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Love + Distortion # 1: Parlour tricks from the non digital age
By Destroyx | January 11, 2009
I used to be a hardcore zinester when I was in highschool. I’d write and design little pieces, photocopy them, staple them and send them off all over the world. I ran a zine distro with my friends which stocked hundreds of zines and it even became the biggest in the Southern hemisphere. I became obsessed with paper stock, my typewriter, punch labels and taking photos of my feet. I’d write bad beat poetry full of teenage angst inspired by Sonic Youth, while listening to mixtapes sent by lovers through the mail. Friendships were measured in piles of type written letters and kilometres of cassette tape.
The ‘Love + Distortion’ series of posts are excerpts from an imaginary zine- a homage to that period, a time when the internet was still a novelty and snail mail ruled. ‘Parlour tricks from the non digital age’ are a collection of quirky ideas you could try to get a taste of that era.
- Find a typewriter and make a zine in a day. Enjoy the physicality of typing and make every keystroke count. While you’re at it, get your scissors and glue out and start collaging too.
- Listen to your music in the dark. It’s amazing what detail you can hear without visual distractions. Try listening to a cassette or vinyl album from the beginning to the end. (MP3’s on shuffle don’t count)
- Resist having a ‘youtube’ party. Try conversation, board games or karaoke (the latter always works).
- Construct a fake ransom style note out of cut out newspaper letters. Send it to a friend and make it anonymous for extra effect.
- Send someone a bizarre postcard or letter. I received this charming one from a fan from NYC and it’s one of my favourites.
Did you grow up making zines? Are you a snail mail afficionado? If so, I would love to hear of your tales…
Topics: Art, love+distortion |
January 11th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
The last zine I made myself was my undergrad creative writing portfolio. Every page was typed, all images cut from copies I had of Nylon. I even wrote a song about Jeff Goldblum (for my best friend) and put it in there…
It’s great when friends send me little zines they’ve picked up though– little pieces of time from elsewhere!
January 11th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Ashe Mischief- That sounds so freaking cool! We seem to have so much in common! I love zines so much, I like your description of them as little pieces of time… because that’s exactly what they are. They are so ephemeral, fragments of peoples lives and thoughts. I kind of wish sometimes the internet didn’t kill the entire scene off.
January 11th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Looks like I missed a very creative day and age when these were around.
To be honest I’ve never seen a ‘zine’ before and although I only just learnt of them I think I may construct one for one of my assessments in my VCE Studio Arts class since I can’t seem to come up with any other ideas, regardless I think I’ll set out a little time to learn more about this art form.
Thanks Miss X!
January 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Funnily enough, we have friends (Kate and Brian) who do the ransom note thingy! It’s not a ransom note, but usually a Happy Birthday letter or some such, made of letters from newspapers. They are always so funny, they have us in stitches!!
And tho I’m not entering the comp, I gave a positive plug to your blog in my lil livejournal (altho everyone on there already knows you, I’m sure :)
January 11th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
There is honestly nothing I love more than writing and recieving letters. I have some friends who I keep up regular correspondance with, even though they live only a few roads away. As much as I love technology, I find it sad how it’s wiping out the joy of the letter… And that’s why I keep harrassing my friends to not let it die XD
January 11th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Its such an odd coincidence you posted this! recently iv been told by my art teacher to begin collecting together all the work iv done over 2 years, and also make some scrapbooks of failed or forgotten work. So i found quite A LOT of abandoned photography and decided to print it out in b&w on my good ol’ inkjet printer and staple it together and make it into an art piece itself!
Inspiration (of course) came from Angelspits kind of destructive design, decaying font and brushes etc.
Ill put up some links to scans soon, if you’d like to see them anyway :)
x
Ps. id LOVE to see some of your old old zines!!
January 11th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I don’t think I’d have the time and patience to make one myself, but I like reading yours! You ever consider getting yourself a DeviantArt account where you can post up all of your artwork and stuff? If you do that, I would even buy you a DevArt subscription! XD
January 11th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Ohhhh, snail mail rules! It’s so lovely to recieve something in the letterbox that isn’t a bill!
