Avatar

You've seen this movie before. Evil mining company wants gold ore beneath peaceful Indian village and uses the cavalry to massacre the Indians to get it. You haven't seen this movie before. The Indians are blue. The horses have wings. The cavalry fly helicopter gunships. Avatar, equal parts Star Wars, Little Big Man, Tarzan, Apocalypse Now, breaks no new ground in subject matter, plot, and character development, ... you know, the things that make a story great. Where it does break new ground is in CGI techniques. Through the use of "performance capture" cameras, the movie gives extraterrestrial humanoids the most realistic facial expressions any movie has achieved.

Are we there yet? Can we use technology to create any illusion we want on the big screen? Probably not. When less-advanced technology was used in movies like "The Polar Express" the human characters looked creepy and zombie-like. Avatar technology is undoubtedly better, but it's no coincidence that Avatar is still science fantasy and not a historical epic. Blue aliens are not human, so failings of the CGI techniques are more easily overlooked. Only when this technique is used to bring a real historical figure to the screen, one that the audience is intimately familiar with, and does it in a completely convincing manner, will we have arrived at the future of movie making. When the movie version of the life of, say, Barack Obama is made using "performance capture" and CGI instead of starring Will Smith will we know that we have arrived. Until then, see Avatar. It's the closest thing yet.

Law & Order: Special Richardson Unit

Richardson City Attorney Pete Smith

The city of Richardson's attorney, Pete Smith, appeared before a city council work session to report the status of a lawsuit brought by William Gordon, a losing candidate in the 2007 council elections. Gordon sued over the city council's executive sessions, claiming they violated the city charter prior to a 2007 amendment authorizing closed sessions. A trial court ruling dismissed most of Gordon's claims but let stand the claim that the city council's executive sessions violated the city's pre-2007 charter. More after the jump.

DMN Tees Off on Sherrill Park

Ian McCann of The Dallas Morning News says Richardson's Sherrill Park Golf Course's "records raise alcohol, conflict-of-interest questions." After the jump, a look into whether there's a story here.

Biggest Game of the NFL Season?

Biggest game of the NFL season? Or not even worth proof-reading the promos? Here's how the league is promoting Saturday night's game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints on the league's Website NFL.com.

Besides the Saturday night date for "Thursday Night Football," who the heck are the Sants [sic]? I know the New Orleans football team was once known as the Ain'ts, but with a 13-0 record this year, you'd think New Orleans would get a little more respect from the NFL marketing experts.

Update: Final score Cowboys 24 - Saints 17. Maybe the Saints don't deserve that much respect, after all.

Who Thinks Like This?

I've said the "visitors" section of the Richardson city council meeting sometimes makes for rollicking good theater. Sometimes pathos. Sometimes bathos. The council meeting of December 14 provided one such moment that stunned me, leaving me shaking my head in wonderment. Did he just say what I think he did?

"I thought I'd add a little levity to tonight and tell you about riding the DART train. I ride the DART train every once in a while down into downtown. When I am surrounded by the derelicts and the mental cases and the troublemakers, I try to be a good Caucasian ambassador."

Levity? I didn't laugh. The audio recording didn't capture any laughter from the audience, either. What in the world was this speaker thinking? Whatever it is, we don't need it in Richardson.