Zine culture still alive, thanks to MetaFilter and others.

March 26, 2002 8:32 AM

"Ben is Dead is not dead" Zine culture still alive, thanks to MetaFilter and others. (Mad props to the Obscure Store.
posted by ColdChef to MetaFilter-Related at 8:32 AM (8 comments total)

Yes!! Thank you for that link Chef. Seeing that Duplex Planet cover(not to mention seeing that the site is finally live) did this aging hipsters heart a world of good.
I remeber on particular Duplex resident quote of the back of one of ths comic editions-

"If you are an old man, and you walk into a bar wearing pajamas, people will buy you drinks."

Wisdom for the ages.
posted by jonmc at 9:54 AM on March 26, 2002

Except BEN IS DEAD is really dead. Damn...

Book recommendation: Find their "Retro Hell" book if you can--it may be out of print, but hit half.com. It's an A to Z encyclopedia of '70s and '80s childhoods. If Sid and Marty Krofft, the Green Machine, Marathon candy bars and the Super Friends were a part of your past, you'll love this book. (I get no commission, just a fan.)

I've always been curious as to who the "Ben" in "Ben is Dead" really is/was. Someone said they thought it was editor Darby Romeo's ex-boyfriend, but that he wasn't really dead. Someone else suggested it was Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four. The mind boggles...
posted by GaelFC at 10:23 AM on March 26, 2002

b-b-b-but... he forgot boingboing. *sniff*
posted by boogah at 11:16 AM on March 26, 2002

This article is a lot of nothing. Some fear-mongering over AOL taking over the world with the obligatory mention of some over-hyped site that was good in '99 not being around anymore and *gasp* other sites becoming popular. Heh, I love the part about the obscure store. Its like one of those early ISP ads, "Did you know anyone from around the world can see YOUR website?"

posted by skallas at 11:44 PM on March 26, 2002

It's an A to Z encyclopedia of '70s and '80s childhoods. If Sid and Marty Krofft, the Green Machine, Marathon candy bars and the Super Friends were a part of your past, you'll love this book.

You know, people get after boomers for being self-absorbed (and they are), but this endless Xer fascination with the pop culture minutiae of their childhoods is starting to seem a little pathological too. (Just a general observation, GaelFC, nothing personal.)
posted by rodii at 5:29 AM on March 27, 2002

People have been fascinated with the pop culture minutiae of their childhoods since at least the thirteenth century, except in those days the pop-culture minutiae of their childhoods centred around Bible stories, the Black Death and killing Saracens. I hear the Mattel™ Scrofulent Barbie with optional armour was big.
posted by rory at 7:39 AM on March 27, 2002

but this endless Xer fascination with the pop culture minutiae of their childhoods is starting to seem a little pathological too

A bit. But this quote from Luc Sante perfectly explains why '70s and '80s era nostalgia has reached a fever pitch-

"Past decades come into vogue at regular intervals, at the point at which people who experienced those decades as children and adolescents attain positions of power in the world. In their years of struggle they primarily looked to the future; having both achieved their goals and failed to realize their fondest wishes, they have the rue and the leisure, the complacency and dissatisfaction to look backward, and the means to broadcast an idealized version of the remembered past, from which, however, the grime of history cannot entirely be washed."

Actually, the cycles of nostalgia seem to have cycles within themselves. I remember the waves of '50's nostalgia back in the '70's. It began with honest remembrance and tribute(American Graffitti), continued into commodified reguritation(Happy Days) and then finally ended in debunking of the 'simpler, more innocent' myth(James Ellroy's "LA Quartet" books.) The seventies wave seems to have followed the same path from Dazed and Confused to That 70's Show. I'm still waiting for the 70's debunking to come along, but I bet it'll be interesting.


posted by jonmc at 10:09 AM on March 27, 2002

Also, Robot Frank doesn't seem to be working. Google to the rescue!
posted by haqspan at 12:05 PM on March 27, 2002