Never Let Me Go (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes

Never Let Me Go (2010): Coming-of-age tale of 3 friends who grow up in a boarding school for kids being raised to be organ donors. Yikes! Dark, sci-fi/horror setting, but it's the sweet characters that make this movie. Watching future stars early in their careers is a bonus. B-

#VeryTardyReview

Here is my tweet review of the novel it is based on:

2011 08 03 - Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro: Memoir of growing up in a weird orphanage. Might be a better Twilight Zone episode than novel. C-

The Pursuit of Love (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Pursuit of Love (TV 2021): Adaptation of 1945 English novel about two young women who pursue different paths to happiness. Part costume drama, part satire/comedy. The whole arc of the novel condensed to 3 episodes. Refreshing, but it does make it feel rushed. B-

Richardson's Rush to Judgment

Richardson City Council agenda, December 13, 2021:

One week after long-time City Manager Dan Johnson announced his retirement, the Richardson City Council plans to appoint his successor. One week. It's the Richardson Way.

Let's dig into the archives. Nine years ago, we went through this exact process. My question then is still relevant today. "Why does state law consider it prudent to wait 21 days before making the hire of a school superintendent official, but one minute and seventeen seconds is long enough to wait before making the hire of a city manager official? What am I missing?"

She's Going, But Why? And Now What?

Now that The Dallas Morning News has published its story reporting that Dr. Jeannie Stone, Superintendent of Richardson ISD, will resign on Monday, the biggest assertion this blog has been chronicling for the last month or so has proven to be true. But that's not all I claimed. The related claim has ramifications going forward.

The Other Two - S01 (TV 2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Other Two - S01 (TV 2019): Boy becomes pop star. Jealous older brother and sister's careers struggle. Ambitious mom exploits her son's success. All snobs. Sitcom that isn't funny, doesn't go anywhere, and is a struggle to finish S01. No interest in S02. C-

Richardson City Council 2021-23 Tactics

"City Council Tactics". That's the title of the presentation made by City staff to the Richardson City Council. But they aren't tactics for the City Council. They are tactics for City staff, who developed them themselves. There are a lot of them, 73 by my count. Much of the list reads like things that were probably on the City staff's to-do list for months or years, just like the goals and strategies they are based on are mostly recycled from previous years. I suspect City staff was careful to avoid making them too ambitious, risky, or binding (or, for that matter, specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based — you know S.M.A.R.T.). It's entirely understandable for employees to not want to promise their bosses too much. So words like "Explore," "Review," "Evaluate" are commonly used. One tactic starts with "Develop a strategy to...", not "Just Do It." I thought the Council had delegated the tactics to staff, not the job of developing more strategies.

Let's look at what's still missing, and then assess the City Council's own participation in the process of developing and shaping these tactics, maybe awarding some medals in the process.

RISD: Night of the Long Knives, Part II

Word

Monday evening, the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees had a special called meeting with a single item on the agenda: a closed meeting for "Superintendent's Evaluation."

Long story short, we still don't know the end of this story. The school board met in closed session for over five hours and adjourned without returning to open session, taking any votes, or making any announcements. But don't let that stop me from speculation.