In typical fashion, Linette and I, now just a few days away from the Shadow Art Fair, are beginning to think about what goods we’ll be peddling. I think we just decided over beers that I would be in charge of Christmas ornaments and that she would be working on a new issue of Slippery Shanty, the little Ypsi-centric zine that we first introduced last year. And, toward that end, she’s put out a last-minute call for submissions. Here, in hopes that some of you might have stories worth contributing, is her request:
Hello friends,
If you have a moment, I’d like your stories and ideas! I’m working on a little project, perhaps one that will arrive by Saturday, I am hoping. It’s a little zine about invention and ideas, the second issue of Slippery Shanty.
I’m interested in the idea of making something from nothing, of being a pioneer (or being convinced of that!). One friend believes she invented a popular catch phrase. Another claims credit for repopularizing an outdated mode of facial hair… I invented the term information superhallway, but couldn’t find a use for it before the relevant moment (in 1992) disappeared… My grandpa invented a little theater in his basement, one which involved tin foil, a bunch of kotex pads stuck to the inside of some amps for better acoustics presumably and a mandolin. Another friend’s dad invented a hot dog cooker from some wire and a battery.
But, you don’t actually have to have done something – you could have just had an idea first… and then have seen your idea made real by someone else! Mark says he thought of Super Size Me first.
Lastly, I’d like your spare ideas please- projects that you have had for a while and will never do- and so you are open to offering them up to others, free. I submit my idea of a musical about Temple Grandin, the autistic woman who designs more humane slaughter for cattle, to anyone who wants it! I’ve often thought that it would be nice if there were some home delivery service for baked and mashed potatoes… they take so long to cook! Maybe it’s an idea for a restaurant, an art installation.
I don’t need long stories- this is a spare little book I’m making! a paragraph or less would be swell. I might edit your stuff. Drawings and diagrams would be great too! It’ll appear anonymously but you’ll get a thank you in a contributor list, and a zine of course.
Can you do this before 8am Thursday? Many thanks! Linette
If you do have a story, please don’t leave it as a comment. Instead, email it to me at markmaynard11@gmail.com. We want for the stories to be a surprise on Saturday… Thanks.
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And, for what it’s worth, I do think that I published something several years ago about a project that I had in mind called American Cocoon. It was a performance art piece. Essentially I’d spend one solid month watching popular television and eating only fast food, and documenting the experience. Anyway, I think that I published this in one of my many zines, and the guy who did Super Size Me saw it. And, yeah, it kind of pisses me off.
And you can mention and discuss your ideas here in comments section. I’d just like for the fleshed out stories to stay private until we go to press with the zine.
Back in the 80’s, whenever I tried to come up with excuses not to go to the gym, I’d tell myself, Just do it. Just do it. Seriously. Nike stole my mantra.
In 1984 on a hot June day, I hauled a very heavy cooler from the parking lot of the Independence Lake County Park to the beach area, dropping it once. As soon as we got settled, sunscreened up tanning, I started thinking of a better way to haul your food around and proceeded to diagram a ‘cooler on wheels ‘- on a napkin. My date – who 2 years later would become my wife – seemed incredibly disinterested in my stroke of genius. Damn!
I thought of putting caramel and mint into Hershey’s kisses way before they did.
My dad’s uncle, who I’m named after, claims to have invented the phrase Jive Turkey. He’s dead now though.
My friend Al had a similar idea as Linette, in terms of sharing all the remarkable projects that all of our friends come up with that they will never finish, or perhaps even start. He called it the Doin’ Stuff Club. The website, as it’s looked for a few years, is here:
http://www.doinstuffclub.com/
Obviously the website is a joke, but it was a real idea that we considered before we abandoned it too.
I came up with the “Hank Hill” character several months before Mike Judge…only I called him “Herb Campbell” and he had a beard.
The first Slippery Shanty was outstanding, both in it’s content as well as it’s graphic design. Can’t wait to see v. 2
I figured out that if you put dried Jimsonweed leaf dust in one of your eyes, you can make it stay dilated for three days. It does not, however, give you better night vision.
Also, you can dye your contacts (but not the whites of your eyes, unfortunately) with food coloring for a short time, but they do not function as 3D contacts if one is red and one is green.
Both of these techniques sting, and are generally annoying to live with.
I wish I would have saw this posting sooner. I am a big fan of SS#1. I would have been glad to share.