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Friday Questions

Last Friday Questions of the year.

David leads off:

The Simpsons has just hit 600 episodes, has been renewed through season 30, and the 13 day fxx marathon is ongoing. So what is your current opinion of The Simpsons? It's endurance? The popular opinion of its drop in quality? The movie? And any other thoughts you may have on the unstoppable juggernaut you once worked on? Given the opportunity would you ever go back and write another episode?

I’ll be honest, I rarely watch it these days. It’s not on a season pass and Sunday nights I’m usually away from the TV so months can go by between catching new episodes. When I do watch I still enjoy it. The show is certainly not as “fresh” as it was 550 episodes ago, but the writers are all very funny (I still know a few) and I get the sense that they’re still trying, unlike FAMILY GUY, which to me is just on fumes.

Under the right circumstances, sure, I’d be happy to write another SIMPSONS episode. But I’m very proud that the episodes David Isaacs and I did were from the early Sam Simon days when the show was new and firing on all cylinders.

cd1515 is next.

Just saw a few minutes of Joel McHale's new sitcom, which has him in an office with a bunch of millennials and there's a TON of facebook/instagram humor (or attempts at humor).

Just as Murphy Brown got dated with the Dan Quayle references, are shows like this dumb to go down that road, or smart to tailor it to today's young viewers? (if there are any)

Networks are flailing, desperately trying to attract Millennials. At this point they don’t give a shit whether the show has a shelf-life of eleven minutes if it’ll draw the right demographic for its first run.

But they sign a Faustian contract, because yes, all of those topical pop culture references date the show instantly, and its chances for a long run syndication deal are slim to none.

From ChipO:

Inspired by the brilliance of Bill King, thank you for bringing him to our attention:

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, and all the facts are in ... are you noticing a plethora of clichés in lieu of valid commentary?

The way you phrased your question made me laugh. Yes, clichés substitute for insight, but that’s the way it’s always been. There are just more games and more mediocre talent. And that extends to the play-by-play ranks as well. Watching all the bowl games over the last week it’s shocking how plastic and interchangeable these play-by-play guys are, and how inarticulate most of these “analysts” are. At least the clichés we can understand.

Barry Traylor asks:

I have noticed that during football season the shows that have the misfortune of being on Sunday evening have their shows pushed back much later. What does that do to the ratings of those shows?

In many cases, it elevates their ratings. Football is a great lead-in, especially following an exciting finish, and the primetime lineup benefits.

The only time it doesn’t is when a game goes so long that a show is pre-empted. This happened to us with BECKER. It was the 100th episode, a special occasion, David Isaacs and I wrote it and I directed it, and the show put on a big celebratory party. A room was reserved at a nice hotel, monitors were set up, champagne flowed, the whole staff was there – and the show was pre-empted at the last moment. We ended up having to watch a tape of it. And then it quietly aired the next week with zero fanfare or promotion. But that was pretty much how CBS treated BECKER its entire run.

What’s your 2017 Friday Question?

LA LA LAND -- My review

Readers have been wondering why I haven’t been reviewing movies. Simple. I haven’t seen any. I was too involved with my play and Tetris Classic. Well, now I’m catching up. So here’s another one:

LA LA LAND is a bright Technicolor homage of the great movie musicals of the past while still maintaining the sensibility and vibe of the present. Not easy to do.

Visually, the film is gorgeous. If you like colors – wow. It’s like being inside Jimi Hendrix head. The opening production number on the crowded freeway was spectacular. Best opening since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN although the subject matter was, y’know, a little different.

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle (who gave us the fabulous WHIPLASH) has created a love letter to my favorite city the way Woody Allen has so often done with New York. (Thank you for not showing City of Industry.) It’s always sunny. It’s always bright and vivid. There’s always a big orchestra when you want to break out into song.

This is a film you will want to see on a big screen with THX sound. Your phone and ear buds won’t do it justice. If you’re lucky, the shit head next to you won’t be texting through the musical numbers.

The story takes a while to get going but ultimately it sucks you in. And the film is just brimming with interesting ideas.

