my new favorite TV show

I still love Scrubs, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes of Love Monkey, a new series on CBS. It stars Tom Cavanagh of Ed as Tom, a thirty-something music industry exec living in New York City.

I'm not sure exactly why I like the show, but it's some combination of Cavanagh's innate likeability (and ability to talk super-fast), combined with some pretty decent characterization, and lots of good music. For instance, Teddy Geiger, who I'd never heard of previously, appeared as a singer/songwriter prodigy in the pilot episode, and he was excellent.

Unfortunately, as of now, CBS has only ordered eight episodes, and the viewership numbers are mediocre, so it's unclear if the show will survive until next season. Go watch it now!

end of an era

This week, on the heels of John Spencer's death, came the news that The West Wing will end this year, after seven seasons. I'm sad, but it seems fitting that the show would end with the exit of the Bartlet administration. I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for a DVD package of the whole series.

Hines Ward

Hines Ward has been one of my favorite receivers since three years ago, when I picked him up from free agency in my fantasy football league, but I never realized that he was half-Asian.

From the Korea Times:

Steelers receiver Hines Ward, who was born in Seoul to a Korean woman and an African-American GI 29 years ago, caught five passes and a touchdown in the game against the Denver Broncos, contributing to the team’s 34-17 triumph.

Looking around a bit online, I ran across this interview by SI.com from last week. It sounds like he has an interesting personal history:

I was born in Seoul. My mom's Korean. My dad [Hines Ward Sr.] was in the military. We moved to the U.S. when I was one, and my parents got divorced. My dad remarried, and the courts wouldn't let me live with my mom. They said she was an unfit parent because she couldn't speak English and had no way to support us. So early on I lived with my dad and stepmom.

I went to live with [my mom] when I was in second grade. She was amazing. She had three jobs. Cleaned dishes at the Atlanta airport. Cleaned hotels. Was a grocery-store cashier. She'd work till two in the morning, then get up to make me breakfast before her airport job. She'd come home from that, and before she left for her next job, she'd have lunch on the table for me when I came home from school. I could never, ever repay my mother for everything she did for me.

votes database

The Washington Post has a fascinating new tool they call the U.S Congress Votes Database.

Basically, you can look up every vote by the House or Senate, all the way back to 1991. You can see what each bill/resolution was about, and see who voted for or against it. You can see which Congresspersons missed the most votes, which bills passed by the largest and smallest margins, and which votes were held late at night.

Of interest to probably only me:

These representatives voted against reaffirming the Taiwan Relations Act:
Neil Abercrombie, Bob Filner, Raúl Grijalva, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Betty McCollum, Jim McDermott, George Miller, James Moran, James Oberstar, David Obey, Nick Rahall, Pete Stark, Jim Turner, Maxine Waters, Butch Otter, Ron Paul.

These representatives voted against the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act:
Neil Abercrombie, Joe Baca, Tammy Baldwin, Thomas Barrett, Earl Blumenauer, Bob Borski, Michael Capuano, Gary Condit, John Conyers, Danny Davis, Peter DeFazio, William Delahunt, Lloyd Doggett, Calvin Dooley, Lane Evans, Bob Filner, Alcee Hastings, Baron Hill, Maurice Hinchey, Darlene Hooley, Jesse Jackson, Stephanie Jones, Paul Kanjorski, Dennis Kucinich, John LaFalce, Tom Lantos, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren, Robert Matsui, Jim McDermott, James McGovern, Cynthia McKinney, Carrie Meek, David Minge, Patsy Mink, James Moran, Jerrold Nadler, Richard Neal, James Oberstar, David Obey, John Olver, Major Owens, Donald Payne, Collin Peterson, Owen Pickett, Earl Pomeroy, Tim Roemer, Bobby Rush, Martin Sabo, Jan Schakowsky, Robert Scott, José Serrano, Ike Skelton, Vic Snyder, Pete Stark, Ted Strickland, Mike Thompson, John Tierney, Maxine Waters, Bernard Sanders, Bill Archer, John Boehner, Vernon Ehlers, Amo Houghton, Jim Kolbe, Jerry Lewis, Jim Nussle, Michael Oxley, Ron Paul, Matthew Salmon.

Unless she disagrees with her late husband, I guess I'll be advising people to vote against Doris Matsui, of California's 5th Congressional District.

RIP 104.9

A few days ago, back from my vacation, I climbed into my car, started up the engine, and discovered a horrible thing. One of my favorite radio stations, KCNL 104.9, aka "the new music alternative", had been replaced with a Spanish program.

Today, after a proper mourning period, I will be erasing my 104.9 preset. Does anyone have any suggestions for a replacement?

if you do the math...

Finally, a logical argument for having children, courtesy of The New Criterion:

“Replacement” fertility rate—i.e., the number you need for merely a stable population, not getting any bigger, not getting any smaller—is 2.1 babies per woman. Some countries are well above that: the global fertility leader, Somalia, is 6.91, Niger 6.83, Afghanistan 6.78, Yemen 6.75. Notice what those nations have in common?

Scroll way down to the bottom of the Hot One Hundred top breeders and you’ll eventually find the United States, hovering just at replacement rate with 2.07 births per woman. Ireland is 1.87, New Zealand 1.79, Australia 1.76. But Canada’s fertility rate is down to 1.5, well below replacement rate; Germany and Austria are at 1.3, the brink of the death spiral; Russia and Italy are at 1.2; Spain 1.1, about half replacement rate. That’s to say, Spain’s population is halving every generation. By 2050, Italy’s population will have fallen by 22 percent, Bulgaria’s by 36 percent, Estonia’s by 52 percent. In America, demographic trends suggest that the blue states ought to apply for honorary membership of the EU: in the 2004 election, John Kerry won the sixteen with the lowest birth rates; George W. Bush took twenty-five of the twenty-six states with the highest. By 2050, there will be 100 million fewer Europeans, 100 million more Americans—and mostly red-state Americans.

That's a scary thought. I wonder what the numbers for China and Japan look like?

sucks to be a Bengals fan

Finally back in the playoffs after 15 years, and your first-time Pro Bowl quarterback tears his ACL and MCL on the second play from scrimmage. A (very) small consolation is that he completes the pass; a 66-yarder to Chris Henry, and the longest pass in Bengals playoff history.

I guess the Bengals weren't likely to make it too far in the playoffs anyway, with their well-documented defensive woes, but it would have been nice if Carson Palmer had been able to finish his first playoff game.

something I noticed

Escalators in Hong Kong, whether flat or ascending/descending, move very quickly. I imagine it would be somewhat of a challenge to get on one while intoxicated.

heading home soon

I'm heading home in a few days, after having spent the last two weeks eating an obscene amount of really yummy food. Among the highlights:

In Hong Kong:
- Peking duck
- roast goose
- shrimp wonton soup at King's Palace
- dim sum at Metropol
- all-you-can eat dessert buffet at the Grand Hyatt
- afternoon tea at the Peninsula

In Taipei:
- sushi at Shintori (3 times)
- Christmas dinner buffet at the Lai Lai Sheraton
- black pepper steak at Alice's
- Chinese breakfast (mmm, grease)
- tonkatsu in Tien Mu
- yakiniku at Kanpai
- teppanyaki at New Hama
- Peking duck again, at Long Du
- pudding and more at Porcini
- Thai food at Wa Tsun
- lots of others that I've forgotten

Hong Kong was really fun; it was the first time I'd been there since the handover, and although things had changed a bit, I was better able to appreciate the sights and sounds (and tastes) that we did experience.

Although, it was also kind of a nice feeling to return to Taipei and see the shorter and dingier but homier buildings and the narrower but more familiar streets.