Category Archives: events

See Gwendolyn at Seesaw!

Here, Booky Booky! Promoting a book is a full-time venture, so my H tips its hat to Bill and Ian, creators of Gwendolyn.

This Saturday Bill will be hosting a Gwendolyn gallery opening at Seesaw, a charming and humble kids’ castle in Hayes Valley.

Bill’s prepared a bevy of original artwork to celebrate this spirited little redhead, including oils and mixed media. Come by Saturday after 5 for opening night. On the menu: a live DJ, refreshments, and precocious children’s lit!

If you can’t make it December 1st, the show runs through January 31st. Set in a child’s world of learning, it’s a uniquely kid-friendly exhibition.

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My date with Justin Bieber.

Justin Bieber Believe Tour

Saturday night, I played the twelve-year old I never was. Caroline was given free tickets to Justin Bieber’s Oakland leg of the Believe Tour, and I took her up on her invitation. This makes a lot of people balk, because why would a twenty-eight-year old voluntarily go to the tween heartthrob’s show when she has no kids to chaperone? It made my friends balk because they know me to be vehemently against all things “pop,” to the point that I will run off the dancefloor at a wedding if the DJ queues up “Call Me Maybe.” (I have and I will.)

So much shrilling going on right now.

So why did I say yes? While I’m not his target demo and gave the Spice Girls the only key to my pop-loving heart some fifteen years ago (Okay, so maybe Robyn gets some pop love from me now, too.), I simply couldn’t pass up a chance to see one of the world’s most renowned contemporary performers. He’s got swag, swerve, and an unparalleled dedication to his fans.

In most recent news, Bieber threw up on stage and still carried on the show. Whether he was drunk or ballooning with milk, you’ve got to give the guy props. Instead of breaking hearts that night, he basically verified his love and devotion to every preteen admirer in the house. They will never forget him, because he never abandoned them.

Earlier this summer, Gabrielle (Made You Famous Co-Founder and Red Magnet Media client) attended his performance at the Apollo. It was an intimate setting in a legendary venue. The power went out, but Bieber continued his set, singing “Boyfriend” a cappella complete with choreography and all.

What a consummate professional. I’m sure there are many adult stars who would have thrown in the towel that night.

Swaggy.

So anyway, after scoring some totally rad gear and seating ourselves next to some Google employees – our row clearly had the oldest average age out of any in the arena – we twisted n’ rolled our earplugs to give in to the Biebs.

The verdict? Honestly, it wasn’t my favorite show ever, but I’ve just got to say that the audience almost dominated over the headliner in my overall Justin Bieber experience. At the Justin Bieber show, you just can’t not be happy. All these girls, in their tutus and their glittery Chucks and their homemade puff paint proposals to the Biebs – I don’t see how any reluctant parent, sibling, or even little brother, could not enjoy him or herself. The fans know every word to every song. They know the dance moves. They already got the memo to hold up paper hearts for “[A Song I Don't Even Know],” and their eyes are aflame with this ridiculously insatiable look of love and adoration. This is likely to be the height of their lives for at least five years, and you can feel the electricity and excitement in your cheeks.

Every day is Valentine’s Day when you’re Justin Bieber.

You can also hear it in their shrill, shrill cries for all things Tween and Good. The necessity for earplugs is no joke. They’re all about to explode, and screaming is actually the least messy way for them to expel their energy quickly. Watch this video, but only on the lowest volume setting of your viewing device. I say that with all seriousness:

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Comic relieved.

Frankenweenie meets Cheshire Cat at Funko
Comic-Con 2012

Chris Turnham, Ian Samuels, and Bill Robinson hustlin’ like pros.

We’re alive! I lost part of my car to a demon car wash jet stream and contracted a bacterial infection reminiscent of pink eye along the way, but still, I can say Bill and I survived Comic-Con 2012!*

Ian and Bill’s magnum opus, Gwendolyn and the Underworld, got a great response. Adults said nice things, but more importantly, multiple little people (“children”) grew wide-eyed at the book and emitted mini-explosions of cute, adorable excitement that you just want to bottle up and keep around for a particularly dastardly day. I’ve been kind of on a baby kick recently, something Bill is well aware of, and thankfully for every terrifyingly authentic Joker a la Heath Ledger walking down the aisle, three little people passed by. If they were lucky, they were passed out in a carrier or stroller. If I was lucky, they were awake and babbling simple sentences that capture the charm of a limited vocabulary: “That! Is! Cute!” and “And she’s holding a wand! [in reference to Gwendolyn]“

Sometimes I wish I knew less words so I could be cute.