The music was catchy and the lyrics were clever. Too bad the composers didn’t write HAMILTON. They might have won an Oscar for LA LA LAND.

Stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone could not be more charming or adorable.

So all this is leading up to me saying this is a super great movie and should win every award there is, right? Wrong. Because for all of its many attributes there is one small problem.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone can’t sing. They can't sing a lick.

And that’s kind of important since this is a… well, MUSICAL.

They dance well, their acting is always top notch, they have chemistry, Gosling’s piano playing looks very credible (I don’t play the piano so I’m no expert. For all I know he was really just playing “Turkey in the Straw” and they dubbed in the real music.) But their voices are thin, they’re often off-key, and I believe the film really suffers from it. I'd give anything for Simon Cowell to review this movie.

You'd think Hollywood would have learned its lesson with Russell Crowe in LES MISERABLES.

Hey, singing is important in musicals. If you want to be an NFL quarterback you have to be able to throw a football. If you want to be “Miss America” you need to be a woman (although maybe not). There are certain requirements that must be met and for a musical, singing is one of them. Actually, singing is all of them. In the critics’ reviews I’m surprised so few of them noted that. To me it was sorta MAJOR. Superb singers are not hard to find. THE VOICE finds twenty every year.

Great singing can lift a very good entertaining musical to a thrilling event. LA LA LAND was a well-crafted confection but never really transported me.

I just kept thinking – same movie with a young Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway and the film would soar through the ionosphere.

My other thought: I imagine Natalie Wood watching LA LA LAND from the great beyond (they get Academy screeners up there but you go to Hell if you’re caught copying them) and saying, “Fuck! They overdubbed me in WEST SIDE STORY and I sang way better than that bitch!”

No movie this Oscar season has been as highly anticipated. And lots of people (and reviewers) love it. But I was surprised how many people were disappointed. The question is: Do you give it thumbs up because it’s very good or thumbs down because it falls short of greatness? I’m going with thumbs up. Natalie would go thumbs down.

Koreans' Bell-Ringing Ceremony For 2017 In Daegu, South Korea :: Let's Welcome 2017 With Daegu City

To Say Hello To 2017

Korea's Bell-Ringing Ceremony In Daegu

'Flag of Festival' by Wonseon Lee
Award-winning work for 2016 Daegu Tourism Photo Contest

How did you spend your 2016? Probably some were good, and some were bad.

Daegu will hold a bell-ringing ceremony to welcome happy 2017 in New Year's eve at Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park.

Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park

In some Asian country, there are 12 animals which are symbols of each year. 2016's symbol was monkey and 2017's is rooster-especially Red Rooster. If you attend this event, you can see a huge balloon like an egg, get a LED cockscomb hair band.

There will be exciting fireworks and a celebration stage with C Jamm(Korea Hip-hop Singer).

Please be with Daegu for a bell-ringing ceremony and say hello to 2017.

■ Date: From 10:00 pm, December 31 2016

■ Venue: In front of the stage of belfry at Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park in Daegu

■ Slogan: 2017's Hopeful Eco, Shiny citizen, New Daegu!

■ Program

Time	Events
Celebration (22:00~23:55)	·Welcome Event(Wish Egg, LED hair band) ·Performance ·Hip-hop Singer ‘C Jamm’, Media
Bell-Ringing (23:55~00:15)	·Parade ·Bell-ringing ·New Year Interview ·New Year Message
Performance (00:15~00:30)	·Citizen Chorus ·Fireworks

■ Traffic Information

Subway service will be extended on Sunday, January 1, 2017

- Banwoldang Station last departure time 1:15 am

- Myeongdeok Station last departure time 1:30 am

- Sinnam Station last departure time 1:34 am

※Gukchae-bosang ro, and Dongdeok ro will be closed from 11 pm, Sat, Dec 31, 2016 to 1:00 am, Sun, Jan 2017.

