#I am STILL so stoked to have been a part of this zine!

[vyvesvi]

ep 3 peanut gallery update

motohashi meika: in this episode we basically just watched her have the worst day of her life 😭 she gets placed in F class, then miraculously gets to pick her team early through the lottery, then she gets 4 of her 6 team members stolen by the center of the whole show, and then her team has to go against the center and all of her former A & B class members 😭 honestly i hiped that she would stand out more in the performance but she just did okay honestly (better than a lot of people though)

ando chiharu: i've liked her since the audition, but she doesn't quite have that it factor. but i think she has a lot of potential & she really stood out in her team's performance of hylt

uchiyama rin: i liked her voice a lot in love dive! she's one of the only ones on her team who got the concept

kamio ayano: i noticed her episode one but i kept getting her mixed up with aoki yuka so i thought she couldn't sing 😭 she was pretty good in love dive but the styling is really what made her stand out. she reminds me soooo much of zhang zining (produce 101 china & rocket girls 101) and the guitar in this pic is a nice nod to that (in my mind)

sakata kotone: there's something that's just very capable feeling about her, and it's funny that her hair dye gets so many touch ups for some reason when no one else's does 😭 she did well in love dive!

yoshida hana: she has potential, and i love that her voice (along with uchiyama rin & a few others) is lower than we usually hear in k & jpop. she was really pretty as center for love dive but she really didn't get the tone of the song at all

takagi mayu: mayu was on my pick list ep 1 at first because it was so funny that she was so stoked about getting D class 😭 she's here now because even though her team wasn't great (and she obviously has 0 experience) i always see potential when she performs but idky

akiyama ema: she's just very likable tbh! she did well in seifuku no mannequin 👍

takami ayane: definitely stood out in seifuku no mannequin, main vocal of the show for sure

sato serina: she was evaluated lower at auditions than i expected tbh. she was one the mvps of body & soul, just overall a very solid singer. looking forward to her performance next round

aita rin: she's very capable? but unfortunately not in a way that stands out much. still, i liked her attitude and she brought a lot of life to her group's performance. in a weird way she reminds me of haruto from boy's planet

ep 3 mvps

tsukushi handled her mic issues in hylt like a pro. it actually kind of pissed me off that they kept showing praise for joa's parts (which were the mirror to tsukushi's except she did worse with no mic issues). i've been on the fence about tsukushi (and i still kiiiiinda am) but you have to acknowledge her talent and professionalism

yui is just really sweet. she has room to grow but she's not as far as some people that they tend to hype up a lot. she picked a fun team for hylt and was very cute encouraging nagomi

ran we love youuu. for some reason the roman empire meme annoys me but ran placing #2 to miu for theme song center is now my roman empire. ran would've done so well and i wouldn't be here worried about her rank

ep 3 votes

dropped: momona (she's safe for now), mena (safe for now, didn't notice her as much here), sakura & rinon (not in ep 3)

added: kamio ayane, motohashi meika (no hope for her tbh but i did like her this ep), serina & mayu (kind of picks rn)

ep 3 top 11

dropped: nano for yui, but honestly i have high hopes for both

forgot to update my produce japan picks after ep 2 & im watching ep 3 today so it's kinda dumb to make this now but im gonna do it anyways 👍

preshow & ep 1 picks

ep 2 picks 👑

sakaguchi rino & ishii ran

capable encouraging people (bonus if theyre good leaders/mentors too) are always my type on these shows. i was already familiar w/ rino and learned more abt ran pre-show and they're totally living up to my expectations 👍 rino & ran you WILL be famous

ep 2 im biased oops

koyama mana - up and down on my list but after the comments that honggi & yumeki made abt her body i'll be supporting her through thick & thin. she's also literally not as bad as they keep making her out to be, it's so obnoxious

oda aruha has actually gone down my pick list because for her to have the dance experience that she has and then completely lose it under pressure...i have sympathy but i've never seen anyone on these shows just freeze. im hoping that something clicks for her soon

ep 2 i like you but

murakami rinon, kasahara momona, sasaki tsukushi, sakurai miu

i don't want to repeat stuff from my previous post but for momona & miu i just need more from them. they're both 100% debuting & i like them but i would like to see them step it up.

rinon is just growing very fast. she came in with no experience but im impressed by her showmanship

tsukushi is extremely talented, easily a top all rounder but she needs a storyline to compel more fans

ep 2 id vote for you but i need to see more

hatta mena, ando yui, kitazume sakura, takami ayane

most of them just have decent skills & good energy, ayane is one of the best vocals on the show but her presence, vibe, & hair desperately need help

ep 2 peanut gallery

kamada moe (1st) & yoshida hana (6th): if im being honest i don't fully remember why i noticed them. i think hana had vocals

kenmotsu nano (2nd): she's pretty & not terrible & born in 2001, which is a win these days! i just liker vibe honestly

nakano kokona (3rd): i just think she's hilarious. the staring contest was so needlessly intense 😭 she's also a pretty decent rapper

sudo sakura (4th): i also think she's hilarious, from the gyuaru audition to shouting during the reeval video, i just like her vibe a lot

ebihara tsuzumi (5th): couldve been in the need to see more section but oh well. i like her, she's a good vocalist, but she's young and needs to grow in dance

kurokawa honoka (7th): that's my daughter from who is princess but it's not looking good for her tbh

aramaki joa (8th): good vibe, decent dancer but she cant sing at alllllll. but the sjow likes her and i dont hate her so im kinda just watching

abe nagomi (9th): she's cute & fun and has a lot of potential

people who i would vote for as of ep2:

a more realistic top 11 w/ some of my picks:

[numbah34]

From @rueitae’s fic “Shootin’ the Breeze (Just Say Yes)”, I present to you my first contribution to the @planceeverafter zine! It was from this piece I learned how to paint sunsets and draw horses (albeit rather smug-looking horses, but horses nonetheless). And it was, as always, a pleasure to work with Rue!

