City Council Runoff Voters Guide

Runoff election day for Richardson City Council is Saturday, June 8, 2019. Early voting runs from Tuesday, May 28, until Tuesday, June 4. One place is on the ballot: Place 3. All registered voters in Richardson are eligible to vote. The candidates are Janet DePuy and Dan Barrios. I explained the issues that mattered most to me in the Voters Guide published before the May 4 election. I won't repeat that here. Instead, let's jump right to the recommendation.

POTD: Mandrogy, Russia

From 2018 08 15 Mandrogy

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Mandrogy, Russia.

Verkhnie Mandrogi, or "Upper Falls," was once a small village on the banks of the Svir between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The town was ruined during World War II and disappeared from maps for many years. But in 1996 an enterprising Russian, Sergei Gutzeit, got the idea of reconstructing it as a sort of open air museum about traditional Russian villages for the benefit of travelers taking river cruises between St. Petersburg and Kizhi. It has a small hotel and several houses built of brightly painted pine logs, windmills, vodka and bread museums, craftspeople (potters, weavers, jewelers, etc.), a moose farm, a stable, an archery range, trout and carp fishing, and a small zoo featuring bears, raccoon dogs and other animals.

Source: Viking River Cruises.

Ignore the vodka museum and the moose farm and focus solely on the landscape. I was struck by how much the river cruise on the Svir River reminded me of northern Wisconsin. In hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised — both are at about the same latitude and the northern forests at that latitude stretch pretty much around the world. The cottage in the woods on the lake is as much a staple in Russia as it is in Wisconsin.

OK, I admit that house in the photo above is not typical of Wisconsin. But check out the bonus photos after the jump. If the cottage and the lake don't say Wisconsin, I don't know what does.

Review: Normal People

Amazon

From Normal People, by Sally Rooney:

In school he and Marianne affect not to know each other. People know that Marianne lives in the white mansion with the driveway and that Connell’s mother is a cleaner, but no one knows of the special relationship between these facts."

And so begins the story of Marianne and Connell, two young people in school in west Ireland growing up, growing apart, and growing together again, over and over.

The Hustle (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Hustle (2019): Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway play simple cons on rich dupes on the French Riviera. Because the cons are so simple, the only mystery is what is going to be the big twist, which by the time it comes, you might have lost interest. Wasted talent but watchable. C+

POTD: St Petersburg Canals

From 2018 08 14 St Petersburg Canals

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the canals of St Petersburg, Russia. Historical. Beautiful. Magical.

Bonus photos are after the jump.

Bodyguard (TV 2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Bodyguard (TV 2018): British war veteran with PTSD picked as bodyguard for ambitious Home Secretary. A thriller with terrorism, assassination, and blackmail. Plenty of whodunnit head-scratching. Maybe best, it packs an emotional punch as our hero deals with his own demons too. A-

POTD: Peterhof Grand Cascade

From 2018 08 14 Peterhof

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the bottom of the Grand Cascade outside Peterhof, the palace built by Peter the Great of Russia.

Bonus photos are after the jump.

Hello I Must Be Going

The Richardson City Council saw two council members step down, Marta Gómez Frey and Mabel Simpson, after serving only two terms. In contrast, Steve Mitchell and Mark Solomon are beginning their eighth term and sixth term, respectively. At the end of this coming term, both of them will also step down, being the first council members affected by Richardson's term limits. At Monday's City Council meeting, Frey and Simpson gave valedictories, full of gratitude to family and friends, citizens, colleagues, city management and staff.

Love, Death & Robots (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Love, Death & Robots (2019): Sci-fi anthology series. Animation and blended animation/live action. Stories are hit or miss, too many with gratuitous nudity or battles or violent monsters. None really thought-provoking. But entertaining escapism for 10-15 minutes at a time. B-

The Wandering Earth (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Wandering Earth (2019): Chinese sci-fi blockbuster. Sun is dying. Salvation lies in rocketing Earth to another solar system. Things go haywire using Jupiter as slingshot. Preposterous. Absurd. Silly. Non-stop crises. Stock characters. But better than Snowpiercer, barely. D+