■ Address: 670, Gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea

Chinese Restaurant With Delicious Lamb Skewers For 2016 Year End Celebration In Daegu, South Korea

Restaurant For 2016 Year End Celebration In Daegu

칭베이 (Ching-Bae-ii)

Hello Everyone. This is Sangharsh(상가쉬), International Students Supporter of Daegu Travels.
The year 2016 was full of surprises, excitements, adventures yet for some it was not that great, may be a little disappointing year. But nevertheless it's the end of the year and we are all prepared to welcome the new year of 2017. As a matter of fact I have some great Chinese and Korean friends who are studying with me and we all wanted to spend some great time together. We wanted to try out some delicious Lamb Skewers. So we began searching for some good Chinese restaurants. Fortunately we found a very nice restaurant in Daegu which is famous for its Lamb Skewers.

The name of the restaurant was Ching-Bae-ii (칭베이). Even on the signboard you can see the Lamb Skewers(양꼬치) as a main item for which the restaurant is famous.

The restaurant had a clean interior and the staff was very cooperative. Normally you have to do a reservation for the big table. We knew that the place will get crowded around 8pm. So we went to the shop around 6:30pm and found ourselves some good seats.

The glowing logo of the restaurant at the centre was very attractive. The sparkling logo is visible even from the outside of the restaurant. This was one of the reasons which attracted me even before entering the restaurant.

Here are some of my friends – Koreans, Chinese, Srilankan and me (Indian).^^ All of my friends have stayed in Daegu for quite a long time and some were even born and bought up in Daegu. So we all have one thing in common. We all love this city.

The restaurant not only had Lamb Skewers but as you can see they had many other dishes. Though some were expensive but they were worth it. We ordered lot of food but the main attraction was Lamb Skewers.

The Lamb Skewers were served first. They were served raw because we had to cook them ourselves.

We did order some Tsingtao Beers and few bottles of Soju. Well roasted Lamb Skewers taste very good with Beer.

This powder stuff(spices) was also served to us along with the lamb skewers. I didn’t know what it was. When I asked my Korean and Chinese friends, they said that you can use the spice along with the roasted skewers to enhance its taste. It tasted somewhat like Indian curry powder but also had a little peculiar Chinese taste to it.

Some side dishes were also served to us. Roasted Peanuts, Onions and Spiced Cucumber.

Then my friends asked me to add some cumin seeds with the curry powder. They said that this will further enhance the taste but it would depend on if one has a likeness for cumin or not. I did find it enhancing the taste.

This is how we started roasting the Lamb Skewers. It was an auto rotating plate and we did not have to do much effort. It rotated the lamb skewers on its own.

It was definitely a delight to watch. Everyone among our friends were talking turns in putting skewers on the rotating plates.

We could see the smoke coming out of the charcoal and roasting of the Lamb Skewers. One can hear the sizzling sound and exciting process of slow yet steady roasting.

After the roasting process was done, I took one skewer, mixed it with the spice powder and ate it. Trust me, it tasted just awesome. I instantly knew why the restaurant was famous. It was because of the taste of these Lamb Skewers.

We had also ordered some Sweet and Sour Pork (tangsuyuk 탕수육). Many of my friends loved it too.

The Sweet and Sour Pork had very big pieces. So my friends started to cut it into several small pieces using the scissors.

They had these nice inner texture. The sauce spread around the food gave them a greasy yet attractive look.

Though we came to eat Lamb Skewers we also had a taste of other dishes. Apart from these two dishes we had one more dish.

Unfortunately I forgot the name of this dish. But it was really tasty.

Nevertheless I really had a good year end party with my friends. What are you guys planning to do before the end of this year. If you are in Daegu and you want to try the delicious lamb skewers along with some other Chinese dishes then this is the place I would like to suggest to you. Hope you visit the place and have a great time with your family and friends.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017~❤

■ Restaurant Name : 칭베이 (Ching-Bae-ii)
■ Contact : +82-53-957-8070
■ Address : 14, Sangyeok-ro 6-gil, Buk-gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea
(대구 북구 산격로6길 14)

JACKIE -- My review

As readers of this blog know, I was really looking forward to JACKIE. She’s a fascinating public figure, I love anything ‘60s, and I once brushed against her knees. The reviews have been glowing and Natalie Portman (as Jackie Kennedy) is considered the frontrunner for the Best Actress Oscar. What more did I need?

