Roadrunner (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Roadrunner (2021): Documentary of Anthony Bourdain. His show was the best travel show on television. Global politics disguised as a food show. Clips, outtakes, and interviews with his friends and crew give us a peek behind this complicated, flawed, and open but enigmatic man. B+

Black Widow (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Black Widow (2021): Half superhero movie, half dysfunctional family drama. Marvel Universe has guns but fights all turn into fist fights. The plot is messy. I kept asking, why are they doing this? Out of nowhere they rip off their faces to reveal a switcheroo and I ask WTF? C+

Anything is Better Than Nothing in East Richardson

In a 5-2 vote, the Richardson City Council approved a permit for a drive-through Popeyes chicken restaurant on Belt Line Rd east of Plano Rd. The arguments presented by some council members in the majority exemplify what I consider a problem with the City's approach to east Richardson for decades.

Elections Have Consequences, Richardson Edition

There are three new members on the City of Richardson's City Council. In a zoning case Monday night, they made their first mark on Richardson's future shape. In a 4-3 vote, the newcomers, Jennifer Justice, Joe Corcoran, and Arefin Shamsul, plus second term council member Ken Hutchenrider, voted to reject a special use permit for a conventional drive-through restaurant in the so-called Restaurant Park. That's right. Richardson's city council rejected a drive-through. It wasn't because they oppose all drive-throughs. It was because they oppose a drive-through restaurant in that particular location. Still, it's a new day in Richardson.

High on the Hog (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

High on the Hog (TV 2021): How African-American cuisine transformed America. It's a food show, but it's also a history show. From Benin to South Carolina to Philadelphia to Texas, our nation's menu was created by Blacks. Stephen Satterfield finds the culture behind the menu. B+

TIL: I'm on Team Smart America

I'm generally leery of analyses that divide people into two types, or four, or whatever. Clickbait headlines like "Which Avengers Hero Are You?" never get my clicks. Even tests popular in corporate America like Myers-Briggs, tests that are uncanny enough in their analyses that they seem to have been spying on me, earn my respect only grudgingly. Imagine my surprise when I found a political analysis that neatly divides America up into four factions that I think captures not just the red/blue divide, but the divides within those different camps as well.

Paved A Way: Little Mexico

Amazon For decades, I've known about the El Fenix restaurant on the north side of Woodall Rodgers Freeway in downtown Dallas. To me, it always seemed like a bad location for a restaurant, cut off from downtown as it was. I shamefully admit that, until reading Collin Yarbough's book, I wasn't even aware of Dallas's "Little Mexico." Now I know why El Fenix was built where it was. I'm reading "Paved A Way: Infrastructure, Policy and Racism in an American City" by Collin Yarbrough. The city is Dallas, Texas. I'm blogging as I go, using whatever parts of the book catch my attention. Today, we look at how infrastructure development destroyed "El Barrio."