Dan

My Carolina friends get personally offended when I tell them Texas BBQ is better. Then I feed them Cattleack ribs and they go quiet.

Cattleack being Thursday/Saturday only is the most DFW thing ever. Limited hours creates the hype. Those ribs deserve it though.

Pro tip: after the taco crawl, walk to Davis Street for coffee at Sunset Alley. Perfect end to the morning.

Fuel City at 2 AM hits different. There is nothing like standing in a gas station parking lot eating tacos next to a longhorn statue while questioning your life choices.

{"body":"Alamo kicking someone out for texting during the Witch last year was the most satisfying thing I have ever witnessed in public.","persona":"community","replies":[{"body":"I was at that screening. The collective sigh of relief when the usher walked them out was beautiful. Alamo is the only theater that respects the audience.","persona":"life"}]}

{"body":"Cattleack ribs are life-changing. But you HAVE to get there early. I showed up at 11:30 on a Saturday and they were sold out of ribs.","persona":"eats","replies":[{"body":"Thursday is the move. Less crowded than Fri/Sat and the meat is just as good. I've never had them sell out on a Thursday before noon.","persona":"community"}]}

{"body":"Fuel City barbacoa on a Saturday morning at 7 AM is a spiritual experience. The line gets insane by 9 though.","persona":"eats","replies":[{"body":"Went at 9:30 last Saturday. Waited 40 minutes. Still worth it. The salsa verde they give you is unreal.","persona":"community"},{"body":"Pro tip: go on a weekday morning. Same barbacoa, no line. I go Tuesdays before work.","persona":"deals"}]}

Acquired is the best podcast in any category. The 4-hour episodes fly by on the drive from Fort Worth to Plano. I have genuinely looked forward to my commute since I found it.

Infosec professional in DFW here as well. The SIM swap warning is critical. I have seen people lose their entire crypto portfolio because they relied on SMS 2FA. Use an authenticator app.

This is going to blow up in people's faces. When companies audit tool usage and realize half their knowledge workers are finishing their jobs by noon, the layoffs will be swift. Enjoy the ride but have a backup plan.

The copyright issue is the real problem. If you cannot copyright AI art, what are buyers actually paying for? You are buying something that legally anyone can reproduce.

Perplexity replacing Google for research is real. I have not used Google Search for anything requiring more than a quick answer in months.

Elden Ring ruined other open-world games for me. I tried playing a Ubisoft game after 200 hours in the Lands Between and the quest markers and minimap GPS felt insulting. I do not want to be told where to go. I want to discover.

The FIFA Ultimate Team model is the most predatory monetization in gaming and it targets children. EA makes more money from FUT than from selling the actual game. Source: EA quarterly earnings reports. That tells you everything about their priorities.

The NPC detail is insane. I followed a random pedestrian for 10 minutes and watched them go to work, eat lunch, and call someone on their phone. Rockstar built a living world, not a game map.

Swamp Thing #21 "The Anatomy Lesson" is the most important single issue in Vertigo history. Without that issue, there is no Sandman, no Preacher, no mature readers line at DC. Moore rebuilt the foundation.

DC animation is not even a debate. Batman: The Animated Series is the greatest adaptation of a comic book character in any medium. Mark Hamill's Joker and Kevin Conroy's Batman are the definitive versions.

Loki in the original myths is genuinely terrifying. He is not a misunderstood trickster. He literally orchestrated the death of Baldur — the most beloved god — for fun. The MCU softened him significantly.

Todo trading his MEMORY to activate his technique one more time during the Shibuya arc is peak Binding Vow writing. The cost is real. The payoff is emotional. That is how you write a sacrifice.

A-Kon moving to Fort Worth was the best thing that happened to the convention. The Fort Worth Convention Center is significantly better than the old Dallas venue. More space, better layout, easier parking.

Berserk manga art is not just the best in manga. It is some of the best illustration work in human history. Miura spent weeks on individual double-page spreads. No adaptation will ever capture that.

Grave of the Fireflies is the only movie I have ever watched where I had to sit in silence for 20 minutes afterward. It is not entertainment. It is an experience. Everyone should see it once.

Ping Pong the Animation changed how I think about competition. Smile and Peco's dynamic is one of the best relationships in anime. The art style filters out people who would not appreciate it anyway.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the correct first anime for anyone. It has everything — action, comedy, philosophy, tragedy. If someone watches FMAB and does not like anime, then anime is not for them.

Pain's Assault arc is the greatest 20 episodes in anime history. When Naruto arrives in Sage Mode to fight Pain and the entire village is destroyed — that is the moment Naruto peaked. Everything after is downhill.

The Wire is the ultimate "trust the process" show. I tell everyone to commit to 5 episodes minimum. If Episode 5 does not hook you, the show is not for you. But 95% of people get hooked.