Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): Oscar winner for animated feature. Origin story for super hero; coming-of-age tale for everyone. A door to the multiverse brings variants of Spider-Man together. New hero has to save the world. Too much action. Never enough humor. C+

POTD: 31 Flavors in Red Square

From 2018 08 20 Moscow

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Red Square in Moscow, Russia. If we had any doubts about who won the Communism vs Capitalism fight, this Baskin-Robbins stand in Red Square suggests an answer. (The jury is still out on the autocracy vs democracy question, if not in Russia, maybe in ours.)

Close-up photo after the jump.

POTD: Merry-Go-Round

From 2018 08 20 Moscow

Today's photo-of-the-day is of an unknown girl in Moscow, Russia. Perhaps it's a sign that all kids grow up to the point where merry-go-rounds are no longer fun, or maybe it's a sign that smart phones are addictive even to young kids, but I like to interpret this photo as a sign that kids are kids all over the world.

POTD: Mass Transit Moscow Style

From 2018 08 20 Moscow

Today's photo-of-the-day is from a subway station in Moscow. These underground palaces were built by Joseph Stalin to be showcases of the workers' paradise that the Soviets wanted to present to the world. The USSR collapsed but the subway stations still impress visitors to Moscow today. The train service is swift, frequent, and comfortable, too.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Scenes Along the Volga

From 2018 08 20 Moscow

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Volga River in Russia near Moscow. No history lesson today. Just universal images. People are people everywhere.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019): Our hero saves Europe from evil Elementals...or someone else. European city backgrounds were my favorite part of movie. Also, the usual Marvel humor. And I guess the teen love story adds human interest. Full of plot holes. Overdone CGI. C+

POTD: Nikolsky Cathedral Bell Tower

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Volga River in Russia. When the Baltic-Volga Waterway was constructed, the network of dams, reservoirs, and locks connecting a two-thousand mile long waterway sometimes drowned villages and towns. The bell tower is all that remains of the Nikolsky Cathedral.

Blocked on Twitter

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New York judge's ruling and found that [President Donald] Trump "engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by utilizing Twitter's 'blocking' function to limit certain users' access to his social media account, which is otherwise open to the public at large, because he disagrees with their speech." ... The judges on the appeals court concluded that "the First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees."

Source: CNN.

After the jump, my own experiences being blocked on Twitter.

POTD: Cruising the Volga

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Uglich Reservoir lock on the Volga River in Russia. The bow of our cruise ship is just visible as we enter the lock behind another cruise ship. The Baltic-Volga Waterway is a network of dams, reservoirs, and locks connecting a two-thousand mile long waterway. The whole is an amazing feat of engineering.

POTD: My Uglich Watch

From 2018 08 19 Uglich

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Uglich, Russia. There's a story behind it. I haven't worn a wrist watch in years. But I was in Uglich. How could I resist buying a watch in Uglich? Uglich was known as a watch-making center in Russia. Nikita Khrushchev, while attending the 1955 Geneva Summit, bragged that Uglich watches were better than Swiss watches because, as the joke goes, Russian watches run faster. So I decided I'd buy an Uglich watch, as long as the price was cheap. I set a price limit of $30. I found a souvenir stall where the seller, when he learned my price limit, just happened to have a large supply of watches right at that price of $30. Who could have guessed my luck? I picked out the perfect watch at this souvenir stand. It featured "President of Russia" on the face, along with a tsarist double-headed eagle and Vladimir Putin's signature. Later that day, Ellen said it was time for dinner. I said we still had an hour. She said no we didn't. I double checked my new watch and noticed it had stopped running. So much for my Uglich watch.

Close-up after the jump.