Category Archives: Minneapolis

Lutefisk Sushi Reviewed

event, Events, Lutefisk Sushi, Minneapolis, mn, press


Above: Photo by Tim Sievert from the Puny Entertainment blog.

We just received a rave review for the Lutefisk Sushi Volume C show at the Twin Cities Daily Planet that can be read here.

The word “cartoonist” tends not to be associated with fine art, instead evoking Saturday-morning buffoonery, and not much else. The word “illustrators” might be more respectable, but in this case it would be completely off the mark: the creations on display Friday night romped through a range of visual and narrative styles and subject matter, brimming with creativity and skill.

You can see more photos from the Lutefisk Sushi Volume C opening at the Puny Entertainment blog here.

You can see more photos from the Lutefisk Sushi Volume C opening at the l’etoile magazine blog here.

As has been mentioned here previously, the show will be up all month, with special events during Art-A-Whirl.

Lutefisk Sushi Volume C
at Altered Esthetics (alteredesthetics.org)
May 1-31
1224 Quincy St. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Regular gallery hours are:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-7
Saturdays 1-5

Art-A Whirl hours are:
5-10PM Friday May 16th
12-8PM Saturday May 17th
12-5PM Saturday May 18th


Above: A still from My Art School Summer.

Note that Dave and Mary Sandberg’s cartoon feature film My Art School Summer will be showing in the gallery Friday May 16th at 8:30 (as well as at the Ritz Theater the afternoon of the 17th at 2:00)! Note also that it is adults-only. No one under 18 will be admitted.


Above: Photo by Tim Sievert from the Puny Entertainment blog.

CONvergence Needs Cartoonist Panelists

conventions, event, Events, Minneapolis, mn, Opportunities

CONvergence (July 3-6), an enormous annual Twin Cities science-fiction, comics and gaming convention is looking for folks who want to be panelists on some of their panels. They’ve got some great comics guests this year… one of their guests of honor is the wonderful Mark Evanier, who, in addition to being co-creator of the hilarious series Groo the Wanderer, has one of the best comics and entertainment blogs around. Information on how to contact them to potentially participate in a panel can be seen below. Here is an email I received requesting our assistance:
Hi Steven:
CONvergence–an annual science fiction, fantasy, comic book and gaming convention in Bloomington, MN–is looking for volunteer panelists (see below). Among the panels are Censorship in Comics, Comics as Movies and the History of Manga. If anyone’s interested, they can email Christopher Jones at cajones at winternet dot com.
This year, CONvergence will be hosting some interesting comic book folks:

  • Len Wein – Writer for comics and animation, creator of Swamp Thing, Nightcrawler & Wolverine.
  • Greg Weisman – Creator of Disney’s Gargoyles and supervising producer of The Spectacular Spider-Man for 2008.
  • Wally Wingert – Voice Actor
  • Marv Wolfman – Writer for comics and animation, creator of Blade, Bullseye & The New Teen Titans.
  • Bernie Wrightson – Comic Book Artist/Illustrator
  • Mark Evanier

    • – Television and Comic Book Writer.

  • John Kovalic – Cartoonist and Game designer: Dork Tower, Dr. Blink, Out of the Box Games.

  • Trace Beaulieu – Puppeteer, Writer and Actor from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Cinematic Titanic
  • Robert Meyer Burnett – Filmmaker, director of Free Enterprise, and producer of DVD extras
  • Christian Colquhoun – Prop-builder and physical effects artist whose projects include Galaxy Quest, Van Helsing, and Firefly.
  • Larry Dixon – Co-author of Mage Wars and Dariens Tale series, author of many short stories and game material and fantasy artist.
  • Daren Dochterman – Designer and illustrator for over 35 feature films, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture Special Edition.
  • Kenneth Hite – Role-playing game designer for GURPS, the Star Trek role playing game, and beyond.
  • Dr. James Kakalios – U of M physics professor, author of The Physics of Superheroes.
  • Harry Knowles – Creator of Aint-It-Cool-News.com.
  • Jay Knowles – Creator of Harry Knowles (and contributor to AICN).
  • Mercedes Lackey – Author of many popular novels, including the Valdemar and Bardic Voices series and folk music lyricist.
  • Bridget Landry – Engineer on the teams of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Pathfinder project, the Cassini Mission to Saturn, and other space missions.
  • Peter Mayhew – The actor who played the beloved Chewbacca in the original Star Wars Trilogy and in Episode III.
  • Andrew Probert – Production Designer for Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Airwolf.
  • Vincent Truitner – Animation and CGI artist.
  • David Weber – Author of the Honor Harrington series and other military science-fiction.

