Zine Revue 10

Some recent additions to my personal collection this week...

Title: Okudazine

Author: Jam

Category: Fandom

Have you ever wondered why the computer displays in Star Trek, from The Next Generation on, have such a distinct and cohesive look? This is a really fun and interesting zine about Michael and Denise Okuda, who were behind developing the concept and designing how computers would work on the Enterprise and beyond. The illustrations in this are great, and really capture the funky retrofuture vibe of the displays. It also explains some of the design limitations and rationale, in addition to providing some additional reading about the Okudas. Even as a pretty big TNG fan, I had no idea about this, and learned a lot!

Title: Upside Down Punks: The Strange but True Story of that Fugazi Basketball Hoop Show

Author: J. Hunter Bennett

Category: Music

I've been on a huge Fugazi kick lately, though I always kind of am. They're just easily one of the greatest bands of all time, and the story of the band itself shows an interesting process of working out and truly living by some admirable DIY principles. This zine recounts a very early show in the band's history, made infamous by the athletic feat that occurred at the climax of the show: Guy Picciotto vaulting through and then hanging upside down from a basketball hoop. But wait... Why were they playing on a basketball court in the first place?

It's kind of inspiring how such an iconic event came together due to people who were not like, super on-the-ball punk scenesters or truly knew what they were doing. This zine documents a really cool story of the unglamorous but vital connections and work behind so much DIY stuff happening, and the long-term impact it can have on your sense of what's possible to participate. I love music <3 !

Title: The Museum Director

Author: Jared Schiller

Category: Writing

A short story "inspired by real events" about the contradictions that exist between money and the art world, and the type of person who is all too happy to take advantage of them. While the funding source mentioned in the story here is BP, it also made me think a lot about artists and institutions who have or are currently in the process of normalizing the presence of ridiculously exploitative and scammy tech in our lives via the arts as well, and I guess this also obliquely becomes pertinent as the titular Museum Director lives out a surely average day after just another public statement... Lots to sigh and cringe about, lightly surreal but also seriously too real.