David Rees Reads From How to Sharpen Pencils 8/15

Published on July 18, 2012 0 Comments
Aug ’12
15
7:00 pm

In David Rees’s new book How to Sharpen Pencils (Melville House), the creator of Get Your War On and founder of ArtisanalPencilSharpening.com shares the secrets of his craft, empowering the layman to discover the pleasures (and perils) of sharpening pencils. Over the course of 18 chapters, Rees explains the difference between sharpening techniques, including:

– Using a Pocketknife

– Using a Single-Burr Handcrank Sharpener

– Sharpening Pencils for Children

– and many more!

“How to Sharpen Pencils is very funny—it’s the work, let’s not forget, of the guy responsible for Get Your War On—but it’s no April Fools’ joke, and it’s no bathroom book. It’s a literary oddity that, even as it gleefully pursues the comic possibilities of its premise, subtly gestures towards its own secluded seriousness. And, for what it’s worth, it also marks the standard to which all future pencil-sharpening textbooks must now aspire.”

– Mark O’Connell, NewYorker.com

“I trust my bespoke pencils only to David Rees.”

– Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

“You may think that sharpening a pencil is easy, but David Rees makes it look hard, and that makes all the difference.”

– John Hodgman, Areas of My Expertise

The work of David Rees has been featured in such places as: Rolling Stone, GQ, Punk Planet, and The Nation. His work has also been in such anthologies as Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks from the Wild Web and The McSweeney’s Book of Politics & Musicals. He has been featured on podcasts and radio shows such as Bullseye with Jesse Thorn and The Best Show on WFMU.

For more info: artisanalpencilsharpening.com

Wed, Aug 15th, 7pm

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Weekly Top 10

Published on July 17, 2012 0 Comments

 

KerBloom #96 May Jun 12 is at #7 this week, on giving birth and having the universe thwart your best-laid plans.

1. Bitch #55 $5.95
2. Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8 by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics) $4.95
3. The Baffler #20 $10.00
4. Monocle vol 6 #55 Jul Aug 12 $12.00
5. Telegram #25 Feb 12 $3.00
6. Train Wreck #9 by Dave Brainwreck $1.00 – Like “Big Hands”, “Train Wreck” is packed deep with a from-the-eyes record of living, the experience of different places, the gut of what it means.

7. KerBloom #96 May Jun 12 by Artnoose $2.00 (See above)
8. Living Cooperatively In Intentional Community by Dan Copulsky $3.00 – An introduction to co-op living from an intentional communicator – easy to digest with a page of Chicago-specific resources. With Chicago resource List.

9. Gather (Artist Publications Editions) by Todd Freeman (Issue Press) $12.00 – Beautiful drawing zine of meticulous penline knotwork. This one’s got some serious net rewards. -EF

10. Gems #1 Interview Zine Featuring Sic Alps, Kraftwerk and Geneva Jacuzzi by Mike S. (Strange Cessation) $4.00

New Stuff This Week

Published on July 14, 2012 0 Comments

Galactic Zoo Dossier #9 (Drag City) $21.98 – Galactic Zoo Dossier #9 has over 100 pages on overlooked freak rock bands, heady comics and populist pop-psych. Contributors include creator Plastic Crimewave, Byron Coley (The Wire), Eric Colin (Ugly Things / Shindig), Avi Spivak (Human Being Lawnmower) and Scott Wilkinson (Ugly Things, Endless Trip). Contains Interviews with Arthur Brown, Black Widow, Poppy Family, Rodriguez and Mark Fry. Features on Egg & East Of Eden, Collectors & Folklords, Curtis Knight, John Berberian, Psyched Archie & Mad, Kirby, Texas psych scene, Kak, Moody Blues, White Witch. Trading cards of damaged guitar gods and astral folk maidens, in full colour. The CD compilation contains unreleased and mind-frying sounds by Mainliner, Secret Syde, Ultima Thule, Mark Fry, Daze Of Night and The Light Company, amongst others.

