RIP Geri Allen

I've just learned that the amazing jazz pianist Geri Allen has passed away. I have enjoyed her performances for decades. For those not familiar with her music, just listen to her album "Life of a Song" and you will understand how talented she was.

It's a very sad day for all jazz lovers.

Superhero comics as a reflection of social movements

I watched a documentary aired on the History Channel called "Superhero decoded." At a first glance it was kinda like a promotion for the new Wonder Woman movie! However, I actually learned quite a few surprising facts from it. For example, I have no idea that Stan Lee created the X-Men as a reaction to the African American Civil Right movement! The message was that American shouldn't look down on others because they were different. He also joked that he was lazy to come up with backstories for each Superhero how they acquired the superpower so they were all just born with it :) And the peace-loving Professor X (Charles Xavier) and the aggressive Magneto also represented two schools of thoughts from the two African American leaders: MLK Jr and Malcolm X. Still, the first Marvel black superhero were created a bit latter. That would be the Black panther, a prince from a fictional African country. Then the first African American superhero appeared: Falcon, who was the crime-fighting partner of Captain America.
Back to Wonder woman: She was first created around the WWII as a warrior with superpower from the Amazon. However, as the American society became more conservative, her role also changed in that direction: renouncing her power in order to get a boyfriend! The demand for equal rights by another social group, the women, was reflected in the transformation of Wonder woman, who was once again the mighty hero who beat up bad guys. They showed a few clips of the TV show starring Lynda Carter. She was great in that role. Also reminded me of the childhood days when it was aired on Hong Kong TV.
Another surprising fact for me was that Iron man was created during the Cold war era. Tony Stark was a weapon manufacturer making big bucks but was injured and captured by the enemy and ended up creating the Ironman suit to save himself. The story was "refitted" for the war in Afghanistan after 911, which drew a lot of comparison to the Vietnam war: heavy casualties of US soldiers overseas evoked antiwar sentiment.
Yeah, maybe comic books could be used as supplementary textbooks for Social Studies!

Ferko lawsuit

繼上次寫過馬場風雲，今次又寫寫賽車場風雲。美國NASCAR房車賽每年巡迴全國舉行很多場賽事，某些和NASCAR淵緣深厚的賽車場如Daytona, Talladega, Dover Monster Mile，一年必有兩場賽事，其餘的只得每年一場，多年前曾有人因此興訟，結果卻實在令我驚訝，講的是這一單：德州居民Ferko（也是德州賽車場的小小股東，但和管理層無關）以反壟斷法控告NASCAR未有為該場每年安排兩場賽事，勝訴後的一年他如願以償；但對他生活卻帶來重重打擊：首先他工作的食品安全公司認為他成為新聞人物影響團隊而解僱了他，他在外州找到工作搬離德州，其後他留在德州育有一子的廿歲兒子自殺身亡，Ferko覺得如果他還留在德州的話可能可以阻止悲劇發生，最後他太太因為爭取孫兒撫養權失敗和他離婚；種種不幸可以說是源於該次訴訟，只能歎一句命運弄人吧。