Posts

Posted on

Enter Title Here

Hello, zine friends. I hope you are well.

I don’t actually know what I cant to say today. I just keep feeling the urge to post something even though no topic has bubbled to the surface. Usually the topic idea is followed by the urge to write, but here we are.

I feel fairly unprepared for the new year and yet strangely okay with that. 2018 starting on a Monday (oh, how I do starting things on a Monday) should have me ramped up for all sorts of plans and dreams, lists and to-dos, but I’m not there.

I am excited for the new year. Where Christmas feels strange and is emotionally confusing, New Year’s Eve is probably my favourite holiday. I love fresh starts nearly as much as I love zines. Alas, most of my time has been taken up with planning a fairly big project I hope to release into the wild in the next month or so – and I’m okay with that.

I do hope for big, wonderful things in the new year. I hope We Make Zines comes back stronger than ever after the hiccup recently. I hope new podcast Long Arm Stapler goes on to see success. I also hope to see @FANZINE‘s Zine World Calendar gets filled with even more zine events around the world.

I hope things go well for you. Yes, you. You who haven’t dozed off before this point. I wish the best for you in all the years to come, but I know 2017 was difficult for too many people. So I wish you such a wonderful year where you can feel safe, calm, and cared about.

I will be back tomorrow and Friday with the usual schedule. I just needed a ramble, as people sometimes do. Here’s to rambling and the hopes of some random person in South Australia.

Posted on

Happy Mail Monday (on Tuesday): Boxing Day Edition

Hello, zine friends!

Whether you are celebrating or not celebrating, I hope the start to your week was wonderful and filled with good things. I spent my day brainstorming and then watching 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Not too shabby.

I didn’t think that any mail would come through in the days leading up to Christmas, but lo and behold! Magnificent happy mail, my friends. Wonderful, lovely, complete surprise happy mail. I love it.

Okay, I tell a smidge of a lie in that this package of zine bliss was expected, but I didn’t know it was going to be zines! Oh, the zine love. This pack of zines from Mel at Swap-Bot were – you guessed it – part of a swap. I do profess my love for zines on my profile there, and it was so lovely to see these in the mail. Thank you so much to Mel for being such a great swapping partner.

Another surprise! I didn’t know what to make of this lovely parcel in my postbox, and it turned out to be one of the top combos out there – zines and washi tape! Love it! This pile of happiness came from Debbie Ann who will be leaving our sunny shores and thought I might like some goodies. That I certainly do, Debbie. Thank you so much for your generosity, and best wishes for your adventures outside Australia.

That’s me for today. It’s a toasty one here in the Bridge of Murray, and I’m trying to stay cool in my little office space.

I truly wish you all the best in this, a season of silliness but also often of sadness. I understand what it’s like for this time of year to be confusing and complicated. Know that you’re not alone.

Until next time…

Posted on

Zine Review: A Guide to Self-Care

A Guide to Self-Care
Latibule Art
Latibule Art

A Guide to Self-Care is a full-colour A7-sized mini-zine of self-care activities.

Self-care can come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes it means just doing something. In this little mini-zine, you will find ideas for solitary adventures that can easily be adapted to groups if you’d like.

I like the adaptability of the activities in that way. For the most part, they are as ‘in’ or as ‘out and about’ as you’d like them to be (within the parameters of the activity itself).

This is a lovely little zine for your pocket or wallet to give you ideas on days when thinking of something to do is difficult.

Posted on

Zine Review: To The End of Time: A Photography Manifesto

To The End of Time: A Photography Manifesto
Graham Lally
http://exmosis.net
@6loss

To The End of Time is an A7-sized black and white mini-zine featuring small photos and writing about photography.

There is something that can be utterly stunning about black and white photography – even when it’s A7 and printed on cream paper. When it works, it just works, and – for the most part – it works in this zine.

Each page has a single photo, and each photo is accompanied by small blurbs. I found the writing intriguing. Graham opens with an almost aggressive stance on photography and then follows with writing about his fascination with it. It swings back to a disdain for digital photography and then moving in another direction again.

While I don’t know for sure it’s his feeling or intention, I thought the writing spoke to a love/hate relationship with photography without actually saying it.

To The End of Time is a solid little zine. Not only is it printed on thicker (nice, cream) paper, the pages are glued so it doesn’t unfold. It’s nice to hold and flip through.

I think this a poetic tribute to photography and is a mini-zine that anyone who enjoys photography would like.

Posted on

200th Zine Review Celebration Awards: I Read a Zine, And I Liked It

Wonderful, beloved zine friends. I’m so happy to be creating this post.

It’s that time again – a time that probably isn’t familiar to a lot of you. When I reached my 100th review in May 2016, I felt inspired by the Golden Stapler Awards and celebrated by awarding zines with titles like ‘best binding’ and ‘funniest zine’.