[iturbide]

I love how this whole chain went from:

grab your mini pitchforks -> grab the popcorn

really fast. Anywho, other than that jazz, how are you doing overall?

I will gladly take popcorn over pitchforks any day (the pitchforks are their own brand of entertainment, but the popcorn is always fun)

Other than that I'm doing okay, though! Still really excited that the Lodestar.sys zine is out (I still think my piece in there is one of the best things I've ever written), but besides that most of my energy is spent keeping track of kittens so other things have been put on the backburner:

I mean. Look at these little hellions.

don't let Hubert's murderous look fool you, Ferdinand is equally naughty

With them in mind, my bookbinding experiments have been put on the backburner for a while; I'm about halfway through my test copy of Crown of Shadows, though -- the signatures are all folded and stitched, the textblock has been sanded, the endpapers are attached (though I want to give the whole thing a final sanding to get things nice and even), and the covers have been cut to size -- and I think it's coming together really nicely so far! I'm thinking about kicking into it again this weekend, since I'd like to get a few copies of Proof of Life together to use as a testing ground for some cover stuff I want to play with before going all-out on the hardcover.

After Crown of Shadows (which I might make another copy or two of, just to keep trying my hand at the flat back book format, we'll see) I'd really like to do a copy of Heart of the Moon with a rounded back, since that one's so much bigger: Crown of Shadows clocks in around 41.5k words and I managed to fit it into 6 signatures (a little big for a flat back, but still reasonably in range for it), while Heart of the Moon sits at 60k and looks like it'll need 11 signatures total, making it a good choice for experimenting with rounding.

(Once I have a little more experience with different formats under my belt, I'd really like to start binding more of my favorite fics and trying to get in touch with the authors to gift them copies of their works; I'm starting with mine since they're just for me, so it's fine if they go sidways...though I guess if anyone would want a hard copy of something I've written, let me know?)

Aside from there, I've been thinking about picking up a video game again but haven't done it yet (again, in part because of kittens who are Too Interested in the TV sometimes). Choices are between Legends Arceus again since I still want a shiny Hisuian Zorua or two, Horizon: Zero Dawn since I picked that one up a while ago and still haven't finished out the damn intro, the latest God of War because it's all Norse mythology and I'm predictable, or Three Houses to finish out that Azure Moon playthrough and go back to Claude because I love and miss him...but I haven't committed.

Instead I've just been playing stuff in the background and occasionally paying attention. I had a craving for Retro Anime recently and picked up Detective Conan again (I love this comedy murder show but it messes me up sometimes, there are some heavy episodes). Also finished Spy x Family and I'm sobbing I love them and October can't get here soon enough because then I get both the second half of Spy x Family's first season and Season 3 of Mob Psycho 100 which I am so stoked for you have no idea. And lucky for me, Nona the Ninth comes out in September, which should tide me over until the new anime I yearn for arrives.

Writing has been stalled basically since the start of the year and continues as such. I'm still stuck with just chapter 7 of last year's Chrobin Week to finish, and I have a bunch of other ideas that I'd like to start exploring, both for Awakening and Three Houses (since I'm desperately missing Claude), as well as an original piece that I've been rolling around for years that's come back to the forefront recently. We'll see what if anything comes out of any of that, but it might just end up being a sparse year on writing.

Anyway yes that's my long-winded status update ramble

[heretherebedork]

Hey! I started watching the devil's judge because i saw you talking about it and it reminded of another k drama called Beyond Evil. Have you seen it? It's really interesting and the plot is very smart, maybe you'd like it.

Devil Judge is my very first non-BL drama of basically any type. We'll see if I move from this to more but, honestly, it's unlikely. Also, super stoked that more people are joining this because I ramble about it. Still amazed, love y'all, cannot WAIT for the latest episode to be subbed.

Look, I used to be deeply into the slash scene, making non-canon into canon and yelling about it. I own physical zines from Star Trek and Sentinel and Shogun and Pirates of the Caribbean. I've been writing about non-canonically gay boys being gay since I wrote a fanfiction when I was bored in English class at 14.

I've hit the point where I want more than that from my media.

I still enjoy the occasional non-canon bits and I think it's part of why I can genuinely appreciate and adore so many of the Chinese bromances. Because it's been a part of who I am for so long that it's helped form me into a person.

I wrote fanfiction on fanfiction.net BEFORE the NC-17 ban. I lost one horribly written story to that, thank goodness.

But now I want my media to give me what fanfiction used to give me.

I can watch some shows that don't. But if there isn't a promise of it or a focus on that... I'm just not interested.

