Photo by Hugh Casey

There’s no better time to go to Dorian’s Parlor than Halloween time! On October 22nd Dorian’s Parlor will be having its annual Grand October Ball from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Ormandy Ballroom of the DoubleTree Hotel (237 South Broad Street).

This event features a fashion show from a local “Latex Enthusiast” The Baroness, whose provocative pieces appeared in Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way!” Also appearing at Dorian’s Parlor is Alex Reed of Thou Shalt Not.

Not only will Dorian’s Parlor have these amazing performances, but vendors and craftspeople will be sprinkled throughout the event. The host for the evening is Steampunk author G.D. Falksen who recently published the fast-paced Blood in the Skies, the first of many scintillating novels in his Hellfire Chronicles series.

DJ Ghoul will keep you dancing long into the night, and lighting, sound, stage design, and production management will be provided by CircuitSix, LLC.

Admission is $25, and includes a drink ticket and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are available at TicketLeap. Philadelphia’s Doubletree Hotel is located on the corner of Broad Street and Locust. It is easy accessible from the Broad Street Line, Septa Bus 27 and 32, and a short walk from Suburban Station.

We have three tickets to give away thanks to CircutSix, LLC! So comment with your favorite Dorian’s Parlor moment and you and a guest could dance the night away at Dorna’s Parlor!

The Thing is a lot like the film’s namesake alien. While its a good imitation of the original, some parts just still don’t seem quite right. Its part re-make, part sequel and while it has its moments, living up to the expectations of fans of the original is a whole different problem altogether. While sitting down to watch this being a huge fan of the original, I tried to keep an open mind and look at this as more of an update for today’s audiences more than anything else.

The Thing takes place 3 days before the events of the first film and follows a camp of Norwegians as they discover the Lovecraftian creature encased in ice that is ultimately going to kill off the entire camp. The Creature’s claim to fame is its ability to mimic is prey, so the film is pure paranoia as they try to figure out who is human and who isn’t in this small isolated research camp in Antarctica.

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Part of what makes webcomics so interesting is that there are literally no boundaries to what you can create. There is no “demographic” or “model” you have to fit into, you just have to be able to tell a story that is important to you.

Eat the Babies by Brady Russell is a perfect example of this. Brady is a Philadelphia guy who has created a comic that is very unique and has to read to believed. It is the story of a walking, talking television as it explores the world around it and occasionally gives us a lesson in economics. Like I said, unique.

Brady was nice enough to do an email interview for Geekadelphia to talk about his comic, how he works and how great it is being an artist in Philly.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m an organizer and activist who has fought the good fight in six different states, but I arrived in Philadelphia in 2005. First of all and foremost, though, I have always wanted to be a maker-of-things (writer, artist, comics, etc). I had this idea in college, though, that I needed to go out and have some life experiences that weren’t writing and art before I really pursued those things (not really sure that was a great idea now, but it’s the road I took). That’s why I went into the organizing life. Along the way, I have written several novels that sit on my hard drive. (more…)

A year ago, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center (PPAC) celebrated its first anniversary by having Philly Photo Day. The idea was that anyone in Philadelphia could take a picture of anything, all on the same day and send it to the PPAC. The event proved to be a huge success with PPAC reviving over 300 photographs from Philadelphians everywhere.

Now, to celebrate their second anniversary, PPAC is doing it again! Friday, October 28th is the day for the second annual Philly Photo Day. Go out and take a picture with your camera, phone, computer, whatever and send it to the PPAC. Every single picture they receive will be printed and then put on display at the PPAC’s gallery in the Crane Arts Building from November 10 to the 19th. There will even be an opening reception for the exhibit that will take place on Thursday, November 10th from 6-9pm.

According to the PPAC, “Philly Photo Day celebrates photography as an art form and Philadelphia as a subject. For Philadelphia, this will serve as a diverse record of the city, through the eyes of its community members, at one moment in history.”

So on October 28th go out and take a picture in the city that we all love so much. And maybe you can show a side of Philadelphia that has never been seen before.

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center
www.philaphotoarts.org

The ladies over at Web Start Women are at it again! They’ve got another class coming up this Saturday, October 22nd, from 11 am to 3pm. This one is called JavaScript + jQuery: add more whizz, bang, boom to your site.