Anyway.

My Loot

I made out like a very selective bandit this year:

Comic-Con 2012

Clockwise from Left: Tomb of the Zombies by Josh Shalek, Pomeranian Magnet by Genevieve Tsai, Wrestle Pets by ChetArt, and Postage Stamp Funnies by Shannon Wheeler

  • Tomb of Zombies by Josh Shalek –Josh was two booths down from us, and was seriously the smiliest person at the Con. Even smilier than the life-sized Uglydolls with static smiles stitched onto their faces. He even didn’t mind when I basically said his entire home state intimidates me. (Arizona. He now lives in Oregon.) Tomb of the Zombies is funny and quirky…and fascinatingly consistent in its artwork! With every graphic novel or comic book I’ve read, I’ve gotten used to the artist kind of changing the look of their characters from Page 1 to the end. It’s understandable; these pieces take them so much time that there’s bound to be a rebellious line here or there. With Josh’s work, though, it’s like his brush pen is cool, calm, and collected all the way through. Very impressive. Stay tuned for his next webcomic here. (Josh traded this book for Bill’s tiger cub print. I haven’t let Bill read it yet.)
  • Pomeranian Magnet by Genevieve Tsai – I met Genevieve through Bill at one of the East Bay Humane Society’s Purrcasso auctions. Before we exchanged hellos, Bill tried to describe her to me, and said she was like Sunshine Aquino from Glee. I looked at him like he was crazy, because Genevieve does not look like Charice. Then I met her. And I got what he meant. Genevieve is effervescent. She is bubbly and cheery. Sunshine-y, one might say. Her art channels off-the-charts energy – you can pretty much hear this puppy breathing excitedly in your face, yipping and two seconds away from jumping up for a lick. Also, she likes Diablo and Adventure Time, so you should check out “Diablo Time.”
  • Wrestle Pets by ChetArt – Two booths away from us in the other direction was Chet Phillips and his wife. Chet does the art while his wife does amazing hand bookbinding. Their limited edition books were selling out, so I had to act before my designated shopping hour to get Wrestle Pets. These are luchador dogs and cats. They are hilarious. Check out El Terrier Santo, whose favorite food is Squirrel Pizza:

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Comic-Con comin’ atcha.

It’s July! They ran a super successful Kickstarter this spring, and now I am both excited and terrified for Bill’s and Ian’s big week to come. The proud papas of Gwendolyn and the Underworld will be debuting their little creation at Comic-Con (the Big One in San Diego)!

Over the weekend we unwrapped and consolidated boxes of the first batch of Gwendolyn while watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in the background. One hundred of the gorgeous books will be making the trip down to San Diego, and hopefully into new fans’ homes! In case they run out, don’t worry. Bill’s been working on getting pins, bookmarks, and prints together for weeks:

I’ll be helping out during the weekend, so please come by Small Press O-03! And wear comfy flats.

Why is Mayka terrified?

This question. Continue reading →

Periodically.

I’m so into print magazines these days, it’s weird. You’d think, with a modest disposable income originating from a career where the measurements of success live completely online, I’d just forget about print. And yet.

Burn.

I still feel a tinge of suckerdom every time I remember subscribing to Giant Robot and Theme right when they were probably shredding their print shop orders and ended up receiving only one issue of GR. That’s one copy of GR, no issues of Theme. It’s as if Print, even after I had repeatedly proclaimed “I don’t believe Print is dying”, rejected my faith and support.

I’ve moved on, though, mostly. It wasn’t me, it was Giant Robot and Theme. I could still be satisfied by magazines, I’d just have to look somewhere else.

Oakland has Issues.

The East Bay has a lot of couples who used to be San Francisco singles, and it also has a lot of under-appreciated institutions that we inhabitants are probably at odds about sharing with the public. If it gets too popular, it’s just going to become another Mission Street Food: over-glorified with unreasonable lines. I’ve lived in Berkeley for five years and I still haven’t blocked out an afternoon for the Cheese Board.

It’s worth breaching the Fight Club stance when there’s a reason to celebrate, though. So happy birthday, Issues! Issues is basically the most digestable section of Barnes & Noble plunked into a cozy cube of retail space: It’s. Just. Magazines.

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