Category: funny ha ha

  • Zine Club Chicago Online: Riotous Zines Edition, April 25th!

    A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with the cartoon image of a person laughing with their mouth wide open, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Riotous Zines Edition; Online! Free! Zoom info on quimbys.com; 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 25, 2023”

    Zine Club Chicago Online: Riotous Zines Edition
    7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 25 on Zoom
    Free!

    From snarky observations and arch takes to wacky puns and sight gags, zines make excellent vehicles for all kinds of humor. This month, we’ll be discussing — and cracking up about — our favorite titles that make us smirk, giggle, and LOL!

    Grab the funniest zines in your collection, BYOS(ense)O(f)H(umor), and join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: Riotous Zines Edition at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 25!

    ** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email zineclubchicago@gmail.com to RSVP by 9 p.m. CT Monday, April 24 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 25.

    Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago, the city’s only book club-style event for people who read zines. This free monthly series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers, created our logo, and made our Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.

    More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago. Facebook event here.

    Image description: A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with the cartoon image of a person laughing with their mouth wide open, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Riotous Zines Edition; Online! Free! Zoom info on quimbys.com; 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 25, 2023”

  • Last Minute Hasty Valentine Gift Guide

    Don't get burned this year on V-Day! Get your Valentine something'll they're hot for!

    Need to drop a few shekels on someone special this Heart Day? Fear not, dear Quimby’s shopper. We are here to guide your wayward soul.

    FOR THE ON THE FENCE FRIEND… OR IF YOU’RE ON THE FENCE AND CARE TO SEND A POINTED MESSAGE?
    I Swallowed the Key to My Heart #3 Truer Than True Tales of Strange Romance  by Liz Prince, $5

    iswallowed3_lg

    Not everyone is the right one. Let them down easy with a comic all about being in a relationship and falling for someone else who scores you gratis concert tickets. You could even bake a cake with a sea creature to really bring the point home. (You’ll get it if you do end up getting this  poignant yet adorable comic).

    FOR THE NOSTALGIC BGFF (best grrlfriend foreverrrr)
    -Dude Diligence Unsolicited Messages via an Electronic Matchmaker by Marissa, $4

    diligencedude_lg

    Bring it back to the days of M.A.S.H and Miss Suzy and her steamboat with this treat of a cootie catcher. Kristin/Ashlee/Jennipher/Kimberli will, like, totally love you if you buy this for herrrr. She may even share her Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker with you and give you the left half of her friendship necklace from Claire’s.

    FOR THE PERV WITH CLASSY TASTE
    -Tasteful Vintage Nude Photograph (Grab Bag), $5

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    Spice things up with a partner or make someone in your family very uncomfortable with a black and white nudie photo of a sexy lady, probably long dead. Much like a box of Valentine’s chocolates, you never know which vintage buxom goddess you’re gonna get when you order one of these babies. Yoyza, USSR, watch out for those land-attack missiles. Pow, pow, pow!

    FOR THE TRIXIE THAT YOU CAN’T HELP BUT LOVE
    -Chicago Girls by Molly Hills, $10

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    Fill their condo with love this year when you buy them this Second-City spin on “Intercourse and the Municipality,” or whatever that HBO show was called. Hot cocktails, lipstick, buff dudes, ladypal hijinks and steamy hookups pepper this novella. If you’re enamored with someone whose secret dream is having their diary turned into a major motion picture, jump on this on the immediate. We guarantee sparkly, fuchsia, freesia-scented fireworks!

    FOR THE BRASH, BOLD BOSS BITCH IN YOUR LIFE
    -Meaty by Samantha Irby, $15.95

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    Bitches Gotta Eat blogger Samantha Irby attacks love, relationships, sex and contemporary life with a golden fondue skewer of brutally honest snarkitude. Her uproarious candor in this collection of essays is sure to be just the gift for any fan of witty takedowns, real talk and reality checks. You’ll score major points with bae if you wrap it in either faux or real bacon.

    FOR YOUR FAVORITE QUEER GEOLOGIST
    -Pinups #16 Jeff by Christopher Schulz, $14

    pinups16_med

    It’s not every day a naked dude takes a bare-ass stroll among some boulders. But, hey, we bet your partner/husband/boyfriend/buddy/local park ranger would get def down with this rad pictorial spread for V-Day. Ooh, Jeff, be careful on all those sharp, pointy rocks. Or, hey, go ahead and sit down and make yourself comfortable. We couldn’t “bear” the thought of leaving.