Sponsored by AWeber Communications, the class is $45. Interested? Get registered!

For more information on the awesomeness that is Web Start Women, check out their website.

Web Start Women: JavaScript + jQuery class
October 22nd, 11am-3pm
3103 Philmont Ave. Ste 200
Huntingdon Valley, PA
RSVP here

A number of beautiful, exquisite sculptures from Italy are making their debut in the United States at the Academy of Natural Sciences… oh, and the sculptures are of insects.

Visitors can look forward to scoping out a 10 foot tall long-armed beetle, a butterfly with a five foot wingspan, and more. According to the Academy, these pieces “highlight the beauty and complexity of the often maligned mini-beasts of nature.”

Not all the bugs are pieces of art, mind you. The Academy’s entomologists (bug people) will be there, introducing visitors to live insects from the Academy’s collection.

The new exhibit runs through Monday, January 16th. I’ll be sending a Geekadelphian there with a video camera shortly. Gotta scope out those bugs. For more information, visit the Academy’s official website.

Bugs Outside the Box
October 22nd, 2011 – January 16th, 2012
www.ansp.org/bugs-outside-the-box

The Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway (19103)
(215) 299-1043
www.ansp.org

I had the chance to stop by and chat with the folks over at Storably the other day. Founded in the summer and launched a few weeks ago, this Philly-based startup aims to resolve the challenges associated with finding a decently priced parking spot or a convenient storage location.

Early this year, co-founders Apu Gupta and Josh Kowitt both came to the realization that there was an opportunity to match the free spaces people have to the spaces people need. Kowitt was already taking in requests from friends to store stuff in his basement, while Gupta was growing frustrated with parking availability. “In many respects, Storably is like the AirBnB of parking and storage.” says CEO, Apu Gupta.

Gupta and Kowitt launched their community marketplace to utilize unused or underused spaces. There’s a benefit for two types of customers here: people who’ve got spare space and people who need it. That’s simple enough right? If you’ve got space to spare, they’re providing an easy way to generate some income.

If you’re looking for space, they’re providing some options that normally don’t arise. For example, say I owned a mansion in Queen Village and wanted to rent out one of my driveways, I could let Johnny Commuter park his Ford Tempo next to one of my spare Audis.

If only I had space to spare though, it’d be great to make some passive income. The Storably folks are pretty confident that sites such as AirBnB and RelayRides demonstrate that people are becoming comfortable with these types of concepts. They felt that parking and self-storage was the inevitable next step.

Community Manager Brendan Lowry reading his second or third favorite blog.

For those who follow the startup scene, Storably is actually based in the former office of Venmo. Timing worked out well when Venmo [secretly] moved to NYC a few months back, as speculated by Technically Philly. Hopefully, our new friends at Storably can meet comparable success coming out of that sweet Rittenhouse-area office.

Go ahead, browse some listings for parking or storage. Or perhaps, clear out that Hoarders-attic of yours and profit off of somebody else’s hoarding: www.storably.com

On October 4th, Apple announced the successor to the iPhone 4 under a series of speculation, leaks and rumors leading consumers to believe (and some to expect) the debut of the phantom iPhone 5. What we were in fact introduced to was a modified upgrade in the form of iPhone 4S. Subsequently this would be the last Apple product that Steve Jobs would see presented to the world. It’s been heralded as a tremendous leap forward in innovation and technology. Quell all of the hype and settle down the fanboys, I’m here to tell you geeks whether it’s worth the upgrade.

Critics of the iPhone 4 form factor will not see much of an aesthetic upgrade to the case and physical appearance. All of the improvements to the 4S have been made under the hood. Boasting an A5 dual core processor with speeds up to 7x faster, the iPhone 4S posted impressive benchmark scores when compared to its predecessor. Battery life patterns remained relatively similar to that of my iPhone 4. I personally never managed to get more than 4-5MBPS on AT&T’s 3G network here in Philadelphia. The device is still hampered by 3G limitations in the absence of a true high speed LTE connection even with improvements made to the Safari browser in iOS5. On the bright side, Apple did finally correct the antenna death-grip issues that plagued users of the iPhone 4 causing loss of cellular reception simply by holding it a certain way. (more…)

Many people know that cars are probably one of my most favorite things, ever. I honestly can’t think of many things that can so beautifully combine engineering, technology and design in one functional necessity. The automobile has permanently shaped the progress of the entire world for the past one hundred years.

