Scribe

Oh yeah, no doubt. Like when I'm, when I'm cola and that means that I can't eat dinner. Right.

Hey guys, thank you for having me. This is really awesome. Big momentous occasion. 150 episodes. That's really awesome guys. Yeah, I can't believe that you couldn't find a better guest than me to get on here, but.

Yes, they are.

Yeah, man, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me guys.

But it was fine.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure. I could go first. So the. The pencil of the week, since I'm sure everybody wants to know, this week is a. It's a vintage Dix Natural Ticonderoga.

Yeah, yeah. I picked it up at Brand Name Pencils. Shout out to Bobby Truby. There it is. Beautiful. It looks like a. Like a piece of furniture or something. It's like, real dark and I don't know, it looks like you got this varnish on it. It is. It's beautiful. Looker.

I don't watch a whole heck of a lot of tv, but I have gotten into Space Force recently because I love the Office.

And you know, the Steve Carell, he's just different enough, but it's, like, kind of similar because he's kind of inept. Like, it's. Yeah, I like that one. And I just finished that Paul Rudd Netflix show, Living With Yourself, I think it's called.

Yeah, I just finished that. See, I. I think there's only one season, though, right?

coming, but I hope so, man. That was a cliffhanger last episode, so they better come out with a season two. But, yeah, that's probably it for tv.

The book I'm reading right now, Johnny, you might like this or you might even know about it, but it's called the Corner.

Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm reading right now. It's. It's heavy book, man. Not only because it's like 500 pages and hardcover. Like, it's literally heavy, but through the content. And it is. Is rough, man. It's. It's basically like the TV show the Wire, but on. On page. And it's. It's rough, man.

Yeah, it's. It's a. It's good. It's good. But I'm developing, like, these emotional attachments to the characters and whatnot, and I'm just like. But they're real life people, man. So it's. It's. It's tough, man, but it's. It's good. I'm probably about a hundred pages into it, so I've been liking that one. And I do listen to a lot of music. Right before the pandemic, I picked up a cassette tape player for my kitchen.

Yeah. So I got this. A buddy of mine runs a tape distro down in Philadelphia. Like a tape label, if you will. You know what I mean? And I got a bunch of his tapes from this and that. Tapes just on this, like, this, like. What's it called? Replay. Basically, like, it just goes from the top of the stack down to the bottom, and I just keep replaying them. That's like my cooking playlist right there. But it's all new music, like, because I don't listen to a lot of new music, right. Like. Like another band that I've been into a lot recently is Fly in the Family Stone. Like, non stop. Like, yeah, yeah, that's. That's been a good one. And really been super into d' Angelo recently. Getting. Y' all remember d' Angelo from, like, the Game? His. His stuff is good. His second album sounds just like print stuff, and I've been really liking that one. And, you know, I listen to all the same old punk rock from, like, the 90s and 90s hip hop that I've always listened to. But I listen to a lot of music, especially, like, putting together the zines and whatnot. It's good to. Just to listen to and. Yeah, that's probably what I've been consuming mostly.

Yeah. You guys ever seen the Boss live?

He plays for like three and a half hours.

No news or anything, but I. I did just come into possession of that. That Staedtler pencil extender. Y' all ever seen that one? Fancy one with the clip and the eraser? Yeah, yeah, it's nice. It's a little heavy. It's a little, like, long, but. And the. The grip. It feels like. Feel like grip tape on a skateboard. Man is rough. So.

I'm hoping. I'm hoping I wear it in a little bit, because I love that the. The lead holder that they got. That one is so awesome. The Mars Technico one.

I was hoping that this would be, you know, not similar, but, I mean, I figured it would be close. I don't like it as much, but.

Well, that's what's happening. I feel like I should go rob a bank now because I don't have no fingerprints. You know what I mean? But. But other than that, no, it's pretty much old pencil news around here. Just a new pencil every week, that's all.

Ooh.