The Devil Judge has enough bromance-to-BL energy that I'm happy to watch them for the non-romantic found family aspect and create the romance in my head.

But I'm not super interested in going back to my roots now.

So, we will see. Maybe. But, honestly, I never imagined that these shows would exist when I first got into fandom and I'm so grateful that I don't want to go back to where I was.

Thanks for the message and the rec, though! I understand that most people branch out much more than I have. But I've seen a lot and I've talked to people who've seen more. And, at least right now, I'm not going into shows that don't promise me something more than just besties being besties.

[talkinbouttinygames]

The Witness & The Anti-Hardcore Walkthrough Club

Steam says I have played The Witness for 31 hours. That’s not as much as it could be - I haven’t played it in two years, and never finished it originally after my save got wiped in an accident - but the reason I’m writing about it now is because I recently picked it back up, remembered how much fun it was, and am now intent on finishing it. However, despite how much time I’ve sunk into it (much more than most games covered in this ‘zine), despite the fact that I enjoy it enough to re-do all of my progress from two years ago, I can’t recommend the game, and the reason why is that I’m playing it wrong.

Okay.

For those who haven’t heard of it, The Witness is a puzzle game created by Jonathan Blow (at which point I am legally obligated to quip, yes that Jonathan Blow) based around completing line mazes on panels scattered across a very pretty island. The most simple puzzle at the start entails the player drawing a starting line from the starting circle to the other side, with later puzzles gaining more maze-like shapes, or other requirements, like the line needing to cross over every dot that appears on the board, or separate differently-coloured squares, or outline a drawn tetris shape. Additionally, other puzzles incorporate the surrounding environment: sunlight exposes a smudged line that reveals the correct path on a panel when looking at the right angle, tinted glass exposes the true color of panel squares, shadows from foliage above ‘block off’ incorrect passages, and so on.

A lot’s been said about The Witness: Blow’s design process for its puzzle mechanics, how it silently guides the player into learning mechanics, and what it truly means. But I’m not going to talk about any of those things, firstly because I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said on those subjects, and secondly because for nearly the entire time I played the game, I had my phone opened up to a full-spoiler walkthrough.

The Witness is far from a casual game. While the game’s been praised for stepping back and allowing players to have ‘eureka! moments’ when trying to figure out how a given puzzle works, that same lack of explicit guidance can make it hostile to a player that isn’t able to connect the dots. Additionally, the line puzzles are the only interactable elements that exist in the game, outside of scattered audio logs around the island. This hyperfocus on the line puzzles (and the sheer magnitude of how many there are) means that in order to truly enjoy The Witness, you really need to be stoked about solving cereal box mazes.

...Don’t you?

When I first googled The Witness, my first thought was not, “wow, those puzzles look interesting”. It was “woah, this shit’s really pretty,” followed by “I think I would buy this game just to walk around in this world”. Evidently, I did - albeit on a half-off sale for 20 dollars instead of the usual forty. True to what I had seen, the world’s gorgeous, a variety of different landscapes with vibrant colours that seemed out of the painting. The way the puzzles interacted with the environment was also pleasant, at least with the ability to look up the answers for any of them at the glance. I took pleasure in screencapping scenes I found to be beautiful and sending them to my friends, and generally just being… present in the world I found myself in.

Perhaps it was a waste, that I refused to engage with the challenges the game presented me, that I cheated my way around obstacles that were supposed to give a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and instead chose to meander around and treat the game as a glorified walking simulator. Given the common debate of whether accessibility features should disable achievements, and the gaming-originated term of ‘git gud’, it’s clear that the idea of ‘play experience integrity’ is one that a fair amount of gamers stick to. That idea is a complicated one that I can’t cover here, but my experience with The Witness falls on the fringes of it. While the certain type of gamers who scream about ‘casuals’ cheating themselves out of the Real Experience is an debate that deals with players changing the details of their play experience in order to follow the intended final destination of that experience, what happens when someone buys your game for a purpose completely unrelated to what the developer actually focused on? Is The Witness a good puzzle game? Who cares! Not me!

It’s like writing a novel that reveals integral qualities into the human condition, and then someone buys it because the size and paper type of the pages makes for good hamster bedding.

But I still enjoyed The Witness, because I was still playing the game - I completed every single area save for the final one because after that it wipes your save and I’d need to go through all the puzzles again to explore freely. And in the eyes of the game, what difference is there between my save file and someone who actually sat down and solved every single puzzle themselves. 

When talking to a friend about using a walkthrough while playing The Witness, he confessed - with slight guilt - to using walkthroughs in order to avoid missing anything. In response, I proposed we start the Anti-Hardcore Walkthrough Club - a hallowed league of gamers that place themselves highly in their ability to make things as easy for themselves as possible, because sometimes that’s what you’re looking for. In all seriousness, though, there’s a legitimate idea behind the joke - the sort-of  idea of the ‘death of the game designer’, that any way of playing a game is fair under cheats, mods, house rules, and yes, even focusing on a completely arbitrary and besides-the-point facet of the game. As long you’re aware that by doing so you can only speak to your specific style of play - a fact which applies to the hardcore gamers as much as the rest of us. To 100% a game on the hardest difficulty available isn’t necessarily a virtue, and cherry picking what parts of a game you care about and focusing on them isn’t necessarily a sin.

