Soul (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Soul (2020): Music teacher dies as he gets a big career break. After experience with the Great Beyond and Great Before, he gets a 2nd chance at life. A novel look at cosmic life and death. Good music (not enough of it). Somehow the whole has no spark. Will young kids get it? C+

The Wheel's 2021 Voters Guide

Fact

The City of Richardson's City Council elections are here. The Richardson ISD school board elections are here. The RISD is asking voters for approval on an important bond package as well, the first since 2016. I've watched some forums. I've read the questionnaires. Now it's time to decide how to vote. That's what I'm here for. Early voting begins Monday, April 19. Election Day is May 1. Here is all you need to know.

POTD: Temple of Philae

From 2019 11 20 Abu Simbel

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the Temple of Philae. It's built on an island in the Nile River at Aswan. It was relocated (like the temples of Abu Simbel) to save it from Nile River floods.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Oscar Snubs

The 2021 Oscar nominations, as always, snub some worthy movies. Before these movies unloved by Oscar are forgotten forever, here are some, in no particular order, that The Wheel recommends catching wherever they are streaming. These movies received an "A-" grade by The Wheel.

The snubs are after the jump.

Richardson's Uncomfortable Truth

Last week we saw how Richardson City Council member Kyle Kepner endorsed two other candidates for no other reason than they are Republicans, in possible violation of the City of Richardson's Code of Ethics, which calls for a policy of maintaining a nonpartisan city council. Kepner also endorsed four candidates for Plano ISD school board because they were endorsed by the Collin County Republican Party. That leads us to an uncomfortable truth about our city that voters must confront. The truth was spelled out by none other than Kyle Kepner himself, in an answer to a candidate questionaire from The Dallas Morning News when he first ran for Richardson City Council in 2019.

Readin', Ritin', and Republican

Richardson City Council member Kyle Kepner injected party politics into the nonpartisan city council race. That was bad enough, but then he compounded his error. I don't know which is more annoying to me, people making endorsements based on political party affiliation, or city council members endorsing in school board races (or vice versa). Today we examine Kyle Kepner's twofer.

City Council Member Again. Gullible? Reckless?

Yesterday, I charged Richardson City Council member Kyle Kepner with violating the city's Code of Ethics by failing to maintain the city council as a nonpartisan body, when he endorsed two other council candidates for the sole reason that they are Republicans. He has since apologized...with a lot of extraneous word salad to go along with the meat and potatoes. To loosely paraphrase the original statement and the apology:

The sky is blue.
[...]
It was not my intention to give the impression that I believe the sky is any particular color. Besides, I'm the real victim here. They ganged up on me in 2019.

Eventually he gets to the meat of his apology. I accept him at his word when he says, "I made a mistake, and I am sorry...Please accept my apologies. I promise to learn from this and do better."

So let's take him at his word and accept the apology. Besides, there's another social media comment Kyle Kepner made on another subject altogether that needs attention. The subject is the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado. Kepner's response raises the question, "Is Kyle Kepner too gullible or too reckless to serve on City Council?"

Upping the Charges against a City Council Member

Yesterday, I charged a Richardson City Council member with violating the norms and customs of remaining nonpartisan in city council elections. Current council member Kyle Kepner endorsed two other council candidates for the sole reason that they are Republicans. Today, I up the charge.

Partisan NonPartisan Elections, 2021 Edition

The Richardson City Council elections are officially nonpartisan, meaning no political party affiliation appears on the ballots. Traditionally, political parties steered clear of endorsements and campaigning. Those traditions are breaking down. Here's what I said about it in 2019.

The Richardson City Council elections in 2019 laid a muddy trail along the same lines, only with Democratic state representative Ana-Maria Ramos and Democratic Party affiliated groups working (and failing) to elect an unofficial slate of candidates for Richardson City Council. I won't be surprised if that trend continues in 2021 and my own appeals to keep local elections nonpartisan look even more like a cry in the wilderness than they did then.

Source: The Wheel.

Billions - Season 1 (TV 2016)

Rotten Tomatoes

Billions - Season 1 (TV 2016): US attorney goes after hedge fund billionaire. Flips old adage on its head: it's not business, it's strictly personal. Manipulating both is a woman, a smart woman (and sexy for the gratuitous kinky sex scenes). Shallow plot slowly deepens, a bit. B-

Four more seasons queued up to watch.

#VeryTardyReview