New Reviews

Some today, more tomorrow...

MY TIME ANNIHILATOR- A BRIEF HISTORY OF 1930’S SCIENCE FICTION FANZINES- I got a zine pet peeve. A lot of zinesters today think that zines started with the Punk zines of the 1970’s which is just not true. I don’t quite know how far back you can trade modern day zines, but you can definitely trace a straight line from zines today back to the sci-fi zines of the 30’s as this zine attempts to show. It all starts when the author of the zine finds something called “The Fanzine Index- From 1937 to the Present.” which was about 1952. He tries to do some research, but reaches dead ends until he finds a fanzine collection in Temple University and finds that this is his “ticket to a lackluster world of 1930’s zine trades, cancelled postage stamps, lazer battles and types” I thought his findings were quite interesting and would be of interest to any zine geek. What really struck m as funny was how little has really changed. The same basic breeds of people do zines now as did them then. 1/4 size, 30 pages, no author listed but I got my copy for $1 at this link right here- http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/2841/
THE RAINBOW CONNECTION- RICHARD HUNT, GAY MUPPETEER- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (though I don’t quite understand why I find myself saying it so often)- if you don’t like the Muppet Show you’re probably an asshole. It’s possible there are some non-assholes out there who don’t like the Muppet Show just like there are some non-assholes who don’t like the Ramones, but a dislike of the Muppet Show is certainly symptomatic of asshole-ism. At any rate, I’ve recently been going through a Muppet phase so I was pretty excited to see a zine about the Muppeteer who did the characters of Scooter, Statler, Beaker & Janice and the Sesame Street characters Gladys the Cow, Forgetful Jones & Bert’s nephew Brad who I mention just because I always got a kick out of him. Like me the author was also a Muppet fan who found herself going through a Muppet phase when she found that Richard Hunt died of AIDS in 1992 which got her curious about him and his work sp she made this zine about him and his work and the subtext behind it all. In addition to being a biography of Richard Hunt it also features short biographies of some of the female Muppeteers. Must read if you’re a Muppet fan. gaymuppeteer@gmail.com 1/2 legal, 82 pages I got it for $7 at Microcosm and the link is here-http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/2858/
HUNGOVER GOURMET #11- This is the “super sized” final issue which is kind of sad since it was a fine zine, but I guess it’s better to call it quits than to keep on going and doing it half assed. This is a zine about food and this issue is fairly coffee-centric with writings on coffee from a variety of writers. Everything from a history of coffee to a piece on coffee enemas to why Dunkin Donuts is better than Starbucks. But my favorite piece in the issue was Louis Fowler’s article “Stupid Size Me” in which he attempts to make it through a whole week on only $20 worth of groceries because apparently some politician said people wouldn’t need welfare if they only spent $20 a week on groceries. There’s no attribution to this quote so to be honest I have no idea if any politician said anything of the sort. It sure sounds too stupid to be true, but politicians being what they are I wouldn’t put it past them. And the article is entertaining enough that it doesn’t matter. Not only is it funny, it also makes a serious point about why so many poor people are so obese. This zine is god stuff all around. half size, 44 pages, send $3 to Dan taylor, PO Box 5531, Lutherville MD 21094-5531 www.hungovergourmet.com hungovergourmet.blogspot.com editor@hungovergourmet,.com