Zines
Pieces #7 On Belief Delusion and Love by Nichole $3.00
Hoax #7 Feminism and Change $3.00
Suck It and See by Zanny Begg $5.00
NA680 by Blaise Larmee $3.00
Zines from Drippy Bone: Locked Up Forevers by Alicia Ordal $4.00, Freak Scene $7.00, MOCA #1 Magazine of Contemporary Alchemy by Gordon Magnin $5.00
Decrepit Americana #1 and #2 by Iowa Joe $3.00 each
Magic Afternoon #1 $10.00
Stuff from the Transgender Oral History Project Distro, including: Transgender Herb Garden An MtF Guide to Disconnecting Ones Self From Big Pharma, Trannydykewhore #1, Excerpts From a Journal of a Trans Girl and more.
Telegram #25 Feb 12 by Miranda Elizabeth $3.00
Cop Dad #1 Premier Issue Magazine of the Exceptional Personal Experience $2.00
zines by Dan Copulsky: Concisely #7 Stories Under 500 Words, Living Cooperatively In Intentional Community by Dan Copulsky with a Chicago Resource List. Personal Account of Tipping
Cocaine Makes the Heart Grow Fonder by Harry  Marker et al. $3.00
Quick Non Monogamy Glossary by Max Mandax $.25
Prickly Places Raisin Catalog #1 by Alex Nichols $28.00
Playing Victim #5 by Brittany Maksimovic $2.00
Little Otsu Living Things vol 8 featuring Jessica Seamans $6.95
Period by Christopher Adams $5.00
Acid Kat #4 Jun Jul 12 by Austin et al. $3.00

Comics & Comix
Executive Werewolf Raisin Catalog #.5 by Alex Nichols $3.00 – Were the 99%.

Linework #3 Spr 12 $12.00
RAV #6 by Mickey Z $6.00
Freal Real by Pat Aulisio $5.00
John Blaze #1 by Leslie Weibeler $4.00
Nome #1 by Jason T. Miles et al. $7.00
Jason T. Miles titles: Pines #2-#4, No Body Move Know Buddy Moves Love and more.
Swamr #1 by Michael Olivo $3.00
Ductile Anchor by Karneeleus $3.50
Crestfallen #5 by Sandra Sierra $4.00
Swaying Gates by Naji $4.00
Jason Ludtke titles: Colossal Feathers and Composite Armour, Colossal Vulpes Vulpes
LCB (Liberty Crew Breakers) by Nate Beaty $5.00
Pizza Face #1 by Mikey Anderson $4.00
Donda by Jon Dradoer $2.00
Spazz Factory #1 by “Bill Cosby” $2.00
Breakfast for Dinner by Kelci Crawford $3.50
Sweetmeats #1 by Edie Fake $2.00
Slurricane #3 by Will Laren $8.00

Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks
Cake Book 2012 $15.00 – The official anthology of CAKE (Chicago Alternative Comics Expo) $15.00
Hellboy vol 5 by Mike Mognola et al. (Dark Horse) $49.99 – Contains the stories Darkness Calls and The Wild Hunt.
Flannery O’Connor The Cartoons (Fantagraphics) $22.95
JLA vol 2 TPB by Grant Morrison et al. $24.99
Midnight Days Deluxe Edition by Neil Gaiman $24.99

Art & Design
Wolf the Artist From Apocalypse Back by Wolfgang Carver and Lisa Carver $13.00

Fiction
Gather Yourselves Together by Philip K. Dick $13.95
My American Unhappiness by Dean Bakopoulos $13.95
Torn in Two by Brit Sigh $10.00
Year Zero by Rob Reid $25.00
Enchantment New and Selected Stories by Thaisa Frank (Counterpoint) $16.95

Politics & Revolution
Black 911: Money, Motive and Technology by Mark H. Gaffney (Trine Day) $19.95

Mayhem, Miscreants, Memoirs & Misc
Books by Prof Oddfellow (and friends): Annotated Ellipses Revealing Hidden dot to dot game within a novelists Eccentric $9.95, Presumptive Conundrums Rhetorical Math Questions and Answers $14.25, Moon Fish Ocean a Zen Converstion of Rock Paper Scissors $11.49 Wyes Dictionary of Improbable Words by Craig Conley $27.99
It Chooses You by Miranda July (McSweeneys) $16.00 – Now in soft cover, this book is about Miranda July’s fascination with PennySaver classified ads. Then it turned into this big meditation on the creative process. And she got a photographewr in on the action. Then it became a movie.

Music Books
If You Like Metallica Here Are Over 200 Bands, CDs, Movies, and Other Oddities That You Will Love by Mike McPadden (Backbeat) $14.99 – This book illuminates the sounds and styles that influenced and have been influenced by this band, in addition to non-musical elements such movies, books, and cultural iconoclasts.
Hammered: Heavy Tales from the Hard-Rock Highway ed. by Kirk Blows – Whether being threatened by members of Motörhead, sipping soup with Ozzy Osbourne, sharing a stage with Metallica, drinking with UFO or enjoying candid conversation with Queen, veteran journo Blows presents a collection of enticing tales that provide an often hilarious, always unique insight into an exciting and largely unseen world. Packed with over 200 adventures and anecdotes that span a twenty-year period.

