- 2021-10-01: A look at redistricting...102 Ana Marie Ramos is safely D. (Richardson south of Belt Line). 112 Angie Chen Button leans R. (Richardson Dallas Co. north of Belt Line). 33 Justin Holland is safely R. (east Richardson Collin Co).
- 2021-10-02: An overtime thriller, Berkner over Pearce 34-32. Three, four, five overtimes, any way you count it, a thriller.
- 2021-10-02: Technically, I guess it was five overtimes. Whew! Tell the kids that's what all the August conditioning is for.
- 2021-10-02: Headline: "An American tragedy: US COVID death toll tops 700,000." I can't work up any sympathy for anti-vaxers and anti-maskers. I'm all out.
- 2021-10-02: Recent Covid-19 deaths. There's a vaccine that saves lives. Get it.
After the jump, more random thoughts.
- 2021-10-04: Facebook is down. Maybe someone stood up???
- 2021-10-04: Just received this scam email: "Facebook : Someone tried to log in to your account." lol. I don't think Facebook is taking any logins right now.
- 2021-10-05: Squid Game (TV 2021): Korea. Desperate people deep in debt agree to play children's games. Winner will get rich. Losers get killed. Bear with the preposterous and brutal premise. The characters will grow on you. A thought-provoking fable about modern capitalism. Trust me. A-
- 2021-10-08: Free Guy (2021): I'm no gamer, but I can see how this would appeal to teen boys who are. A nonplayable character in a video game with hidden AI gains consciousness. The race is on to wrest control from the bad owner before a reboot erases him. Mostly fun, sweet and self-aware. B-
- 2021-10-08: It's a great day to be a Ram!
- 2021-10-09: City Council approval for two drive-through restaurants (fast-food chicken and coffee) in Richardson Restaurant Park is on the agenda for Monday's City Council meeting. Come say your final goodbye to the original West Spring Valley Corridor vision.
- 2021-10-09: Unintended irony: a Texas anti-choice woman bemoaning the lack of gynecological health services other than PP: "We, as prolife women, are literally suffering for our convictions here."
- 2021-10-10: It has now been zero days since Alabama's last loss.
- 2021-10-10: I guess Mason Crosby gets to fly home on the Packers team plane after all.
- 2021-10-11: Kajillionaire (2020): Three small grifters (husband, wife, daughter) with bizarre schemes (and lifestyle) join up with another young woman (who is grifting who?). Gradually the daughter becomes alienated from parents. More sad than funny. Quirky, but not quirky enough. B-
- 2021-10-12: Jersey Boys (2014): Biopic of the Four Seasons. Why great artists always have messed up personal lives is an enduring mystery. The teenage lawbreaking, broken family, debt to the Mob, all crowd out the music. Less movie musical than concert footage and not enough of that. C+
- 2021-10-12: Unintended irony: @AngelaPaxton sides with the takers against the makers. She supports more regulation of private businesses.
- 2021-10-13: District 112 will look very different in 2022. It looks like @AngieChenButton is running away from her constituents, choosing the voters she likes for 2022, instead of letting the voters choose her. #politicianspickingvoters
- 2021-10-13: No Time to Die (2021): I won't talk plot to avoid spoilers, but also because there are too many bad guys and intertwined back stories to follow. So, let's just say the car chases, gun fights, and acrobatic stunts don't disappoint. And Bond himself is less a cad. That's a plus. B-
- 2021-10-15: Carroll ISD superintendent: "I express my sincere apology regarding the online article and news story." No. You should be sorry for what happened, for what your employee said. Not for the reporter who wrote about it.
- 2021-10-15: Review: Interior Chinatown: Screenplay, memoir, comedy, satire of Hollywood, it's an innovatively constructed a novel. An Asian-American actor dreams all his life of being "Kung-Fu Guy" but is stuck being "Generic Asian Guy." So, it's an indictment of American racism, too. B+
- 2021-10-18: Someone's got to say it. America would be so much better off if the GOP had nominated Colin Powell in 2000. Instead, Powell wrecked his reputation by carrying water for Bush/Cheney's war agenda. Now he dies from a disease mismanaged by the next GOP president. RIP Colin Powell.
- 2021-10-21: "How Terribly Strange to be Seventy"
- 2021-10-21: Headline: "Richardson Launches New Office of Innovation & Placemaking Initiatives." IQ HQ in a separate building, "facilitating purposeful and strategic cross-sector partnerships" sounds to me like the City is getting into bed with businesses.
- 2021-10-22: Scenes from a Marriage (TV 2021): Intimate look at a troubled marriage. Series lays the kindling, ignites, blazes, finally settles into a steady burn. Couple talk at each other endlessly but seldom connect. Intense acting by Chastain and Isaac. Worthy homage to Ingmar Bergman. A-
- 2021-10-25: The Last Duel (2021): Wife of a knight is raped by a squire, which leads to a duel to the death. Movie tells story three times, from each character's perspective. Stories are too consistent to be Rashomon, the times too misogynistic to be #MeToo, the movie messy but riveting. B+
- 2021-10-26: Who do I root for? The Tomahawk racists? Or the never-punished sign-stealers? I think I'll sit this World Series out.
- 2021-10-26: All three proposed RISD redistricting maps are very minor tweaks on the existing maps. I can live with any of them, but my favorite might be Map 1.
- 2021-10-26: Headline that demands more information: "Dallas District Attorney drops charge against homeless man kicked repeatedly by paramedic." Or maybe it's just another case on the endless list of examples of blaming the victim.
- 2021-10-27: Dune (2021): I didn't read the book. Movie does a good job of world-building and myth-making. Beautiful look. I was surprised by how much Star Wars borrowed from Dune. Young men of destiny. Tatooine/Arrakis, Force/Voice, Jedi/Bene Gesserit. Was Star Wars the Dune for kids? B+
- 2021-10-27: In case you're wondering who is mailing those ads for Texas's Prop 2, the Constitutional amendment to allow counties to borrow money to build roads, they are the work of a PAC whose biggest contributor is Associated General Contractors of Texas PAC. Always follow the money.
- 2021-10-28: Jeff Leach is an interesting Republican. Far right, but not always batshit crazy. @leachfortexas
- 2021-10-29: Review: Harlem Shuffle: Crime story. Family saga. Love letter to Harlem circa 1960. Colson Whitehead tells a great story again. B+
- 2021-10-29: The American political divide in a nutshell: The Left: "Defund the Police." The Right: "Defund Public Health."
- 2021-10-29: I've become a one-issue voter. Truth. It's a low bar, but you'd be surprised at how many office holders can't get over it.
- 2021-10-31: How does a pandemic start winding down? "It doesn't end. We just stop caring."
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