One Minute Zine Reviews issue one is a zine review zine that starts out with a rant against youth culture? DJ Frederick says they're thoughts about the zine community from an outside observer, which doesn't make sense to me because DJ Frederick is a zinester, so he's an inside observer, but maybe he feels alienated from zine culture? After his list of zinester cliches, he does some preaching, telling us that heterosexuals, white males, and capitalists are not the enemy. Then he tells us what perzines should be like, which seems odd--has DJ Frederick encountered a lot of bad perzines? His examples of badness are "endless stories about your cute new kitten or your favorite cake recipe," both of which seem like valid perzine topics to me. The lecture continues when DJ Frederick tells us that not all zine readers are teens or twentysomethings. This wasn't a surprise to me, as the We Make Zines group for zinesters age 30+ has 229 members and I'm no youth myself. Finally, DJ Frederick ends this section of the zine with an entreaty to participate in change, something just about all zine makers would agree with.
After all this, I half-expected scathing zine reviews, but all the zine reviews found in this zine are nice. Maybe DJ Frederick chooses not to review the zines he doesn't like? I was familiar with 28 Pages Lovingly Bound With Twine, East Village Inky, and Constant Rider Omnibus, but all the other zines reviewed were new to me. I found myself most interested in Atlas of Childhood, which is a zine about children's books.
I like zine reviews, and DJ Frederick's are good: not too long, but long enough to convey his impressions, with factual information to supplement the opinions.
The thoughts about the zine community that begin this zine are sure to bother some, and I would imagine that that was DJ Frederick's intent. Meanwhile, the zine reviews are useful and smart.
http://zinereviews.blogspot.com/
Thank you for your honest review of my zine! Yes I do feel alienated at times from the zine "culture" ... living in rural New Hampshire will do that. I'm in a slightly different space now than when I wrote the introduction to One Minute Zine Reviews ... given that the world of print and books is facing cultural genocide, anyone who is working in the print medium against the tide of technology is doing important work.
ReplyDeleteHi, DJ Fred--I got the additional zine you sent in the mail and hope to review it soon. Meanwhile, I still need to review the Paper Radios.
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