Childrens
Just Add Water: Making the City of Chicago by Renee Kreczmer (Lake Claremont Press) $12.95

Magazines
The Baffler #20 $10.00
Hi-Fructose #24 $6.95
Wallpaper Jul 12 $10.00
Juxtapoz #139 Aug 12 $5.99
Wilder Quarterly vol 1 #3 Sum 12 $18.95 – Art mag about gardening. All the rage!
Brownbook #33 $14.99
High Times Sep 12 $5.99
Boneshaker Magazine #9 $12.00
Dazed & Confused vol 3 #11 Jul 12 $9.99
Z Magazine Jul Aug 12 $6.95
Inked Aug 12 #47 $6.99

Literary Journals, Poetry & Chap Books
Literary Review vol 55 #2 Spr 12
Artifice Magazine #4 $7.00
Bad Version vol 1 #3 Sum 12 $9.00
Women Arts vol 2 #3 Sum 12 $10.00
Ninth Letter vol 9 #1 Spr Sum 12 $14.95
Tape Op #90 Jul Aug 12 $4.95

Sex & Sexy
Our sister store, Chicago Comics sent us a buncha their sexy books and comics that are –um, how shall we phrase this? — more appreciated over here. Soem of them we’re selling for cheaper than their original retail price. And there are a lot of them, probably too many to mention. Stuff by Kevin Taylor, older Housewives at Play stuff, hilarious older sexy comics and more.
Housewives at Play – Do You Work Here? by Rebecca (Eros) $9.99
Meat #7 by Adrian Lourie $20.00 – Fresh pack.

Other Stuff
We just a big shipment of stuff in from Buy Olympia, including cards by artists like Little Otsu, Nikki MCClure, Paper Milk, Stumptown Printers and more. And a few prints in too, including a Jill Bliss Octopus print.

Weekly Top 10

Published on July 10, 2012 0 Comments

What? It’s not Halloween yet? Well everyday is Halloween in these parts.

1. Field Guide to the Aliens of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Five by Joshua Chapman $1.00

2. Tales To Thrizzle #8 by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics) $4.95

3. Lucky Peach #4 Sum 12 American Food Issue $12.00

4. Prince Zine by Joshua Amberson $5.00 –  R U Ready 4 This 1? Although Amberson is no fanatical Rainbow Child, there’s more than enough purple passion and royal dedication here to assemble an inspired and juicy analysis of Prince’s dynasty, talent, discography and lifestyle choices. I like most that the zine puts some time and thought into getting behind Prince’s rampant weirdness — it’s not at all some sorry joke at Prince’s expense like that Mirror interview, but it doesn’t exactly let him off the hook either – it’s critical AND playful AND willing to admit that at everyone’s core there IS a huge weirdo. It may also be worthy of note that this zine rolled into Quimby’s on a snowy day in April, so it’s a little cosmic too, y’know? -EF

5. Animal Sex #3 Under the Sea by Isabella Rotman $3.00 – Rotman renders in chaming detail the zombie dick raunch orgy that comprises the deep blue sea. Darling it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me. -EF

6. The Baffler #19 $10.00

7. Hi-Fructose #24 $6.95

8. Start Your Own Haunted House by Gas Mask Horse $1.98 – Gas Mask Horse masterminds the DIY haunted punk house here in Chicago and put out this amazing spine-chilling zine bloodbath of how to grow your own Halloween hellhouse. Walk throughs, how-tos, free Frankenstein’s monster mask. Tricky treats. -EF

9. Love Is Not Constantly Wondering If You Are Making the Biggest Mistake of Your Life $5.00 – 116p, b&w, softcover, 4.25″x7″

10. Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers (McSweeneys) -“In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment.”

Quimby’s Participates In Bookstore Crawl 2012

Published on July 7, 2012 0 Comments

 

Participating:
Heritage Bicycles • 2959 N Lincoln Ave
Powell’s North • 2850 N Lincoln Ave
Bookworks • 3444 N Clark St
Unabridged • 3251 N Broadway
Quimby’s • 1852 W North Ave
Open Books • 213 W Institute Pl
Powell’s • 1218 S Halsted St
Crawl starts at 1pm at Heritage Bicycles! Spend the day with your two favorite inventions, bicycles and books!

It finally ends at Powell’s in University Village (1218 S. Halsted) for the opening of “Bike Crawl: An Art Show,” which starts at 7pm.
Featured local artists: Kyle Baker, Todd Irwin, Deborah Maris-Lader, Jay Ryan, Maria Sanchez, Shawn Stuckey, Michael Una, and Julia Victor Curated by Kyra Termini
For more info, click the images above.

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