zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Fascinating History of Perfume


via One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick on 10/3/11





The old saying "you learn something new every day" may be cliché but it is true. I enjoy finding zines about subjects I never thought of investigating (Moe Bowstern's Alaskan fishing adventures chronicled in Xtra Tuf for example).

Devan Elyse Bennett has created a slim 12 page tome on perfume. What, I thought, could be more trite and banal than perfume? Yet from ancient times onward, scents and concoctions have been intricately entwined with human development. This zine is a broad (and true to it's title – fascinating) overture on the subject. My one complaint – the illustrations photocopied way too grainy and dark. If this was intentional for artistic sensibilities, it doesn't work. If unintentional, reprinting the zine for clarity gets my vote. It feels like the illustrations have something important to add to the informative text, and they are lost in xerography.  More information (and a potpourri of good reading) can be found at http://ballbusterzinesinc.blogspot./com 



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Pukka Joint Massif

via One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick on 9/30/11



Pukka Joint Massif #3 is a classic cut n paste zine featuring crisp black & white graphics both straight up and manipulated to imaginative effect. PJM is a substantial, half sized zine full of comment and reviews of mail art and zines along with relevant contact information. PMJ is the first cousin of the Node Pajomo zine, which I didn't realize until reading the introduction thoroughly. If you are at all invested in keeping mail art and paper zines alive and healthy, I suggest sending a few bucks for recent copies of both Pukka Joint Massif and Node Pajomo to PO Box 2632 Bellingham WA 98227-2632.

There is no email contact or website for this zine. I recognize the irony of using internet blogs to promote the papernet, and both PJM and Node Pajomo abstain from that irony by staying strictly offline. If 2011 is the Revenge of Print, maybe 2012 could be the Revenge of Mail … we could write real letters and maybe help save the postal service in the process … before a tremendous resource is lost to the tyranny of technology, budget slashing and governmental neglect.

Martha Stewart's Prison Reader of Blather & Malarkey


via One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick on 9/27/11




Dear Tar,


I'm calling you Tar because you said I could call you Tar. You don't sound like a boring person unless you're a lot like me. I had three kids, own my house (well the bank owns it), and write for my own sanity.


Anyone who bursts on the scene with a zine titled Martha Stewart's Prison Reader of Blather & Malarkey is worthy of my attention. You've created an amazing zine here in every sense. I wish more zines had cool quotes and a table of contents. I wish more zines had a vision of presenting a variety of writing – essays, fiction, poetry, parables. I also wish more zines had patron saints of Jackalicism.


While we're still above ground we need to struggle against depression and oppression. I appreciate how your zine does both, with a twist of lemon. Your welcoming comments made me think you were Richard Brautigan reincarnated "I've waited my whole life for you to get to this very sentence." And your Zounds! A Confession echoes my own recent musings about the current and future state of ink on paper. I will never abandon books and print for the tyranny of technology.


I'm looking forward to future issues – if they're going to be this engaging, bring on the Blather. And the Malarkey.


Note: Readers can find this zine by clicking on this link http://msprobam.tumblr.com/zine or by sending $3 cash to Tarnation Collins @ PO BOX 4377, Tulsa, OK 74159


Saturday, October 15, 2011

Color Wheel: A Journal of Poetry & Art #9.11

Color Wheel: A Journal of Poetry & Art #9.11   from Laura-Marie


This mini zine is a split--Color Wheel #9.11 is on one side of the piece of paper, and Night Train volume I number 4 is on the other side. The zine consists of one piece of paper, folded.
Color Wheel is three poems, and I like each of them. My favorite might be John O'Dell's "Rules of Painting the Orchid" which ends with the line, "Go make yourself some tea."
Night Train consists of an essay about Night Train and Color Wheel. The writing is clear and clean, the speaker likable.
This split is the first zine I've read out of a pile DJ Frederick sent, and it makes me look forward to the others.
http://zinereviews.blogspot.com/

TRSF: MIT Technology Review’s science fiction anthology

Ladybeard / Les Carnets De Rastapopoulos #8

2 reviews
A clip from the Salford Zine Library film “Self-Publishers...

