CANZINE!

OK, so yesterday I went to Canzine, it was incredibly hot and jammed and sweaty and the table we were sitting at kept getting pushed into us but it was still great. People were so incredibly generous and wonderful about donating their zines to the library and GUESS WHAT we've got lots of new zines so go look. Here are some bad photos I took of some nice people.

ye serpents

are you looking to find a single droplet of water for your thirsty, dry tongue?
have you been stranded in the desert for god knows how long, only to find mirage after shimmering mirage?
can you feel the itch and burn of dirty, hot clothes that have not been washed in weeks, and the unravellings of the fibre of your very soul??
because if you do, I really can't help you, sorry,

HOWEVER
I do have some zines for you to cast your bloodshot gaze upon o weary peasants:

This is Jeff Garcia's untitled zine, the cover is an old book's page with a screenprint on top. INSIDE feast your eyes upon a marvel of collage and drawings and also a little text. There's even a double sided colour photocopy insert full of flesh toned hues (probably a cannibal). This is a really beautiful zine, which is a total treat for they insides of your eyelids as you are probably accustomed to typewriter text and shitty black and white photocopies, right?






Your Wish is my Demand is by Philip Nynkowski, a friend that moved to Warsaw not too long ago. I'm totally going to sound like a fan here, but there are always a million drawings inside and at first look they can look like scribbles but when you look a tiny bit closer you realize they are the best drawings you've seen in a long time, probably. This one is about S&M mainly and also there's an entire page of tits, and I know you want to look upon such sins.






THIS ZINE is a collaborative zine made by Michael Deforge, Jesjit Gill, Jon Mccurly, Stephanie Hardman, Laura Mccoy and Pierre Richardson, called RAW DRAW. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY DID. They had a drawing party and drew all kinds of funny things and then screenprinted it. The cover is by Zeloot a really amazing Netherlands based artist. My favourite part is the speech bubble that says WALKING INTO THE GREAT ABYSS. which is what we do every single day of our lives. life is a joke.






NEXT REVIEW ISSUE:
ZINES THAT SUCK THAT I HATE AND I WISH YOU WOULD STOP MAKING THINGS

hello again

So awhile back I decided that I did not care for zines anymore.
Because I am a bad person, I also began telling everyone that zines are dead. However, such things cannot be true. I've come to realize I am a liar and a cheater and a thief so you should probably never trust a word that comes out of my mouth. Regardless, zines aren't actually dead but I'm starting to form the opinion that they should follow in the format of these four zines I am talking about today. These are exceptions to any kind of waste-your-time vibe that some zines give off.

This first zine is almost more of a book. It's called Totems of Tato, by Peter Kalyniuk, an artist that lives in Toronto. I ran into Peter in kinkos a little while back and he gave me this (!), he told me he had been working on this book of drawings for about 7 years (it's amazing) I literally have nothing to say because the only things I can say slash come to mind are all really positive adjectives that most likely reached their peak use around 1989 or so. They are basically the best drawings ever.




This book is really precious to me, and because of this I think it will remain in my possession for the time being. But if you want to look at it I will lend it to you- just let me know. or contact peter at pkalyniuk@hotmail.com he is a great human being and it's probably in your best interest to own a copy of this.

This zine BAD FEELINGS is also by an artist that lives in Toronto, Jimmy Limit. I met him at Dream Zine (the zine fair Jesjit Gill and Laura McCoy put on this summer) and I thought his name was a joke. It sounds like a cartoon character's name, right? um, this zine is one of my favourites, it has nihilistic vibes which are are the best, also his text is great, statements like WHY BOTHER, NOTHING, ROTTING PUTRID INSIDE OUT are next to his photographs of barren landscapes, black silhouettes atop snowbanks and piles of rocks and hooded/faceless figures.






Totally Rad is a zine of artists from all over the world (it even has a little map at the back showing where each artist is from geographically) put together by Errol Richardson and Greg Durrell. I really like this zine but I won't lie, I find the cover distasteful. First of all it's too yellow and looks like an advertisement for fast food or something equally stupid and I just sort of wish it looked different. but whatever. There are drawings and text based things and photographs and patterns.





This zine is by Michael Deforge (another Toronto artist) and it's all JOKES and ONELINERS and it's called Gags.
Michael was telling me that he used to listen to Jurassic Park's theme song every morning to get himself pumped up to draw: this is alternately the best thing I've ever heard and also the most retarded. his zine is really funny though, so I guess maybe I know nothing about the importance of movie soundtracks?




okay and in other news I am going to be putting on a zine fair at OCAD, unsure of the date right now but there will be more about that in the somewhat close future. as always the zine library at OCAD is accepting sumbissions so do not hesitate to stop by with your zines. A quick reminder that the zine library is located right next to the circulation desk of OCAD's library on the second floor of the smaller OCAD building (the entrance is the grange food court so beware there is a lot of good food that could potentially distract from ever reaching the library)

HEY LITTLE BUDDIES
IT'S SUMMERTIME BASICALLY
TODAY WAS A TROPICAL PARADISE
which means get the fuck out of bed and make something!!
and i will review it and post it here!
you can give me your zines in person- which means drop it in my mailbox where i live and don't expect me to answer the door because i will be sleeping (just kidding i'll invite you in probably)
OR email me pictures of it (aside_@hotmail.com)

here is my address (you can also mail me them)
810 bloor street west
apartment 300
toronto ontario
m6g 1l9

my name is also ALICIA so you can write TO ALICIA on the envelope and that way i will understand and i won't throw the envelope with your life's work into the gutter as usual but instead take it in my loving arms

IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU

YOU WILL COME

TRYING

and failing
and looking at things

and looking at the sky

and then looking at the ground

So last week my friend showed me maybe the best zine I have ever seen, after reading it I realized that I agreed with everything written in it and it reminded me that life is actually great and not a desolate black abyss of doom. I mean nothingness is great and I can appreciate it for all its worth and stare at a piece of cobweb moving back and forth on my ceiling for a really long time but every once in a while you need to get yourself together and this a good zine to read to do this. It is called OUR AWESOME UNIVERSE. but it's not in the zine library. If you want to look at it you will have to comment to say you are actually reading this blog and ask to borrow it. instead I am going to show pictures of a zine that is actually in the library that is ALSO really great and by the same girl, Jessalyn Aaland, it is called Forest & Forest Life, (information you need to know about forests and other things) She has really funny drawings and good stories and really important information about forests, like "if i lived in a forest, i would make a bed out of soft quiet moss which would feel like gentle feathers when i went to sleep. my bed would have to be in a thick grove of ferns where sweet squirrels and deer would come kiss my tender cheeks each night" COME ON! could information get any better/cuter??

"FEELINGS" is by Neelam Kler. this zine makes me think about being at your best friend's house and taking a nap because you don't actually have to talk to them all the time when you are hanging out, like you can try on their clothes or watch blind date seriously and eat all their leftovers even though it's not your house. I feel like all the drawings and words are familiar and I can relate or something because I too have feelings. The cover has a breadtie on the front (!!) which is so great because I love breadties but the picture I had of it didn't work out.

in case you cannot read the tiny text it says
Google image searched myself
all these bitches are ugly
get more famous please

A MIRROR INSIDE A HAT by Errol and Nik

Okay so this was given to me by an old friend who I knew in first year but he got wise and dropped out of OCAD because it is a waste of time. just kidding thanks for paying me for this job guys!!! so this is a collaboration between two friends I assume, although maybe they are sworn enemies I guess that also happens, they have the best drawings of people and contraptions and hamburger mouths and tit necks. I know that maybe it seems like the only zines I want to show are ones of really great drawings but aren't those everyone's favourites anyways?? Does anyone care about political zines or zines about teenage heartbreak? SORRY GUYS, BUT GET REAL

EVERYBODY! EVERYWHERE!

my wondrous friend Jen Pilles who set up the zine library at Sheridan is hosting a zine fair, GETTAZINE, on March 19th, and you should all come BECAUSE it's going to be great

LIVE MUSIC BY: Mariah Burton, Paul Tjepkma, Sarah D., Jordaan Mason, some guy named Greg and Jonathan Culp

Introduction to Zine Culture workshop at noon!
All day zine sales and activities!
Special guests: Broken Pencil Magazine!

I am looking into organizing a bus trip, once I have figured that out I will post more about that and where to sign up for it, but if you want to come email me! Alicia at aside_@hotmail.com

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Time: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Location: Sheridan College Trafalgar Campus, (outside the Connexion)
Street: 1430 Trafalgar Road
City/Town:
Oakville, ON

CONTACT: sheridanzinelibrary@gmail.com

dear snow, please stop falling down upon my head.

No more trekking through frigid winds and snow banks collapsing on top of my head whilst my brittle bones crumble. has anyone else had enough? can we make it through this long winter alive even??
This week I reviewed a couple zines based on maybe many things but mainly how their covers looked.

AMSTERDAM '74
by Liam and Scott Crockard
This pocket sized zine is a father-son collaboration. Scott(father) went to Amsterdam in 1974 when he was 21; Liam (son) being the same age now, lives vicariously through his father's experiences with beautiful full colour collages made up of ticket stubs, photographs, hostel pamphlets and even bits of currency from abroad. but really, you should just look at this zine because it's totally wild.

STENO SESSIONS #1
Melissa Haney
The next zine comes all the way from Ohio. So I can say whatever I want and she probably won't find out and get upset. right? it is kind of angsty but it read easily and told a story that everyone can relate to of hunger pains and/or heartbreak. Mentions of menthol cigarettes, meeting Murphy in WalMart, eating disorders, hating winter, dreams and warnings to never date an actor. My favourite is the poem All In The Season, and under the heading Summertime:
"Ronnie took me the first beach trip I ever enjoyed. I wore a green two-piece bathing suit and fell asleep in his arms on the sand. Two summers before that I threw up everything I ate and cut my arms systematically."

ALMOST AINU
There is no author's name on this zine but I know it's done by a student at OCAD named KARLA. I don't know her last name or anything but maybe this adds to the mystery. The cover is gold foil stamped with the words "almost ainu." Ainu are apparently an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. (??) I don't know how this relates to the drawings but there is no other text or explanation. The zine is made up of intricately drawn women connected to bikes and gears and hammers and sometimes feathers and patterns. I think it might be my most favourite zine in the library. NO LIES. it can be your favourite too, I don't mind.