CONvergence Programming Needs Panelists!
All the panels are tentatively scheduled into our 2008 Programming Grid, but some still face the danger of cancellation due to lack of panelists, including many panels in the gaming and science tracks. The #1 Reason panels are scratched from the line up is a lack of panelists to sit them.
Go to http://www.michaell.org/schedule.phtml to sign up for panels that you’d like to be a part of, or just browse to start making plans of what to attend.
PANELS ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK
These are panels that currently have NO panelists signed up for them, and they WILL BE CANCELLED unless we have panelists in the next week.
  • Censorship in Comics – The Past and Future (Comics)
  • Ultimate Home Theatre – How to Build It (Science)
  • Blurring of the Lines – CGI Backgrounds in Movies (Movies)
  • Exploring FTL Drives (faster than light travel) Science
  • The Pixar Panel – Wall-E and Pixar Movies (Movies)
PANELS ON THE BUBBLE
These are panels that have at least one panelist assigned, but we’d like to see more panelists on them to secure their place in the schedule.
  • Scrapbooking (Project Room)
  • Thrown a Controller or Manual Across the Room Lately? (Gaming)
  • Comics as Movies (Movies)
  • Young Adult Literature (Literature)
  • Hogwarts’ Graduation (Harry Potter) (Literature)
  • Closet Geeks… Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are! (Hot Dish)
  • Dream Casting (Movies)
  • Not all Munchkins Live in Oz – Collectable Card Games (Gaming)
  • Backyard Astronomy (Science)
  • History of Manga (Arts)
  • Thunderbirds are Go! (Television)
  • Homophobia and Racism in Online Gaming (Gaming)
  • Gadget Gossip (New Electronics) (Science)
  • Gosh, Golly Gee Whiz (Teen Noir Mysteries) (Literature)
  • Imperfect Heroes (Hot Dish)
  • Film Remakes – Exhuming the Past (Movies)
  • Dangerous Days – How to Survive Zombie Attacks (Movies)
  • Sci-Fi Saturday – Cult B Movies (Movies)
  • Comics for Mature Audiences (Comics)
  • Club Fan Faire – Come Promote Your Local Club (Hot Dish)
  • Trilogy Limitations: What happened to the franchise? (Movies)
PANELS IN NEED OF PANELISTS
These panels have more than one panelists attached, but they are still open and we’d like to see more panelists added.
  • Return of the Satellite of Love – MST3K spin-offs (Television)
  • Wii: The Changing Face of Gaming (Gaming)
  • Heroes: Volume Two (Television)
  • Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition (Gaming)
  • Fanzines Invented the Internet (Literature)
  • Videogame Blogs and Podcasts (Gaming)
  • 6 Impossible Things Before Breakfast (Literature)
  • Star Trek: New Voyages – Fan Made Productions (Television)
  • Songwriting and Filking (Arts)
  • Emergent Genres and Movements (Literature)
  • Paranormal Investigation as TV Journalism (Television)
  • Geek as an Ensemble Character (Hot Dish)
  • Which Non-Genre Films Should You See? (Movies)
  • Etiquette at the Gaming Table (Gaming)
  • Whither Open Gaming License (Gaming)
  • Time Management 101 (Hot Dish)
  • Where’s My Flying Car (Science)
  • Cell vs. Chip – 2D vs. 3D animation (Hot Dish)
  • Digital Distribution Debate (Science)
  • Where to Shop? (Hot Dish)
  • Weaponry of Star Trek (Science)
Again, you can sign up for panels at http://www.michaell.org/schedule.phtml. CONvergence programming is what our members make of it, so we encourage you to participate and get involved. Email us at programming at convergence-con dot org if you have questions or would like to be involved.

___________________
Contact Information
The Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy
1437 Marshall Avenue, Suite 203 St. Paul, MN 55104
24-hour voicemail: 651-MISFITS (651-647-3487)
CONvergence e-mail: info at convergence-con dot org
CONvergence web site: http://www.convergence-con.org
MISFITS e-mail: info at misfit dot org
MISFITS web site: http://www.misfit.org
If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, simply email
and let us know.
Thank you.


Please let them know we sent you!

Lutefisk Sushi Opening Wrap (Maki?)

event, Events, Lutefisk Sushi, Minneapolis, mn, photos, press

The Lutefisk Sushi Volume C opening was pretty amazing… the art was fantastic, the gallery was packed like a tin of sardines for hours, and I suspect a fun time was had by all who attended.

If you missed the opening (and The Onion had the date wrong, so I’m guessing many did)… don’t fret! There are still boxes left at this point (although they are going fast… the box is limited to 150 copies). The show will be up all month, with some special events during Art-A-Whirl (May 16-18). Regular gallery hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-7, Saturdays 1-5. Art-A Whirl hours are 5-10PM Friday May 16th, 12-8PM Saturday May 17th, and 12-5PM Saturday May 18th.

A huge collection of photos from the reception is available online at alteredesthetics.phanfare.com. Thanks to John Terwilliger for generously sharing his work! If any of you have links to other photos you’d like to share, we’d love to share them.

KARE 11 and MetroMix interviewed some of us earlier this week, and you can now see that on the MetroMix website here.