So, if I didn’t actually ‘play’ The Witness in the way a vast majority of people aim to play it, what can I say about it? This:

10/10. Best hamster bedding I’ve ever used.

[carpenoctemzine]

Merch Artist and Poet Spotlight | S. Tennant 🩸

During our creation phase, we’re going to highlight the many talented artists, writers, and poets joining us for the zine.

Today we have S. Tennant, whose work you can find on their Instagram, website, and AO3.

F A Q ☽ M O D S ☆ T W I T T E R ☾ A S K

[image description under cut]

[Image Description:

The image has a white border with decorative edges and is split in the center on a slight diagonal. On the left-hand side is a dark background with red text and circular profile picture with some elaborate decoration around it to match the overall border. The text reads on separate lines: Merch Artist and Poet Spotlight. S. Tennant. They/Them. Their social medias are listed on separate lines with corresponding Icons in front of them. The final paragraph reads:  

“Hello everyone! I'm honored to be featured as an artist and poet! I really like drawing spooky stuff and pretty boys, so my favorite kinds of vampires are of the Anne Rice, Viago, Castlevania, and Vampire Hunter D variety- though I'm also game for horrifying ones. I'm so stoked to celebrate the diverse histories of vampires with everyone, and, as I've been developing a vampire comic (the character in my featured art is the protagonist), being a part of this zine feels extra special to me. On another note: in addition to being an artist, I am also a writer; you can look forward to seeing my poetry in the zine as well! Thanks for reading, and keep your fangs sharp, bloodsuckers.”

 On the right-hand side is an example of S. Tennant’s work. It features two sections, divided vertically by a white line. On the left-hand side is an image of a blond figure in a black Victorian style suit. Their skin is pale and blood drips out of the corner of their mouth. The other side is text, which reads:

“You rear on hind legs, nostrils flared you bare defiance. Still, It is I who must make the first move. Tenderly I scrape the dirt from under my nails. “Sorry” is not something swallowed by your breed. Blunt teeth strain to chew raw meat. Don’t worry, I have already chewed it for you.”

End ID]

[bnha-steampunk]

Gear up, steampunk enthusiasts! After assembling and setting up some team-related things, the long-awaited mod introductions are finally here! We’ll try our best to make this zine as fantastic as it can be!

↓ ↓ ↓  Meet the mods  ↓ ↓ ↓

⚙ ⚙ Mod Kiri ⚙ ⚙

Name/alias: nekon (I went by ‘N’ in answering previous asks ^^)

Pronouns: She/her, they/them

Role: Head mod, graphic design and general mod

Experience: I’m mainly a graphics design mod for The Art of Manliness - a Kirishima zine, but I also help out a lot in managing asks, social media posts and communications for said zine. At the same time, I have contributed to 5 zines as an artist, including BNHA Wedding Zine, Girl Power! zine, Our Reality and more! I have done thorough research in managing zines and have talked to multiple experienced mods for this task. Thank you all for this amazing opportunity!! <3

Why I love Steampunk: I love the aesthetic and vintage feel steampunk art gives off. The color palette is amazing and such intricate details never cease to keep my eyes glued! The machinery and designs, desaturated yet breathtaking colors and steam concepts draws me in as well. I absolutely love steampunk and BNHA, so I had the idea to combine both and see what fascinating fusions can be done with quirks and steampunk technology!

Social Media: Twitter | Tumblr

                       ⚙ ⚙ Mod Intern Toko ⚙ ⚙

Name/alias: 1Estel1 (I went by “-E” in the askboxes ^.^)

Pronouns: He/Him

Role: Mod Intern

Experience: This is my first time being part of a fanzine project. I haven’t contributed to any fanzine prior to this one. My good friend reached out to me one day and said something along the lines of “Hey, you wanna be part of this thing I’m trying to do?” I was stoked, and I still am. I am very excited to work with everyone in creating this, since I love both BNHA and alternate history.

Why I love Steampunk: I love the aesthetic! Victorian England was the pinnacle of posh fashion. Combining this with the dominant technology at the time at an exaggerated scale makes for some epic spectacles that wouldn’t be possible in the real world. The colour palette of browns, oranges, and golds really brings out a feeling of being taken back two hundred years ago. Imagining a completely different world, where some event in the past changed the course of history, where the culture stayed the same for hundreds of years, and instead of evolving, it grew in scale to the maximum degree, just takes me away into this amazing fantasy land where technology progressed in the wrong direction, and it’s all just so very breathtaking. I want to share this weird passion I have for crazy fantasy scenarios with the world, and I figured to start with one of the biggest fandoms out there-Boku No Hero Academia!

Social Media: Twitter

⚙ ⚙ Mod Jiro ⚙ ⚙

Name/alias: Cate ( or Jiro, my goth girl )

Pronouns: She/Her/Dude

Role: Finance Mod

Experience: As far as finance in general goes, my career is accounting, and I’m going to school for it as well. I’m working as a Finance/Marketing mod on the Everyday Magic zine ( though I don’t think we have a tumblr yet ), as well as interning as Kaleidoscopic Zine as Finance Intern while being their primary writer as a contributor. I contributed as a chef to Sweet Teeth Cookbook Zine as well!

