POTD: Galleria Umberto I in Naples

From 2022 10 29 Naples

This photo-of-the-day shows the Galleria Umberto I, a public shopping gallery in Naples, Italy.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

POTD: Vesuvius at Dawn

From 2022 10 29 Naples

This photo-of-the-day shows the Gulf of Naples with dawn coloring the sky behind Mount Vesuvius. Quiet. Beautiful. Right? Well, it wasn't that lovely in 79 AD when it blew its top and buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. What looks like two peaks in this photo was actually all just one much bigger mountain before it collapsed in the eruption, leaving the famous profile we see today.

Bonus photo after the jump.

Asteroid City (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Asteroid City (2023): It's by Wes Anderson. That's all you should need to know to see it. It's got his quirky style and a star-studded cast like all his movies. The plot is beside the point, but it's got a play-within-a-play of a weird sci-fi story in a 1950s Western setting. B-

You Will Always Remember Where You Were July 28, 1994

Why July 28, 1994? Why not June 28, 2023? Because we weren't in the stands in Oakland, California last night to see the New York Yankees' Domingo Germán throw MLB's 24th perfect game in its history and the first perfect game since 2012.

We don't attend many Texas Rangers games, but the ones we do turn out to be memorable. We were in the stands for Kenny Rogers' perfect game on July 28, 1994, just the 14th perfect game at that time.

Past Lives (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Past Lives (2023): 12-yr-old girl comes to America with her family, leaving her childhood friend behind. 25 yrs and many life-changes later, they reunite in NY for one week. An immigrant's story and so a deeply American story. A story of Korean In-Yun, of destiny, of what-ifs. A-

WAIW: WWJD

Where Am I Wednesday!

By itself, a sign in a restroom asking patrons not to flush paper towels down the toilet is unremarkable. It's that "WWJD" appended at the bottom that caught my attention and made me smile. As I imagined Jesus contemplating how to use a flush toilet, my smile only grew broader.

Fifty points to the first person to identify where this photo was taken.

White House Plumbers (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

White House Plumbers (TV 2023): Watergate was a political tragedy, but 50 years on, it gets the farce treatment here. As absurd as the story is, it's mostly fact-based. Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are over-the-top in the roles of committed partisans and third-rate burglars Hunt and Liddy. A-

Thinking Outside the Big Orange Box

Richardson taxpayers voted to approve issuing $46 million in bonds to partially pay for a new City Hall, the old one having suffered a disastrous fire. The City hired consultants to gather inputs from Richardson stakeholders. They interviewed Councilmembers already. If they had interviewed me, what I would have told them is below. The rest of the public can now weigh in, too.

POTD: Tourist

From 2022 10 28 Rome

This photo-of-the-day is from Vatican City in Italy. I don't know this man's story. I imagine him as a simple tourist. Visiting what has been the center of one of the world's great religions since the 4th century. Posing for a photo, because that's what tourists do. Eating an ice cream cone, because of course. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking.

POTD: Pilgrim

From 2022 10 28 Rome

This photo-of-the-day is from Vatican City in Italy. I don't know this woman's story. I imagine her as a pilgrim. Visiting the center of the religion she's devoted her life to. Carrying what worldly belongings she needs in a rolling suitcase — a change of clothes, a Bible, a rosary. Crossing the street at a crosswalk, because that's what nuns do. Turning her head to St. Peter's Basilica, because that's where her thoughts lie. Anyway, that's what I'm thinking.