Hey, Dallas! Wrestlemania Is Coming!

WWE Executive Vice President Triple H made a surprise return to the Royal Rumble last night, winning the match and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H last eliminated both defending champion Roman Reigns followed by Dean Ambrose to claim his 14th World Championship (2 behind Ric Flair’s record 16)…

Guide for Pairing Board Games with Your Drug of Choice

Drinking games are an American tradition. But with a marketplace so crowded with games, alcohol and other recreational drugs, it can be difficult to find a pair that works well together. So we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite games and some of our favorite ways to enjoy…

Meet the 2016 Dallas Observer Masterminds

Nowhere is the spirit of Dallas more alive than in its artists. Their cultural brain power and unstoppable ambition bring us new events and festivals, revitalize neighborhoods, reflect on our blunders and offer us things to take pride in. Our artists challenge the status quo of theater, film, visual art…

10 Places to Shop for Locally Made Gifts That Don’t Suck

If you haven’t already started your holiday shopping, you’re going to want to get on that pronto. December 25 will be upon us before you know it, and unless you’ve decided to forgo the exchange of material possessions on the holiday as some kind of anti-capitalist protest, you’d better get…

Your Korean Beauty and Skincare Heaven Awaits in Carrollton

You’ve been to Super H Mart probably a million times, right? The allure of an exotic Asian market with interesting produce and strange things made out of fish is impossible for the adventurous to pass up. Maybe you’ve also gotten into going to the Korean spa, which inevitably leads one…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Terry Mayo

Terry Mayo’s tattoo gun slings only large-scale art pieces these days — bio-organic, blackwork, black and gray, or color tattoos. The 25-year ink veteran specializes in illustrative images but prefers to tattoo traditional Japanese art. He has tattooed masterpieces using both styles at Cat Tattoo in Addison. Mayo says he…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Richard Garcia

When Richard Garcia was a kid constantly drawing his favorite comic book characters, he knew he someday wanted to make a living as an artist. But even in art school, where he spent four years working on photo-realistic drawing with graphite and charcoal, he never considered tattooing a viable option…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Travis Clancy

Travis Clancy’s studio, located in an off-the-beaten-path warehouse district in Plano, is a stunning combination of recording studio and tattoo shop. It looks nothing like the semi-sketchy shops where most of us got our first piece of art — the barbed wire wrapped around the arm or small butterfly on…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Clint Cummings

Every tattoo is different. This art form is permanent and personal, especially for the people who create it. On a mission to ink our own skin, we researched and tracked down some of the best tattoo artists in Dallas for an ongoing series. Clint Cummings doesn’t need the title of…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Josh Hall

Upon stepping in the front door of J. Hall Gentleman Tattooers, a friendly “butler” (heavily tattooed receptionist in a T-shirt) welcomes you into the institution (tattoo shop), and offers you a bottle of water (Fiji!). If you have ever been to a tattoo shop before, you know this type of…

5 Wonderfully Weird Things You Need From Daiso Japan

If you have managed to brave the crowds and cleared away shelves at Carrollton’s new cheap-ass heaven, Daiso Japan, you should be commended for your efforts. Since those lines that wrapped around the building on the scorcher that was opening day, Daiso has stayed busy. Even a few days later,…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Liz Cook

Liz Cook is a tattoo artist. But not in the traditional sense. She doesn’t tattoo tribal designs or Old English lettering. A dagger driven through the heart or “Born to Ride” emblazoned on a banner is not the kind of ink she’s slinging at Rebel Muse, a small tattoo studio…

Eight Weirdest Places to Shop in Dallas

In the local retail landscape, there’s a lot of same-old, same-old. Even some of the boutique spots tend to stock similar merchandise, which can leave you at a loss when you’re looking for something truly unique. You might have to look off the beaten path just a little bit, but…

Marlie Madison’s Ashley Sosa On Challenges Of Running A Plus-Size Boutique

We’ve already established that there is a depressing dearth of fashionable plus-size clothing in Dallas, but that doesn’t mean that there are absolutely zero boutiques in this city selling the fashion-forward clothing that plus-size consumers are practically dying to buy. As we mentioned last week, the Marlie Madison Boutique is…

Best Tattoo Artists in Dallas: Riley Padgett

Every tattoo is different. This art form is permanent and personal, especially for the people who create it. On a mission to ink our own skin, we researched and tracked down some of the best tattoo artists in Dallas for an ongoing series. (The first one on the list became…

The Quest For the Raddest Copy of ‘Rad Racer’ at SGC 2015

After months of anticipation my kid brothers’ dreams finally came true on July 17, as the three of us walked into the Embassy Suites Dallas-Frisco/Hotel for the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention. Mikhail and Luka had a pocket full of cash each for the dealer room, a 24-hour arcade with dozens of…

Where the Hell Are Dallas’ Plus-Size Stores?

For all the constant prattle about whether or not Dallas is a world-class city, there is at least one respect in which Dallas has most other major cities beat: shopping. We may not have 5th Avenue or Rodeo Drive, but there is just as much fashion in this city as…