Random Thoughts: Luka Doncic Trade

2025-02-02: Musing on the Luka Doncic trade...maybe Miriam Adelson, Las Vegas real estate player and new owner of the Mavs, is trying to replicate Jerry Jones's results with the Cowboys. Don't win championships, win real estate deals and increase the value of the franchise. Maybe Adelson wants to take the money that would have gone to Luka and invest it in a casino, once Texas leg opens the door to that possibility.

2025-02-05: I am not a conspiracy theorist but if there were something that might just make me one, it could be the Luca Doncic trade.

2025-02-07: There's a major free-speech battle being fought right here in Richardson, Texas. Student editorial control of student journalism is at stake.
Inside UT-Dallas’ fight over the student press
dallasnews.com/news/education/...

Here (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes

Here (2024): Heartwarming story about generations of families who lived in a single house. Story keeps jumping around in time. Some families get short shrift. Too much story telescoped into short scenes to feel the emotional pull of any. Feels like a gimmick. C-

Netflix

A Catalyst, Just Not the One Imagined

Source: Google Street View.

Staycation Coffee's current home

Catalyst: "a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction"

Example usage: "I'll be honest, I think this is a catalyst type project that will spur on to bigger, better things." — Mayor Bob Dubey, speaking of Polk Street Apartments.

City leaders have a fondness for the term "catalyst project." It's a buzzword that makes them sound knowledgable about the future. Do they ever go back and measure the performance of past catalyst projects?

The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures

Source: DALL-E.

The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, March 2, 2025. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right? Regardless, I've ranked the movies in order of my preference for "Best Picture."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science uses ranked choice voting (RCV) to ensure that the winner has broad support throughout the Academy members. I wish US political elections used something similar (see proportional voting). But that's for another post.

My personal ranked choice of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win (Anora) but how I would vote, if I had a vote.

The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...

Oscar Snubs

The 2025 Oscar nominations snub some worthy movies, as always. This year, the lowest grade The Wheel gave to a "Best Picture" nomination was a "B-". Eight movies received a better grade than that but weren't nominated for "Best Picture." The list of Oscar snubs of 2025 are...