Dodgeball really is a stupid game, isn't it?

Yaaaaayyyyyy!!!! The short-lived but much beloved TV series Freaks and Geeks is finally coming out on DVD! The fans have spoken! And. And. AND! It's got all the original music intact!

There are going to be two versions released: a limited deluxe edition of 25,000 that will only be available through the Web. It's 8 discs and contains an obscene amount of stuff. Unfortunately, it will cost $120. The good news is that there will also be a retail version that will go for about $50. The retail version is 6 discs and still contains a crapload of goodies. (Click here to see the differences between the two versions.) While I do love the show, I'm in no position to cough up $120 just for 2 bonus discs of material (which I may not watch) and special packaging (a hardbound 80-page yearbook). That's why I'm so happy that there will be an affordable retail version hitting the shelves on April 6, 2004.  ¶ 9:12 AM 0 comments

  Bonjour from Canada

Again, I am the great city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada for a few weeks. If you have sent in orders to the Pennsylvania address, please be patient; I will fill them when I return.

Today I attended the Cut-N-Paste Zine Festival at Sneaky Dee's on College Street. Although I hadn't planned on tabling, as it was first come first serve for space, I did manage to snag one of the last available tables. I didn't sell or trade many zines. As I looked around, it didn't seem as if anyone was doing much business. Although zine festivals and conferences are becoming more common (there are upcoming festivals planned in New Jersey, Boston and other cities) it doesn't seem as if much buying and selling happens. My theory is that perhaps people still prefer to discover zines by mail and through small distributors. I did sell a few copies of the latest issue, enough to cover my table fee and pick up a copy of a magazine that I've been trying to find since it was launched in T.O. back in November, entitled Spacing.

Spacing is a nicely designed (by Matthew Blackett of m@b fame) glossy magazine of an unusual format (10.5" W by 8" H - a horizontal layout as opposed to the usual vertical magazine layout) dedicated to the study of the disappearing public space of Toronto. Although the first issue deals almost exclusively with issues related to Toronto (e.g. the threat of postering laws, exactly how many billboards litter Toronto's landscape, the electronic advertising nightmare that is Dundas Square), the debate over public space is not confined to large cities. Spacing's manifesto:

"Almost every day of our lives we step out and into public space. It's where we interact, teach, learn, participate and protest. These actions are essential to our democracy, yet the public space they need is shrinking. Instead, our cityscape is dominated by automobiles, advertising and private interests. Residents of Toronto, and other major cities across the globe, are resisting the privatization of our environment with random acts of beauty and intellect. And you can, too. Plant sunflower seeds at the edge of a parking lot. Close your street to cars for a day. Chalk on the sidewalk. Learn the mechanics of City Hall and help reclaim your civic government. Engage those around you in a lively debate about whose space is public space."

Spacing is published by the newly formed Toronto Public Space Committee:

"The Toronto Public Space Committee strives to democratise our public spaces which have become dominated by private interest, automobiles and outdoor advertising. Freedom of expression cannot be extended only to those who can afford billboards.We need to level the playing field by reducing corporate visual pollution and increasing independent expression on our streets. And freedom of mobility should not rest only in the hands of drivers. For our collective health and safety, Toronto must reduce its dependance on the private automobile by creating a safer environment for pedestrians and increasing funding for cycling infrastructure and public transit."

I am eagerly digging into Spacing and enjoying it quite a bit. It would be a shame if the city of Toronto began enacting postering laws - one of the fine qualities of T.O. is that all public utility poles can be postered without fear of fine or arrest. As such, there are often layers and layers of posters of all sorts for shows, protests, films and other events. Compare this to the laws of Champaign IL, the small city I recently left, that does not allow any public postering and has very high fines for "illegal" posters. As the cover of Spacing says: "Freedom of speech is a thousand times more beautiful than clean lamp posts."
  ¶ 7:48 PM 0 comments

  Three Fingered Salute

Engineer David Bradley, programmer behind the Ctrl-Alt-Del keyboard combination used to reboot PCs after nasty crashes, is retiring from IBM after almost 30 years.

I suggest that in tribute, every PC user give the three fingered salute simultaneously.  ¶ 11:24 AM 0 comments

 
Hot off the photocopier, it's Low Hug #10, the Technology Issue, featuring:

Human Factors : The Technological is Personal - contributions from Davida Gypsy Breier (Xerography Debt), Delaine Derry Green (My Small Diary), Russ Forster (8-Track Mind), L. Rob Hubbard (Mimezine), Eric Lyden (Fish with Legs), Sean and Malinda (Thoughtworm), Vincent Romano (Off-Line), Jack Persico, Dan Taylor (Hungover Gourmet) and Jeffrey Yamaguchi (Working for the Man) discussing their personal memories of computers, cable television, CB radio and more!

Dances with Pixels - The difficulties and insanity of Internet dating! Trojan porn traps! Poorly written ads! Unnreachable expectations! (Seriously, a great article - one of the best ever in Low Hug)

(Re)Considering the 8 Noble Truths of the 8-Track Mind, including a mini-interview with Russ Forster

Zine Reviews, Castoff Culture, and 10,000 Cups of Coffee where I comment on Crimethinc, my problems with the so-called zine community, and identity politics!

