Zine Crush 3
Various
http://pioneerspress.com/products/zine-crush-volume-3

Squee! It’s like Dear Anonymous for crush letters! *drowns in piles of fuzzy love hearts*

First let me apologise for my shoddy photography. The cover is actually a lovely pale yellow colour. My decision to go with natural lighting to photograph a bunch of zines was, for the most part, a bad one. Sigh.

Back to fuzzy love hearts.

Zine Crush is one of those things that I kind of thought that I might have heard of before, so at $2 on Sticky Institute’s shelf, I had to get me some of that. I’m so happy I did! This zine is great. And not just because of the very cute subtitle: even more confessions of like

I think crushes are one of those experiences that nearly everyone can relate to, be they sexual, intellectual, crushes on publications rather than people. One of the things that makes this zine excellent is that it includes all of those. It’s not ‘just for people crushing on other people’. I think that adds a fantastic element to the whole thing.

The singles ads/’ads’? here and there in the zine make it feel like more of a ‘zine crush digest’ with singles listings. The comics and the art add to this effect. I felt so ‘in’ (‘in’ what, exactly, I’m not sure. In the know? In with the cool kids?) while I was reading this. A digest of luuuurve. This is one of those zines that I’m so excited about, and I can quite perfectly articulate why.

I must admit that part of me went back to my wistful, angsty teenager days when all I wanted was someone to have a crush on me. How wonderful that would have been! Ah, the days of rosy glasses.

Anyway, definitely a thumbs up. I’m looking forward to hunting the first two down.

Strange News From Another Star
?
http://www.newseda.com/

Every now and then, you come across a person who has such a dramatically different view of the world than you that it feels like you’re speaking different language when you’re using the same words.

This zine was a bit like that. Down the rabbit hole!

Strange News From Another Star is a strange mix of comic, poetry, and cut and paste. I thought I knew what it was all about in the first few pages, but then it ripped out those assumptions. The first couple of pages mentions a book called ‘Interior Voyages’, and I felt like I was going deeper and deeper into someone’s subconscious or dream as I turned each page.

I like the surprise of it being so different, and I quite enjoyed the art. And how could you not like a zine that gently reminds you of which way is up and then invites you to step inside.

Perhaps, then, you can understand my Alice in Wonderland reference? (Eat me/drink me.)

I must confess, though, that I had no idea what most of it meant. I was happy to float along in my reading, but I can see that that sort of thing might bother some people. For me, it was more about the ride, even if the words were trying to say things that I just couldn’t straighten out in my head.

But, if you don’t mind the possibility of getting completely lost, then you should definitely give it a go.