Hella posi

[Dave Roche]

To combat all the negativity going on elsewhere on this site, can we devote this discussion to calling people out for being awesome? No shit talking, no belittling someone else's comment, no intentionally inflammatory statements, just giving people the credit they deserve. And if someone praises someone you dislike, just let it be. Think whatever you want, scream into your pillow, write a little note in your hate journal, whatever, just don't start anything here. OK? I'll start:

Krissy is amazing not only for starting this site but because her zines are amazing, too. When I was in Kuala Lumpur I saw an issue of "Figure 8" stuck up on the wall of this really cool punk studio space. It was below a Rambo tour poster, opposite the wall with an original pressing of Joy Division's "An Ideal for Living". How's that for cred? And she's totally sweet and friendly in person.

Next...

[Hannah Neurotica]

I think this is an AWESOME thread. Thank you for starting it. Sarah, I totally love your zines too. Sage or running Sweet Candy..... there are so many amazing zines out there.... yay posi!

Sarah Arr! said:

I really have a whole lot of love for people who consistently put out new and original zines. I admire themed zines like Figure 8 and Ax Wound because they're so focused and constantly explore new opinions on themes that might be sort of fringe-y even to zinedom.

I appreciate distro owners who do a lot of thankless shite work to make sure that the zines they love have a wider audience. People like Sage and Lisa Mae who have been doing it for years not for kudos or cash, but for the love of the thing.

I appreciate new zinesters who wander into this community intentionally or by chance and fall deeply in love with a pretty obscure medium when blogging or webzines are so much easier. It's that sort of fresh, wide-eyed wonder that sometimes re-inspires the old school and keeps things running.

[Blake]

Violet Fox said:

I'd like to talk a little cake about Billy da Bunny, whose lovely video reviews are constructed of 100% awesomesauce....

I'm tossing some cake out to Billy Da Bunny as well. He has been a tremendous help to this newcomer to zines with the help he's provided.... Thanks Billy!

[Bradley Adita]

Im not sure about this talk cake / cake talk - sounds like a buncha hot air... well thats what cake is... and yeast... and flour and sugar and stuff. Its sweet and all, but you can't live on it. But yeah, i guess that's true for POSI-tive feedback, you can't live on that either. But i'm just not sure i'd ever use that term.

I guess I'll have to make one for myself then, so instead of "shitlist" i guess I'll give you my "IT-list".
Here's some people on my ZINE IT-LIST.
Dave Dumpsterland
Dave & Stew Underpants
LB
Jake Austen
Jen Angel
Ed Mar
Jamie Schweser
Billy Da Bunny
Christine Boarts
Adam Wolpa
Puppy Dave
Russ Forster

(disclaimer: this is a really short quick list - if i get some time, ill add to it)

Oh yeah... i'll throw this in...
My current favorite South Sider of all time is Frank Thomas
My current favorite Boy in Blue of all time is Ron Santo
My current favorite Twin of all time is Kirby Puckett (RIP)

peace out homies!

[Billy Da Bunny]

my favorite list is bradley ADITA's! go Chicago! Esp. since he mentioned Russ Forster, who did a zine called 8-Track Mind, back in the day. A zine about 8-Tracks! My favorite teacher of all time, Dan Sutherland, helped out with it!

Bradley, by the way, is also awesome. He's done READ zine for years. He'll have a big all day event, pass out note cards, and have people write/draw whatever they want on them. Then he puts them together, and releases it as a free zine! AWESOME!

All my fave ppl have already been mentioned! Oh, except for Kelly Short-and-Queer! That dude ROCKS like crazy! A founding member of the Denver Zine Library, author of the awesome zine Shortandqueer, able to give AND take bunny-back rides without hesitation (most are only willing to do one or the other!), and a frickin square-dancer! Oh, did I mention we once got kicked out of a casino because he was dressed like a cheetah? Yeah, awesome.

