Mark Tatulli is an internationally syndicated cartoonist that is best known for his two comic strips: LIO and HEART OF THE CITY. He has also been working in Philadelphia since 1982.

While Tatulli has gained much notoriety from his cartoons, he also works full time at Center City Film and Video, a production house in Center City. This was the first year that Tatulli was invited to San Diego Comic Con as a guest. I had the chance to ask Mark a few questions for this week’s Geek of the Week.

You have two very different cartoons (HEART OF THE CITY + LIO) in syndication. Tell me about them.

MARK TATULLI: Both strips speak of very different sides of my personality. One is script-driven and more traditional (HEART), and one is all action with no dialogue and leans toward the darker (LIO). But both are “kid strips,” which tells you a little something about what the two sides of my personality tend to find interesting.

You set HEART OF THE CITY in Philadelphia. What is your connection to Philly?

MARK TATULLI: I’ve worked in Philadelphia on-and-off since 1982. I love this city and I know it like the back of my hand. It seemed to me that to set HEART in a real city would make her more believable. And what better city than the one I know and love!

Plus, I always loved the MADELINE books when I was a kid, especially how it was set in a whimsical-looking Paris . I wanted to do the same thing with HEART. For a long while HEART OF THE CITY ran daily in the Philadelphia Daily News and Sunday in the Inquirer. (more…)

You may not know it, but design plays a huge part in everyone’s lives. From art to what you wear to how our beloved city is laid out, design is everywhere and affects everything. From October 13th to the 23rd, the City of Brotherly Love will celebrate design in all it many forms with DesignPhiladelphia.

Now in its seventh year, DesignPhiladelphia will encompass over 150 events and will show you just how important design is in the greater scheme of things.

Just one of the many events being held around the city is the Gang Print Run. An exhibition being held at Vox Populi on October 13th, it will feature the work of three of Philadelphia’s top designers; Dan Gneiding, an adjunct professor at Philadelphia University, freelance designer Elysse Ricci, and Mikey Burton, a designer who has done work for The New York Times and Comedy Central.

The exhibition is being held from 6 to 9 PM and is free and open to the public.

Visit DesignPhiladelphia’s official website and take a minute to learn why design is so important and how it affects you and your world.

DesignPhiladelphia
www.designphiladelphia.org

Vox Populi
www.voxpopuligallery.org

For a film whose plot has essentially become a meme, the sequel had to be not only smarter but also even more twisted than the original. That is a pretty tall order when you’re the director personally responsible for making one of the most controversial films to hit cinemas in the last 3 years.

This film is not for everyone, and the first film may have been well enough for most. But for those looking for more, director Tom Six is more than happy to oblige his fans. Giving them something that literally as Tom himself puts it, “makes the first film look like My Little Ponies.”

If you haven’t seen the first film, be warned… spoilers ahead.

(more…)

Photo stolen (with love) from Rich Hauck

Here at Geekadelphia, we love a good unconference. Hell, we threw one ourselves back in April. It was ridiculous.

BarCampPhilly is back for a fourth year, bringing together “Philly’s finest hackers, coders, ass-kickers and booty-shakers for a day full of open sharing, collaborative learning and all around good vibes.” Curious about who’s coming? The answer: a bunch of awesome people… and Technically Philly. Scope out the Who’s Coming page on BarCamp’s website.

BarCamp attendees can look forward to fantastic talks, meeting awesome new people and of course, throwing down something proper after the unconference.

After all, this wouldn’t be a proper Philly unconference without a massive bash afterwards. Head over to National Mechanics post-camp to booze up and celebrate with the Philly geek community.

Those of you with money, there’s still time to sponsor BarCampPhilly and get your name on one of their legendary t-shirts. The deadline for sponsorship is October 9th. For information on how you can be a sponsor, visit BarCampPhilly’s official website. You know you want to.

Tickets are only $10, a small price to pay to hang out and network with some of Philadelphia’s most influential geeks. Note, that the ticket price jumps to $15 after October 8th. So get on that.

For all the details about why you should be there, visit BarCampPhilly’s website. Spoiler Alert: The number one reason? JP TOTO.

