You're the Best.....Around!!! #3

By dumbbunnynz@hotmail.com

I remember when the person who made this zine offered to send me some copies. I was wary to say the least: a zine about kids in sports films? That sounds kind of horrible. I mean, I'd watched my share of them as a child, and while I think I enjoyed them at the time, I have no interest in watching them again as they are probably all terrible.

But style can be everything, and it turns out that I actually really enjoy this zine! The author accepts that these films are predictable, formulaic, and not very good in general, but they still enjoy them. By writing about what is problematic in these films in an amusing and sarcastic manner the author makes reading about the film actually enjoyable!

Combine with interviews with incredibly obscure actors who appear in the films, the most in depth looks at these films probably ever written, recipes (this one has fudge!), and generally humorous asides, and you have a zine that I now actively look forward to reading!

Gadgie 24

By Marv
PO Box 93
Boston
Lincolnshire
PE21 7YB
England

Gadgie is another of those big, thick (over 30 pages) punk zines that covers music, zines, complaints, and whatever else is running through the creator's mind.

Gadgie's been coming out for ages, and its creator Marv is now in his late 30s, married, and even has a child. Old punks don't die, they just (pro)create the next generation.

In this issue Marv talks about the punk scene in Boston, England (both current and its origins), going to Loch Ness for a holiday with his partner and kid, misheard lyrics, a pretty epic account of every injury he's ever acquired while playing soccer/football, and loads of other stuff.

I like how Marv seems really enthusiastic about everything, and how being injured bothers him because it means he can't go and dance at punk shows. However, his nonstop style of writing was kind of exhausting, as you don't really have any idea when the longer pieces are going to end or what's going to happen next.

Marv has a really distinct style of writing, a sort of stream of consciousness "I did this, then I did this, then this happened" type of thing. If it appeals to you you'll probably be happy to read anything he writes, but if it doesn't then I'm not sure there's any topic he could get you to read about. I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

You're the Best.....Around!!! #2

By dumbbunnynz@hotmail.com

When I was first sent issues of Kids in Sport Films I was incredibly wary, I mean, it's not exactly a genre that has produced a lot of masterpieces.

However the author of the zine was able to allay my fears, first by writing an apology for being late in the introduction, not because the zine was actually late, or that anyone even wanted or expected a second issue, but because it's traditional that second issues of zines include introductions that apologise for their lateness.

(It reminded me of a Copy Scams song.)

The rest of the zine is written in similar style, making snarky and sarcastic references while theoretically discussing the movie. I laughed out loud in a few places, and read found some sentences funny enough to read to my partner who was sitting next to me on the couch playing Chrono Cross.

The zine describes the ideal way to watch Kids in Sports Films. First you drink too much, then you come home and sleep until the following afternoon, then you go and collapse on the couch and watch terrible movies on TV. Perfect!

Amusingly the author of this zine doesn't even seem to like this genre of films that much, he constantly indicates that the film featured in this issue, Rookie of the Year, isn't that good even by the standards of Kids in Sports Films, and it seems that whenever he references another film he insults it for being sexist or somehow terrible. Rookie of the Year reaches the mighty heights of "adequate", and I'm not sure if it even deserves that (despite my enjoyment of it as a child).

Then the zine breaks down the film into plot, how it does and doesn't work, and how it could be improved. Then it goes into each character individually, describing their role in the film, and how successful they were at this.

The strangest thing about this zine is the discovery that someone went and made a fan-sequel film, and blogs as the main character as this film. How strange! The zine includes an interview stolen from a website with the comedian behind the fanfilm, and it's so strange that this thing exists at all.

I found this zine to be well written, funny, and enjoyable, and much to my surprise I'm actually looking forward to reading the next issue.

You're the Best.....Around!!! #1

By dumbbunnynz@hotmail.com

Honestly, when someone emailed me asking if I wanted to review their "kids in sports films" zine I was a bit wary. I mean, what the hell type of topic is that? But ultimately that's one of the things I love about zines: they can be about anything. And by having people send or trade me their zines I end up reading some weird stuff that I would never seek out.

