When people think of Trinity Groves, the first thing that comes to mind is the Margarette Hunt-Hill Bridge. This iconic bridge is the landmark gateway to the booming Trinity Groves neighborhood of the inner-west side of Dallas. This neighborhood has turned from an industrial district to a food and entertainment district in just a few short years. The neighborhood, though heavily gentrified is priding itself as a “multicultural hub” with an emphasis on diversity. What is unquestionably diverse is their selection of food and entertainment venues.

The neighborhood of Trinity Groves has become well known for their Latin, Asian and Mediterranean fusion restaurants. Foodies migrate to the neighborhood, especially on weekend evenings to experience the new takes on traditional recipes from many parts of the world. Perhaps in this sense, one could argue that Trinity Groves is truly aiming for multiculturalism and even hitting the mark.

With many places to shop, dine and enjoy drinks, Trinity Groves is also attracting new real estate. Luxury apartment development has become more and more common as years have passed. There is a lot of demand for good housing when there is so much convenience to great dining and lifestyle.

One of the primary things that people look for in a new neighborhood is convenience. This is one of the biggest reasons Trinity Groves is really growing as an up and coming spot in Dallas. When you’re in this neighborhood, you’re just a few minutes from Uptown, Downtown and the Arts district. Access to the major highways is at your fingertips and you don’t have to stray far to get on the DART rail or a bus if you’d rather not drive.

Here are a few high end apartment spaces you might want to check out if you’re thinking of moving to the area:
Cypress at Trinity Groves
Lofts at Sylvan Thirty

Photo by Gattacal

So this week…..

Errol Spence Jr. knocked out Carlos Ocampo at The Star in Frisco. His next fight should be against the winner of Shawn Porter/Danny Garcia fight in August. After that…Terrence Crawford?

The Dallas City Council approved $22 million to help in the redevelopment of Red Bird Mall. Nine years ago this month, I wrote an article for D Magazine with ways that Red Bird could be saved. I think my 2009 self would say that Peter Brodsky is on the right track.

The Incredibles 2 scored a record $180 million opening weekend. I checked it out Saturday morning and thought it was really good, just a beat off from being great. Brad Bird’s direction wasn’t as flawless as the first go around, but he was great again as Edna.

Justin Henry won.

Ryan and I interviewed John Bisio of Walmart and talked about the company’s community engagement.

Microsoft’s Central U.S. Director of Citizenship and Public Affairs Raamel Mitchell sits down with Ryan and Shawn at the company’s sprawling Irving campus. They discuss cybersecurity, gaming, virtual reality and community investment.

Break music from https://www.bensound.com

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On Episode 8 of Deconstructing Dallas

• Scott Braddock from The Quorum Report joins us to talk about the Texas Primary.
• Texas holds the nation’s first primary.
• Voter turnout is up significantly in Texas’ 15 largest counties.
• Braddock talks about the Huffines vs. Paxton GOP primary race.
• Beto O’Rourke plans to campaign in every Texas county before November.

Please leave a review of the Deconstructing Dallas Podcast on iTunes. Thanks for sticking with us!

On Friday I was surprised at how many negative Tweets there were on #TheLastJedi hashtag. I was wondering if my excitement about the movie (and that of the many peeps in my 7pm showing at The Texas Theater on Thursday) was just me caught up in the hype of it all. I almost passed out by the time the opening scrawl got going.

And before I check the movie out for a second time in about an hour or so, I’d like to record my thoughts after my initial viewing.

Rian Johnson made a Star Wars movie, that’s not like any other Star Wars movie. There was comedy, lots of funny dialogue. And not that comedy is new to Star Wars, but it was a different type of comedy. Force Powers were used in ways that we hadn’t seen before on the large or small screen. Not just throwing stuff or jumping high. Johnson’s take on the Force was the best thing about The Last Jedi.

The next best thing was the acting. Daisy Ridley was as good as she was in ‘Awakens’ if not better. Adam Driver was strong as a somewhat weak version of a villain in ‘Awakes.” and in Last Jedi he was more convicted in his conflicted state. Adam Driver was compelling in every single scene he was in.

Mark Hamill…well…amazing. I can see why he wasn’t thrilled about Johnson’s take on Luke Skywalker. But it was fresh, and Hamill fully embraced every second of screen time.

Kelly Marie Tran…#LikedALot.  Her Funko Pop ‘Rose’ figure has already taken its place on my daughter’s shelf. Benicio Del Toro…#AlsoLiked. Domhnall Gleeson was evil and fun.

John Boyega…not given much to deal with this go around. Oscar Isaac, he had to more screen time and I could go either way on the character of Poe Dameron honestly, but I like what he’s throwing down.

And the third thing I’ll mention on the positive side was the action. Both the space battles and inevitable lightsaber battles were as good as any in the franchise.

My one critique….too long.  I thought it was a good thing when I learned ‘The Last Jedi’ would be the longest film in the history of the franchise. But 15-minutes could have easily been cut from the film.  It would have cost a couple of characters dearly, but the film as a whole would have benefited.

Anyway, I’d love to expand a bit more, but I’m off for a second viewing….so….

This image was originally posted to Flickr by simononly

As the press build up progressed for the Ric Flair 30 for 30 it took me back to the days my youth. So many Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights were devoted to wrestling or “raslin” as my Big Mama called it.

Watching Nature Boy on ESPN was like being in a time capsule. Matches with Dusty Rhodes…The Four Horsemen…Sting, it was the best thing about being a kid in the 80’s.

Sure we watched the WWF & the Saturday morning cartoons that featured their wrestlers. And late on Saturday nights we watched World Class Championship Wrestling taped at the Sportatorium in Dallas. But it was the NWA and Ric Flair that brought the most not and excitement to me and my friends. Sometimes my Mom made popcorn and let us jump off the couch to mimic the moves of our heroes.

I can’t say that I learned a lot watching Nature Boy, because I knew I was witnessing greatness as it was happening. It wasn’t as compelling as What Carter Lost, a story I also knew well but contained more surprises. It was nowhere near as spellbinding as Best of Enemies, another sports stroll through the 80’s.

But Nature Boy took me to a place I hadn’t been in a while and that made for a nice 90 minutes or so. And even still, Ric Flair is the best thing going, today….WHOOOO!!!

• Suicide Squad hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but Hollywood Reporter says Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will be featured in a future film. According to their exclusive, Robbie has taken to the female characters in D.C.’s comic universe which goes great with the newly introduced DC Superhero Girls.

• Black Panther (2016) #2 was released last week, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates with art from Brian Stelfreeze.  I’ll have to make some time for son and I to go check it out.  By the time I got to the end of #1, I really wanted to know more about what was up with the Midnight Angels.

• In a positive social media development, Twitter will apparently stop counting photos and links towards the 140 character limit that currently bounds tweets. I can use the extra 23 characters or so this will add.  I usually try to limit my tweets to 120 characters for retweet purposes.

Top Tweets brought me to an article in Variety that shows Michael B. Jordan as on his way to becoming part of Marvel’s Black Panther film due out in February 2018.  This in addition to Lupita Nyong’o being set to join the film starring Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa and directed by Ryan Coogler.

I wasn’t (very) familiar with Black Panther until the release of Black Panther (2016) #1 released earlier this spring.  The combination of my son’s interest in the comic and Ta-Nehisi Coates serving as writer quickly brought the orphan king to my attention.

But it wasn’t until #BlackPantherSoLit that I gently pulled my son’s copy of the comic out of its plastic cover and began to give it a read myself.  Between all this and Boseman’s portrayal of Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, sign me up for opening night 2018.