Mucho Mucho Amor (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Mucho Mucho Amor (2020): Documentary of Walter Mercado, a flamboyant TV astrologer/fortune teller/motivational speaker from Puerto Rico. Think Liberace. Or Tiny Tim. If you're a fan, you might love this; if you've never heard of him, you'll be shaking your head in wonder. C+

POTD: Pigeon Towers of Cairo

From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cairo, Egypt. It shows a pigeon tower. "Perched on rooftops across Cairo, like water tanks on elevated platforms, are rickety wooden cages where Cairenes keep their pigeons." It's a thing. If you're ever in Cairo, look up.

Comet NEOWISE...and Saturn

We went out Saturday night to see Comet NEOWISE. According to Space.com, the comet "is delighting skywatchers around the Northern Hemisphere." I'm here to say, "delighting" is an overstatement. At least if you are in a city. Even on a clear night, in a location with no nearby lights, there's enough ambient light pollution to make it hard to do much star-gazing of any kind. Because the comet was low on the horizon, that ambient light pollution is even more of a problem. From Richardson, Plano is kind of bright. And Comet NEOWISE was hanging low over Plano.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Rotten Tomatoes

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): Classic Western. Lots of desolate scenery, haunting music, stoic staring. Plot stripped down to essentials. Product of its times. Macho showdown between Hollywood tough guys, with an Italian femme fatale. Sexist with a touch of racism. B+

#VeryTardyReview

Closed Mic in Richardson

Richardson City Council meetings used to feature a "Visitors" section of the agenda. Members of the public were allowed to address the City Council on any topic. Each visitor was given five minutes at an "open mic." The City Council seems to have used COVID-19 as an excuse to do away with the "open mic" portion of meetings.

POTD: Hanging Church

From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cairo, Egypt. It's a photo of what's best known as the "Hanging Church" in that it was built above a gatehouse of the much older Babylon Fortress. As near as I can figure out, the Babylon Fortress was built about 100 CE and the Hanging Church about 500 years later. I'm guessing Nile River floods filled in the area in that time and the church was originally built at its era's ground level. Sometime in the last 1,400 years, the fortress was excavated and stairs had to be built to reach the now "hanging" church. If so, it isn't the only such architectural oddity we saw in Egypt.

Bonus photos after the jump.

The Old Guard (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Old Guard (2020): Ancient gang of immortals, led by world-weary Charlize Theron, are hunted by evil Big Pharma CEO intent on learning their secret to immortality. Actually a better movie than that synopsis might suggest. How much of a burden would immortality be anyway? B-

Best quote: Are they good guys? Bad guys? "Depends on the century," says Joe.

Defund the Police?

Joe Gamaldi, Houston Police Officers Union President and National FOP VP, posted on Facebook some data from a Pew Research Center survey. Gamaldi's post was shared by the Richardson Police Officers' Association FOP Lodge 105. That's where I saw it.

First, a summary of the Pew data. 42% of Americans favor keeping spending on policing about the same. 31% favor increasing spending by a little or a lot. 25% favor decreasing spending by a little or a lot.

Review: Trust Exercise

From Trust Exercise, by Susan Choi:

All fall and spring of the previous year they lived with exclusive reference to each other, and were viewed as an unspoken duo by everyone else. Little remarked, universally felt, this taut, even dangerous energy running between them."
	Amazon

Trust Exercise: A coming-of-age tale of a volatile relationship, made more electric by a charismatic drama teacher. Then a shift in time and narrator throws everything into question. A brilliantly constructed story of the weaknesses of memory. B+

The Pandemic Next Time

It's time to worry about the next pandemic. What? Too soon? I don't think so. Ebola, HIV, SARS, H5N1 "bird flu," MERS, COVID-19. It's not like we don't know another pandemic is coming. The fact that we escaped the worst with each of these recent diseases, doesn't mean we always will. We've been lucky, even with COVID-19, which, even though the US has suffered 133,000 deaths and counting, turns out not to be the extinction-level pandemic it might have been. The "big one" is still coming. It's not a matter of if, only when. It's time to consider the pandemic next time.

POTD: Babylon Fortress in Cairo

From 2019 11 18 Old Cairo

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cairo, Egypt. We've moved on from ancient Cairo and those pyramids from 4,500 years ago and into modern times, if you consider 2,000 years ago to be modern. That's the gobsmacking thing about visiting Egypt. Its history stretches back so far that it's hard to reckon with.

The original Babylon Fortress was built in the 6th Century BCE. This photo, though, is of a slightly later version of the fortress, attributed to the time of Roman Emperor Trajan (ruled 98-117 CE). He rebuilt the fortress at its present location because the Nile River itself had shifted course. Even in its present location, it's still about 300 meters from today's course of the Nile. Its foundation is about 15 meters below street level. Wait long enough and everything changes.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Getting the Facts Right but the Guidance Wrong

The CDC originally did not recommend face masks because they knew viruses are small enough to get through all but medical grade masks. They didn't want a run on face masks, especially medical grade masks, which were in desperate need in hospitals. They didn't want people to think they were invulnerable wearing non-medical-grade face masks. By April 4, CDC realized they had the facts right but the guidance wrong. So they changed the guidance. Stay home, but if you really have to go out, wear a face mask. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing. If everyone who has to go out wears a face mask while doing so, we can cut transmission of coronavirus and save lives. That's still pretty much the guidance today, three months later.

