BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

BlacKkKlansman (2018): Undercover cops infiltrate Klan in 1970s. A broad satiric look at America's dark history, but Spike Lee slips in a word or scene now and then to show he's more interested in today than the 1970s. And he connects with a gut punch by the end. B+

POTD: Hosier Lane

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Specifically, Hosier Lane, one of the lanes and arcades of central Melbourne that make it such a fun city to walk. "The graffiti-covered walls and art-installations have become a popular backdrop for fashion and wedding photography."

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Melbourne's Lanes and Arcades

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Centre Place

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Specifically, one of the many lanes and arcades that make the central business district so walkable.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Queen Victoria Market

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Specifically, the Queen Victoria Market, the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. It has been operating since the 1860s.

POTD: The Americans in Moscow

Spoiler alert: if you haven't seen the series finale of the television series "The Americans" you might want to stop reading here. Spoiler follows.

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Moscow, Russia, and was taken on Sparrow Hills, "a hill on the right bank of the Moskva River and one of the highest points in Moscow." But that's not what makes this photo special. Sparrow Hills is the place where the final scene of "The Americans" was set. Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings had returned to the USSR in 1987 after two decades working as undercover spies in the USA. Upon arriving in Moscow, Sparrow Hills is where they asked their driver to stop so they could get out of the car and gaze over the city they had left long ago. Ellen stands where viewers last saw Phillip and Elizabeth stand in 1987.

A screen shot from the series' final scene follows the jump.

POTD: Puffing Billy

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Belgrave Station of the Puffing Billy Railway, a narrow gauge heritage railway running through the hills and forests of the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne, Australia.

Wonder Wheel (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Wonder Wheel (2017): Coney Island in 1950s. Love triangle. Looks and reads like a stage play, down to saturated stage lights. Usually Woody Allen plays a lovable neurotic. Here it's a woman and she's not lovable, just pathetic. Best line: "Oh, God, spare me the bad drama." C-

POTD: Sherbrooke Forest

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Sherbrooke Forest, a nature preserve in the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne, Australia, and home to the Eucalyptus Regnans, also known as mountain ash, the tallest flowering plant in the world, and one of the tallest trees, second only to the Sequoia, or California redwood. It's one of the reasons the Dandenongs are one of my favorite spots in Australia.

Ekaterina (TV)

IMDB

Ekaterina (TV): 2014 Russian TV series on rise of Catherine the Great. Straightforward melodrama. Easy introduction to Ivan VI, Elizabeth, and Catherine and Peter III, St Petersburg's palaces and 18th century palace intrigues. Perfect preparation for a Russian vacation. C+

POTD: William Ricketts Sanctuary

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the William Ricketts Sanctuary in the Victorian Dandenong Ranges in Australia. There, on a peaceful hillside nestled among towering mountain ash, from 1934 until his death in 1993, sculptor William Ricketts fashioned 92 ceramic sculptures of native fauna and flora, Aborigines and himself. Ricketts was an eccentric and a narcissist. He was an environmentalist with a New-Age spiritual attitude towards nature. He often shows himself as an Aborigine in his sculptures and in one case shows his own torso growing out of a kangaroo's hindquarters. In the 1930s, his was one of the few voices celebrating Aboriginal culture in Australia. He was ahead of his time, but today, his treatment of Aboriginal culture as primitive and childlike is considered as much condescending as ennobling. In any case, his heart was in the right place and his sanctuary remains a treasured retreat from the hustle and bustle of nearby Melbourne.

Review: Embassytown

Amazon

From Embassytown, by China Miéville:

Hosts, the indigenes, in whose city we had been graciously allowed to build Embassytown, were cool, incomprehensible presences. Powers like subaltern gods, which sometimes watched us as if we were interesting, curious dust; which provided our biorigging; and to which the Ambassadors alone spoke."

Embassytown is classic science fiction with something to say about Earth by imagining what language, consciousness, communication and colonization might be like at the edge of the universe.

POTD: Sculling on the Yarra

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Yarra River in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia, where they have been sculling for at least 100 years.

