It’s time for our annual Geekadelphia Gift Guide! Hooray!

This year’s guide features a wealth of local wares. From boutiques in Rittenhouse & Northern Liberties to online Etsy shops, bakeries that whip up Ron Swanson cookies to stores in Chinatown that sell copyright infringing paper lanterns. The guide is pretty diverse, dishing out a little bit of everything from a number of Geekadelphia contributors.

Have a look and enjoy. If you have any of your own picks and suggestions, please do leave them in the comments with information for our readers. There are tons of great local shops and artists here in Philly. Buy something nice from them, would ya?

Happy holidays.

@ericsmithrocks: Looking for something handmade and original? Stop by Sara Selepouchin’s South Philadelphia boutique (and online store), Girls Can Tell, where she crafts wonderful, screenprinted housewares and other super cute things, from journals to prints, tote bags to one-of-a-kind greeting cards. For more information on her wares and the boutique’s hours, visit her website.

For those of you with geeky friends that adore vinyl toys and limited editions t-shirts, there are two fantastic shops you should visit that AREN’T Urban Outfitters… Omoi and Jinxed. Omoi, a favorite Geekadelphia window shopping haunt, is located in Rittenhouse Square, and run by Geekadelphia megacrush Elizabeth Seiber.

If you’ve embarrassed yourself swooning over Liz as much as we have, you can also check out Jinxed in Northern Liberties. The former South Street shop now houses a wealth of repurposed vintage artifacts for hip home decor, from old trunks to point-and-shoot cameras from the 1930′s.

And speaking of cute housewares and collectible prints, you may want to check out Hello World in Rittenhouse Square, or its sister shop Hello Home in Washington Square West. Two great local shops you should certainly spend some time in.

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@allieharch: Whipped Bake Shop. You had us at meat tornado, with your Special Edition Ron Swanson Cookie Gift Box . From the bakery that made Geekadelphia’s epic Battlestar Galactica cake, you’ll find cookies expertly created in the image of the manliest man on earth. Plus cookie steaks.

Secret Lovers. These mega-soft cotton tees from Secret Lovers are so perfectly Philly, I bought half a dozen as gifts for friends. We put a jawn on your jawn so you can jawn while you get your jawn on.

After spending a good chunk of my paycheck to pre-order the new Kindle Fire, I’m leaving the accessories work to you, secret admirers. Rouge Theory make snug-fitting cases for every gadget imaginable, in fabulously graphic fabrics. OMG BABY OWLS.

Check out NomNow and their posters. I’d use this poster as my workday pick-me-up, reminding me to get off Facebook and start creating something beautiful.

Duross and Langell. They make Honey Badger Don’t Care soap! Leave it to a specialty soap store in the gayborhood to make this meme into a reality. (seen here: http://twitpic.com/6mhxo9)

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@mikeyil: Philadelphia-based artist, Britt Miller recently started making her paintings, as prints, available on Society6.com. — She specializes in colorful impressionist/post-impressionist artwork inspired by her surroundings, animals, and life in Philadelphia.

Ed Hall, also based in Philadelphia sells prints of his stunning, modern vector-based artwork. His style is vibrant, filled with visual movement and very modern. He specializes in a combination of detailed illustration as well as repeating patterns compounded with a sharp sense of color.

Rachel Goldfarb, of Rachel Shoshana Jewelry creates one-of-a-kind handmade rings, earrings and necklaces. She specializes working with sterling silver and gemstones. Her work is unique, classy yet has a hip appeal.

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@Danthefan: Support local film and buy a membership for a friend to Philadelphia Film Society.

Signing up at the Best Boy / Best Girl level ($150), you score admit-1 to all year-round filmadelphiaEXPERIENCE screenings, discounts & advance sales for Film Festival tickets, badges & events, discounted admission to all PFS special events throughout the year, one Film Festival 6-Pack (good for 6 regular film screenings during the Festival), and way more.

Scope out some details, here.

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Photo via The Jawn

@PhillyGeekMary: For the furrier members on your holiday gift list, head over to Chic Petique at Liberties Walk for all of your dog and pet needs.

The staff is always warm and helpful, and be sure to say hello to Maesha the store cat! My kitty Flip “Bryz” Roswell personally recommends the wet food brand of Tiki Cat and the Yeowww! Catnip Banana. Chip Petique also boasts the Street Tails Animal Rescue program and the “aPAWthecary,” natural medical solutions for your pet.

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@Saint_Jon: Science geeks are notoriously difficult to shop for during the holiday season. Sodium and potassium need to be stored in kerosene. Dissecting frogs preserved in formaldehyde is smelly and messy. Forget about the process involved in getting a gas container full of hydrogen.

