EZINES
Backto 1997 EDUCATIONAL LINKS... by Nanis
http://www.demon.co.uk/london-calling
Ignore the patronising echoes of an outdated Home Service,this is an excellent, easy to use site that serves more thanthose in the capital. There is lifestyle, leisure-orientededitorial with the emphasis on film and media news; articles onSheffield's intelligent techno label, Warp, and low budget urbanloft living. You can also walk round Portobello Market withoutbumping into Trustafarians.
Top of Page |
http://www.ftech.net/~yush/
What is it? Promisingly provocative slang-filled laid backblack culture 'zine in a bonafide ruff neck style. YÄsh Ponlinemashes up British, Afro-American and Jamaican opinion and polemicwith a more relaxed sideways review of black arts and culture.Alongside an article on Bono claiming Bob Marley for the Irish, apiece about masturbation in the bible or the secularisation ofRastafari, there's an equally fine review of the latest Loadedlifestyle craze, lap dancing; a profile of Lisa I'Anson, an itemon Bob Marley getting the Marvel comic treatment, a dis of ackeeand saltfish and a preview of Gaytime TV. Is that varied enough?And it gets better, seen!
Top of Page |
http://www.urban75.demon.co.uk/
Mike Slocombe's Brixton-based ezine covers the undergroundmusic and politics scene in a lively and informative fashion.Slocombe is involved in a number of political campaigns fromReclaim The Streets to Football Supporters against the CriminalJustice Bill and here you can read his latest exploits as well askeeping an eye on forthcoming events. Full of energy and welldesigned this could well become one of the essential UK ezines.
Top of Page |
http://www.microweb.com/traffic/
These days it seems like every other person online is awannabee Coupland, the new Marshal McLuhan or just somenew-media-mad meglamaniac with their own personal axe to grind.Traffic is yet another of these observational diatribes onconsumerism, mass culture and the digitised debris collecting onthe Web...but it's good!
Top of Page |
http://www.SALON1999.com/
Salon is an interactive magazine dedicated to ideas, booksand the arts in general, and its bristling manifesto pledgesprimary allegiance to the written word. Developing the theme of alate 18th century debating society, it provides a place forpeople to congregate and engage in intellectual discussion, kindof like a highbrow happening on anything from Jane Austen orcrack culture to the exodus of smart young things going East, asin Asia (not New York)! The list of staff behind this effortreads like a who's who of American journalism: ex-San FranciscoExaminer staff, Village Voice, Vanity Fair writers, a one-timecontributing editor of Hotwired and so on. But if you thinkyou'll have trouble tagging along with the top thinkers, don'tworry Ü it's not that hard to keep up.
Top of Page |
http://www.retroactive.com/
Picking your way through the pages of Retro is like riflingthrough the first two thirds of the 20th century, coming across aGoblin teasmaid and breaking into a mile-wide grin because itworks. Its affectionate catalogue of familiar household objects,old commercials, 30s shoes, Pengin paperbacks, Italian scootersand sexily-styled American cars is an expertly edited read about20th century lifestyles, design and entertainment Ü like a junkwarehouse with words. The San Francisco-based magazine'sold-style love affair with jazz, blues and Hawaiian eight-noteharmonies is a real find for the early popular music fan and fromthe casual browser of kitsch to the serious 'practically antique'collector, Retro looks back at the modern stuff we took forgranted and writes about anything that ever had any style.
Top of Page |
http://www.tir.com/~rtw/rtw.htm
An eclectic popular culture ezine from the US which featuresdiverting dissertations on topics such as the enduring appeal ofsafety films, how the Honda 50 won the hearts of Americans andBing Crosby's landmark contribution to recording technology. Someof the pieces are over-long but the graphics are clean and sharpÜ a knowing site.
Top of Page |
http://pathfinder.com/people/
A length of fuse burning from each side of the screen changeson the click of a mouse to a filing cabinet, finally opening toreveal a 'whatever happened to?' feature about the stars of cultTV series Mission Impossible. This is the weekly American Peoplemagazine online, featuring stars of film and TV or the rich andglamorous and, like this particular issue's Demi Moore coverstory, it spares no details of their alcohol, drug, family andtrouble-getting-on-with-normal-people problems. The cover is animage map, so you can go straight to anything or anyone thattakes your fancy. It's gossip, but extremely well written at thatand with cool artwork.
Top of Page |
http://www.internic.net/newsletter
A free newsletter about the evolution of the Internetavailable in hard copy and electronic formats. NO LONGERAVAILABLE.
