Ker-Bloom! 106 – January – February 2014
artnoose
https://www.etsy.com/shop/artnoose

“Ker-bloom! is a life history letterpress printed in installments.”

The zine world is huge and not mainstream, so it’s simply not possible to read all of the zines out there. Or even hear of all of the zines out there. So when I saw this in Sticky and realised that I’d heard of it somewhere before, I had to grab it.

The quality of the zine itself is undeniable. Textured cardstock cover, letterpress, words indented into the cover, a 300-zine print run (holy guacamole!) with the copy number, the lovely interior paper… It’s a ‘simple’ zine in its simplicity, but the materials and tools used to create it make it gorgeous.

The content inside is a snippet of live. Tales of owning real estate. I don’t know how I do it with picking zines, but I just so happen to have a tiny obsession with real estate. I don’t actually own any, but people have been known to save the real estate sections of the paper for me.

Hey. Love is love.

Anyway, that’s all there is to it. A snippet of life. A tale of heating systems. I liked it and was sad that it was over so soon.

In the end, though, Ker-Bloom is one of those zines that has the quality and reputation that leaves me feeling like I’m back in university wondering if there’s something that I’m missing that everyone understands. That could be my feelings of inadequacy, or I could really be missing something. Ker-Bloom 106 was a pleasant experience, no doubt, but it’s not going into my permanent collection. Am I missing something? Do I need to read more of them? Is it about the duration that this zine has survived?

While Ker-Bloom does have a post address on the back along with ‘artnoose’ as the name, there are no other details as to the creator of the zine or how to contact him or her. While I would usually rave on about this (I’m a lazy lurker), I get the feeling that the lack of URLs and such is actually on purpose. I could guess that it has something to do with keeping to the roots of the zine (it’s been running for a long time), or that it wants to keep with the otherwise ‘classic book’ feel of the zine. I really don’t know. So I won’t rave about it, I’ll merely mention it.

And wonder if I’m not quite understanding something.

Pieces #4 On Lucid Dreaming
Nichole
http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/Nichole
https://www.etsy.com/shop/fictionandnot

Lucid dreaming! I love lucid dreaming. I’ve only done it a few times, but each time has been amazing. But, moving on, because this is not a review of my lucid dreams.

The beauty of having so many issues of a zine is that I get to see it grow and change. In Pieces #4, I feel like we’ve gone from life musings in a general sense to something ‘outside’ Nichole that she’s passionate about. This zine is packed full not only with her experiences but also with information on lucid dreaming – like techniques to use to help you achieve lucid dreaming.

I really enjoyed that. I feel like it’s a lucid dreaming handbook that I can refer back to when I feel the need. There’s even a list of resources for further reading, which I always appreciate.

About half of the zine is dedicated to her dream diary. Dreams are like sports to me, though: I’d rather be in the action than watching (or reading, in this case) it all happen. Even so, this zine is a keeper.

I need to learn to take better pictures…

The Third Biannual Mildly Informative Booklet Depicting Graphical Representations of General Occurrences and Observations
Sarah McNeil
A6
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/SarahMcNeil

Phew! What a title! Not to be confused with Updated Report of Observations Which Somehow Seem to Reflect Abstractly on Life (Stat 2)

With pie charts like ‘Things I Put On My Various Tumbler Accounts’, a coffee flow chart, and ‘Books To Get For My Sister/Her Baby’, this is another zine that gives a glimpse into a life in a fun way. I do wonder if the zine creator has a real sense of the picture she paints of her life, if it’s simply ‘a bit of fun’, and if my picture is actually in any way accurate.

It doesn’t really matter, as most of the fun is really in not knowing. Not reading too deeply.

I love this zine as much as I love Sarah’s previous zine of graphs and charts. The addition of lists was a decision I adore (bring on the lists!). However, the thing that really got me for this zine is the first pie chart, regarding spelling occurrence wrong, which I have done today no less than five times. It’s always good to know one isn’t alone. 😉

This zine is what it is in that you’ll be able to tell fairly straight away whether you’ll like it or not. I appreciate that very much.