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Pif Magazine
Pif Magazine |
Mind Caviar
The premiere issue of Mind Caviar features 'Food, Sex, Literature, Art.' With a simple layout and hot pink-on-black color scheme, this 'zine features "graphics intensive" photo essays and short stories alongside recipes for food to "indulge and entice," and matching cocktails (under the subtle heading, Bottoms Up.) One of the most memorable features of Mind Caviar is the impressive array of quotes chosen to head up each section - from Mae West's "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful," to Virginia Woolf's "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." I'm afraid it's not saying too much about the content of Mind Caviar if one of the best parts isn't even original work. Still, this is only their first issue, and they are off to a good start. The photo essays are okay, I was quite enjoying Mark D. Green's initially enthusiastic report from the Burning Man Festival until he started to have such a good time that "recording the event, like washing, or even getting dressed in the morning, became less of a priority. Trying to frame something through a camera lens became less important than reaching out and touching it." Huh? What about the sex stuff, you ask. Well, the section entitled 'Champagne Rouge' is said to feature "sexual advice for creative lovers." Again, what most interested me here was not the original content but the quote from Dorothy Parker: "Three be the things I shall never attain: envy, contentment and sufficient champagne." Amen to that. The content itself consists of Jamie Joy's lengthy response to an intimate question from a reader, as well as links to other resources such as a video called "Bend Over Boyfriend." The Velvet Glove section deals with "Fetish, Fashion and Accouterments," and this issue, the spotlight is on sensation toy designer John Husted whose "whips, floggers and sensation toys are equally as brilliant as the artist himself." The 'zine also contains some average poetry - the highlight, as usual, being the quotation that heads the section: "Style is the simple way of saying complicated things." - Jean Cocteau. Not much style here, I'm afraid, though E. Doyle-Gillespie's "W" was of mild interest:
Mind Caviar also has a Photo Gallery and a section that reviews Gene, a 15" fashion doll; a novel, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," by Rebecca Wells; and the movie, The Long Kiss Goodnight - which rates three crowns (Flawless, Fabulous) because it makes the reviewer "jump off the couch fierce in my bathrobe...fist up for Miss Geena." The editors and co-founders of Mind Caviar are Violet Skye ("rocket scientist and babe") and Jamie Joy Gatto, who, along with their staff, aim to create a 'zine for sex-oriented (but not necessarily explicit) fiction. They do not want "Forum-Style Porn" or "Rhyming/Greeting-Card Poetry." An attitude like this will stand them in good stead for the future. Mind Caviar is a 'zine that will be worth checking out now and again as it finds its sea-legs in the ocean of sex-oriented 'zines on the 'Net. Tell us what you think. Email talkback@pifmagazine.com Want Pif to review your zine? Ingrid Woodrow is a writer based in Brisbane, Australia. Her first novel, Goddess and the Galaxy Boy, will be published in early 2001. She is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland and working on a new novel.She is also the founding editor of the online writing journal Mangrove, which is listed as a "Site of National Significance" in the National Library of Australia's PANDORA archive. Further information and samples of her work can be obtained by visiting www.uq.edu.au/~eniwoodr
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