46 replies to this topic

[MikeyWretch]

STEVE! they are LITTLE BOOKS!!!!!




Dont you get that?

WHY DO YOU HATE BOOKS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I don't hate books, I read a lot of books. I just don't like bad books. 99% of the zines I have seen in recent years have been of such low quality I don't find any intrinsic quality in them (read above what I said about ones well made ones that are works of craft).

So because YOU dont like them they must be shit! Gotcha!

[psykosteve]

But to think that what your doing is the right or better way is kinda wierd. One has to exist for the other to exsit. YAY keep on Bloggin!

What is weird about trying to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness?



I guess what it comes down to to me is this.

If a writer and artist has something to say that is meaningful and worth while I can not understand why they would not want to use the best resources of the day to spread their message.

Now if the zine is a work of art in of it self that is well crafted and creative I can understand that. Great. Art for arts self is great. I am all for it.

But the other 99% of zines TODAY that are not well crafted and are not good at getting a message I can not understand.

[MikeyWretch]

I like crap! I like shitty music recorded shitty and I like Zines that are put together shitty. Its my taste. thats all

[psykosteve]

So because YOU dont like them they must be shit! Gotcha!

No not at all. That is not my point.

My point to that would be if in defending Zines you are going to talk about Art and Crafts and quality craftsman ship you are not talking about photo copied word documents with a staple in it.

I like crap! I like shitty music recorded shitty and I like Zines that are put together shitty. Its my taste. thats all

I can argue with that at all.




(but I wouldn't say most of the music you like is shitty)

[MikeyWretch]

So because YOU dont like them they must be shit! Gotcha!

No not at all. That is not my point.

My point to that would be if in defending Zines you are going to talk about Art and Crafts and quality craftsman ship you are not talking about photo copied word documents with a staple in it.

I like crap! I like shitty music recorded shitty and I like Zines that are put together shitty. Its my taste. thats all

I can argue with that at all.




(but I wouldn't say most of the music you like is shitty)

OH! So if I like it its shit? well you are right about that! Im glad we dont like the same stuff buddy! if we did the world would be boring! Now lets both go outside!

[psykosteve]

Now lets both go outside!

Only if it is only so we can walk back into a dark bar.

[Jacki O.]

not everyone is going to like the same things.

i understand where psychosteve feels zines aren't important to him. I feel differently. I've run a zine distro since 2004 and yes there are a TON of shitty zines out there, i get a lot of shitty submissions but for every 5 horrible zines i get, i get 2 really great ones that are worth carrying. But it's like anything that human beings create, there's a ton of shitty bands out there, a ton of shitty artists, a ton of shitty writers, a ton of shitty movies, etc.

i would never write off music because i bought a few shitty albums.
or seeing movies because i saw a few horrible independent movies
or art because i went down to a gallery and saw art i didn't like

anyways i think this is a good discussion

[differently biotic]

and not ten years too late

[donald]

it's ten years too early?

[negicore]

and not ten years too late

TRUE!!!

Another true, it's hard to read blogs on the shitter.....

[hunter gather]

and not ten years too late

TRUE!!!

Another true, it's hard to read blogs on the shitter.....

Makes you wonder how many iPhones have been dropped in toilets.

[Rial]

while I respect and appreciate and even encourage (not with my monetary support, which I guess is the only way to really encourage) the medium of zines and newspapers, I prefer online for everything.
Digi music, Digi paper, digi zine (blog, I suppose)
It is more convient, it is more futuristic and it is more environmentally responsible, well until they tell me they are cutting down rain forests to make ethernet cables, which they probably are some way.

but I do like the feeling of thumbing thru a paper or magazine.

Books do not belong online

[JRC]

it's ten years too early?

Dudes, 10 Years After was a great band.

[JRC]

JRC,

Would you rather read a comic book or read the same thing on the webernet?

Im not trying to FACE you just want to know if you think Online comics are the same, more fun, or equal to a comic you hold and turn the pages yourself?

Dude, you can FACE me on this all over.
I much prefer comics on paper.
There are a couple comicstrips I read on the web, but so far no ongoing series.
I think though my feeling about this is based largely on nostalgia, I grew up reading printed comics, just as much as I did music on taped music, network TV, and 'zines.

Its all different for teens today, they don't have the same relation to the media, and accessibility to content is more important in that sense.

I'll side w/ Steve on one of his opinions, that the artistic side of zines HAS gotten stuck in the 70s-80s xerox esthetic, and there's not much reason for it to sit there just because "that's what a zine is."
But, I'd make the same argument about comicbooks: why the fuck am I still reading about characters created 30, 40, 50, even SIXTY years ago?
Common, lets retire this stuff already . . .

I guess it keeps going for the same reason we still listen to the Beatles, Sinatra, Hoagy Carmichael, Mozart.
Because they're the top of the milk--they've withstood the test of time.
If you look at the number of 'zines produced past there first 6 or 12 issues I bet you'd see some marked improvement over that time, in both content and design.
I remember when BUST first appeared and loved it, but it got even better as it went along . . . and then when it went corporate, kinda turned bland.

On the other hand, I'll counter Steve w/ this point: Why bother having live music, which is inherently inconsistent and risky, when we can instead just enjoy the pristine always perfect downloads and CDs instead?
Because people respond to "rawness" there's a certain credible honesty to a small event (be it a concert or a 'zine).
As for esthetics, Ron Paul based his whole media campaign on what I'd consider a successful appropriation of the DIY 'zine style. Aditionally, viral marketing is also little more then the wholesale appropriation of the 'zine style; micro promotion to reach an elite group of "in the know" demographics--"the tipping point."

When I see a 'zine these days I think to myself, well this deserves a look, if for anything, because its not just some schmuck blathering on and on, on their blog, its someone who's taken the time to actually physically make something, which is a feat seen less and less these days.
I'd much rather read the "I lieK Donuts" 'zine then look over the Dunkin Donuts website.

[negicore]

Alvin Lee shreds a six stringer...