Sharper (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Sharper (2023): A caper movie where every time a new character is introduced, the caper changes, with a new villain and a new mark. By the end, it's anyone's guess who is going to come out on top. Plot gets more and more implausible, but it's a fun ride anyway. B-

How Richardson's New City Hall Went Wrong

U of Wis Humanities Building

The City of Richardson is in process of getting public input that will shape the design of a new City Hall. I'm here to report on lessons-learned from another building, new in 1969, from a university campus a thousand miles away that I always think of when I think about Richardson's own municipal campus. That building is the UW Humanities building on the campus of the University of Wisconsin—Madison. There are lessons for Richardson to learn from that building if you don't want to see a headline like the above sometime in the future.

POTD: Sicilian Ceramic Heads

From 2022 10 30 Mt Etna and Taormina

This photo-of-the-day shows typical Sicilian ceramic heads in Taormina, Sicily, Italy.

According to legend, "there was a beautiful girl who loved to take care of flowers in her balcony. One day, while she was watering the flowers, a young Moor, who was walking in the street, saw her and fell in love at first sight...She didn’t know he was married...When she discovered the painful truth, in a rage, she cut off his head and used it as [an] ornamental vase for her balcony." (I know, legends often are very dark.)

Taormina is the setting for the second season of White Lotus. Fans of that show definitely should add Taormina to their bucket list of places to travel to. Its history goes back to ancient Greece.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

POTD: The Tallest Volcano in Europe

From 2022 10 30 Mt Etna and Taormina

This photo-of-the-day shows Mount Etna. It's an active volcano, by far the largest and tallest volcano in Italy. Its height varies from eruption to eruption, the last of which was in 2017. It's in Sicily, an island and a world apart from Italy.

A bonus photo is after the jump.

The Diplomat (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Diplomat (TV 2023): Explosion kills 41 British sailors in Gulf. Who did it? Iran? Russia? US ambassador in London works to find out, complicated by politics in both capitals, and a love/hate triangle with Keri Russell in the middle. Intrigue and personal drama. A-