Daily news and updates by Proprietor James Sime & the Isotope Staff
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Whitney Matheson & Tim Sale USAToday & Isotope Present: San Francisco Pop Candy Meet-Up w/ Featured Celebrity Guest... Tim Sale, Artist of Heroes!
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The Isotope Communique
James Sime's Mobile Twitter Feed - click here for more Twitter Feed Loading...  New comics arrive on Thursday, December 28th and Thursday, January 4th. Labels: schedule
Sunday, December 17, 2006
 Get Your Passport StampedUnited Tiki Bars of Isotope Since the ancient days of yore, the great tiki gods above made blessed the beautiful city of San Francisco with such an over-abundance of watering holes of the tiki variety that it makes others weep with fruity cocktail and indoor rainfall envy. And so for half a decade the Isotope honors the great Island Lords by paying tribute upon the bar stools of the city's many tiki bars... the Tiki Tour Legend tells that those who can complete the tour are granted the wonderous gift of never-hangover... but no man or woman has ever managed to master the great tour of tiki. The brave still try, as we did last night, and here is the evidence of our attempt for your viewing pleasure.     check out the photos and learn more about the tour here Labels: culture, events, photos, tiki bars
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
 Many of you already know that I'm one of five judges in charge of the 2007 Eisner Awards. For the uninitiated, the Eisner Awards are the comic industry equivalent to the Oscars, complete with a star-studded ceremony at the San Diego Comic Con and, most importantly, career-altering impact on not just those who win... but also on those who are simply nominated for the award.I've always seen the Eisners as one of the comics' greatest events and something that truly matters in this industry, which is why for last four years the Isotope has chosen to be one of the award's many sponsors. I appreciate all the hard work that goes into these awards each year, and am happy for our entire industry that they exist. But nothing put the Eisners into perspective for me or has made me love this industry more than seeing the tears of joy running down Tony Harris' face after the Eisner Ceremony in 2005 for all the love Ex Machina took home that year. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for it to really hit home for me how much winning that award meant to a creator like Mister Harris. And I don't doubt for a second there are many, many other creators out there whose names perhaps aren't as well known and whose books perhaps aren't from as large of a publisher for whom winning an Eisner Award probably means even more. And that means something to me. As a comic retailer I read a lot of comics every year, particularly so because I specialize in the kind of books that fly under most other comic shops' radars. But there's always a few fantastic books that I end up missing out on completely. And as an Eisner judge I don't want that happening this year. So I'm opening up my in-box to your suggestions. A list of categories can be found here and if you drop me an email at the following address I'll be sure to take your suggestions into account when I formulate my lists for Eisner Award nomination. isotope .comics@gmail.com Thank you. - James Labels: comics, Eisner Awards  The King of Comics Talks CreativityIn A Rare Video Interview from 1987 In comics and out, there are few creative figures greater than Jack Kirby. As the co-creator of the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Captain America, The Hulk, and Darkseid Kirby's immortal creations live on in both the pages of today's comics and on the silver screen. And today we're sharing with you this video clip from the long out-of-print Masters Of Comic Book Art series of documentaries introduced by Harlan Ellison. Kirby talks about the genesis of his space spanning Marvel comics, the creation of Silver Surfer and Galactus, and the ultimate realization of the concepts behind them... the epic New Gods comics for DC. Hearing when Jack says "If my life were to end tomorrow it would be fulfilled" brought a tear to our eyes. We'll forever miss your love for new ideas and the medium itself, Jack! For more love for the King of Comics check out a couple more videos. Jack Kirby portrait and more by Rick Geary. Labels: comics, Jack Kirby, video
Monday, December 11, 2006
 Elvis Cups, True Love, Persepolis: The MovieDIY Zombie, Trooper, & Yummy Bus Stops That's right, it's the return of the ever-popular Isotope Mailbag Link-a-Palooza, wherein we collectively explore the brilliant, bawdy, and bizarre corners of the internet thanks to readers like you. If this massive assortment of dead-ends on the information superhighway doesn't exhaust you, you can always check out previous installments here, here, and here. First up is some local news from Jenny Drake that's surely going to bum out everyone who rides SF public transportation. Those brilliantly bizarre scratch n' sniff bus stop ads that smell of freshly baked cookies are out. Oh and we were soooo looking forward to sniffing the Muni stops! Heather H keeps us up to date with more great indy comic news, including a link to Sony Classic's official website for Persepolis: The Movie