    FOR THE ASPIRING, LOVELORN GUITARIST
    -Love Song by Drew Brockington, $3

    lovesong

    The age old way to bag any babe is by slamming a spine-tingling chord on your gee-tair. But what if, instead of a hottie, you’re up against the devil and, whoa, you’re not in Georgia but your name sure is George. And nary is there a violin to be found, just your rad-a-Stratocaster. Warm the cockles of your pining yet crushworthy musician with Brockington’s ode to the purest form of love – groupie and rocker.

    FOR THE LOVER WHO MAY OR MAY NOT LOVE FOOD MORE THAN YOU
    -My Complicated Relationship With Food by Zach, $1mycomplicfood_lgMuch like seeking the perfect partner in a sea of duds on a dating website, our protagonist Zach seems to have a hard time finding foods he actually wants to really “be” with. And why should he settle? He has discerning tastes. If this sounds at all like your giftee in question, picking through  the blueberries, onions and “pointless” brie of life, give this one a go.

    -Nicki Yowell

     

     

  • David Rees Reads From How to Sharpen Pencils 8/15

    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

  • Calling All Nerdy Sluts & Slutty Nerds: Shappy Seasholtz & Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz Read at Quimbys

    Poets Shappy Seasholtz and Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz have had a pretty incredible last few months. In August, they left New York City (their home for the eight years) to move to Philadelphia, where Aptowicz had been awarded the 2010-2011 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residency at the University of Pennsylvania– the first time that the honor had been given to a slam poet.

    In October 2010, Seasholtz won the slot to represent Philadelphia at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships, where he competed in December, placing in the top 10 after the first night of competition. In November 2010, it was announced that Aptowicz had been awarded a 2011 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. And in 2011, a combined total of five books of poetry – covering the couple’s compete back catalogue – are being released on two separate independent presses.

    Shappy Seasholtz’s Spoken Nerd Revolution (Pennmanship Books, 2011) covers Seasholtz’s 20 year history in Performance Poetry. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s Hot Teen Slut – her memoir-in-verse about the year she spent as a writer for porn – is one of four books by Cristin being re-issued in expanded editions by Write Bloody Publishing..

    “Reading Spoken Nerd Revolution was like looking in a fun house mirror, letting us laugh at and relish in our own oddity.  He makes nerd beautiful. Shappy pees on the shoes of the accepted poetic stereotypes.  He’s not writing the verses that will be dissected into eulogies and greeting cards, or blasted atop break beats until the meaning is lost.   These are real words, from a hilariously cynical and sincere person.  Everyone needs a Shappy in their life..” – John Hancock, The Legendary

    “When Aptowicz graduated from college, she got a job as porn editor. Hot Teen Slut are the poems she wrote about that time. The poems are as much about that first foray into the real world as they are about the day-to-day life of a porn editor. They are funny and painful and funny. I understand that what I’m about to say might seem a little nuts to poetry pros, but I’m going to say it anyway: I have found the greatest book of poetry ever written.” – Melissa Lion, Bookslut

    Quimbys is proud to be welcoming Shaptowicz back! Special guests and refreshments will be provided!

    For more info: uncleshappy.com and aptowicz.com

    Sat, Apr 16th, 7pm

  • Joe Janes and Friends Read From 365 Sketches

    365 Sketches

    Joe Janes does not believe in writer’s block. To prove the point, he wrote a full comedy sketch a day for a year and posted them live on his blog for everyone to read and comment on. Pretty brave for a teacher at the famed Second City and Columbia College. Many of his best friends tried to talk him out of doing 365 Sketches, but Joe decided to put his butt on the line. The general quality of the scenes were so high and the topic and styles so varied, all 365 sketches were performed at Strawdog Theater in a WNEP production earlier this year over the course of eleven nights with 26 directors and over 175 actors. The book is being lauded for not only being a fun read, but also a primer for comedy writers.

    Joining Joe Janes will be some of Chicago’s finest comedic actors; Kevin Gladish, Chloé Ditzel, Bernie Balbot and Heath Cordts. They will be performing some of the most popular comic monologues from 365 Sketches.

    For more info: http://365sketchesbyjoejanes.blogspot.com