POTD: Balloon Ride over Cappadocia

"Balloons in the sky,
Over rocks and valleys wide,
Soaring at sunrise."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 11 Cappadocia

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cappadocia, a historical region in central Turkey. It is a tourist draw for its natural wonders. A highlight of any tour is a hot air balloon ride at dawn over the other-worldly landscape. What a view. We were lucky not to miss it. We were in Cappadocia for three mornings. On the first, our scheduled balloon ascent was canceled because of wind — there wasn't enough of it. On the second morning, our rescheduled ascent was canceled because of rain. On the third morning, our departure from Cappadocia delayed to give us one final chance to ascend, everything worked out for a glorious balloon ride.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Interior Chinatown (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Interior Chinatown (TV 2024): Play within a play. A waiter in a Chinese restaurant who is tired of always playing a background character in TV shows finds the wall between TV and real life breaking down. Great concept for satirizing how TV and society treat ethnic characters. B-

Hulu

A Man on the Inside (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

A Man on the Inside (TV 2024): Ted Danson stars as a recent widower who takes up a new hobby by going undercover in a retirement home to investigate a series of thefts. The mystery isn't the point here. Neither is the comedy. It's the relationships he forms. A sensitive treatment of aging. Seniors will like it. B+

Netflix

What Did We (Not) Learn from the Boil Water Notice

Source: 5 NBC DFW.

Richardson City Manager Don Magner read a memorandum to the City Council on December 16 titled "Boil Water Notice: Summary of Findings and Recommendations." I have three takeaways:

1. To his credit, Magner admitted that individuals on City Staff made errors in judgment on the day of the event and he disciplined four individuals.
2. Magner failed to assign blame for all of the "gaps in training and operational oversight" that contributed to the need for a BWN.
3. There is still a five hour period in the timeline that deserves more investigation.

Pedro Páramo (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Pedro Páramo (2024): Spanish. Adaptation of Mexican masterpiece. A surreal story of a man who returns to his family home only to find it a ghost town. Literally. Ghosts still inhabit the town, and, through flashbacks, tell the story of his cruel father's quest to gain power. C+

Netflix

City Charter: Single-Member Districts

On December 2, 2024, the Richardson City Council appointed eleven members to a Charter Review Commission, as required by law every ten years to review and suggest changes to Richardson's City Charter. I will be presenting my own suggestions.

The City of Dallas just completed its own once-a-decade review of its City Charter. As homework, the Richardson Charter Review Commission ought to review the City of Dallas's work, certainly before concluding that no significant changes are needed to Richardson's Charter.

POTD: Cappadocia Happy Hour

"Mountains in the dusk,
Wine poured in an empty land,
A toast to the day."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 11 Cappadocia

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cappadocia, a historical region in central Turkey. It is a tourist draw for its natural wonders. After a long day touring, it's time for happy hour. What a site. What a view.

Bonus photos after the jump.

POTD: Cappadocia's Fairy Chimneys

"Geology's gift:
Churches carved out of soft stone,
Filled with ancient faith."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 05 11 Cappadocia

Today's photo-of-the-day is from Cappadocia, a historical region in central Turkey. It is a tourist draw for its natural wonders, with so-called fairy chimneys and underground cities. It was a center of early Christian life, with dozens of churches carved into the soft stone. The cave-churches and most of the private cave-homes are no longer in use, but a few families still remain. Our tour group was invited into one.

Bonus photos after the jump.

Blitz (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Blitz (2024): Mother evacuates her 9-yr-old son from London during Blitz of WWII. With indomitable will, he seeks to return on his own. As well-crafted as the story is, we've seen it all before. The historically accurate scenes play out one by one to a compromise of an ending. B-

AppleTV+

Monsieur Spade (TV 2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Monsieur Spade (TV 2024): Clive Owen plays Sam Spade less as a hard-bitten detective and more as a burnt-out case. He's in retirement in southern France in 1963. The MacGuffin is an Algerian boy who, for various reasons, everyone is interested in kidnapping, and I mean everyone. Way too many parties in this action/thriller. C-

Netflix