TV/Movie Reviews

Not sure how often I’ll update this, but wanted to use the occasion, since folks have been antsy for viewing recommendations, to rate all of the things I’ve watched since I started tracking things about 3 ½ years ago.  During that time, it appears I’ve averaged about 4 hours per week of viewing, with almost all of that happening on the weekend when I take Asher to the Y and watch while I exercise (allowing for a generous use of the word “exercise” since it usually means walking on a treadmill at 1.5mph or pedaling a seated bike at 6mph). 

A few quick notes about the ratings.  First, not sure how many recommendations you’ll get out of this, since I’m usually way late to the party (alas, as a result this also means I can’t keep up with everyone else’s chatter about the latest shows, because such would represent major spoilers for me).  Second, it’s in alphabetical order, since while I know the order in which I viewed them that order doesn’t really matter.   Third, I’ll just use a simple A/B/C/D/F scale, and by the way unlike in real life I’m a pretty easy grader when it comes to being entertained.  Fourth, and related to the previous point, I’m mostly grading on sheer entertainment value (e.g. when I’m actually pounding out the miles on the treadmill, will this keep me gripped?) rather than educational depth or social commentary (even though the latter two are obviously important for some shows).  Fifth, I’m too lazy to grade individual seasons, although obviously there can be great variation across season.

And now, without further ado...

More Coronavirus Musings

Unlike many of you, I haven’t read much news or kept on top of derivative chatter on social media.  Part of this is due to my constrained schedule and part is an intentional effort to not get sucked down the vortex.  Nevertheless, I’ve consumed enough information to have a somewhat informed (although likely still ignorant) take on things.  And, given that I’ve tried to exercise balance in this, that information (whether news or my friends’ take on the news) has come from all perspectives and persuasions.  From all of that, here are a few observations I’d like to record for posterity, which I’m sure you’ll push back on some of this and I would welcome that as we’re all flying blind and could use a little guidance.  In no particular order:

What Are We Standing On

There is a resolution introduced in Harrisburg that has been circulating on my social media feeds.  The resolution calls on Pennsylvanians to repent of their sins in the hopes that that will make the global pandemic go away.  It has been roundly mocked and condemned, at least from folks in my networks who have shared it on their feeds.

To be sure, suffering is not always as a result of personal sin.  However, suffering is always an opportunity for self-examination.  Suffering is sifting, and the question is: as we are being sifted, what remains?

As believers, our worldview and therefore our motivations should be radically distinct.  While we may resemble others in many ways, we should not be the same in terms of our understanding of the existence and purpose of suffering, and the mindset and mission of the believer in the midst of it.

Collective vs. Individualistic

A formative aspect of my upbringing was my “hyphenatedness,” which is to say that as an Asian-American I straddled two cultures and therefore two worlds.  I spoke Taiwanese at home and English at school.  I spent a lot of time with Taiwanese relatives and family friends in one setting, and with a whole range of kids and adults in another setting.  And through all of that, I picked up on similarities and differences, and had to navigate those similarities and differences.

A New Normal?

"Social distancing" has meant for many of us an increase in media consumption.  For me, at this time of heightened sensitivity about human contact, it has been interesting how viscerally I react to a scene in which there are a lot of people in an enclosed space, or even the more mundane act of shaking hands.  Not unlike how some people watch movies or shows from a generation ago and freak out at how little kids were allowed to just play outside by themselves.  Will we look back on movies and shows that feature normal human contact with similar fear or awe?  Let's hope not.

Human Together

I held it together all day. 

Worried over my business, and thousands of other businesses whose future revenue decline will be somewhere between a little and all of it. 

Worried for my co-workers and clients who are more than colleagues but are truly family.

Worried for the 200,000 young people served by our school district, far too many of whom lack the resources to make up for the lack of instructional time they're missing.

Worried about our high school seniors, who are missing out on what would've been some of the best days of their lives: prom, graduation, and beyond those big milestones 1,001 mundane moments that make up that special transition into the rest of their lives.

Novel Coronavirus Musings

Like you, I’ve been gripped by the worldwide pandemic that the novel coronavirus has become over the past few months.  It is the perfect storm that has encompassed every aspect of every life in every corner of the globe.  As such, we are living in dangerous, uncertain, and historic times right now.  Therefore, I’ve asked my kids (who, you might have heard, have a little more time on their hands now that the schools are closed for at least the last two weeks) to journal extensively, even if only recording random mundane thoughts.  These remembrances are part of our surviving now, and will greatly cherished later.

