i don't know if you were aware but i make zines and stuff and you can buy them from the little zine distro i run by the name of VAMPIRE SUSHI. they're mostly £2 each (+ postage, please don't forget the postage..) i also sell a bunch of other zines there, and even some badges and patches and even a cassette tape of the copy scams! here's some of the latest additions to the catalogue:
i got my copy of mind over matter #1 today. it's amazing. we also got a christmas card from one of carl's old ladies at oxfam the other day and she'd actually spelled my name right! i was well impressed.
in other news i'm totally inlove with my new scooby gang t-shirt! (from here)
i was having a bit of a tidy today and i've got another bunch of zine grab bags for y'all. my for grab bags box is still kinda bursting, and as i said i was ruthless when going through my zine collection couple of months ago. (btw way, picture on the right is from my box of quarter size zines i'm keeping!) i've got grab bags with 10 half size zines each:
^^ that there is a paypal button/link (if you're outside uk and you'd like a grab bag, email me or something and i'll figure out how much the postage is to where ever)
and in other zine related news, my last before christmas post trip will be this saturday so if you want anything from VAMPIRE SUSHI DISTRO, you better order friday night / early saturday morning at the latest!!
i went to see wild flag last night at the lexington with my old friend riikka. the support act was veronica falls, who also played last time when i went to the lexington to see comet gain.. not that i'm complaning! veronica falls were good, like last time. though the guitars seemed to be mixed louder than vocals and i could barely hear any of the singing... but it seems be part of their sound. wild flag were amazing. i don't even know where to start. i am incredibly sore today. i've been limping since last wednesday for am unknown reason, which wasn't made any better from dancing like a maniac all through the gig. and my neck is ever so sore from erm.. head banging. i also had a super excellent time hanging out with riikka. we did unplanned synchronized dances and talked a whole lot of rubbish in finnish. reminiscing and catching up. we need to hang out more, it's been too long and she's only in lewisham. that's not that far! return there is cheaper than to proper london. we might start a ukulele riot grrl cover band if i ever actually get one. it's weird though, i'd probably be a pretty different person if i hadn't met her on the internets some fifteen-ish years ago (at least 13)
i was supposed to go to the work christmas do tonight but i'm still super sore, and i've been in a bit of an antisocial mood and been completely confused from not getting up until noon. then again i didn't actually get home until 2am, since the last train stops everywhere. seriously, i was looking at the train stations and thinking "i'm not on the wrong train am i? i don't remember ever been through belvedere before!" oh and carl's poorly. i'm pretty sure he actually has a fever. or well, had earlier. he's less sizzling hot now. i don't want to catch anything off him. it's just not the time for me to be ill. it's december. in a toy shop. IT IS HELL. working in a toy shop will make you into a grinch, mark my words. (partial reason why i haven't been posting lately. too tired to think beyond reblogging stuff on tumblr. that and not having much to say...)
anyway, here's some pictures, you can view the full set here on my flickr.
veronica falls
wild flag
i only took 45 photos, but i'd totally have more if my battery hadn't run out couple of songs into wild flag. this is what happens when you don't recharge the batteries, just in case. seriously, the battery was showing up as full until i got to the venue and took 2 pictures of veronica falls. typical. i also only recently started using my dslr again, partially because i can't find my pocket size digital camera anywhere and a little bit cos i finally got a new lense cap! it seems the last time i had used it was in the beginning of march. shameful. though to be honest, beyond being akward, massive and missing a lense cap, it had also been acting up. refusing to recognize the memory card. i took it up to college sometime in the spring to ask for advice and another riikka, whom i went to uni with who is now a technician in the photography department, tried putting a different memory card in it but it was still acting up. so i don't know what's wrong with it. usually taking the card out and putting it back in again works, after a few times.. if anyone's got any ideas what's wrong with it and how to fix it (it's a nikon D70s) let me know!
oh and this afternoon i bought me a ticket to see wild flag again in february! cos you knows i had to.
carl has drawn a name out of the cauldron and the giveaway winner is... nuusa with 'the devil rides out' (also known as 'the devil's bride', mainly in the US, according to the internets)
CONGRATULATIONS, NUUSA!
incase you were wondering, i thought i'd share a small list of some of my favourite horror films (in no particular order) i must confess some of them are fairly obvious but whatever. i can't be queen of fucking indie all the time.
