POTD: Bike. Canal.

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photo-of-the-day is of a bicycle on a bridge over a canal in Amsterdam. Bicycles and canals seem to be Amsterdam's signature impressions. This one is doing its best to stand out.

POTD: Vrouw met Stola

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photo-of-the-day is of a sculpture on a canal in Amsterdam: Vrouw met Stola (Woman with Shawl), by Pieter d’Hont. He made eleven copies beginning in 1957. This one was placed here in 1996, after previously having been vandalized and dumped in a canal. So the stories about bikes in the canals are true, and it's not just bikes that end up in canals.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022): A London house cleaner wants a Christian Dior dress, so she saves until she can afford a trip to Paris where she wins over the House of Dior with naivety, charm, and persistence. A feel-good story full of charm itself. B+

Central Expressway Speed Trap

Source: Troy Oxford.

Tim Rogers of D Magazine wrote about the Central Expressway speed trap that exists called Fairview. If you don't know about Fairview, it's that's small city of 9,000 between Allen and McKinney east of Central Expressway. It makes up for its small size with hustle on the highway. Mile for mile, Fairview writes 3 times as many traffic tickets on Central Expressway as McKinney, and a whopping 35 times more than Allen.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Top Gun: Maverick (2022): Predictable. To understand how far America has gone astray since the Cold War, replace the American pilots with Japanese pilots bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941. Would we still be pulling for them to succeed? Watch it like I did, on a plane experiencing turbulence. Extra exciting. C+

Random Thoughts: Runaway Slaves Escaping To Mexico

Tweets from October, 2022:

• 2022-10-03: A chapter of US history that's rarely told that holds a lesson for today. If we couldn't stop runaway slaves from escaping *to* Mexico pre-Civil War, why do we think it's possible to stop desperate refugees fleeing the other direction today? Why would we even want to?
• 2022-10-03: Today's Trump fundraising email: "We need a clear picture of how all voters in your Congressional District are leaning, and you are a leader in your district." A leader? He must read my blog!
• 2022-10-03: Up until recently, regardless of when life begins, in the United States nobody could force you to donate your own body to save another person. Republicans want the government to force you to donate your body to save even fertilized eggs. Small government, my eye.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022): Sequel to the 1993 original. This one doesn't so much build on that one as repeat it, beat for beat. Bette Midler's big musical number is better than the one in the original, but it's no "Time Warp." Skip it and go trick or treating with the kids instead. C-

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Rotten Tomatoes

Hocus Pocus (1993): I never saw this Disney original, so I watched it before watching this year's sequel. I can't tell if it's bad because the humor is dated, or aimed at kids, or what. Bette Midler vamps. You'd think that alone would have saved the movie, but no such luck. C-

#VeryTardyReview

POTD: Anne Frank House

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photo-of-the-day is of the most famous of Amsterdam's canal houses: the Anne Frank House. Seventy five years on, tickets to enter the house, now a museum, still sell out days ahead of time. But tourists come by anyway to see the house from the outside.

Bonus photo after the jump.

POTD: Amsterdam's Canal Houses

From 2022 07 03 Amsterdam

Today's photo-of-the-day is a classic look at Amsterdam's canal houses. There are miles and miles of canals in the old city center, all of them lined with canal houses.