Ultimately, a can of Red Bull.

JACKIE is a meticulous film. And that’s a compliment the same way “he has good posture” is. But let me back up.

First off, you can skip the first five minutes. It’s just vanity production logos. There must be eight of them.

Once the film actually starts, Natalie Portman is amazing. You find yourself totally focused on her performance. The voice, the mannerisms – you’re in Meryl Streep country here. And that holds your interest for three or four minutes. But then you start settling into the narrative and in another three or four minutes you realize “this is slow.” Not just “slow” but “slowwwwwwwwwwwwwww.” The most entertaining part of the movie so far has been the vanity cards.

Not since 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY has there been so many lonnnnnng tracking shots of a character walking through large rooms; the camera on her back as furniture goes by. Director Pablo Larrain must’ve studied Kubrick but copied his worst traits. At times it felt like “Let’s do THE SHINING but with the White House.”

Larrain does pay attention to detail. We see almost moment by moment how Mrs. Kennedy copes with that excruciating weekend when JFK was shot in 1963. But never did I feel really engrossed. Every beat was so mannered, so… meticulous.

I realize part of the problem was the movie just did not meet my expectations. I was anticipating a film about her life, and instead it was primarily centered on the events of that horrific weekend. Having lived through it at the time I didn’t relish revisiting the nightmare… in slow motion. Meanwhile, I wonder if young people who were not alive at the time were able to get the full impact of how unbearable that weekend was from this film. Maybe they did. I don’t know how many of them were even curious enough to see it.

And the music didn’t help. The score consisted essentially of two parts: A four or five note dirge played over and over again, or a three or four note creepy-scary stanza that played over and over when the dirge wasn’t blaring.

The overall package was a cold, distant, “art film.” But many critics were effusive. So it could be that it’s a great movie that I just didn't get. I hated CAROL last year for the same reason.

If I had one takeaway from JACKIE it was how different the country was back then. An entire nation mourned a beloved president, regardless of politics, religions, states, or economic status. At the time we mourned for him. Now I mourn for us.

Tomorrow: My review of LA LA LAND.

Winter Trip To Korea - A Place Where You Can Excitingly Ride A Sleigh And Enjoy Skating 'Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink'

Winter Trip To Korea

Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink

2015 Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink

Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink is a place where you can excitingly ride a sleigh and enjoy skating! The Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink is open again this winter. Shincheon Ice Skating Rink is back in 2016, wider and more pleasant.
If you are planning a trip to Daegu this winter, how about enjoying Daegu’s winter at Shincheon Ice Skating Rink?

2015 Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink

This year, the ice skating rink and traditional sleigh field have been widened. Also, there are more facilities such as nursing room, photo zone, skate rental place, rest area, etc. compared to last year. You can enjoy the ice skating rink at an affordable skate rental fee of 1,000 won.

2015 Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink

The Daegu Shincheon Ice Skating Rink, which will be operational for 52 days until January 30th of next year, is located at Daebong Bridge Downstream Sports Square.

■ Opening : Dec 10, 2016 to Jan 30, 2017

■ Hours : 10am to 8pm (until 9pm on Sat, Sun, Holiday)

■ Location : Daebong Bridge Downstream Sports Square

■ Facility : A Sleigh, Ice Skating

■ Skate Rental Fee : 1,000KRW per hour/ 3,000KRW per day

■ Address : 120-2, Daebong-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea

RIP Carrie Fisher

2016 continues to be the worst year ever. Carrie Fisher died this morning. She was only 60. Carrie was a wonderfully funny person who led a rollercoaster of a life.

For awhile we were email buddies. Her missives were always wickedly funny. She had the world's greatest bullshit detector. And God was she smart.

At some point she stopped answering my emails.   Eventually I just stopped corresponding.