POTD: The Yarra River

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

The "old" North Bank CBD

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Australia. It shows the Yarra River at night. When I lived in Melbourne over forty years ago, the Yarra River was an industrial blight, flowing between rail lines on one bank and factories and warehouses on the other. Today, the Yarra River is the center of Melbourne entertainment and dining. The warehouses are all gone, replaced by a convention center, a casino, condos, offices, and restaurants all along the river through the central business district. By far, this change is the most noticeable difference from the Melbourne I remember from my time living there in the 1970s.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Tig Notaro: Happy to Be Here (2018): Netflix standup routine, again based on stories from her life, but this time small, everyday pleasures: her kitten, her wife, her adopted twins, her life. It's time for a smile. Tig brings it. B+

POTD: The Colonial Tramcar Restaurant

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne has the world's largest tram network, including some classic old cars converted into rolling restaurants. There's no better way to see Melbourne than while dining in a moving streetcar with vintage decor.

Bonus photos after the jump.

POTD: Deer Park High School

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Deer Park High School in Melbourne, Australia. In yesterday's photo of the day, I mentioned that I might have ridden one of Dallas's McKinney Avenue trolleys when it was still rolling the streets of Melbourne long ago. Today's photo explains what I was doing in Melbourne way back then: teaching high school maths in Deer Park High School. This year, on my first return trip in over forty years, I revisited the school. As expected, no one I knew then is still at the school. The last teacher I served with retired only a couple of years ago. Still, good memories.

POTD: Tram Down Under

From 2018 03 15 Melbourne

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Appropriately for the land Down Under, it's a photo of a classic tram car emerging from the ground as if it's coming from the land up top. Maybe it's an homage to Amarillo's Cadillac Ranch from a city that values mass transit over gas guzzlers.

POTD: Whales!

From 2018 01 31 Cabo San Lucas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In winter each year Humpback Whales and Gray Whales migrate south to the warm waters off Baja California where they cavort for tourists like us.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Eighth Grade (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Eighth Grade (2018): I'm not a 13 yr old girl. Not even 13, but if memory serves, this movie is spot on with early teen life today. Story arc is flat. Don't expect blossoming or downfall. All the best scenes are in the trailer. Acting is excellent, especially Elsie Fisher. C+

Set It Up (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Set It Up (2018): Two executive assistants with overbearing bosses play matchmaker for them and end up falling for each other. Because of course they do. Plays like a 90 minute pilot for a rejected TV sit-com. Stereotypical. Formulaic. Cast is OK, script is not. C-

Review: Warlight: A Novel

Amazon

From Warlight: A Novel, by Michael Ondaatje:

In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals."

Great novels have great opening lines. They draw the reader in from the very first sentence. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje is no exception.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018): Much better stunts than script. The mission is to recover stolen plutonium. The "plan" constantly goes wrong and needs improvisation: car chases, fist fights, shootouts and everybody changing sides. Tom Cruise shows his age. C-

Repeat Tweets: Collins Won't Back Court Pick...

Repeat tweets from July, 2018:

• Jul 1 2018: Headline: "Collins Won’t Back Court Pick Who Overturns Roe v. Wade."
  This would only preclude a nominee who is on the public record calling for overturning Roe. So, we'll get a nominee who refuses to say definitively but is all but certain to overturn. And Collins will vote to confirm.
• Jul 1 2018: Goliath: Season 2 (TV): Plot is a mess. Villain is absurd. Why some people are killed and not others makes no sense. But the characters, especially Billy and Patty, are strong and unforgettable. Patty's speech to her FBI agent date is series' highlight. I'd watch a Season 3. B-
• Jul 2 2018: "Unfortunately civility was forcibly rebranded as "political correctness" and then taken out to the pasture and shot." -- Paul Michael Hodgson
• Jul 2 2018: Headline: "Plano's $3 billion Legacy West is getting its own CVS store."
  When you can't decide if it's Steve Brown in "The Dallas Morning News" or "The Onion", bet on Steve Brown.
• Jul 2 2018: Besides @marklamster's nit about the Maverick's logo ("when was the last time you saw a horse in downtown Dallas?") there's the nit that a Maverick isn't a horse in the first place.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

POTD: Cabo's Playa del Amor

From 2018 01 31 Cabo San Lucas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It shows Playa del Amor, a beach accessible from both sides of the Land's End peninsula at the very tippy tip of Baja California via a narrow gap in the rocks.

Bonus photos after the jump.

The Americans (TV)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Americans (TV): The series that asks if US audiences can empathize with Russian spies. Answer: yes. Spoilers from finale: Philip and Elizabeth can't run from emotional consequences. Everyone ends up in a bad place. No one's happy, except maybe McDonalds. A-

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018): Netflix standup special in which this Australian explains how comedy works (tension and release) and why that doesn't work for her anymore (her life story is one of unreleased tension). Raw, powerful, and yes, very funny. Straight dudes beware! A-

An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Election

The New York Times has published an extremely detailed map of the 2016 presidential election that will keep mapping nerds and political junkies happily clicking away for hours. So go ahead. Click away. When you come back, I'll offer my own quick observations, some confirming my priors, some surprising me.

