Zine Review: Hysteric Glamour

Hysteric Glamour is a silly zine written by some silly girls. I mean that in the best way imaginable. It isn't Keep Loving but it has a good heart and really wants to make you laugh. We sell it for a buck plus postage which I think is 48 cents.

Zine Review: Hobson's Choice #1 and #2

Hobson's Choice is a litzine and a good one at that. The prose is solid and while the writing is young, it's the kind that points to the future trying to find new ways to see and say the world. Daniel, the editor, is a good guy who has a sense for the right in writing. This zine is literary as a motherfuker. Plus it has poetry, sorry, no ones perfect. It's a buck from us plus postage.

Zine Review: The Gut #7

The Gut #7 has two amazing interviews: one with neo realist Italian movie actor (he isn't Italian) Allen Midgette and one with (Re)Search founder an d editor V. Vale. This makes the zine worth it all by itself. This is history motherfuckers.

It also has fiction and poetry. A good read for two bucks. We stock this one.

2007 NOLA Bookfair

Hey all,

So if you've been in the vicinity of Planet Earth for the past few months you know we went to the 2007 NOLA Book fair. First up thanks to everyone who sent us stuff. Everything we've got on hand should be on the website by Monday. Our webmaster has been off somewhere with thumb up butt. (In case you didn't know that's me.)

I think my favorite phrase the whole time I was there was "I love this city." Seriously, I do. I've loved it since I was a kid. Even the dirty grimy parts. Especially the dirty grimy parts. In fact, I have no idea why I'm not living there now. The city looks more like itself every day but if you ask me about the Lower Nine I'll tell you I don't know because unlike every other gawking tourist, I haven't been. I don't see the point. But we couldn't avoid New Orleans East since I-10 rides right through it. Third time I've ridden into the city through there since the storm. First time I haven't flat out cried.

We spent Friday wandering around in the Garden District. After we hit the camera store of course. There was this beautiful church we spent time taking pictures of. After that we piled back into the car and headed for the French Quarter. Mike bought a cigar and shared it with Rob and Clay. I had a cheap hurricane. We walked down to Jackson Square and watched people leaving a storybook wedding complete with horse and carriage while all around us were these little tables featuring various flavors of fortune tellers. And down the block was a Wiccan wedding rehearsal. If New Orleans is nothing else, it is the definition of diversity.


The next day we were out at the book fair. We got in early and helped set up tables. As usual Rob put us all to shame with his amazing super get things done skills. We were crammed in behind a table with three other groups of people at the front of Ray's Boom Boom Room. If you've ever wondered what a sea of humanity looked like you would have had a perfect example. There were all these different kinds of zines and books and people from all over. It was amazing. And then to top it all off there was a brass band. At the end of the day, Rob put us to shame again tearing down. After which we did the only thing there was left to do... Hit the Quarter again.


We had dinner at this restaurant called Coops, mine was shrimp etouffee with a mango mohito. This time instead of strip clubs, excuse me cabarets, we found tons of shops selling everything from pipes to old records. We eventually made our way back to the hotel to change before heading back out to the after party.Somewhere around 3 AM I think, we found ourselves in an IHOP. Needless to say, there was no chance we were making it out the door at sunrise with cameras. What were we thinking.We did manage a third trip into the French Quarter though. And after my encounter with the snake jerk pried us away from Jackson Square we finally started heading out. But before we even managed to hit the interstate we were all missing New Orleans. Man I love that city.

There's more pictures on my flickr account: http://flickr.com/photos/crownjewel82/collections/72157603176892416/

Enjoy!

Dorothea Review in Razorcake

Mike has written a nice, compact zine of nice, compact stories, none more than a few hundred words. Some might think that is too short of time to create something of interest or to get the reader involved. However, somehow he pulls it all together. These stories were all written after Mike’s mom died, but the vast majority have nothing to do with that topic. Mike also wishes to inform us (as he does both in the opening and closing notes) that he is a liar and you can’t trust anything he says. So who knows if some of these stories really happened; it’s obvious some didn’t, but it really doesn’t matter. While capable of pulling out some emotions from the reader here or there, it’s also a quick read and a fun zine. –Kurt Morris

Zine Review: Below Noon #2

Below Noon #2 is fine stuff. I'm biased for sure because people writing about sexuality is my favorite stuff. Not the "then I touched his turgid member" variety but the kind that shows us how the most personal tends to be the most universal. Humans are great secret keepers but Angie, the author, ain't buyin'.

