POTD: Vanishing Point in the Nile

From 2019 11 21 Kom Ombo and Edfu

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Temple of Kom Ombo on the Nile River in Egypt. The perspective is down a roofless hallway in the 2,100 year-old temple. In the distance, beyond the palm tree, is the Nile River.

WandaVision (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

WandaVision (TV 2021): Mashup of Marvel comics, the Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, and more. At heart is a woman learning to deal with grief. A refreshingly novel superhero movie that takes a while just to figure out it's a superhero movie. Novel, clever and captivating. B+

It's All About Housing

Real Housing Prices: LA vs Dallas

Texans are always comparing the state to California. I know because I live in Texas. I don't know if Californians compare their state to anyone else. One claim Texans always make is about how many Californians are moving to Texas. There's no doubt that the two states are on different trend lines. Texas is set to gain three Congressional seats in the 2020 census. California, for the first time ever, is set to lose one. What's behind this? Texans usually credit the lack of a state income tax or the light regulation on business. Paul Krugman, in his latest newsletter, points to another cause.

POTD: Ancient Temple of Jenga?

From 2019 11 21 Kom Ombo and Edfu

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Temple of Kom Ombo on the Nile River in Egypt. Or maybe it's a giant's game of Jenga, just as it was left as it was being played 2,100 years ago.

Bonus photo after the jump.

This Is a Robbery (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

This Is a Robbery (TV 2021): 4-part doc about $500 million art heist from Boston museum. Biggest problem is lack of resolution, even 30 years on. Lots of repetition. Should have focused less on one robbery and more on inadequacies of museum security and police detective work. C+

Marilyn Frederick Will "Fight Back Against the Radical Left's Agenda"

Marilyn Frederick will "fight back against the radical left's agenda." Those aren't my words. Those are the words from an endorsement that Marilyn Frederick herself posted to her campaign's Facebook page. The quote is from the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Allen West.

Hamilton (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hamilton (2020): Original Broadway production, with a live theatre feel. The mostly black cast uses hip-hop music to teach history. Innovative storytelling that works brilliantly. Every high school American history class should see it. Do Lincoln next, Lin-Manuel Miranda. A+

Based on the Ron Chernow biography, previously reviewed in The Wheel.

POTD: Portrait of an Egyptian Man

From 2019 11 20 Abu Simbel

Today's photo-of-the-day is of an unidentified Egyptian, taken on the ferry from the Temple of Philae on Agilkia Island back to the marina at Aswan.

"Cruelty is the Greater Compassion"

Chico, California, is not Richardson, Texas. But recent events there have a lesson for us here. The story is in The Intercept. In 2018 the Camp Fire burned the neighboring town of Paradise to the ground. Residents of Chico welcomed thousands of evacuees, opening their homes and shelters and turning parks and even a Walmart parking lot into campgrounds, with the Chico residents donating tents and sleeping bags. But...there always has to be a but.

Tenet (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Tenet (2020): Action thriller. Our hero stops WW III by keeping evil arms dealer from getting plutonium, but the threat isn't nuclear war, it's inverted time. Bad guys use, not time travel, but reverse time. Events happen backwards. Maybe it all makes sense, but I doubt it. C+

RPD is Eager to Move On

The Richardson Police Department is eager to move on. Not everyone. The rank and file still have a complaint they want investigated. Let's just say the City Manager, to whom the department reports, wants to move on. From what, you ask? Pull up a chair. This will take a while.

The nominal need to move on is that long-time Police Chief Jim Spivey is retiring at the end of May. So, in a Friday news dump, the City named Assistant Chief Gary Tittle as the new Police Chief effective June 1. But before we get distracted by the new chef, we have some other pots simmering on the stove to deal with.

Single-Member Districts in RISD are a Winner

The recent election for two Richardson ISD trustees completes the transition to a new election system that consists of five single-member districts and two at-large places. Or rather, the run-off election June 5 for the at-large Place 7 will complete the transition. And if there's anything that demonstrates the need for single-member districts it's the voting map for that at-large Place 7 election.

Dallas County Elections

Exterminate All the Brutes (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Exterminate All the Brutes (TV 2021): 1,000 years of genocide, colonialism, slavery, extermination of indigenous peoples, and, yes, the Holocaust, told as a personal narrative by Raoul Peck. Sure to drive MAGA crowd crazy, but there's a lot of history that cannot be defended. B-

POTD: Trajan's Kiosk

From 2019 11 20 Abu Simbel

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Trajan's Kiosk on the island of Agilkia on the Nile River in southern Egypt. Its history is convoluted, as is much ancient history. It's attributed to the Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE) because of his appearance on some reliefs, but the building is believed to be even older. It was built elsewhere, on the island of Philae, and served as the entrance to the Temple of Philae, which is nearby. The whole complex was moved to its current site to escape rising waters in the Nile River due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. Even if history is not your thing, it's a beautiful work of architecture in any case.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021): Girl leaves for film school, glad to be away from embarrassing dad. On the way the family is attacked by army of robots. Lots of noise and violence, but it's robots getting blasted so I guess it's OK. Zero dead family, so happy ending. C-

Reaction to Local Elections

The City of Richardson's City Council elections are over (except for the run-offs). The Richardson ISD school board elections are over (except for the run-offs). The RISD bond approval elections are over. Some of the elections were over early in the evening. Some dragged late into the night. Some went as expected. Some offered surprises. After the jump, my verbose reactions to all of them.