GINGER SNAPS, 2000
GINGER SNAPS II: UNLEASHED, 2003
i recently re-watched the first ginger snaps, and then finally watched the second one, and i have the third one waiting for me too for when i get around to it. i didn't expect much from ginger snaps II: unleashed, cos you know, it's a sequel and you know how sequels usually are but i highly recommend it. if for nothing else, the end. as i did not expect that. i will say no more.
THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, 2005
i enjoyed this more than the house of 1000 corpses, which i did love too but the beginning was a bit too much like a bad marilyn manson wannabe video. or maybe i just have a massive crush on sheri moon zombie hacking shit up. just so you know, i also liked rob zombie's halloween remake better than the original (i like backstory, and mr zombie provided it more than mr carpenter.)
DAWN OF THE DEAD, 1978
dawn of the dead is a classic for a reason. and to be honest, i have no desire to see the remake, cos it's that excellent. zombies in a shopping mall. also, love the day of the dead. carl made me watch a large chunk of his dad's horror collection when i lived at his house and the george romero's were on top of the pile, along with the usual suspects (texas chainsaw, evil dead, blah blah blah)
AUDITION, 1999
RINGU, 1998
during my first year, me and my housemates anna & julie watched.. i would say a lot of horror films but that would be a lie. in truth we only watched audition, the ring and blair witch project but we were all bloody terrified and they influenced our lives quite significantly. though i might just think that because i used to love sneaking up on the girls and pretending to be sadako. or going kiti-kiti-kiti at them (like asami. i've forgotten what it means now, it's been too long since i have seen audition) blair witch didn't make my list because to be honest it wasn't that scary in the end, but these were. or at least we were shitting ourselves because we were so on the edge expecting to be terrified that everything terrified us. which reminds me, i should probably watch the grudge sometime (the original japanese one) because we were watching it at college as something for a project, i think the voyerism project) and i had to leave after then minutes because everytime i got startled by creepy ghost child i would scream and well, that's not something i wanted to keep doing in the company of thirty odd people i saw daily.
THE OMEN, 1976
i have very fond memories of the whole omen series. i've even seen omen iv: the awakening with the really randomly evil little girl. though to be honest this is because one of the tv channels back home showed them all one summer and i had a tv at the end of my bed in my very own room! i rather enjoyed predicting who was going to die next. and for the record, i think i was wrong only once.
OUTPOST, 2008
carl's dad recommended this to us cos it had two of his favourite things: nazis and zombies (now if it had freddie mercury, i think he would have popped from happy) i expected it to be ok, but it was so good.
ATTACK THE BLOCK, 2011
carl says attack the block wasn't a scary movie but i beg to differ. monster movies count.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD, 2004
i don't really know if shaun of the dead counts as a horror film as it's just that funny, and on purpose. but i can't not include it on my list.
here's also some of my spooky to watch list: Brotherhood: Taegukgi (2004) Dead Snow (2009) The Troll Hunter (2010) Let the Right One In (2008) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) Sauna (2008) which is why none of those are on my list.
i've been feeling a bit crap lately. so i made a mix. (see comments for track listing)
in other news: don't forget about the giveaway! you've got until tomorrow night. also, if you're on tumblr, there's also a smaller giveaway there, all you have to do there is reblog to get yr name in the cauldron. that's until wednesday night.
it was vampire sushi's 2nd birthday yesterday! hurrah! i was going to post about it yesterday but i was too busy finishing up VAMPIRE SUSHI #2 so i could finally print it today during my lunchbreak. i was planning to do that monday, but i didn't manage to finish sunday night, and i just couldn't stay up untilstupid hour since mondays are hella busy and exhausting at work. not that going to bed at half one was that sensible. (stayed up til 3am last night. kinda dead now)
anyway.. VAMPIRE SUSHI #2 is available now at vampire sushi distro for 50 english pence. i could tell you what's in it but.. spoilers!
