The very first QuakeCon, the annual gaming convention held by gaming software giant ZeniMax Media that oversees game developers such as id Software of Dallas, was held in a La Quinta Inn in Garland with an attendance of just 50 die-hard fans. These days, QuakeCon needs a much more substantial…
Cassandra Peterson, Greg Freres and Dennis Nordman will speak at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Frisco Conference Center Many actors setting out in their careers dream of someday tearfully accepting a shiny golden Oscar statue. But Cassandra Peterson, who became a pop culture icon in the early ’80s when she…
Daiso Japan, the obscenely well-organized Japanese $1.50 store, was enough of a magnet to draw lines of obsessive shoppers to Carrollton, but now the same strip mall on Old Denton Road has added Kinokuniya, upping the ante and making the shopping center the ultimate destination for those of us who live…
Between rare books from Sylvester Stallone’s personal collection and sports memorabilia as extraordinary as Evel Knievel’s leather motorcycle jumpsuit, Dallas’ Heritage Auctions is putting every single one of your estate-sale finds to shame. These are the eight most absurd items currently up for bids. Fair warning: They aren’t cheap, but…
From an early age, Chelsea DeVos watched as her mother suffered from epilepsy. “In 2016 her doctor recommended she look into CBD-rich hemp oil to help control her seizures,” DeVos says. “I had already been researching cannabinoids to help with my anxiety, so she and I started taking the CBD…
Shoppers have been raiding Elluments since the vintage clothing boutique announced that it will close at the end of February and owner Felicia Dunnican blamed gentrification in Deep Ellum for forcing her hand. “After months of negotiation, we’ve been priced out of our space,” read her Jan. 8 Facebook post to…
L.A. lady Lola Rogers and her younger sister Taylor are the cool girls behind Blue Jean Baby, a Dallas-based, online-only boutique. At ages 25 and 27, the Allen natives are already kicking ass and stitching their brand name on bandanas and vintage denim. “To us, a blue jean baby is…
On Saturday morning, Liz Cook is in a back room of her tattoo shop, Rebel Muse in Lewisville, inking a creepy clown on the left leg of a returning client. On a nearby shelf sit about 10 trophies for tattooing. Sometimes she enters the competitions, sometimes her clients enter for her…
Even though we live in an age when powerful video games can be delivered to the TVs in living rooms or to smartphones in pockets, gamers still long for the noisy mess of a video game arcade. Cidercade, a pixelated transformation of the Bishop Cider Co. on Irving Boulevard that…
Six grandmasters recruited to UT Dallas from all over the world by program director Jim Stallings have led the team back to chess’ version of March Madness with a chance at a sixth win at the Final Four, a round-robin style event that this year pits UTD against Texas Tech, St. Louis University and Webster.
Assistant professor Tim Cassedy thought he’d spice up the curriculum for his Southern Methodist University students when he told them they could choose the format of their final projects on the Herman Melville novel Moby Dick. He thought giving his class freedom of form would help spur their creativity, but…
The hosts of the popular video game YouTube series Game Grumps can’t resist an opportunity to entertain, whether it’s for their legion of followers or just for each other. Danny Avidan and Arin Hanson, the Game Grumps’ main hosts, meet me on Skype for our interview, and even though my name…
If you’ve caught Jeremy Snead’s Video Games: The Movie on Netflix and want to see a deeper exploration of the world of video games, he’s about to release a project that’s much bigger in scope. Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed is an eight-part documentary series that will be available…
Love it or hate it — there is no gray area — holiday Buc-ee’s is like if regular Buc-ee’s was injected with large doses of animal steroids: It’s louder, more pulsating and a little confused. It sees exponentially more out-of-staters than usual, who, after driving all day, are neither sure…
A purple hue hovered above a stage as hundreds of North Texas youth gathered to have their say. Some danced, some sang, some cried and some scrawled their names across a wall. Others recited original poems before a standing-room-only crowd at DaVerse Lounge. Spilling from a dance floor, a young…
People say money can’t buy love or happiness, but it can. We have proof, and it’s in the Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gift Guide. Hillary Stonger, who handles corporate public relations for Neiman Marcus, tells us about half of the Neiman Marcus fantasy gifts are sold each year. In fact, two…
Last weekend, gamers from all around the country sat down in front of computers, game consoles and big stacks of board games and played for 24 hours straight — or until their thumbs went numb. They endured the marathon session for a special cause. The nonprofit gaming-based charity Extra Life held…
Games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, both of which were born in Dallas-Fort Worth’s growing game studio community, may have birthed the first-person shooter genre but Duke Nukem 3D gave it character. The game first released on PCs in 1996 from the Garland-based game studio 3D Realms had infinite playability…
While some sights and sounds of the State Fair of Texas stay the same year after year, Jack Libby is on the verge of saying goodbye to the annual attraction after nearly 17 years of traveling from one fair to the next with his wife, Regina, and his father’s Jeltron…
Jenny Block is a Dallas writer who has published three books on the topic of sex, The Ultimate Guide to Solo Sex, O Wow: Discovering Your Ultimate Orgasm and Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage. Gary Morris Jr. is from Quinlan, he’s been married for 26 years…
Dr. Jessica Tartaro wants you to get to know the most private parts of yourself. That could mean your secret desires, or it could literally mean your genitals. Tartaro is a clinical psychologist who has studied breast cancer survivors in London and worked extensively with veterans in San Francisco and…
Before breaking into the vintage wholesale market and becoming one of Texas’ biggest ugly Christmas sweater suppliers, Keith Marrs worked for his father, exporting cars to Central America. His wife, Amy, a Dallas native, gave us the lowdown on Vagabond Vintage — their small but mighty Design District showroom which…
