The Wheel Award for Excellence in Animated Short

IMDB

There are five movies nominated for an Oscar for Animated Short. My own pick for the Oscar, if I had a vote, would be for

• One Small Step (USA and China): Young girl dreams of being an astronaut. With perseverance, the support of her father, and the shoes he makes for her (One Small Step, get it?), her dream...well, you'll just have to watch yourself. A-

Not Just On Track, It's Double Track

Maybe lost in the higher profile news of the last couple of weeks (the Scott Dunn "bimbo" tweet and the Laura (Maczka) Jordan bribery trial) was news that will likely have a longer term impact on Richardson. And it's good news! I'm talking about the decision to double-track the Cotton Belt line.

The Wheel Award for Excellence in Live Action Short

IMDB

There are five movies nominated for an Oscar for Live Action Short. My own pick for the Oscar, if I had a vote, would be for:

• Fauve (Canada): Two boys play in the woods, on a train track, in a surface mine, until they get in trouble. Fun and games turns serious. Good acting. A complete short story in 17 minutes. A-

"Einen veritablen Shitstorm"

"Einen veritablen Shitstorm." That's how Kronen Zeitung, a German-language Austrian newspaper, described the reaction to Richardson, Texas, City Council member Scott Dunn's ill-advised tweet. If somehow you've been on another planet for the last two weeks and don't know what I'm talking about, read the Recap. If you just want my opinion on the whole sorry mess (oops, I may have given myself away there), jump to "My Not-So-Hot Take".

POTD: Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum

From 2018 08 13 St Petersburg

Today's photo-of-the-day is from St Petersburg, Russia. It's a photo of one of the world's great museums and historic palaces: the Hermitage, founded by Catherine the Great, housed in the Winter Palace, home of Russian tsars for 200 years, from Peter the Great to Nicholas and Alexandra.