and to celebrate vampire sushi's 2nd birthday we are doing a special giveaway! all you have to do is comment on this blog post with your favourite scary/horror film & your email address and you (yes, YOU) could win:
a copy of vampire sushi #2 a free zine of your choice from the distro (up to £2.50) a vampire sushi 1" button badge various halloween trinkets/goodies and probably something else too!
you've got until next tuesday (8th nov) midnight GMT. the giveaway is open to everyone everywhere. i shall be announcing the lucky winner on the wednesday once i've got carl to pull a name out of my cauldron.
the hallowe'en window at my work. it's been hella busy all week.
i sort of dressed up yesterday for my trip to post office / town on saturday since i have no halloween plans this year. (still gutted about breaking my arm two weeks before halloween and missing ellie's halloween party. and tabling at a movie night thingie in london) i bought some fangs from work but damn they are so much whiter than my teeth so no vamp tukru. but i got some face paint and did this to myself:
i'm not entirely sure if i was a zombie or a ghoul or just generally dead and battered. did get quite a few funny looks in town. and compliments when i popped in at work. (actually i didn't add the white stiches til i got home and was supposed to put the pies in the oven. step away from the facepaint)
i've been meaning to post here for weeks and weeks but i never seem to know what to say or have anything to say or any pictures. or pictures of the stuff i wanted to talk about. or some other reason why it's not happening. i have new things i want to show you but my camera batteries have run out and i only just found the charger and the batteries and charged them.
i haven't been up to much, really. working, watching angel, working on the vampire sushi birthday zine (it's looking pretty damn awesome, even if i say it myself.) working some more, buying buffy comics (or as carl likes to correct me, graphic novels) off ebay, got a deck of tarot cards & borrowed a book from emma but i haven't sussed it out yet at all.
some of the post i've had in the last few weeks.
i should really be working on vampire sushi #2 instead of writing a shitty blog entry and watching ginger snaps 2: unleashed. i need to have it ready to print tomorrow during my lunch. and i'm so not anywhere near there yet. need to get cracking! i will be launching it tomorrow, along with a special 2nd birthday giveaway. keep your eyes peeled for it tomorrow.
VAMPIRE SUSHI #2 COMPILATION ZINE desperately needs your submissions! we have extended the deadline until 23rd OCTOBER now (since the original deadline was almost two weeks ago and we've received none…)
so yes, we are looking for drawings, photographs, collages, embroidery, anything! also considering horror stories and reviews of horror films! also, pictures / drawings of your past and present halloween costumes! the main theme is vampires but other monsters & horror creatures / themes are welcome too. anything related to twilight is not welcome, unless its taking the piss out of sparkly 'vampires'.
the zine will be quarter size / a6 but your piece doesn't have to be necessarily, we're perfectly able to resize things on the photocopier or in photoshop before we print it for the flats. you can either email us artwork in digital form or mail it (email us for the address).
we'd especially love zinesters we distro to take part in this compilation.
for more info comment, or email us at vampiresushidistro at gmail.com
i cannot believe i have not blogged about this here. i've blogged and reblogged this so many times on my tumblr i guess i just thought i had. blogger fail. anyway, it's only one more week til i need your submissions. and we need them real bad!. we’ve still only really have one that we’ve actually received. so pretty please! anything scary or halloween related will be most appreciated. please spread the word. (the latest tumblr post.)
i might blog about other stuff later on. i've been cranky and feeling brain dead lately.
this is where i'll be today with vampire sushi distro. oh and CARL'S COMING ALONG. well, he's currently grunting in the bed but he's supposed to meet me in town later (i have to pop into work to print out some orders first) and then be off to london. the other exciting part about camden zine fest is that i'm hosting a zine reading there at 3.30pm featuring cath of here. in my head, emma of fanzine ynfytyn and me. (also supposed to have lisa of sometimes i'm dreaming but unfortunately her new job's induction was changed to today! suckfest) i'm hella nervous, mostly because a) i haven't ever done this before and b) i was going to read a new piece i've been working on for #16 but i totes haven't finished it! i was frantically scribbling shit down for it last night during QI and missed all the quite interesting stuff. so yes, i have no idea what i'm going to read! woe ist me. anyway, i should go make a cup of coffee, some toast and get moving.