That, that notebook sounds really awesome. I feel like I missed my call. And that's like built in pencil of the week right there. Right? Like just to review pencils like at the end of the week, like so got to be out of business thanks to this guy.

Yeah, once again, thanks for having me, guys.

You haven't said it in a while.

Yeah. So my name is Ed Camp and I make pencil of the Week, which is a zine about. I use one pencil for an entire week straight and then I write about it basically and I review it and the zine is all handwritten. And yeah, I run the word distribution and that's distribution company for a bunch of other zinesters. I like to go and table at zine events. I actually have one coming up soon, an in person event outdoors. Oh wow.

Really excited about that. Scranton, Pennsylvania. So they actually got a good zine scene out there. It's always a fun time. But yeah, I've been doing zines for little over 10 years now. I kind of first got into zines through the skate and punk rock scenes. You know, you'd go to a skate park and sometimes you come home with a zine or photocopied with like, you know, terrible quality. You can't even make out the skater on the picture or whatever. Equally as bad punk rock scenes at local punk rock shows. Like here in New Jersey they used to have a lot of shows at like volunteer fire departments and like elks lodges and things like that. So I used to go to a lot of like all ages shows there and like you come home with a, with a zine. And when I, when I joined a band in 2007, started going to a lot more punk rock shows and there were no more zines. And I was at a dive bar in New Brunswick and I found a poetry zine there and I was like, this zine is terrible. I can make a better one. So I, I made a zine. Whether it was better or not, that's, that's to be determined. Probably that first zine is leaning towards not, but you can build up to a better one. Yeah. So from there I made 12 issues of my first zine called La Palabra. It was just basically like, you know, black and white, photocopied, cut and paste. You know, kind of punk rock fanzine. Has some recipes and stuff in it, some sports stuff, just anything I was really into at the time. I used to have a couple people guest write for me and whatnot. So did a bunch of issues of those and then I've done a couple other series. I got one called Jock Straps. It's all about. I make, I make photocopies of baseball cards and football cards from, from like when I grew up. So all through the 80s into the early 90et. And they all, they all have different, different topics. Like the baseball one is all about fat guys and baseball. Yeah. So you got people like John Jaha and like Chris Boiseo. I don't know if any of you guys. Even though this Steve Balboni.

Oh, is he?

Yeah, I'm sure he was still pretty chunky.

Kirby Pocket. So yeah, I do, I do a series. I just did one. Issue four is Wrasslin. So it's all like WWF cards or WWE cards. I mean from, you know, from the 80s and early 90s. I've done a couple of recipe zines called Now's the Now the Water's Boiling. I'm working on. I'm working on a new one right now. As a matter of fact. I need to get it out before the next zine fest. It's 19 pandemic inspired recipes. Things that I made out of some questionable meats in a can and whatnot. But it was wild up here, man. The lines for the grocery store were crazy. There's no fresh meat, there's no fresh veggies.

No, but I, I do have a couple of cans of Spam in my kitchen right now.

I was a little too proud to announce that. Anyway, honing it back into zines here. So yeah, I got that cooking one coming out and I've done a bunch of like offshoot ones. One, One was a compilation with 10 different authors writing about 10 different albums that they love. And yeah, I've done a couple other ones. What it's like to live in a four floor walk up apartment. Yeah, yeah, that's always fun. But so, yeah, that's basically my little history about zines.

Yeah, definitely. Tim with the opener there, kind of, kind of hit it perfectly, you know, sidestepping the mainstream and whatnot. A lot of people actually consider Thomas Paine's Common Sense the first scene.

Probably because he had difficulty, like finding somebody who would publish it and probably because he, you know, sold, you know, so many thousands of copies and never made any money. So yeah, he was probably the first Deanster then.

