Atrophyzine Number 11 Toystore Handcuffs
Perzines I can do without. But per-ish zines that deal in sex and relationships, I just can't get enough of. Hey, we are all out here trying to make sense of things and all too often we screw it up. It's not only nice to know that we aren't alone, but it's also cool to peak inside someone else's pain and drama over lost love and see ourselves there. Colin gives us a look at his relationships -- one by one -- in an introspective and constructive way. Taking each romance as a seperate story, this zine is a mix of journal entries and present-day recolections that come off really honest and self-searching. Really, if only we all could try to know ourselves this well. Atrophy Zine PO Box C-11, New Rochelle, NY 10804 USA MH

The Collection Issues 1 & 2
After reading both issues of The Collection, I am a little overwhelmed that soo much information fit so nicely and neatly into these quarter-sized zines. There are quite a few pages here that span topics as diverse as New Jersey politics, recipes, autism, and girl skaters. But that's why I dig it. Not only was it great to see outdoorsy stuff in a zine -- zinsters Meghan and Danielle interviewed their friend who finsihed the Appalachian Trail -- and museum reviews but all this information and east-to-swallow feminist perspective comes in a really neat and well-disigned package. I predict good things from The Collection. MH

From the Diane Files Volume One: The Dogharied Infants
I want to make a zine like this. Someday I will make a zine like this. So the folks at Love Bunni Press, just for kicks, placed a personal ad in a prominent punk zine reading as such: "Lonely 18 year old female into violent beauty, chaos as freedom, grotesque dark night flighting and subjection through poetry. Write and tell me your dreams, Diane." Well, lo and behold, they wrote. Maybe you wrote ... that's why this sounds oddly familiar. So hence you have a zine filled with the rantings and raving of insane love addicts trying to woo the heart of the non-existent Diane. For example: "Nature drove a stake thru conformity. I approved with laughter." Or how about: " Fuck all those other people who wrote to you. Their thoughts and ideas couldn't possibley be as rewarding as mine. ... How do you wear your hair?" This is an amazing exercise in zinemaking and deranged letter writing. I want more. Love Bunnie Press, 2622 Princeton Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 USA MH

Escaping Suburbia Issue One: Echo Lake and Beyond
This zine is not for me, but I would highly recommend it for kids just getting into zines ... especially if they are still living at home. I can recall the fact that my parents didn't get me and every moment of living with them and striving to get out from under their thumb seemed like an eternity, but frankly, family drama is far from my mind now not only because I am grown up but precisely because I am grown up. My journal is filled with these same esoteric ramblings that Jen gives while on a family vacation. If I were going through that now, this zine would make me feel better. Thank god that's over. $1 or Trade to: Jen Pilles 11 Ascot Ct., Welland, ON L3C 6K7 Canada MH

Fly, Paper Fly Number 2
Sometimes there is just not much to say about a zine. This is one of those times. I often have no patience for zines that consist almost completely of a conversation with the zinesters self. That's what journals are for, and just becasue you wrote it there does not make it worth printing in zine format. Though there are a few thoughts on marriage, body size, college, and finances, most of the writing here is meant to be vague and talk creator Melissa W. into something. This is what I like to call Therapeutuc zine writing. And while it may be therapeutic for Melissa W., the random and barely formed thought do nothing for me. $1 and a letter to: Melissa W. PO Box 2335, Norman, OK 73070 USA MH

Food Geek Number 4
I love food. Food Geek is about, well, food. But are you kidding, this is the most fun I have ever had reading about food. There are funny food stories, food obsessions, and yes, a few comic recipes. Now i know how to make perfect rice and chocolate pretzel vanilla wafers. I also know what Eric Lyden's favorite snack food is. And best of all, send them your regional chocolate or an old cookbook and you get a subsciption. Food Geek is delectible. Carrie Mcnich PO Box 481051, Los Angeles, CA 90048 USA MH

Irreal
Is a poem written on smallish index cards and bound with these cute flower things you might see at a kitschy wedding a zine? I dunno. I do know that I don't like nor understand most peoms. If I did I would probably like this one and this zine. It's neat. Irreal MH

The Life and Times of Sheldon Grubs Volume One
The letter enclosed with the zine stated that zinester Sheldon Grubs was currently working on his eigth issue of his zine. Being that this is the first issue, who knows what he's been up to. Regardless, this first issue is chock full of silly stories. For example, Sheldon has a grandfather suffering from dimentia. Well, seems that Sheldon's grandad fancied himself a wrestler -- you know, the professional kind -- and went about wearing a mask and calling himself Crusher. His greatest victory was over a couch cushion. This zine is full of stories about Sheldon's family, a deranged day-planner, and a bit about how he collects fake dog poo. These stories may or may not be true however -- Sheldon admits to being a "consumate liar" -- but who the hell cares, it's funny. $2, stamps, or trades to: Sheldon Grubs 202 S. 2nd St. Apt. #14, Brooklyn, NY 11211 USA MH

