Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Poetry (2010)

IMDB
Poetry (2010): Korean grandmother struggles with poetry as her life falls apart. Quiet desperation with dignity. Moving. With justice. B-













Monday, December 8, 2014

All the Debt We Can Carry

Everyone knows the federal budget deficit is large and getting larger all the time. It's out of control, right? Well, what everyone knows and what's the truth sometimes bear little resemblance to one another. In fact, the federal budget deficit has been plunging in recent years, falling from nearly 10 percent of G.D.P. in 2009 to less than 3 percent in 2014, below the average experienced over the past 40 years. So much for what everyone knows.

Let's bring the discussion closer to home. What about the situation in the City of Richardson? After the jump, a look at what our community owes.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Somm (2012)

IMDB
Somm (2012): Quest to pass the Master Sommelier exam (in Dallas) that almost everyone fails. I'll never make fun of wine tasters again. B-













Thursday, December 4, 2014

OTBR: The Devil's Bread in the Czech Republic

Latitude: N 49° 06.066
Longitude: E 015° 13.356

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Columbia River Gorge

From 2014 11 08 Columbia Gorge

I knew the Columbia was a major river between Oregon and Washington. I knew gorge meant canyon, but probably smaller. That's really all I knew of the Columbia River Gorge. Planning to visit Portland, I Googled it. That turned up some photos, pretty but nothing a must-see. Or so I thought. Then I visited. Seeing the Columbia River Gorge in person is so much better than the pictures. The Historic Columbia River Highway threads through forests and around cliffs and past waterfalls. The 620-foot high Multnomah Falls is spectacular. So, in short, yes, the Columbia River Gorge is a must-see.

More photos after the jump.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Repeat Tweets: Stefani Carter Says Goodbye

Repeat tweets from November, 2014:

  • Nov 2 2014: "I lost my seat, partly because my consultants encouraged me to run for higher office." Stefani Carter, taking ownership for poor decisions.
  • Nov 10 2014: Shouldn't Dallas Morning News say somewhere that Richardson Real Heroes is a product of a political action committee? yourrichardson.dallasnews.com
  • Nov 10 2014: "Are The Concerns About Water Fluoridation Legit?" Short answer: No. fivethirtyeight.com
  • Nov 10 2014: Headline: "The Chicago Bears are dead. The Green Bay Packers killed them." Almost as satisfying as a Super Bowl win. ftw.usatoday.com

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Fort Worth Parade of Lights

From 2014 11 28 Fort Worth Parade of Lights

After enjoying the Fort Worth Water Gardens, we wandered up Main Street to the Tarrant County Courthouse, then back to Sundance Square where we had a sandwich before the parade. We took our seats just as the parade reached our spot on the parade route. The Parade of Lights is a notch above Richardson's Christmas Parade, but not as big a notch as you might expect. It's the lights that create the illusion of a bigger show. My favorite moment was when the lighted and decorated fire truck from Haslet, Texas, went by and someone behind us said, "I didn't even know we had a fire truck." Still, Fort Worth's Parade of Lights is fun to attend as is Richardson's Christmas Parade (Saturday, December 6, 9:00 am, Plano Rd). Now I can check Fort Worth's Parade of Lights off my bucket list and I didn't even know it was on the list in the first place.

More photos after the jump.