Shannon Collins, local geek artist (and winner of our Halloween costume contest this year with her Liz Lemon / Astronaut Mike Dexter getup), is hosting her final showing of Say Hello To My Little Friends at Cafe Estelle this First Friday.

Unfamiliar with her work? You shouldn’t be. If you’ve stopped in the Urban Outfitters here in Philadelphia, you may have spotted her super cute animal art, printed out on slices of wood. Her art has also been on display in the Philadelphia International Airport. So really, it’s hard to avoid this adorableness. Scope out her Etsy shop to see a few more prints.

Guests can look forward to snacks, drinks, and deep discounts on her fabulous work. Guests can also look forward to being charmed by Shannon and her impeccable wit.

Go!

Say Hello To My Little Friends @ Cafe Estelle
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
www.shannoncollins.com

Ah, Flashlight Tag. You remember playing this game as a kid, right? Lots of people screaming “I GOT YOU” and “NO YOU DIDN’T” and “OH MY GOD ERIC SMITH IS A CHEATER I TAGGED HIM LIKE A MILLION TIMES HE STOLE MY FLASHLIGHT AND MY GIRLFRIEND.” Good times. Good times.

Well, Get Out Philly is hosting a game of Flashlight Tag this Saturday, December 4th, in Washington Square. As a massive graveyard, this is an appropriate playground for this sort of game. Because during flashlight tag… friendships die.

Arrive on time to hear all the rules, as their are a lot of versions of flashlight tag. Afterwards, the entire group plans to grab noms and drinks. For more details, read Get Out Philly’s official page for the event.

Good luck! Thanks to Julia Hays for the tip!

Flashlight Tag in Washington Square [ Get Out Philly ]

It’s a craft event named after Rocky. Awesome.

Our city is full of incredibly talented artisans that wield crochet hooks with unbelievable skill, and ever since I met Philadelphia’s crafting jewel, Ms. Sara Selepouchin, I’ve always made it a point to attend local craft markets. Buying handmade gifts (there’s even a website dedicated to that movement) trumps the traditional present. Why buy someone a DVD, when you could hire an artist to whip up your friend’s favorite film character, out of yarn and buttons? Handmade gifts can be infinitely more thoughtful, and this weekend, you have your chance to shop for plenty of ‘em.

This year’s Crafty Balboa Holiday takes place this Saturday, December 4th, and runs from 11am to 5pm. It’s at the usual spot, the Broad Street Ministry (315 South Broad St), right across from the Kimmel Center. This is the second annual Balboa Holiday event, and the fifth event in the collective’s history. Visitors can look forward to over 40 crafters at the church, dishing out one-of-a-kind screenprints, handmade toys, and other crafts that will appeal to your geeky sweetheart.

First 50 folks to show up will score a gift bag chock full of free swag.

To scope out a full list of the vendors and to preview a lot of the merch for sale, visit Crafty Balboa’s official website. Happy shopping! Oh, and best of all? Sara Selepouchin will be there. Say hi and swoon. I know I will.

Crafty Balboa Holiday
Saturday, December 4, 2010 11am – 5pm (FREE)
Broad Street Ministry (315 South Broad Street)

The Warrior’s Way is the new English language action film directed by Korean director Sngmoo Lee and starring Jang Dong-gun (2009 Lost Memories). The film seems to boil down to one amazing concept… cowboys vs. ninjas.

The film tells the story of Yang (Jang Dong-gun), the greatest assassin in his clan, until the day he is faced with killing the last member of an enemy clan who is only an infant. Yang refuses and flees with the child to start a new life for himself in the Old West.

Well this wouldn’t be much of an action film if the story ended there. Yang’s past eventually catches up with him and it is up to him and new comrades Lynne (Kate Bosworth, who also just finished shooting the remake of Straw Dogs) and Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean) to fight Yang’s clan and so Yang can finally be free.

