The DIY Balance

Have spent the evening baking cupcakes for tomorrow's Minion Fest. They look really good, and I'll have to make the baklava and the rest of the cookies tomorrow. The cookies turned out pretty funny: they're peanut butter and I baked them in muffin tins instead of on cookie sheets, and they've come out in little bowls like Yorkshire puddings. They taste awesome!

Kitty Moran turned up out of the blue this afternoon. She mentioned that she might stop by, but I didn't get her text until after she'd been and gone. This is remarkable because she lives more than an hour away. The doorbell rang about five, and there she was with The Jackal, holding a huge bucket of gluten-free lemon and sultana cupcakes. She stayed for about a half hour, kept her sunglasses on the whole time, and then The Jackal took her back to the train station. I am always impressed by her effort. It was all very spy movie -- I felt extremely out of place wearing my pyjamas in the Headquarters. Let it be known that The Antagonist socialises with the most exciting Villains around!

Not sure what to expect for the Minion Fest tomorrow night. I know a few people can't make it, but loads of people are helping out. Not many RSVP'd, but I'm not sure how reliable of an indicator Facebook is. I also posted an open invitation on MySpace, so God knows. I better bake some more cupcakes just in case...

Punk John was working on his DJ set earlier. At one point he actually pulled out the Reality Bites soundtrack and played me the "most '90s songs ever" which were Spin the Bottle and something by The Indians. He was right, and that doesn't make them inherently bad, but the weird tempo on Spin the Bottle made me crazy. We wound up talking about drummers in abstract - I wanted to know why we have such a bad reputation, and The Punk just laughed at me.

In other news, there's been some photocopier-related intrigue. The leasing company can't deal with the magazine because it isn't a registered company yet, so there are a number of ways to proceed:

1. Get registered as a business and get the lease anyway.
2. Buy the damned thing and register later.
3. Print with an actual printing company and damn the profits.

It's looking like we're going to register as a business no matter what, and we'll either buy the copier or start printing with this lovely (and helpful) company we've just discovered. I got the estimate from them this week and although it would cost twice as much to produce that way, it would look a lot more like a magazine than a DIY zine.

This raises another issue. We ARE a DIY zine. The trouble is getting the balance right between proper "old school" DIY and large scale publication. Having discussed it with the Usual Suspects, we think we should have it printed in black and white but have a colour cover. How's that for compromise? That's how Bitch does it, and that's how The Chap did it for ages. It worked for them, and it seems like it's the next logical step for us.

The next illogical step is The T-Shirt. We've found a great company in Cardiff willing to do them fast and cheap. This is a major breakthrough. We're expecting to place the first order for sale over the website within the next week or two. We'll start with a small order -- say 50 -- and see how they do before ordering any more.

First thing though, we've got to get the June issue out. We'll have to work slowly on distributors, but we've got to get a physical object out to them and the readers before we can do much else. The speed at which we can do this depends on Minion Fest tomorrow night and the Late Nite bakesale at DEAD OF NIGHT. We're doing this, but I won't know how big a miracle to pray for until the end of the weekend.

That's okay. I'm just crazy enough to make it work.