Stolen Sharpie Revolution video about completion!

hey look! It’s me in my pajamas and bed head talking about finishing the book!

FINALLY! Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2 ready for PREORDER!

Since 2002 Stolen Sharpie Revolution has been the ultimate guidebook to all things zine related. This little red book is stuffed with information about zines. Things you may know, stuff you don’t know and even stuff you didn’t know you knew for the beginner to the experienced zinester. Stolen Sharpie Revolution consists of how-to guides on a variety of topics from layout to book binding to paper making, resources online and off, where to find zines, information about zine libraries, how and where to get your zine distributed, reviewed and more!

For 2009 Stolen Sharpie Revolution has been completely rewritten and expanded to 144 pages with new a layout and includes the previous information, updated resource listings for stores, distros, zine events and zine libraries. It will also contain all new sections on zines in academics and education, a guide to the US postal system, what to do at a zinefest, how to start a zine fest, lots of internet resources, and more!

This book has everything you need to get started creating your own zine or to figure out what to do with the zine you already made. Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2 can serve both as an introduction into the wide world of zine culture, and the next step to being a part of it.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2: A DIY Guide to zines and zine cultures is now ready for PRE-ORDER! Orders will be shipped in Mid April.

Here’s how to get your own copy:

*At at book store or library request the book by title or by this ISBN: 978-0-9817941-0-5

*by mail n the U.S.A:

Put $7 in an envelope and send it here:

Stolen Sharpie Revolution
c/o Lunchroom Publishing
P.O box 17230
Portland, Oregon
97217 USA

*In Canada: $8US postage paid

*Rest of the world: $10US postage paid

*If you use Paypal send to this address: brainscanzineATgmailDOTcom
In the US: $7.50
In Canada: $8.50
rest of the world: $11

*Order from my web site Small World Buttons

*Order from my Etsy Shop

Copies will be sent to distros and libraries in late April. Get in touch for wholesale rates if you would like to PREORDER copies for your store or distro: brainscanzineATgmailDOTcom

Stolen Sharpie Revolution is printed with vegetable based inks on 100% recycled paper and bound with animal free glue.

Seriously…. we re getting close!

So, yesterday I spent 12 hours scanning pages and touching up things on the computer for Stolen Sharpie! I will have SSR to the printer by the end of the week and then I can start taking pre-orders and I should be shipping them out around April 15!

Retail price will be $6

I’ll try to post a video soon.

Today is going to be a long day.

Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine Podcast now available on itunes

Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine Podcast is now available on itunes. So, if you use itunes search for our podcast subscribe to it and listen to it all over again!

Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine Podcast #1

My housemate and zine librarian extraordinaire, Mark Parker and I put together our first zine podcast! We even got Androo Robinson to write us a silly theme song that is guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

The podcast is about a half hour long and consists of zine news and events and the easiest interview idea ever, we interviewed each other about zines! Check out the blog here and the actual libsyn podcast account here.

SSR update and a very ziney year for Alex Wrekk

Still waiting to hear back from the printer about some details for SSR2. I haven’t made a new video in awhile, sorry. I guarantee that I am still surrounded in paper scraps and hopped up on my own coffee.

However, Do you know about International Zine Month? You should let me know if you are putting together and event for it or if you know of something going on in your area that involves zines in July… There is always the 24 hour zine thing and the Portland Zine Symposium.

I also wanted to mention that  I will be attending the Zine Librarian Un-Conference in Seattle, the London Zine Symposium, a zine event in Poitiers France at la Fanzinotheque, and Probably Ladyfest Oxford this spring.

My summer will be a flurry of Portland Zine Symposium planning and a possible zine retreat that I may put together at a cabin in SW Washington. I have to see though. I’ll let you know here if and when I start taking applications.

And it looks like I’ll be rounding out my very ziney year with a zine residency at the Anchor Archive in Halifax Nova Scotia! Plus the Halifax Zine Fest, hopefully Canzine in Toronto and the Richmond Zine Fest and maybe another east coast zine fest if there happens to be one.

I have another more personal blog if you would like to see what I’m up to in the mean time.

And, I’ll leave you with this: Sharpie is making Stainless Steel refillable Sharpie markers… I think I’m in love.

I want one!I must have one! We are destined to be together!

Isn't she beautiful...

2009 Portland Zine Symposium needs artwork!

Portland Zine Symposium 2009 will be July 24-26, 2009 at Portland State Univeristy in Portland, Oregon!

Also, we are looking for artwork .Could you be the one to create it?
Portland Zine Symposium Friends,

PZS is looking for art submissions for the 2009 poster. These year’s
themes are cats, 9 lives, and “Hang in there!” Your art submission
should touch upon one or all of these themes.

