to do with our relationship with nature. Americans see themselves as in confrontation with nature, taming it. In contrast, the Japanese conception is that humans are simply one part of nature, riding its tides — including many, many earthquakes throughout history. The Kanto earthquake of 1923 killed more than 100,000 people. The Japanese word for nature, shizen, is a modern one, dating back only a bit more than 100 years, because traditionally there was no need to express the concept. In an essay in the Times after the [1995] Kobe quake, I made some of these same points and ended with a 17th century haiku from one of Japan’s greatest poets, Basho:

The vicissitudes of life.
Sad, to become finally
A bamboo shoot.

I find something noble and courageous in Japan’s resilience and perseverance, and it will be on display in the coming days. This will also be a time when the tight knit of Japan’s social fabric, its toughness and resilience, shine through. And my hunch is that the Japanese will, by and large, work together — something of a contrast to the polarization and bickering and dog-eat-dog model of politics now on display from Wisconsin to Washington. So maybe we can learn just a little bit from Japan. In short, our hearts go out to Japan, and we extend our deepest sympathy for the tragic quake. But also, our deepest admiration.

I’m not sure about how to react to the tv coverage of the news so far, as I haven’t gotten to watch much of it. James Poniewozik at Time posts on the concern about how coverage is successful (or not) with the networks having cut back on their foreign bureaus and so coverage is due to the social network/Internet/cell phone systems.

I kind of expected more from “Nightline” than seeing Bill Weir at Santa Monica, CA, about a tsunami wave that didn’t devastate mainland USA; then, he spent a few minutes talking to the ABC Tokyo bureau correspondent; glad that they at least still have a bureau.

Nice that PBS Newshour does some context about the tsunami’s effect on the Pacific Rim; it’s good to hear that Hawaii has gotten better experience with these situations (after last year’s threat from the Chilean earthquake).

The images of the tsunami in Japan, though, are horrifyingly devastating. “Devastate” becomes a word used so often, it nearly becomes a cliche. But, I’m not sure what else one can say.

ABC did turn to Dr. Michio Kaku for scientific context about the earthquake and tsunami. I like how he explains things.

The troubling 21st Century continues.

If not: PBS has counter-programming with Masterpiece Theatre’s “Emma” (all three-parts).

True, the Jets aren’t in, but it sounds like the Big Game (in Dallas this year) could be interesting with Packers v. Steelers.  Not sure about whether the commercials will be interesting though.

That was pretty powerful though: a 20 second bit of FOX having actor Dan Lauria, who’s playing Vince Lombardi on Broadway, play Lombardi to goad the current Packers, as part of the mega pre-pre-game festivities.

Amid all the drama surrounding Amy Chua’s book (you can check the links I noted), her husband (yeah, another Yale Law professor), Jed Rubenfeld, has another historical thriller/mystery, “The Death Instinct.”

(I did a search – I actually did notice Rubenfeld’s past book; but I never get around to reading it)

Anyway, so Rubenfeld’s latest book seems to have positive reviews so far and when I skimmed the first chapter, it seemed to be pretty gripping.  But, it must be tough to be in a household where you both have books out at about the same time and the reviewer in the NY Times couldn’t resist noting your wife’s controversial book in the review for your book.  Geez.

Check this out: The (PBS) Newshour does a review of how their new format’s been doing.  Impressive that the new format of The Newshour has turned out well (at least, better than I expected; but then again, I’m probably the generation that’s watching more Newshour on-line than ever).

Slate article pondering the popularity of “Hawaii 5-O.”  I haven’t watched the show in awhile. But, I do like Scott Caan and Daniel Dae Kim. And, hooray for diversity for on tv! This show probably has more APA’s on screen than anywhere else, not to mention that it is helping the economy of Hawaii (kind of like how “Lost” and “Magnum, PI” and original “Hawaii Five-O” did).

Mark Bittman moving on from The Minimalist column; he’s heading to the opinion side, to talk about food (as an industry, as politics, as culture – because we’re screwing ourselves with bad food – take a look at the first post of his new blog on the opinion side of the NYTimes.com). Good luck, Bittman! Loved your videos!

With all the horrible weather that we’ve been having: find your inner Cory Booker.  Dig out yourself and your neighbors.

Fell a bit behind on this, but: Fred Korematsu Day in California!   Time coverage here, by Ling Woo Liu, director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education and a former reporter for Time in Hong Kong (I remembered that she used to be part of Time.com’s old China Blog).  More coverage on Angry Asian Man blog: here, here, and here.