Thursday, October 13, 2011

8-Track Mind #101

Zine Review: 8-Track Mind #101 - from One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick


After a decade since the “final” issue of the classic zine “8-Track Mind”, Russ Forster has created issue #101 – not so much about 8-tracks but a meditation on zines vs. blogs. Electronic vs. paper communications and information sharing is one of the sweeping issues of our time, which is given little attention by the media or educational institutions. For decades the cultural clamor has been to mindlessly embrace all new technology – and in the space of just 20 years we have seen a serious change (possibly disruption) in the way people read, think, communicate and process information. The internet generation has spawned less dialogue, a bloated glut of disinformation, and people making snap judgments and opinions based on very little truth. Twitter seeks to limit people to 140 characters of expression. Libraries of rare and significant books are being replaced with computer screens. People don’t write letters any more. And we’re not getting any smarter, or wiser from any of it.
We’re sacrificing our souls (8-tracks) for convenience (mp3s) and sacrificing our physical connection with objects like records and tapes for bits & bytes in devices and downloads that make corporations like Apple billions in profit.
Ok, this is sounding more like an editorial than a review (it is). Zines like 8-Track Mind are the panacea for a blog-infested world. (You may be reading this on my blog or in my paper zine … truth is, my paper zine will be here long after the blog is deleted … also … how many of you are actually reading this blog, anyway?)
This issue is packed with 38 pages of writing taking a long look at the analog vs. digital culture. Contributors include Malcom Riviera, Peter Bergman, Kim Cooper, Dan Sutherland and many others. My heart soars when I read thought provoking zines like 8-Track Mind. I may not be more enlightened after pondering it all, but at least it affirms there is still much coolness to be found in the zine world … and that’s just fine with me.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The Lead Standard

The Lead Standard from Laura-Marie's zine reviews
This is a chapbook of good poems by Jimmy Besseck. The voice is conversational, and the subjects are everyday. The speaker is grim and gritty, sometimes pithy. One poem called "Stating the Obvious" is about a man that's been shit on by a bird. It's very literal and compelling. Then at the end it seems to become about something more, about being shit on figuratively. Another poem is about hearing someone fart. There are some smart observations about human nature. Anyway, if you like poems and don't mind crassness you'll probably like this chapbook. There are lots of magazine pictures throughout.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Zine News Round-Up: 02.10.11

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

via Spill The Zines! by noreply@blogger.com (Cath) on 10/2/11



1. Zine Releases
2. Upcoming Events
3. Submission Calls
4. Zine Reviews
5. Distro News
6. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
 - Another cool art zine by Sky Nash has been released this week: SICK.  Available on etsy.
 - Girls Get Busy #8 is out now!  Buy a copy of the zine, or a GGB totebag and t-shirt, on their Big Cartel store.

2. Upcoming Events
  - Camden Zine Fest: 8th October.  1pm til 6pm at The Pirate Castle. Includes workshops and zine readings alongside the stalls.  More info at http://camdenzinefest.blogspot.com/.
- Craftivism Manchester: 9th October, 11pm til 4pm; 15th October, 10am til 4pm.  Held at the People's History Museum. www.phm.org.uk
 - South East London Zine Fest: 12th November. Applications for tables are still open! More info here: http://selondonzines.wordpress.com/
 - LaDIYfest Sheffield: 12th – 13th November. an inclusive, DIY, anti-capitalist, community-based feminist festival. http://ladiyfestsheff.noblogs.org/

3. Submission Calls
 - The Anarchist Blog are looking for submissions for Uncivilisation Zine #1!  They're looking for articles on anarchism, vegetarianism, anti-fascism, environmentalism, and feminism.  Email them at theanarchistblogATgmailDOTcom for more info.
 - Penpal Adventures: A Curated Zine on the Experiences of Girls as Penpals.  Helena and Sarah are looking for personal essays, nonfiction prose, comics, letters/excerpts, photos and ephemera from your days of pre-internet correspondence. Deadline: February 1st 2012.  Please send submissions to: penpal.zineATgmailDOTcom.
 - Tukru is looking for submissions for Vampire Sushi zine #2!  The main theme is vampires but other monsters & horror themes are welcome too. The deadline has been extended to 23rd October! Detailed info can be found here.
 - The Pandora Press zine deadline has been extended by a week!  The theme is sex; the new deadline is 9th October.  Submissions must be from the South Wales area. More info here.

4. Zine Reviews
 - Sophie at Oh My Clumsy Heart has posted some zine recommendations – take a look.
 - Laura-Marie (author of US zine Functionally Ill) has started a new zine review blog up.  While it's not UK-centered, she has reviewed lots of UK zines there recently, including Buy Her Candy #1, Here. In My Head#9, and Three Days Of My Life I Will Never Get Back. Take a look!

