Blitz (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Blitz (2024): Mother evacuates her 9-yr-old son from London during Blitz of WWII. With indomitable will, he seeks to return on his own. As well-crafted as the story is, we've seen it all before. The historically accurate scenes play out one by one to a compromise of an ending. B-

AppleTV+

Monsieur Spade (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Monsieur Spade (TV 2024): Clive Owen plays Sam Spade less as a hard-bitten detective and more as a burnt-out case. He's in retirement in southern France in 1963. The MacGuffin is an Algerian boy who, for various reasons, everyone is interested in kidnapping, and I mean everyone. Way too many parties in this action/thriller. C-

Netflix

Council Recap: 7 Brew Drive-Thru Coffee

Corporate website: "7 Brew is so much more than just a coffee stand." What is the "so much more?" It isn't food. It isn't a sit-down restaurant. It's "service, speed, quality, energy and atmosphere." In other words, it's still a coffee stand, but one that customers allegedly love.

Yet on December 9, 2024, the Richardson City Council denied a request by 7 Brew to build a coffee stand on the south side of East Belt Line Rd between Plano Rd and Glenville Ave. The vote to deny was 5-2, with only Mayor Bob Dubey and Mayor Pro Tem voting to grant the permit. If this were a parliamentary democracy, I might say the leaders have lost the confidence of the body. But it's not a parliamentary system and a vote for a drive-thru is hardly consequential enough to be considered a "vote of no confidence" in the leaders. No need for any resignations, but there's a message there somewhere.

The Veil (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Veil (TV 2024): Elisabeth Moss is an MI6 agent tasked with bringing a woman from a Syrian refugee camp to Paris and learning her secret before a terrorist attack she's behind can happen. Plot is far-fetched but that's not the real story here. It's the relationship between the two women and their back stories that matter. B-

Hulu

Council Recap: Charter Review Commission

On December 2, 2024, the Richardson City Council appointed eleven members to a Charter Review Commission, as required by law every ten years. Details on the 2014 amendments can be read in "Charter Amendments: Vote Yes AND No".

Let's examine the new commission members for 2024.

POTD: Hattusa "Wish Stone"

"Temples in ruins
in the Anatolian sun.
Stone's secret persists."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 10 Hattusha

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the ruins of Hattusa, in central Turkey. Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age (c. 3300 — c. 1200 BCE). The remains of at least thirty-one temples survive at Hattusa. The Green Stone is a roughly cubic block of nephrite standing in the remains of the Great Temple. It is believed to have had some religious use or purpose, but what that may have been is unknown. The local inhabitants call the stone a "wish stone" and attribute to it magical wish-granting properties. It's amazing to me how little information remains of one of the world's largest empires of antiquity. And how people, even today, use magic to explain phenomena they don't understand.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Anitkabir

"Ascend marble steps
To Atatürk's resting place,
Eternal repose."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 09 Ankara

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Anitkabir, the mausoleum complex in Ankara, Turkey, containing the final resting place of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

Bonus photos after the jump.

La Maison (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

La Maison (TV 2024): French. Fashion design house faces existential threats: scandal, succession, and a takeover attempt by a rival. Competition is less on the runway and more in the boardroom and the bedroom. It's soap opera, not prestige drama. C+

AppleTV+

Wicked (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Wicked (2024): Didn't live up to expectations. Last 45 minutes of action, music, and storytelling were great, but first 90 minutes (Shiz University) was more "where is this going?" I buy Elphaba's back story of being discriminated against because she's green, but Glinda as a sheltered and privileged airhead? No way. B-

In theaters

The Penguin (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Penguin (TV 2024): Backstory for the villain who rises from small time mobster to kingpin of organized crime in Gotham City. Lots of action and violence, sure, but what makes this series great is the psychological study of a criminal. Like 2019's Joker. A-

Max