and to Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi's blog, both of which make us pretty darn excited to hit the theaters in 2007. Thanks, Heather! Chris Reed has been keeping our in-box active all week long with more news from the world of music than we know what to do with! We're not exactly sure what we like most, seeing Weird America do Devo or even more rare Johnny Cash footage? Nine Inch Nails songs lullaby-ed for babies or video of Black Sabbath playing the 1970 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade? Elvis themed peanut butter & banana creme Reese's Peanut Butter Cup or Metallica promising to do the snake eating it's own tail routine? Or could it be Danzig threatening to kill the guy who got our recent Santa Cruz show cancelled? Well whatever the case, we definitely approve of seeing Trio's "Da Da Da" topping Russian President Vladimir Putin's playlist. Way to keep us up on the world of music, Chris! Now go watch the hilarious booze-&-violence filled video for Trio's classic song... and speaking of music, if the comic industry ever starts acting as outright stupid as the music industry is remind us to try our hand at something else. Now that we've vented, let's get back on track with a not-to-be-missed YouTube video and some goodies from Isotope amigo Kaytea who checks in DIY Zombie and some great English-as-a-second-language testimonials about true love. Ah... life is good, isn't it? Some folks just know what we like! Which is why Steven B sends us links like this beautiful collection of cheesy old album covers, the we'll-check-this-every-day Junk Food Blog, a newly re-vitalized Soda-Blog.com, this collection of 59 Jaw-Dropping Roadside Attractions (including a couple of our favorites: Carhenge and an entire Wyoming town devoted to the Jackalope), and this eHow article entitled "How to Fix Hair Disasters." Wait... what?! And rounding out a huge Link-a-Palooza: Alan David Doane. of Comic Book Galaxy fame, just about had us falling out of our chairs with this next one, The Top Ten Worst Company URLs. Which include the Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com, the Italian Power Generator company with the unfortunate web addressx of www.powergenitalia.com, Pen Island a place for fine pens can be found at www.penisland.net, and the Mole Station Native Nursery who perhaps take the prize for on this one... www.molestationnursery.com. More at Top Ten Worst Company URLs. There's just no topping that, friends. Want to be part of a future Isotope Mailing Bag Link-a-Palooza? Send those crazy links to our address!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
(Photos taken during legendary Guitar Hero 2: Masters of Amplitude concert. December 7th 2006. Greman Ampitheatre, San Francisco.)
Saturday, December 09, 2006
San Francisco has the highest concentration of tiki bars in the continental United States, and in conjunction with our good friends at Your Mom's Basement we're going to once again attempt to hit them all. Extra-tall umbrella drinks, angry fire-breathing island gods, sexy surfing beach bums, jungle-dwelling luau ladies, and plenty of earthly Polynesian delights await! Route maps and many of the little-known exotic lounges will remain a secret to all but those in attendance. The legends claim that in half a decade the completion of the tiki tour task has proven to be impossible. Bring your favorite Hawaiian shirt or skirt, your ID, and your extra-strength liver... you're going to need it! Labels: culture, events, tiki bars
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
 It's a Whole Lotta LoveWhat Could Be Better? We've always thought the folks at the SF Bay Guardian had great taste, and they've once again shown us just how great their taste really is with the Guardian's 2006 Holiday Shopping Guide. They're suggesting a city full of great gift ideas, including gizmos from The International Spy Shop, all sorts of wonderful things from the amazing Cliff's Variety, a trip to visit the "rocking ladies" just down the street from us at Stitch Lounge, and gems from yesteryear in country section at Grooves on Market. And, also... the Isotope!  We were also lavished with love this week on the massively popular Civic Center Blog, which is quite an honor! With an eye on interesting culture, politics, and unique characters that make San Francisco the best city on Earth, SFMike takes readers on daily photo-centric tours of the city which are nothing short of remarkable. You'll definitely want to read Mike's entire post, but here's a snippet that brought a tear to our collective eyes.  And our uber-cool amigo Geoff Wagner mailed in to let us know that they're blowing kisses our way on Apartment Therapy yesterday as well. Thanks for sharing the affection with us Geoff, and do put a little something-something on your January calendar for us, won't you? The fine folks at Apartment Therapy definitely know a thing or two about the sexiest of things in life to indulge yourselves in... and they think we're downright sassy!  All that love... oh, pardon us while we blush! Labels: Isotope love
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Jared Guenther - Enforcer
Kirsten Baldock - Special Projects Director
James Sime - Proprietor
Jared Guenther - Enforcer
Kirsten Baldock - Special Projects Director
James Sime - Proprietor