A few years ago she wrote an autobiography and mentioned how the shock treatments she had received to combat depression were a God send.   But there were side effects. One she mentioned was that the treatments erased some memory of people in her life. It's like part of her mental address book was deleted.   Anyway, in the book she apologizes to those she no longer remembers. I was in that group I guess. But losing the relationship was a happy tradeoff for her improving the quality of her life.

Last time I saw her was a few years ago when she was performing a one-woman show.   It was pure Carrie -- honest, insightful, poignant, harrowing, and hilarious. Oh, and she sang!

Carrie will of course always be remembered for STAR WARS, but for years she was an A-list screenplay doctor. You've doubtless loved her work without even knowing it.

Damn! 60 is way too fucking young.

My heart goes out to her mother, daughter, and brother. And to all of us who were lucky enough to know her. She may have forgotten me but I will always remember her.

Is Jerry Lewis a dick?

There has been a lot of internet discussion about this recent interview of Jerry Lewis:

A guy who used to fill 21 hours of live television can’t give more than one word answers?

Jerry has his defenders who point to his body of work, which is indeed extensive and (in many cases) impressive. He has also raised a lot of money for Muscular Dystrophy. I will happily give him all that.

But he is also an insufferable crank. For God sakes, he’s done enough interviews to know what he did was asinine. For a brief time he HOSTED a talk show (very brief -- he was epicly bad). And it’s not his first rodeo. Having been interviewed before THOUSANDS of times I would submit he knows better.

He simply chose to be a prick.

That’s a lot different from someone who is just painfully shy in front of a microphone. I had one of those when I was broadcasting for the Baltimore Orioles.

Remember Harold Baines? Great hitter, outstanding ballplayer. Played mostly for the White Sox and A’s (but also Texas, Cleveland, and ironically, Baltimore). He was a six-time All-Star.

Anyway, he was playing for the A's when I was with the O's and when Oakland came to town I thought he’d be a terrific pre-game show guest. After all, he was from Maryland.

I approached him, he was very gracious, agreed to do the interview (although I could sense he was not wild about the idea). We sat down in the dugout, I turned on the recorder, began the interview, and every answer was one or two words. I usually prepared six or seven questions (for a four minute interview) and rarely got to them all. In this case I went through them in one minute. Oy. It was painful. But it was very clear to me that he was just ill at ease. He wasn’t just fucking with me (as some ballplayers will cheerfully do). I ultimately didn’t use the interview and knew better for the future. But my point is, I never held it against him. Facing a hundred mile an hour fastball wasn’t nearly as intimidating as a gawky nerd announcer with a microphone.

But that’s not Jerry. That’s not “Mr. Showbiz.” He obviously knew better. And for my money, I don’t care who you are, or how famous or important you are, there’s such a thing as simple human kindness and common courtesy. So I don’t care if he’s beloved by the French, or was a comedy God, or at one time was America’s most popular entertainer – when people ask me about Jerry Lewis:

Asshole.

(Hey, I was able to answer in one word.)

ROGUE ONE and ARRIVAL -- my review

I saw ARRIVAL one night and then ROGUE ONE the next so I thought I would review them both together because, well… they’re the exact same movie.

Both are about space and co-star Forest Whitaker.

Yes, there are subtle differences. I’ll try to delineate them without getting confused. One is a slow schmaltzy cerebral film trying only semi-successfully to convey complex concepts and esoteric ideas while the other is a combination war movie/video game. I think ARRIVAL was the former.

Both were at times confusing. And people wore orange space suits.

One starred Jeremy Renner, who had absolutely nothing to do in the film. The other starred Riz Ahmed, who was the kid in THE NIGHT OF, and found himself in prison again. Oh no. Now I’m REALLY confused.

One starred Amy Adams and the other toplined Felicity Jones. One was badass and the other was shot in profile a lot. Both saved the world, but only one will get Oscar consideration. It pays to have a nice nose.

Both films were prequels – one to the original 1977 STAR WARS movie and the other to THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT (which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1962).

