Happy FU Day to New York City and casinos

Warmest regards for Felix Unger Day, this year celebrating New York City, where FU Day and I were born. New York has begun the process of issuing up to three casino licenses for New York City and the downstate area.

Resorts World Catskills hasn’t done much to brighten the Borscht Belt. (Photo credit: Muhammad Cohen)

New York State has a dismal track record on casinos, largely compiled under ousted governor Andrew Cuomo. Issuing three downstate licenses virtually ensures any new NYC casinos won’t be worthy of the greatest city on earth.

And, as Oscar Madison’s secretary Myrna Turner might have told Mistuh Em, “New York City without a casino is like a fish without a bicycle.”

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for ICE365, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

Happy FU Day, today and every day

Greetings for Felix Unger Day, November 13. For Americans, thanks to our elected officials in Washington, now every day is FU Day.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a contributor to Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Happy FU Day! Find your own odd couple

I’m traveling this Felix Unger Day. So you’re on your own to find your own odd couple, tell spaghetti from linguine and reinvent yourself.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

FU Day wisdom from Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler, odd coupled with Asian casinos

Happy Felix Unger Day, November 13. This year’s odd couple is Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler and Asian casinos.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Happy FU Day! Buy Lao casino to celebrate?

Purchasing Laos’ leading casino to mark Felix Unger Day could give you a real odd couple experience.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Happy FU Day to Caesars, Manila

On this year’s Felix Unger Day, salute the odd couple of Caesars Entertainment and the Philippines. Caesars wants to build a casino resort in Manila, but Philippine gaming regulators are about as enthusiastic as Oscar was about taking in Felix.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Happy FU Day!

“On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend Oscar Madison. Several years earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return.

“Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”

That’s the opening from The Odd Couple television series, starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar. Please join me in celebrating this and every November 13th, the date where it all began. The Odd Couple is one of the few works to have succeeded on Broadway (as a wickedly funny Neil Simon stage play originally cast with Art Carney as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar), on film (starring Jack Lemmon and Matthau), and as a weekly TV series. Reruns of the series were a staple of programming on New York’s WPIX-Channel 11 during the 1970s and 1980s (along with The Honeymooners and the original Star Trek). WPIX also used Odd Couple episodes to fill time during rain delays of its New York Yankees telecasts. I’d often root for a thundershower to get a little Felix and Oscar with my hardball.

Beyond celebrating The Odd Couple, what’s the meaning of Felix Unger Day? It has the through-the-looking-glass quality of meaning whatever you want it to mean. For me, it’s about the possibilities and limits of reinventing yourself. TV’s Felix eventually does get over his first wife (at least for a while), he learns to tolerate Oscar (and vice versa), but he’s still Felix: relentlessly neat, obsessively organized, and honking from his allergies. As Oscar says, after he dies, Felix will spend eternity, “Haunting and cleaning, cleaning and haunting.” As I’ve learned in my own journey from New York to Hong Kong and beyond, changing your latitude only gets you so far unless you also change your attitude.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.