Yeah, right. But as far as like the zines that we know today, for the most part, a lot of it is started with science fan fiction. People reading science, like science Fiction magazines like the Pulpit Books and stuff like that. And they were writing in to the magazines, telling them how implausible the stories were and whatnot. So they. I don't know, these people just started like getting together and starting mailing lists and probably just writing complaint letters. But like, that's, that's where some people trace like zines back to. But really, like, it started coming in with like some of the Star Trek and Doctor who generation there. Just writing fan fiction about the TV shows.

I don't know what most people will consider, like, zines heyday because, you know, in the 70s, like the punk rock scene really pushed zines out there to like, different people. And then like 80s and 90s maybe that was like the heyday because there was like huge publishing Maximum Rock and Roll Fact Sheet five, like Slug and Lettuce. Like thousands, thousands and thousands of copies of these things were going out on a. On a timely basis. So. So I don't know what the, what the heyday would be. But yeah, I snuck in and caught the very tail end of like the 90s zines before everything kind of went online. And then when I came back to the scene, I was happy to find one. I mean, there's. There's groups out there for everybody. I mean, there's. There's a group out there of people who like to talk about pencils, if you believe that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lid for every pot out there. So, I mean,

Well, it looks good. Everything looks good on an Instagram feed though. But no, it looks good. It looks healthy. I mean, I go to Zine Fest. I've been to up to like, I know seven of them in the, in the Summertime, like here on the East Coast, I could hit a lot of different cities that are not that far of a drive. I've done events down in Baltimore, Johnny, and like, I've gone to D.C. and Dunham, Richmond, Virginia. So, like, you go to one of those events and man, it's popping. It's cool, man. There's a lot of people there, a lot of people interested in zines. And I think the Internet is probably helped things a little bit because it makes them more accessible or I guess, easier to find. Right, because you used to have to find out where they were and mail in something and like, you know, mail in a couple of stamps so you could get mailed something back. And, you know, there's still a lot of zine makers who operate like that, but for the most part, every. Everybody who could put out a zine could put up an Etsy page or, or something like that. And, you know, so it's, it's good, it looks healthy. The scene looks great. This, the, the scene is fun, I'll tell you that much. Awesome.

Oh, man, there's so many good zines out there. Probably the current one, my favorite zinester is my. My homie, Billy McCall. He's prolific. He puts out a lot of zines. And one of my favorites from him is a series that he got called last night at the casino. And he's. He's a craps dealer, so it's basically like a work scene. He just talks about what he sees, the locals, the crazy stuff, what it's like to be a crab stealer. Like, all the math that goes on. Like, I do a lot of math at my job, but I do it with a calculator and a pencil right. In a quiet cubicle. Like, he's got to figure out like 15 to 1 odds, like on something on like, you know, on a $15 chip, like with all these drunk people yelling at him and whatnot. So, you know, it's wild. I thought I was good at math, and then I started hanging out with him. I said, oh, my God, man, I'm nowhere near you. So.

Yeah, that zine series is really amazing. Last night, right now, I am buying

Go straight. Go straight to his Etsy page. It's. I know Billy at Etsy. Yeah. Give. Give him the support he also does. He's got a new series out, all about state flags. So, like, I'm. I'm all into, like, history and educational, like, nerdy stuff like that. So it's. It's the perfect scene for me. It's talking about, like, some analog, like, flags. And I just got the second and third issue on Friday, and I finished them by Saturday morning. Like, probably when I woke up Saturday morning, I finished them.

Yes. Yeah. And he just did the New Jersey one, too, so cool. That was. Sorry.

I don't remember what I was going to say now. Go ahead, Andy. I'm sorry.

Yeah, I've seen that scene before. It looks really good. They actually carry it at a distro. I know. Antiquated future. It looks good. I. I should probably pick that up. I didn't know it was based out of San Francisco, though.

And that's actually what some of, like, the best zines are about, is stuff that you, like, never even think about. Yeah.

Like, they. I've seen zines about whale watching and, like, the. The history of dentistry. Right. Like, oh, wow.

You know, just. Just like anything that you think about, like, late on a Thursday night, you'd be like, I could make a zine about that.