5. Distro News
 - Marching Stars is on hiatus for a week or so.  Keep up to date on MS distro's tumblr.
 - Princesa Pirata has added some cool new stuff to her catalogue, including handmade postcards and calendars by A-K herself! http://princesapiratadistro.wordpress.com/
 - Vampire Sushi has been updated, with new zines in stock! http://vampiresushi.co.uk/

6. A.O.B.
 - Salford Zine Library have made a film all about zines, which will be screened at Salford Art Gallery this winter. Here's a preview, featuring a guide on how to make your own zine!  Awesome stuff:



 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

Biblio-Curiosa #2

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

via Blackguard on 10/9/11

   
48 pages, digest size, $5.00 from Chris Mikul, PO Box K546, Haymarket NSW 1240, AUSTRALIA + cathob [at] zip.com.au 
It sure was a pleasant surprise to receive this so soon after BC#1, considering Chris's other zine Bizarrism only comes out every three years.
The first piece in this issue, 'The Strange Case of F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre' fascinated me to very near the degree that the story of Henry Darger did so. Like Darger, MacIntyre was a loner his whole life, although differing in that from his hoarder's apartment in Brooklyn that he never let anybody into (even the super to conduct necessary maintenance) he communicated with the outside world through the internet, promoting himself as an expert on the silent film era of the '20s, also the science fiction community (and was a prolific IMDb reviewer). His manner of dress was unique - "he affected the air of an eccentric Victorian gentleman, and wore tweed suits and riding boots, sometimes a kilt and sporran, and - always - gloves" - nicknamed "Froggy" these gloves were rumoured to conceal webbed fingers, or a terrible skin condition.
The other two pieces in here I did read, but were nowhere near as fascinating as the F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre piece.
But that's just me: obsessive, get/got stuck... BC#2 has colour covers, gorgeous b&w illustrations, and an exploration of T. Mullett Ellis and his novel of "anarchism, free love and germ warfare called Zalma."
Get it.

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

Audio Review: The Radical Uprise Issue 2

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

durable goods 25

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

via Laura-Marie's zine reviews by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie) on 9/20/11


I got a stack of durable goods when my friend W sent me those 50 or so zines in the mail. This one was my favorite. It's a micro-zine, just one piece of paper folded up, and it's a poetry zine. So short, like blink and you miss it. But I like it that way. The star of this issue is "This Dream is Not About You" by Dan Wilcox. It's so real and right. And it's short, and I feel like I can't quote from it because you need the whole thing. But it's surprising and I love it.

http://durablegoodsmicrozine.blogspot.com/

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

Zine Showcase #23

 
 

Sent to you by Jack via Google Reader:

 
 

via Oh My Clumsy Heart by sophie@ohmyclumsyheart.com (Sophie) on 10/3/11





Neil Dee

Shop
Necronomicon #2 :: £1 + shipping

Necronomicon is a Yorkshire, UK based horror fanzine, a sincere love letter to the horror genre in love most of all with the films that have been forgotten about. Published every-so-monthly these black and white photocopied A5 zines are intensely nostalgic with a heavy dose of dark humour.







Weng Pixin
Website :: Blog
All You've Got To Do Is..

Weng Pixin created this zine for a Pikaland project and I received it direct from them as part of a zine selection so issues are scarce. Weng uses cartoons and zines to talk about intensely painful or emotional subjects.







Elizabeth Maycox

Website :: Shop
Hard On Love :: £4.50 + shipping

"Remember. Even if nobody ever cares for you, you can always still care about somebody."

An A5, signed and numbered, machine stitched, 36 page zine; Hard On Love is the final send-up of the now defunct Love Comes in Spurts journal. Limited to strictly twenty copies; Hard On Love contains 39 breathtakingly poignant articles on love, lust, heartache and heartbreak. Everything from the sketched cover illustration of Lester Young to the intense writing right down to the library book feel of the paper this zine is nothing but beautiful.

 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 
from Oh My Clumsy Heart by sophie@ohmyclumsyheart.com (Sophie)








Neil Dee



Shop

Necronomicon #2 :: £1 + shipping



Necronomicon is a Yorkshire, UK based horror fanzine, a sincere love letter to the horror genre in love most of all with the films that have been forgotten about. Published every-so-monthly these black and white photocopied A5 zines are intensely nostalgic with a heavy dose of dark humour.















Weng Pixin

Website :: Blog

All You've Got To Do Is..



