Georgiezine

Went to the Format festival zine afternoon for the Fringe, and bought Mr A a copy of “Yoga in your forties” for his 40th and a zine by a rent subsidised girl (lived in series of parent and co-op subsidized inner city places-very envy making). Noted girl was apologetic for still doing zines at 35 “not wanting to be the mutton amongst the zine-lambs”. Mr A makes a strong argument that this is a pointless notion and excludes you from the fun if you imagine you’re the wrong age for it. Then Duckworth said to me something like “Oh and you’ve seen Ianto?” and I shook my head, never having been introduced. Ianto wrote my favourite zine (Westside Angst) and I keep wondering who he is, how D knows him. He is the sort of guy that can analyse the male dynamic, and wrote something on his blog that recalled the Michael Wilding short story I was reading out aloud when camping at Cygnet Folk Festival. (Two guys sharing a house with insufficent bedding for the cold winter, one works at a theatre res...

Have been re-reading The Showgirl and the Brumby by Lucy Lehmann, for a variety of reasons (admiring her piece about Sydney, now being acquainted with Cowra as a town). I'd dismissed the book last time as being a bit too long, a bit quaint, but 'with the benefit of a few years I found it quite charming and an accomplished piece of writing. 'She's created a range of characters with a range of emotions and inner lives and accumulated personal histories and anguish that makes them who they are. SHe's intermingled this with the humour of small day to day observations: middle aged men who'd prefer to sit alone in the car outside than have to brave small talk (my grandfather, my father in law). Meanwhile Mr Right is in Adelaide on a work trip and has gone off to the Roller Derby tonight, on an invite from ""Mink de la Rink", a friend of ours who seems to have found her calling. He keeps calling from the noisy venue, trying to explain the rules, the team...

My friend Duckworth gave me a blog last week, which I read finally last night after finishing watching Persuasion on ABC (loving the Jane Austen Sunday night specials, what great programming). It's written by a guy who organisises the zine workshops/scene for the Adelaide Fringe, and was also quoted/written up in The Age when I was in Melbourne in April, when they wrote a feature about the Sticky Room zine shop ("East coast librarian shouts out has just arrived in the shop" said one volunteer assistant to the other whilst I was browsing). Anyway, I must have told DW about it, and he said he knew Ianto and next time we meet, he brings a zine. It's beautifully put together, way better than any of the other zines I've seen, enclosed in a recycled cardboard cover, and with many personalised finishing touches. Presentation is key, as A always says when he's cooking for guests and gets all tizzy about the plating. I've put the link above, and shall have to p...