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Castoff Culture: a guide to noteworthy books, films, LPs, musicians, television shows and more overlooked and ignored by the mainstream! Fifteen different contributors! Over forty entries! Contributions from S.C. Bailey, Steve Bojanowski, Davida Gypsy Breier (Leeking Ink, Xerography Debt), Claire Cocco (Off-line), Maria Goodman (Secret Mystery Love Shoes), Mark Hain (Dirt and Sky), L. Rob Hubbard (Mimezine), Eric Lyden (Fish with Legs), Greig Means (Clutch), A.j. Michel, Paul Riismandel (mediageek.org), Androo Robinson (Secret Mystery Love Shoes), Donny Smith (Dawn), Susan Talbutt (christmas-baking.com), Dan Taylor (The Hungover Gourmet) and Gordon Zola

The Sky is Falling... and so is my attention span: the tedium of meteor showers!

Please Stand By: Low Hug attends a television focus group trying to discover the next big hit!

In friendship, does there have to be a Rhoda? The friendship dynamics of Sex and the City

Plus tasty zine reviews and 10,000 Cups of Coffee!

SPECIAL OFFER! Order the new Low Hug 10 along with Low Hug No. 9 for only $5. Save a buck! To order, send $5 cash to the above address or $5.45 via Paypal using lowhug@yahoo.com. You MUST mention that you are ordering the 9/10 special.

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12 Items or Less:A Grocery Shopping Zine
5.5” square sized / 56 pages / $3

A spanking new compilation of stories, ruminations, comics, essays and other tales about grocery shopping from both sides of the counter! Twenty-three different contributors! Perfect size for taking along and reading in the checkout line!

Contributors include:
Hanne Blank (Editor, writer, educator), Steve Bojanowski, Davida Gypsy Breier (Leeking Ink, Xerography Debt), Delaine Derry-Green (My Small Diary, Not My Small Diary), Shawn Granton (TFR Industries, Ten Foot Rule Comics), Briana Illingsworth, Eric Lyden (Fish with Legs), Carrie McNinch (Food Geek, The Assassin and the Whiner), Greig Means (Clutch comics, Zine Librarian Zine), A.j. Michel (Low Hug), Christoph Meyer (28 Pages Lovingly Bound with Twine), Daina Mold (Kitty!), Karl Nyce, Celia Perez (I Dreamed I was Assertive!), Quail (Persephone is Pissed), Vincent J. Romano (Offline), Heather Seggel , Sean Stewart (Thoughtworm), Susan J. Talbutt (www.christmas-baking.com), Ruth Tatara, Dan Taylor (The Hungover Gourmet), Jeffrey Yamaguchi (Working For the Man, 52projects.com), Gordon Zola (Cheesemonger-at-Large)

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Moving Images: One girl’s incredibly strange search for celluloid and coaxial comrades
Second Printing / Half-legal sized / 12 pages / $1

Growing up in the 80s, I longed for media role models that weren’t the brat pack. I found them instead in movies like Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains. But where would a fifteen-year old me find solace and comrades in today’s media? This essay is a rumination on the movies I used to watch late at night in the dark as a teen and how I related to them as an outsider. I also write about what’s available to the fringe and outsider teens of today on the movie and television screens. A bit difficult to describe, but surely worth a read.

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Purchasing Zines via PayPal

Want to get your zines faster? Don’t feel like rooting around for an envelope and stamp?

Squirrelly about sending cash through the mail?

You can now order zines from Low Hug Productions using PayPal.

Here’s how to order zines via PayPal.

Browse the Low Hug Catalog and decide which publications you want to order and note them with the cost. It helps to have a piece of scrap paper to do this on.

Total up the cost of all the zines, and then calculate your transaction fees. Transaction fees are equal to Total zine cost + $0.30 + 2.9%

Here’s an example to help you out:
If you want to order Low Hug 10 ($3), 12 Items or Less ($3) and Moving Images ($1), this would be a total zine cost of $7.
Therefore:
7.00 + 0.30 = 7.30
7.30 x 0.029 = 0.21 (rounded)
Final total = 7.30 + 0.21 = 7.51

Once you have your list of zines assembled and total cost calculated, click here to use PayPal to submit your order.

The Recipient’s Email is lowhug@yahoo.com
Amount is your Final Total.
Currency: At this time I can only accept US Currency
Type is Goods – NonAuction
Subject is Zine Order
Note: IMPORTANT - Here is where you need to include your list of zines you are ordering and your mailing address. Please do not send this information separate from your PayPal order.
  ¶ 1:04 PM 0 comments

  Hello.

January 24 marked the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the Apple Macintosh via the in/famous commercial featuring a dystopic army of possessed people mindlessly listening to their “leader” on a large movie screen. Suddenly, a trim young woman runs up the aisle with a throwing hammer, hurls it and smashes the screen:



If anything, Macintosh always knew how make an advertisement.