But I myself have not yet heeded that same impulse.  So, at the risk of offending anyone or looking really stupid in a manner of days, I figured I’d share a few stray musings now.  

Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 221

Here are a couple of excerpts from a book I recently read, "Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win," by Jo Piazza.



New mothers and candidates for elected office quickly realize how much caffeine and adrenaline will allow you to accomplish. In the six months since Charlotte returned to Elk Hollow she hadn’t slept more than four hours a night. Now she was on her fifth cup of coffee of the day. Coffee might have been counterproductive to soothing her nerves, but without it she’d have been facedown on the floor. She longed for the coffee even before she closed her eyes at night, anticipating new exhaustion even as she dispelled the old.



Maybe it would be a relief if I didn’t win. Maybe I can do more good outside of office than in it. Maybe my family will be better off if we go back to California. Maybe all of this was a gigantic waste of time and money. Now that she had no way to control the outcome of the situation, she was able to put it in perspective. Maybe the world didn’t need her to fix everything. She’d been smug about that, often self-righteous and heavy-handed. Plenty of people glimpsed ghosts of lives they could have lived. She had at least attempted this one. That was worth something. Wasn’t it? She fingered a piece of paper in her pocket that Kara had slipped into her hand earlier that day. She’d written down a quote she saw on Facebook and liked. “I’ve found that the changes I feared would ruin me have always become doorways.” Charlotte liked it, too.

Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 220

Here are a few excerpts from a book I recently read, "Doing Justice  A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law," by Preet Bharara.

Smart laws do not assure justice any more than a good recipe guarantees a delicious meal. The law is merely an instrument, and without the involvement of human hands it is as lifeless and uninspiring as a violin kept in its case. The law cannot compel us to love each other or respect each other. It cannot cancel hate or conquer evil; teach grace or extinguish apathy. Every day, the law’s best aims are carried out, for good or ill, by human beings. Justice is served, or thwarted, by human beings. Mercy is bestowed, or refused, by human beings.

A Contrast in Leadership Styles

I participated in a lively discussion on Facebook earlier this week, in which I tried to isolate a particular point of difference between Democratic presidential front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.  People obviously have divergent opinions about these two candidates, which (rightly) influences our takes on their respective characteristics; after all, everything is related to everything.  Still, it was fascinating to dive into a specific aspect of Bernie vs. Biden.

Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 219

Here are a few excerpts from a book I recently read, "First: Sandra Day O'Connor," by Evan Thomas.



But that was not her way. She would walk away from fights she deemed unnecessary, while never shying away from the important ones. She knew when to tease, when to flatter, and when to punch the bully in the nose. She wanted to set an example for her young law clerks, the twentysomethings hired from the top of their law school classes to work for a year in the justices’ chambers, about how to carry yourself and how to help others. She made sure half of her clerks were women. She wanted them to become judges, top-level lawyers, and professors, and they did.

O’CONNOR WAS THE most powerful Supreme Court justice of her time. For most of her twenty-four-plus years on the Court, from October 1981 to January 2006, she was the controlling vote on many of the great societal issues, including abortion, affirmative action, and religious freedom, so much so that the press came to call it the O’Connor Court. She was a global ambassador for the rule of law, and a role model for a generation of young women who saw her break the glass ceiling and were inspired to believe they could do the same.

Lazy Linking, 231st in an Occasional Series

Stuff I liked lately on the Internets:

231.1 A reminder of Taiwan's geographical/geopolitical importance to Japan @scholars_stage bit.ly/2TnGNtL

231.2 He's a once-in-a-generation chess savant living in the era of social media = we get a vivid window into the brilliance of Magnus Carlsen @slate bit.ly/2uJ4mFg

231.3 Someone figured out a way to teach computers how to multiply really big numbers way faster @quantamagazine bit.ly/2wYFtpR

231.4 UChic prof quantifies the economic impact of Bernie Sanders' policy plans @caseybmulligan bit.ly/3959Ed3

231.5 Closing the black/white homeownership + business formation gaps isn't enough, b/c systematic bias = unequal house price appreciation + business growth = no reduction in wealth gap @citylab bit.ly/32yTYMO