May December (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

May December (2023): Actress researching a part meets with woman who had a baby with a 7th grader 24 years ago. They interact warily as the tension builds. The last 20 minutes is where stuff happens. Raises more questions than it answers. Good performances by Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton as the adult 7th grader. B-

Save the Ice House

An agenda item for the December 11, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting caught my eye. The City is on the verge of using eminent domain to acquire parts of two properties on Main Street across from the Police Department. One property is the address of the Ice House. The other is the address of Spice of Richardson, an Indian restaurant.

POTD: Mural by Street Artist Roa

"Brushed by Belgian hands,
Roa's mural enlivens
Dunedin's artful core."
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 13 Dunedin

This photo-of-the-day is from the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It shows a mural painted by Belgian street artist Roa.

POTD: Freddy Mercury on Queen Street

"Portrait on house sings.
Dunedin's mural on show.
Queen Street's quiet song."
—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 13 Dunedin

This photo-of-the-day is from Dunedin, New Zealand. It shows a mural painted on a house located on, appropriately, Queen Street.

Bodies (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Bodies (TV 2023): A sci-fi/mystery/thriller. A dead body appears in 4 eras (2023, 1941, 1893, and 2053), the very same dead body. As the season wears on, the stories come together, leading to a time-traveling, doomsday cult. Too many gaping plot holes and inconsistencies to recommend it, more than most time travel stories. D+

The Killer (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Killer (2023): David Fincher thriller. A hired assassin botches the kill. Now the race is on for him to kill those coming after him before they kill him. More than an action movie, it's a good character study, with Michael Fassbender playing the icy, analytical, emotionless killer. B-

Gaza Comes to Richardson

The visitors' section was full. There was an overflow crowd. For ninety minutes Monday night, speaker after speaker came to the podium and made heartfelt pleas for the Richardson City Council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and to take measures to address the rise of Islamophobia in America.

The Holdovers (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Holdovers (2023): Paul Giamatti as a cranky, unliked teacher thrown together with an unlikable student. Eventually, they bond. A nice, old-fashioned movie, literally. Set in 1970, made to look like it was made in 1970, it was inspired by a movie from the 1930s. It felt like I saw this movie before, maybe several times. Not that there's anything wrong with that. C+

How Parks are Named in Dallas

Proposed Trinity River Park

Recently, the Richardson City Council got into what passes for a contentious exchange over the question of naming parks (or, at least, naming of bridges in parks). What it boils down to is that the lack of any policies in Richardson results in naming by whim — i.e., when someone on City Council gets a notion to name something after someone, and just mentions it at a Council meeting, and others on the Council agree it's a good idea, it happens. Just like that. I called it government by whim.

Our big neighbor to the south has a different practice.

POTD: New Zealand's Other Sport

"Pitch meets petal's fall,
Cricket match by garden's edge,
Nature's green applause."

—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 11 Wellington

We were lucky to be in South Africa on October 28, 2023, the night that South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in a match played in Paris. All of South Africa tuned in and was elated with the victory. They had defeated New Zealand. I imagine spirits were crushed in New Zealand. I don't have any rugby photos to show from South Africa, or from New Zealand, for that matter. But New Zealand is not only good at rugby, they also are good at cricket. This photo-of-the-day was taken from New Zealand's Wellington Botanic Garden, looking next door to the cricket pitch, where a match was being played.

After the jump, a bonus photo from the Botanic Garden.