Why I love steampunk: The aesthetic is A+, and I’ve done a lot of costuming with the same aesthetic, which won me a handful of competitions! It’s always been a really interesting era, and I always end up circling back to it in projects, trying to add just a hint of the vibe to even the most opposite of aesthetics. 

Social Media: Tumblr

⚙ ⚙ Mod Kero ⚙ ⚙

Name/alias: Mel

Pronouns: they/them

Role: Layout Mod 

Experience: This is my first time being a Mod for a zine, but so far I have contributed/am contributing in five (5) zines: All You Can Eat: Tamaki Amajiki Fanzine and LOOP Music zine as an artist, and I am Here: An All Might Anthology, Help Wanted! BNHA Fanzine and BNHA Inksmith zine as a writer! I have also been in the BNHA Flash Bang and BNHA 1-B Big Bang as a writer, and my degree is in Visual Communications, of which relates to graphic design and layout design.

Why I love Steampunk: I just really love the idea of steam-powered machinery being used as a solution to the problems we’ve since found other ways to solve!

Social Media: Twitter

[callan-joy]

2020, look out! it’s me, ya girl.

welcome to my official blog!

My name is ATHENA and I thank you for finding this page. Here’s some stuff about me.  ALL OF MY SOCIAL MEDIA: https://allmylinks.com/theathenaj Updated as of August 2020:

Be for warned, this is the nitty gritty ---

It’s taken me almost two 2 years but finally I am able to feel confident in the fact that I am a writer. I’ve been interested in writing mainly from the encouragement of my mother since I was about 13/14. The “arts” was something that was focused on about 98% in my household: Turner Classic Movies, true crime novels & investigative shows, classic literature, music, art history and more. I think Tumblr was one of the first sources of that culture I could get from the bubble of growing up (I did travel back and forth from Phoenix to Sedona) in small town Cottonwood, Arizona. I was born in River Falls, Wisconsin originally though!

While dealing with abuse from my father, mostly from after my parents divorced and I had to live alone with him for a time, it took a very long time before I felt confident in anything I did. Being an only child, I really only had myself.

It started at the end of 2018, I took a step into shaping my skills and intentions with writing. After a few shots of whiskey, trying not to collapse from nervousness, I read a story in front of a group of people in a dimly-lit, tiny comic book store. It went overwhelmingly well. People came up and thanked me. It felt...strange to have the compliments. Almost foreign. Another event later on Valentines Day 2019, feeling warm with red wine, I read a poem. Another round of people smiling and congratulating me. It’s weird when your passion is appreciated and I still have trouble with it when I do speak in front of people or share something I’ve created. 

Mental illness is something I do talk quite a bit about but it’s because it is part of who I am as a person which I’ve come to accept (mainly through therapy.) It bleeds into my creativity and how I manage it. 

Around July of 2018, I began seeing a therapist when I was first diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. I had been struggling with these issues for almost 12 years when it felt so validating to have someone finally acknowledge this. To tell me it was okay for feeling sad or hating myself. But to focus on growing and changing by helping others in anyway that I could without throwing myself on a pyre. By that time, I had/still have my job working at a health insurance company as a specialist for Behavioral Health Case Management. I’ve had people kind of laugh at me on why I do SO many things all the time. It is extremely difficult to maintain my life without staying busy. When I am not busy, I have room to over-analyze every aspect of my life. It’s just something I can’t completely do at this point. And that is okay. 

So who is Athena?

- Student; currently studying clinical psychology. First year down and one more to go! - Behavioral Health Specialist at a health insurance company; Basically helping a nurse do case management, helping people figure out mental health claims, connecting people to therapists/facilities, and trying to give a shit. - Writer; I’ve written 1 full-length play, around 80ish poems, and a few short stories with 1 unfinished screenplay. The themes typically are; poems about self-hatred, sexual poems because I am a horny monster, gothic horror, fantasy, or drama. Think Stoker, Anne Sexton, and David Fincher mixed together. I’ve spoken at about 10 events and soon to be more. I also am a writer on LongLiveTheVoid.com - an online host of horror film (and others) reviews and horror podcast with a wonderful group of people. You can check my reviews on here as well! - Performer; I have performed stories and poems at several events which I have detailed below. You can find videos on my page as well! - Gamer; I wouldn’t call myself “avid” anymore but when I HAVE the time, check out my Twitch sometimes! https://www.twitch.tv/thenesthebeans - Animal Lover; Mainly dogs but most animals. I have a 2-year-old Chihuahua Dachsund named Maso who is a derp but I love him. - Film Snob; As I grew up with OG hipsters, I have been a film fanatic since I learned how to talk. I used to spend my summers before I had to get a job watching 3-4 films a day. My taste does change but I usually go for dramas, horror, and really fucking stupid humor (if it’s a dog farting, why the fuck not.)  - Bisexual Vampire; I WISH I was a vampire but the first part is 100% true. I suppose I would be an advocate for the LGBT+ community as if a person is being prejudiced against, they don’t HAVE to be in the room for me to say something. Got a problem? Fuck off. - Food/Drink Lover; I really love making cocktails, desserts and more! You can find me here @ https://www.instagram.com/the_midwest_barkeep/

What has Athena performed/done?