The Witch: Part 1. Subversion (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Witch: Subversion (2018): Korean. Confusing title, great movie. Has feel of "Kill Bill" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Girl has magic inside, and maybe evil. What drives her? Survival, revenge, or love of family? Whatever, she's a girl to be reckoned with. B+

This was made in 2018, but not released in the US until 2020.

Term Limits for Heroes

Statue of George Washington in Smithsonian Museum

Statues of Confederate heroes* are coming down all over America. So are statues of Christopher Columbus and conquistadors. Not even the slaveholders George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have escaped notice. There are passionate voices on both sides. I have a simple solution that takes the passion out of the equation, now and forever after.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020): Musical comedy about Iceland's entry in European contest. More musical and better comedy please. Like a too long SNL sketch. Will Ferrell is miscast. Too old. The accents grate. The movie laughs at Iceland, not with it. C+

POTD: Continuing Education in Egypt

From 2019 11 17 Ancient Cairo

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Oriental Carpet School near the step pyramid of Saqqara outside modern Cairo.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Europe Erects Wall to Keep Out Americans

According to The New York Times, "E.U. Formalizes Reopening, Barring Travelers From U.S. The bloc will allow visitors from 15 countries, but the United States, Brazil and Russia were among the notable absences from the safe list."

It's fitting in more ways than the obvious one.

Random Thoughts: I Never Had a Black Teacher

Tweets from June, 2020:

• 2020-06-01: Wow. I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember *ever* having a black teacher. And being blithely unaware of that fact until just now. :-(
• 2020-06-01: Irony. Many of the 2A crowd who insist on arming themselves to defend liberty from government oppression are now calling on that same government to impose martial law to put down protests against the government.
• 2020-06-01: I admit, when Trump was elected, I feared he would start a war, but I never would have guessed the war would be against American citizens in our own country.
• 2020-06-01: Trump is still pissed he didn't get his military parade in Washington, DC.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Living in Exhilarating Times

2020 will go down in history as a pivotal time in American history, along with 1968, 1929, 1860, and 1776. The year has already seen a presidential impeachment, the coronavirus pandemic, economic collapse, and widespread demands for racial justice. All that in just the first half of the year. Still to come is a presidential election that will determine whether our nation survives as a democratic republic. We are witnessing history.

Hail, Caesar (2016)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hail, Caesar (2016): Farce about a 1950s Hollywood problem fixer. The Coen Brothers' homage to Ben Hur, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Gene Autry, and more. Add subplots with Hedda Hopper and Communist screenwriters, and the whole is a game of spot-the-references. B-

#TardyReview

LBJ's Civil Rights Grade

President Lyndon Johnson was responsible for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thus doing more for civil rights in this country than any President since Abraham Lincoln. Still, the country erupted in violent protests against police brutality in the summers of 1967 and 1968. What went wrong? Maybe it was the unrealistic expectations that racism could be solved with a stroke of a pen. LBJ understood that progress is made in fits and starts.

Review: The Nickel Boys

From The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead:

The discovery of the bodies was an expensive complication for the real estate company awaiting the all clear from the environmental study, and for the state’s attorney, which had recently closed an investigation into the abuse stories. Now they had to start a new inquiry, establish the identities of the deceased and the manner of death, and there was no telling when the whole damned place could be razed, cleared, and neatly erased from history, which everyone agreed was long overdue."

Amazon

The story of one of the victims of a 1960s Jim Crow reform school for boys. Fiction based on a real school in Florida. Story arc is depressingly predictable but offers some surprises. A timely contribution to today's Black Lives Matter movement.

Richardson Police Policies

In response to attention placed on local police nationwide since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Richardson Police Department (RPD) Chief Jim Spivey was asked to brief the Richardson City Council on the department's policies, training practices, community engagement, and transparency initiatives. The briefing took almost two and a half hours. Here are my takeaways.

Space Force (TV 2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Space Force (TV 2020): Think Get Smart but with fewer laughs and even less bite. Not even "POTUS" will be offended. Steve Carell plays, well, Maxwell Smart. Or Michael Scott. Lisa Kudrow is wasted in a subplot that makes no sense. John Malkovich tries but can't save this. C-

Les Misérables (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Les Misérables (2019): French. Abusive cops patrol a Paris housing complex full of racial and class anger ready to boil. Theft of a lion cub sets it off. Audience learns the ropes through the eyes of the new cop on the team. Plot-driven, not character-driven, but what a plot. A-

What Not to Say

Last week, I pointed to a statement by Richardson Chamber of Commerce CEO Bill Sproull as an example of what to say in response to all the tragedies experienced by our country in the last days and months. He used plain language. He was direct. He named the problem. Today, I want to highlight a statement by someone else that exemplifies the things not to say.

Book Review: Brief Answers to the Big Questions

From Brief Answers to the Big Questions, by Stephen Hawking:

The obvious next step would be to combine general relativity—the theory of the very large—with quantum theory—the theory of the very small. In particular, I wondered, can one have atoms in which the nucleus is a tiny primordial black hole."
	Amazon

Don't have time to learn quantum mechanics? Read this instead. It's short. Accessible. Still deep. Stephen Hawking talks about the beginning and end of the universe, life, artificial intelligence, time travel, space colonization, and more. A-