Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020): Adapted stage play about a 1927 recording session by the "Mother of the Blues." She demands respect. Her band's ambitious young trumpet player wants a shot at stardom. Energy like a tea kettle about to boil over. Deserves Oscar nominations. A-

Monday, December 21, 2020

The Flight Attendant (TV 2020)

Rotten Tomatoes
The Flight Attendant (TV 2020): Woman on layover in Bangkok wakes up with a dead man in her bed. Murderer and police are both after her. So is her alcoholism. Kaley Cuoco's performance is surprisingly good. Too many bad guys, too many murders, too many confusing subplots. B-

Friday, December 18, 2020

Let Them All Talk (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes
Let Them All Talk (2020): Author takes a cruise ship to England to receive an award and takes two old friends with her. There's time for lots of conversation, enough to surface long suppressed issues. Watching Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest work is a joy. B-

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Parsing the Reasons Why the City Council Said No

The Richardson City Council voted unanimously to reject a plan to build a five story apartment building on the George Bush Tollway just north of the coming Silver Line station by UT-Dallas. You might think if there's anywhere an apartment building just might get approved, it's on a property like that: on a freeway, near public transit and a large (and growing) university, and nowhere near a single family neighborhood. But the City Council said "no." Let's parse the reasons why.

POTD: Nubian Woman

Caption
From 2019 11 19 Aswan
Today's photo-of-the-day is from a Nubian village on the Nile River near Aswan, Egypt. The woman is hawking souvenirs to tourists.