Ted Rabinowitz's Blog, page 31
August 2, 2013
Sad News
Michael Ansara, who played the Klingon commander Kang on Star Trek and Star Trek: DS9, has passed away. He was 91 years old. Like DeForrest Kelly (Dr. McCoy), he was an old-school character actor with a list of credits as long as your arm: TV westerns, cop and mystery shows, even I Dream of Jeanie (he was married to Barbara Eden for a while). If you're over the age of thirty, you probably saw him on TV at some point. If you heard his voice, you recognized him instantly. Farewell.
August 1, 2013
Another Visit to Castle's New York
Remember my post about TV New York vs. real New York? A couple more examples-
1. Someone driving a Ferrari to a downtown dance club...in Manhattan...and talking about what an amazing ride it was. Because there are all those wide-open, empty streets in Manhattan that just beckon to an overpowered sports car with a manual transmission.
2. A native New Yorker bemoaning the current touristy state of Times Square and the vanished, "gritty" Times Square. Sorry, anyone who lived in New York in the 1970s and '80s is perfectly happy to never see that "grit" again.
1. Someone driving a Ferrari to a downtown dance club...in Manhattan...and talking about what an amazing ride it was. Because there are all those wide-open, empty streets in Manhattan that just beckon to an overpowered sports car with a manual transmission.
2. A native New Yorker bemoaning the current touristy state of Times Square and the vanished, "gritty" Times Square. Sorry, anyone who lived in New York in the 1970s and '80s is perfectly happy to never see that "grit" again.
July 30, 2013
July 28, 2013
This Is Heresy to Long-Time New Yorkers-
-But there are some ways in which Los Angeles is superior.
The biggest of these is natural beauty. The drive up the coast to Ventura County (if you catch it in the middle of a weekday, without traffic); the sage-scented hiking trails through the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains; the nacreous, mother-of-pearl color of the Pacific surf as opposed to the muddy green of our Atlantic coast.
But there's one kind of New York beauty that knocks LA down - the rain at night. On a night like this, when you see the streets lights gleam like bronze and silver on the sidewalks; the lamps reflecting on the thousands of drops falling through the air; the sheen on the green, wet leaves, the smell of water on bark; the oddly cozy sight of the well-lit towers jutting up against the blue and purple sky...that's home, baby.
The biggest of these is natural beauty. The drive up the coast to Ventura County (if you catch it in the middle of a weekday, without traffic); the sage-scented hiking trails through the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains; the nacreous, mother-of-pearl color of the Pacific surf as opposed to the muddy green of our Atlantic coast.
But there's one kind of New York beauty that knocks LA down - the rain at night. On a night like this, when you see the streets lights gleam like bronze and silver on the sidewalks; the lamps reflecting on the thousands of drops falling through the air; the sheen on the green, wet leaves, the smell of water on bark; the oddly cozy sight of the well-lit towers jutting up against the blue and purple sky...that's home, baby.
July 27, 2013
July 22, 2013
So, Robert Heinlein-
- by know you've probably figured out that I admire him as one of the great science fiction writers and an impressively competent man (holder of patents, predictor of the Roomba & breeder nuclear reactors, trained all-in fighter, influencer of the '60s counterculture, etc.) if not for some of his later political opinions.So it pleases me to announce that there's a video clip of an interview with him on the only (?) movie he worked on, an adaptation of his own YA novel Rocketship Galileo. (And as an extra added bonus, visual SF greats Chesley Bonestell and George Pal are also there.)
And here it is!
July 20, 2013
Another Note on Those New York Shows, Like-
-Castle and White Collar: The weather is always good. It's always summer, the sun is shining, but no one is sweating? Gimme a break. I love New York, but even I will admit that the weather S-U-X.
July 18, 2013
New York to Texas
Everyone knows New Yorkers are supposed to be rude jerks. You just know that Sarah Palin doesn't think we're "real Americans," so it's got to be true, right? (Of course, she thought Famiglia Bros was "real New York pizza" too, so what are you going to do?)
Now granted, in New York we have more than our share of violent scumbag psychopaths, but that's mostly because the other states try to bus them in here with one-way tickets - the Greyhound treatment for mental disorders. But speaking as someone who has lived in New York and California and eaten and slept in most of the states in between, the notion that New Yorkers are nastier than others is just...nonsense.
In fact, in my experience it's worse than nonsense - it's been an excuse for preemptive rudeness against New Yorkers. I can still remember attending a party thrown by a friend whose family was from Georgia. This very nice-seeming middle-aged lady struck up a conversation with me, and then asked in a voice dripping with magnolia, "Where are you from, dear?" Of course, I said "Well, I grew up in New York." Matter-of-fact, not with any particular pride or defensiveness. To which she quickly replied "Oh, I'm so sorry!" And smirked as if she'd let off the bon mot of the century against a boorish adversary, instead of gratuitously insulting an invited guest.
It's an attitude I've found most prevalent among Americans who hail from rural states, and who have formed their unshakable convictions about New York and New Yorkers based on Rush Limbaugh, Law & Order: SVU and Spring Break class trips to New York taken no later than 1999.
On the other hand, after growing up in New York, spending more than a quarter of a century here, and returning in middle age, I have yet to hear a single New Yorker mock someone else's hometown or home state. (Mostly because, you know...why bother?)
That changed last night. And it was GLORIOUS.
As you might have heard, Rick Perry, former GOP presidential candidate and soon-to-be-former governor of Texas has been conducting an aggressive advertising campaign to lure businesses to Texas from other states. He's been doing this by taking out ads in other states, then INSULTING those states, and saying that Texas is better for business.
