Canzine’s Coming!

Canzine 2011 in Toronto (click banner for more info) is coming up and seemed like a good excuse to print up some new zines. Or zines full of stuff that’s appeared on this blog over six years or so for free. Well, now you can pay for it! Whee!

Mr. Dapper’s Original Illuminatory Journal of Secret Curiosities Zine Compendium – Vol. 1-5

Zine compilation of the best bits from 2004-2011 of Jakob Rehlinger’s (Moonwood/Babel) Mr. Dapper’s Splendid Online Diary blog.Wry observations, true stories of urban weirdos, harrowing tales of retail hell, even more harrowing tales of crazy magazine bosses, drunk escapades, romance, nervous breakdowns, epiphanies, weight loss tips! Each issue approx 24 pages.

5 issues $5 CAD (+$2 shipping)

The Bizarre Romance of Parkinson Jack and Clintina Supanova

Ever wondered what would happen if you actually answered one of those dodgy emails that end up in your spam filter? What begins as a cheeky response to a typical email scam evolves into a truly bizarre epistolary narrative. Taken verbatim directly from the original emails. 20 pages.

$3 CAD (shipping incl.)

The Empire Sucks Back

Jakob’s controversial views on exactly what makes The Empire Strikes Back a bad movie are expounded in this 16-page essay. Since there is no “try”, it’s up to you to decide if he does or does not make a strong argument. Afraid? You will be… you will be…

SOLD OUT!

Fragments

33 short stories—140 character and up—by Jakob Rehlinger. Some originally published on Twitter plus some slightly (but only just) longer works. Darkly humorous, cynically hopeful. 20 pages.

$3 CAD (shipping incl.)

 

Interviews, commerce + weather

 ~ I got called-in for a third interview with the company from last week which I thought wasn’t interested in me. I’m going to go just in case things don’t pan out with my other two prospects. Plus I get paid, supposedly. They’re taking their time choosing someone. I wouldn’t surprised if everyone they’re interviewing doesn’t get offered jobs at other companies before they get off the pot. They’d be better off just hiring freelancers.

~ I have decided on three locations for PLOG to be available at in Toronto. Pages Books & Magazines on Queens, Another Story Books on Roncesvalles and Good Catch General Store, also on Queens but at the other end. They’ll also be carrying Pandanoids merch once it’s manufactured.

~ I got caught in a sudden blizzard yesterday. People went nuts. They started screaming and running in all directions. It was kind of like War of The Worlds only with freezing rain instead of aliens.

Job, wrap, Beth + Plog #2

~ I survived my reality-show style job interview competition. That’s not to say they offered me a job. Or gave much of an indication one way or the other. The big bossman gave me kudos for being one of four “hand-picked” out of over a hundred applicants and I “should be proud of that.” Which I took to possibly be his way of letting me down easy or not getting my hopes up. If I get this job, I get work in beautiful downtown Etobicoke… though actually in kind of a neat art complex the company is building.

~ There’s a small chinese grocery across the street we go to called Alfredo’s. In the back is a Croatian-run deli. Today an extremely young blond boy wrapped up my chicken breast. He was the first person there to actually wrap meat properly, immaculately, in two different types of wax-paper no less. 

~ Today I bought that Beth Gibbons & Rusting Man CD I didn’t care for when it came out assuming I was mistaken and foolish back then. Turns out I was indeed both foolish and mistaken as it’s phenomenal (and mysteriously $2.50 cheaper than the sticker price). It’s my new favourite album of all time. For this week anyway. I’ll probably be back to listening exclusively to In Rainbows and Oblivion With Bells again next week.

~ PLOG #2 is finished early so I’ll be able to distro it in time for the first of the month. It’s christmas themed.

Plogging + TV

~  Seems doing a zine in Toronto is a hard business. So far I’ve found only two places to carry Plog — Pages Books & Magazines and Rotate This, both on Queen Street West. That’s not a lot of coverage. The guys at Pandemonium (don’t carry zines but) suggested I try a near-by coffee shop which leads me to think I’ll have to try a few other coffee shops as outlets. “Good luck trying to find a zine in this city,” he says.  I also left a few in empty racks at TTC stations. No wonder people put their zines online and started writing blogs. 

~ Bell Canada just called and tried to get us to sign up for TV service. To preempt the sales pitch I told her we don’t own a TV. She said, “Wow. What do you do?” I said, “Read.” She said, “Well, that sounds like fun,” and then “You’re going to need a TV for the winter. It gets pretty boring in the winter.” I said, “We haven’t discussed it yet.” She said, “Ohhhh-kaaaay.” Then launched into the sales pitch just in case we buy a TV.

Dumped + PLOG

PLOG: P[aper b]LOG
Originally uploaded by Ampersand Photography.

~ Yesterday I got a call from the job I was hoping I would get. It would have been a great fit, good money and a fun challenge. As I knew was likely, someone with more experience applied. The woman who interviewed me was, I could tell, sincerely sorry she couldn’t offer me the job and went a little overboard reassuring me I’d find work right away as I “had so much to offer.” I felt like I was getting the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech. I feel so cheap spreading my portfolio for them just to be tossed away when someone more experienced comes along.

~ PLOG is ready to go. I just need to figure out where I’m going to distro it here in Toronto. Google isn’t offering up much info on the Toronto zine scene. Other than Rotate This, I haven’t seen anywhere stocking zines even. I guess just like MP3s killed CDs, blogs killed zines. Eventually all our cultural artifacts will be reduced to ones and zeros on the internet and alien archaeologists won’t be able to figure out a single thing about our extinct species because all the laptops were erased by the electro-magnetic pulse that accompanies whatever way we manage to wipe ourselves out.