Zine Review: The Great Myspace Swindle

Note to readers: Monkey + Seal have been kicking around the idea of occasionally blogging in our own voices, not so much the standard "Monkey + Seal" voice that we usually write in. As a first sort of experiment in this, here's Monkey's zine review of the week:

First off, happy Labor Day! Congratulations to all those who don't have to work today (unfortunately both Eve and I do have work -_- ). Anyway, on to the actual review.

Though I seem to get hyped up about a lot of stuff these days (there's just hellsa good art/literature/general stuff out there!!!), I can honestly say that I'm a huge frickin' fan of Sean Logic's writing.

As the founder/editor of Ashcan magazine (as well as a contributor to the Bad Date Zine), I've been able to read a decent amount of Sean's writing. And believe me, this dude is solid.

In his latest zine The Great Myspace Swindle, he creates a faux profile on Myspace and lets the internet do its thing. The results are probably to be expected, but the zine itself is hilarious, sometimes a bit creepy, and thoroughly entertaining. The big unexpected surprise is Sean's closing remarks, in which his usual cool and funny style gives a bit to a thoughtful and meaningful commentary on society as a whole.

I can't recommend this enough. For reals. Email him to find out how to get a copy NOW: myspace_swindle [at] yahoo.com

Friendly Friday

Hello blog world!

Monkey got a little caught off-guard by today, as last night he was diligently meeting with Rebecca from Jim Dandy's to plan a (as of now) super secret collaborative project between the members of the SF Etsy street team. We're all super excited to get this underway, and definitely check back for more updates on that!

Overall, our experience with SF Etsy (an Etsy street team) has been super positive and helpful. We highly recommend checking out any (and all) street teams that may be useful to you if you sell on Etsy - they're an awesome resource!

Anyway, sorry for the short post. We should be kicking off our next newsletter on Monday, so make sure you're on the mailing list if you haven't already signed up! Also, Monkey + Seal is thinking of switching over to MailChimp for our newsletter provider - after all, it seems to have an easy UI (we're not programming geniuses over here) and plus, the logo is a cute-ass monkey (Monkey has been sold on this idea for weeks, but wants feedback). Thoughts anyone?

Cool new zines: Ochre Ellipse 3 + Bird Brain

So Monkey is buddies with Jonas Madden-Conner of Family Style, but disclosure aside, his newest work Ochre Ellipse #3 is pretty amazing. Both Monkey and Seal have been re-reading it the past few days and we have to say that it is a damn good comic.

The illustrations are cute, but the overall storytelling shown here is damn good. The story follows a man of the future who travels back in time (a common recreational pursuit in the future) to try and revisit his childhood. The whole thing unfolds as smoothly as..well, something that unfolds really smoothly, and the ending is sure to pull at a few heartstrings (or you are a cold, dead human being).

Monkey is also buddies with Francois Vigneault, editor of Elfworld, creator of Friends, lead Family Style dude, and grand organizer of the SF Zine Fest. Francois also happens to be an avid bird watcher, and he mixes his love of comics and nature in his latest work, Bird Brain.

Filled with illustrations of various birds around the SF Bay Area mixed with hand-written observations, Bird Brain works well as it is such a personal work. Not only are there little stories about identifying birds, but there are little snippets of Francois' life while watching the birds, and the trips he took while checking them out.

We highly recommend heading over to Family Style to pick up a copy of each comic/zine ASAP (although Ochre Ellipse 3 isn't up yet, issues 1 + 2 are, and are also awesome) and you might as well browse the entire Family Style offering to find something great to read tonight!

Illustration Friday (on a Monday)

For everyone who loves art but doesn't know about Illustration Friday, you should definitely go check it out. It's an online community that takes a no-pressure, supportive take on creating art. Every Friday, the organizers send out an email (or publish on the site) a new, single-word topic that artists all over the world can illustrate. They have one week, and can (at no cost or obligation) submit their link to a blog or something that hosts their image. Artists submit thumbnails, and you can browse galleries to see all the myriad of interpretations people can have for themes like "Wrapped," "Contagious," and "Unfold."

Monkey does his best to participate weekly (although often he ends up being a week late), but you can find his entries at his personal blog Politics Art Culture. Monkey is currently working to catch up on last week's topic (Caution) as well as the current topic (Magnify), but his response to "Wrapped" is up.

Anyhoo, you should definitely check out Illustration Friday as there is a whole global community of awesome artists (from students to hobbyists to professionals) out there!

More Zine Fest Recaps

Monkey got his goofy face photographed along with other great tablers over at http://alphabetilately.com/family/Zine-Fest-2009.html. Monkey + Seal got pegged as being on the more commercial than not (although I guess we are), but it's cool that our table was part of the recap!

There are also some cool pics of the other exhibitors that we had met last year (like fellow Zine Fest organizer Aaron Cohick of New Lights Press) and new faces like Joseph of Dent Comics, Tom of Two Fine Chaps, and Sean of Ashcan Magazine.

Also, Seal's awesome illustration got featured on Eyedapop! blog. Check it out for a cool review of the piece and the nice bit of convo that went on between the author and Seal.

Lastly, the Bad Date Zine got a hit here way back in January. Yay!

Monkey + Seal also finally got a Flickr account, so you can check out their photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeyandseal/.

Big news everyone!

Hello everyone!

So Monkey + Seal, after our success at the Zine Fest, has decided to step up our game a bit! We just finished a workshop page, so you can see all the different subjects that we'd be happy to teach.

Additionally, Monkey just finished up another (although tardy) illustration for Illustration Friday over at his personal blog Politics Art Culture, and if you pick up the newest issue of Hyphen Magazine, you'll find his illustration in there for an article on the Avatar:The Last Airbender movie.

Seal has also been hard at work, and she has uploaded some of her prints that were sold at the Zine Fest to our Etsy store! If you missed the chance to pick them up there, you can now do so online!

Thank you again for all the support! Now, it's time to make some art!

SF Zine Fest was Awesome!

We just wanted to give a quick (yet huge) THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the SF Zine Fest to make it such a overwhelming success! (Pics of the fest will hopefully be coming soon...please email us your photos of our booth if you have any!)

It was great to meet tons of new, awesome people, and we appreciate all the purchases and compliments on our work!

We also want to thank everyone that came out to the Hyphen panel that Seal moderated, Seal's Gouache painting demonstration, and the basic bookbinding workshop that Monkey co-instructed.

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you again at the Fest next year!

Until then, if you missed us at the Zine Fest, we just launched our Workshops page! Come check out the workshops/presentations that we're able to offer. We currently don't have a good space to hold these workshops in, but if you live in the Bay Area we are more than happy to come to you! Check it out here for all the info!