I wonder how the Panama Canal was built. And you just, like, research it and, you know, you just make a little. A little zine for it. Like.

Yeah. So like I said, at my job, I do a lot of math. So I've been using a pencil at my job for the last 13 years, as long as I've been there. I work at a old school, kind of like cut and sew factory. And for 10 years I worked out in, in the factory. So you'd always need a pencil out on the receiving dock or to mark material because we, we got to mark the fabric, to cut it and stuff like that. So I was always using a pencil. But out there there's a thousand, you know, China made or Mexican made, Leon Dixon Ticonderogas or something even worse than that. Some staples or something like that. Like, because they didn't have to last. But then when I. Sorry if I offended anybody for their favorite pencils or anything, but I'm a

How dare you. Sorry, I was talking about the Walmart brand. I'm sorry, man.

But you know, when I came into the office, I decided that I needed some better stationary equipment. And, you know, a couple Google searches later, and that's the beauty of the Internet, like, finding scenes. Like, I just found pencils. I was like, oh, my God, there's a pencil shop in New York City, right? Like, I could take the PATH train there. So, like, the next weekend I took the PATH train. And I don't know, three and a half years later, I'm sitting here talking to you guys about pencils. But, but, you know, I kept buying all of these pencils and I'm like, how am I going to use them all? I'm never going to be able to use any of these pencils, right? Like, because it takes so long because, you know, I want to use it down to the stub and everything. Like, I want to use every last drop of it. So, like, I like, dude, I'm never. How am I ever going to use all of these pencils? So I started using a different pencil every week. And actually at the time, because I came from the factory into the office, I wanted to look a little bit more professional. I'm not gonna lie, guys. And I. I used to have this, like, super hard caveman grip on my pencils. Like all five. All five fingers just like fighting for space on there, right? So when I came into the office, I was like, dude, like, you gotta look a little bit more professional or whatnot. So I bought Some of them triangle things to, like, teach you how to hold a pencil. Right. So I wanted to practice my handwriting. So here it's just all falling into place, right? Like, I want to use a different pencil every week. I have to practice my, my, my handwriting. And then, and then the sealer was just. I didn't have access to a, to a printer at the time. I had no print. I had no printer in my apartment. And I was tired of printing out copies at work. So I was like, dude, I gotta, I gotta do like a real analog zine here. And I just came up with the idea of, you know what I'm doing now? Use a different pencil, review it. Because I have strong opinions on stuff, so why shouldn't everybody hear it? You know what I mean?

Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, I make a bunch of copies. My runs right now are anywhere between like 50 and 70 on the first run, which is a lot for me because then from there I have to, like you said, do all the hand stuff because I don't have color copy money like that. So I figure, how am I going to do color? Well, I got to do it by hand, you know, so it also gives me, gives me a chance to use red and blue pencils, which pencil of the week definitely endorses.

Oh, yeah, no doubt. Like when I'm cola. And that means that I can't eat dinner, right?

yeah. There's definitely reward. When I get done finishing a zine, that means that I could eat again. So, like, yeah, and there's been a couple of times where I've, you know, I've, I've promoted something via like a hashtag. There were so many virtual zine fest this year and like, not even thinking, I just posted. And then next thing I know, a bunch of these orders come in and I look at my closet and I don't have any of them made. So I gotta make like issues like 1 through 10, like all at the same time. I mean, it's great. Like, I love doing it, but man, it takes me like, like a week to do it. Because yeah, every one of them has as something on it to make it stand out a little bit. I try to make everybody's pencil of the week look a little different. Or like you might get like a blue P and then the rest of it is all in red. Just something a little different for everybody to get. And you know, it's just fun. Like, how else am I going to review red blue pencils if I don't actually like write it with the zine? You know what I mean? So, yeah, you know, I gotta, I gotta stay true to it. So if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna review a red, blue pencil while you're gonna say it on the page. You know what I mean?

