Geekend Picks: Indie Game Showcases, Tim Burton Burlesque, Locust Moon Comic Festival

Have you suddenly found yourself with nothing to do this weekend? Fear not! We here at Geekadelphia have you covered on great things going on in our special called the Geekend. Fill the end of your week with some serious geek!

First of all, Peter Jackson’s latest epic, The Hobbit, comes out! So if you’ve got nothing else to do, or someone cancels on you, you can always go see that. That is, unless you’ve already taken the day off on Friday because you’re going to a special midnight showing on Thursday night, like a good little geek.

FRIDAY

There’s plenty of geeky stuff going on at the library. At 2pm, there’s a workshop on Family History Online at the Northeast Regional Branch (2228 Cottman Avenue), where you can learn about genealogy resources. Then, of course, there’s the Whitman Gaming Club at the Whitman Branch (200 Snyder Avenue) where teens and children can play their games on the Nintendo Wii, and my personal favorite, the Lego Club at the Central Library at 3:30.

For those of you interested in the local game development scene here in Philadelphia, there’s going to be a games showcase at the Make Your Mark Center from 5 to 8. The event, organized by everyone’s favorite Cipher Prime as well as PEC, will have games by Cipher Prime, Island Officials, Origaminc, Hit the Sticks, Championland Games, Quadtratron, Burst Online Entertainment, Evil Spares None, AMI, Noasha, Redcap’s Corner, and more.

Into poetry? Head over to the Cups & Chairs Tea Cafe from 6 to 7:30 for the Poetdelphia Salon/Reading with Mike Ingram, Leonard Gontarek, and Kathleen Volk Miller. Ingram is the fiction editor of Barrelhouse Magazine and works at Temple University, Gontarek is much-published poet, and Volk Miller is the co-editor of the Painted Bride Quarterly and teaches at Drexel University. Check out their full bios and RSVP to the event at the Facebook page.

If poetry’s not your thing, maybe you’d rather go to a holiday party followed by a Norwegian film workshop over at the International House. The party, which costs $10, starts at 6, and includes singing, lighting of the holiday tree, some yummy treats and drinks, and seasonal music. The Ars Nova Workshop follows at 8 for $15, and features the Frode Gjerstad Trio and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s “The Young Mothers.”

There’s going to be a “kid-friendly” Polyphonic Spree Show at the Trocadero, in which they will perform one set of holiday music and one set of rock music. That’s not all – there’s also the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus/Syncopated Ladies, Gustafer Yellowgold, screenings of classic holiday cartoons, and more. I don’t know what more they could possibly have, but it sounds fun! It costs $20 with the doors opening at 6 and the show starting at 7. Oh, and it’s obviously all ages.

SATURDAY

Whatever you decide to do, you can finish it off upstairs at the Trocadero in the Balcony with the holiday edition of the Karaoke Gong Show, hosted by none other than Skeleclaus! That’s just everyone’s favorite Skeletor dressed up as Santa Claus, of course. It starts at 10 and is totally free, but you’ve got to be at least 21 to get in. There are over 6,000 songs for you to choose from, including plenty of holiday songs, so get drunk and see if you’ve got what it takes to make it at the Gong Show.

There’s plenty to do on Saturday. You could start the day out by baking tons of cookies for the holiday season – or you could go to the Cookie Walk at the Good Shepard United Methodist Church of Northfield. You can get cookies for $9 a pound, and then spend the rest of your day having fun!

And you could also snack on the cookies throughout the day, too. It starts at 10am, and you can RSVP and get directions at the Facebook page. Of course, that means that you can’t make it to see Elf at the County Theater, as part of the Saturday Family Matinees for $4 at 10:30am. So many decisions!

If you’re looking for something to do with your kids, check out Firebird Children’s Theatre: Winter Holiday Revue at the Colonial Theatre. It’s a celebration of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, with plenty of holiday music and a live musical comedy. It’s $10 and starts at 2pm.

You could also go to Tucker’s Tales Puppey Theatre presents: Jingle Bell the Cat at the Tacony Branch of the Free Library (6742 Torresdale Avenue), also starting at 2pm. This free event is a holiday version of Aesop’s fable “Belling the Cat.”

Looking for something a little less family-friendly? There’s plenty of that going around on Saturday night. At 8pm, the International House has an Exhumed Films Double Feature. They’ll be showing two movies from Lucio Fulci, the “Godfather of Gore.” The movies are Conquest and The Brute and the Beast aka Massacre Time. Get your gore on for just $15.

Wrap up the night with some sexy burlesque, starting at the Trocadero with Peek-A-Boo Revue’s “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Story.” You can see the Striptease Orchestra and Mano Divina for $20 (this one’s got general admission seating). The doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9, and this one is for those of you who are 21 and over.

There’s also the Tim Burton Burlesque at PhilaMOCA, presented by Miss Rose’s Sexploitation Follies. You can RSVP for that one, which starts at 10 and costs $12, at their Facebook page.

SUNDAY

Sunday is full of events, starting at 10:30am with Girl Geek Dinners Philadelphia’s Brunch and Holiday Sweet Swap. This ladies-only event will have a delicious brunch, followed by a trade off of delicious bags of baked treats. Check out the Meetup page for more information.

From 11am to 8pm, there’s the Locust Moon Comics Festival at the Rotunda. Honoring both comic creators and creations, this event will have plenty of artwork on display and for sale. Kung Fu Hoagies and Little Baby’s Ice Cream will provide refreshments. Check out the exhibitor list and RSVP for the event at their Facebook page.

Local steampunk event Dorian’s Parlor will be having a Holiday Bazaar at The Arts Garage from 12 to 5. Their regular vendors will be there, so you can go and buy some steampunk gear to be prepared for when the parlor returns on January 26. The bazaar is free and open to all ages. There’s also a craft show for local shopping, if you want to support local artists. It’s Flying Kite and Philly Swap’s Holiday Craft Market 2012 at St. Mark’s Church. It runs from 1:30 to 6:30, and features lots of arts and crafts. It’s free to attend and there will be refreshments you can purchase. Check out the Facebook page for more information.

Would you rather spend a few hours eating and drinking (and, presumably, being merry)? Then check out the Winterfeast at the Piazza in Northern Liberties from 6 to 9. Presented by i-g creative, Winterfeast will have holiday appetizers and signature cocktails, all free – so long as you RSVP to [email protected]. It will be under a tent, so hopefully the weather won’t encroach too much on having a good time.

Finally, Sunday night, you can go to Connie’s Ric Rac for some comedy. It’s Bedtime Stories Presents: Christmas Eve at a Delco Wawa, starting at 7:15 (doors open at 7) and costs $5. I haven’t been to Bedtime Stories since they moved from the Shubin the Connie’s Ric Rac, but this sounds too funny to resist!

I’ll end on a tease with the last option – which isn’t really an option, because it’s sold out, sadly – is the Peek-a-book Revue Holiday Spectacular at the World Cafe Live. This 18 and older show starts at 7:30pm.

That’s it for this edition of the Geekend! Have a great time, and let us know in the comments if there are other places you’d like to see featured here.