The Perfect Mix Tape Segue #2
Joe Biel is cool. Joe Biel is a good guy. I know, I've met him. He is the brains and the driving force behind Microcosm Publishing, a super-cool DIY project that produces CDs, T-shirts, buttons, and cool zines like this one. You should support projects like these if only for the fact that it's people like Joe -- someone who can make a living off his beloved scene and do it with style -- that keep the rest of us firm in the thought that we are fighting the good fight. But on to the zine itself: Basically an essay, this zine finds me at the perfect time. Maybe it's because I know Joe and know that we are approximately the same age. Joe's thoughts seem to solidify a feeling I have had for a bit: That all of up hipsters/zinesters/scenesters/people for a better waysters over the age of 25 are dealing with the same thing. Maybe it's growing up in a community that spits you out after you come of age, or maybe it's stuggling to justify being part of something that consists largely of pre-teens and confused wanders in thier early 20s. For most people, when society tells them to grow up they do. For Joe and I the fight is the hard one. Struggling to live how we want the world to be and attempting to come up with a viable third way, we find ourselves panting uphill and being misunderstood by, well, everyone. It's comforting to me to know Joe is dealing with the same things I am. At the same time, it's disheartening to know that if Joe Biel, substantial cornerstone of (at least the Portland) DIY community can't figure it out, then how can I. In reality, both of us are trying to find answers where none exist and in the meantime will keep creating and thinking and trying to work it out. At least Joe has the balls to write it all down. Microcosm Publishing PO Box 14332, Portland, OR 97293 USA MH

Pie
This zine has been sifted, kneaded, and made into a pie crust. No seriously, this zine and the crust surrounding it has spent at least 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. And hence it is all about pie. Including instructions, questionnaire and all, on how to hold a pie off -- question eight: Is pie good or bad? -- Pie is a tasty treat ready for consumption. Hell, there is even a Piefesto listing demands such as federally-funded pie tins, increased fruit and vegetable planting free and open to all citizens in and around major cities, and a general return to pie-centric thought. My only point of contention with Pie is in the after-mentioned rant on the Biotic Baking Brigade. The aformentioned are a group of hooligans that go about throwing perfectly good pies in the faces of modern-day scoundrels. This rant goes on to chastise the Brigade for wasting perfectly good pie: "It is demeaning to tru desert activists to have our ultimate glory tarnished by the sudden and unforseen appreciation of pie by those least deserving of its light and honor ... pieing someone must not be a punishment." By I, a true and dedicated lover of all pie, hold that pie stands determinedly and wholeheartedly in the face of the vast wrongs these corporate whores have laid upon us. Therefore a pie in the face, is to me, the ultimate symbol of an idealogy gone wrong. May the Biotic Baking Brigade live on ... and may we all eat Pie! Contact Anne Elizabeth Moore, keeper of Pie. MH

Pink Poodle #9
So this is a first. Never in my vast zine reading history have i ever read a zine where the author loved ... I do mean loved ... Britanny Spears. At least I have never read a zine where the author admitted it. Pink Poodle to me is Entertainment Weekly with punk sensibilities. Candy follows the lives and careers of a few of her favorite -- but I sure as hell have never heard of them -- television stars. In addition, there are interviews with zinesters Adam (The Beautiful Underworld Super Reef Zine), Jerianne (Reader's Guide to the Underground Press), and ME! There are also zine reviews. On another note, pink is the new color of the revolution. Well acording to me. I have set out on a mission to bring back pink to oppressed women everywhere. Pink Poodle fits securely in line with this mission and therefore should be bought and made a force in not only the zine movement but in the pink color revolution. Pink Poodle PO Box 1176, New York, NY 10018 USA MH

Sisu Issue One
Always nice to bone up on the latest PC trends. Albeit in my opinion the movement has gotten a good bit out of hand. But in a society so stifled of creativity, I guess the masses need to come up with interesting ways to entertain themselves. Hence the latest trend of FOB. Meaning fresh off the boat, FOB can be used to belittle someone whose English is poor or by a newbie to decribe themselves instead of giving their ethnicity. In any case, it's semantics and really something I could care less about. But that could be because I am living in Montana where there are no oceans. Also included in Sisu are self-realizations of race, eating organic, and living in a diverse neighborhood. The sentiments are right on but this zine just seems to be a vomitting of ideas, thoughts, and crticisms. On the whole, not good though not bad. Check out NoBrandHeroine.net for more info MH

Visual Thought #2
When I watch television one of my favorite shows is Daria. I can spend hours watching Daria's dry humor and cynical take on the world around her. But one of the highlights of the show has to be the end credits where right there on the side are the characters of Daria dressed up in all sorts of weird costumes. This is what Visual Thought is. It's a story book without the story. In fact it's drawings only and most of them are characters, people, whatever. So here in visual thought are anime-style drawings of characters in different costumes and scenarios. It's cute, it's fun, and it's fairly well drawn. Pirates, and fairies, and disgrunteled teens oh my! $1 or trade to: Jen Pilles 11 Ascot Ct., Welland ON L3C 6K7 Canada MH