krazy kat's korner

The West Wing: The American Presidency As Television Drama edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor

A mixed bag. I'm probably just dumb, but I found some of the essays too academic in style and requiring background knowledge I don't possess.

And I was going to strangle the next writer who felt the need to tell me the show was unrealistic and real West Wing staff spend most of their time on the phone or doing boring paperwork. Well, duh! It's a television series, which is always hyper-realistic (and I'm probably using the completely wrong term), and that's the same for police/hospital/law/etc tv series. Do you think viewers are going to watch an hour of paperwork and phone calls? I read a quote in the Police News the other day which said that policing was 2 hours of boredom, followed by a couple of minutes of sheer terror, followed by 6 hours of paperwork.

Memo to John Podhoretz: your argument may (though I doubt it) carry more weight if you didn't have several factual mistakes regarding the plot of the pilot episode.

By far the most interesting and informative was the final essay, The Transformed Presidency - People and Power in the Real West Wing, by Myron A. Levine, which looked at how the role of West Wing staff, presidential advisors, cabinet secretaries etc has changed over various Presidencies.


The Last Temptation by Val McDermid

The third novel in the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series, and the first that I hadn't seen a televised version of. I very much like McDermid's writing style, and adore Tony and Carol (so close yet even further apart). A disturbing read (and I fear a favourite of Scientologists).

An article (not sure if you have to login) about Danica McKellar (Wonder Years, West Wing) and her maths background.

For a simple model of magnetism, Professor Chayes thought that they might be able to prove a property that would indicate when the magnetic field would line up in a certain direction.

Professor Chayes tutored the two women for months on the background knowledge they would need. Then the students spent months more, up to 12 hours a day, working on the proof.

"I thought that the two were really, really first rate," Professor Chayes said.

Sometimes, they spent days on an approach before finding an obvious flaw. Other times, they thought they had finished, before Professor Chayes would find an error or oversight. And, finally, Professor Chayes found no more gaps.

A paper with an imposing title - "Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Z²" - appeared in a British mathematical physics journal, and Ms. McKellar presented the findings at a statistical mechanics conference at Rutgers, the only undergraduate to speak.

Today, the proof is known as the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem.

The paper is available for any of the maths geeks among you. I wish I was a maths geek.

For those Aussies particularly spoilerphobic West Wing wise, there's a casting spoiler.

( thoughts )

The SMH finally printed something I sent. And a lot of other West Wing fans complaining too (though I'm not sure what shows some people were watching--as far as I can recall 9 showed WW in order, and they also showed all seasons of B5).

I'm about 1/3 down the page.

My sister posted a rundown on the con here.
And I love the fact that I could talk to my boss about it and she understood the appeal and has been to cons herself (whereas my two young co-workers have never even seen an episode of any Star Trek).

And for the Aussies, West Wing season 5 dvds out June 1. If I'm going to be bothered to get them I'll wait until the US release, so much cheaper.

And the sublime tangleofthorns wrote an absolutely amazing Toby/Andi (no spoilers) for me. Run and read.

I'm so blessed to be surrounded by the most fabulous writers.

Was just reading on Wil Wheaton's blog that Danica McKeller (Wonder Years, Will's sister on West Wing) has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from UCLA, where she co-authored a math proof as an undergrad. And was also the only undergraduate invited to speak at Rutgers University's biannual Statistical Mechanics conference a few years ago.
How very cool.

Go and read my gorgeous smutty CJ/Danny present from my wonderful athena4lynn (season 6 spoilers).

I feel nothing about West Wing being renewed...part of me was hoping for a cancellation. At this moment I couldn't care less if I ever see the rest of 5th or 6th season.
I don't like that the passion is dead. And it's killed the muse too. I haven't written a word in ages and whereas before it used to hurt, it's not hurting now. I just don't care if I ever write another word. And I feel nothing but disdain for everything I've ever written and am very tempted to napalm the slate clean.

An ice cube exploded last night. A little bang, and coke on my face. Was a shock.

Schuyler Grant (Diana Barry in the Anne of Green Gable movies) is the grandniece of Katharine Hepburn (and niece of Katharine Houghton). Looking at her, I can see the resemblance.

Obviously the West Wing viewers are talking about the new ep, but I watched Drought Conditions today and wanted to say a few things.

( season 6 spoilers for the Aussies )