Triscribe

I think I’m caught up on four days’ worth of NY Times and other reading. Maybe! Lots of interesting stuff…

According to the latest ABA e-Journal, Philadelphia Howard Bashman’s blog “How Appealling” has been the recent target of parodies. What really impresses me about the article is that his blogging on appellate cases has now helped him be seen as an expert on appellate law and got him a gig on Legal Affairs magazine. Cool – he got a networking opportunity out of this.

Back when I was a senior in high school, my economics class did a case study (so to speak) of Walmart – how it undermined the mom-and-pop stores and transformed the American economy. NY Times has an article on scholars studying the Walmart effect. I didn’t realize this and find it unsurprising of the Walmart-ness – despite being such a big corporate power, it has allegedly undermined American labor. Walmart declined to participate in the symposia, saying that it was biased against it. Well, I’d have to say that when one become rich and powerful, one must expect the criticism that comes with it, so either respond or adapt to the criticism. Then again, I heard Walmart did reform its anti-discrimination policy to include banning harassment based on sexual orientation, which is sure to make the industry consider what it too does. So, I would think that no one’s saying that Walmart is 100% evil; it just needs to be a little more considerate.

Speaking of corporate power, The Power of Mickey Mouse may be on decline, because we (my generation certainly) don’t know who Mickey is anymore. Interesting article in the NY Times. I’ll note a passage that writer Jesse Green wrote, with my witty thoughts in brackets:

“But that richly drawn, disreputable character, born of desperation and betrayal, got watered down almost from the moment he was introduced…. And although Mickey for a while remained a playful, conniving underdog, like Huck Finn or Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp, he gradually got less mischievous. ‘He couldn’t have any of the naughty qualities he had in his earlier cartoons,’ said Mr. Smith, of the Disney archives, ‘because so many people looked up to him. The studio would get complaints in the mail.’ [I’d say that, ergo, no more mad and feisty Mickey, a la the Simpsons’ Itchy and Scratchy variety – as the article pointed out that 1928 Mickey was borderline sadistic…]

“So, sometime in the mid- to late 1930’s, Mickey settled down. Barnyard cohorts [like Horace the Horse and Clarabelle the Cow] and rail-riding adventures gave way to suburban domesticity with his non-wife Minnie (‘They just lived together as friends,’ said Mr. Smith. ‘For a very long time’) and their unexplained nephews [my response was “You mean, like Barbie and Ken? And, good point on the nephews – no one ever did figure out if they were Minnie’s or Mickey’s and everyone was very clear about Donald’s nephews on the other hand; I almost thought that Green would write “the alleged nephews” – could Morty and Ferdie be – gasp – the illegitimate sons…? LOL]. At the same time, Mickey’s perverse qualities were grafted onto his new supporting cast — Donald Duck and Goofy, especially — who by the 1940’s, according to Mr. Smith, eclipsed the mouse in popularity. ”

Probably explains why I was a Bugs Bunny person than a Mickey one.

Consider this humorist’s take on the whole newsstory on CIA Director George Tenet’s metaphorical hair-on-fire. Very funny. Of course, I tend to get nervous when the NY Times’ op-ed includes some weird humor like this – like, who’s running their newsroom to come up with this stuff?

Yesterday, I attended a symposium on Asian-American/Asian trends at my undergraduate alma mater, set up by the Asian/Asian-American alumni group; interesting event, part of the university’s 250 anniversary and Asian-Pacific-American month. Got to hear the latest on ethnic studies developments; econ/political trends on Asia (which I’m not into usually, but these two young professors certainly pointed out the global scope of developments – not to mention the pop culture trends making things impossible to ignore, so someone ought to get a paper on that – that idea made me laugh); and I thought the panel discussion on Asian-Americans in broadcast media was really interesting (a point of discussion: has American Idol’s William Hung hurt or helped things for Asian-Americans? Scary thing was that everyone in the room knew who he was without much explanation; pro: he’s a plucky guy, which undermines the stereotype of passive Asian; con: he doesn’t sing well, and are people laughing at him rather than with him and confusing the individual image of him as symbolic of Asians as a group? Hmm). The symposium made me feel real good about being Asian American, but also knowing that we have a long way to go before we can get mainstream America to stop perceiving us as mere “Asian” or, worse, alien.

So, in honor of all that Asian good stuff, I will put a plug for this fascinating article on Bollywood from the NY Times. I complain enough about the state of American films, so maybe I ought to watch foreign films for their variety.

Enjoy the nice weather in NYC – the weather is so nice… spring is indeed here. Well, hopefully the temperatures won’t jump into summer though. Insane…

Shook hands with Ismail Merchant yesterday at my college’s alumni dinner near Grand Central. He actually was a MBA student, and was exposed to literature and film by osmosis. I have to be honest, I have never watched any of his films (I’m sure P– will fill me in on them and catch me up). However, I know about his Indian food – he’s a great chef and he is such a foodie, it is not funny. That is worthy of honor.

