Studio 60's dying gasp

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was canceled earlier this year. That sucks. It was a good show and, while it wasn't the best effort by Sorkin yet by far, it was still more worthwhile than some of the crap on the air right now. However, besides being canned (speaking of which, I have a rant somewhere in me about the frequency of which shows get canceled and how TV ratings around currently at an all-time low. Correlation?? You better damn well believe it), Studio 60 still has episodes left that have been filmed but haven't been aired yet. Apparently, they're scheduled to air the rest of the episodes May 24.

So, at least we'll get to watch a couple more episodes before burying the latest Sorkin show. Hopefully he's busy working on a new show or new movie that will prove that he's not washed up yet. I love Aaron Sorkin's work, be it movies like The American President or A Few Good Men; or shows like West Wing and Sports Night, and I think while he does suffer from some tendencies to over-preach, his writing style's crisp and quick and his characters certainly don't suffer from being moronic. If the options are more shows like Jackass or more shows like Studio 60, I vote Sorkin everyday of the week and twice on Sundays.

Dawning of the Golden Age?

Ok, two links:

1.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6584229.stm

Scientists found a substance with the chemical formula of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide. A Google search (ok, they said "Internet Search." Let's face it. They probably just Google'd it) showed that that particular chemical formula was written on the outside of the museum case prop in the movie Superman Returns for KRYPTONITE.

2.) New York Times story
(Sorry if you can't read the story. It might need a NY Times account. I can't tell because I have an account. [GET ONE! It's free!!])

European astronomers found the most likely candidate yet for a planet that could possibly support life on other planets in the Libra constellation about 20 light years from Earth. It's a planet circling a dim red star named "Gliese 581" that's about 5 times the mass of Earth.

Hm... let's think now. We find KRYPTONITE and now we find a planet that could support life that happens to be DENSER than Earth and orbits a RED SUN. Could this be the beginning of the Golden Age of DC??

(Ok, I'm not stupid enough to actually believe that SUPERMAN is going to just appear. You gotta admit tho: the timing's pretty cool.)

Ideologically, Superman (who's been called the father of superheroes) came about in the 30's from 2 Jewish writers. America was in a state of inner turmoil because of the Depression while Hitler was running wild as a terrorist out of control in Europe. Wait... isn't America currently in a state of inner turmoil (ok, not because of a depression and not as serious as the 30's were) while there are terrorists running wild and out of control in Europe (not to mention everywhere else)? HMMMM... Superman may not be appearing on the horizon anytime soon but that's not to say that the world's not in need of some superheroes right now.

Long time no post

So. Long time no post. It's been almost a month since my last post. Also, significantly, I came back from Taiwan since my last post. So I've been back in Boston for nearly a month now.

Boston is pretty much how I remember it. I mentioned before that we (me and my roommate Mike) moved. We used to live in the South End (off of Washington Street near the Washington/Mass Ave intersection... for those of you who actually know where that is). Currently we live pretty much amongst the Boston University dorms. (Near Fenway, right next to Audubon Circle.) It's a completely different atmosphere here. For one thing, this is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the BU dorms. I see students here ALL the time. Which is good because it's relatively safe (at least safer than our last place) and there's an air of lightness and youth. We're next to a highway tho (not to mention Comm Ave and Storrow) so there's a lot of traffic noise. The windows are good tho so it's not debilitating.

Around us now is a Taco Bell close by (whee!! I haven't had Taco Bell in so long! I love Taco Bell. Boo on you guys who don't like Taco Bell), as well as a grocery store right next to us. Not to mention Best Buy, Staples, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Star Market also pretty much right next to us (like... 5 min. walk? 10 min. walk? something like that). So overall, this is a pretty nice place.

Work's been good. Busy. MIT's Graduate Math Department just had their Spring Social party thingie (with 200+ ppl!! Plus stragglers...) which we catered. And for them, I made custom-designed special menus. I've been told they're pretty and I'm pretty proud of them myself. (I made an Atlantic Salmon from scratch on Photoshop!!) I also met a cool girl there who we offered a job to at Zigo and I hope she takes it because she's (among other things) a lit major! I miss having lit majors around me...

Red Sox beat the Yankees last weekend. Like BEAT the Yankees. 3-game sweep. It was good stuff. The whole of Boston is caught up in Dice-K fever to the extent that places like Game On and Cask 'n Flagon (two sports bars across the street from Fenway and 2 of the biggest places to catch games on game day. Like SUPER SUPER busy) have signs in Japanese which... welcome Dice-K, I suppose. I dunno what they really say. I can't read Japanese. I wanna get a Dice-K shirt. In fact, I probably will get a Dice-K shirt. I may be a die-hard Lakers fan and a homegrown Giants fan but the Red Sox are the only team that I own shirts for so far. I wonder if that just means I'm bandwagon? Probably

I read a good book recently called "Bento Box in the Heartland" which proclaims itself to be a "food memoir." It's a memoir about the author growing up as the daughter of the only Japanese family in Versailles, Indiana. It's a pretty good book and her writings on the chapters where she goes to Japan with her mom when she's 14 (I think 14. I can't quite remember the age) parallel my feelings about Taiwan. Read it! It's by Linda Furiya. Probably in the Non-Fiction section (or New Release because... well, it's a new release).

I've been watching Dead Like Me on DVD. Good show. Funny. The humor's pretty off-beat sometimes and hard to catch sometimes and the end-of-episode monologues don't always make sense (a la Grey's Anatomy) but it's a pretty worthwhile show to watch.

I've also had a separate thought in my head the last 2 days that I'll blog about in a separate post than this one. Having said that, I think I'm done with this post for now. I'll try to blog more often.