Tag Archives: toronto zines

Announcing Issue 6′s theme: ELSEWHERE

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elswhere theme by static zine

We’ve all been elsewhere, we’ve all thought of anywhere but here. But here we are, announcing Issue 6′s theme! In honour of Static Zine making its first trek outside Toronto to the Chicago Zine Fest in March, we’ve decided to form this issue around your tales of yonder.

What we’re looking for:

  • Interesting, hilarious and thought-provoking stories of when you’ve been somewhere else. Love, adventure, loss, being lost, chaos, seeing something with your own eyes (are just some examples).
  • We want you to tell your stories through a unique way to what kind of story it is. For instance: did you get really drunk in London? Maybe you’d want to draw a map or a game of all the places where you puked. Did you have a one night stand in the Caribbean? Maybe play it out like an erotic novel. Did you climb a mountain? Maybe give us a time recap. Did you run away from home as a kid? Maybe let us know what was going through your mind at the time. Did you study abroad? Maybe write or draw out or compile some photos of an interesting time you had. (These are also just some examples!)
  • We love the written word in its many styles, drawings, comics, photography, lists and games. Check out our previous issues to get an idea of our style before you submit.

Criteria to keep in mind:

  • A “Static Zine page” is a half of an 8.5×11 sheet of paper. Again, check out our previous issues to see how much space you’d have. Sometimes we decide to split a zine page in half as well, depending on how many pitches we get and if we think it’d work to that size.
  • We print in black and white.
  • If your pitch is accepted, you can either complete it on your own and send it to us or come make it with us at our HQ. We employ a border of white space around the zine pages as well to make sure your piece doesn’t get cut off in photocopying.
  • Please also know that if you want your page to look the best in its photocopied form, it should not be too light or too dark. Keeping things close to even toned seems to work out the best and we want you to be happy with how it comes out.

Here’s what to do now:

  • Interested? GREAT! Email a short pitch of your idea and how you would want to do it to info @ staticzine . com.
  • You must email us by MONDAY, JANUARY 28!

Other important dates to keep of note if accepted:

  • Your submission (if doing it on your own) is to be due no later than Monday, February 11.
  • If you would like to do your page with us, then you would have to work out a day with us to come by during our production schedule between Monday, February 11 and Monday, February 25. We intend to print by Friday, March 1.
  • Static heads out to CZF on March 6 so we’ll be celebrating in Toronto later in the month around CMW.

We’re looking forward to hearing your pitches! Happy Nostalgia-ing!

Static Zine’s BIG DAY OF FUN – September 8!

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Static Zine Fun DayHave you found yourself thinking, “man, I really wish I could play scavenger hunt around the city AND go to a Y2K dance party in one day?”

Either way…. you’re in luck! That’s exactly what we’re going to do for Static’s Big Day of Fun!

On Saturday, September 8, join us for these ridiculous(ly fun) activities and feel like you’re a kid again.

Starting at 2pm will be the scavenger hunt. Form teams of 2, and registration costs $5 per team. Meet us at the meeting place that will be announced on our Facebook event, and we’ll give you the list of what you’re to go take photos of around the city. Whoever comes back by deadline with the most and properly photographed wins. There will be big first and second prizes, and goodie bags!

Then at night, come on over to the Magpie for DJ DDORIS DDAY AALL NNIGHT, who will be playing 90s up til midnight when Y2K2 hits and then will speed up to more modern indie dance hits. Dress up how you did around Y2K and we’ll get jiggy with it!

All proceeds will go to the printing of Issue 5.

SOUNDS AWESOME, RIGHT?!

So RSVP.

Also, don’t forget to send in your pitches for Issue 5!

Announcing Issue 5′s theme… THE FANZINE!

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fanzines

Static’s only just over a year old, but zines have been going on for almost a century. The zines of today have derived from big zine movements in the 60s, 70s and 90s, which are most known for fanzines about science fiction, punk music, riot grrrl and more. In these self-publishing revolutions before the age of the internet, people were able to get creative about the stories they followed, music they liked, activists they admired and ideas they thought could change the world.

For our fifth issue, due out for Canzine on October 20&21, we’d like to honour fanzines but also have our own fun with the concept. Each contributor will get one page to make what a page of their fanzine about a topic would look like. This can be figuratively or literally if they’ve made one before. Examples of topics include music, movies, actors, musicians, activists, leaders, writers, animals, things, etc. The contributor is encouraged to use the page to show why they’re fan-ing over the topic, why it’s so great or why others should love it through the cut-and-paste/ drawn-on style familiar to fanzines.

fanzines uk punk

fanzines 3

riot grrrl fanzine

PITCHING DETAILS:

  • Email info @ staticzine . com by TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH to let us know you’re interested in contributing, what or who you’d like to fan over and how you would go about doing it.
  • Each person is to fan over a different topic (we’ll monitor this through pitches to make sure of no overlap).
  • We accept writing, comics, illustration, photos, interviews, mixtures of them, etc. Please refer to our previous issues to see our general style.
  • We encourage you to check out your local zine library, like the Toronto Zine Library, to see what other fanzines are like.
  • Once we notify the contributor that their topic’s been accepted (after the pitch deadline), they”ll have until MONDAY, OCTOBER 1ST to work on their page. Then there will be two weeks for production.
  • Please let us know if you have any questions!

PAGE DETAILS:

  • One page = 12.5 CM wide x 8.5 IN tall (a letter-sized paper, folded in half – that one half – with borders cut off). If you go over the border, there’s more potential for your work to be cut off during photocopying.
  • Photos, comics and illustrations cannot be too dark or too light, as it’s tricky when it comes out in photocopying.
  • The contributor can complete their page on their own and send as a file/mail it/drop it off, or are invited to come to our HQ to make it with us.

Here are some interesting things to check out about fanzines: