"Full of absurd humor, merciless spoofing of '80s teen movie cliches, rampant mustaches and spot-on recreations of early '80s fashion disasters, Wet Hot American Summer is as tasty, sloppy and nutrition-free as a cherry snow cone on a hot summer day," according to The Loft Cinema's Bookmans Cult Classic entry for this week. This weekend Bookmans and The Loft Cinema present Cult Classic Wet Hot American Summer showing at 10 p.m. on Friday, June 10 or Saturday, June 11.

Keep a lid on anthems of "I'm bored!" this summer with our super-charged children's events. We'll have music and magic, super heros and puppets, and opportunities to do something for someone else with Ben's Bells, Heifer International, Arizona Animal Welfare League and Willow Bend joining us. For a detailed listing, click on the link below the image for your Bookmans location to download a PDF that you can print to hang on your refrigerator (or leave on your computer desktop for reference or post on Facebook so all your friends can join in on the fun).

Facing off against top-notch ad agencies across the nation including those who work for All State, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Toyota, is your local, independent used bookstore. In the 2011 American Advertising Federation (AAF) National ADDY® Awards competition "a distinguished judging panel of advertising professionals from across the country" deemed our Bookmans Does Book Dominoes video worthy of a National Silver ADDY Award.

Part of the creative team behind the spot Joel Yohn, Bob Oldfather and Harrison Kressler receive our National Silver ADDY.

Wear your wizard's or witch's best, disapparate yourself to The Hogwarts Hotel to taste butterbeer, play wizards chess with 9Queens and video Quidditch, purchase goodies from Mrs. Tiggy Winkles and have your photo taken with costumed characters or Archimedes the owl at the Bookmans photo booth. Harry and the Potters are performing LIVE at Hotel Congress on Saturday, June 11.

*by Roland Wakefield

I’ve been reading Tavis Maiden's and Jack Crawford’s Konami comics from their website over the past few years as pages are posted, but to get the full arc in one blast in the form of The Konamis Ominous Omnibus Volume 1 is breath taking. The best way to describe it is by comparing it to an action-packed mating of Scott Pilgrim and the Clerks animated series with more unicorns -- not the fairy glamour use of unicorns but a wicked manly use of unicorns.

Make plans to attend Flagstaff's LGBTQ festival Pride in the Pines this Saturday June 18 in Wheeler Park located in downtown Flagstaff. Bookmans is a long-time supporter of Pride events all over Arizona and not only because we have huge blast when we go. This year at Pride in the Pines we’re hosting the Bookmans Stage with music and stories about coming out. We’ll also have a booth with games and giveaways (Twister anyone?), Book Man will make a superhero appearance and we’ll also get messy decorating reusable tote bags in the kids area. For the entire schedule or to buy tickets visit the Pride in the Pines website.

Not sure what you're getting into? Get inspired with our Pride in the Pines video from 2010. You know you want to. Click it!

Help children in Pima County learn to read so they can read to learn. Volunteer to become a Reading Coach with Reading Seed. As a longtime community partner, Bookmans has witnessed the impact Reading Seed coaches have made in our community. In fact numerous students working with Reading Seed coaches progress at least one reading level in only two months.

A little over a year ago, Jonathon Simon decided that Arizona needs one place where readers can go to find out what local events are happening each weekend across the state. Sounds like any other events listing website, except Jonathon's vision focuses on “nerdiness and geekery”. Lightning Octopus (LO) started out as a blog but quickly evolved. A weekly highlight of events around the state still posts once a week, but the website now also highlights local authors, artists, comedians, groups and people in the community. LO interviewed our Phoenix Community Relations Coordinator Lori Whipple last December, referring to her as “Geek Arizona's Secret Weapon”.

In celebration of LO's first birthday we sat down with Jonathon for a little Q & A.

The LO website is full of beautiful images like this one. Guess geeks take good photos too.

Kick off summer with prizes and fun with Bookmans June Treasure Hunt in Tucson. You won't need to inflate any pool toys to do it either. We want to give you a prize package worth $50 but there is some work involved. There is no sunscreen required, only an adventurous attitude and local know-how will land you this sweet treasure. Take along some aspirin because these brain teasers are gonna be tough, but there'll be a pot of local business gold at the end of this rainbow.

You’ll be screaming "I'm right on top of that Rose!" as drag sensation Becky Bodacious kicks off the summer with a fundraiser for Midnite Movie Mamacita featuring the '90s teen hit Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead showing at 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 25 at Madcap Theaters in Tempe.

One of many passions of Bookmans is to support music in our schools in communities. We offer free, live in-store performances, donate to various music programs and started a few of our own.

Every June we celebrate all things music in our stores. Workshops, recycled instrument making and live music are among the offerings here all month long. In our Mesa and Phoenix locations we partner with Chicks With Picks to have live music on the Third Thursday and Last Sunday of each month. Thanks to Pandy Raye and Rhonda Hitchcock talented female musicians from all backgrounds have a platform to showcase their talents along with all the materials and know-how to jump start their careers. From experience we know that this chicks do indeed have what it takes!

We sat down with Pandy and Rhonda to discuss inspiration, success and the importance of Chicks With Picks.

Known for exemplary customer service Cas Bezanson celebrates 15 years with Bookmans. Throughout those years she has also received a reputation among employees for having a great sense of humor.

Employees say Cas gives great hugs (to normal, not creepy people she knows).

"Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire."

Initially created with "Goonie-type, 5th-6th grade kid vampires" in mind, Joel Schumacher revamped the The Lost Boys script as a teen flick with a Peter Pan wistfulness and glittery blood. This weekend The Loft Cinema in Tucson presents Bookmans Cult Classic The Lost Boys at 10 p.m. on Friday, July 1 and Saturday, July 2.