at this very moment, i should be knitting and chatting from behind a little round table with a horse patterned table cloth and a bunch of zine on it in sheffield at the sheffield zine fair, but.. i had a bit of a mini freak out yesterday about half an hour before i needed to leave the house to catch a train to london & a megabus to sheffield from there on. last weekend i went to sweden and had a bit of a rough time coming back (flight delayed by FOUR HOURS, had no sleep the night before because i figured oh i'll snooze on the plane leaving at 9.40 and be home in the late afternoon and chillax then. bollox to that plan, i got home in the evening had a pizza and a bath and went to bed at 10 and still was shattered on monday) and then had a bit of a shitty week at work (the good computer 'died' on tuesday and instead of having wednesday off i did short days on tuesday & wednesday, and then was SICK SICK SICK on thursday. like proper. puked everything out first thing in the morning and then felt really feeble and week all day and spent most of it in bed. and then had a super hectic day at work on friday trying to catch up with EVERYTHING since the computer worked again, apparently there was NOWT wrong with it in the end.) so yeah, i was shattered and my travel plans were just too easy to get fucked up (my megabus back was 45min after the zine fest finished, latest available coach anywhere for some reason) and i just needed to stay home for once. i had already packed the zines, i'd even been super organized and put them in the boxes in alphabetical order so it's easy to restock, AND i'd put the zines i was going to put out on the table first in a separate box. woah..
anyway. i've got another zine fest coming up in a couple of weeks:
2:30pm - 3:30pm: Working With Distros Hosted by Lizzy from Marching Stars Lizzy from Marching Stars Distro explains how to get the best from your interactions with distros and their owners.
3:30pm - 4:30pm: Zine Readings Hosted by Miss Tukru Cath from Here. In My Head, Lisa from Sometimes I’m Dreaming, Emma from Fanzine Ynfytyn and Tukru from Your Pretty Face Is Going Straight To Hell will be reading out loud from their zines.
SATURDAY 8TH OCTOBER, 1pm - 6pm The Pirate Castle, Oval Road. Camden, London NW1 7EA http://camdenzinefest.blogspot.com/ The Pirate Castle is a short distance away from Camden Town tube station (on the Northern line) and is also close to several bus stops (too many to name, but check the tfl website to plan your route).
Both floors of the Pirate Castle are fully wheelchair accessible via a lift. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet on both floors. Signs are marked in Braille as well as in large type. There is an induction loop on both floors.
yep, you read that right. i'm hosting a zine reading at the camden zine fest, along with having a table. i think i'm also dragging carl along to watch the stall while i run around. he's only ever been to two little zine fests in southampton and tunbridge wells in our first year of 'business', and both those fairs were really quiet and we were hella bored. but i think he'll be pleasantly surprised by a zine fair in london. he can also wander off to camden market if he pleases. it'll be nice to show him zine fests are actually quite fun!
i'm pretty nervous about the zine reading. i have no idea what i should read (any suggestions??) i'd love to read something new but the only zine i'm currently working on is the ark one and that's not necessarily particularly interesting to an outsider. i might start scribbling shit before then but who knows. i'm pretty sure there will be no new issue of pretty face for a while though. not until i get the ark stuff out of my head. but anyway, as a practice of sorts, i made a zine reading video earlier, from your pretty face #15.
as always, you can buy said zine and previous issues and plenty more from VAMPIRE SUSHI DISTRO. i've got a bunch of new zines in that i need to add to the catalog, which i'm going to do later today. i better go and get the washing out of the machine now. lots of towels! all our towels smell funny and today is bath day :( but yes, i shall update the vampire sushi tumblr when the new zines are actually up.
