Julián Péter – “Blue Mosque” & “まる” (maru)

I saw some mention of Julián Péter’s “Blue Mosque” zine on Instagram, and quickly ordered what, at the time, were his two most recent zines. The “Maru” project is on his website; “Blue Mosque” sorta came and went, maybe like zines should.

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11 Café Royal zines…

It was March or April, 2019, and I remembered Café Royal Books, publishers of fine zines from from the British Isles. It may have been something on Twitter, though I only followed the account while working on this review. At the website, I once again found a bewildering array of zines and somehow stumbled into a £27 grab bag of 10 zines. I ordered it straight away. I mean, £27 (+£3.50 shipping) for 10 zines from 9 photographers? Come on! How could I resist?

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Noah Kalina – ‘Tiny Flock’

If you appreciate good photography and dry, sly humor, and you’re not subscribed to Noah Kalina’s superlative newsletter, do yourself a favor. I subscribed awhile ago, probably about a year after it started, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every weekly email. It’s also how I came to hear about Tiny Flock (and Bedmounds before it).

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Noah Kalina – ‘Bedmounds’

2014 was the tail end of the Obama years, which was a time in our country where there was relative domestic peace and prosperity.
I could bunch up a mound of sheets and it was fun and meaningless. Back then we smiled. Back then joy was possible.

Kalina, Noah. Newsletter #47: “Bedmounds.” electronic mail, MailChimp. Retrieved from https://mailchi.mp/noahkalina/newsletter47 June 15, 2021.

If things changed since 2014—and they have, without doubt—one thing remained: Kalina’s sense of humor and playfulness, even when making serious political commentary. And Bedmounds is a reminder: even in times of slow-motion national catastrophe, there is beauty and joy and even silliness to be had.

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Zach Klein, Steven Leckart, Noah Kalina – ‘Cabin Porn’

I don’t recall where I first heard about the ‘Cabin Porn‘ blog. It was probably through a podcast or blog or something, and probably related to Noah Kalina, who came onto my radar back in 2012 sometime, when his “Everyday” project update hit and got a bunch of press.* Back in mid-2019, I think, I saw a copy of Cabin Porn in a used bookstore in Springfield, MO (or Kansas City, maybe?), and almost bought it, but was in debt-reduction mode and didn’t buy it.

Then, while cleaning out his studio, Kalina found a box of British-edition copies of Cabin Porn and offered them for sale. I snatched one up… for ~double the price of the one in that Missouri bookstore…

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Jason Eskenazi – Departure Lounge

Departure Lounge is the third book in Jason Eskenazi’s trilogy on contemporary fairy tales. Unlike the first two books, I bought this one myself rather than receiving it from the Charcoal Book Club, which delivered Black Garden, the second book, in 2019, and a second edition copy of Wonderland in 2020, and I bought it just to have the whole trilogy. The other two are signed, so it’s not a matching set, but like Wonderland my copy of Departure Lounge has greasy handprints on the cardboard cover, so, taken together, they sorta match…

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