Well, looks has a lot to do with what goes into my pencil because if I'm looking down and it looks dorky as hell, man, I don't want to be using it right. So. So it's, it's got to look good, man, because the better your pencil looks, the better it's going to write, right? I don't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you guys feel me on that one?

I, because of my job being in American manufacturing, I definitely support all the American companies, like 100%. It doesn't mean that there's not good stuff produced other places. But obviously living here in Jersey City, Generals is by far my favorite pencil company. They're actually right down the street. If Dickinson High School wasn't up on the hill, I could probably see their factory from my appointment.

I've actually been inside of that place for work also and that was pretty cool. I think. I didn't get to see like how pencils were made and whatnot. I was in a different area, but I, I can't attest to what do they, what do they say? However old since 1889. Yeah, that's about how old that building is, man. It's.

But yeah, so pretty much anything from, from Generals, the, the Cedar Point is just such a, such a classic looking looking pencil. Like to me it's the best natural pencil out there.

Just in terms of look because it doesn't have any of that, that lacquer over top of it. Like the black on black ferrule and eraser. Like it just looks good. The black printing.

Well, thank you very much. You're welcome. I do like that pencil. That's definitely like my favorite one. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, you know, like classic American pencils that they make. I do like the Supreme.

The. The test score and to me is. Is super awesome. I love the way that one looks too.

Do you like the Musgrave? Don't read that issue then, because you're not. You're not gonna like what I have to say about that pencil. But, but you're. You're into. You're into sci fi, right?

Then it, then it totally makes sense, man. No, no, the. The general test scoring is. Is really awesome. Yes. But yeah, I love getting into all like the old vintage pencils too. Like, they're the most fun. Definitely. Definitely. As far as writing goes, a lot of the old eagle and. And barrel ones like the maraudo and the, The. Yeah. The Black Warrior. My Black Warrior is like top three best looker for me too. Like the, the gold feral and gold imprint there. Just the little red band on it. It looks amazing. I love round pencils too. Yeah. So that one. That one checks all the boxes. And on a similar note as I love this pencil. Eberhard Faber round gilt, I think. Am I saying that right? Glit. Something like that. It means gold, but look, it looks almost exactly like the Black Warrior is round and black only it's got a black band on it instead of a red band. So I definitely like that one. If you're talking looks alone, the. The Faber Mongol too, man. That. That feral is top notch, man.

Yeah, yeah, that thing, that thing is beautiful. I got, I got one sticking out of one of my shirt right now. I. I don't want to use it at all. Like, it's done now because it's at the perfect length to just stick out the top of my pocket. So it's like this is the showpiece. That pencil is never going to get used again. If I plan on like going out and taking notes, I have to bring that pencil and like a real pencil to use. You know,

Like a high tack or something. Yeah. And then just one more like internationally. I'm, I'm a really big fan of the Portuguese company. I don't want to mispronounce it. Viarco.

Yeah, yeah. Something. Something about their whole, like, style just kind of, kind of makes me think of like generals just over in Portugal, like maybe the way they write and just. I don't know, they're. I know that they're like a small family owned company and whatnot. Met one of the dudes who works there on one of the Zoom podcasts and that guy was just so awesome. That's really cool. Just chatting with him and yeah, I just get a good vibe out of that company. Their pencils look good. They're scratchy. Like, not a lot of tech to them.

I mean, that's just the way that I kind of look at it. I'm not asking anybody else to look at it that way, but I mean, they are a small family owned company. They could be the Musgrave of Portugal, if you so please. There.

You know, I've actually, I'm using my first ever field notes right now.

It was, it was a gift in the. The pencil Christmas exchange there. It's a really nice one too, the field notes. Dime size one or whatever.

Yeah, the dime novel one. It's like super nice.

The only problem is I can't write on the left hand side of the thing. Like when I put my hand on there, the whole, the whole thing pops up. I like have the binding all kind of like ripped open and whatnot. But yeah, Johnny wrote a novel on those things.

