Joe Ledbetter signing @ Gama-Go

Today, from 5:30-8:00, the Gama-Go store in San Francisco will be having a signing with artist Joe Ledbetter (who has collaborated w/ the company plenty 'o times). He'll be signing his new book Creatures of Habit and for $30 you can get both the book and a Gama-Go shirt that Ledbetter designed.

Gama-Go knows how to hook it up. For serious.

Ledbetter is also going to be bringing some special painting exclusively for the shindig.

[photo courtesy of Gama-Go]

By the power of Grey Skull!

Check out Double Punch's month long He-Man themed group show starting on June 20. Artists include Alexander Martinez, Anthony Hon, Arvin Bautista, Ben Collison, James Brown, Josh Ellingson, Phoneticontrol, Ryan Snook, Ryan De La Hoz (DP's gallery curator), and many more!

Party it up with Gama-Go

After all the fundraising they've done, the fine folks at Gama-Go have finally opened up their flagship store in San Francisco! Come and join them on Saturday, May 2, from 12-5 for their official opening. There'll be a DJ spinnin' tunes, freebies, and other surprises to follow. 

The first 50 party goers that show up will receive a super exclusive store opening party shirt for FREE with a $25 purchase. 

Can't go? Bummer. BUT, you can always check out all the awesome new merchandise Gama-Go has put up on their web store, like the two new keytar sets and shirts. 

The Gama-Go store is located on 335 8th Street. 

[all photos courtesy of Gama-Go]

Free cookies?!

Yes, that's right. FREE COOKIES.

Anthony's Cookies (the store's namesake and owner pictured to the left) will be giving free samples of their cookies during their store's grand opening this Saturday, April 25, in San Francisco's Mission district. The event takes place from 1-3 p.m. but if you plan on going, get there early . . . because y'know the word "free" brings in rabid crowds and this is cookies we're talking about. 

Anthony's Cookies is located at 1417 Valencia Street (between 25th and 26th streets).

Here's a some more info about the company:

Anthony’s Cookies has raised the standard for gourmet cookies through our detailed preparation.

Our products are made with natural ingredients that include sugar, brown sugar, unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, whole grain oats, baking soda, eggs, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Our customers have grown to love and appreciate our original flavors, freshness, natural softness and pleasing appearance of our products.

"C" is for cookie, and if it was good enough for Cookie Monster, it should be good enough for you too.

Away We Go advance screening in SF

[photo courtesy of Focus Features]

On May 1, Focus Features will be holding a special advance screening of Academy Award winning director Sam Mendes' latest film Away We Go, which was penned by Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers and stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph at San Francisco's Embarcadero Center Cinemas.

Away We Go follows Burt and Verona (Krasinski & Rudolph) on their cross country trip around the US to find the perfect home for their family to be. Along the way, they endure many misadventures and reconnect with various relatives and old friends who just may help them discover "home" for the first time on their very own.

Along with a screening of the movie, there will also be a Q&A with Mendes, Rudolph, Eggers, and Vida (no John Krasinski, booo!). And after that, there's an after party at Sens Restaurant.

Standard tickets are $30, which includes the screening, a poster, and admittance to the Q&A. VIP tickets are $125, which includes the screening, an autographed poster, admittance to the Q&A and after party. 

Tickets can be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets. All proceeds benefit 826 National, The Believer, The Teacher Salary Project, and Voice of Witness.

For more info, call 415-642-5905, x208

I want to goooo . . . but lack of monies and lack of John Krasinski are kinda stopping me. :/

Watchmen @ the Cartoon Art Museum

Just because the Watchmen movie has been out in theaters for nearly 3 weeks doesn't mean we're going to stop blogging about it. NO! 

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco opened up a Watchmen exhibit last month that displays concept art from the film and graphic novel, as well as actual props like Rorschach's journal, costumes, Laurie's snowglobe, the Comedian's guns, etc.

More pictures and thoughts on the exhibit to come. 

For now, here's Pam and myself giving a brief tour (taking photos isn't allowed at the exhibit, but we don't follow rules all that well): 

[video courtesy of Nina Penalosa]

Stay tuned.

SF International Chocolate Salon

[photo courtesy of SFChocolateSalon]

Chocolate lovers unite in San Francisco today for the 3rd annual San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. There will be 30,000 square feet of chocolate and wine samples to be had - and all for just $25 ($20 if you purchased tickets in advance). Ryan and I will be checking it out later today and give you all the 411 on all the deliciousness that is Chocolate Salon.

The Continuous Spectrum @ Double Punch

The opening reception for The Continuous Spectrum, featuring the art of Mark Todd, Bwana Spoons, Martin Ontiveros, and Jesse Balmer, will be held this Saturday, March 14 starting at 7 p.m. at Double Punch, located in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.

