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Reviews!

Ok, so I'm finally posting these reviews. They are a little bit old. I just went to the madison zine fest, so i have a huge stack of zines i want to review. i'll get around to that at some point...

Off my Jammy #15- “the gently used issue” Info on reusing, interviews with tegan and sara, and lots more! ($.1.50/(trade?) PO 440422, Somerville, MA 02144, www.sinkcharmer.com/omj)

Suzzy Is #1/2/No Better Voice #24 (split zine) Of all the quarter sized perzines out there, this one is among the least predictable. Quite poetic- Suzzy is is more reflective and kinda like a big prose thing, and No Better Voice has lots of punk rock stories and some poetry type stuff. ($2 or trade- Jami, 764 Channing St., Ferndale MI 48220 ego_baby@hotmail.com)

Sugar Needle #25 A super sweet and funny zine about candy- how delicious. Corina reviews everything from obscure gummis from japan to chocolate covered melon seeds from holland. Plenty of stories and really fun to read. (Plus an interview with clint jones, zine buyer for Tower Records.) ($2 + 60¢ stamp, or candy/select trades. Corina Fastwolf, PO 30015 Minneapolis, MN 55403

Free Poetry A wondrous and beautiful zine. Delicate poetry from various Olympia hipsters laid on top of pictures. (Like the title says, it’s free. But send a stamp or a buck. Or trade. SSO Press, PO 2645 Olympia, WA 98507)

Black and Blue #4- “Dollparts” The basis of this extremely adorable but twisted zine with the pink cover is- would you have guessed? Dolls! It’s filled with creepy pictures of broken and distressed dollies, doll stories, an interview with Shaye St. John, a few doll DIY’s , plus a few other things. Aesthetically pleasing. ($1, Linda M. PO 293, VISALIA, CA 93279)

28 Pages Lovingly Bound with Twine- This zine is quite charming and entertaining. He writes about his son, being a writer, living in hicksville, twine, weird coincidences, and so much more. Any issue you get is lovely and has a distinct style. ($2 or trade, Christoph Meyer, PO 106, Danville, OH 43014)

Trouble Makes Girls/Two Weeks in Purgatory (Girl Trouble) This wonderful wonderful zine is done by 3 or 4 (I can’t tell) women over the course of one night (before the Minneapolis zine fest). It’s really spontaneous and each page is done individually and each person has a particular manner and style . It’s a bit like reading someone’s notebook- actually, a group of people’s notebook. Filled with both thoughtful poetry and scribbling and ramblings and... yeah. One of my faves. ($1 or 2? trade?crunt_kogan@hotmail.com, or theragoflife@yahoo.com, or koliebugg@hotmail.comI only have email address contacts, if you don’t have computer access, write me and i’ll “hook you up”, heh heh heh...

Horizontal Stripes A really thoughtful comic. I empathize with the main character. ($2? I think. Anthony, 7 Terrace Place #3, Danbury, CT 06810. Also available at Pander Zine Distro.)

Papercuts and Promises Both political & feminist writing and personal stories and poetry, plus a letter to an old friend, all in a pretty cutnpaste flowery design. (“First of all, I apologize for the ultra emo title”) (Alli, PO 761, Mountain View, CA 94042. AKA Gluestick Distro.)

Flying with Broken Wings /Regeneration/Out of this town distro In Flying with Broken Wings #7, Ashlee writes about relationships gone sour, dropping out of high school, infatuation, and lots more- I’m sure her new zine, Regeneration, is just as reflective. [note: I just got a bunch of copies of regeneration from ashlee, i'll write about those soon] Ashlee also runs Out of This town distro- which carries mostly minnesota made zines and the like. ($2 for Regeneration zine, or send stamps/ 50¢ for a distro catalogue- Ashlee, PO 576, St. Bonifacius, MN 55375)

Secret Mystery Love Shoes #2 A cute, but not too cute, couple zine- “Draw the’ gumdrop guys! (or don’t)”, how to clean “au naturel”, fun games to play, Maria’s various hair disasters, and lots more, all written in an entertaining way. ($2 or trade, 2000 NE 2nd, PMB 303, Portland OR 97213)

Idiosyncrasy #1- Cherry writes about her trip to Japan and funny adventures therein. She has lotsa other zines and issues available too. (Cherry thomas, PO 931333, Los Angeles, CA 90093)

The Moth Musings about feeling separate from the human race, being old-movie obsessed as an elementary school aged kid and trying to be punkrock as a a highschool student, her precious pen, among other things, with lyricism, grace, and sardonic humor. It’s almost like a comic- with many pictures. (themoth2@hotmail.com... if you don’t have a computer, same setup as with trouble makes girls)

Weirdness Before Midnight #3- Lots of obscure horror movie reviews, other movie reviews, a strange but true story about him accidentally swallowing a ball of hashish infused with hepatitis many years ago, and various other musings, plus a political rant. ($2.50, zine trade, or substantial letter of comment ”by substantial, I simply mean anything longer than a one or two sentence postcard telling me to either keep up the good work or go off and commit a scientifically impossible act.” Dave Szurek, 505 North F. #829, Aberdeen, WA 98520-2601)

Tartar and Cavities #3 Liz writes about her three weeks spent in chicago. Quite nice, and with lots of pictures. Plus includes a bit of her hair. Also check out “curran’s mom’s Sex life”, about various fetishes and turn ons, compiled by Liz. ($1 for Tartar and cavities, 50¢ for Curran’s mom’s sex life. Liz Elton, PO 19344, Minneapolis MN 55419-9998)

Anura-Chy! All about frogs and toads!! ($1, Julie@dod.net, available through out of this town distro) Also, Julie just did a really really cool perzine called This means nothing.

Women’s Self Defense #2 This thick zine isn’t really just techniques, but a lot of stories written by a lot of different people about abuse, rape, and sticky situations in which those were avoided, in a way meant to show strategies. It was pretty empowering reading about people telling off cat-callers and not becoming a victim. Not to sound cliched. ($3? maybe $2. Ariel Clemenzi, PO box 2433, Champaign, IL 61825, mspippilotta@yahoo.com)

Alter Egos #2 Both perzine-ish type stuff, but not in a really self pitying way, and her “roadtrip chronicle” to MN, plus accepting the cold weather here and the like, and a true story called “ice cream in baghdad”, about a trip to Iraq and seeing iraqis as true peers, plus lotsa other stuff. ($?, activist19@yahoo.com)

Not by Might #1 Not by might is a really lovely perzine-ish type with lotsa pretty pictures, and an essay about “WHAT THE HECK DOES REBELLION MEAN ANYWAYS!?!” , and various other things. (trade or stamps, Not by Might, 1823 Park Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404, not_by_might@yahoo.com)

Snackbar Confidential #? Whoever puts out Snackbar Confidential amazes me- It is crammed full of old advertisements and the like from the 50’s to the 70’s, plus reviews of LP’s found in thrift shops, cheesey horror films, and the like. There is not a single page in zine where your eyes will be bored. For lovers of obscure and passe pop culture. And anyone, i guess. heh. Written very cleverly and sardonically. ($3 (or trade?) Snackbar Confidential, PO box 1359, Huntington, NY 11743.)

My Secret History Super bizarre and poetically grotesque and enigmatic. like a feverish recollection of a month. ($1 or trade, Bobbi Jo tittle, 6648 Eastland Ct. Worthington, OH 43085)