Submissions for issue ten are all in and we’ve begun the long, but very exciting process of selecting, editing and designing. We’ve received a wide range of amazing submissions from over 40 people for the next issue, and its going to be a challenging task to weave it all together.

In order to do this we need some glue to hold things together, and I’m hoping you (whoever you may be) can help. So, a small request to tell us something beautiful. It could be a few words, a line a paragraph, a simple testimonial of an experience, person, object, etc. that you found beautiful. We’re not looking for anything overwrought, philosophical or “poetic”, just an honest description.

You can leave your response(s) in the comments below or send it to me by email. Looking forward to hearing from you…

PS. The fugue is still going too… sort of.

Once again this year I was honoured to be selected by my good friend Oliver Vodeb to act as a jury member for Memefest, the international festival of radical communication. For the last seven years, Memefest has challenged students, professionals, artists and activists around the globe to create and present work that counters the dominant (read capitalist) communications environment, both in theory and practice.

This year’s theme was radical beauty (from which we drew our inspiration for issue ten) and it certainly proved to be quite a challenge. A lot of work didn’t manage to quite stick to the brief, and I found that many particpants failed to contextualise their work, but nonetheless some exceptional pieces emerged. A nice development saw a growing number of participants from the UAE, which certainly proved to be an interesting challenge for me as a juror, being rather naive to that particular communications context. A selection of works from this year’s festival will also be included in issue 10!

The results of the festival are in, so please go check it out and be sure to browse through the archive of past years as well. You’ll find a ton of inspirational, radical work.

Due to technical difficulties and our inherent generous nature, we’ve decided to extend the submission deadline for issue 10 by one week. The deadline is now Thursday, May 22nd. Which also happens to be my birthday. yay!Please click here to see the original call.

It feels like the end of an era. Last Saturday I spent the evening with Dave Widgington and co. at his beautiful bed and breakfast to celebrate Cumulus Press’ ten years of independent publishing. It was a great evening, with booze and conversation flowing freely, many friends and family members in attendance, two brilliant spoken word performances from Kalmunity Collective members, and a delicious cake adorned with the Cumulus logo in baby blue icing sugar.

The lively yet intimate event also signaled the end of Cumulus Press… Dave has decided to leave the publishing world behind and jump into a career of film making. And though I’m personally saddened by the loss of such a brilliant press, which dealt primarily in my own top two interests of politics and poetry (and recently, comix as well!), I wish him all the best and know that we’ll be seeing much more from him in the near future.

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We’re very pleased to announce that copies of Four Minutes to Midnight issues eight and nine are now available for purchase at the beautiful Drawn & Quarterly bookstore in the Mile End, Montreal (211 Bernard West). D & Q’s work has always been an incredible inspiration and we’re honoured to be featured in their local collection.

Four Minutes to Midnight is now accepting poetry, prose and visual art submissions for its tenth issue, due out this fall. The zine has come a long way since its humble photocopied beginnings and to mark this journey we’ll be pulling out all the stops for Issue 10. We’re aiming to double the page count, increase the print run and even include a full-colour section. It’s going to be one beautiful little brick of a book.

The theme this time around revolves around the concept of RADICAL BEAUTY/SUBVERSIVE BEAUTY, interpreted however you please. We want to move away from the criticism, cynicism and self-effacing irony towards something more celebratory and empowering. The time feels ripe for it.

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I’m very pleased to announce the launch of the new Secret City Records website. This amazing Montreal-based independent record label hosts a small but incredibly talented roster of artists including Patrick Watson, The Go! Team and Plants and Animals. The site design and build was the result of a fruitful collaboration between LOKi design and Delmarr, featuring some very tight css scripting by Chris Desjardins.

We’re still working out a few kinks and getting all the content in place, but please check it out and let us know what you think. Welcome to our little corner of the web, your ears and eyes will thank you…

Mentioned previously on this blog, Oubliette’s cute and sinister skull keychains/magnets are now available through the interweb on the amazing craft site etsy.com. They make the perfect end of winter gift, so please visit her shop and support the indy crafts revolution.