POTD: Masterpiece, Framed

From 2018 01 31 Cabo San Lucas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018): Round two of fun and romance in the Greek Isles. Over the top from the first song and dance number, with over the top costumes to match. Full of energy and joy and unabashed respect for all the old ABBA hits, it never lets up. A-

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Three Identical Strangers (2018): Documentary of triplets separated at birth. When they discover each other at age 19, they compare looks, likes, personalities, etc. But when they try to understand why they were separated at birth, that's when the real story begins. A-

The Delphi Method Bogeyman, Again

The City of Richardson or the Richardson ISD periodically seek public input on an issue. Often it's by means of a public hearing on a proposal already on the table. You know the routine, an open mic where individuals give their opinions, pro and con. But sometimes, usually early in the process, other types of meetings are arranged, where organized group discussions take place, maybe some kind of voting happens, and a sense of the community is determined, or not. Sometimes the community is split and these meetings reveal there is no consensus. That's good to know as well. In any case, different formats for public input are useful at different times. Or at least you'd think. Not everyone agrees.

Sister Act at RCT

Repertory Company Theatre

Sister Act (RCT): If you liked the Whoopi Goldberg movie, you won't be disappointed. And if you haven't seen the movie, what are you waiting for? Infectious fun from the lead to the chorus(es) -- nuns and crooks. Support local theatre in Richardson.

Review: Alexander Hamilton

Amazon

From Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow:

He was the messenger from a future that we now inhabit. We have left behind the rosy agrarian rhetoric and slaveholding reality of Jeffersonian democracy and reside in the bustling world of trade, industry, stock markets, and banks that Hamilton envisioned."

You want to see the Broadway hit hip-hop musical. First, read the bestselling 2004 biography that inspired it. Alexander Hamilton was the most fascinating of our nation's Founding Fathers, having risen from humble beginnings in the West Indies to somehow be at the center of every significant event from the Revolutionary War to the Constitutional Convention to laying the shaky young nation's economic foundation as first Treasury Secretary. And, he also fought duels.

POTD: Of Vacation Homes and Yachts

From 2018 01 31 Cabo San Lucas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the vacation homes hang precariously on the hillside and the yachts rock gently in the harbor. It all has kind of an artificial feel to it, a manufactured paradise. Or maybe the ennui is just that I know this is the last port of call on a long, great cruise.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Breathe (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Breathe (2017): True story. A beautiful young couple has everything going. Then polio strikes. Then they piece their lives back together. An earnest love story, earnestly told, by the numbers. Nothing fresh here. Still I feel bad for not loving this movie. C+

Live Tweeting the Budget Retreat

The City of Richardson is holding its annual budget retreat to provide preliminary budget planning information to the city council. It's all tentative. It's all preliminary. It's all subject to change. Nevertheless, it's more likely than not to reflect the budget that's finally filed on August 10, 2018 and approved after a subsequent public hearing. My notes from the budget retreat are presented as captured in my tweets from Monday night made during the meeting. (No review. No fact-checking. No filter. What I got wrong blame on my listening comprehension faults.)

• CoR open mic: No one here to speak. It's the budget retreat. You know, the one where surging property appraisals are discussed along with tax rates and spending. But no one cares...to speak.
• Dan Johnson forecasts a 7.5% to 8.5% increase in property values. Preliminary budget assumes only 6%. In other words we can expect an "impactful" budget for 2018-2019. Each 1% equates to about $1 million for operations.
• Dan Johnson proposes phasing out short-term debt issuance for equipment purchases. Maybe all that's why taxpayers weren't lined up to speak at the open mic.

POTD: Welcome to Cabo San Lucas

From 2018 01 31 Cabo San Lucas

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the pelicans in the harbor entrance welcome cruise ship passengers ashore.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018): Ant-tastic. Just kidding. Too many things going on. A house arrest for something, a woman lost in quantum realm, a ghost or something, some tech thieves. What's missing is a supervillain. But nothing is too serious and there is some fun dialog. C-

POTD: You Can Buy Me That

From 2018 01 29 Acapulco

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Las Brisas neighborhood in Acapulco, Mexico.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018): Wild dinosaurs on the loose, some killers, some not. Erupting volcano. Greedy, evil villain. All the expected ingredients, no surprises. Not even dino whisperer Chris Pratt can save this rehash. C-

David Tyson Strikes Again

In January, former Richardson ISD trustee David Tyson sued the RISD over its at-large voting system, claiming it is a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA). While that case is still pending, David Tyson struck again, filing yet another lawsuit last week.