That’s why I go to Spectrum Scientifics in Manayunk. They have all the safe science stuff that won’t land you in jail or on a watch list. I’m getting a wooden trebuchet perfect for office cubicle warfare. Or I may invest in an army of robots to defend my cube. I should probably pick up a planetarium for my niece. Spectrum Scientifics has something for the physics, life science, or electronics geek of any age.

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@ChrisUrie Philly’s tittleandlobe sell awesome awesome looking decals for your oh so stylish macbook. You can get elements from the periodic chart, the silhouette of Don Draper from Mad Men, or a simply a hand written word. Get this one and let people know who you really are.

Bridget McCafferty-Chodak has the graphic tees that you need… if what you need are Probe Droid and AT-AT shirts. Get one for yourself and one for a friend. You can reenact the Hoth battle when it snows! Just don’t hit the person wearing the Probe Droid shirt too hard with a snowball, they might self-destruct.

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@bionicbigfoot Do you have a retronaut in your life? If so, here are some gifts that will blow their minds.

First up, from Chinatown’s mesmerizing Shanghai Bazaar (1016 Race Street) comes a paper lantern emblazoned with the images of Optimus Prime, Megatron, and, for no good reason, Spider-Man. This copyright-infringing wonder is a steal at $1.89, and is certain to give anyone on your shopping list 1980s flashbacks.

And speaking of the ’80s, Brave New Worlds’ Space Invaders magnets transport the timeless videogame from the arcades to your refrigerator. Each blind box toy costs $3.99 and includes two magnets.

And while at the store, pick up Jeffrey Brown’s Incredible Change Bots Two. This sardonic skewering of the Transformers is one of the funniest graphic novels in recent memory. It will run you $14.99, put can you really put a price on hilarity?

Photo by Kate Lynch

Whether you want to admit it or not, the holiday season is here. Christmas music is blasting in every single store you walk into, there are wreathes and trees all over the place… sorry geeks, it is impossible to get away from. Luckily, all the fretting over presents for loved ones is easy to avoid, as the folks at the Hacktory are throwing together an awesome workshop perfect for whipping up unique, handmade gifts.

Fans of the Hacktory are no stranger to the Recycled Electronics Jewelry workshops they throw on an annual basis, and they’ve got another one going down on Saturday, December 10th from 1:00-5:00pm. Here’s some deets from a press release issued by the Hacktory.

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.

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.

It only costs $20 to join in the workshop, and that includes all the supplies and materials you’ll need for basic jewelry makig. These tend to sell out, so RSVP while you can.

Its been almost 2 years since the Keswick Theatre hosted Cinematic Titanic on New Years Eve. Back in 2009 it made for a great night of riffing over an insane triple feature. Well they are returning this year, this time performing New Years Eve-Eve and riffing over a double feature consisting of The Astral Factor & Frankenstien’s Castle of Freaks.

In case you’re not familiar, Cinematic Titanic riffs to both the bad and the obscure in front of a live audience. The group is led by the original host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson and various other writers and cast as well. I was lucky enough to attend that show back in 2009. If you love bad movies and MST3K you really owe it to yourself to check this great show out!

You can get tickets from Ticketmaster here.

As I have written about before, one of the truly great things about webcomics is just the sheer amount of different types of comics you can find out there. Literally any type of webcomic can be found if you look hard enough. A perfect example is Ace Kilroy, a webcomic by local talent Rob Kelly and Dan O’Connor that I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to.

Ace Kilroy is the story “Special Agent” Ace Kilroy, a man living a life of mystery and intrigue in the world of the 1930s. The opening storyline features Ace going up against vampires in Transylvania as he searches for a fellow agent who ahs gone missing. Part Indiana Jones, part Phantom, part James Bond, the story is a mix of so many of types of genres that it’s hard not to find something to enjoy in his adventures.

Adding to the appeal is the stellar work of Kelly and O’Connor. The story moves at a steady, enjoyable pace and the art is some of the best I’ve ever seen in a new webcomic. You can also follow Ace on Twitter, read the blog and check him out on Facebook. Plus the guys have a Kickstarter campaign so that they can just focus on the comic and nothing else.

All in all, it’s an impressive debut for a webcomic. It updates everyday with a special color comic on Sundays. Getting in on the ground floor of any new comic is always fun, and Ace Kilroy promises to be a hell of a ride.

Ace Kilroy
www.acekilroy.com

Have you ever wondered if there was a whole other world, which existed just outside of your comprehension? Neil Gaiman did, and the result is 1996’s Neverwhere. Auntie Beeb is releasing all six episodes, plus so much more, in a special 15th Anniversary DVD set.

Neverwhere is a trippy view of “London Below,” the world that exists in parallel to our own. The story follows Richard Mayhew (Gary Bakewell), who stops to help an injured woman over the protestations of his fiancée. The woman is actually a dweller of London Below named Door (Laura Fraser), whose entire family has just been murdered and is being chased by the menacing assassins, Mr. Croup (more…)