Yeah, I mean, as far as looks go, man, it's gorgeous and the paper on it is amazing. But honestly I usually just make my own notebooks because after all it's just a blank zine. It's a zine without words. So I just lay the paper out and put the lines on it spaced the way that I want it. And you know, I can put anything I want on the COVID I've been, I've been putting some clear contact on it to try to make it last a little bit longer. But I, I have like a, like a half page size one that's the size of pencil of the week. Like I have one of those for taking notes after the week is done. And then I got a quarter size one for my pocket. Like perfect pocket size. And it's cool, man. Like I could just make it with any colored paper that I got. Like, I can make the lines any color I want. Like I can. I've been thinking about possibly putting it up there and like putting it on the Etsy page or saying if people would, would be hip to it through, through the Facebook page. But I don't really know if I want to have a side hustle for my side hustle.

Yeah, right.

But so yeah, basically I just kind of make my own or I like those, those legal pads that flip up at the top and you know, I'm not fancy, especially if I'm writing like a rough draft or something or something like that. Like I'll just write it on, you know, whatever. I could find that at some big box store, whatever, cheap legal pad.

Well, I already stated my affinity for. For red and blue pencils, man. Like, I love red. I love red and blue pencils. I could. I could write a quote, three different things all on the same page, right? Because I got one going in graphite, one going in red, one going in blue. My co workers look at that stuff and they look like I'm crazy. But I love red blue pencils, especially for editing the Mitsubishi. The round ones are just so solid. They're so tight. Yeah, I don't notice any difference from the Tombow one. Only I was able to buy 12 of the Mitsubishi ones. That's the only difference. I was able to find a dozen of them.

Yeah, that one is really awesome. The best thing about the. That one's like a little bit of a fancy one. You know what I mean? That was like 250, 275. Like, I'm not trying to use nothing fancy at work. They don't deserve that. So, like, I'll just. You know, they just. They just. They just get the dollar a pencil at work. But no, I definitely have one of those. The red and graphite ones and. Yeah, that one's. That one's really tight. I don't like the one that's got the graphite in the highlighter, though. I don't like that one. Yeah, you guys know that one. I don't like the highlighter on her. I can't. I can't really see it when I use it.

But I do. I do like the Koh I Noor The. The dry highlighters that CW sells.

Those. Those are really nice. I. I definitely like using those a lot. And I always. Because, you know, my pencils have to travel, I always got some sort of point protector on it. But honestly, I just like those little garbage plastic ones that Generals makes. The little save a point ones. Yeah, like, a lot of people don't like them because I don't use like a long point because I'm just gonna snap it off like the first sentence anyway. So I just. I just cut to the chase and just use, you know, a regular short point 1. So they always fit over my pencils. But I could see why you wouldn't like the, the generals ones if you use a long point. But I also, I like usually having pencil clips also because, you know, they got to travel with me at work. I don't really like the, the faultless ones, the ones with the spring. Not a big fan. A lot of it has to do with. I don't like the way it looks so like, all rounded on the top. I like the, the sleek looking one. The one that looks like it's like a pen almost most, you know, like, you know, you just. Just tuck it, tuck it into your shirt here. And I. I definitely like those when I can fit them onto the pencil. And you know, speaking of point protectors there, do you know the company that makes those big long aluminum ones? Yeah, they make them in a couple different colors. I don't know the name of the brand.

Yeah, yeah. I got some extenders from those guys and they are super awesome. The little lightweight aluminum joints.

Pencil screws right into it, man. I love them. Because, I don't know, if you read the zine, I might come across a little cheap, you know what I mean? Like, I'm complaining about pencil250. Like, that's a lot for a pencil. But, like, I try to get. I try to get everything out of it. And I do always laugh when I'm looking down and I'm like, like, got like a Shoshone's pencil and in a pencil extender, and I'm like, for real, dude. That pencil was like 35 cents, like, but I'm gonna grind it down to the nub anyway, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I like those little aluminum pencil extenders that they, that they make. They're. They're really good. I don't really have like a favorite sharpener or anything like that. You know, I'm not. I'm not into the long points, so. The M and R stuff is really good. It is fun to write about that kind of ridiculous stuff though, right? Because, like, how are you supposed to review an eraser, right? Did you use it? Did the word disappear? What, in the words? It's a good eraser. Right.