I have done the zine thing- I did some little drawings and made silly little crosswords, and stories and photocopied them, then gave them to my friends. The back page was full of el cheapo stickers with lame stuff written on them like “nice work” “winner” “you’re ace!” etc. I titled this page, “post-coital stickers to award to your lover” I’m not sure if anybody used them or not hehe. I’m in the process of compiling one just for a bit of fun, I’ve got lots of ideas for it, just gotta find the time to get it done!
Haha! Sonic Youth were my fave band in highschool :D
Go the zine, go snail mail! Technology is fun, but it has killed off some really enjoyable things hasn’t it?
January 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I so agree with you on the third advice! The last party I attended was fun and jolly until we all started watching youtube vids, and what not. What happened to conversation? dancing? cards? Nowadays it’s just vegetating in front of the screen, alas.
I made my first zine when I was eight years old. It didn’t get out of the house, though. I wonder where it is now. Then there were a few tries, and then I just admired zines that people scanned and posted on the internet. I live in a country where zine culture is inexistent. :-)
Snail mail is great! There’s just something so amazing in getting tangible letters from afar… Which reminds me, I need to hit up the post office next week!
Thank you for yet another great post.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I used to make a new issue of my zine for every boy that left my life. I’d give each issue a different subtitle; like ‘ephemeral’ ‘absent’ & ‘inspiration’ & fill them print art from old library books (anatomy, architecture, design). Free street-stickers were always a staple :)
Forgive my ignorance but, what is a ‘youtube party’?
January 12th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Zane- Heh.. it may seem like it was a creative time.. and perhaps for me it was, but it wasn’t like everyone was doing it. I was a bit of a nerd you see. Nowadays we have different ways of transmitting our creativity, though through much less tactile means in a sense. I wish you all the best for your VCE project, it sounds like it could be really great!
Trashtastika- Yeah ransom notes are so fun to make and send… they can look really creepy actually. =) Thanks for the shout out on your LJ. I forgot to post to my LJ actually.. so thanks for reminding me =)
Kari- woohoo… a fellow letter writer! I am in the same boat as you, it’s definitely hard to find people who want to do it, but it’s so rewarding when you receive and send them!
Videokid- Oooohhh.. that sounds fantastic. I would love to see the final project! My old zines are somewhere rotting in a garage somewhere =(
Ravencroft- I had a deviantart thing once before. I just don’t know if I can keep up with posting to it, since I already have so many things to keep up with, like myspace, twitter, flickr etc… I wonder if it’s worth it?
simi- YAY a fellow zinester, that’s so freaking awesome! Your zine stickers sound hilarious. Hehe… I hope someone used them! You also have good taste in music =) I love technology, really I do… but I like you miss some of those things it killed off.
Yukino- Youtube parties suck don’t they!! We’re all totally glued to the screen, it’s getting a bit ridiculous! It’s cool that you made a zine when you were a youngster…. it sounds really cute. Thanks for reading sweetie!
Bella- Oh yes, the post boy zine… I hear you! I used to do them to . Yours sound similar to mind actually, I used to collage old library books (particularly anatomy). A youtube party is when someone goes ‘hey I saw this thing on youtube…’ and then everyone goes to watch it, and then the rest of the party is spent in front of youtube. talk about boring! (I’ve been to far too many of those parties recently). I’m not sure if ‘youtube party’ is actually a phrase.. but I have started to use it a lot.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:16 am
I guess I missed the greatness of zines, but they look fun to do =) Though finding a typewriter may be hard to do x’] Too bad, my grandpa used to have one but since he died, we lost that thing too. Weird.
I’ll make you a zine, then send it ;P Might take a while before I’ve got the time (school’s eating my time, stuffing it with not so very interesting things like boring english lessons and useless dutch lessons), but I can design some stuff during class^^ You should see my french workbook x] It’s full of eyes, teeth, moons, stars, an octopus with a tophat, tie and newspaper, a snow-men family etc etc… Yeah, listening and drawing; I can do it! ;P
Ah, bell’s about to ring, I’m off. Next class is English, in which we’ll probably have to work on our exercises (which I’ve finished already) and work on our presentations… mine is going to be about outstanding catwalk-creations of 2008. I liked the black lipgloss, though it’s not really my ‘thing’.
xoxo
January 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
These are such great ideas. I wish I was that creative.
