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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
ASHCAN MAGAZINE #2
via Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti) on 5/23/10
660 4th St #420
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.ashcanmagazine.com
This is a new art, music, comic and culture magazine out of glorious San Francisco. It's a full-sized newsprint mag whose contents include spotlights on artists Michael Frank, and Chance, an interesting story about touring around the amazon entitled, "Swimming with Piranha"where a gram of cocaine goes for a whopping $2, you can fish for piranhas, and riding in a mototaxi can be a uniquely dangerous endeavor. It's got interviews with Andrew Jackson Jihad, Make Me!, Kepi Ghoulie as well as record & zine reviews, comics, and some fiction. This is a very solid and quality read that will hopefully find a way to survive in the challenging and often depressing world of print journalism.
Waku Waku
via Blackguard on 5/24/10
[52 pages, digest size, $5.00, Amy Richardson >>> prettyprettyyumyum.wordpress.com +++ amz.richardson (at) gmail.com ]
This was my big score at the MCA zine fair yesterday. In April 2008 Amy started a working holiday in Osaka. *Waku Waku* means *thrilled, excited* - thus the perfect name for a zine about visiting/working in Japan! The onomatopoeian theme continues throughout, for example I learned that in Japan dogs don't say 'Woof! Woof!', they say 'Wan! Wan!' Cats say, 'Nyan! Nyan!' and 'Gatcha! Gatcha!' is the sound capsule machines make when you turn the metal dial.
There are a bunch of interviews with other Westerners living and working in Osaka, with some funny answers:
WakuWaku: My job in Japan was...
Kris from LA: "A trained monkey on display - I mean an English teacher."
There's a Hello Kitty quiz, thanks to which I now know that Hello Kitty weighs the same as three apples.
The centrefold (like the cover) is an awesome blast of colour images - smiley, kawai *face foods*.
I loved the two pages of Japanese emoticons, with some very imaginative examples, like this fish:
<+))))><<
or this one, meaning "It's cold":
{{ (>_<) }}
Kansai books/manga (Haruki Murakami, Junichiro Tanizaki, Hisaya Nakajo) and Kansai cinema (Maiko Haaan!, Lovely Complex, Lost in Translation) are briefly reviewed.
Finally Amy explains that there are two categories of English teaching in Japan: working at an eikaiwa (English conversation school) and working as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). She interviews Nikolas Hanson about working at an eikaiwa, and herself about working as an ALT.
[Send your comix or zine for review! >>> Stratu/Blackguard, PO Box 93, Paddington NSW 2021, AUSTRALIA]
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Call for submissions for Bitch theme #2: the clit edition
via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by Charlotte Lee on 5/21/10
I've pretty much finished Bitch theme #1 now. It just needs a few final touches and then will be ready to photocopy and all that jazz (I will change my profile information to indicate when it is ready) and i have already begun thinking about Bitch theme #2. For a really long time i have wanted to do a zine dedicated to the cunt, and more specifically, the clit. I think clits are so ridiculously important for women, and it saddens me how few see this importance, and how often the subject of clits is met with disapproval and shame. In that spirit, i have decided bitch theme #2 will be subtitled: the clit edition.
I want this zine to be a resource for women of any age who want to find out more information, read about other's experiences, or just generally feel more at one with their cunt. Although there is a lot that i want to personally write for it, i also want lots of contributions! artwork, poetry etc. are welcomed, but i mainly want your stories. Stories of your first masturbation experience, conversations you've had, sexual experiences you've had- both good and bad etc. I want a variety of voices in this zine. I want to hear anything and everything you have to say about your cunt and clit. Even if you think it might be a bit "out there" to talk about the way you shave (or dont), your preferred masturbation technique etc. trust me, nothing shocks me and i want to hear it all.
Because i want this to be a lengthy resource (and partly because the first one isnt technically finished yet), i am going to set the deadline for the 1st september. Please bear in mind that the zine will be half size. However, saying that, i think it might be best to only accept text submissions and not finished pages. If you have some drawings/images or specific style that you really want incorporated into your piece then i will of course try and accomodate this, but generally, i dont want finished pages.
Any submissions can be emailed to charlotteleeuk@yahoo.com
Cheers!