It’s in partial thanks to cars that cities have become such large sprawling metropolises and allowed for less of a separation between city and countryside. I could go on and on how cars have shaped our society, influenced our terrain and landscape, and have also caused concern for the environment.

However, I’ll let Michael Furman, automotive photographer, give his insight as a chronicler, designer and author. He’ll be presenting some of the most beautiful and important cars of the last one hundred years as part of DesignPhiladelphia.

The Art of the Automobile: A Presentation by Michael Furman
(part of DesignPhiladelphia)
12pm, Sunday, October 23

Simeone Automobile Foundation Museum
6825-31 Norwitch Dr.
Philadelphia, PA 19153

The Young Friends of the Penn Museum are up to it again, coming at you with another fantastic event at the fabulous museum. We See Dead People.

What lurks in the shadows of the Penn Museum? Join the Young Friends for a once-in-a-lifetime paranormal investigation of the galleries and their ghostly inhabitants.

The Free Spirit Paranormal Investigators will attempt to shed some light on what lurks in the dark as they introduce visitors to their investigation techniques and equipment before taking the Young Friends on an investigation of the Museum.

I’m sending our beloved Jo Pincushion to the event, to shoot a video and catch the spooky action. Kind of sad this isn’t one of the Young Friends’ many overnight activities, as this one just seems ripe for it. For with $5 admission ($10 if you aren’t a member of the museum), you can’t really argue.

Want to learn more about the Young Friends and how you can get involved? Visit their official website.

We See Dead People @ the Penn Museum
Oct 22nd, 2011

Penn Museum
3260 South Street (19104)
www.penn.museum

BuyStarWarsCostumes.com has more officially-licensed Star Wars costumes for sale than any other site on the web. I was treated to a nice X-Wing Fighter Pilot costume. I’ll be wearing it to our Mustache Madness Halloween Bash with IndyHall on the 28th at Tattooed Mom.

Why?

Because I’m one mustache way from a Biggs Darklighter costume. Behold.

There’s no shortage of all sorts of Jedi and trooper costumes for men, women, children (even toddlers). Heck, ever have the urge to dress up like Plo Koon? They can get you started. You, with the deep pockets, could be evoke me with supreme envy. Pick up an Imperial Guard Costume. Or perhaps you could don this terrifyingly authentic Darth Vader costume? What’s the best SW costume? Not sure.

There could be an innumerable amount of things we could argue regarding the Star Wars Universe. Who shot first, Han or Greedo? How much do you hate Hayden Christensen, a little bit or a lot? Why does Lucas feel the need to make more updates to his films than an angsty teen did to their journal at the height of the Xanga days? Some of these things are dependent on film revision, extended universe or just subjective opinion.

There’s one SW-related thing you can’t dispute. What can I do on the website, “BuyStarWarsCostumes.com?” As their company name might indicate, you can buy Star Wars costumes. And we want to give two of you a $70 credit toward our new favorite website to do that, just in time for Halloween. Keep in mind, they have more than just costumes, like this Wampa Floor Rug.

Enter this contest. Comment below, with a valid email address and tell me who you’d most like to dress up as from the Star Wars Universe. Before end of [business] day tomorrow, I’ll pick two random winners and put you in direct contact with a rep from BuyStarWarsCostumes.com.

Our friend Conrad of StreetsDept is throwing his first art show on Saturday, October 22nd over at PhilaMOCA. He’ll be featuring the work of some of his favorite artists: Joe Boruchow, Kristin Smith, Nom Now, Jessie Hemmons (Ishknits), Get Up, Amber Lynn (Project Gastric) and a new mural from Yis Goodwin (NoseGo).

Conrad has been photographing the work of these artists for some time now. He tells us if you like the kind of street art he’s been sharing with us on StreetsDept, then you’ll love this show.

Find the event on Facebook, and invite all of your friends to come on out. Yes, all of them.

StreetsDept Presents at PhilaMOCA
7-11pm, Saturday, October 22nd
531 N. 12th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19123