Top of Page |
http://www.nrv8.com/
Less self-consciously cool than some of the other 'wiredgeneration' ezines but not quite as interesting. Much of the magis caught up in campus concerns - PC or anti-PC pieces composedin a condescending sixth form style. It's nicely designed butsomewhat self-contained and lacking in hotlinks. Still, don'twrite 'em off too soon Ü these things take time.
Top of Page |
http://www.wco.com/~coconutg/
Mister Lucky is a suave, sophisticated lounge lizard's manualof laid back cocktail jazz and its accompanying debonair drinks.It seems to come straight out of an era that owes nothing totechnology and everthing to Jay Gatsby. A decadent mix of musicand alcohol, that blends your favourite Vodka Martini with bossanova beats. Swing by.
Top of Page |
http://www.melvin.com/
When journalistic parody is this finely honed, it ends upbecoming what it apes. Perhaps Melvin will find its way into theMurdoch stable. NO LONGER AVAILABLE
Top of Page |
http://www.magnetmag.com/
There's nothing particularly remarkable about Magnet but itis very aptly named because, against expection, it somehow drawsyou in. Proficiently put together and moderately well-designed,it covers all points on the compass from entertainment andlifestyle stuff to design and technology. If one were beinguncharitable, one might say Magnet's approach is nothing out ofthe ordinary, except some of the film stuff is about up andcoming directors and screenwriters who aren't often mentionedelsewhere and a recent article on marine parks, 'From Flipper ToFree Willy', was more enjoyable than might be imagined.
Top of Page |
http://dougal.derby.ac.uk/lpoets
Having stumbed across this journal of new poetry, it is quiteimpossible to come away without having been touched or moved insome respect Ü especially by the very fact it is there. Aperfect page for those quiet and reflective moments.
Top of Page |
http://www.publicshelter.com
Mind-bogglingly well linked online version of author andfilm-maker Jayne Loader's witty mag, combining passions of media,anti-censorship and anti-nuclear issues to give an irreverentjourney onlineî. Stemming from her involvement with the 1982highly-prized document The Atomic Cafe, about propaganda culledfrom material produced by the US government,î Loader's creativejuices flow freely, as in her 'co-authored' I Was a Hollywood SexSlave by Carrie Jo Starkweather. The tale in question is one ofexploitation and racial hatred, weaving surprising links to theWhite Aryan Resistance Hate Page dedicated to white racismî anda page of vibrators for sale. Short on graphics, long on(hyper)text and Ü most appealing of all Ü it plumbs the depthsof sanity and good taste.
Top of Page |
http://www.inquisitor.com/
Eschewing the ultra hip in return for a more relaxed, lessself-conscious sideways glance at technology and culture, DannyDrennan's Inquistitor is full of quirky articles and smart ,ascerbic, observational stuff. High-tech Low Tech looks attechnological advances down at Toys R Us, whilst Iconographycharts the cultural icons that changed our lives. Check it out.
Top of Page |
http://www.fused.com
At first I thought this was just another ezine about UKclubs, music and related culture. Thankfully Fused is a livelyand informative read which looks as though a helluva lot of workhas gone into it. You can go in on music categories such asChill-out, Drum 'n' Bass, Dub, House, Hard House or Techno orreview what's new on the site. Each section has reviews of newreleases and charts from record shops and labels. A real labourof love.
Top of Page |
http://www.clock.co.uk
The revamped and relaunched Camden Lock Web site from DelphiCreative is certainly impressive. The design is very slickalthough it can be a bit confusing. Content is varied andincludes everything from UK film industry gossip to Speedocompetitions. I could have done without the anti-IRA rant fromWavy Davy Winder though. Still, a well thought-out and involvingsite that could well set itself up as the online magazine for thecapital.
Top of Page |
http://www.aber.ac.uk/~ednwww/Click/click.html
For millions of media studies students the Internet does somethings really well. It allows them to tap into an academicnetwork of texts and papers on Baudrillard, Barthes, Foucault andthe like, but it also provides examples of the ways in whichpeople use popular texts to make sense and meaning from the worldand to derive pleasure from it. Is this making any sense? WhereClick, a media and culture Webzine from the University of Wales,falls down is that it's somewhere between the two Ü a fairlyunelucidating opinion on a widely circulated cultural productlike Die Hard With a Vengeance or Calvin & Hobbes does notmake you Toby Young or Julie Burchill. Bring back the ModernReview!