<3
Edit 21/5/10: After some consideration i have actually decided i am going to subtitle this issue: the cunt and clit edition. Although i do want to focus on the clit somewhat, i am open to any submissions that are to do with the cunt in any way, and i think the original title made the project seem less "all encompassing" if you know what i mean. I have already had one submission, and cant wait to see what else turns up in my inbox! Cheers <3
Friday, June 18, 2010
Yo! Burbalino issues 1-3
Yo! Burbalino issues 1-3
8 1/2 x 5 1/2, 24 pages each
$3 each (discount for the 3 pack?)
Three short books of comics, most of which feature the characters, Chef Don and Earl Squirrel, but there are lots of other characters as well. The stories are usually short and random, often only lasting one or two pages. The jokes are typically quirky and weird and often involve a play on words - some of them went way over my head (or maybe they are supposed to be nonsensical). A few of the drawings and stories are vulgar and crude. Some of the writing is rhyming poetry, which makes sense because apparently the writer/artist used to be a rapper. The best thing about these, in my opinion are the recipes by Chef Don told in comic form.
Greg Farrell, 345 Eldert St. #17, Brooklyn NY 11237
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Kairan #14 & #15
via Blackguard on 6/15/10
[each 44 pages, digest, $? from Gianni Simone, 3-3-23 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, 226-0027 Kanagawa-ken, JAPAN +++ jb64jp (at) yahoo.co.jp +++ gloomy-sundays.blogspot.com +++ orga-ni-sm.blogspot.com
Kairan is Gianni's zine devoted to the art of photocopiers, or xerox machines, or whatever you wanna call 'em. Most people, when they have access to a photocopier in their workplace, will probably just use it to make copies, you know, copy of invoice, send it to accounts, ho hum, or just stand there pressing a button, pretending to be doing something. Then there are people like Gianni and his friends who really put these machines to creative use. In Kairan #14 Gianni goes into some depth describing various techniques and effects that can be achieved, for example Copy Motion, where you move the paper being copied while the scanning bar is moving across it. This achieves blurring and even a sense of movement in the image. Another example is Degeneration, where a copy is made, then a copy of that copy, then a copy of that copy, sometimes dozens or hundreds of times. Gianni mentions that this is more effective on older analogue copiers; these days the digital copiers are too efficient and don't produce the same quality of image degradation.
In Kairan #15 we learn that the photocopier was invented by Chester Carlson in 1938. Klaus Urbons contributes an article about the time he attempted to replicate Carlson's orginal xerography experiment. He stunk the kitchen up so bad with burning sulphur that his wife banished him to the basement. Fascinating was John Held Jr's piece covering the postal service (I never knew that in the early part of the 20th century large cities had several mail deliveries per day!) and mail art and photocopy technology. He makes the observation that in large offices the photocopier is situated somewhere in the middle so staff who photocopy too much, for their own benefit and at the expense of the firm, would be kept in sight and shamed or deterred. That was pretty amusing. (I've had my own run-ins with personal photocopying at work - it always felt like it was a big covert operation, felt my heart rate rise, cold sweat, shit! somebody just walked past! aw fuck! paper jam!! etc.) Many pages of photocopy art by more than thirty artists are also included.
Kairan is definitely recommended for those who want to dig a little deeper into the history and mechanics of this zine-making business we love so much.
[Send your comix or zine for review! >>> Stratu/Blackguard, PO Box 93, Paddington NSW 2021, AUSTRALIA]
VERBICIDE #5
VERBICIDE #5
The quality of writing in this zine varies a lot, but there are some definite high points. ... $3.50, 8 ½ x 11, newsprint, glossy cover, 92 pgs.
Submissions wanted on SECRET CRUSHES
Submissions wanted on SECRET CRUSHES...
Do you have a secret crush? Are you in a relationship where this can't be pursued? Do you feel like the object of your affection is out of your league? Is the object of your affection already in a relationship? Are you fantasising about long, hot nights of passion with your crush? If so, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Please contact me with any pieces/artwork/poems on your secret crush. It's entirely up to you if you want to put your name on or not.
PS Your secret is safe with me :) x
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Second Hand Smoke #3
via Blackguard on 6/10/10
[24 pages, digest, $? >>> Christian Filardo, 320 E. 14th St., Tempe AZ 85281, USA +++ christianfilardo (at) gmail.com ]
The first three issues of Second Hand Smoke landed in my mailbox today. The comics in SHS#1 were drawn in March 2010 so if my maths are correct, Christian's making one of these every month. There's no denying the art is raw and primitive, but that's cool with me. I ain't a comix snob. The main thing is whether they're funny or not, and some of the stuff in these is funny as shit. (Shit can be VERY funny you know!)