So this zine pleasantly surprised me. It begins with a discussion of the ideas behind "kids in sports films" and how they generally follow identical plot maps, feature the same type of characters, have the same messages, and are pretty damn predictable. Now after reading this you might wonder why someone would even bother watching them, but I think if you know anything about any type of genre fiction you know that they have the same tropes that they follow pretty frequently. I mean, I watch terrible science fiction action films and read a lot of super hero comics, and you can describe those in such a way that they sound incredibly awful (and to many people they are!). Yet I enjoy them anyway, even if they are bad a lot of the time.

Next there's a description of all the different character types that appear in these films (from "The Coach" to "The Ethnic Minority"), which was informative but probably could have used a few more examples from films. Then we have an indepth discussion of the Will Ferrell film "Kicking and Screaming". In fact, I think this might be the most ever written about this film as it doesn't sound very good, even by the conventions of the genre.

The plot is discussed, the actors are discussed, the director is discussed, hell, even the uniforms are discussed! It's kind of insane really. But it's all written in a fairly informative and entertaining style, by someone who seems to love this genre, but hates this film in particular. It sort of reminded me of something like the Zero Punctuation video game reviews, which find every flaw and problem in a game and scream "why why why was this decision made?". (Well, it's not as good as Zero Punctuation, but this is only the first issue.)

There's also an interview with the band My Dad Is Dead (about "kids in sports films" of course), and a recipe for a baked chocolate banana thing. So all in all this zine was a pleasant surprise, and now I'm actually kind of looking forward to reading the next issue.

Horse Issue 5

While that cover looks entirely horrible, it is because it's only one quarter of a fold out poster, with the reverse side filled with interviews and other content. What a neat format for a zine!

It's laid out in a cut and paste format that's at time hard to read, though it's never really that big a deal. All the content is about skateboarding, building DIY skateparks, and stuff like that, and there's some furn info in there. However, even if you're not into skateboarding at all you at least get a swank poster out of the the deal.

Skate or Cry

By Charlotte
gnarlotte.wordpress.com

When I see that a zine is going to be about girl skating stuff I now automatically assume that it will be about roller derby. I guess this just reflects what my female friends are interested in.

Skate or Cry is actually about girl skateboarding. Inside there are interviews with a couple of girl skaters, including one who is the editor of Hate on This (an American female skateboarder zine), personal sktateboarding stories, and info on a number of (mostly terribly awesome) skateboard movies.

I guess when it comes down to it you can just say this is a zine about sexism, fear, and bravery. Lets hope there's more bravery (and less of the other two) in the future.

On’t Road #11

By Luke Positive Bastard
www.myspace.com/positivebastard

This is actually the first issue of this zine, but Luke decided to just continue the numbering from the pervious zine he’d been working on. As someone who gives his zines numbers that don’t really correspond to when they come out I can fully support this.

Luke travels a lot. Or at least that’s what I thought when I first read through this zine, however checking again it seems that his adventures are spread over a couple of years, so he’s not going to other places constantly. Still, he clearly loves to travel and see new places, and his zine is a pretty good view into parts of his life.

The first part of his zine is about a UK tour Luke helped organize for the band Hero Dishonest. Later on there’s an account of the same band’s tour of the USA which Luke also went on. It’s interesting to contrast the two different styles of touring. Touring America mostly seems to involve driving for incredibly long hours, and eating lots of terrible food, while the UK is so small you can go home after shows (woah!). I’ve never gone on tour (or been in a band), or even gone on this type of roadtrip with other people, but they’re both fun reads.

Luke also writes about a trip he took visiting some of his friends in some countries in central and Eastern Europe. Reading it, and about all the European punk bands that tour Europe (including the UK), is kind of insane to me. Everything is so close together! It really drives home the isolation of the place in Canada where I grew up after my family left the UK. (It was over 1000km to the next town with more than 100,000 people).

There’s also an account of some of Luke’s interactions with the police over the years, some stuff about minor league football/soccer matches (Luke really likes football), and a bunch of album reviews I will admit I didn’t finish reading, as they generally go over my head.

Still, despite a few of spelling errors, On’t Road is definitely worth reading if you like reading other people’s travel stories, and I certainly do.