Sunday, February 22, 2015

TOURING THROUGH THE MARROW RE-CAP

Almost 5 years ago, I stopped writer/director Adam Green in the hallway of a Fangoria Convention in LA after he was exiting a panel discussion where he had previewed his then-new film "HATCHET 2". I was a huge fan of his previous films and, even earlier than that, a "fan commentary" track that I had stumbled upon for Friday The 13th Part 4 that he had done with Joe Lynch (who is another ridiculously cool writer/director). After I stopped him, as I had genuinely wanted to just say hello, I nervously did just that, introduced myself, and out of instinct I guess, I handed him a little art book that I had made and said something along the lines of "thank you for the inspiration, here's something I made". That little art book that I handed him was called "Digging Up The Marrow."

Last Thursday, in Berkeley, California, Adam Green and I got to show the very first public screening of "Digging Up The Marrow", the film that we have made inspired by that little book that I handed him 5 years ago. That was, in short, fucking COOL. 



Over the following week, leading up to this past Friday, Adam & I (and Zerofriends' own Proak the Fire Hydrant) got to travel across the country, continuing to show our film to new audiences in Boston, New York City, Austin and Los Angeles. That was also, in short, fucking COOL PART 2.

During what felt like the longest and shortest week I have ever had showcasing our monster movie, Adam and I also brought along merchandise, an art display that showcased some of the design work on the film, one of the actual monsters from the film (by the magical Greg Aronowitz), and some answers to some questions regarding the long and amazing process of making a film with about 20 great friends, including my new friend, the one, the only, the impeccably best appropriate hugger ever…. William Dekker himself…RAY WISE!!!

Even though we not-so-bravely fought against blizzards, cancelled flights, cancelled trains, too much luggage, snow-blind driving and basically surviving through a potentially horrific reality-show version of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles", the tour went perfectly. Every crowd was great. Every theater manager was great. Every questionably drunk cab driver was great. And every hotel that we didn't have time to sleep in was great! 

If you weren't able to make one of the tour-screenings, "DIGGING UP THE MARROW" is available now on iTunes and all VOD formats (Hulu, Xbox, Playstation, VuDu, Xfinity, etc) in the United States. It will be released in other countries soon! 

If you haven't seen anything about the film, I would suggest going into it blindly, but if you must, here is the trailer for the film:



Thank you to anyone and everyone who bought tickets to the screenings and picked up some MARROW Merchandise along the road, as that was pretty much how we paid to go on the tour! It turns out we have a small handful of "Marrow" exclusive signed tour prints (along with some Marrow Doppelgängers and the original Marrow Booklet that I handed Adam years ago) leftover from the tour and they are now for sale here on ZEROFRIENDS ( and Adam Green has the Marrow TOUR SHIRTS for sale and BluRay pre-order HERE) for a limited time.

Below are a few photos from the tour (there's a BUNCH more on my Facebook page), and although there were a ton of great questions asked during the Q & A sessions (including a super-fun Q&A hosted by AINTITCOOL's Harry Knowles at the Alamo Drafthouse), the one question that Adam and I keep asking OURSELVES is….HOW AWESOME DOES THIS FEEL TO MAKE A MONSTER MOVIE TOGETHER?! In short, it feels REALLY fucking cool!

Thank you everyone. Expect more journeys into The Marrow in the future. We loved it down there. And thank you to Paul Bustamante for a lot of these photos and the photos on my Facebook page.













Saturday, February 7, 2015

MOVING SALE FAQ



MOVING SALE FAQ

Q: What will you have for sale?
A: A lot of things that have embarrassed me at some point in my life. Old zines I made when I was angry, comics, a few paintings I’ve never shown anyone, some rare prints and artist proofs, CD’s I’ve designed, vinyl records, and a toy or two.



Q: Can I buy anything online?
A: For the most part, NO. This sale is like a weird garage sale, and I’ve checked with about 14 weird garage sales, and none of them have sold things online, so we aren’t either! HOWEVER, I am keeping some things aside and will be putting a small number of rare items on eBay starting MONDAY, Feb 9th so that people outside of the Bay Area don’t miss out on EVERYTHING. Stay tuned for the link to the online auction.