Gosh, I feel like a have no talent and no life. -.-;
ANYWAYYY…you’re such an inspiration. <3
January 12th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Who sent you that. I love it
Computers are both a good thing and a bad thing. Good coz it brings people togt\ehter. Bad as it can waste time to easily
January 12th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
i agree delilah…me no creative either…i wish i was
January 12th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I have never made a zine before
but I’m planning on it sometime in the near future
I love your tips though :)
especially the one about listening to an album in the dark
I’m that much of a geek that i do that all the time *especially when i get a new album* in fact I’ve listened to Blood Death Ivory a hell of a lot in the dark!
and i know about youtube parties >.< which is why whenever my friends come to my house for a party, i disconnect the internet.
and I’m a huge fan if snail mail! In fact i just received the cutest letter from the kids i babysit :)
I love getting mail!
and you’ve seriously made me want to make a zine right now instead of reading my English books…
xxx
January 12th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
hey amelia do you like books regarding like horror and suspense..like james patterson for example..i have tons of books that i read in a day and they just are collecting dust..anyone want them…i dont mind sending them out if they are going to be read…it seems like such a waste to have them just sit on my shelf..anyhoo peace…
January 13th, 2009 at 5:15 am
This isn’t for the contest, but I mentioned you along with Emilie Autumn in a blog I just started. It’s mostly for me to keep track of my fashion interests. I guess you probably get paired with Emilie by fans as their favorite fashion divas a lot.
http://vanity-killer.blogspot.com/
Keep the greatness going!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I made a zine in two days recently! On Christmas Day and Boxing Day actually to fend off a major case of the sads… It’s old school cut n paste stylee!!! If you email me your postal addy I’ll send you a copy :) Paper zines are a lost art form.. I’ve been writing a collecting zines for over a decade, one day I will start a zine library! I’ve also taught zine workshops in the community… I LOVE zines! Pleased to meet you by the way :) B xo
January 13th, 2009 at 10:57 am
PS- I’m also located in Australia… Brisbane :) And I have a musical punk/hardcore project called Los Angels…
January 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Lady Hypocryte- I hope your school day was OK =) Anyway, I’d love to see your zine if you end up making it!
Delilah- Shush you! I’m sure you’ve got greatness in you… you just need to release it!
Corey Vustoxular- Yeah I totally agree! They are a mixed blessing
Mind Destroying Angel- There are so many ways to be creative… artistic stuff is just one method, but I believe creativity is in the way you think, not what you output
Blitz- Wow.. that’s cool that you listen to our CD in the dark. I love that! Go and make a zine, it’s s a lot of fun!
Lisa- Thanks for the link! I love Emilie Autumn and we are actually acquaintances. She’s a great person and has a great sense of style.. so I totally agree with you
Bianca- Oh that sounds LOVELY… there is nothing like a zine for fending off the sads. I should send you some zines for the library.. I have much too many in storage, and they need to be read and loved.. so if you do the library, I’ll definitely donate! Next time I’m in Brisvegas, I’ll definitely need to check out your band, it sounds awesome!
January 13th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Mind Destroying Angel- I’m not much of a horror reader.. but thanks for the offer! Perhaps you should donate them to the local library?
January 16th, 2009 at 7:34 am
[...] has kicked her “Love and Distortion” series of posts off to a great start with “Parlour tricks from the non-digital age“, a wealth of ideas for creative things to do without being in front of a computer, [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
A photcopy of this was posted to 20 or so of my friends anonymously along with a vast amount of sequins.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/jayaerolink/IMG2751-1.jpg
At least 6 of them have sent me a letter within the last week. Thank you for the inspiration :)
March 8th, 2009 at 11:40 am
This looks and sounds like SO much fun.
I do think I will consider making one with a couple of friends, I just know they’ll be up to it!
Plus, I’ll be sure to share them.