Exhibit A: The strip 'Toilet Paper Crisis' in which Christian (who lives in a college dorm with community bathrooms) has to use the crapper after drinking his morning coffee, but discovers too late there's no toilet paper so he has to slide under to the next stall in which, luckily, there is toilet paper. But Christian also throws some heavier elements into the mix, for example his story about finding the dead birds.
There's also some honest and awkward boy-wants-to-meet-girl stuff in here that was genuinely touching (and reminded me of Tung's Dex comics from the late '90s).
I'm totally jazzed to see where SHS goes from here..
[Send your comix or zine for review! >>> Stratu/Blackguard, PO Box 93, Paddington NSW 2021, AUSTRALIA]
Somnambulist #15
via Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti) on 6/11/10
SOMNAMBULIST #15
Martha Grover
pob 14871
Portland, OR 97293
This zine consists entirely of Martha's notes taken during her weekly family meetings. She had gotten very sick with Cushing's disease and had to move back in with her parents and four siblings. The zine starts fast, and immediately jumps into the weekly meetings without much explanation or lead up. It doesn't take long, however, to become familiar with the personalities behind the names, and get a good sense of the who, what, when, and where of this family. There is a lot of squabbling over space in the cupboard and who is responsible for what chore, and believe it or not, this is really funny. It's a pretty long zine, spanning the course of an entire year, and by the end of it I felt like I really knew this family well. It's mostly dialogue and short observations centered around the mundane issues present in all communal living situations, "I ask Simone and Sarah to stop leaving half-eaten avocados in the fridge. Sarah says that she never does that. Simone says she will stop doing that….I say that I will attempt to store my urine for my lab tests in a cooler instead of the fridge. Everyone thinks that's a good idea." I really enjoyed this zine.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Submissions wanted for a compilation zine about penpalling
via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by Hannah (Not Lonely Zine) on 5/18/10
I am looking for submissions of articles on the theme of penpalling. Some ideas might be:- How you got into penpalling
- Things you love (or don't love!) about penpalling
- Meeting penpals, especially if it went particularly well (or badly)
- Any significant friendships/relationships you've developed as a result of penpalling
It could be written as an article, or as a letter to someone (perhaps a letter to a long lost penpal, or to
someone who has become very close to you, or to a now ex-penpal you fell out with).
There is no minimum or maximum length for submissions, although I will reserve the right to edit submissions (I don't imagine this will be significant editing - just spelling corrections and suchlike if needed). I also reserve the right to turn down submissions - I don't imagine it is likely I will, but I don't want to vow to include everything in case I have to default on that promise.
There is no deadline - the zine will be put together once I have enough submissions to fill 40 A6 (1/4 size) pages. If I am lucky enough to recieve more submissions than I have space for, then I will produce several issues of the zine.
Everyone who has a submission included in the zine will receive a free copy of the zine.
Please email submissions to not_lonely_zine @ yahoo.co.uk (without the spaces),along with the name and any contact info you want put in alongside your article (it's okay if you want it to be anonymous). I did consider taking complete page submissions, but as there are paper size differences between Europe and other countries, and I love putting together layouts, I decided it would be better/easier to take submissions by email only.
The working title of the zine is "Dear Friend".
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch via email or on here.
a sketchbook being held open by the feet of a sleeping cat.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Second Hand Smoke #2
Quirky, scribbley, comics, doodles, dreams, and other weird shit. I really like the low tech, primitive style. I would have liked it a a whole lot more if I could read it; terrible, tiny, illegible handwriting. ruins an otherwise enjoyable zine. 24 pages, digest. Price? Second Hand Smoke, 320 E 14th St, Tempe AZ 85281
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Skill Shot #14: Seattle's Pinball Zine
Skill Shot #14: Seattle's Pinball Zine16 pages, mini
$1, or, $5 for a combo pack
I had no idea there was such an extensive culture of pinball fanatics. This is a great little zine, both in content and style. The writing is good, and coverage of the subject thorough. I especially like that there is no need for staples, as the whole thing is made from one 17 x 11 sheet folded, and folded, and folded again. This issue covers a lot of leagues and competitions, and starts out with a report on the 1st Annual Tommy Tournament, where team members play blindfolded. At issue #14, you know these guys are serious. They produce a bunch of different zines, so be specific when ordering.
