No Way Home
The uncertain future of Robert Thomas Payne, homeless zinester
The Undying Art of Mail
We used to send mail, and there used to be an underground movement of artists who made mail art. Laura Trethewey tracks down the artists who made the postal system an integral part of their work to find out how mail art is faring in the age of the Internet.
How to Start Your Own Political Party
Excerpts
from derek beaulieu, Amber Goodwyn, Jeremy MacCuish
Fiction
by Elise Moser, Melanie Miller
56 reviews
Lots more. See it all here.
Rafi Ghanaghounian
Rafi Ghanaghounian is an independent curator in Toronto and has been for the last 15 years. He has run galleries from spaces all over the city, including the influential Anoush Gallery in Kensington Market and he loves bringing people together from different cultural and aesthetic backgrounds and seeing what comes out of it. This explains his readiness to take on the first slot as the revamped Broken Pencil Artist in Residence.
Read more.
How To Explore The North Pole
The importance of parka fashion, a guide to pemmican, tips on naming your illegitimate Inuit children, and information on sled dogs and caches are but a few of the helpful topics explored in this zine. Pat Kewley is the world famous explorer and author of books including Congo By Balloon and Fundamentals Of Zeppelin Racing and his vast knowledge seeps through each page of this zine. He also shares a name with a zinemaker from Buffalo.
The familiarity the author holds for his predecessors, wheth... Read more.
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We need Interns
I hate the show The Hills. It's stupid. But I do like The City. The season finale was a few weeks ago and it looks like Whitney and Roxy are on the outs. Roxy's moving out, though she had to ask her dad for some cash to do so. Why do I love this show? Because it's about being a girl and working for a magazine: which I for some reason identify with. I really want someone to draw Roxy. Why? First of all, who is Roxy Olin? She's the best thing about The City. It's a show about New York and fashion and publishing and new media. My girl Roxy has big eyes and wears strange clothes and I'm following her on Twitter. Creepy? Yes. But it's only so she'll subscribe to Broken Pencil and submit her zine for review. The City is a great show, quit laughing! It's about trying to make it darn it all. When I stayed in New York in 2008 and 2009 I stayed with Kyra Griffin. She works at a fashion magazine V Magazine. You've probably seen it. She is ... Read more.
August 31, 2010
Canadian Gothic and poetry vending machines
It's Monday, which means time for us to reveal more content from our summer DIY issue. This week we give you a piece by assistant editor Brooke Ford about Canadian graphic novelist and comic creator Jeff Lemire; a sharpener about poetry vending machines; an excerpt from Caravan, looking at cheap ways to take your band on tour and our regular profile in comic form, this one about zinester and author Megan Speers, illustrated by Eric Uhlich. Book reviews: Isobel and Emile, How to be Inappropriate and Ghost Pine. Zine reviews: Plastic Knife, My New French Blouse and Potentially Heartwrenching Distractions. Read more.
August 30, 2010
The third edition of Zine Dream is coming to the Transac (292 Brunswick Ave., Toronto) tomorrow. The event will feature over 50 vendors selling and exhibiting their zines, comics, art and crafts from 11am until 5pm. There will also be performances througout the day to entertain vendors and attendees alike, such as comedian Tom Henry, artist David FM Hanes and music from The Deeep, Vanessa Hanson and various DJs. Organizers Jesjit Gill and Laura McCoy have also added new elements to keep attendees busy, such as facepainting and a bake sale. For more information on Zine Dream visit their site. Read more.
August 28, 2010
Make the Wind Blow zine launch - Halifax
This Saturday (August 28) the Roberts Street Social Centre in Halifax (5684 Roberts Street) is hosting a zine launch for Make the Wind Blow, a zine about "music and resistance." The zine, created by the current residents of the Roberts Street shed, is a compilation of stories, articles, profiles and art that celebrates inspirational figures in music. Containing both a CD and silkscreened art cards, the zine looks at the political uses of music with stories such as Vaginal Davis who uses punk and drag to explore themes on blackness, queerness and gender and musicians boycotting Israel and the history of musicians who boycotted South Africa during Apartheid. The event is free and will also feature an art showcase, presentations of zine excerpts, a film screening, a campfire and snacks. Read more.
August 27, 2010
This week on "What's Dusty?" we take a fond look back at our comedy issue from the fall of 2008. Chandler Levack examined the question of contemporary humour in That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, while six Canadian creative types told us what makes them laugh. More from the archive next Thursday. Read more.
August 26, 2010
Pirate Parties and microscopic art
This week we offer you a step-by-step guide to forming your own federal political party, taking as our model the newly-minted Pirate Party of Canada. We've also got a look at Robert Pasternak's Micro Minty Books. As a bonus, we'll throw in the latest installment of Jason and the Comics. Zine reviews: Kill Shakespeare, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, More Great Moments In Western Civilization. Film reviews: A Different Path, Waste Land, We Don't Care About Music Anyway. Read more.
August 23, 2010
As the world knows, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is in theatres. And the new face of indie is that weird looking eternal kid from Brampton, the Mark Hamil of teen comedies, Michael Cera. So convincing is he as the new face of all that is meek, feeble, white and unassuming, that Drew Barrymore is not only producing Dr. Zine (more on the plot in a minute) but will play Cera's mother in the upcoming comedy. That's what I heard anyway, though it could have been a telemarketer playing a prank on the Broken Pencil hotline yesterday. Dr. Zine is the story of Bruce Finlanson, a first year medical student whose DIY artist parents (Drew Barrymore and Mark Ruffalo) want him to drop out of school and follow in their footsteps, and, you guessed it - make a zine. His best friend Max (played by MTV Canada's Dan Levy) says he should go for it, and make a zine about his favourite band Metric. How does this play into our convenient State of Fame topic? Quite nicely actually. With the ... Read more.
August 21, 2010
Tales from the Crypt: Working stiffs
More vintage BP from our voluminous archive, this week on the subject of being creative while also paying the bills. Welcome back to the winter of 2006 for Shiralee Hudson's The Office Hours of the Creative Class and Liz Worth's How to be a Nine-to-Five Zinester. It's a master class in the art of the day job, and you don't even have to take notes. Read more.
August 19, 2010
Toronto Canzine's call for art room proposals
For the past four years, during Canzine's tenure at the Gladstone Hotel, Broken Pencil's zine fair and festival of alternative culture included rooms taken over by artists with interactive installations. Forests, musicians, funerals, homemade video games and crocheted boobs are just a few of the things that have filled our rooms in the past. This year, in Canzine's move to the Great Hall, we're looking to keep the art room's alive. We are currently looking for artists who would like to rent a room to entertain the masses. Interested parties should send a pitch detailing what you plan to do and how you’ll pull it off to Broken Pencil editor, Lindsay Gibb, at editor@brokenpencil.com with “Canzine Art Room Proposal” as the subject line. Art rooms are $75. September 10th is the deadline for submissions. Read more.
August 18, 2010
The State of Fame: What's a Kate Beckinsale?
Hi Colin and thanks for choosing a super hot female as your celebrity subject. Great work! I dont know much about her but the internet had a lot to say. Beckinsale is Esquire magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive 2009. She is signed to Independent Models in London. Oh and she acts. Well that’s nice. Read more.
August 16, 2010