Yeah, yeah. So, like, you know, it is. It is fun to write about that kind of stuff because, of course I got. I got to talk about, you know, the shape or the way it looks. I've come across mad superficial. Believe me, I'm not that. I'm not that way with women. Just with pencils, you know what I mean? Just with stationary products in my superficial. But I like style over substance when it comes to stationary products. But yeah, it's definitely fun to review something mundane like, like a point protector or something like that. So I'm definitely looking forward. I'm putting together the new issue now, and I'm probably gonna come up a couple of pages short, which is kind of intended so I could. I haven't reviewed anything, you know, silly like that in a while, so maybe I'll write a review for a pencil clip. I'll write about how I don't like the way the faultless ones look.

Yeah, I just gave everybody a sneak preview. There you go. Catch it here first.

Podcast episode 150.

Well, if you know nothing about zines going in, you know, if we ever get out of this pandemic that we're in right here, you know, check, check. If you live in a large city, they might have a zine fest. And if they do go, people are friendly. Like, the community is awesome. Like, the only thing in the zine community that's not tolerated is, like, not tolerating people. Really. Like, it's. It's open. It's open for everybody. Like, if you have a voice, you could make a zine. And that's. That's the beautiful thing about it.

Yeah, it must be good. They wanted a lot of money for their tables. I thought about coming out there. I love. I love San Francisco. I was planning on coming out this year, as a matter of fact, but, yeah, obviously, you know, 2020 happened and whatnot, but I haven't. I haven't been to San Francisco in 10 years, and it was 10 years prior was the last time I was there. So, yeah, it's like once that once every 10 years I got a visit. This is a Francisco.

The last time I was there, there wasn't that many bums down on. Down on Market street pooping on the ground. But,

Game. Yeah, I mean, I did just go to Baltimore not that long ago, so, I mean, you got your feel shout out to both of them. Cities, though. I love Baltimore. I love San Francisco.

Yeah. Yeah, right. But yeah, so if you could find a zine fest, that's a great place to start. I'm not, I'm not asking you to come to my site and buy it, but you should definitely check out Stolen Sharpie Revolution. It is basically like the how to. On. On how to make a zine. There are so many thousands of copies sold. They're on, like, their, their eighth printing right now, and it just, it just breaks it down in a fun way. Like, when you read it, you just feel like a zinester the way it's, like, laid out and like, man, you'll be. You'll be into, you know, first couple of chapters or whatever, and you'll be like, damn, I really want to make this zine. You know, that's. That's a, That's a great place to start. Or, you know, just. Just disassemble my zine. Figure, Figure out how to lay the pages out on your, on your home computer and, and just do it. Come up. Come up with something that you're passionate about that you, that you want to write about. You know, if, if you got a favorite sports team, write about it. Like, you got favorite bands, write about it. You know, you're. You got a crush on Taylor Swift magazine about it, man. Like, and then if you got a computer, then you could make an Etsy page and you could sell it. You could, you could advertise for it, you know, like, that's, it's great, man. Like, you don't need anyone's permission to write anything in your zine. Like, you could cuss if you want. Like, I choose to censor my ship, my censor myself, because I think, I think it just looks funny the way it's written with, with the little number sign and the, the. The exclamation point. But, like, yeah, there's a lot of zines that I cuss in. And it's. You can make a zine about anything. That's what's so great about it. If, if you, if you could write, if you could type, if you got any kind of art that you want to get out there, there's a lot of photography zines out there. Like, if you just like to take pictures and you don't want to write or, or you take pictures and your buddy likes to write, make a collab scene, like, get together, do something. It's. It's so fun. At least it Is for me, it's. You know, sometimes it's a little bit of work, especially when I got to make, like, 70 copies, like, to get out all these orders, which I appreciate. Thank you all. For everybody who's ever ordered from me. Definitely not. Not complaining about that. But, you know, it's. It's a lot of fun. And at the end, you get to. You get to hold something. Like, you know, it's. It's like when you were. When. If you were in a band and you ever, like, recorded something at the end, you get to. You get to hold it, right? Or. Or you ever. You ever made a movie that came out legitimately, like in a. In a DVD case or anything like, and you get to. You get to hold that and you get to be like, yo, I made that. And you get to be. You get to be proud of it. Well, not all the time. I'm not proud of everything I've ever published, but for the most part, you could be proud of what you put out. I'm sure you guys feel the same sense of satisfaction finishing up a podcast, right?

