Good Morning, RVA: Hot!

How long can you last before turning on the air conditioner?

May 12, 2015; 7:01 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: PauliCarmody

Good morning, RVA! It’s already 70 °F out there, and today’s high is in the…mid-90s?! Did we skip spring and jump straight into summer? If that’s the case, can we skip the pollen too? Please? Anyway, you may also see an early morning thunderstorm or two, but cross your fingers to keep alive our streak of avoiding bad weather (sweaty, humid temperatures excluded).

Water cooler

City Council met last night and approved new CAO Selena Cuffee-Glenn’s nomination and banned the use of bullhooks on elephants. They did not, however, do much of anything else–including shifting the $10M from Shockoe development to the schools budget. WRIC reports that item was dropped from the agenda “without mention.” I’ll give Council the benefit of the doubt as they’ve got a bunch of looming budget meetings where this could come up again.

The RTD’s Michael Paul Williams writes about some of the projects the City has started but will not finish in time for The Big Bike Race™. Sure it’d be optimal to have Kanawha Plaza and the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge dam walk finished before the race, but I’d rather have well-designed, long-lasting projects than something hurriedly completed for September.

You can read the entire #deflategate report if you must (PDF)–it touches on physics and the Ideal Gas Law which you may remember from high school as PV = nRT. It also features amusing text messages between some of the Patriots staff about Tom Brady that are worth skimming. Brady will be suspended for four games as a result of maybe being generally aware of the inappropriate deflating activities.

Today’s best headline, from Vox: “Texas police searched people’s butts during traffic stops. Legislators want them to stop.” Texas, man.

Sports!

• Squirrels pick up the first win in their series against Binghamton, look for their second tonight at 6:35 PM.
• Nats scored ten runs in the first two innings and beat the Diamondbacks 11-1. They continue the series tonight at 9:40 PM.
• Hawks even up the series with the Wizards.

What to expect

• Who are the Flower Girls?
• What’s the Richmond Ballet going to do before they leave for China?
• When can you see some of Riverrock’s rad music and sports?
• Where will we fit all the folks coming into town for The Big Bike Race™?
• Why is it important to tell your wedding DJ about your weird uncle?
• How can you teach your children to not be jealous?

This morning’s longread

Age of Robots: How Marvel Is Killing the Popcorn Movie

Character arcs aren’t negotiable. They’re not highbrow or pretentious or complicated. Character arcs are essential to the success of any story in any genre. To understand why all this matters, look at the Hulk’s arc in the first Avengers, which many people consider to be the most successful part of that movie. I would argue that it’s actually the most successful element of any Marvel movie to date. In the first Avengers, the Hulk (1) hates being the Hulk, (2) encounters a situation that can only be resolved by becoming the Hulk, and (3) embraces being the Hulk. Simple, right? Stupid simple. Yet it landed like a ton of bricks in the theater, because that’s what stories are. Stories use cause and effect to dramatize a process whereby a person is forced to change.

Don’t be fooled by the title, this wonderful piece is mostly about what makes any movie great.

This morning’s Instagram

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May 12, 2015 7:01 AM 1