Chow Chow Productions
POB 20204
Seattle WA 98102
www.myspace.com/skillshott
www.facebook.com/pages/Skill-Shot/171717641581
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rigor Mortis #1 and #2
via Blackguard on 5/13/10
[60 pages/56 pages, digest size, $3.00 (or 1 MRE) each --- Davida Gypsy Brier, PO Box 11064, Baltimore MD 21212, USA +++ zombie at leekinginc dot com +++ www.leekinginc.com +++ livingdeadzine.blogspot.com ]
Rigor Mortis #1 - Well it's about time somebody started a zine dedicated to our undead friends! In fact, Dread Sockett and DeadVida admit in their introduction that the idea for Rigor Mortis came about when they couldn't find any zombie zines.
This debut issue contains reviews of books, movies and graphic novels. Highlight for me was Dread Sockett's review of ZA Recht's Plague of the Dead, the first book in The Morningstar Strain Trilogy - I ordered that book and read it and it was excellent. So thanks for the tip, Dread!
There have been developments in the zombie world, for example sprinting zombies (or *turbo zombies*, an excellent description I read somewhere of 28 Days Later zombies) (and a development that I think was long overdue), but RM made me aware of other new types, like animal zombies and talking zombies. I've never come across those myself. They sound ridiculous, but I'd like to check them out so if you're reading this and know of a movie or book that features these, I'd be grateful for any leads.
Artist Bojan (Bojanthu Prual) contributed some awesome art which is scattered throughout the issue, another highlight. There's also a three-page section of zombie resources online.
Rigor Mortis #2 - This issue see a change in direction - less reviews and more features and columns. Also, DeadVida and Dread Sockett are widening the scope of the zine to include other horrors, for example vampires and remakes.
First up, an examination of Klaus Kinski's performance in Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu. I wasn't aware of this movie so it was a good tip (I'm a fan of Herzog's but only discovered him in 2005 when his awesome documentary Grizzly Man was released), and I'm looking forward to watching it.
Colin Cthulu contributes a terrific article in defense of zombie comedy (for example horror/comedy masterpieces Re-Animator and Shaun of the Dead).
Benn Ray contributes a short piece on the rise of Christian Horror, defined by Joshua Ellis of www.christian-fandom.org in this way: "Christian horror is 'safe' horror. If a book or DVD is going to be sold in a Christian retail outlet, it will generally follow a set of guidelines: no foul language or explicit sex; violence is implied, not shown; there is usually some sort of redemption story; and there is always an explicit gospel message." Horror without gore/violence? Sounds boring!
Dread Sockett takes on anti-remake Nazis with an excellent five-page article on Night of the Living Dead (1990) and how it improves upon the 1968 original.
DeadVida visits The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the hotel that inspired Steven King to write The Shining. She joins a ghost tour and her experience is noteworthy considering for most of the tour she is extremely skeptical, until she catches something spooky on her camera!
There's also a look at current paranormal TV shows (like Ghost Hunters, A Haunting, and Psychic Kids) from a fan's perspective. A Haunting is the one that stands out for me so I'm gonna have to track down some episodes.
The zine winds up with some book reviews (Season of Rot by Eric S. Brown, The Estuary by Derek Gunn), DVD reviews (Days of Darkness and Zombie Diaries) a zine review (Brains) and a look back at John Carpenter's 1979 ghostly revenge tale, The Fog.
Rigor Mortis is a terrific new zine and I'm really looking forward to issue #3.
[Send your comix or zine for review! >>> Stratu/Blackguard, PO Box 93, Paddington NSW 2021, AUSTRALIA]
ARMY OF HER, SHOW AND TELL #1
via Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti) on 5/23/10
I can only assume that the author is very new to the zine scene in that there is no contact information whatsoever in either the zine itself, or the envelope that it came in. This is a cute little mini-zine that I read, I'm not kidding, in three minutes. It's a super quick read about growing up in Portugal, getting her first period, and moving to London. I hope she keeps it up and expands her writing more in the next issue.