Stylistically the film looks amazing, and I am really interested in to see the Korean spin on ninjas. The film is set for release December 3^rd, but we have 30 passes for a screening December 2nd at 7:30pm at the AMC Plymouth Meeting Mall. For a chance to win simply comment with your favorite ninja from any media: film, video game, or anime… and I will alert the winners Thursday morning that they have won with details where to get your passes.

I leave you with the trailer. Good luck!

Image stolen from Make:Online

Back by popular demand, The Hacktory is once again hosting their Recycled Electronics Jewelry workshop. For those of you who aren’t swayed by cute hand-stitched owls (which are a staple of craft fairs like this week’s Crafty Balboa), this might just be the event for you. Retro-inspired techie jewelry for your beloved? Perfect holiday gift. Here are some of the details from the Hacktory’s website / official press release.

The Hacktory promotes the combining of art, technology & recycling–so we created the Recycled Electronic Jewelry Workshop. You can add beauty and interest to the world by reusing electronic components that would needlessly end up in our growing landfills. It’s great fun and sparks creativity. Previous workshops were sold out–everyone loved making and taking home their amazing creations!

You’ll learn basic jewelry-making skills including design ideas, basic soldering and assembly skills, and how to choose materials for creating your own jewelry and small sculpture. You’ll also learn fun stuff about new & old electronic parts so you can talk about your creations. No experience necessary, all ages 8 and up.

Cost to participate is only $20, which includes all supplies and materials including basic jewelry parts, supplies, and a great selection of awesome-looking retro electronic components for your creations. You’ll have enough time to make several pieces to take home for yourself or for gifts.

And there you have it. $20 for all the materials you’ll need to craft one-of-a-kind scrap electronic jewelry. These workshops tend to tell out, so reserve your spot. It all goes down this Sunday, December 5th, from 1pm to 5pm.

Hack on!

Recycled Electronics Jewelry Workshop @ The Hacktory
Sunday December 5th 1:00-5:00
www.thehacktory.org

Editor’s Note: Here at Geekadelphia, we love literature and writing. Me? I work in publishing and teach college English at Peirce College. Our beloved Bianca is a copy editor, Joe writes for magazines like PC Mag, and Mikey pens the snarkiest Tweets of all time.

That being said, I’d like to introduce you to a new feature, guest posts from Lilian Dunn of APIARY, Philadelphia’s first all ages literary journal. She’ll be highlighting local literary events in the Philadelphia region from time to time, and I’m psyched to have her posting here. – E. Smith

While making my list and checking it at least once, I couldn’t believe how many cool writerly events piled up on December’s calendar. This week stuffs in shopping paradise for book geeks, high-octane poetry performances and TV written by and starring your neighbors.

Emergency: Kate Eichhorn and Jenny Sampirisi
Nov. 30 7:00 PM in the Arts Cafe, Kelly Writers House
Free

Many of us just spent the last week confronting the meaning of community and long-distance relationships. Kelly Writers House wants you to watch two poets do it a lot less awkwardly (but there will still be food after!). The Emergency reading series hosts 2 writers who influence another across distance and career stages. Like if you and your favorite cousin were both awesome writers and read in front of people. Ok, that might not sound fun, but watching novelists/poets Kate Eichhorn and Jenny Sampirisi will be.

Harvest: Spoken Soul 215 Open Mic
World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St
Dec. 1 8:00 p.m. Upstairs $10

When they’re not onstage as two of the most charismatic, intellectual and hard-working spoken word poets in Philadelphia, Greg Corbin and Nina “Lyrispect” Ball are teaching teens to examine their lives through rhyme. When they do perform, it’s often at Harvest (every 1st Wednesday). If you’ve never checked out the spoken word scene, this is one of the best places in Philly to fall in love with its raw energy and talent.

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Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and most of us will be out of the Geekadelphia HQ* through Friday. So we’ll make our triumphant return to the Internets on Monday, a day we will spend shopping online, scouring for deals. After all, that’s what Cyber Monday is all about.

So from the whole Geekadelphia gang, we’re wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, and best of luck on Black Friday. Get those deals, but please be safe. Discounts video games and electronics are great, but certainly not worth getting trampled for.

