Fort Worth Water Gardens in Autumn

From 2014 11 28 Fort Worth Water Gardens

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday for some. For us, on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Fort Worth to see the annual Parade of Lights. To beat the last minute traffic and parking jams, we arrived in plenty of time to stroll around downtown, starting with Philip Johnson's Fort Worth Water Gardens. It's been years since we were there. It's still impressive. I still think of it as the futuristic city in the science fiction film Logan's Run, which was filmed there in 1975.

More photos after the jump.

Now is Good (2012)

IMDB

Now is Good (2012): Girl with cancer and a bucket list touches lives despite her hard exterior. Formulaic. Checks every tear-jerker box. C+

Review: The Worst Hard Time

Amazon

From The Worst Hard Time, by Adam Johnson:

Ike Osteen's life spans the flu epidemic of 1918, the worst depression in American history, and a world war that ripped apart the globe. Nothing compares to the black dusters of the 1930s, he says, a time when the simplest thing in life -- taking a breath -- was a threat."

After the jump, my review.

High School Basketball Tips Off

From 2014 11 25 Coppell vs Berkner

Now that the last notes of Gridiron Echoes have faded away, it's time for basketball. The Berkner Rams boys basketball team has a growing reputation to live up to. Last season, they had an overall record of 24-8, were District 9-5A co-champions and had a deep run in the state tournament. There were about 250 Class 5A schools in Texas in 2013-2014. Berkner made it to the final sixteen. Sweet!

Now it's a new season, a new district, a new roster, and new challenges. After the jump, the Berkner Rams take on the Coppell Cowboys in a non-district game.

Burt's Buzz (2013)

IMDB

Burt's Buzz (2013): Man behind the lip balm. Unambitious man lives alone in the woods. Icon not tycoon. Movie never gets below surface. C+

Eastside Gives Up on Mixed-Use

Eastside Gives Up on Mixed-Use. That's not what Steve Brown says, but it would be an accurate headline for his story in The Dallas Morning News, despite his own characterization of plans at Eastside as "mixed-use":

Developers in Richardson have disclosed details of the first phase of a prominent new mixed-use development on North Central Expressway.
The planned apartment and office project is part of the Eastside development located near the southeast corner of North Central and Campbell Road.

Source: The Dallas Morning News.

After the jump, why the Eastside expansion is not mixed-use.

Oregon Coast

From 2014 11 07 Oregon Coast

Last summer, we visited the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers north of St. Louis, where Lewis and Clark camped the winter before setting off with the Corps of Discovery through the American northwest. This fall, we visited Astoria, Oregon, and the Oregon coast, where Lewis and Clark reached their goal and they camped the winter before making the long journey back east. We didn't follow Lewis and Clark's route up the Missouri. We flew to Oregon, a luxury Lewis and Clark couldn't even imagine. It was affecting to stand at the beginning and end of their epic journey.

More photos after the jump.