Autumn in Richardson

Duck Creek

It's November, and Northern Wisconsin finally makes it to North Texas.

H/T C.M.

Undone (TV 2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Undone (TV 2019): After car accident, young woman finds she has powers over time and space. With help of her dead dad, she tries to find out who killed him. Her struggle to figure out her own life is what causes this show to succeed. Rotoscoping animation gives a unique look. B+

Review: Where the Crawdads Sing

Amazon

From Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens:

Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow-moving creeks wander, carrying the orb of the sun with them to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace—as though not built to fly—against the roar of a thousand snow geese."

The story of the marsh is the third major story line in this novel, the one that makes the novel soar above the love story and the murder mystery.

RISD Election: How Did It Go?

On November 5, 2019, the Richardson ISD conducted its first-ever election with single-member districts. The new voting system was specifically designed in reaction to a voting rights lawsuit that complained that RISD's at-large voting system discriminated against the minority community. In this first election, three of the five single-member districts were up for election. In each of the next two years, another single-member district, plus an at-large district, will be up for election. At the end of three years, all of the new districts will have been elected under the new system. Now that the first election is behind us, let's ask how it worked.

POTD: Heads-Up! Puffin.

From 2019 03 01 Iceland

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Kevflavik Airport in Reykjavik, Iceland. That's a puffin poking down from the ceiling in the baggage claim area in way of greeting arriving passengers. Iceland's puffin population is estimated at 10 million birds. The human population in the whole country is only about 340,000, so it's natural that puffins get a lot of attention. Admission: we didn't see any puffins. The best time to see puffins in Iceland is the summer. We were there in winter to see the Northern Lights. More on that to come.

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Jojo Rabbit (2019): A boy's family shelters a Jewish girl in WWII Germany. An imaginary Hitler mentors the boy to be a good Nazi. It's a comedy. Work with me on this. Nazi Germany through a boy's eyes. Movie does a good job of balancing farce, tragedy, and touching scenes. A-

Echo in the Canyon (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Echo in the Canyon (2019): Documentary about a magical place and time when the mid-60s California Sound was in its prime. Reminiscences by many of the musical geniuses of how they inspired each other. Lots of 2015 tribute concert. Lots overlooked. Not enough old video. B+