As for the image used in this post, this dapper turkey was drawn by Curious Portaits, an artist on Etsy who speciliazes in… well, curious portraits. Have a look at their profile and browse through the shop. Some really clever work in there.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We know hyperbole when we see it, but we’re also sensitive to those who link-bait geeks with wondrous tales of interstellar travel from the realm of non-fiction. We can’t help but admit our adherence to that timeless Mulderism: we want to believe. PC Mag reported that some enterprising physicists at CERN recently lassoed some antimatter, courtesy the Large Hadron Collider, and stored it for longer than ever before.

Okay, so what’s the big deal? Well, imagine a nuclear bomb. Then, imagine something one hundred times more powerful, happening in an engine, attached to a spaceship, which can produce infinite amounts of that something.

Yeah, it’s like that. Well, okay fine, not quite like that. Not yet, anyway.

Sadly, we’re afraid that antimatter rocketry, despite delightful geek-baiting hyperbole to the contrary, isn’t coming any time soon. But this research constitutes a pretty large step forward in terms of the study of antimatter.

For now, we’ll have to settle for a cozy winter night with John Vornholt‘s masterpiece contribution to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine literary canon, Antimatter. Get that antimatter back, Sisko, get it back!

If I could, I’d hop in a time machine and hire Ray Troll to draw me a text book about paleontology in 1994  so that my middle school science classes could have truly been–ahem– rockin’.

As the author of She Blinded Me With Science here on Geek, the Academy of Natural Sciences knows all about my ever-lasting love affair with the systematic study of the structure/behavior of the physical and natural world. You probably just call it science. I recently took a stroll through a sweet exhibit that any Ammonite or quirky illustration enthusiast can enjoy: I went Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway with Artist Ray Troll and Paleontologist Kirk Johnson.

In what sounds like a challenge that the Amazing Race writers only wish they dreamed up, two friends –one an artist, the other a paleontologist– took a series of road trips through out the American west and documented their findings in beautiful, intricate maps and  illustrations.

[ Click Here for the Full Size Image, Makes a Great Desktop Wallpaper ]

That’s right, boys and girls– this exhibit is not the stuff you pretended to memorize in 7th grade natural science. Along with being factual, it’s fun and imaginative… and there’s a painting called Saber-toothed Everything that not only includes a saber-toothed salmon (real, but extinct) drawn in, but somehow has a cheeseburger in it. AND WHO DOESN’T LOVE CHEESEBURGERS?

As the Academy puts it, “A new exhibit… combines art with science to explore evolution, extinction and the treasure trove of fossil finds in the American West. Rarely seen specimens from the museum’s vast fossil collection enhance the discovery experience. The exhibit, on view through Jan. 2, 2011, combines art with science to take visitors on a 5,000- mile adventure into the world of fossils. ”

Action-packed illustrations bursting with color recount what Ray Troll calls “the ultimate paleo road trip” that he and Kirk Johnson navigated through the expansive western states a few years ago. The exhibit features full-color prints, large-scale murals, and an entertaining video in which Troll and Kirk describe the collaborative process. Another video takes visitors on the road with acclaimed Academy paleontologist Dr. Ted Daeschler as he hunts for ancient life in rock formations in north-central Pennsylvania where he has made numerous important fossil discoveries along roadsides.”

And it was absolutely awesome. Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway is free with museum admission and open until January 2nd, 2011.

Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 299-1009
www.ansp.org

Last night, I spent the evening being wowed at XIX, the gorgeous and ritzy restaurant located on the 19th floor of the Hyatt at the Bellevue. I know, I’m just as surprised as you are. You’re looking at the same guy who tweets about wanting the McRib while passing the McDonald’s in Rittenhouse Square. XIX certainly isn’t my scene. But when offered up a chance to scope out thousand dollar Christmas trees… well, it’s hard to say no.

That’s right. Christmas trees starting at $1k.