Weng Pixin created this zine for a Pikaland project and I received it direct from them as part of a zine selection so issues are scarce. Weng uses cartoons and zines to talk about intensely painful or emotional subjects.















Elizabeth Maycox



Website :: Shop

Hard On Love :: £4.50 + shipping



"Remember. Even if nobody ever cares for you, you can always still care about somebody."



An A5, signed and numbered, machine stitched, 36 page zine; Hard On Love is the final send-up of the now defunct Love Comes in Spurts journal. Limited to strictly twenty copies; Hard On Love contains 39 breathtakingly poignant articles on love, lust, heartache and heartbreak. Everything from the sketched cover illustration of Lester Young to the intense writing right down to the library book feel of the paper this zine is nothing but beautiful.

Add starLikeShareShare with noteEmailMark as readSend toEdit tags: zine-staff

Oct 3, 2011 8:42 PMAudio Review: Shotgun Seamstress #3from One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick





The Filth #1


The Filth #1
28 pages, digest,
$3, trades

A nicely rounded assortment of prose, (mostly fiction,) and a music CD. I liked most of it: zombies, cool trippy art, horny youth on the road, death of a hamster, burnt toast, police brutality, picking up fat girls at last call (my personal fav), bloody tolkenesque shit, and a little techno music to listen to while reading. The CD (by Da Moth,) alone is worth $3.

The Filth
5 Mira Ct
Baltimore MD 21220

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Kung Fu Grip #5

Kung Fu Grip #5


Kung Fu Grip! #5
$3.50
Paco Taylor
7730 E. Broadway #925
Tucson, AZ 85710
paco@kungfugripzine.com

KFG is a beautifully put together zine. It’s the kind of
zine that, after having read it, I keep thumbing through it to
admire just how fucking cool it looks. With the aesthetic of a 1970’s era comic book/martial
arts magazine, Kung Fu Grip #5 explores a wide variety of subjects ranging from
graffiti artists (Shiro), Jamaican recording artist and comic book enthusiast
Lee Perry , and the link between giant Buddha statues, Shinto deities, and
popular Japanese television superhero shows like Ultraman. Paco D. Taylor appears to be a true aficionado
of 70’s pop culture, art, and style, and he brings that passion to life in the
modern world with this zine. The subject matter is interesting and engaged, never
feeling pretentious or out of place, and the layout is flawless.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Lead Standard - from Laura-Marie's zine reviews

The Lead Standard


This is a chapbook of good poems by Jimmy Besseck. The voice is conversational, and the subjects are everyday. The speaker is grim and gritty, sometimes pithy. One poem called "Stating the Obvious" is about a man that's been shit on by a bird. It's very literal and compelling. Then at the end it seems to become about something more, about being shit on figuratively. Another poem is about hearing someone fart. There are some smart observations about human nature. Anyway, if you like poems and don't mind crassness you'll probably like this chapbook. There are lots of magazine pictures throughout.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Zine Showcase #22 from Oh My Clumsy Heart by Sophie

Zine Showcase #22





Liam

Tumblr // Shop
Lost Boy #3 // £2.50 + shipping

60 pages of music, film and popular culture - a heavy mix gig reviews, interviews and illustrations. Lost Boy #3 arrived unexpected (thank you Liam!) and very much welcomed; if you haven't purchased the previous two issues I think you should, especially now they are on sale. I'm rather tempted by the Bukowski bag..






Erin Potter
Paper Noise Zines

Blog :: Shop
Queens :: $4.00 + shipping

Erin Potter has compiled a encyclopaedic zine of queens, visualised through portrait sketches and quotations.






Michelle Alba, Chris Dunsmore, Ryan Hall, Adelyn Hall, Cassie Kemp,
Nick Francis Potter and Samuel Cheney
Paper Noise Zines

Blog :: Shop
Vol 6: The Destroyer

A wonderfully crafted collaborative zine. Vol 6: The Destroyer is a quarter-sized zine incorporating fictional work with poetry and rather lovely illustrations.

Best Resurrection Issue Ever!

https://blogs.nla.gov.au/the-eloquent-page/2011/09/11/best-resurrection-issue-ever/
Sent to you via Google Reader

A Trip to the Zoo

http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/trip-to-zoo.html
Sent to you via Google Reader

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Zine News Round-Up: 18.09.11 from Spill The Zines!

Zine News Round-Up: 18.09.11

Hello again!  Did you hear that Spill the Zines is now on Twitter?  Follow us for all the latest UK zine news, and tweet us your own zine news!

