Soon to Be Dallas's Most Photographed Man

• The "connective tissue" is being addressed in a couple of ways. First is the parks master plan which calls for Woodall Rodgers, Main St. Garden, Belo Garden and Pacific Plaza. The second is the D2 alignment and streetcar system. As these parks and infrastructure come online, we should see better connection between the pockets of life downtown. If that doesn't work, we'll all just move to the suburbs and say to hell with downtown Dallas.

• Observist: You're in the ballpark -- ahem -- with your point about the oddly scattered nature of Dallas' renewal efforts. A number of factors contribute to this: One, the destruction of a lot of downtown's stock of older buildings. Those older "pre-car" towns often have cool, bricks-and-mortar in-fill between the shiny new wonders to provide contrast and background. We have parking lots. Two, freeways like Woodall Rodgers and the Mixmaster helped isolate downtown and decimate that stock of older buildings. Three, Dallas' city blocks are inhumanly long. So there's a football field of flat, baked concrete to cross to get to the next corner. If you don't believe this is a factor, consider Sundance Square in Fort Worth, where everything feels close at hand. I've often told out-of-towners that with the Arts District, Farmers Market, Main Street-and-Commerce redevelopment, Deep Ellum, the West End and a number of the retro-fitted condo towers that have gone in, Dallas actually has the makings of neato downtown. It's just that every attraction is two miles away from the next attraction, so it might as well exist alone. We need more "connective tissue" not more barbarities like Victory Park, which pretty much replicated all of the mistakes it took the rest of Dallas half a century to perfect.

• * hopeless !

• Those two posted photos are pretty dope, I must say. (yes, I DID just use the term "dope"... Eat it) 8)

• Better a ""Hopless Heap of Tainted Tin"" Than a "Heap of Hopless Tinted Taint"

• Now we wouldn't want to go insulting ol' Big Tex by calling him "Dallas's Most Photographed Man" (or that hockey player from up north). If Big Tex has watched "Lost in Space" he would have plenty of insults for this platinum parvenu. To wit: "Hopless Heap of Tainted Tin" http://irwinallen.wikia.com/wiki/Dr._Smith's_Insults Personally I like the sculpture and this wonderful photograph of my hometown - yes, things do look better from the east side of town!

• It's a cool sculpture, but Dallas doesn't have anything approaching the setting of Grant/Millenium Park along Michigan Ave in Chicago. Somehow Dallas' urban develop/beautification/renewal projects don't come together in a way that changes the impression of the place. Trinity River Park + Calatrava Bridge + Woodall Deck Park + Arts District + Travelling Man + Reunion Tower + Convention Center Hotel + 1st&Main Stonehenge still does not equal the feel of a vibrant urban environment. It's like extra makeup and jewelry on a fundamentally plain, unattractive face. Cities that developed post-car just don't feel like cities that developed pre-car -- they feel centerless and sparse. Often, the public renewal efforts end up feeling lonely and sad, emphasizing the failure of the renewal. (See Detroit: RenCen, Dodge Fountain, Joe Louis sculpture, People Mover) But hey, I shouldn't be so pessimistic - it's not all done yet. Maybe the Woodall Deck Park and the rest of the doodads will transform Dallas into the Paris of the Prairie.

• The coolest thing about Traveling Man is that we get a different of image of Dallas, one that does not include the Bank of America Tower. Dallas' skyline from east looks even better than from the west.

• Why hello, new desktop background!

• Makes the Merc look like a salt shaker.

• The Big Guy abides

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