Top of Page |
http://www.exclamation.com/blow/
As soon as you get to grips with one Webzine it spawnsanother publication which fires off some sarcastic riposte. Thegay young blades at Blow, as opposed to Suck (the adoptedhalf-sister of Hot Wired) did the Suck parody last November butcontinue to warrant attention having now carved out their veryown niche. Anti-authoritarian in approach and railing against thetired and lazy attitudes of the now established Netocracy, Blowis short (usually just one well written column at a time), sharp,erudite and spiteful but totally clued up on everything wired.Compulsive.
Top of Page |
http://www.echonyc.com/~BOMB/
Funky intellectual community blah blah from an elitecollective of explosive East Coast talent. Bomb is an establishedNew York quarterly devoted to new writers, poets, filmmakers,artists, actors and musicians. Put it on your hip list and callup the Bomb squad.
Top of Page |
http://www.cupcake.com
Sugar pink shouty dream 'zine with all the attitude of Ügrrr Ü riot grrrl and the PR push of Barbie. Foxy shots of coolclothes and shoes, my so-called-life opinion stuff and musicthat's smokin'. Superb small screen functionality (top framesaction) and loadsa Shockwave tactics. Best-made mixture of X-girlingredients. Straight out of San Francisco.
Top of Page |
http://www.demon.co.uk/andys/index.html
Andy's is a rather odd Internet combo, as it operates both asa South London access provider and a dedicated music andentertainment server. Content is of the weird and wonderfulvariety Ü bands like The Forest Hill Billies, The Lost T-shirtsof Atlantis, Radio Tip Top's booking agency and listings for acouple of South London dives. Southside artists exhibit work andthere are links to the delights of Deptford and Lewisham, as wellas an off-the-wall ezine which is shot through with an admirable,if slightly amateurish, enthusiasm. All in all a bit of a mess,not in a bad way, it's just a little overwhelming, but Andy'ssite gets one thing right Ü a real feeling of Sarf London.
Top of Page |
http://www.tripod.com
Tripod comes off like a wacky little community with aconscience, engaging with all sorts of issues in a fairly savvykind of way. It's quite difficult to get a grip on its agenda,though as a guide it's based at the University of Tennessee. Someof the writing is quite condescending in a'it's-for-your-own-benefit' sort of way. Currently it'spreoccupied with the American primaries and there's somediscussion about Northern Ireland and the IRA but, overall,content is broad-based, quite newsy and continually updated.Other areas cover work and money, lifestyle and travel, so onbalance it probably works for students Ü sort of worthy butinformed. Tripod should also be applauded for its design and thestrength of its supporting links. A good example for studentjournos to follow.
Top of Page |
http://www.culturezone.com
The kaleidoscopic patterns and colours that jump off the pageat CultureZone are like Alice in Wonderland gone mad at thepic'n' mix. A jumble of art spaces, fashion pieces and filmdoodlings are thrown together in a sort of virtual trifle.Unfortunately, the whole riotous experience is completelydestroyed by the amount of hanging around one is forced to dojust waiting to download the hideously huge graphics that gracejust about every page. One is tempted not to bother.
Top of Page |
http://www.suck.com
Suck comes off like Hotwired's little sister - sussed,Net-savvy and stamping its spoilt little foot. Its dailydissection of Internet culture is unfailingly accurate,brattishly smart and in front of all the rest. The thing is,however, it knows it's part of an online elite and consequentlyits sleek sophisticated pages come off a teensy weensy bit snideand smug.
Top of Page |
http://www.cerbernet.co.uk/fly/
Have you ever made that tough decision in the newsagents Üwhether to make for Mojo or Smash Hits? At last a music monthlythat has no need of niche marketing and ads. This means Fly'smusic coverage is imaginative, expansive and inclusive of allgenres and decades, although the emphasis is on black music,jungle, hip hop and jazz. The writing is respectful butunpretentious and, as DJ Gilles Peterson would say, It's allabout joining the dots.î
Top of Page |
http://www.xmission.com/~gam/Riot/
Now that I've read Soccer Riot, I'll tell ya what I'm gonnado. I'm gonna fix me a hamburger with ketchup and onions.I'm gonna pour me a tall RC Cola with crushed ice from myfreezer. And I'm just gonna take it easy. Same thing I doneyesterday. Same thing I done the day before that.î The kind ofmail this sweet little 'zine inspires says much more thanInternet can. Rather inexplicably, it's got nothing whatsoever todo with football.
