News for 2.5.10

• Proof that you should read an article to the very end. I was not very taken with the blue rose until I saw that according to a Chinese folk tale, 'the blue rose signifies hope against unattainable love'. Not that this applies to me at the moment, film and television stars excepting.
• Spy school. Before the current push for Mandarin education, the British were schooling recruits on a language they'd never heard spoken in a place they knew nothing about. Sounds familiar.
• So many things that could have been studied, like the science of gun fights. In which case I might have interviewed Hong Kong filmmakers.
• The Great Atlantic Television Debate continues thanks to The Daily Mail. Yes, I actually read it. They assert that American television trumps all (see Lost, Mad Men, Wire, Sopranos, West Wing...), but I really think they are neglecting simple business principles; you don't import duds. In the States, for every ER, there's a Three Rivers (apologies to Daniel Henney), every Office-like remake hit, a Life on Mars type failure. Easy as pie.
• I won't be watching the Super Duper Bowl this weekend but will be cheering for Scott Fujita. Show your love for this outspoken progressive white dude adopted by a Japanese American father by supporting the Saints. And I can't believe my Rams-loving ass just said that.
• In another bad case of just-discovering-itis, I finally stumbled upon this Johnny Weir character that everyone's been on about, at least in the skating world. I stumbled upon a zexy photo of him in only leggings and a pair of killer stilettos and thought I owed it to his fashion sense to check out his skating. His Poker Face exhibition routine. Purr.