The Bellevue was hosting a fundraiser for the Philadelphia Orchestra, auctioning off stunning, beautiful Christmas trees crafted by artisans all around the city. Beautiful Blooms, Papertini, Styled Creative... several florists, boutiques, and agencies donated their time and skill to creating one-of-kind Christmas creations for this charitable event. But let’s be honest. It’s hard to make a Christmas tree that isn’t beautiful. It isn’t like a Christmas sweater, where the result is inevitably awful. Throw some paper snowflakes up there, some popcorn, some white lights… bam. Done and done. Gorgeous tree.

Our friends at the Philadelphia based design firm and ad agency, Red Tettemer, clearly know this, and that it takes a little extra to create something truly unique and outstanding. Leave it to this insanely creative agency to think outside the box… and outside the tree.

Behold, the Lady Gaga Christmas tree.

Crafted with vinyl, steel, awesome steampunk-esque goggles, and multicolored lights, this ‘Monster’ of a tree (did you see that? did you see what I did there?) was absolutely stunning, and stood out in the gorgeous hotel restaurant. Hands down stole the show, and was absolutely worth highlighting in a blog post. Well done, Red T. Well done indeed.

I took several more photos of tree, as well as the other expertly crafted Christmas trees on exhibit. Have a look at them in the Flickr gallery below, and huge thank you to XIX for inviting me to the event. It was wonderful.

I’ve had some sort of hunger for adventure games lately. I played the heck out of the Monkey Island games on the iPad but I still wanted more. Luckily, Wadjet Eye Games hooked me up with a copy of Puzzle Bots to play to my heart’s content. So I did what any gamer of my caliber would do — I played the ever living crap out of it.

Characters
As the player, you take the role of Hero initially, one of four other robots. Let me explain a little bit about each of the little guys, I think it’ll give a good amount of insight in to the kinds of situations you’ll find yourselves in.

First, you’ve got Hero. He’s your typical “Hero” character. He leads the other bots around and pretty much always wants to go on adventures. When playing as him, you have the ability to pick up and drop items.

Then there’s Ultrabot. He’s strong. Very strong. He’s the shy one in the group and he just follows Hero around for lack of anything better to do. You can use him to push things around in order to solve some of the puzzles.

Let’s not forget about our mechanical mermaid, Ibi. She’s a little waterproof “Hero” of sorts. She does in the water what Hero does on land. She can manipulate items with her hands, and she can also tow items around. This comes in handy on more than one occasion, especially when you need to move items on to dry land.

Kelvin is for all of you firebugs out there. He’s pretty much a flamethrower with legs which is absolutely fine by me. There was really a lot of thought put in to how useful he would be. I’ve found myself using him to heat water, evaporate water and yes, also burn things.

Last but not least, we’ve got Bombchelle. She’s the final robot that you are able to use. She’s a little punk rocker bot who tosses bombs around like nobody’s business. Her look is very reminiscent of roller derby girls — she even has a set of roller-blades.

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The second issue of Tek Lado, the little hyperlocal-bilingual-technology-paper-that-could helmed up by Geekadelphia megacrush Liz Spikol, hit honor boxes around Philadelphia today, and it is packed full of geek-tastic goodness.

This month’s 30+ page issue includes:

• A Holiday Geek Gift Guide
• A Feature on Jay Schwartz, co-founder of the Secret Cinema Sci-Fi Series
• An item about Philadelphia visual arts nonprofit InLiquid
• Q&A with Springboard Media owner Everett Katzen
• Birthday tribute to unlikely tech pioneer Hedy Lamarr
• An article by publisher Mel Gomez discussing the absence of Santa Claus in the Hispanic culture.

Other highlights include a new section called REWIND, a “tribute to obsolete technology like 8-track tapes and rotary phones,” and a feature detailing “one writer’s experience in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico, learning about the Zapatistas – a Mexican insurgent group involved in the Mexican Revolution.”

So go pick up an issue. Hey, pick up two, give one to a friend. Support this brave new local venture into print. We sure do (and did back in September). You know you want to.

Tek Lado Magazine
www.tek-lado.com