The First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on February 1, 1999

Searching for enlightenment, but afraid you ain’t nothing but a hound dog? Kimberly Wright finds a good first stop on your spiritual journey at the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine.

Rocktropolis

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on January 1, 1999

Rocktropolis is a large popular music advertisement trying desperately to pose as a honest celebration of music. Even though it makes an effort at music journalism, at heart it’s a glossy, seductive vehicle pushing the wares being sold by Music Boulevard. It’s teasing and clever, offering the prospective music consumer samples of music and the [...]

The Mudcat Café

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on January 1, 1999

In this case, I don’t mean bad as in awful; I mean bad as in fantastic-bookmark it-ASAP! The Mudcat Café is home of a great web-based lyric resource – The Digital Tradition – and the site is continually expanding and developing its already vast resources. One can spend the entire weekend merrily searching the Digitrad [...]

Exclaim!

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on January 1, 1999

Exclaim! is more than a Toronto-based alternative music zine. This zine is a more extensive companion to the print magazine Exclaim! (over 100,000 copies of which are given out free throughout Canada). The zine includes columns on popular culture, art, a rather amusing message board, and a new radio show each week. By alternative music, [...]

Frumious Bandersnatch

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on December 1, 1998

I chose to review Frumious Bandersnatch because the name caught my eye. It’s one of the most wacky names for a zine I’ve encountered, drawing it’s name from a verse in Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky.” Unfortunately, the name is the best and brightest aspect of this comic zine. First off, the table of contents is tacky [...]

Octavo

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on December 1, 1998

Octavo, which has been in business since August, 1998, is an appendage of the popular literary zine The Alsop Review. Unlike Alsop, Octavo accepts submissions; however, the zine publishes only eight poetry and short-short fiction pieces per month, hence the name. Having such a small selection of poetry and short prose is refreshing. People are [...]

Mondo Bizarro

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on December 1, 1998

Mondo Bizarro describes the content as well as the home page. It’s an amusing look into the counterculture on the Internet (yes, there is still a counterculture). Besides the ’60s-era, up-the-establishment slant this zine takes, there is also some capitalism at work, as they offer books and cassettes for sale. Am I the only one [...]

Nerve

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on November 1, 1998

Nerve surprised me. It gave me more than I was expecting from an erotica magazine. For one thing, the zine is full-bodied and fleshy. Additionally, it is (as it boasts) truly “literate smut.” Here is a perfect blend of the thoughtful and the sensual. I was particularly impressed with the initial navigation page, one of [...]

Riotgrrl

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on November 1, 1998

Even though I thought Nerve was a good magazine, Riotgrrl seems to be more playful, though a bit less erotic – despite the cover illustration of a full-figured mod girl in lingerie. At first I was a little put off by the shade of green used as a background, but it grows on you. The [...]

Scarlet Letters

reviewed by Kimberly Villalba Wright

Originally published on November 1, 1998

After reading Nerve and Riotgrrl, Scarlet Letters: A Journal of Women’s Erotica was quite a disappointment. For starters, the layout is mediocre – another one of those built around the overdone black background, with red and white lettering. Nothing ground-breaking there. Just more pouting, scantily clad illustrations and the profile of legs like the kind [...]