A Presidential Visit

President Barack Obama to honor Dallas police officers with personal visit

President Barack Obama speaking in East Room White House January 2014

Dallas will see a visit from President Barack Obama.

At the invitation of Mayor Rawlings, President Barack Obama will travel to Dallas on July 12 to attend an interfaith memorial service at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The service will honor the families of the fallen police officers and members of the Dallas community who were personally affected by the July 7 shooting following a protest in downtown Dallas.

Five officers were killed: Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, and Lorne Ahrens, all of the Dallas Police Department; and Brent Thompson, an officer from DART. Funeral services have been arranged; details are posted here.

President Obama will deliver remarks. He'll also meet privately with the families of the fallen police officers and those who were injured, to express the nation's support and gratitude for their service and sacrifice. Vice President Joseph Biden will attend, as will President and Mrs. George W. Bush.

The President's remarks at Meyerson Symphony Center will be open to family and media, but closed to the public.There'll be street closures near the Meyerson, which are not being identified for security reasons. Drivers should expect significant delays until July 13.

Dallas will also get a visit from Nevada Senator Aaron Ford, who will visit City Hall on Monday, July 11, to offer his condolences. Senator Ford, a Dallas native, says this proclamation is to show that Nevada stands with Dallas.

On July 11 at 8 pm, there'll be a candlelight vigil open to the public at Dallas City Hall Plaza, at 1500 Marilla St. Up to 600 guests can park at the Dallas Convention Center. DART will provide free shuttle service to the vigil from the Dallas Convention Center starting at 6 pm, continuing one-hour post vigil. A map with details can be seen here.

In addition, a public memorial concert, Dallas Sing/Dallas Strong, will be held on July 14, also at Meyerson Symphony Center. It will include appearances by Dallas singers Denise Lee, Paul Mason, and Liz Mikel, local opera star Ava Pine, and several religious and lay speakers, among others.

The downtown area is still in recovery mode. The city blocks where the shooting occurred remain closed to the public. A map on the city's website shows the areas that are shut down: Elm, Main, and Commerce streets, between Record and Griffin.

The Bank of America building at 900 Main St. is not expected to be open.

Investigators are working diligently to restore access to the remainder of the crime scene. The city anticipates that access will be restored by Wednesday, July 13, if not sooner.

Dallas County buildings that were closed on Friday — including George L. Allen Sr. Civil Courts Building, Old Red Museum, Dallas County Records Building, and the Dallas County Administration Building — will be open for business on Monday.

UPDATE: Beginning at 5 am on Tuesday July 12, Elm, Lamar, and Market Streets will be open to normal traffic. In addition, the West End Dart Station will resume normal operations.

Main Street will remain closed between Market and Lamar; Austin Street will remain closed between Commerce and Main. The Texas Club Parking garage and the El Centro College campus will remain closed until further notice.

Parts of downtown Dallas are still closed to the public. Citizens should check with their respective employers to see if their offices are open.

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Movie Review

Tetris blocks out a taut international story about popular video game

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Nikita Efremov and Taron Egerton in Tetris

The term “origin story” is typically associated with superheroes these days, but a growing trend involves filmmakers taking a look back about famous consumer products came to be. In the next few months, Air (about Michael Jordan’s initial shoe contract with Nike), BlackBerry (about the now-defunct smartphone), and Flamin’ Hot (about the popular Cheetos flavor) will be released in either theaters or on streaming services.

First out the gate, though, is Tetris, which tells the highly complicated story of how the video game made its way from the USSR to players’ fingers worldwide in the late 1980s. The protagonist of the film is Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton), a small-time video game developer who sees an opportunity when he plays the then-unknown game at an electronics show.

Understanding its potential right away, he convinces a sales rep to sell him distribution rights in Japan, where he lives with his wife and children, and where – not so coincidentally – Nintendo is located. What seems to be straightforward at first turns quickly into a quagmire, with Rogers competing against English software company Mirrorsoft for various rights, including handheld video games, as Nintendo is about launch a new system they call Game Boy.

Directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Noah Pink, the film starts out relatively lighthearted, as the ever-optimistic Rogers bounces from country to country to convince a variety of people that his plans for the game will work. But the film gets more dramatic by the minute, with the second half – taking place almost entirely in the Soviet Union - taking on the feel of an international espionage story.

The filmmakers start with the premise that everyone watching knows Tetris and the immense popularity the game has enjoyed over the years, especially right after it launched. But even if somehow you aren’t one of those people, the film does a good job showing its importance, with multiple different parties fighting for its rights in four different countries.

Is all of what’s shown true? Probably not, but as with most movies that are “based on a true story,” there’s an understanding that the filmmakers use a good amount of dramatic license. On a pure filmmaking level, the story works because it shows the passion of Rogers for his business and the number of obstacles that stand in his way. It doesn’t hurt that one of those barriers is the USSR political machine, which practically has “evil” stamped all over it.

Egerton, known for the Kingsman series and playing Elton John in Rocketman, is a delight in this role. The somewhat shlubby character offers him a chance to utilize a different type of charm, and he knocks the part out of the park. Save for Toby Jones, most of the supporting roles are filled by lesser known actors, but all are enjoyable, especially Nikita Efremov and Oleg Stefan.

Tetris the movie could be viewed as just one big ad for the game that’s still popular, now in app form for smartphones. But the way the film is made, it’s easy to look past the commercial aspect of it and just enjoy the taut storytelling and interesting performances.

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Tetris is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Photo courtesy of Apple TV+

Nikita Efremov and Taron Egerton in Tetris

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