I have a mixed history with Macintosh. Coming from a poor school district – and attending an even poorer parochial high school – I never touched a computer until my first week of college, when I picked up my brand spankin’ new Mac SE from the school’s computer center, a few blocks from my dorm. It was a Thursday, if I remember correctly, and I had been at school for about a week. My roommate was turning out to be a playgirl nympho (well, actually the entire floor was), I hadn’t yet found my home-away-from-home (and my true family-away-from-home) at the radio station, and I felt woefully dorky, sexually inexperienced, and completely confused. It didn’t help that my best friend who attended the same college as I had already completely blown me off for much cooler people with better record collections, and would only bother to hang out with me as a last resort when they weren’t around.

I walked over to the computer center at my appointed time and joined the long line. It snaked through the building, stopping at different tables to fill out forms, sign papers, pick up software packages and finally, the box that held my Macintosh SE, complete with 1MB of screaming memory, a 20MB hard drive and an 800K floppy drive. The box was about three times the size of the actual computer and was heavy and awkward to carry, especially after they added all the software packages. After all, this was back in the day when software was actually accompanied by a complete software manual – no online or electronic documentation existed.

Somehow, I got the box up to my fifth floor dorm room. I remember just sitting in my hard desk chair looking at the box for a long while. I may have started crying, I don’t remember. Finally, I opened the box and started setting it up. They had thoughtfully provided simple step-by-step instructions for initial setup, including installing the OS. Back in the day, the OS wasn’t pre-installed and configured. I played around with the “Introduction to Macintosh” disk that taught you how to use the mouse, do basic typing, save files, and install programs. The Macintosh made it easy for a total computer non-user like me to get started and not feel like a complete idiot. Within a month or so, I had basic Mac operations (MacWrite, MacDraw, etc) down cold. We bonded.

I was dedicated to the Macintosh system for almost ten years. During college I used the original Macintosh SE (which I named Opus), and later a Macintosh Iisi (Opus Two; 4MB memory/40MB hard drive) to write all my papers, newspaper articles, and bad attempts at screenplays. I learned to use Filemaker when I was the personnel director of the radio station and decided to build a member database. Knowing Quark Xpress got me my first job at a local weekly paper, typesetting advertising. I lost an entire term to playing Tetris and Shufflepuck Café. A friend hooked me up with Prodigy in 1989 (!) and I later navigated Delphi in 1992 and 1993. My last Macintosh upgrade was from the IIsi (I sold it to the newspaper) to a Powerbook 160 (Opus Three; 8MB memory/40MB hard drive). That Powerbook took me out of Philadelphia and through my first graduate program in Ohio. I wrote my 150+ page thesis on it using an old version of MacWriteII. (Yes, MacWriteII, which I still like using better than today’s bloated, overloaded and frustrating Microsoft Word.) Opus Three was put out to pasture in January 1999, when I began another graduate program and purchased a much needed PC (Opus 2K; PII 350Mhz, 96MB memory / 12 GB hard drive).

I simply couldn’t afford to stay with the Macintosh platform. They had priced themselves out of the market, only had a very limited product line and were becoming elitist. They were no longer the computer for people who had never touched a computer, they were the computer for people who could afford their sleek designs and pretty colors. And so I purchased the beige box which still sits at my feet, quietly humming away. It’s over five years old, running fine (knock wood), and with a little bit of hotrodding, should last a few more years.

Sometimes I search on eBay for an old SE – you can buy them literally for pocket change. This longing for an old SE is similar to adults buying toys they had as kids. It may be hokey, but the Macintosh SE reminds me of an easier time, when you could open up the word processor and not be assaulted by a talking paper clip. Spelling and capitalization mistakes weren’t automatically corrected, and the program didn’t assume you wanted to create a numbered list if you typed a “1.” at the beginning of a paragraph. Now, I’m not going to romanticize the Macintosh – it had its share of problems, the largest being the general “we know better than you, so don’t try to open the case or you’ll void the warranty.” Software, printers, upgrades and repairs were expensive. Support was sometimes difficult to get.

While I have absolutely no lust for the latest Macintosh equipment – not even the iPod – I do have warm, fuzzy memories of that little grey (the SE was the first Mac that was not beige) all-in-one machine. Maybe because it takes me back to my old apartment in center city, back to pre-Web days, back to being able to change the standard “beep” sound to a “Eugene the Jeep”-style “eep.” And, there’s still a little longing in me for an old strawberry-colored iMac. But only strawberry.

Plus, no other computer has been as lovingly portrayed in comic strips as the Macintosh. Sure, Windows is an easy target, but who could forget Oliver Wendell and his Banana Jr. in Bloom County? (There’s more strips here as well.)

Jason Fox of FoxTrot has had a tortured relationship with the iFruit, an homage to the colorful iMac. (Note: this is a very large, long page to load; it includes every strip with a mention of the iFruit.)

And I doubt a PC box will ever inspire works of art such as the Macintosh 2004 or MacQuariums.

Insanely great, indeed.
  ¶ 7:42 PM 0 comments