See you there, geeks.

BarCampPhilly
Saturday, October 22nd 8AM-6PM
www.barcampphilly.org

Huntsman Hall at the Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
3730 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA

Whipped Bakeshop, a Geekadelphia favorite since forever, creates a stunning array of cookies, cakes, and cupcakes. These creations aren’t your standard baked goods – they’re works of art. And now you can explore the deliciousness through their revamped website – zooming over the frosted treats, learning how the cakes are sized and browsing by theme, color, or occasion.

And now there’s Whipped Bakeshop’s live CakeCam, sure to hold anyone’s attention. In fact, the first time I tuned in, I spent a solid 10 minutes watching a decorator frost a gorgeous and delicious looking cake.

Fun fact: Whipped Bakeshop created a Battlestar Galactica cake for the Geekadelphia / Hacktory / Indy Hall Battlestar Galactica party way back when.

It was years ago, and we still talk about it.

Head over to their website to scope out the new digs. And make sure you use the CakeCam. Awesome.

Whipped Bakeshop
www.whippedbakeshop.com

Geekadelphia is always bragging about local filmmakers, and we really appreciate the young and ambitious students at Temple University. Temple’s film program produces many talented proteges, and you have an opportunity to check out some of their projects!

On Wednesday, October 5th the Ambler Theater will be hosting The Temple University Owl Collection. The Owl collection is a series of short films made by these enthusiastic students. Each film in different in their own way, and they showcase the hard work of these talented students.

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Ambler Theater, with a Q & A directly following the films. The films included are: Good Day Harvey Schnitzel, Indifference, Inner Side of Horrible, The Journey Home, Love of the Body, Underneath, My Breath, and Words of Atonement.

The Owl Collection’s website is a little bare right now, but it’ll give you links to learn more about the various films. Check it out.

Ok, so you know that game Apples to Apples? It’s a riot, right? You get together with some friends, some funny scenarios get played out, and good times are had by all. Well, what if instead of just turning out a statement like “Nic Cage eats a pie” each round you end up with something more like “Beethoven and Joan of Ark Land an Airplane with a Dead Pilot”? Yeah. Enter Famous Missions creator Jason Tagmire:

FAMOUS MISSIONS is a multiplayer card game for 2-6 players. Suggested for ages 13 and up. Gameplay lasts 15-30 minutes. The game consists of 108 cards.

Do you remember when Gene Simmons, Mr. T, and Albert Einstein banded together to disarm that bomb?

That would have been awesome if it really happened.

In FAMOUS MISSIONS you can make it happen! Instead you might choose Mother Teresa, Hulk Hogan and Steve Irwin. Or Donald Trump, Joan of Arc and Danny DeVito. Choose whoever you want, and defend your choice.

The money is 100% being used for the production of this game. I’m going to order a run of the games in high quality printed two-piece boxes. As you know, it’s extremely expensive and basically impossible for one person to cover. At least it is for me… someone with a normal job, normal bills, a not so normal 3 year old daughter and 1 year old twins. If I were to try this on my own, I’d have to take out a loan or put it on credit cards and pay for it for the rest of my life. I can’t afford do that. With the help of everyone on Kickstarter, we can release this game!! And afterwards, we can work on more games! Famous Missions is also very easily expandable, so I can continue making additional cards and we can be friends forever!

You hear that? Friends forever. You aren’t just getting an awesome party game, you’re getting a friend for life. That’s serious business. Oh, and make sure you stay after the credits of that video right up there for a special cameo and some sweet Chuck Norris action.

The Project: Famous Missions: A Fast and Fun Creative Multiplayer Card Game

Creator: Jason Tagmire

The Sweet Spot: There are no less than ten $35 packages to choose from, all of which get you full copy of the game and a sweet, sweet mask of the character of your choice. I’m a Burt Reynolds man, myself. Retailers interested in carrying the finished game have the option of picking up packs of 10 or 24 copies for resale as well.