Both movies were somewhat derivative. One had elements of CONTACT and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, the other was a highlight reel of all the previous STAR WARS action scenes, three STAR TREK space dogfights, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE LONGEST DAY, KELLY’S HEROES, and THE IRON GIANT.

One difference I was able to detect: ROGUE ONE was the film with a great last hour battle sequence. I know that for sure because of the two, that was the film I was able to stay awake for.

Beyond that, the two films were just a jumble of gobbledygook technical terms, soldiers running with machine guns, mythology, evil emperors, space aliens that looked like Donald Trump, daughters in trouble, CGI effects, scope, and of course, Forest Whitaker.

One aspires to lift the human spirit; the other hopes to knock off MOANA.

STAR WARS movies are always a little problematic for me because of the confusion factor. Another example: One of the STARS WARS chapters featured Natalie Portman. And this year she shows up in JACKIE (which is the exact same movie as the STAR WARS chapter). Pictured left: Here she is in (I believe) JACKIE, but it might be STAR WARS. It's just too close to call.

What’s a filmgoer to do?

But in all seriousness, ROGUE ONE was a fun ride and ARRIVAL was an ambitious Oscar-bait film that didn’t really fulfill its promise. And JACKIE I review Wednesday.

Winter Escape To Korean Hot Springs & Spas #1 :: 'Spa Valley' Hot Springs Resort In Daegu

Winter Escape to Korean Hot Springs & Spas #1

'Spa Valley'

Written by Travel Writer

Eun Young Yoo

Cold winters remind you of warm, hot springs.

Once you take a dip in the hot spring water, it feels as if it melts even your frozen heart. Your skin glows brightly, and your body feels much lighter.

Daegu Travel would like to introduce three best destinations of hot springs in Daegu.

The first hot springs spot is Spa Valley today.

'Spa Valley' Hot Springs Resort

In Korea, we use the expression “this is cool” when we eat hot soup or when we take a dip in hot spring water. We use this expression because it feels as if our body and mind’s fatigue completely spills over once we take a dip in the hot spring water.

Spa Valley, with its hot spring water, is one of the top attractions in Daegu during winter.

An indoor water park is available from the 1st to the 4th floor.

There is a large bath pool, an exciting kids pool, healthy steam room, an oriental outdoor bath, and a hot spring sauna.

Your attention will be captured by the large bath pool located at the Fun-Fun Zone on the 2nd floor. You can swim to your heart’s content and water massage spots are available throughout the pool. Your body will relax once you start swimming in the warm spring water, with your painful shoulder and straining waist relaxing once you get a water massage. There are also several steam rooms, called jjimjilbang, where you can lie down and unwind.

Aqua Play, located on the 4th floor, is a space where both parents and children can enjoy together. It has a wave pool equipped with a circular slide. The side door of Aqua Play leads to the outdoor baths where your body feels warm, whereas the wind on your face is chilling.

Your view of the skies and mountains from afar are just a bonus. Sky Valley boasts of having a hexagonal hot spring water. Hexagonal water is the favorite water of our body cells, and is good for the prevention and treatment of atopy, diabetes, and hypertension. It removes active oxygen and serves as an energizer. It is particularly good for your skin.

The outdoor pool will open on December 24.

The 25-meter large outdoor pool is designed for both children and adults. The oriental outdoor bath is divided according to different body temperaments: those who were born between February and May are for the ‘wood’ bath and those born between November and February are for the ‘water’ bath. You will be able to enjoy herbal baths suitable to your birth month.

Spa Valley, which was the first water park to be opened in Yeongnam area, is already celebrating its 13th anniversary. In addition to the water park Spa Valley, you can enjoy Hotel de for Re, a nature park and forest house. At night, Nature Park turns into a moonlight garden decorated with colorful lights. For seasonal usage hours and rates, kindly refer to our website.

■ Inquiry

• 1330 Travel Hotline : +82-2-1330 (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)

• Spa Valley : 1688-8511

■ Homepage

www.spavalley.co.kr

■ Address

891, Naengcheon-ri, Gachang-myeon, Dalseong-gun, Gachang-ro, Daegu, Republic of Korea