Top of Page |
http://fatgirl.factory.net
Shouty celebration of all that's fine about being a fat dyke.Big-assed chicks say what they like about being big. Readers areexhorted to participate in dyke direct action on the dietindustry. Queen-sized mamas offer advice on large-ing it abouttown and good-time girls relate their Roseanne-type tales.Enormous fun.
Top of Page |
http://www.io.org/~bme/
Body Modification Ezine is the official organ ofrec.arts.bodyart (fnarrgh fnarragh). It's a highly sophisticatedsource of information on piercing and tattooing and offers a realexploration of the everyday concerns of this no-longer-obscurefetish culture. According to the aficionados, no, it doesn'thurt.
Top of Page |
http://www.react.com/
Probably of most interest to the pre-teen, this site isbright, fun and extra-shiny clean. You can bet your so-calledlife that your parents would approve - there's stuff on theenvironment, high school hang-ups and something called the funzone. It's a difficult age!
Top of Page |
http://www.emedia.net/feed/index.html
Feed is not as accessible as it sounds, although it isdefinitely worth a read. Far from being a weird, whacked out magfull of slacker angst, as its name suggests, its text-heavyessays, researched in richly obsessive detail, offer superblywritten, stylish analyses of American politics and culture. Thegraphics are great too. Phew!
Top of Page |
http://www.anorak.co.uk
Anorak, the UK's first daily ezine, is aimed specifically atpeople with a spare five or ten minutes who use the Internet atwork. It caters to those using Netscape, Mosaic, Chameleon andWindows 95. Mildly diverting, it includes a round up of the day'stabloid top stories. The daily competition is quite bloke-ish inits appeal.
Top of Page |
http://www.mordor.com/sfw/
What is it with sci-fi fans? They walk round with a bigbrainful of knowledge about some of the weirdest stuff on earth(and beyond), but when they try and tell you about it, it justsounds dull? This isn't. Each week the magazine has sections onfilm, fiction, screen and sci-fi news and in the future (ho ho)it should become one of the best resources for all SF fans.
Top of Page |
http://www.word.com/
Style may occasionally triumph over content in this totallycool looking mag, but many happy hours can be spent mulling overodd little iconographic musings on popular culture and thepost-hippie, wigged out, Gen X American Way, regardless. The mostfun, though, is to be had from the top little technical tricks,like animated icons operating via Server Push and a chance to tryout Real Audio on almost every page.
Top of Page |
http://www.virtual-publishing.com/cyberfi/
There's no getting round the fact that most hi-fi magazinesare always a bit sniffy...goes with the territory. This weekly,highly professional electronic journal is definitely worth a lookfor its top 100 hi-fi products alone.
Top of Page |
http://www.geopages.com/RodeoDrive/1044/
Surfing pets, alien porn Web pages - these are just some ofthe satirical stories from the Web's answer to The NationalEnquirer.
Top of Page |
http://iiif.dgp.utoronto.ca:80/caketimes
Don't take Internet's word for it, go see this ultra-coolAmerican ezine outfit for yourself. Example: supermodels/serialkillers a comparison Ü supermodels are known by their first name(Elle, Cindy, Claudia); serial killers are known by their lastname (Gacy, Dahmer and Bundy). Delicious.
Top of Page |
http://www.demon.co.uk/state51/phat/index.html
Boys cried when Phat folded in the real world. It was like amag for lads before Loaded came along. Most of the material herecame out a couple of years ago but, if you missed it first timeround, check the tribute to John Craven, Reasons Not to Be aRagga and its regular Freeze Frame feature. Take one babe, oneblockbuster movie and hit the pause button on the best bits.
Top of Page |
http://www.liii.com/~mcpart/cyanide.htm
Cool name, content needs a bit of work. Spoof copy aboutcyberculture and a load of made-up names... It's all probablysome really big 'in' joke but who's to know? Still, there's acouple of good links into the unknown.
Top of Page |
http://www.nsl.co.uk/nsl/escot/
Up-to-date information on Scottish networking. It's all inthe attitude and good writing as they promise to stay fast andkeep the graphics content low.
Top of Page |
http://www.gold.net/flames/
A site devoted to expressions of discontent Ü or just havinga good old rant. There is some interesting invective up here,plus reports from recent conferences and shows, and the materialchanges fairly regularly. Peter Kruger offers the full text ofarticles to other publications for a fee.