Will post more about tv commentary and other things (as usual) later…

]]> http://www.triscribe.com/2011/02/06/happy-lunar-new-year-and-a-super-bowl-sunday/feed/ 0 http://www.triscribe.com/2011/01/17/other-stuff-4/ http://www.triscribe.com/2011/01/17/other-stuff-4/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:48:36 +0000 ssw15 http://www.triscribe.com/?p=2814 Crazily enough: the Jets have beaten Indianapolis and New England and will be playing Pittsburgh next week.  Crazy!

PBS posts the view of Brianna Lee, as her father, Edwin Lee, is sworn in as interim mayor of San Francisco, the first Asian-American in the position of mayor of SF.  Lee would be different than the previous mayor (and… he’s an APA lawyer!).

Brooklyn Historical Society and the 1770 Map restoration.

An interesting look at old Tavern on the Green, while it’s not in operation (or awaiting something to replace it, whatever that might be).

I didn’t even realize it: the comic strip of Brenda Starr came to an end.  How sad.  She was a  pioneer woman journalist with the mysterious love interest in Basil St. John (the man with the eye patch) and funny friends and weird adventures.  They really don’t make comic strips like that anymore.  Then again, were there still readers of comic strips, much less readers of dead tree newspapers?

And, oh yes, as this is triscribe and we’re APA’s and lawyers: let’s not forget the reaction to Yale Law Professor Amy Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.”   Wall Street Journal did an excerpt, which sent the APA bloggers into Red Alert.  Via San Francisco Chronicle, Jeff Yang gets further perspective from Amy Chua concerning that excerpt.   On Disgrasian.com, the point is that the book is a memoir, not a how-to – but, as Disagrasian notes: it’s not clear why Chua still had to take the perspective of Immigrant-1st Generation Parent to torture her kids to success – when maybe it wasn’t that necessary to take the hard line.

Sure, I suppose reading the whole book gives a better sense of Chua’s view of parenting, but still: all that controversy with the book – I doubt that Chua will cry to the bank. (though: I kind of expected that a Yale Law prof would have better sense of responsibility about all the craziness that ensued. Just sayin’).

And, because we’re APA lawyers: please note that Yul Kwon’s leaving the FCC (them’s the feds) to go back to tv (PBS, but still – tv!). He will likely not be shirtless on PBS. That’s ok. Sort of.

Slate’s Farhad Manjoo points out why we don’t need to do two spaces between sentences anymore.  Sorry, but I was taught to use two spaces after a period when typing. Yes, it is an ingrained and arbitrary habit done over 20 years now. But, it’s not like I’m really wasting space. Plus, I find seeing space is easier on the eyes. But, that’s just me…

The new horoscope sign: Ophiuchus.   CNN notes that there’s more to this whole horoscope change than we think though.

So it goes, I guess.  I’m not impressed by 2011 so far (besides the Jets making the universe all very weird).  Maybe 2011 will get better.  Eventually.

Some stuff to note, because around here at triscribe, we’re APA’s and we’re lawyers:

The first Asian American woman elected to be mayor of Oakland: Jean Quan.  PBS Newshour had an interesting interview with her and coverage on the format of election in Oakland (rank-choice voting – almost a little Round Robin with ranking you 1st choice each round).  Oakland has problems to overcome (high crime, poor economy), in addition to its interesting demographics.

The new White House Chief of Staff, Pete Rouse, is part Asian-American, via his mother, a Nisei.  Meanwhile, I’m not sure how ex-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is pulling off the race for Chicago mayor election, but good luck!  Saturday Night Live won’t be the same without SNL Alternate Rahm.

Karin Wong of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center raises interesting points about Asian American legal history, on the Angry Asian Man blog.

I’ve seen others share this Slate article, and I’m passing it along: “A Case of Supply v. Demand: Law schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America needs, and law students aren’t happy about it,” by Annie Lowrey.  The headline doesn’t quite do justice to the issue, though; there are unemployed or underemployed lawyers who are frustrated that law schools are producing more lawyers, since the law students will eventually compete with them (who already are bar-admitted…) for employment. At least, that’s what I noticed from conversations – anecdotal info don’t quite compare to the stats, I guess. But, frustration is out there. How to resolve it is another story.

I thought this Yahoo post was interesting: NBA player Ben Wallace is looking to one day transition to become a law student and join us lawyers.  I mean, Shaquille O’Neal has a law enforcement alternative path, and if Ben Wallace is serious about law school – maybe the NBA isn’t completely pointless (to me, anyway; I believe a bunch of NFL alumni are lawyers and judges).

