Month: January 2017

The La-La Theory #6: Always Already
Katie
http://www.thelalatheory.com/
Jimmy Tierney (Art) www.graphiteplayground.com

I feel like it would be a disservice to this zine to say it’s about ‘words’, and yet it is. However, it’s also about interesting words, language, strange words, strange ways to learn words (who knew old ‘learn to read’ books were so… somewhat disturbing?), finding poetry, zines, and more. There is even an interview with Manija Brown, a writer who has done manga adaptations.

So there it is: about words and yet so much more than words.

The La-La Theory 6 starts off with Katie pondering whether the thought that language is what makes us human. That reminded me of Let’s Communicate and how language can be so much more than what we humans usually think of it. When I dove straight onto that thought train into the world of world and language, I knew I had a winner.

This zine is fun and engaging in a calm way right from the start. The little things drew me in like how Katie mentioned this zine was a way of coming back to the spirit of the first La-La Theory. Even the somewhat/sort of incomplete table of contents had me smiling.

What a fun way to point to a few specific pieces.

Katie goes on to include brief etymologies (the history of a word’s meaning) of various words, a few reviews of very strange old language use books, and a piece about words that don’t have direct English translations.

The piece in this that spoke the most to me “On Finding Poetry”. I’ve said plenty of times that I don’t ‘get’ poetry and have always felt a little uncomfortable about that. So when I read this piece, I felt like Katie may as well have been talking directly to me…

A lot of the people I know feel shy about poetry. They’re not sure they understand it, they’re embarrassed of the poems they wrote when they were really young, and they’re certain they couldn’t write anything good now if they tried. But I know different: Anyone can write poems, and everyone should.

I would have bet money on me never writing a poem again and no one ever being able to convince me to do so. And yet, Katie’s surety about and love for poetry (along with tips on ‘finding’ poems) has me thinking about trying my hand again for the first time in many years.

I quite enjoyed this zine and taking in Katie’s love of words. I’m looking forward to tracking down more issues of The La-La Theory.

Literal Trash
Talia Enright
talia@feminerds.com
feminerds.tumblr.com

It’s time for something mini, sweet, and absolutely adorable.

I was just listening to a podcast today where two people were talking about how a great thing about zine culture is how you can really have an idea about anything. Specific subjects need not apply. All welcome here.

So when I was this little zine about dumpsters, well, I couldn’t help but smile.

Literal Trash is a zine featuring drawn pictures of dumpsters in different situations. This is one of those times where I really wish I didn’t have my self-imposed rule about showing the insides of zines (especially the minis) because the art inside is even cuter than what’s on the cover.

There are little slogans or words to go along with each one, and I just can’t pick a favourite. Though “Trash can! Not a trash can’t” nearly claims that title.

The full-colour suits this zine so, so well. The level of detail in the illustrations is really brought out by all the different colours. This would still be a fun mini zine in black and white, but I really think going full colour brings it to the best possible level.

While it may seem like a strange thing, I really need to point out the awesome folding on this zine. It’s totally precise, and, yes, I do struggle a little with the one-page zine edges coming together properly at the end. This zine is excellent. I love it.