Munster Times 21 [July 2017]

Matt Ryan, Contact: Munster_mag [at] hotmail [dot] com for ordering info and check out the Munster Times Facebook page Size: 11.75" x 8.25" Page count: 36 

In Matt's 'Letter from the Editor' he notes the passing of Ms Izzy Cox, and describes her music this way: "It's the kind of music I could imagine being played on a jukebox in a smoke-filled pub in 1950s Texas while a bunch of characters straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel (where everyone is tough and hard and funny but not in a haha way) play pool and eye one another off." Then on a less sad note, rather one of derision, Matt writes that Mia Freeman made a dick of herself again. I had to Google Mia Freeman - she is the founder of Australian women's website Mamamia. But what she made a dick of herself about this time around is not revealed...

Anyway, loads of great stuff in this issue - interviews with Blag from The Dwarves; Dave Graney, and here's a great quote from that one: "...I do a show on RRR and I hear a lot of contemporary music, and I see a lot of new albums that come in and I'm amazed when I get acts that say it's their first album in seven years. And I'm like Wow, what is the point? You know, you are not that good to be taking that much of a break, that is the entire career of Jimmy Hendrix, or 2Pac. Get over it. Do something. If you're a muso you should record and play gigs. Taking seven years off is stupid."

Then three more interviews - Mick Batty of Melbourne record label Off The Hip; Melbourne two-piece garage band Cakefight; and comedian Greg Fleet. Part of the fun, of course, is finding out at the end when Matt asks them [and "them" meaning every single person or band he interviews] "What is your favourite The Fall album?" have they heard of The Fall? If so, have they heard any of their albums? If so, did they like it enough to listen to another one? And so on... Great stuff!

There's also a review of Dinosaur Jr at The Croxton on Friday 20 January 2017.

Astrobabble: The Zine For Astrology Nerds #12 [2015]

Astrogirlzarro, m_zarro [at] hotmail [dot] com + astrobabylon.blogspot.com  Price: $3.00 Trades? Yes; Size: 8.25" x 5.75" Page count: 16

Astrobabble is a marriage of Astrogirlzarro's interests in astrology and pop culture, and she announces in her 'Editor's Notes' that this issue "focuses on the expansive and jovial sign of Sagittarius"; Keith Richards has his natal chart exposed; and the current Saturn-Sagittarius cycle is looked at in relation to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus. We also observe Frank Zappa sitting on the crapper as Exhibit A in 'How to Spot a Sagittarian'.

It occurs to me that it doesn't matter if you're not into astrology even a little bit. You will LOVE this issue if you're a Rolling Stones fan, since Astrogirlzarro read Keith's six hundred page autobiography, Life, as part of her research [yes! only part! - there's a whole page of 'Notes and Sources' listed at the back, like Chris Mikul does with Bizarrism]. I'm also sure that if YOU or a close friend or family member is a Sagittarian, this issue would be a fun read to find out which of the noted personality/character quirks match up or not.

Great stuff!

I should add that for Bowie fans, there is also a Bowie-focused issue that came out just after the Duke's untimely death.

Betty Paginated #36 [Winter 2017]

ADULTS ONLY! Dann Lennard, PO Box A1412, Sydney South NSW 1235, AUSTRALIA + Dann.Lennard [at] gmail [dot] com + track down Dann's SIX blogs by heading to http://bpzine.blogspot.com.au/  Price: email to enquire Trades? Probably - if your zine is in the same universe - email to ask; Size: 11.75" x 8.25" Page count: 16

"This issue of BP is dedicated to the memory of veteran zinester and Canadian lumberjack RODNEY LEIGHTON."

This issue - celebrating Dann's 25 years of zine publishing! - features: an evening with Rickie Lee Jones; a farewell to Elizabeth's Books [the Pitt Street store, that is, which will be merging with the Newtown store]; the COMPLETE, UNCENSORED interview with Dann's current porn obsession Amarna Miller that appeared HEAVILY CENSORED in People Magazine; superhero comic book artiste Rich Buckler; a Max 'Tangles' Walker obituary; Dann's ridiculously overwrought and melodramatic public letter to "punk cabaret" singer Amanda Palmer; and a few other bits and pieces, not least of which is a brilliant cartoon by Ohannesian >>>

Bizarrism No. 15 [July 2017]

Chris Mikul, PO Box K546, Haymarket NSW 1240, AUSTRALIA + cathob [at] zip.com.au Price: $8.00 Trades? Maybe. If your zine is very good. Contact first; Size: 11.75" x 8.25" Page count: 44

Some really great stuff in this new issue. Here's my Top 3:

1 - 'The Protests of Sandy Berger' - If you've ever found yourself wondering about those people who walk around town - or even stand in the one spot - wearing hand-written signs about UFOs or religion or THE EVILS OF PSYCHIATRY, then you will love this article. Sandy Berger walked around Sydney in the 1970s and '80s wearing signs warning of the evils of psychiatry, and that's just ONE of his many alternating endearing/infuriating quirks;

2 - 'In the Town of Marwencol' - The story of Mark Hogancamp who, in 2000, was almost beaten to death outside a New York bar, and with his resulting head trauma/memory loss created a WWII-era town populated by Ken and Barbie type dolls and wrote hundreds of pages to tell their stories, and took hundreds of photographs of scenes from their dramatic lives. Absolutely fascinating;

3 - 'My Favourite Dictators No. 9 - Kim Jong-il [with illustrations by Glenn Smith] - I get mixed up about Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un, but the former is the Daddy [now dead] and the latter is the son, now firing rockets all over the Pacific and making a damn nuisance of himself. He's also the star of one of the greatest episodes of South Park! ... Or perhaps I'm thinking of the movie...

If you're alive, you must obtain a copy!

Sprak! Vol 2 #12 [Jan 2017]

24 pages, 8.5" x 6" for a copy, "send money, dvds, trades, zines, letters, blackmail" to Kami, PO Box 278, Edwardstown SA 5039, AUSTRALIA

It seems like a long time since the last issue of Sprak!, but time plays tricks on the mind... However! In his introduction, Kami describes this issue as "a lot of old reviews rehashed with a few choice new ones thrown in to make it look like I've been productive!"

Kami examines sixteen Ozploitation classicks: Pandemonium [1987; D: Haydn Keenan]; Felicity [1978; D: John D. Lamond]; Stone [1974; D: Sandy Harbutt]; Howling III - The Marsupials [1987; D: Phillipe Mora]; Demons Among Us [2006; D: Stuart Simpson]; Dead End Drive-In [1986; D: Brian Trenchard-Smith]; Night of Fear [1972; D: Terry Bourke]; Nightmares [1980; D: John Lamond]; Chain Reaction [1980; D: Ian Barry]; Stunt Rock [1978; D: Brian Trenchard-Smith]; Bad Habits [2008; D: Dominic Deacon]; Patrick [1978; D: Richard Franklin]; Flange Desire [1993; D: Drew Gates]; The True Story of Eskimo Nell [1975; D: Richard Franklin]; Coming of Age [1984; D: Brian Jones]; Inn of the Damned [1974; D: Terry Bourke].

I stand by what I wrote about Sprak! #6 back in 2010 >>> "If you remember your teenage years when the deciding factor on renting a movie was whether there was a big 'Banned in Queensland' sticker on the cover, you will LOVE this zine."