Cottonwood Art Festival - Fall 2014

From 2014 10 04 Cottonwood Art Festival

Saturday was sunny and warm, perfect weather for Richardson's twice yearly Cottonwood Art Festival, now in its 45th year. After the jump, more photos from this Fall's festival.

Wunderland at RHS

Wunderland at RHS: Alice meets Captain Hook, Frankenstein and Nazis in dark twist on a children's story. Mental whiplash. World premiere.

Review: The Woman Who Lost Her Soul

Amazon

From The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, by Bob Shacochis

Oh, my God, she said. What's on these pants? Is this blood? Her sweet, earnest face, becalmed by the gentle tides of a comfortable life, filled with a look of mortification. Dutiful wife, instinctive mother, she sniffed at a patch of the stains, repulsed. They’re covered with blood! There's so much of it. Tom, what happened? Yes, that. What happened. He would have to tell her something but he did not know where to begin or where to end and he did not know if she should ever, ever know him so well, or how he spent his days when he was away from her."

And so the mystery begins. After the jump, my review.

Repeat Tweets: Someone Pick Up LaDarius Perkins

Repeat tweets from September, 2014:

• Sep 1 2014: Saw outstanding performance by @DarioPerkins27 at Lambeau Thursday. Sadly, there's not enough room on the roster. Someone will pick him up.
  
• Sep 2 2014: Payday lender CashAmerica donates to Ken Paxton and Linda Koop (say it ain't so, Linda). fec.gov (h/t @davelevinthal)
  
• Sep 3 2014: Payday lender CashAmerica reports giving money to Linda Koop. Her campaign says she returned the unsolicited money. @MarkSteger
  
• Sep 2 2014: Headline: "Ted Cruz Tells Koch Conference: Stopping Amnesty Most Important Issue." Before it was jobs. Or Obamacare. Mostly it's Cruz 2016.
  
• Sep 2 2014: RT @Neil_Irwin: "New WashPost publisher was founding CEO of Politico." Why not Breitbart? Or Newsmax? WashPost has fallen so far so fast.
  
• Sep 2 2014: A company "dedicated to understanding human behavior through the creative application of randomized-controlled experiments" is following me.
  
• Sep 2 2014: Richardson ranks 10th best in nation, according to WalletHub.com or 37th best in DFW area, according to D Magazine. Go figure.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.

Silver Screen Slayer at PST

Pocket Sandwich Theatre

Silver Screen Slayer at PST: Silly parody of '30s private eye, Nazi spy movies. Jokes about Hollywood Jews and gays not as funny as rest. C+

Meet Michael Morris... and his Boss

Who cares what this guy says? Oh, believe me. Eeeeverybody who knows what's what cares deeply. You can forget about mayors and city councils and state legislators and sometimes even congresspersons. Morris has way more stick than those guys.

Source: Jim Schutze.

Meet Michael Morris, the unelected bureaucrat behind many of the highway decisions in north central Texas. The Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) seems to be in the news everywhere this year, from the debate over removing IH345 in downtown Dallas to the debate over tolling US 75 through Richardson to the possibility of building a new toll road from Wylie to Greenville.

After the jump, what people are saying about Michael Morris.

Rivalry Game: Lake Highlands 37, Berkner 22

From 2014 09 26 Lake Highlands vs Berkner

It was the annual cross-town rivalry game between the Lake Highlands Wildcats and the Berkner Rams at shared Wildcat-Ram Stadium. Although the stats were more or less balanced (456 total yards for LHHS and 400 for BHS), because of some big plays on both sides of the line of scrimmage Lake Highlands came out on top 37-22. Tyler Hughes led the Wildcats with 25 rushes for 206 yards and one touchdown. Davis Steelman led the Rams, completing 18 of 26 passes for 240 yards and one touchdown.

From 2014 09 26 Lake Highlands vs Berkner

More photos after the jump.

Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota

From 2014 08 29 Madison

What's your standard for excellence? How about the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota on a Friday afternoon in summer? If there is a finer single place to be on any university campus anywhere, I haven't seen it. Add a brat and a beer and nowhere else comes close.

More photos after the jump.

Drive Through Government

Someone on Facebook asked the reason for a zoning change request for the property on West Campbell Rd where Nikki's restaurant used to be. Two people answered, saying a multi-tenant building is planned, to be occupied by Starbucks and Pei Wei.

I asked why a zoning change request was needed. What's the big deal? One restaurant is being replaced by another (or by two in one multi-tenant building).

After the jump, the answer.

Football. Lambeau. Say No More.

From 2014 08 28 Green Bay

It was the last pre-season game. The starters were going to sit out the game, resting for the season opener. Rain was in the forecast and it did start sprinkling late in the third quarter, but it didn't last long. The game was a blowout, the Packers beating the Chiefs 34-14. It would be understandable if the stands were sparsely filled. But 74,059 Packer faithful turned out for the game, with the vast majority staying until the end, enjoying every last minute. There was dancing in the stands at the two-minute warning. That's football at Lambeau Field, one of the most storied venues in pro sports in America. A fun time was had by all. But that didn't need to be said, did it?

More photos after the jump.