People Watching at Klyde Warren Park

The nice Spring weather brought out the crowds to downtown Dallas' Klyde Warren Park Friday afternoon. It was perfect for people watching.

From 2014 03 14 Klyde Warren Park

If you haven't heard, the park was built on top of the Woodall Rodgers freeway. Klyde Warren Park reminds me of Chicago's much larger Millennium Park, which was built on top of a railroad yard. Klyde Warren Park heals a gash in downtown Dallas created by building the freeway. The park bridges downtown with the Uptown district and draws people from both to the park. I guess I can still dream of something like this covering up the gash in Richardson's old downtown, Central Expressway. If you can't tear the freeways down, the next best thing is to cover 'em up.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: London - III

From 1977 05 10 England

Tower Bridge (not the Tower of London, not London Bridge)
See how I used foliage to hide the unsightly scaffolding?

The Tower of London -- is there any single place in the world where so much compelling history took place? Really. Is there? I'd like to know.

By the way, the British crown jewels are on display at the Tower. Eye-popping. Yet, I was spoiled by being fortunate to see the crown jewels of Iran in Tehran first. You can't help comparing and concluding that the Queen of England comes across as a poor cousin to the Persian emperors of times past. Sorry, IJS. OTOH, the Persian jewels are kept in some bland, bank building basement. The British crown jewels are kept in the Tower of London! Advantage there to Lilibet.

More photos after the jump.

The Act of Killing (2012)

IMDB

Act of Killing (2012): Aging Indonesian death squad members re-enact 1965 killings for movie. Nation cheers. Surreal. Chilling. Obscene. B+

Quinceañera at Dallas Blooms

From 2014 03 11 Dallas Blooms

The weather was perfect -- 81 degrees and sunny. The smiling girls were out in their formal evening dresses to have their portraits taken with a backdrop of flowers. And what better backdrop of flowers can you arrange than Dallas Blooms? The girls' quinceañera birthday party itself is still to come, but for today, the whole world could share the girls' joy.

The Square (2013)

IMDB

The Square (2013): Documentary of Arab Spring in Egypt. Exhilaration. Disappointment. Perseverance. Which way does arc of universe bend? A+

Goodbye, Tom Thumb

Goodbye, Tom Thumb. Oh, the name might remain, but big changes are coming to the traditional supermarket, no matter what name is above the door.

The private equity company Cerberus Capital Management announced that it was acquiring Safeway. Cerberus already owns Albertsons. Safeway already owns Tom Thumb. With all of these under one ownership, you can bet changes will come in order to compete. Whether or not the name Tom Thumb stays or goes is only a minor matter.

After the jump, what to expect from the new Tom Thumb overlords.

S2L77: London - II

From 1977 05 10 England

1977 was the year of the Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. When I visited in May, the capital of the British Empire was already decked out and large events were already in rehearsal for the June celebration. The queen has since celebrated her golden jubilee (2002) and even her diamond jubilee (2012), but that silver jubilee still stands out.

More photos after the jump.