NaNoWriMo got in the NY Times op-ed last month.  Thought it was pretty cool.  I especially liked this line about the point of NaNoWriMo (besides the challenge of writing a novel in a month): “It’s also the pleasure of belonging, for a month, to a community that puts the lie to the myth of the lonely writer.”

James “You’re Beautiful” Blunt may have prevented World War III, way back in 1999, when he was in the British Army?  Guess I can’t listen to the song the same way anymore.

I don’t listen to NPR on radio, but I have gotten into listening or reading on NPR things on the NPR website:

If you’ve got a half hour to listen to something fascinating and you’re a Founding Fathers (and Mothers) history buff, this NPR thing was great stuff.  The interview/coverage of Joseph Ellis’ new book o the Adams’ marriage was fascinating.  Joseph Ellis is also quite the writer/historian; I’d recommend reading anything he writes.  The John and Abigail Adams story is just amazing.

This particular item is so precious and precocious: Former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and his now-4 year old fan.  It is funny and sweet!

Plus, really awesome stuff on NPR, with this interview with Garry Trudeau and his 40 years of Doonesbury!  I enjoyed the reflecting on the characters’ development – Mike, B.D. (the helmet! the losing of the helmet! the losing of his leg!), and Joanie.  The interview didn’t touch on, say, Zonker and Uncle Duke (wonder if he’s behind the crazy 2010 election commercials; Uncle Duke is THAT crazy), but it was still awesome.  The Slate interview with Trudeau was also cool.

The story of the 101 year old woman who got her US citizenship was heart-warming.

Eventually, I will have to do a post on the fall 2010 tv.  Eventually…

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.

Considering northern California’s place in APA legal history, this news on Judge Koh is big and good stuff.  Amazing how Pres. Obama has increased the number of APA federal judges (and hopefully the Senate will stay productive).  See also the post on the subject on Angry Asian Man blog.

Also, from Angry Asian Man: an Indian American wins the National Spelling Bee.  He also points to this fascinating article on Slate on why have Indians done so well in the spelling bee: basically, they’re just really, really into it – community support can go a long way, that’s for sure.

A Chinese American family fighting in Surrogate’s Court: as the family of C.C. Wang argue over the artwork that he had collected; talk about the messiness of family feuds and property issues.

Okay, so I’m actually getting excited that the A-Team movie is coming (although ,I’m hoping it will be a fun movie and not completely crappy; I mean – come on, it’s the A-Team!).

Strangely, besides A-Team, more of my ’80′s youth is coming back, since: via Time Magazine’s Techland – news that Voltron will be back on tv (what?  seriously?) and someone really is doing a Thundercats movie (what?  seriously?).  (well, there is a CGI animation version.  Really.  And, it seemed that Keith and Princess Allura admitted their attraction to one another.  I think.).

Although, I’ve said it before: if they bring back My Little Pony and the Care Bears, or the Snorks – then it really is the end of the world, if not civilization.  (and I wonder if we’re pretty close to that as it is half the time, considering the political vitriol and Icelandic volcano and gushing oil leaks and financial jobless recovery/prolonged recession).

On the other hand, I am sort of in the hunt for the summer tv thing, sort of.  Over on David Bianculli’s TV Worth Watching, contributing critic Diane Holloway reminds people of the return of “Burn Notice” and “Mad Men,” and she seems to like “The Good Guys” (the one where Bradley Whitford – the ex-Josh of “West Wing” – has a ridiculous mustache and Colin Hanks is his partner in fighting crime).

I can’t get myself to watch “The Good Guys,” because… it’s Bradley Whitford with a ridiculous mustache.  I can be very superficial, I know.  Maybe I’ll watch it eventually, since I like the two actors (or their previous work on other stuff) and want them to have a shot at TV glory.

I think I’ll give “Lie to Me” another shot; Tim Roth is strong (at least he’s a Brit playing a Brit, as opposed to Hugh Laurie’s (still masterful) task as House; I can only put up so much of the (kind of weird and fascinating) trend of Brits/Australians playing Americans).  I watched a little of the repeated season finale of last season and a re-airing of the pilot episode.  The concept of the show is pretty nifty; the characters — well, I like to care about the characters.  I don’t think I’m there yet with “Lie to Me.”

And, I’d like to get another try of “Royal Pains” – the idea of the ex-Fonzie as dad to Dr. Hank is kind of … weird.  Otherwise, I would like to finally get on the bandwagon on “Burn Notice” and “Mad Men,” but I’m so not consistent with the cable tv offerings.  Someday.

Let’s see if this week can be a bit more positive; hope springs eternal.