Bwana, Jesse, and Martin will be there to mingle with the folks.

The Continuous Spectrum runs until April 5.  Stop by if you can!

Watchmen @ WonderCon

My mission was clear on Saturday: get into the "Watchmen" panel. By the time I reached Moscone Center South, the line was out the door. But I got in, so YAY!

Billy Crudup and Malin Akerman

Dave Gibbons, Patrick Wilson, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan

LA Times blogger Geoff Boucher moderated the panel which included directer Zack Snyder, artist Dave Gibbons, and the whole cast -- minus Matthew Goode (Ozymandias/Adrien Veidt).

Attendees were treated to the first 20 minutes of the film, which was definitely unexpected. Amazing, awesome, and any other adjective along those lines do not even begin to describe how, uh, amazingly awesome the first 20 minutes were.

Snyder gave the scoop on a few things related to the movie including the DVD release of "Tales of the Black Freighter/Under the Hood" (we blogged about it, remember?). Everyone who is familiar with the graphic novel knows that "Tales of the Black Freighter" is a comic within a comic and it's story mirrors that of what's going on in the Watchmen's universe. Getting to my point, a 3 and 1/2 hour version of "Watchmen" will be put together along with the animated footage of "The Black Freighter" put in where it appeared in the original graphic novel. Snyder also wants to do a theatrical release of a director's cut version sometime in July. This'll include things like **SPOLIER ALERT** Hollis' death (which won't be shown in the original release) and more of Dr. Manhattan's "naked blueness."

Oh, and if you're one of those people that are wondering about the sequel, you can forget about it. Snyder, along with everyone else in the Esplande Ballroom, hissed at the thought.

"It's like a sequel to Moby Dick," he said.

Sadly, my camera's SD card was acting up so I only have one video from the panel to share with you all. Here's Patrick Wilson talking about how his character, Dan Drieberg/Nite Owl II, is the one that most fans identify with and root for . . .

[all photos and video courtesy of Nina Penalosa]

I think my favorite question asked was directed to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays the Comedian. During the Q&A a fan said that his portrayal of the Comedian was awesome (apparently this kid got to watch the special WonderCon midnight showing on Friday), but wanted to know if he would ever consider playing someone who doesn't die.

Y'all know his brief stint on "Grey's Anatomy" right? Okay then. 'Nuff said.

Don't forget, "Watchmen" is out this Friday, the 6th!

WonderCon screening of Watchmen

Three-Day and Friday only members for WonderCon have a chance to score a free pass to attend an IMAX screening of "Watchmen" on Feb. 27 at 11:55 p.m. For those that are going (and eligible), head on over to the WonderCon Boutique Booth (#242) for chance to win from 5-7 p.m.

Holy sh!t, right? AH!

And to add the the excitement, director Zack Snyder and the cast will be at the convention on Saturday for a special "Watchmen" panel. 

Chuck's first time @ WonderCon

[photo courtesy of NBC]

NBC's action/comedy show "Chuck" will be making it's first appearance at San Francisco's WonderCon on Sunday, March 1. 

Co-Creators/Executive Producers Josh Schwartz ("Gossip Girl," "The OC") and Chris Fedak will be there for a special presentations and Q&A. Chuck himself, Zachary Levi, has recently been added to join in on the festivities along with co-stars Yvonne Strahovski and Joshua Gomez. 

Goob Tube loves us some "Chuck," so we (or at least I) will make sure to get in on the panel! If you haven't seen "Chuck" you can easily catch up. Season 1 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray and this season's episodes can be seen online. Or you can catch it on Mondays at 8 on the peacock channel. So many options!

PS: At last year's Comic Con, Zachary Levi looked into my camera and smiled. It was magical. See it here.

Yeti Sighting in SF

[photo courtesy of Gama-Go]

The good folks over at Gama-Go have been hard at work putting together the pieces that will eventually form the retail store that I know many of us have been waiting for. Not wanting to leave their beloved SOMA district behind, the gang will be situating themselves at 355 8th St @ Folsom in San Francisco. They are shooting for a mid-March soft opening which isn't too far away, so check back for more details as we'll be sure to be keeping you in the know. In the meantime check out their blog for pics of the new spot in-the-works. If you can't wait to do some shopping or aren't in the area, some of their new spring collection is for sale at their online store.

Strange things are coming to Double Punch

[Photo courtesy of Double Punch]

If you happen to be in the Bay Area tonight, Double Punch (a toy store/art gallery in North Beach) will be holding an opening reception for their latest group show, "Strange Ways," that includes art from Matt Furie, Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch, Mark Todd, and Matthew Lock.

The shindig starts at 7 p.m. 

Can't make it? That's okay, I can't either. 

"Strange Ways" will be up and runnin' till March 8 so there's plenty of time to catch the . . uh, strangeness.