Richardson's Central Park

"In Wildness is the preservation of the world."
Henry David Thoreau

In 1851, when Henry David Thoreau was making his plea for environmental conservation in Concord, Massachusetts, half a continent away in Texas pioneer Jacob Routh was already putting the call into practice. When Routh built his homestead on land that would become present-day Richardson, he set aside some of his woods for preservation in its natural state. Thanks to good stewardship by his descendants and then by the City of Richardson, which eventually acquired the land, that bottomland hardwood forest remains wild today as the Spring Creek Nature Area, the city park that one city council member called "Richardson's Central Park."

POTD: Cliff Divers of La Quebrada - II

From 2018 01 29 Acapulco

Today's photo-of-the-day is from La Quebrada in Acapulco, Mexico. I remember watching the cliff diving on television when I was boy, on shows like "ABC Wide World of Sports", usually in winter when the sports calendar was limited. When the snow was falling outside my Wisconsin home and NBC was showing something like bowling, I would switch to ABC. Nothing could be more exotic than dreaming of being in Acapulco, Mexico. Now that I've seen it in person, I wish I could tell my youthful self, it's just as exciting in person.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Cliff Divers of La Quebrada

From 2018 01 29 Acapulco

Today's photo-of-the-day is from La Quebrada in Acapulco, Mexico, where cliff divers entertain tourists by diving from a height of 45 meters. By comparison, Olympic high diving is done from a 10 meter platform. And the La Quebrada cliff divers have to time their dives so a wave below is at its maximum depth when they enter the shallow water. The cliff divers do it for tips. Tip well, my friends.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Flashback Fourth - 2017

A year ago, Ellen and I watched the fireworks from the eleventh floor of Clements Hospital near downtown Dallas. We were hopeful and anxious, as I imagine the Founders were on our nation's first celebration of independence in 1776, when the outcome of the grand experiment was still unknown.

POTD: Acapulco Bay

From 2018 01 29 Acapulco

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Acapulco Bay and shows what made it a strategic port. It's large, it's sheltered from the Pacific Ocean, it's easily defensible.

"Hernán Cortés established Acapulco as a major port by the early 1530s...Spanish trade in the Far East would give Acapulco a prominent position in the economy of New Spain. Galleons started arriving here from Asia by 1550...The galleon trade made its yearly run from the mid-16th century until the early 19th."

Bonus photo after the jump.

Repeat Tweets: "The Entire World Right Now"

Repeat tweets from June, 2018:

• Jun 1 2018: RT @marcorubio: "The entire world right now is in a battle between authoritarianism and democracy. It’s happening right here in our own hemisphere."
  Hey, @marcorubio, it's happening right here in the US, where you are an enabler.
• Jun 1 2018: Headline: "Oil industry joins with solar and wind industry to condemn Trump admin plan to prop up coal industry by forcing electric grid to buy coal power."
  Picking winners and losers?
• Jun 1 2018: Talk about meta. Or irony. Or something...the first news article in my Facebook "Trending" topics feature right now is... "Facebook is killing the controversial 'Trending' news section it showed on its homepage."
• Jun 2 2018: Sorry, @StateFarm. I only buy insurance from companies that advertise on @iamsambee's Full Frontal.

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Goliath (TV)

Rotten Tomatoes

Goliath: Season 2 (TV): Plot is a mess. Villain is absurd. Why some people are killed and not others makes no sense. But the characters, especially Billy and Patty, are strong and unforgettable. Patty's speech to her FBI agent date is series' highlight. I'd watch a Season 3. B-

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017): Cinéma vérité from Frederick Wiseman. Scenes of program planning, classes, lectures, book clubs, etc. Lots going on in libraries. Maybe too much for a movie. When I saw "Welfare" in 1975, I was mesmerized. But here, not so much. C-

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018): Documentary of Mr Rogers, TV's original Mr Nice Guy, the anti-Trump. No one has a bad word to say about him, which saps the movie of drama, except late in his life, when conservatives who didn't like his tolerance began to attack him. Sad! C+