But yeah, if you. If you guys ever want to. Anybody from the Facebook wants to do a zine, and you got a question, just. Just contact me. A matter of fact, there's a. There's a member of your group here in New Jersey that made a zine and sent it to me about her becoming a doctor over in the Philippines. Fantastic. Fantastic little zine made by one of. One of your subscribers or whatever. One of the. One of the community. And it was so awesome. I just. By getting my zines, she was inspired to. To do it, so.

Yeah, it's really. It's really cool. It's really cool when. Especially like when you do zine events in the same city year after year, especially a place like Scranton. I think that's why I like Scranton so much, is because. Did you all know that Scranton, Pennsylvania, is an actual place? It's not just made up for the office.

That's right.

Joe Biden's from Scranton. Yeah. Pennsylvania is a real place. But, you know, it's a. It's a small city, so you get the same people, you know, kind of come back every year, and, you know, somebody's like, somebody comes in the, the first year you meet them, you rap with them a little bit, you're like, here, take a couple of zines. You know, he buys a couple of things and, you know, he comes back the next year and he got. He got pocket full of zines. He's like, oh, like, just coming here last year inspired me. So, like, he wants to give him out to all the people he talked with last year. And like, the zine community is a lot like the pencil community also in the fact that, like, trades and, and people. People are very, very generous with their zines. Most of them feel a little awkward even asking for money for it and stuff like that. So, like, oh, trade in that. Zine fest is big. Or doing it through the mail. And, you know, it's the same thing for anybody who belongs to the community on Facebook there. Like, I don't know how you guys found so many beautiful people. Or maybe pencil people are just better people than regular people. But yeah, I mean, I don't know, maybe we got like elite status or something. But the people. People on your Facebook page are just so goddamn generous. Like, they're just the nicest people, man. And that's. That's a lot like the zine community. And that's why I was so happy to find the pencil community, because it just. It just mirrors it so much. It's. It seems like the same type of people are into the same type of stuff. You know, we kind of touched on that a little bit earlier. Like, you know, it was an analog tool in the digital world. Like, so. Yeah, it's like something that you could hold, like, tactile feel of having a pencil in your hand, holding a zine in your hands. Like, you know, the best way to get a zine is to just. When somebody hands it to you, just fold it in half and throw it in your back pocket. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Probably the best way would be the word distribution dot com. You can find the shop through there. It's a little, you know, blog website that even, even a Luddite like me could run because, you know, I'm not. I'm not big on the. On the tech stuff, but I do have an Instagram page. Also. The word distro I pretty much had to set that up for all the digital zine fest that happened this year. So you can hit me up through either one of that way or the Facebook page. Anybody from the community just wants to hit me up, ask me a question or, you know, something like that. I'm always, I'm always open to talk zines with anybody. So drop by the site, send me, there's a link for the email in there. If you'd rather email me. My, my home address is on there, which isn't probably really safe, but like, you know, send me a snail mail letter. I, I'd be, I'd be happy to, to answer it back. So.

Mission accomplished, guys.

Right?

You like our podcast? Most people like our podcast, but if you like our podcast, maybe we'll turn it off.