Below are events/shows in Arizona I have done. Interested in recordings? I have those included on my page

- Love Notes: A Romantic + Erotic Poetry Reading @ Lost Leaf, February 14th, 2018 - Untidy Secrets Storytelling - Bad Kids From The Start @ Ash Avenue Comics, June 29th, 2018 - Untidy Secrets Storytelling - Take This Job and Shove It @ Ash Avenue Comics, August 31st, 2018 - ArtSplat! Queer Poetry Weirdness @ Stacy’s, October 11th, 2018 - Chatterbox: Haunted @ Fair Trade Cafe, October 24th, 2018 - If You Have Ghosts, A Night of Storytelling @ Wasted Ink Zine Distro, January 11th, 2019 - 7 Minutes in Love @ Space 55, February 8th, 2019 - Turn the Page Storytelling presents: A Mother of a Story @ Delante Coffee, May 31st, 2019 - Getting Stoked, July 8th, 2019, Podcast - Slice: Manly Myths & Legends, July 25th, 2019 @ Space 55 - Roar! A Celebration, performed by actors, September 14th, 2019 @ Tempe Center for the Arts - Letters from the Earth - September 27th, 2019 - Host - Crunch Time’s “Between the Vines” - December 2019

Okay, so she’s not terrible, right?

I mean most human beings are awful, but I am a reasonable sort. Why not take a chance with this weird, perverted, alien like myself? Follow me if you’d like to continue down my road of perpetual absurdism!

[zinerrific]

@coldbrood said:                                                                                             always a lesson to learn :).  stoked you are still using a type writer out there! 

Oh I adore typewriters!!! I have five  of them, all manual. Ephemera I always do on one, and also my poetry zines. I do the others on the computer cos it is a lot more work to do it on a typewriter, but doing those ones on a typewriter is superfun! I also use them to write all my fiction--I can write much better on one, because it makes me feel like much more of a Real Writer.

@coldbrood said:                                                                                             cool to read your progress :).  yeah having an older/lighter ribbon can cause so many problems!  i usually make a master copy of my zine that i can just put through the top feeder [instead of the actual original with stuff glued onto it] but sometimes the degradation of the text from being copied twice is too much!  but also it sucks when i use two different type writers or change the ribbon in the middle of making a zine, because then parts will be too saturated    

I was actually just thinking as I was getting these zines ready about the idea of making  copies I could run through the top feeder. One of the other zines i was copying is just photos so I printed it double-sided so I could do that and god it was SO EASY and SO FAST. I have a scanner, so I could just scan the hard copies with all the stuff on them in and print them out that way. The only possible issue is I’ve been attaching the stuff to the pages with tape because I’ve found that paste doesn’t really do a good job holding them on, so I’d be a little worried about the tape showing up on the scans, but it didn’t seem to be when I had to scan a couple of the covers the other night. And a friend tells me that I could possibly fuck around with the settings and find a way to make it not show up even if it did. So yeh I think I am gonna try this. And I’m also definitey going to make sure I have a typewriter ribbon that’s actually in good shape before I start typing!

[challengerbmxmag]

Skunk Zine (Reissue)

Created in 1997, this issue of Skunk Zine by Devin Lau was the first BMX zine I ever got my hands on. I was 13 and while I had already been introduced to Dig, arguably the most “core” magazine of the time, Skunk was nothing like it. Riding photos were blown out and ultimately besides the point and its attention-to-detail was no attention-to-detail. The zine included recipes, drawings of what seemed to be non-existent BMX parts for sale, lots of Pete Augustin references, recipes for chili, and insight into an early Austin BMX scene and an already thriving Austin music scene. It was the first time I realized BMX was a lifestyle beyond the marketing of Xtreme but also the “hardcore” lifestyle® championed by the prominent BMX magazines at the time. There are no rules to BMX. Skunk, like so many other independent BMX zines, made that abundantly clear.

I’m excited to share a piece of BMX history that was influential to me. Skunk Zine is being reissued with permission from Lance Palko. Half of all proceeds will be donated to to the POW * MIA, in honor of Devin. You can purchase Skunk in the Challenger web shop and you can read an interview that I did with Lance Palko for Issue #9 of Holeshot below.

To be honest, I still think that I’m confused about Skunk Bros. Can you elaborate on what it was? Was it a team, a company, or a glorified crew?

 It started with a few friends who were down with BMX and partying and then it just grew from there.  This was back in like 88 or so, we rode but didn’t really know about the whole BMX scene and the newest latest tricks and what not.  We met Devin and he showed us what was up with The Dirt Bros, S&M/POW’s and Craig Grasso and it was pretty much on from there.  I remember watchin Dorkin in York and the Trend video over and over. 

What was the connection with Ells, Gonz, and Skunk Bros?

I would run into Gonz every now and again at the Wedge starting back in 89 or so.  I remember he was always bustin the craziest street shit back then, orange dreaded mohawk and all!  We became good friends after we stayed at the DBI house during the La Jolla street contest and the King of Dirt at Mission Trails.  Pretty much been hanging with Gonz ever since, although not too much lately, what up Gonz?  I met Ells through Gonz and we did some riding for some of his vids, stoked to be a part of On the Down Low, that video was the shit at the time.