Funding Deadline: October 25th, 2011

More Info: Check out the full project page and keep an eye out for periodic updates that will preview all of the cards over the course of the funding campaign. You can also check out updates on some of Jason’s other projects at his main site, Championland.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

It’s happening again. The Underground Rebel Bingo Club, that sassy group of alterna-board-game lovers, is hosting another raunchy game night later this month at an undisclosed location somewhere in the city.

For one night only, the URBC will host a party for hundreds, with singing, dancing, and yes, Bingo. Like the kind your grandmother plays. But not.

“Rebel Bingo is addictive and shameful so the meetings take place under the cover of darkness, with cover stories to hide their existence, just in case you don’t want people to know what you’re up to,” organizers say.

The Underground Rebel Bingo Club, started in a UK basement, has spread to cities as far as London, New York and Madrid with thousands of players and plenty of booze. What makes it different? The partial nudity, for one. The rules to the game aren’t entirely clear and you might get your face painted like a sugar skull, but you’ll certainly have fun.

On Friday, Oct. 28, get your cover stories straight and prepare to play. The party starts at 9 p.m. but goes on to the wee hours at the secret venue (we’ve heard it may be on South Street, but the only way to know for sure is to get tickets!) Tickets are just $5 now at RebelBingo.com, but hurry, since prices increase as time goes on.

Lucky for you, we’re giving away a pair of tickets! Comment on this post with your best Bingo party alibi to enter the drawing. Winners will be notified Friday.

For more info and photos, check out the Facebook event page or follow @rebelbingo on Twitter.

The Misanthropes Guide To Life reads like an excerpt out of a Larry David memoir, chock-full of sardonic, insightful commentary and situational based instances of what is commonly misconstrued as anti-social behavior. A misanthrope is defined as “one who hates mankind; a curmudgeon or a realist”.

The book aims to give fellow misanthropes a how-to guide on how to cope with a genetically hardcoded disdain for others – in a sarcastically jovial way. Considering myself a part of this demographic, I decided to absorb the book rather thoroughly while only pausing for short breaks to watch fellow misanthrope, Louie C.K.

A running concept throughout the book is essentially how to feign interest in people, a quality that some of the greatest misanthropes pride themselves on. While others on the more extreme side of the spectrum choose to avoid people entirely. The realist in most of us know that this is clearly impossible unless you happen to be the Emperor of Japan or a far eastern monarch of similar equivalence living in a randomly isolated sacred compound.

Misanthropes envy that level of isolation and solitude but can take solace in the guidance of the co-author, Philadelphia’s own Chris Turner-Neal. Neal addresses everyday contradictions for misanthropes like how to engage socially as well as deal with having and maintaining friends when you’d clearly prefer solitary confinement in your bedroom. These are the societal burdens of a common misanthrope and Neal’s writing is clearly at it’s best when dipping into elements of observational black comedy while seeming almost borderline ostentatious.

Another common theme of the misanthrope is social ethics. Neal and co-author Meghan Rowland touch on awkward, social-assassin-esque situations like “the courtesy wave: a vehicular acknowledgment” and focus on advanced defense mechanisms for how to avoid uncomfortable scenarios with strangers, colleagues or family. The authors argue that even though misanthropes are commonly misconstrued as the “anti-social” members of society, they are in fact superior at grasping situational ethics whereas “normal people” cannot.

However, beyond the American Psycho references, witty anecdotes, sarcastic one-liner quips and irrational suggestions (“just taze ‘em” was once proposed as a viable solution in the book), the authors actually sometimes make valid observational points from a logical perspective. Neal and Rowland also openly poke fun at themselves by insinuating that being a writer is an ideal profession, as you are essentially predisposed to being or becoming a misanthrope.

They even take aim at blogging as a misanthropic profession, claiming that it is “the act of sharing your ideas in silence – an obvious defense mechanism for misanthropes”. Although they stopped short of saying IT professional, it was already blatantly obvious that I was a misanthrope after finishing this book. I urge you to find your inner misanthrope and take isolated comfort in some of these anti-social inspired truths. And remember – keep your friends close but your defense mechanisms closer!

Want to win yourself a copy of  The Misanthropes Guide To Life? Leave a comment about your favorite anti-social character, fictional or real, and we’ll select one of you at random sometime next week.