Whuddafug #3 & #4

Whuddafug #3 & #4

digest, 48 pages & 32 pages

$3 each

Seriously one of the best zines I have read in a while. #3 consists mainly of really short entries: random thoughts and stories, quotes, short fiction. Many of the entries are very thought-provoking, and it's amazing how much can be said in so few words. Reading this issues felt like flipping through a writer's idea notebook. Some of the entries in issue #3 get fleshed out in issue #4. #4 is much more text heavy and details a trip to Hawaii followed by a move from California to Texas. Anthony also reveals his purchase of ridiculously cheap land in the middle of the desert where he intends to live in a shipping container if it comes down to it. He's a family man, though, so his radical ideas are grounded in the fact that his daughter probably won't be able to go to her prom if he moves the family into the middle of the desert because what guy would want to go pick up a girl who's living in a shipping container out in boonies. There are some pretty profound musings about society in here, and my words aren't going to do this zine justice, so please check it out for yourself.

Anthony Abelaye, PO Box 861294, Plano TX 75086

anthony@whuddafug.com, www.whuddafug.com

Second Hand Smoke, vol. 1-3

Second Hand Smoke, vol. 1-3
digest, 24 pages each, $?
I read through these pretty quickly. Short comic strips and simple drawings with random captions or observations. Roughly drawn, but the artwork adds to the charm. Several of the stories involve hanging out with friends and/or getting drunk, basically just typical activities of a high school/college kid. Some hilarity ensues. The best moments are the tender and poignant ones, like when Christian writes about friends leaving. His encounters with females are pretty relatable, and his product ideas are funny. The lettering needs work because it's nearly impossible to read at times. Otherwise, these are worth checking out.
Christian Filardo, 320 E. 14th Street, Tempe AZ 85281
christianfilardo@gmail.com

Moleskin For A Scout Book?

Power Out

Ciutat Podrida zine # 9 (Spain, 2009)

ASHCAN MAGAZINE #2

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

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]

Call for submissions for Bitch theme #2: the clit edition

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

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

www.yoburbalino.com, doctormobogo@gmail.com

Ellen Kling

The Secret History of the Ineffables #2

Pluc Plaatsman

I'm One Of An Odd Family #2

Kairan #14 & #15

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

from Razorcake RSS Zine Reviews Feed

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...

from We Make Zines by 100moley100

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

Timmothy’s Halloween Special

Second Hand Smoke #3

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

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.

No/Know’s Guide to Iceland?