The first part of the zine is her description of a) discovering masturbation and how it evolved in her life and b) discovering that she was a lesbian. The writing is clear and descriptive. There's no false modesty or purple prose just facts laid out and story told.

The second part is a smattering of journal entries, quotes and quoted letters. I was dreading it until I read it. She chose well. They give a feel for who she away from her crotch.

This zine is text heavy but worth the time.

Angie is reachable at PO Box 42123, Portland, Oregon 97242. I hit her up for a trade but if you sent her a couple of bucks for her effort, I'm pretty sure, that would be fine.

Yaaaa, Self Love!

Erratic Confusion #3

by Mike

half page, 12 pgs.

HC zine by my buddy Dan. He’s got interviews with Wolfbrigade, Merciless Game and We Need To Talk whose lead singer is hot. I’d beg for drippings off her talk. The zine is pretty fucking good too! Dan dedicates it fallen HC axe man Kawakami (peace be upon him). Issues cost a buck if you’re stateside and 2 bucks if you’re not. Dan also has issues 1 and 2 for the same price. One is a stream of consciousness thing. It’s cool. And Issue two has some great interviews with some great fucking HC bands. Also girls and boys, issue two is way thick.

Dan 6400 Landmark Drive, Alexandria, LA 71301. $1.00 ppd in the US. $2.00 ppd everywhere else.

Toil #1

by Mike

half page, 40 pgs.

I love this zine and Kim is pretty fucking funny. It’s about working and shitty jobs and how a good sense of the absurd will save your life.

Kimberlee PO Box 660664, Sacramento, CA 95866. $2.00 ppd.

Zine Review: I am the City #1

I wrote this a little while back as a review and to a certain extend I still believe the author gives up credability by being snarking for the sake of seeming clever. That said, I recommend this zine and its following up. Its well written, for the most part, and smart. And I apoligize to the author for being guilty of the same, perhaps less thoughtful snideness. -Mike

My previous review:
I think I paid a buck for this zine at the NOLA Book Fair and, ignoring the very cool gate fold cover the gives up the title a few words at a time as you open it, this zines i a half assed feminist critique of "pillowing" and a look at protest songs now and way the fuck back when. Both suffer from overblown partisanship but fuck that because they're still pretty entertaining. This is definitely a good read if you're a 20-ish girl who wants to move to NYC, she includes some anecdotal stories unrelated to the waxing, who wants to move to the city and learn to love it and then hate it and then love it again. Good art direction and design. Not sure where to buy it but if you see at your local distro table, buy it and read it. I'm mostly an asshole. I'll post the address if I can find it.

Zine Review: Memoirs of a Queer Hapa

Memoirs of a Queer Hapa succeeds and fails in the same sentences. Its a strong critique of how race impacts identity and how identity is transient but maybe oughtn't be. It considers who a binary culture becomes a psychological form of fascism. She does this in the frame work of her own live as a hapa (half breed) queer woman.

That said, Ms. Wong is brilliant but its a shame she knows it because slathers it into her word choices and her sentences labyrinthine convulsions. This can be a painful read.

You should still buy though Dingus. The education would do you good. We sell this one so just hits us up.

Zine Review: How I came to love myself and sometimes other men

How I came to love myself and sometimes other men, a zine authored by Dave of Black Carrot, argues for something like this: forget binary sex rules, change the terminology to degrees of openness and sex isn't about genitals alone. He describes his "coming out" process which for Dave was more aabout getting comfortabe with his own need rather than the typical "how will my friends take it" coming out. Its a sexy little zine available through Stranger Danger Distro. I think it cost a buck plus postage.