I miss looking through Zine World, MaximumRockAndRoll and Factsheet 5, looking for oddities and quality, substantive journalistic work.
I miss entering into that strange bond of trust with ziners that if you stuffed a buck or 5 into an envelope, that it would get there in one piece and you would be given a little piece of their mind in turn.
I miss the smell of xeroxed covers, each one showing a black and white image of an individual world, one that was unique to its writer and the dualities within.
Happy Not Stupid, Murder Can Be Fun, Temp Slave, McJob, Guinea Pig Zero and so many more either gone or very minimalized now. I wonder how many of their authors went on to create new works... how many Pagan Kennedy's emerged from those folded pages to become larger figures in the publishing or writing world, and were the mirror for the bloggers who are finding wider spread acceptance and book deals nowadays?
I think I guess being able to hold a copy of a unified work rather than an ever-changing array of opinions and articles. That and the fact that those who zined loved it so much that they did it at a loss and with a lot of effort, and I think my own failures in this department makes me admire those who were out there every day pushing their own little piece of the publishing pie. I mean, I would have loved to have brought out even one issue of History Is a Nightmare: A Neomodern Review, but alas, it wasn't to be.
I do have a lot of hope that blogging with continue the spirit of zining in an electronic body, but I still wish more people were still into zining. As a sidenote, I have to say that Gimme Your Stuff sort of reminds me of a few issues of Beer Frame, and I appreciate the good memories that site brings back for me and I thank them all for that.
And ironically enough, this is my 100th post here at Culture Kills, making this feel like I've come around full circle.
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5 comments:
I was never much into zines, so what I'm about to write may be complete heresy: isn't blogging the equivalent of CDs (compared to zining/vinyl)? Sure, those scratched records have their own charm, and I'm sure they bring back memories, but it doesn't mean a CD is soulless or cold -- it's just a better-quality recording.
And congratulations on your 100th post! Here's to the next 100+...
Congrats on your 100th post!
In response to Red:
I was into zines years ago and I like your analogy between zine/vinyl and blog/cd. For me the analogy would be between the entire packaging of an album/itunes download. It's not about the quality of the end product, it is the beauty of the presentation.
I always thought of it more as mixtape vs. online MP3 playlist... it was the personal touch that made the interaction special.
Tangent: Do you still have mixed tapes from your middle school relationships stored in your parents basement and/or attic? When I was that age, it appears that every tape had the Cure song, "Pictures of You".
I do know that "Friday I'm in Love" got onto a lot of high school ones, that's for sure.
High School in the grunge era... now that was interesting.
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