Lumpen #5 #6 #7
via Blackguard on 5/12/10
[Big thanks to Ross Radiation for hipping me to Pat Grant, maker of these fine Lumpen comix!]
[butteredmidgets at yahoo dot com dot au +++ patgrantart.com ]
Lumpen #5 [44 pages, digest size] This issue contains a 21-page tribute to an ancient, gigantic inner city (Sydney) share house. One page is dedicated to the toothbrush collection (that hit 36 at one point), ten of these are depicted on this page. It strikes me that it must take some skill to draw ten different tooth brushes. The best thing in here for me though was How to Make a Profit at a Zine Fair, a seven-point guide that I wished I had read years ago when I was starting out in my own self publishing career. It contains valuable, hard won *zine insider* knowledge that will be of enormous benefit to all fledgling ziners out there.
Lumpen #6 This tiny little booklet and card set (12cm x 9cm) is really neat. In the booklet, Pat writes about the reasons people start doing zines, and why most don't make it to the second issue. He also has a confession about his own reason behind getting into zines, and writes about the unimagined horror of being a freelance cartoonist. It's great stuff. The cards are "a series of portraits of people who once created important works of photocopied literature but never made it further than issue #1."
Lumpen #7 folds out from digest size into a huge A2 page which contains what on first inspection could be a board game, but is in fact a very cleverly constructed tribute to the sign painter's art and the loss of that art thanks to digital printing technology.
[Send your comix or zine for review! >>> Stratu/Blackguard, PO Box 93, Paddington NSW 2021, AUSTRALIA]
Foulweather #3
via Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti) on 5/23/10
foulweather.blogspot.com
Pete is another very talented writer. Foulweather is the perfect title for this meandering and often morosely personal zine. Pete writes about and explores the very real subject of death. He processes the reality of his own mortality through surfing, skating, camping with friends, and discussions with family which always comes to the same conclusion; no matter how well things are going, you are still eventually going to die. Obviously this is a spooky subject but Pete tackles it with an openness and honesty that is approachable and at times even entertaining. He also writes about his own struggles with technology and how to balance it out with reality. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Humpbelt #2: My Pal Lonnie
Humpbelt #2: My Pal Lonnie36 pages, mini
$2 cash, all trades accepted
Absolutely outstanding: you just don't see this caliber of writing in zines much. Eddie is a natural; very polished, very professional. Humpbelt is a fiction zine, each issue being a chapter in the life of 13 yr old Bill Croydon. This issue is about Bill's short lived friendship with a guy named Lonnie. This one's a keeper.
MULNIX
PO Box 29753
Los Angeles CA 90027
WOSPress@gmail.com
AVOW #22
AVOW #22
$2 Keith Rosson 1615 SE Main St.,
Portland, OR 97214
keithrosson.com
Avow has been around for a long time. I picked this one up the other day when I was on a work-related road trip to Portland and had a few hours to check out Reading Frenzy and Powell’s. This is a collection of stories about Keith’s life. To be honest, this zine started slow for me, I had a hard time getting into it. This wasn’t due to a lack of talent on Keith’s part, I immediately recognized his talent for the written word, but for some reason I couldn’t connect to the first three opening stories. That having been said, there are 12 stories in this zine and from the fourth, “Our Children’s War” on, I was hooked. At times this is a hard zine to read in that it deals with a host of painful issues, foremost of which is the death of his father. It also deals lost love, mortality, substance abuse, and child abuse. Keith’s writing is insightful, engaging, and he has an uncommon knack for bringing the reader into whatever scenario quickly and personally. This is a heavy read that regularly made me uncomfortable, angry, and even happy, often in the same story. But this zine isn’t entirely about the horrors of the real world, case in point is the hilarious story, “Tim Armstrong is Porn” which is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever read in a zine. It explores the insecurities that many of us feel when buying things that may inaccurately stereotype us by the various employees behind the counter. I could relate all too well. This is a fantastic read.
ROCK N ROLL PURGATORY #5, #6, and #7
from Razorcake RSS Zine Reviews Feed
The highest compliments I can pay this zine are: 1. they pulled me into reading interviews with bands I didn't know, and I came ... 8 ½ x 11, photocopied, 50-something pages each
The highest compliments I can pay this zine are: 1. they pulled me into reading interviews with bands I didn't know, and I came ... 8 ½ x 11, photocopied, 50-something pages each
Monday, June 7, 2010
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