What’s up with Ratboy, is he still riding?

Met Ratboy at the Wedge when he was nine, he was rockin the rollerblades then switched to BMX and was killin it in no time.  I run into Ratboy every couple times a year, I think he sets up PGA tournaments now!  I don’t know how much he is riding, but I know he can still rip it up!

One of the things that I always really liked about Skunk Bros, which there seems to be a little resurgence of lately with Good Feelin’ and ALYK, is the idea of just a crew.  Like, you don’t really make anything except for say a zine or a website or a video, but people know who you are.  Can you elaborate on this idea of a “crew”?

We had somewhat of a reputation back in the day, did some partying, we made tons of stickers and a few shirts and hats here and there and thats about it.  We got sponsored by a local brewery and had jams there and had access to a lot of beer, so where ever we rolled we had a crew.  We had huge BMX themed parties in the woods, 100’s of people, Gonz naked(he had a lifejacket on for safety!) 360 over the flaming jumps and just craziness.  For me it just continues to be something that I love and I seem to gravitate towards people that are the same way.  I have been riding with some of the same bros for over 20 years!

I noticed a running theme of Pete Augustin theme in the zine, as well as the website. Were Pete and the Dirt Bros crew friends or influences? 

Yeah, the Dirt Bros were huge influences, we were in high school and looked up to their dirt bag style of riding, that was when riders were wearing neon and shit.  We ended up hooking up with them at some Thrasherland BS contests and then made a couple of road trips out to the El Cajon Dirt Bros house, Devin and I slept in Petes broken down VW bus on the side of the house, we picked through their parts shed, it was cool!  We hit up TJ skatepark and they took us on some crazy late night high speed street runs in some sketchy neighborhoods.  I ran into Vic doing a demo last winter and we chatted for a bunch and awhile back we had a 40th B-day party for Pete. 

By reading your blog, I feel like you really like wallrides.  Can you elaborate? 

I remember seeing Dave Voelker doing that wallride on the side of the semi trailer on the cover of GO back in the day and was just blown away.  How could someone ride up and across a wall, it seemed crazy.  It just seems like pure street.  Ever since then I look for wallrides, just trying to tuck a table out of a smooth wall is the shit.  

The Wedge is famous amongst BMXers and skateboarders alike.  Skateboarder Erik Ellingston is even known to have a Wedge tattoo.  Was The Wedge a big part of your life BMXing in the Scottsdale area?

The Wedge was it back then, there were no skateparks, it was right down the street, it was the place to ride/skate/rollerblade.  The cool thing about The Wedge when I look back at it now was the unity, there was no skateboard/bike only bullshit and no attitudes between the two, everyone still hated on the rollerbladers though!  I still hit the wedge on a regular basis and the skatepark next to it. 

What is the status of Skunk Bros. these days? 

Regular shit jobs to support the family life, injuries and getting old sucks! I still ride on a regular basis. We were talking about doing up a Facebook page, maybe throwing out some hats/shirts, it’s pretty much the 20 year anniversary, so it seems right.

Am I missing anything, do you have anything you’d like to add?

Our bro Devin Lau passed away almost ten years ago.  He was one of those always upbeat inspirational types of person, very influential to me.  I could only image the things he would have came up with in the past decade!  If it was not for him, who knows, Ratboy and I may be shreddin the Wedge on our rollerblades, the Skunk Bros would not have been.  Thanks Dev.

[globalcozykamikaze]

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 04282017

(The Savage Dragon #34 1996.  Cover by Erik Larsen.  Stolen from Cover Browser.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 04282017. "The takeaway here, as I see it, as that there is no lack of customers for periodical comics, and there’s no lack of passion and energy for the format, and that there is no indication that “casual” readers won’t be interested in purchasing periodical comics (A big chunk of those “Saga” readers, like the “Sandman” wave that happened two decades before, are not normal and traditional “Wednesday Warriors”, yet there are still stoked to buy periodical comics!) – but that Marvel (and DC, largely) have harmed their own sales and chased their own customers away. There’s a problem when I sell 160 “Saga” and 16 copies of “ASM”… but this is problem of Marvel’s making over the accumulation of time." -Brian Hibbs.

Guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys!!!  The world is spinning at 1000 miles per hour and we are all going to die!  The future's so bright I gotta wear a radiation suit!  Doomed!  Doomed!  What can save us?  Comics?  Don't be ridiculous.  Of course not.  Nothing will save us.  There is nothing left to do but, ya know, whatever you feel like doing I guess. Me?  I'm going to go to the Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Festival in Athens GA this Saturday, April 29th.  It's going to be great.  Robert Newsome, Patrick Dean and other people will be there.  Other people!  Come find my table.  I probably won't be at said table.  I'll be walking around blabbing my mouth off about professional wresting or guitars or some other nonsense but that's okay.  Just leave a huge stack of cash on my table and take whatever you want.  It's gonna be great I tells ya.  I can't wait to hear about how great you think I am.  Thanks in advance! 