[Bradley Adita]

DAMN BILLY -
you got me!!!
how in the world did I forget Kelly S&Q!!!
He is also an awesome wrestler!!!
Kelly - you are SO on my IT-LIST!!!

[Emma Jane Falconer]

There's a zine in the UK I really love called Enthusiasm. It's a comp zine where people send in articles about things they are enthusiastic about.

[eddie willson]

Hi Laura-Marie,
you're too kind. Happy New Year!
Eddie

lauramarie said:

I have recently through this site learned of Jen and MC who make ButterSword, a daily journal comic--it's on the web, and they have zines too. They're quirky and creative and honest and funny.

http://buttersword.com/

Other true loves are anything by Katie H--White Elephants, The La La Theory, White Blackbirds, Obsolete. She is a whirlwind of brilliance.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thelalatheory

Niku contributes so much to the zine world and made a beautiful cover for the zine I have coming out soon, functionally ill 6!

http://www.sweettoothcrafts.blogspot.com/

Mandy who makes Tiny Tiny is an innovative poet who makes found poems from old texts and collages and feeds my mind.

http://www.teenytiny.org/

The katie who makes We Are Not Machines and What I Learned Today is always sending wonderful unexpected treats to my mailbox.

http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/katie40

Eddie of Zine Monger runs of distro of just free zines! This is love.

http://zinemonger.blogspot.com/

The super-talented sinoun of anatomic air provides us with The Trading Network, Postal Traffic, and small tasks of labour suit her slender bones.

http://anatomicair.com/

Wow, I could go on forever about my personal zine heroes. These are just a very few. The zine community is my home, and it's nice to have We Make Zines and be able to find almost everyone here.

[Matthew Mu]

The KL punk scene is rad! Did you meet any of the guys who do Food Not Bombs there?

Also, to second someone else, Monstress is a totally rad zine.

[Ericfishlegs]

Also, I've been trying to come up with a good antonym for "talk shit." What do you think of "talk cake"? Like, "Were your ears burning yesterday? Joe mentioned he got your new zine and we talked cake about you for twenty minutes."

While I like "talk cake" I think maybe we could use "talk ice cream" as a synonym much like we have "talk trash" and "talk shit."
Then if you really go crazy talking somebody up you can say "I know I'm going all sundae on this guy, but he's really great."

[Emma Jane Falconer]

heh, in the uk the negative one is slagging someone off, and the positive one like someone said before is bigging someone up. Bigging really doesn't look like a real word when you keep looking at it

[Bri Zine]

i love bigging up! talking cake is good, too. i'm weary of talking ice cream but going all sundae! awesome.

there are so many people in the zine community that i could go all sundae for, quite a few who've been mentioned, too. amber and maranda, always, for writing great zines and being my penpals for so damn long. lisa mae for running gimme brains this long, and letting me crash at her place for a week once. lora of greenlight zine who is just a total sweetheart and always includes me in on ziney happenings around cleveland. brittany m. of playing victim, who hasn't put out a zine in a long time i don't think, but her zine was a MAJOR influence on me. cindy of doris, of course, and cristy croad of greenzine/indestructible. dave of black carrot and a bunch of other zines. matt holdaway who was always so supportive of me (even as a teen when i was making really horrid zines.) recently i got a surprise trade from bernard? called "all my best work i do at a slanted angle" and i loved the crap out of it. i just borrowed/read quite a few of ramsey's "list" zine from my buddy richard and those were tops.

i know there are a bajillion more but i'll stop here for now.

[Giz]

Amber's zine FIGHT BOREDOM is truly awesome,Katie's La-la Theory and David Gleshan' No Quarter give me hope un-bored studies and I'm very glad to be their pen-pal. Alew Wrekk' book got the best cut&paste layout I've ever looked at and she's nice in person. Chris Lynch from the Microcosm Publishing Distro is an awesome guy too and he does tiny zines on veganism and animal liberation. Thomas L. Kula (Late Night Thinking) and Brian Deller (Griot) both make me want to visit their cities, after reading their zines.