The college president reported publically for the first time that the that arms of the Mars explorers are made from steel taken from the WTC site. The college brokered the arrangement between NASA and the authorities here. I feel a whole array of emotions. Wow, that was am amazing, spectacular deal they pulled off that shows the college’s high guan-xi (connections) quotient. On the other hand, why does everyone want a piece of the wreckage? There is a thin line between memorial and morbidity.

I’m going to meet my friends from Newport Beach that are flying in on a 2 hour layover from London. Let’s see what kind of food I can find for them.

So, anyway, how’s that Beatles song go? “The Taxman… Ye-ah, the Taxman…”

Let’s look forward to the final run of new episodes on various channels:

This Wednesday’s “Angel” on the WB channel – sigh… I hate that the WB is going to cancel this show, which has certainly had a pretty good season this season (storywise, emotionally-wise, etc.). This week’s episode was unbelievable. Like, how many more people from Team Angel will fall on the sword and make a sacrifice? First Quinn back in Season 1; then Cordelia going to another dimension in Season 3, but coming back to wreck havoc in her possessed form (was she really possessed? Who possessed her? Hmm, no one really answered those questions) and she then fell into a coma only to permanently say goodbye to Team Angel this season; and then the very sad thing the writers did to Fred six weeks ago, as her body loses her soul which was replaced by Illyria, a former evil (? – amoral would be more accurate) goddess; and this week, Charles Gunn, who choses to remain in the alternate suburban hell dimension to atone for his part in losing Fred, who he once loved and may always love. Ack. And, this is the beginning of the end – 1 episode down, 5 left to go before saying goodbye to Angel? No fair!!! And, meanwhile, Angel realizes that it’s that time again – he has to fight the good fight – it’s the end of the universe (again) and he has got to be so tired of it.

Previews promise the return of Angel’s son (!) – mind you, Angel sacrificed his friends’ one-year’s worth of memories and free will so that Connor could have a normal life and peace of mind. How will Connor make his return? Will he still be irritating, self-righteous, hate-my-daddy-’cause-he-doesn’t-love-me-enough? Hmm. And, what about Wesley, the Englishman who hates himself more than anything else, because he lost the love(s) of his life in the past two years and surely has lost his mind? Hmm…

“Alias” – also going running down to its last few episodes of the season; ABC is hopefully going to renew it (considering what else does that network has to look forward to? A “Practice” spinoff; more “NYPD Blue” which is aging; and (ugh) more “Bachelor”?). Secret Agent Sydney and Crew are almost on to the traitor in their midst. Meanwhile, is The (usually) Evil Sloane really evil or is someone getting him into trouble? Will Sydney’s trecherous mom, the deceptive and evasive Irina, going to return? Will we ever get answers to any of the questions?

“The Practice” – coming to an end on ABC. How is it that they can make the remaining partners, Ellenor, Eugene, and Jimmy look both sympathetic, dignified, but dim-witted all at once? How is it that guest star William Shatner is playing a more wacky character than James Spader? How is it that James Spader’s Alan Shore character suddenly being the one with any moral high ground? He’s still a psychologically dubious character – he admittedly doesn’t know what he wants in his life, loves his dear friend Ellenor and enjoyed torturing the rest of the practice – but knows he can’t stay. So, what does he want and who the hell is he really? Will Alan Shore grow up already? Methinks that the James Spader-as-Alan Shore spinoff will be more Ally McBeal-esque rather than serious, in that David E. Kelley mode.

The final three episodes of “Friends.” I’m so bad; I keep missing the episodes. Then again, I keep watching the syndicated reruns, so I don’t feel that guilty. But, it’s going to feel weird to see no more “Friends.” What will NBC do? More “Average Joe”? Blech. Can’t they put “Scrubs” in a decent time slot so that I can actually watch a funny sitcom, instead of struggling to remember what time slot to program the VCR? “Scrubs” on NBC and “Arrested Development” on FOX deserve better treatment to let them develop as sitcoms and make us laugh.

“The Apprentice” last night – I do feel sorry that Kwame got the wrong end of the stick in the finals; his teammates did not make it easy for him (I mean, really, losing singer Jessica Simpson in Atlantic City? come on!), and as much as he didn’t like to micromanage, he should have done so when he had such flakes on his team (Troy and Omarosa didn’t make themselves look too bright in the last episode). Bill did all right, so he was the winner, even if his own team kind of undermined him too (they didn’t make themselves look that stupid at least). Donald Trump – well, let’s just say he does not make for a good post-game show host. Couldn’t they have gotten Jeff Probst (“Survivor”) or Bryant Gumbel or someone half-way more talented than Trump to ask the contestants follow up questions? Oh, well. It was a guilty-pleasure kind of show, thanks to the good-editing and showmanship efforts of producer Mark Burnett.

Enjoy the spring weekend…