Wednesday, April 6, 2022

The Tourist (TV 2022)

Rotten Tomatoes
The Tourist (TV 2022): After a car accident, a man wakes up in the Australian outback with amnesia. As he pieces his life back together, the more he learns, the less he likes. Just the right mix of mystery and thriller...and burrito. LSD does too much of the storytelling. B+

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Apollo 10 1/2 (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes
Apollo 10 1/2 (2022): Richard Linklater's animated look back at his childhood near the Johnson Space Center during the moon landing. No plot; mostly nostalgic references to a kid's life in the 1960s (TV, games, technology, school, food). Baby Boomers should love it. C+

Monday, April 4, 2022

The Bubble (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes
The Bubble (2022): Judd Apatow comedy about making a movie in a pandemic quarantine. The bubble's isolation eventually cracks everyone. Pokes fun at actors, directors, producers, social media influencers, (crew escapes unscathed), all with characters immediately forgettable. C-

Saturday, April 2, 2022

POTD: The Sentinels

The Sentinels, by Carolyn Chilton Casas

How the trees have grown
around us,
with a surplus of winter
and spring rains.
...
The trees form a sacred den,
shelter us from external elemental ravages.
Sentinels of sentient existence,
wise keepers cradling
my spirit in their limbs.

Source: The Sentinels.

Friday, April 1, 2022

Random Thoughts: Gov. Greg Abbott Hates Kids

Tweets from March, 2022:
  • 2022-03-01: Gov. Greg Abbott hates kids.
  • 2022-03-03: Email from Trump: "While the Radical Left and Lamestream Media are working overtime to turn the Nation against me, it's important that you know that I've never cared what they think. I only care what you think, Friend." How do I tell him that I think the same?
  • 2022-03-03: The Kings Man (2021): A prequel no one needed. WWI fan fiction. British aristocratic spy puts himself in the center of every important event of WWI. Really bad history. Over the top, but not in a knowing, wink-wink way. Probably baffling to many. A waste of time. C-
  • 2022-03-04: The Courier (2021): Cold War spy movie. Benedict Cumberbatch is a businessman recruited to smuggle secrets out of USSR. Game gets riskier as his friendship with a Russian spy grows. Not a James Bond action movie. Instead it's based on real life, meaning the stakes are real. B+
  • 2022-03-05: We have at least one candidate for Richardson ISD school board trustee running on that claim.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Richardson's Future Hidden Gem for the Visual Arts

UT-Dallas in Richardson (my new name for our university) announced that groundbreaking on the Crow Museum of Asian Art will happen in about a month.

Shifting Odds on RISD's Superintendent Search

Sherry Clemens, Eron Linn, Vanessa Pacheco

Yesterday, I analyzed one key question from the forum of Richardson ISD District 2 school board candidates Sherry Clemens, Vanessa Pacheco, and Eron Linn (incumbent), hosted by the Berkner High School PTA. Today, reading between the lines, I speculate that we might have learned some significant news from another question. At least, it changes the odds that I would place on the job search for a new superintendent.

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

RISD Election Reduced to One Question

Sherry Clemens, Eron Linn, Vanessa Pacheco

The Berkner High School PTA hosted a forum of Richardson ISD District 2 school board candidates Sherry Clemens, Vanessa Pacheco, and Eron Linn (incumbent). There were many good questions, but one audience question in particular distilled the whole election down to its essential question. It was a yes/no question. The three candidates answered, in effect, yes, no, and don't blame me.

Kimi (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes
Kimi (2022): Psychological mystery by Steven Soderbergh with Zoë Kravitz as a tech worker who overhears a murder on an audio stream. Movie has a "Rear Window" feel and a pandemic quarantine claustrophobic feel. No plot twists, but a serviceable thriller nonetheless. B-

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

We Are Lady Parts (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes
We Are Lady Parts (TV 2021): Musical comedy. Five young British Muslim women form a punk band. Lead character gets stage fright because what she's doing is so out of character. The whole show is. These are real, believable people, all different, breaking stereotypes. A-