Hey.  Are you super depressed about the world and clinging to comics as your chance for escape and/or inspiration?  Well good news, comics are super depressing too!  One of the things about comics currently giving me the sweet sweet butt hurt is Marvel's new "Digital Edition" policy.  To explain why this bothers me so much let's go back to my tender youth, way back to the year 2012 when the first The Avengers movie was on the big screen and the Avengers vs X-Men (AvsX) miniseries was on the comics stands.  At that point about the only mainstream comic I was reading was Savage Dragon but my daughter was just getting into comics.  She liked The Avengers movie ans she loved old X-Men comics so we bought AvsX.  It came with something that was new to me, the Digital Edition codes.  You could redeem these codes and read the comic you bought online or on your cell pad pod phone. You could also link your Marvel account up with a Comixology account and read them in the Comixology app.  It was around this time that the family first got cell pad pod phones so my daughter and I really dove into the Comixology app thanks to the digital codes.  The best thing was that I could buy the paper comic (because I'm an old man who loves paper) but my kid could read the same comic digitally without me buying two copies.  This.  THIS.  THIS MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE PREVIOUS TEN YEARS got me back into going to the comic shop, starting back a "pull list" and buying ongoing Wednesday floppy comics again.  My daughter and I bought stacks of them.  And thanks to the digital codes we could read them anywhere any time.  And if the last comic we read made us curious about something we could pull up related issues on the Comixology app and buy those too!  (You can't do that anymore by the way.  Amazon killed the store feature in the Comixology app because they hate making money or something.  Again, always be super depressed.)  So yeah, it was good times.  It was a brilliant offering from Marvel and I spent years yelling at other publishers to follow suit.  Only Dark Horse tried.  DC offered a version where the comic with a digital code costed more.  That was stupid and awful and embarrassing for everyone.  But the Marvel deal was good and like all good things some stupid jerks would eventually decide to make it go away.  Recently Marvel has replaced their Digital Editions with a digital code where YOU DO NOT GET THE COMIC YOU PAID FOR.  Under the previous system, if you bought five Marvel comics in one week you got a code for each of those five comics you paid for. Now, you do not get the comic you paid for.  Instead each week's shipment of Marvel comics all have the same three promotional comics.  So, if you bought five Marvel comics, you just got three digital comics, none of which are the comic you paid for.  Let me say that part again; in the past, if you bought 100  Marvel comics you got 100 digital comics.  Today, if you buy 100 Marvel comics in one week you get three digital comics.  The digital comics in question are generally the first issue of something that has recently been collected in a trade paperback.  So these comics are not a promotional tool for you to buy more digital comics, or to return to your comics shop and add a comic to your "pull list".  These are comics promoting you to by a trade paperback. Or, to put it another way, if you are a regular Marvel customer, these are comics you already own. This my friends, is a situation I refer to as total bullshit. So, here's the thing;  Marvel, I love you.  I love your nutts.  You are a big part of my life.  For years and years.  Stop making it so hard to be your customer. 

Sigh.

And again with the Marvel... Let me just say this as open advice for all creators; Take risks.  Be bold.  Shake things up.  Challenge your audience.  But remember, if you have to explain it, you probably already failed.  And, more importantly, remember that you do not get to tell your customers how they should feel about it. 

Again with the Marvel part 3;  Every time I read an article like this it occurs to me that we are just one Disney executive saying, "Wait, we still publish paper comic books?" on a conference call away from the whole freaking  business being tossed into the crapper or the top characters licensed out to the highest bidder.  A publisher that is not Marvel now publishes the Frozen comics.  If Marvel can't be trusted to make money off the Frozen phenomenon why would you trust them to be able to make any money off Ant-Man or Doctor Strange?  Because they did six decades ago?  Good luck with that answer on the next investors call. 

Also, FDR Democrat Steve Rogers forever. 

Can there still be good news in comics?  Can there still be something to get excited about?  Yes.  Yes there can.  I'm excited about Alterna Comics' new line of newsprint comics for several reasons.  For one thing, they're gonna be super cheap with a $1.50 cover price.  And one of the series, Amazing Age, is created by pals Jeremy Massie and Matthew David Smith.  I checked out that comic in its original webcomic form and liked it a lot.  Those bros are the solidest of bros so I'm excited for what I believe is going to be a breakout book appealing to a new audience that may have missed their other stuff.   And, arguably most importantly, Smith has confirmed that the newsprint in his comp copies smells great.  The books start rolling out next week.  I'm not familiar with many of the other creators but at $1.50 I'm sure to check them out. 

Hey.  Do you like comics?  Do you like guitars?  Do you like comics that are guitars?  I recently built a Stratocaster using the Carmine Infantino drawn issues 14 and 15 of the original Star Wars comics.  It's probably the coolest guitar on Earth.  Maybe you wanna check it out. 

When it's time to comics we will always comics hard.

It was twenty five years ago several days ago Sergeant Malibu told his band to play.

Tom Scioli's new Princess webcomic is pretty rad.  Also, that Transformers vs. G.I.Joe The Movie comic he made is bonknanners. 

Ain't no party like a wizard battle party cause a wizard battle party don't stop until one of them dies and the other wizard creates a hyper sigil making people focus on the number of rapes in the other wizard's comics instead of their valuable contributions to the medium. 

And finally... Francis gave up candy for your sins.

Remember pals, life is hard.  Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend.  Read comics and chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics.  p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed. p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook. p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here. p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya. p.p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

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