Friday was apparently the most profitable evening Altered Esthetics has ever had, so congratulations to all participants on the good work. We don’t really emphasize where the money goes from the bento boxes, but this time around it is going to support Altered Esthetics, which is a fantastic non-profit, community gallery.

And now, some thank yous:

  • Thanks to the Jamie Schumacher and the crew at Altered Esthetics for having us, and for co-curating with us. Jamie has done a phenomenal job with organizing, contacting press, and just about every other possible aspect of the show.
  • Thanks to Kevin Cannon for accepting the honor of being the featured artist, along with the immense workload he took on to do it right… and for handling a lot of other aspects of the show as well, including so much of the really tedious managerial stuff.
  • Thanks to Danno for doing a fantastic job of organizing and hanging the artwork, and doing so much to help with the planning and organizing.
  • Thanks to Shad Petosky at Puny Entertainment for taking the time to once again silk screen the boxes, in spite of the fact that he has less time to spare than anyone I know. Thanks to Kevin Cannon, Zander Cannon and Curtis Square-Briggs for helping him!
  • Thanks to the brothers Cannon at Big Time Attic for organizing and storing artwork and boxed, and giving us a welcome space to get this thing together.
  • Thanks to Dan Olson, Mike Toft, Bud Burgy, Matt Kriske, Adam Wirtzfeld for help with the hanging and/or box collating.
  • Thanks to The Roe Family Singers for taking the time to play their beautiful music this Friday, as well as offering to play during Art-A-Whirl.
  • Thanks to Ken Avidor for building the Zoetrope.
  • Thanks to all who helped with promotion… particularly to Nick Postiglione and the MNCBA for passing out 500 postcards at MicroCon the other weekend!
  • Thanks most of all to all the artists who made the box and the event possible!
  • Also, thanks to whoever I am forgetting to thank that I should be thanking… please remember to kick me in the balls.

Unsold art and filthy lucre will need to be picked up from Altered Esthetics at some point after May 31. We’ll keep you posted when we have more info.

Yet more press for tonight’s Lutefisk Sushi Show!

event, Events, gallery show, Lutefisk Sushi, Minneapolis, mn, press

Tonight’s opening Lutefisk Sushi Show is mentioned in today’s Pioneer Press. Also, the Vita.mn article mentioned yesterday is now in the Star Tribune. We are a front page event pick on the new Metromix site, where I mentioned we will be featured with video footage in the near future… I’ll post here when it oes up. We are also mentioned in this week’s Minneapolis edition of The Onion in the AV section, although I haven’t seen it yet. Boy, Jamie at Altered Esthetics has done a phenomenal job of getting the word out. Thanks, Jamie!

A reminder, if you are participating in the show… PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN TO HELP PROMOTE IT. It is not too late to do so… the show will be up all month! Please, do feel obligated.

Please Help Promote Lutefisk Sushi

event, Events, gallery show, Lutefisk Sushi, Minneapolis, mn, News

I’m happy to report that it sounds like we are going to be getting a lot of press coverage for the Lutefisk Sushi show opening this Friday. I’ll be posting links to all the press I see here… if you see any coverage, please let us know about it.

Let’s make this the best attended Sushi show yet (the last two were both packed houses). You can help promote the show! If you are participating in the show… please, feel obligated to do so!

Here are some suggestions:

  • Grab one of the banners at the bottom of this post and put it on your websites, blogs, social networking sites, and message boards you frequent with a link to the Sushi site.
  • Write about the upcoming show and your preparations for it on your websites, blogs, social networking sites, and message boards you frequent with a link to the Sushi site.
  • Pick up some of our postcards at Altered Esthetics and distribute them.
  • Know reporters? Hit them up for a story. Here is the press release. Here are high-resolution images they can download.
  • Most importantly: TELL YOUR FRIENDS in person or via phone or email and tell them to spread the word.

150×100

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Additionally, we bombarded folks at MicroCon with postcards and information about the show this weekend… I think we are going to be in really good shape for getting the word out. BUT PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks!

FIRST CRACK AT LUTEFISK SUSHI BOX/JAM THIS THURSDAY–MAY 1st–in MINNEAPOLIS

event, Events, gallery show, jam, Jam Comics, Lutefisk Sushi, Minneapolis, mn, News

In addition to our usual antics, we will be distributing LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘C’ boxes to contributors at our monthly jam meeting this Thursday.

Boxes may also be picked up Friday May 2nd at the LUTEFISK SUSHI ‘C’ opening at Altered Esthetics, but this is your chance to get one a day early, read it, and then have something to talk about at the opening (not that cartoonists are socially backwards and NEED something pre-planned to talk about… but it helps).

Sadly, if you didn’t contribute you’ll have to wait until Friday to buy a box of your own (less than a hundred available to the public!).

So come on by, pick up your box, then stay around and draw for a while.

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!