Finding Philly » Novelty

Electronic Jewelry Workshop – Saturday Aug 22 | The Hacktory

mattohara — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:23:47 +0000

Just a quick note to point to The Hacktory’s next class:

Electronic Jewelry Workshop – Saturday Aug 22 | The Hacktory.

The Hacktory and The Drawdio

mattohara — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:43:41 +0000

The Hacktory is a group of citizens who have created a sort of brain trust solely for the purpose of promoting the use of technology in the arts. It seems to be relatively new and, honestly, not incredibly organized or focused, but that may be changing as they have just received a $10,000 grant for long-term planning. In a way the come-as-you-are laissez-faire attitude is part of what makes it work. Check out the Drawdio video below and a pic of my very own Drawdio…

They’re located at 1524 Brandywine Street, just a block above Fairmount at 15th. My buddy, an electrical engineer by trade, was visiting Philly and we drove there right after a long morning spent hunting down disc golf discs on the course in Fairmount Park. We were tired and hungry and covered in dirt but nobody seemed to notice. We were handed our kits and we forgot about food for the next hour as we started soddering away.

So what is the Drawdio? I think I first found out about the class from this citypaper link. Then I found

It’s a musical pencil! Long story short, we came, we saw, we soddered. It was a lot of fun. Check out my Drawdio below:

Ours didn’t work as well as it does in the video above, but that was probably due to the new circuitboards/speakers they were using untested for this 2nd workshop. We still had a lot of fun and are looking forward to more classes as they come up. I think the next one is going to be electro-jewelry; I hope Karen likes blinky-necklaces…

Make Philly
The Hacktory
1524 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia PA 19130

Philly Food Guys review Franklin Fountain

mattohara — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:46:06 +0000

They beat me to it. The Philly Food Guys have an excellent review of the old-timey ice cream parlour Franklin Fountain . Apparently I have to stay one step ahead of these guys.

Upcoming posts for FindingPhilly will include a hidden treasure trove of books, some sing-along, paint, mirrors and stickers…

Comics in Philly

mattohara — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:10:47 +0000

There are two and a half comic retailers in Philadelphia. If you read comics in Philly you probably know about Atomic City on South Street and Fat Jack’s on Sansom and 20th. They are both killer shops that have all the weeklies and a nice selection of trades and back issues. But one is northwest of Rittenhouse Square and one is pretty far east on South Street. Where does this leave the comic-starved Center City businessman though? How to escape the dreary drudgery of the Daily Planet and escape to Elseworlds? This comic-lover was pretty psyched to discover a teeny little newstand in Center City delivering the goods!

Fat Jack’s (google local)

Fat Jack’s is great. It’s over on Sansom and 20th right across from the west-side Capogiro , around the corner from Tinto, right beside the Homebrew store and down the street from some cool BYOBs, a great movie theater, a sushi joint and a music store. Basically one of the coolest shopping blocks in the city! The shop is nicely laid out and has great product and a large back issue selection.

Atomic City Comic Books (AKA Showcase Comics) (google local) is right on the heart of South Street. Another great couple of blocks of shops and stores! I don’t have pics yet but will very soon (I wanted to get a new post up this week).
Update!

You’re waiting for the meat of the post right? You want to find out about the secret comics stash in Center City? Here it is:

Can you see the street signs? It’s at 12th and Market. Admittedly it doesn’t have a huge selection and it’s mostly the mainstream stuff, but here is a little newstand guy making it happen! Can you dig it!?

What I found:
A lone ranger on the comic book scene. A maverick newstand that sells comics in Center City. Support and Respect due!

More pics as I edit this post later in the week.