The guidelines are simple – We are looking for a 11″ wide x 17″ tall
poster that will also be used in other formats (the web, post cards,
buttons, stickers, etc), so your design needs to be visible and
striking at multiple sizes and resolutions (or have smaller, breakaway
pieces). The design will eventually be silk screened / screen printed
onto t-shirts, so limit your colors to black, white and one other
color. We encourage artists to use any medium or style. We strongly
prefer that the choosen artist is able to assist us in the process of
transferring (resizing / cropping / etc) the image multiple mediums.

Your design should include:

- the theme

- the dates: July 24th, 25th, 26th (AWAITING CONFIRMATION from PSU)

- the place (Portland State University Smith Memorial Ballroom)

- the website (www.pdxzines.com)

- “9th Annual Portland Zine Symposium”

- “A conference and zine social exploring facets of underground
publishing and DIY culture.”
Submission deadline is February 25th. Submissions can be emailed to
pdxzines@gmail.com, mailed (to PO Box 5901 Portland, OR 97228-5901),
or dropped off at the IPRC.

Thanks in advance to all who submit, we look forward to seeing
everyone’s creative designs!

- Blue

SSR, Portland Zine Symposium dates and more!

First, 2009 Portland Zine Symposium dates are scheduled for July 24-26. Mark your calendars!

I spend 10 hours sitting hunched over on the floor of my office working on layout for Stolen Sharpie Revolution #2 today but you aren’t gettin a video. I  never got out of my pajams and had a beer and an ice cream treat for dinner and now I’m in bed ready to crash but I have a few things to get to.

Most of the SSR layout is done now I’ll need to scan everything and get it ready to send to the printer hopefully in the next week. Once it is at the printer I’ll state taking preorders! It has been such a looooong time coming it is pretty exciting to finally be getter here!

I also wanted to mention that my housemate Marc Parker (who you may know as the zine librarian at the IPRC, or the brains behind Zine Thug or his zine BigFucking Deal) and I are going to start a zine podcast. We have had afew brain storming sessions but I want to get the SSR stuff out the way before I can focus on that. The title will be Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine Podcast (thanks to Paul for the title!) We plan on interivews and news from zineland and hopefully witty banter. Keep your ears open, it sohould be good times!

I have been kicking around ideas about what I’ll do with this blog when Stolen Sharpie is done and I think I may just make this my general zine blog with updates about zine events and whatnot going on in the world of zines.  I hope someone would find that amusing.

here’s two more videos from SSR progress:

and

Stolen Sharpie Revolution in the ‘09

Happy new year!

Sorry I haven’t updated about Stolen Sharpie Revolution progress for awhile. It has been a busy few months of button making and coffee roasting and the packages of those being sent. I have been in and out of town again. I was in Utah in december for their first ever Alt Press conference, it was fun. I did a reading and spoke with their Alt press person a bit.  I hope to go back if they have another, it is good to see my home town having a zine fest!

We have been having organizing meetings for the Portland Zine Symposium and it looks like the dates are going to be mid july this year for 2009. Things aren’t in stone yet but I’m sure I’ll post about when they are. The theme we have been kicking around is ridiculously awesome though.

March 12th in Seattle is an interesting zine event, the zine librarian (Un)conference.  I was under the impression that it was very librarian focused but I guess all sorts of zine folks are invited. I’m hoping to get a flexcar and head up there with some of my fellow Portland Zine Symposium organizers for a good time.

I have some tentative trips to France and the UK schedules for zine events later this year in May. Things aren’t totally set but I’ll post when they are. I’m excited to attend both the Portland Zine Symposium and the London zine Symposium they year!

But, what you are probably here for is updates to the eternally delayed Stolen Sharpie Revolution book. Well, I’m happy to announce that I started working on layout today! I only have time to work on it when my other work is all done but this is the first time I have had to get to layout! I’m stoked! I got 9 pages done so far… and I started making some videos of it. I like the idea of tracking my progress. maybe you do too? Care to take a look?

A few things of note.

I just finished writing my first artist statement and bio and sent image to the gallery for a show that I was invited to take part it about text and fonts. I’m still at a loss as to how I got accepted to this sort of thing. Here’s a link to the show. I’m interested to see how this turns out. The funny thing is that the show is in the firehouse on Interstate, like 3 blocks from my house!

Also I was interviewed by the fabulous Ciara at Learning to Leave A Paper Trail Distro. Check out the interview here. You might just learn something.

I had my first Sunday shift at the IPRC last night. I switched with Marc so he has Friday’s now. Sundays at the IPRC were my second assigned position many years ago when we were open all day on Sunday. Now the shift is shorter. I tried making copies with the new copier but it is really slow and seems to think it has a jam when it doesn’t.

Ok, I’m off to go make some coffee for me and roast some coffee for other people.