By Mark | January 3, 2017
A few days ago, Michigan Republicans made national headlines for passing a ban on the banning of plastic bags… And, yes, you read that right. They didn’t pass a law banning plastic bags, but they passed a law making it illegal for local jurisdictions to ban the use of such bags, which are increasingly clogging […]
Posted in Environment, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Carryout Bag Ordinance, Earth Day, eco-fee, Ecology Center, Flint water crisis, George Heartwell, Global Warming, guns, lead, living wage, local control, Michigan Restaurant Association, minimum wage, paper bags, plastic bags, pre-emption laws, preemption, sea turtles, Senate Bill 853, turtles, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners |
By Mark | February 1, 2016
In an attempt to better document the sharp, rusty sliver of the American underground that worked its way through the protective coating of my cold, slowly-beating heart 20-some years ago, I’ve given myself the task of tracking down and interviewing all of my heros in the world of zines. Today’s interview is with Eric Nakamura, […]
Posted in Art and Culture, Special Projects, Uncategorized | Also tagged action figures, Adrian Tomine, anonymous publishing, art galleries, Asian American, Asian pop culture, Barack Obama, Big Top Distribution, Black Flag, Buddhism, Chris Ashford, dead magazines, Desert Moon Distribution, distribution, Doug Biggert, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurship, Eric Nakamura, Factsheet Five, famous people who published zines, Fender's, Fine Print, Fishbone, Flipside, food entrepreneurship, George Takei, Giant Robot, Giant Robot Biennale, Giant Robots, Gidra, Go-Ranger, Godzilla, Greg Narvas, I Was a Teenage Filipino Skinhead, Independent Press Association, Japanese American National Museum, Japanese pop culture, Japanese products, Japanese restaurants, Japanese school, Japantown, Jon Moritsugu, Kikaida, Kikaida Day, Larry Flynt, Little Osaka, Los Angeles, Los Angles, magazine distribution, magazines, Martin Wong, Michelle Obama, Power Rangers, Punk Planet, punk rock, Raideen, Ramones, Retail, robots, Ruckas, Sawtelle, Sentai, Seth Friedman, skinheads, Slash, Soundgarden, Sumo wrestling, The Boredoms, The Untold History of Zines, Tower Mag Hell, Tower Records, toys, Transformers, Ultraman, Violent Femmes, Yellow Power movement, Yumi Sakugawa, Zine Guide, zines |
By Mark | January 28, 2014
In an attempt to better document the American underground press, or at least the sharp, tiny sliver of it that worked its way through the gristle surrounding my heart 20-some years ago, I’ve given myself the task of reaching out to all of the zine publishers that I know, and asking them how they found […]
Posted in Crimewave USA, Special Projects, Uncategorized | Also tagged 1992, 1994, 2001, 50 state projects, adventure, Alaska, Alaska Fishermen’s Union, Allen Ginsberg, Amsterdam, Andy Kaufman, anonymity, Arizona, autobiographical, before the internet, bicycles, cannery, chain restaurants, Chloe Eudaly, Communism, Cracker Barrel, Craphound, creative control, cruise ships, cycling, David Letterman, dishdogs, dishes, Dishwasher, Dishwasher Pete, Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States, dishwashing, drinking on the job, eschewing responsibility, expatriate, Factsheet Five, Farm Pulp, fish processing, free stuff, gags, Grand Canyon, Greg Hischak, Guinea Pig Zero, Haight -Ashbury, Huck Finn, humor, impersonation, In the City of Bikes, individual responsibility, integrity, internet, introverts, Jack-in-the-Box, juvenile delinquent, Kentucky, Kinko's, Kraft, labor history, labor movement, Late Night with David Letterman, mac and cheese, mainstream media, Malcolm X, Mark Twain, media consolidation, Myrtle Beach, National Parks, people who we know from television, Pete Jordan, Phoenix, photocopying, pranks, radical politics, Reading Frenzy, responsibility, restaurants, restlessness, revolution, Richard Nixon, San Francisco, Scam, scams, self-publishing, shitty jobs, Silicon Valley, South Carolina, Sufjan Steven, television, Temp Slave, The Untold History of Zines, theft, This American Life, Uncle Tom, underground press, unions, urban planning, zines |
By Mark | August 12, 2002
On the way home from work tonight, I heard that the body of a Blockbuster employee was found in a local store at 10:00 AM by a customer returning videos. I also heard that Francis Ford Copolla’s nephew may have wed Tito Jackson’s ex-sister-in-law in Hawaii. It’s doubtful that the two events are related.