(100th Zine Review Celebration Awards: All You Need is Zine Love)

I hit my 200th zine reviewed a few months ago, but with everything that was going on, I wasn’t able to get to things until now. I still wasn’t sure whether I would do this, but I do love sharing my zine enthusiasm and celebrating fun and cool zines.

Things to remember:

1. My apologies for any less than stellar photos.
2. This is only meant to be a bit of fun.
3. Zines often fit into more than one category. How they were sorted is all on me.
4. Keep in mind these are limited to the second lot of 100 zines I’ve reviewed – roughly from May 2016 to July 2017. You can find the whole list: Zine Review Index
5. Picking out the ‘best’ stinks. I love them all!

Let’s do this.

(I’m putting everything after a more tag because there are a lot of images.)

Continue reading “200th Zine Review Celebration Awards: I Read a Zine, And I Liked It”

Posted on

Sea Green Zines Holiday Plans 2017

Hello and happy holidays, zine friends. I hope things are calm and zen for you at a time when there can be so much to… not be calm about.

This post is more of an ‘in case anyone was wondering’ sort of post. I’m not sure if anyone is particularly curious, but here we are anyway.

With everything landing as it is, I think pretty much everything is going to stay the same save for Happy Mail being on Boxing Day or the day after. (If anything comes in within the next four days.)

Though both Wanderer and I are free of any commitments for the holidays, we do like to crash in front of the TV for a day of food, grog, and entertainment on the 25th. If there are any special requests for posts or anything like that, I’m happy to do whatever. Don’t be shy about asking whether it’s a question answered or a post on a particular topic.

I’m still planning on reviews as usual for this week. If I do take a rest from reviews, it’ll happen next week. But I’m really only saying that because I feel a little weird that I’m not really taking any time. Is that weird? Meh?

Wow. This is an even more relaxed post than I thought it would be.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for something special…

Posted on

Happy Mail: The Little Things Edition

Hello, zine friends, and welcome to the start of the week. I hope your week is off to a smooth start and that the silly season isn’t wearing on your nerves.

The Great Mail Slowdown at this time of year hasn’t actually been too bad – knock on wood – and I have some gorgeous goodies from my post box to share with you today.

The very first up is some zine goodness from sunny Queensland. Keira (ala Small Potatoes) was kind enough to take a peek at my wishlist and grant a couple of my wishes. Seriously, the generosity of people never ceases to warm my heart.

Just to make a special point, let’s zoom in on that card, shall we?

OMGSOCUTEASDFKJWIOsalkdjf… Ahem. Cuteness meltdown. I laughed so hard when I saw this card that Wanderer actually came into my office to see what was happening. Then I showed him the card, and he laughed, too. It is hard to make him genuinely laugh out loud, so thank you, thank you, thank you, Keira. This card is staying on the desk.

My first Christmas card! Emma of Puddleside Musings makes the prettiest cards, and it’s always a pleasure to see something from her arrive in the post box. I adore the watercolour look of the blue paper. Sneaky pressies are always a joy, too…

A new, delicious smelling tea to try and washi tape. What a lovely holiday surprise. Thank you so much, Emma!

Talk about surprise mail! Last week, I heard from someone I hadn’t heard from in ages, and this week a postcard from Dystatic comes in the mail! Fantastic. I haven’t heard from Dystatic in ages.

The photo doesn’t really do the postcard justice, as it’s handmade (as is Dystatic’s way) and is in layers. I’m so curious about how she made it. Fun, fun. Thank you so much to Dystatic for saying hello!

Surprise zines are some of the best kind of surprises, yes? Amber sent the first issue of Fully Sick, Chronically Sad as well as a mindfulness mini-zine! There’s even a sticker, which is the same sticker used to close the envelope.

I love zine surprises, and by first blush sneaky peeks, they’re both zines that I am going to enjoy. Thank you so much Amber, for the surprise happy mail.

PS. I was just looking around – as I do – and found out that Amber is the creator of Murder, She Zined(!) which launched just recently! Check it out.

This one has a little story, so settle in for a smidge. My friend Bodie (ala Slowquest) was doing a Twitch stream and mentioned Adelaide zinester George Rex because I’m now in South Australia. Well, I looked at George’s instagram and saw the note about George closing their store for a month or so.

Seeing as I missed out on George’s Kickstarter earlier in the year, I decided to get in while I could and grabbed a couple zines. I am excited about all of it, but I especially love ADL -> MEL because Rebecca Sheedy made one too that I reviewed earlier this year!

So much goodness. So many extra. So much happy. Hahaha. Love it.

Even the envelope is super cute. ^_^

I need return address labels that are that cute in my life. Love, love, love.

Thank you to George Rex for sending out everything so quickly. I really adore every bit of it.

That’s it for me today, friends. I hope you loved checking out what came through my post box this week and the glorious link-laden thing that is this post.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a quick run down of what I have planned for the blog over the holidays and then on Wednesday for a bit of a surprise…

Until then.