As a strategy, this is just hilarious to me. Big companies don't care about advertising like this; they have their own relocation & search committees that evaluate basing costs 24/7. And medium and small companies, well, they are conceived, built, and maintained by locals. So when Gov. Perry is bashing Illinois, say, he is insulting the very people he wants to woo. When he talks smack about Sacramento or Chicago, his audience is natives of Sacramento and Chicago. I don't see a particularly warm reception.
And then Rick took his campaign that last step too far, and he hit out at New York. And finally New York, in the form of Lewis Black, struck back. Here's the clip from Black's spot on The Daily Show. The commercial he produced in response to Perry's ads starts at 3:56. Enjoy!
Now granted, in New York we have more than our share of violent scumbag psychopaths, but that's mostly because the other states try to bus them in here with one-way tickets - the Greyhound treatment for mental disorders. But speaking as someone who has lived in New York and California and eaten and slept in most of the states in between, the notion that New Yorkers are nastier than others is just...nonsense.
In fact, in my experience it's worse than nonsense - it's been an excuse for preemptive rudeness against New Yorkers. I can still remember attending a party thrown by a friend whose family was from Georgia. This very nice-seeming middle-aged lady struck up a conversation with me, and then asked in a voice dripping with magnolia, "Where are you from, dear?" Of course, I said "Well, I grew up in New York." Matter-of-fact, not with any particular pride or defensiveness. To which she quickly replied "Oh, I'm so sorry!" And smirked as if she'd let off the bon mot of the century against a boorish adversary, instead of gratuitously insulting an invited guest.
It's an attitude I've found most prevalent among Americans who hail from rural states, and who have formed their unshakable convictions about New York and New Yorkers based on Rush Limbaugh, Law & Order: SVU and Spring Break class trips to New York taken no later than 1999.
On the other hand, after growing up in New York, spending more than a quarter of a century here, and returning in middle age, I have yet to hear a single New Yorker mock someone else's hometown or home state. (Mostly because, you know...why bother?)
That changed last night. And it was GLORIOUS.
As you might have heard, Rick Perry, former GOP presidential candidate and soon-to-be-former governor of Texas has been conducting an aggressive advertising campaign to lure businesses to Texas from other states. He's been doing this by taking out ads in other states, then INSULTING those states, and saying that Texas is better for business.
As a strategy, this is just hilarious to me. Big companies don't care about advertising like this; they have their own relocation & search committees that evaluate basing costs 24/7. And medium and small companies, well, they are conceived, built, and maintained by locals. So when Gov. Perry is bashing Illinois, say, he is insulting the very people he wants to woo. When he talks smack about Sacramento or Chicago, his audience is natives of Sacramento and Chicago. I don't see a particularly warm reception.
And then Rick took his campaign that last step too far, and he hit out at New York. And finally New York, in the form of Lewis Black, struck back. Here's the clip from Black's spot on The Daily Show. The commercial he produced in response to Perry's ads starts at 3:56. Enjoy!
July 16, 2013
A New York of the Mind
When you're sick, you watch TV. And when you have basic cable, you watch a lot of Castle.
It's a sort of Odd Couple meets Starsky & Hutch cozy murder show, with Nathan Fillion (star of Firefly and popularizer of the Fillion no-bake cookies I use to meet my social obligations at parties) and other attractive actors and actresses.
I like it. It takes place in a New York of the mind.
Castle (Fillion) is a bestselling mystery write who lives with his mom and daughter in a Soho loft. So far, so good - incredible, but not wrong. I mean, you do have to be a millionaire to afford a loft like that. But...
Sometimes Castle drives his daughter to school so she can get there on time.
There are factories and abandoned homes...in Manhattan.
Poor and middle class suspects own their own cars.
Apartments have backyards.
Irish mobsters are everywhere, and Hell's Kitchen is dangerous.
Russian mobsters run an illegal card game in the Manhattan Chinatown, instead of Brighton Beach.
Three of the four crime-solvers on the show are NYPD - but you never see one of them eat street food.
It's also fairly easy to stage corpses in elaborate and macabre positions in the middle of Manhattan without anyone noticing.
I love this show. White Collar too - for the same reasons.
I think the writers are doing it deliberately, as a goof.
Did I miss anything on these shows? Let me know.
It's a sort of Odd Couple meets Starsky & Hutch cozy murder show, with Nathan Fillion (star of Firefly and popularizer of the Fillion no-bake cookies I use to meet my social obligations at parties) and other attractive actors and actresses.
I like it. It takes place in a New York of the mind.
Castle (Fillion) is a bestselling mystery write who lives with his mom and daughter in a Soho loft. So far, so good - incredible, but not wrong. I mean, you do have to be a millionaire to afford a loft like that. But...
Sometimes Castle drives his daughter to school so she can get there on time.
There are factories and abandoned homes...in Manhattan.
Poor and middle class suspects own their own cars.
Apartments have backyards.
Irish mobsters are everywhere, and Hell's Kitchen is dangerous.
Russian mobsters run an illegal card game in the Manhattan Chinatown, instead of Brighton Beach.
Three of the four crime-solvers on the show are NYPD - but you never see one of them eat street food.
It's also fairly easy to stage corpses in elaborate and macabre positions in the middle of Manhattan without anyone noticing.
I love this show. White Collar too - for the same reasons.
I think the writers are doing it deliberately, as a goof.
Did I miss anything on these shows? Let me know.
