Boy Swallows Universe (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Boy Swallows Universe (TV 2024): Australian boy grows up in a broken home surrounded by deadbeat dad, drug-dealing stepdad, hardluck mom, and assorted bullies and crims. Somehow the kid manages not just to survive, but to thrive. Part fantasy, part crime story, altogether captivating. B+

Daisy Jones & the Six (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Daisy Jones & the Six (TV 2023): Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. This is NOT Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, although the filmmakers wouldn't mind if that's what gets you to watch. The two lead singers are both selfish brats who are soulmates, but they are toxic together. It's the TV series that ends up poisoned. B-

Lessons in Power

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
— Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass is not wrong, just incomplete. He was referencing slavery. It took a Civil War to get Texans (and other Southerners, but I live in Texas so let's keep this close to home) to concede their power to hold other human beings in bondage. When it comes to much less consequential matters, people sometimes concede power without a second thought. Sometimes they might not even realize that's what they're doing. The Richardson City Council is in process of ceding power to the Mayor, without a demand. It's an implicit power that Richardson Mayors have wielded since forever, soon to be made explicit by a compliant City Council. See "Committee Appointments" in "Council Recap: Rules of Procedure" for details.

POTD: Closing the Book on Australia

"Monochrome fetish.
Bookshelf swap, a little game.
Order soon restored."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 04 01 Darwin

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on our visit to Darwin, our last stop in Australia. The interior decorator on the Viking Mars cruise ship that we traveled on had a monochrome design fetish, as the bookshelves in various public rooms were ordered by color. Just wanting to mess with their heads, I sometimes swapped a book from one shelf to another, just to see how long it would take before the staff put things back in Viking's preferred order. I was never disappointed.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

POTD: Australia's Jumping Crocodiles

"Jaws in midair snap.
Darwin's wild heartbeat revealed.
River spectacle."

—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 04 01 Darwin

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken about 45 miles from Darwin, Australia. It was taken from a boat on the Adelaide River, billed as the "Spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise." Was it spectacular? See for yourself.

Bonus photos are after the jump.

Guns: Adding Insult to Injury

Source: Nationhood Lab.

The last few days have seen a confluence of gun tragedy. A shooting death in the church of Joel Osteen ("church" used loosely) in Houston and a shooting death (and 21 wounded) at a Superbowl rally in Kansas City. More and more, mourning for the dead has barely begun before new dead take their place in the headlines.

Council Recap: Rules of Procedure

"7. REVIEW AND DISCUSS COUNCIL RULES OF PROCEDURE"

With that innocuous wording, the Richardson City Council took up a question that has long puzzled me. That is, why don't City Councilmembers drive change in the City of Richardson? I attributed it partly to lack of will, but also partly to confusion over whether they even have the power to set the agendas for the City Council meetings. If it's not on the agenda, they can't deliberate it, they can't make motions for it, and they can't pass the motions that bring change.

Society of the Snow (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Society of the Snow (2023): Spanish. Docudrama of the real life tale of survival of a plane crash in the Andes in 1972. No sensationalism. Respect for the dead and the survivors. 2+ hours of a slowly unfolding disaster punctuated by moments of sheer terror. B+

Good Grief (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Good Grief (2023): Good first movie by Daniel Levy, who wrote, directed, and starred as Marc, whose husband dies suddenly, upending Marc's life and revealing cracks in the lives of his close friends. Watching them all work through their issues is not as much of a bummer as you'd think. This ensemble would work in a sequel as a TV sitcom. B+

POTD: Australia's Top Pub

"Car stops, man offers
to show us Thursday Island
On his Thursday off."

—h/t ChatGPT

From 2023 03 30 Thursday Island

Today's photo-of-the-day was taken on Thursday Island, in the Torres Strait between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea. It's Australia's top pub, that is, its northernmost pub. There's not much else on the island so my guess is that it gets a lot of the island's business.

Ellen and I were hiking up to what's left of the historic, hilltop fort when a man in a car stopped and offered to give us a lift. He worked for the Australian border service and had the day off. So he gave us a panoramic tour of the hilltop, then offered to drive us around the rest of the island. We took him up on his offer and received the best personal tour available.

A bonus photo is after the jump.