Q: How much is stuff gonna be?
A: A little bit more, a little bit less. Plus dollars.



Q: Will you sign something for me? Then will you sketch me something crazy if I buy something?
A: Some things are signed already, but I would be happy to sign anything you buy if you want. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to draw at this event because I GOTTA HUSTLE AND MAKE MONEY TO MOVE TO A NEW PLANET! Space ships aren’t cheap, you know?!

Q: Why is that yellow “Awful Homesick” book so expensive?
A: That is a first edition printing of the book from around 2008. There were only a couple thousand books printed with that cover. After it sold out, Gingko (the publisher) reprinted a lot more, but with a different cover and in a larger edition size. In the Book World, this version would be considered an “older one”.

Q: Will you be selling any original paintings?
A: There are a few small paintings for sale, but I will have one LARGE 3-piece painting that will be part of a “Silent Auction” throughout the day during the sale.

Q: What is a silent auction? Can I still place a bid if I am not a mime?
A: Of course. The way a silent auction works is that you just place your bid on a piece of paper and keep checking back throughout the auction to see if you have been outbid. If your bid is the winning bid, we will contact you at the end of the sale if you aren’t present.



Q: Can I be part of the silent auction if I can’t make it to the store?
A: Technically, yes. You can call and place a bid. However, the silent auction will be for IN-STORE PICK UP ONLY! So if you win, you have to come pick it up! The painting is too big to ship.

Q: How long will the sale last?
A: 11AM – 6PM Saturday, Feb 7th. If there are any left over items, they will still be available to purchase in the store all weekend, but I will not be there after Saturday.

Q: Do you take credit cards?
A: Yep. Thanks to technology, shout out to Square and iPhone, I will accept credit cards as well as cash.

Q: Do you take trades, like in Bartertown? I love that movie!
A: I love it too, and sometimes in the past I have taken trades, but not this time. I’m trying to move and condense what I have, not get more! Trading time will happen again sometime! Thanks for understanding!



Q: What are you talking about?
A: I don’t know, I’m tired!

Zerofriends SF is located at
419 Haight St (right around the corner from Upper Playground in Lower Haight)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 872-9109


The Moving Sale starts at 11AM and goes until 6PM or until supplies last. See you soon!


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

I'M MOVING! AND SELLING MY LIFE!


It's time to call The Lucas Bros, because I'M MOVING! And what's the number one most stressful thing that goes along with moving? Survey says……CRYING! Wait, ok, what's the number TWO most stressful thing that goes along with moving? That's right: CLEANING! Cleaning under beds. Cleaning out closets. Cleaning out whatever is underneath the molded zebra blanket that's still covering the shopping cart in the backyard for some reason. Wait…is that blanket…also…moving? Ha, what irony! 

Anyway, amongst my extreme-hoarder-style cleaning I came across literal haystacks worth of rare art prints, personal samples of products that I've made, zines, first-print books, toys, prototypes that NEVER got made, and other random morsels that have collected microscopic dust-creatures for a while. So I dusted them off, hugged each one of them, said thank you to them for allowing me to make them, and then figured that it was about time that they all went and visited other peoples' homes for a while! That's you! You're "other people"! 

So I'm having a MOVING SALE! All of these items, plus more that I'm finding throughout the week, will be on sale at ZEROFRIENDS SF (our San Francisco retail store) THIS SATURDAY! 

Here's the full details:
Saturday, Feb 7th from 11AM - 6PM
At ZEROFRIENDS SF
419 Haight St (Lower Haight around the corner from Upper Playground)
San Francisco, CA
415-872-9109

*Sale will be IN STORE ONLY. First come first served! Nothing can be held over the phone. Nothing will be put online (although there MAY be a couple of silent auctions that anyone can participate in so stay tuned). You have to come to the store! It will be fun! My inner gypsy will be frolicking as I desperately try to raise some money to help with my move! 





Make sure you follow my instagram @alexpardee and the store's instagram @zerofriendssf to see some more individual items that will be up for sale on Saturday! 

See you SATURDAY! Meanwhile, watch this trailer for one of my favorite movies because THIS IS EXACTLY WHATS HAPPENING IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW.