Tenet (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes

Tenet (2020): Action thriller. Our hero stops WW III by keeping evil arms dealer from getting plutonium, but the threat isn't nuclear war, it's inverted time. Bad guys use, not time travel, but reverse time. Events happen backwards. Maybe it all makes sense, but I doubt it. C+

RPD is Eager to Move On

The Richardson Police Department is eager to move on. Not everyone. The rank and file still have a complaint they want investigated. Let's just say the City Manager, to whom the department reports, wants to move on. From what, you ask? Pull up a chair. This will take a while.

The nominal need to move on is that long-time Police Chief Jim Spivey is retiring at the end of May. So, in a Friday news dump, the City named Assistant Chief Gary Tittle as the new Police Chief effective June 1. But before we get distracted by the new chef, we have some other pots simmering on the stove to deal with.

Single-Member Districts in RISD are a Winner

The recent election for two Richardson ISD trustees completes the transition to a new election system that consists of five single-member districts and two at-large places. Or rather, the run-off election June 5 for the at-large Place 7 will complete the transition. And if there's anything that demonstrates the need for single-member districts it's the voting map for that at-large Place 7 election.

Dallas County Elections

Exterminate All the Brutes (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Exterminate All the Brutes (TV 2021): 1,000 years of genocide, colonialism, slavery, extermination of indigenous peoples, and, yes, the Holocaust, told as a personal narrative by Raoul Peck. Sure to drive MAGA crowd crazy, but there's a lot of history that cannot be defended. B-

POTD: Trajan's Kiosk

From 2019 11 20 Abu Simbel

Today's photo-of-the-day is of Trajan's Kiosk on the island of Agilkia on the Nile River in southern Egypt. Its history is convoluted, as is much ancient history. It's attributed to the Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE) because of his appearance on some reliefs, but the building is believed to be even older. It was built elsewhere, on the island of Philae, and served as the entrance to the Temple of Philae, which is nearby. The whole complex was moved to its current site to escape rising waters in the Nile River due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. Even if history is not your thing, it's a beautiful work of architecture in any case.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021): Girl leaves for film school, glad to be away from embarrassing dad. On the way the family is attacked by army of robots. Lots of noise and violence, but it's robots getting blasted so I guess it's OK. Zero dead family, so happy ending. C-

Reaction to Local Elections

The City of Richardson's City Council elections are over (except for the run-offs). The Richardson ISD school board elections are over (except for the run-offs). The RISD bond approval elections are over. Some of the elections were over early in the evening. Some dragged late into the night. Some went as expected. Some offered surprises. After the jump, my verbose reactions to all of them.

Random Thoughts: Close to the End of the Pandemic

Tweets from April, 2021:

• 2021-04-02: Using my metric, "we're getting close to the end of the pandemic." (link)
• 2021-04-02: The Father (2020): Woman deals with her aging father. Characters come and go, scenes repeat, each time slightly differently, until you aren't sure if you are seeing reality or the world through the father's dementia. Deserved Oscar noms for Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins. B+
• 2021-04-02: It seems only right. Georgians are taking the state back to a time when baseball didn't yet exist.
• 2021-04-03: Now 65+, another step closer to the end of the pandemic, by my metric. (link)
• 2021-04-03: Great quote about Richardson Pearce's Drew Timme:

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017)

Rotten Tomatoes

Genius: Einstein (TV 2017): Drama of life of Einstein, emphasizing his family, including his two wives and many affairs (for a genius, he was dumb in love). His science gets shorted. So too his political run-ins with both Nazis and the FBI. Too much material for one series. B-

#VeryTardyReview

TIL: "A Nation of Immigrants"

"A Nation of Immigrants." What country am I talking about? The United States, right? It's what I learned growing up in the 1950s. That, and the myth of the melting pot. I learned about how the English and the Irish and the Germans (like my grandfather in 1892) and the Italians all came to the United States in different waves of immigration, where they all learned English and intermarried and melted into one glorious people and nation. E Pluribus Unum and all that. But there was always a nagging problem for young me. The story didn't include the Chinese or the Negroes. Young me puzzled over such things, but I didn't find the answers in the patriotic school books. Now, decades later, I have to admit defeat on the melting pot myth. I have come to question the "nation of immigrants" myth altogether.