Category: Manhattan

June Already?

Last Friday: saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Great movie – entertaining; great art. I thought it was missing a scene (plot-wise), but otherwise fun. However, I do wonder if 3D is going to be everything…

Emil Guillermo posts on the AALDEF blog about the retirement of Shaquille O’Neal (recalling the anti-Asian problems of Shaq) and the possible side effects of Goodwin Liu’s withdrawal; Guillermo notes:

I’m concerned for the young legal minds out there who may take D’Affaire Liu as the way not to act. Speaking out on behalf of the generally silent community? Against the nomination of Samuel Alito? Against the nomination of John Roberts?  What? And jeopardize my career?

But I’m also concerned for Asian Americans in general, who have trouble enough being what I call “Public Asians.” Voting? You mean taking a stand in a private booth?

It’s too easy for Asian Americans to lay back and do nothing. So when a Goodwin Liu stands up and loses, you’ll inevitably hear someone mention that age old quote about the nail that sticks out. The virtue of docility. You never get hammered.

But you never get to nail anyone either.

Dare to be the nail.

Hat tip to Angry Asian Man: the passing of Matt Fong, the first Asian American Republican elected to state-wide office in California; see also the obit in the L.A. Times.

Korean grocers are slowly decreasing in the demographics of NYC, as they decide (or their kids decide) not to continue the family businesses; as the article by Sam Dolnick notes, this is similar to the dilemma faced by other demographics of NYC-immigrant communities, such as the Italians and the Jews.

Last but not least: New York’s night court drama (particularly in small claims court) shall continue, despite cutbacks.

More APA Heritage Month Stuff

Over at wnyc radio: on why NYS has no South Asian elected officials – maybe it is a matter of time. Listen also below, the embed of the audio:

NY1.com has its APA Heritage coverage – for a week… – still, interesting things:

A profile of Corky Lee, the photographer of the NYC APA community.

And, coverage about APA’s in films – and how much progress/lack thereof there has been.

What’s Really On TV?

On cable: I watched a rerun of “Law and Order” – and found that I still mildly enjoyed the episode.  It was the episode where Lara Flynn Boyle as Irritating Reporter and Linus Roach as ADA Cutter used each other (and Cutter was hot while Detective Lupo was sweet, and gosh do I miss Detective Green).

Check out the post at Time.com by James Poniewozik about the CBS previews.  When it comes to dramas, I really don’t get into CBS dramas (gave up the CSI’s and the NCIS’s; would like to watch The Mentalist and Hawaii 5-O, but never really get around to it; never got into Criminal Minds).

But, the previews for two new CBS shows actually looked intriguing to me:

Person of Interest – brought to you by the Exec. Producer J.J. Abrams, and starring Michael Emerson (the ex-Ben Linus of “Lost”) and Jim Caviezel (yeah, guess I’ll wind up being a sucker for yet another Abrams show).  Creepy Emerson who retains Caviezel to be a vigilante; they’re sort of an Odd Couple of crimefighting, as the brains and the brawn.  Hmm…

A Gifted Man – starring Patrick Wilson as a surgeon whose ex-wife – played by Jennifer Ehle (best known to me for “Pride and Prejudice” with Colin Firth), has died but comes back to him as a ghost (or a hallucination) to have him take over her medical clinic for poor people.

But… the thing with intriguing previews is whether the series itself would work as series.  We’ll see…

Not on tv, but… found this link from wnyc’s tumblr blog: CDC is getting us ready on what to do with when a zombie apocalypse arises. I’ll give CDC credit for being creative to get us thinking about emergency preparedness and all that. Also, I’m thinking that the world won’t come to an end this weekend. Who’s with me on this?