Random Thoughts: Close to the End of the Pandemic

Tweets from April, 2021:

• 2021-04-02: Using my metric, "we're getting close to the end of the pandemic." (link)
• 2021-04-02: The Father (2020): Woman deals with her aging father. Characters come and go, scenes repeat, each time slightly differently, until you aren't sure if you are seeing reality or the world through the father's dementia. Deserved Oscar noms for Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins. B+
• 2021-04-02: It seems only right. Georgians are taking the state back to a time when baseball didn't yet exist.
• 2021-04-03: Now 65+, another step closer to the end of the pandemic, by my metric. (link)
• 2021-04-03: Great quote about Richardson Pearce's Drew Timme:

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017): Drama of life of Einstein, emphasizing his family, including his two wives and many affairs (for a genius, he was dumb in love). His science gets shorted. So too his political run-ins with both Nazis and the FBI. Too much material for one series. B-

#VeryTardyReview

TIL: "A Nation of Immigrants"

"A Nation of Immigrants." What country am I talking about? The United States, right? It's what I learned growing up in the 1950s. That, and the myth of the melting pot. I learned about how the English and the Irish and the Germans (like my grandfather in 1892) and the Italians all came to the United States in different waves of immigration, where they all learned English and intermarried and melted into one glorious people and nation. E Pluribus Unum and all that. But there was always a nagging problem for young me. The story didn't include the Chinese or the Negroes. Young me puzzled over such things, but I didn't find the answers in the patriotic school books. Now, decades later, I have to admit defeat on the melting pot myth. I have come to question the "nation of immigrants" myth altogether.

POTD: Saigon, Ahead of the World

From 2015 03 21 Saigon

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the streets of Saigon. There are motorbikes. Lots of motorbikes. Lots. Lots. Lots. Almost everyone on a motorbike wears a helmet. They also wear masks. But not for COVID-19, or at least not originally for that. Because this photo is a rerun of a POTD from 2015. Facemasks were everywhere even before the world had ever heard of COVID-19. When we visited in 2015, our assumption was that the motorcyclists were trying to keep from breathing exhaust fumes in the polluted air of the city. Maybe the habit of wearing facemasks had a beneficial side effect. Vietnam kept coronavirus deaths to just 35, and grew its economy in 2020.

POTD: Somewhere in Richardson

You tell me where.

Another Round (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Another Round (2020): Denmark. Four drinking buddies decide to test a theory that human performance is maximized with a constant blood alcohol content of 0.05%. The movie isn't about the test, or even alcohol, but the mid-life crisis that leads to it all. It's complicated. B+

United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

United States vs. Billie Holiday (2020): A black singer is persecuted by the law. America has too many similar stories. She's also a victim of drug use, greedy friends, and her own personality. Andra Day deserves her Oscar nom as the mixed-up, messed up, electrifying Billie. B+

The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures

The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, April 25, 2021. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right?

2020 was a strange year for movies. More movies were released by streaming services this year compared to past years. Some so-called major releases were postponed until 2021. All that resulted in, in my opinion, a decent selection of Oscar candidates, but inferior to the selections of previous years. If I expanded the field of nominees, I would include two or three movies that I considered snubs.

My ranking of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my considered judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win, but which I would vote for, had I a vote.

The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...

Richardson Police Officer Reveals Ticket Quotas

The open mike at Richardson City Council meetings is usually uneventful, but Monday night's Visitors Section was different. A 13-year veteran of the Richardson Police charged supervisors in the department of illegally using quotas to evaluate and discipline officers. "Illegally" was her word, not mine.

POTD: Camel Pants

From 2019 11 20 Abu Simbel

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Temple of Philae in Aswan, Egypt. It shows a well-dressed tourist wearing "camel pants" (Egypt's version of "elephant pants"), the perfect choice for a hot dry climate like Egypt's.

Soul (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Soul (2020): Music teacher dies as he gets a big career break. After experience with the Great Beyond and Great Before, he gets a 2nd chance at life. A novel look at cosmic life and death. Good music (not enough of it). Somehow the whole has no spark. Will young kids get it? C+