Cath x

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1. Zine Releases
2. Upcoming Events
3. Submission Calls
4. Zine Reviews
5. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases - Issue 108 of Bi Community News (BCN) is out now! http://bicommunitynews.co.uk/ (don’t forget to check out last week’s review of BCN #107 on STZ).
 - The new issue of music compzine Drunken Werewolf is out now: http://drunkenwerewolf.com
 - The first issue of gothic/horror zine Black Sunday has been released! http://etsy.me/pvkg5N

2. Upcoming Events - Bristol Comic & Zine Fair: 25th September, 12 til 6pm.  More info at http://bearpitzines.tumblr.com/BCZF.
 - Sheffield Zine Fair: 25th September. I’m tabling, along with lots of other cool UK zinesters and zine collectives including Bettie (Anatomical Heart), Vampire Sushi distro, and Chella Quint. And it’s free entry! Keep up to date with the latest news on their Twitter.
 - Camden Zine Fest: 8th October.  Stall and workshop applications are now closed!  Will has announced the time of the event – 1pm til 6pm. More info at http://camdenzinefest.blogspot.com/.
 - LaDIYfest Sheffield: 12th – 13th November. An inclusive, DIY, anti-capitalist, community-based feminist festival. More info here: http://ladiyfestsheffield.wordpress.com/

3. Submission Calls - LaDIYfest Sheffield is making its own zine that will be distributed on the weekend of the festival.  Send your questions or submissions to ladiyfestsheffATgmailDOTcom.

4. Zine Reviews
 - Sophie at Oh My Clumsy Heart has posted some zine recommendations – take a look.
 - Bettie of Anatomical Heart has set up a new zine blog, where she’s posted a few zine reviews!  The reviews can be found here.

5. A.O.B.
 - A very interesting project: the owners of Museum's Press in Glasgow are opening up a gallery and book store called Good Press in October 2011 focusing on DIY and self-publishing; their aim is "to showcase individual artists and groups who are independently practising their artforms and projects". They've got an online funding Sponsume going on right now, which you can donate to here:  http://www.sponsume.com/project/good-press
 - We liked Girls Get Busy’s manifesto, so we thought we’d share it with you:

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Billy book - zine history from down under

A cartoon becomes reality

Feelings were running high back in 1916 when Australia’s outspoken Prime Minister Billy Hughes was in London. He made a series of strident speeches calling for increased pressure on Germany and more cooperation between the Dominions. According to observers, he “swept his hearers off their feet” with his forceful style. Women apparently marched in the streets with placards saying “We want Hughes back”. All of this prompted the cartoonist David Low to produce a collection of satirical drawings parodying Hughes’ capers in London published as The Billy book. Included in this was a mock advertisement for a “Billiwog” toy (a combination of the words Billy and golliwog) poking fun at all of this extremist rhetoric.
“Almost human, babies cry for it. Directions for use: Blow up with wind until head expands, then release hole on face,whereupon Billy will emit loud noises until he goes flat. No war is complete without one.” 
Billiwog advertisementBilliwog advertisement
The Library not only has a copy of The Billy book, but we also have the original pen and ink drawing of the Billiwog advertisement, acquired from the artist David Low in 1952.
What makes this story more interesting is that the polarizing effect Hughes had on people prompted some enterprising entrepeneurs to actually turn this mock advertisement into reality. The Billiwog was in fact subsequently manufactured and sold by street vendors in Australian towns during 1917-1920.
I’d love to see one of these! Surely there must be one lurking on a dusty shelf somewhere in an old wares shop, or up the back of a shed unrecognized and forgotten. Or perhaps one of our museums has one? Does a Billiwog survive anywhere?

45 Jive #5

Zine Review: 45 Jive #5



Full disclosure: I'm a record geek and most of all I love those 7 inch vinyl "45's" ... so when I heard about this zine it was imperative that I take a look. 45 Jive #5 (great rhyme!) includes an essay on 1960's songwriter Ellie Greenwich, reviews of obscure 45s from back in the day, a spotlight on early Motown tunes and an essay on one of my personal favorite guitarists of all time, Gabor Szabo. Music zines that turn you on to new sounds are a delight to discover, and this slim zine edited by Tuna is well worth seeking out. For more information email amoeba45jive@yahoo.com.

Here's a tune I discovered through the zine! Electric Garden by Dawn Chorus.

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