Top of Page |
http://www.delphi.co.uk
London's crusty capital, Camden Lock, is a bit like this homepage Ü a mess. Pieces on piercing, pervy French lessons,excerpts from Douglas Coupland's Microserfs and scraps of localnews are, at worst, boring and indulgent but, at best, excellentand good fun. Calling yourself Europe's most innovative Websiteî might seem a bit stupid. It is! But this frequentlychanging site with a sense of humour is worth checking every nowand again. Best bit: interactive ferret racing - coming soon to apair of trousers near you.
Top of Page |
http://www.virtual.co.uk/sense/
This London lifestyle and arts-based magazine has the usualnews, reviews and listings on galleries and clubs. A few articleson the new technology and cutsie logos make it look quite nicebut best to wait and see how it develops.
Top of Page |
http://www-bioc.rice.edu/~clarage/netsam.html
Netsam is an innovative four dimensional journal of hyperrealtales embedded with links off into bizarre multimedia forays.There are jewels of every media type hidden amongst its bowers.
Top of Page |
http://www.mcs.net/~rune/home.html
This 'intellectual' erotic journal carries photographs,letters, humour, fictional and true stories, reviews and shorts.If that sounds offensive don't look at it.
Top of Page |
http://www.etext.org/Zines/Intrrr.Nrrrd/intrrr.html
The exciting thing about ezines is the variety of multimediacontent that can be carried, such as text, music, animation andeven software applications, all within a magazine format. As yetit's rather amateur, but few have the resources to attractquality contributions, and even when they do you only see asnippet of the paper version. This one has a little, but notquite enough, of everything. Its focus is on form rather thanbulk, but there are still at least a few visual nuggets worthinspecting.
Top of Page |
http://www.easynet.co.uk/fix/fix.htm
Terrestrial titles like I-D and the Face haven't as yet hadany serious online competition from e-mag formats like FiX. Anoft-followed formula of youth, music and fashion, it's stillworth a look for the logo alone.
Top of Page |
http://desires.com/ud/1.1/urban_toc.html
Billing itself as an interactive magazine of metropolitanpleasures, this glossy modern e-zine really delivers. It has wellwritten modern city stories on technology, eating, sex, music,art, performance, style, politics and more. There's even alengthy gruesome comic strip which, despite its graphic detail,loads quite quickly due to a clever three-part download. Ifyou're thinking of publishing comics or graphics on the Internet,don't miss this site.
Top of Page |
http://hcrl.open.ac.uk/psyche/psyche
An electronic interdisciplinary journal of consciousnessresearch with articles, commentaries and book reviews on suchsubjects as vagueness, semantics, the language of thought,delineating conscious processes and contrastive analysis. Whenyou've figured that lot out, you can try the links to otherphilosophical Gophers and resources.
Top of Page |
http://www.ora.com:8080/johnl/e-zine-list/
Probably the longest list of electronic magazine linksavailable on the Web. Unfortunately there are no attacheddescriptions so unless the title is self-explanatory it's a hitor miss affair.
Top of Page |
http://etext.archive.umich.edu/
An archive of electronic magazines which you can Gophersearch by name or title.
Top of Page |
http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html
Subscribe and receive a weekly free list of reviewed Websites written in either HTML or plain text. Current and backissues are also available online. It's better to subscribe to theHTML version as Netscape can take advantage of its links. Thisservice is funded by the Netsurfer Marketplace, the onlineshopping mall, which can also be reached from this address.
Top of Page |
http://freeside.com/phrack.html
First published in 1985, Phrack magazine has printedcontroversial and often anarchic articles for the hackercommunity. You can download or browse back issues and subscribefree to the quarterly.
Top of Page |
http://www.wired.com
Until recently, the world's hippest publication, a stylemagazine about technology, delivered some of the world's dullestWeb pages. Now, though, Wired is steadily evolving its electronicproduct into HotWired. Keep checking on this because it's gettingbetter all the time, and the title itself is soon to bedistributed in the UK by the Guardian.
Top of Page |
http://kzsu.stanford.edu/uwi/f5e/f5e.html
Home to weird e-zines such as Addicted To War, Tarot News andPsychotronic Video.
Top of Page |
http://www.york.ac.uk/~jjrk1/
As well as links to pages of basic information about theInternet - like the Big Dummy's Guide - this site includesscholarly, illustrated discussions of hacker culture and thepolitics of cyberpunk, pornography and the sexual aesthetic ofthe Internet.
Top of Page |