Every year tens of thousands of people show up to learn what Dallas tastes like. At least, that’s what the name of the event would seem to imply. In many ways, the Taste of Dallas encapsulates Dallas’ true flavor. These aren’t the trendy restaurants that have found 20 new takes…
North Texas is home to a major animation and voiceover studio, FUNimation studios, which not only creates beloved anime shows like Cartoon Network’s Toonami block and Dragon Ball Z, but also translates many popular Japanese manga shows into English. Just imagine all of the bloody sword fighting and incredibly complex,…
Looking at the fast food habits of Dallas, you’ll easily figure two of the city’s major international influences: Mexico and France. OK, fine, so french fries originated in Belgium, but “French” is in the dang name and this landlocked joint hasn’t come far enough to have mussels and crepes in…
Pink Floyd: gods of the concept album, the conceptual rock tour and, arguably, the conceptual music video. Thanks to the Internet you can now watch Pink Floyd’s The Wall anytime you want, but thanks to Alamo Drafthouse, at 8 p.m. Tuesday you can see the full-length film exactly the way…
The term “outsider artist,” comes with some interesting connotations. Refer to yourself as an outsider in the wrong context and you’ll be sure to hear the sound of monocles shattering and frightful gasps. Luckily, most outsider artists are too busy looking for cans to care. But in Dylan Hunt’s case,…
“Caligrafitizm.” That’s the first word you see when you look up graffiti artist Soner’s website. What does it mean? Well, it’s an amalgamation of his largest influences: calligraphy, typography, graffiti and graphic design, and it truly describes his work. His large-scale murals are fantastical explorations of the interplay between text…
For Ricardo Paniagua, the canvas is sculpture and his sculpture is a canvas. He uses vivid colors to reconfigure recognizable shapes, suggesting interests in geometry and psychedelia, and to talk to Paniagua is to talk to someone inspired. His self-taught artistry and varied creative outputs are what he considers “assignments”…
For Mind’s Eye: Masterworks on Paper from David to Cezanne, co-curators Olivier Meslay and William B. Jordan delved into the Dallas Museum of Art’s holdings and private collections to piece together a stunning exhibition of drawings from some of the 19th and 20th century’s most important artists. The works range…
It’s a Friday afternoon in June and Frank Mosley is walking into Arlington High School, more than a decade after walking out with a diploma. He’s reserved the auditorium for a short film he’s working on, which opens with a stage set being torn down after the run of a…
Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth wants you to help them choreograph their next piece. Really. If you have the desire to make somebody’s body wiggle, this might be your chance. With their latest offering, Some Assembly Required, Artistic Director Kerry Kreiman and her dancers are reaching out to the social media world…
In its 13th year, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) is one of the biggest celebrations of Asian filmmaking in the South. And with more than 60 films being shown from nine different countries, this year’s festival is shaping up to be the most diverse in the event’s history…
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Know an artistic mind who deserves a little bit of blog love? Email lauren.smart@dallasobserver.com with the whos and whys. I’m standing inside a stairwell thumbing through my phone contacts when I hear a slight creak…
When Dallas/Fort Worth finally got an Alamo Drafthouse theater to call its own, every ravenous movie buff in the Metroplex knew it couldn’t match their unquenchable appetite for cult films, first runs and obscure favorites. So rather than risk having the Richardson theater eaten up by their fans (because as…
When it comes to making fun of movies, having Nicolas Cage in the cast is like soft-balling the set up to the joke. In almost every role, he turns an action film into a campy, over-acted flick that’s more pantomime than drama. Perhaps that’s why the good folks at The…
Tucked into a sleepy neighborhood on the edge of White Rock Lake, the Bath House Cultural Center is one of those venues only locals know. It’s part theater, party art gallery and the terrace overlooks the lake with a view of downtown Dallas in the distance. When the Texas sun…
Dan Colcer doesn’t just paint the canvas. The 38-year-old surrealist tattoos it like a skin artist from Elm Street Tattoo. Each image seems to grow out of the paint, an extension of another image that only appears the longer you meditate on the painting. He doesn’t plan the images. He…
Is your confidence high and your bank account low? Do you sometimes post pictures of your latest ATM withdrawl on your Instagram? Does your purse cost more than you’re worth? Did you drop a couple “hundo” on a new pair of sunglasses only to lose them during a drunken day…
Ryder Richards. It’s a name made for the arts. And Richards delivers. He is an artist, a writer, a curator, and an educator.
If you’re not watching this season of The Bachelorette, then you’re missing one of the most dramatic seasons on television. Ever. Or at least since Breaking Bad went off the air. OK, OK, arguably you’re not missing much, but we’d like to draw your attention to Marcus Grodd, one of…
Pottery Barn Kids sends me their catalog in the mail regularly. This time, instead of throwing it straight into the trash, I opened it. They claimed to be having a Fourth of July sale, and I thought, “Oh. Maybe this sale will make the things they sell reasonably priced.” I…
Living in Dallas in the summertime is honestly kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s going to be hotter than hell and utterly miserable until at least September. On the other, there are plenty of things to do that make it feel like you’re actually on vacation without…
Friday is Independence Day. If you’re visiting this blog and expecting me to tell you to do anything other than watch fireworks on Friday night, you’ve lost your red, white, and blue marbles. Go stuff your face with apple pie and chug 10 patriotic Budweiser beers. In fact, the Dallas…
