December Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine:

The Beautiful Things Project

December at Syphmag has been a quiet month so far. We collect half-empty and assorted matchbooks and lighters bearing the names and slogans of our establishments of employment, and set our rough drafts on fire. We brush the papers against the windows, [...]]]> As seen at syphmag.net:

December Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine:

The Beautiful Things Project

December at Syphmag has been a quiet month so far. We collect half-empty and assorted matchbooks and lighters bearing the names and slogans of our establishments of employment, and set our rough drafts on fire. We brush the papers against the windows, melting the ice that’s formed there and scorching foreign, yet strangely authentic, new patterns onto the frosted glass. We enjoy our rewards as the warmed ice spills over onto the carpet in a small but cherished waterfall. We pass SBK’s camera amongst ourselves as we pose along side. A Syphmag Christmas vacation.

Why hold onto the past? We fill our stained, half-washed second hand pots and pans with our notes and letters; our old plans. We light them and we hold our icy hands over the flickering light of those ancient maps to our identities, those instigators to our accomplishments thus far. We watch as encouragement and anxieties from our former selves and friends burn brightly in our eyes, turning the cold blue light of our northern Canadian offices into a hot, warmly coloured tropical nightlife. Our subdued shivers could almost be called dancing.

The past is behind us, and your keepsakes lie forgotten, misplaced behind some ancient piece of furniture. You could light it all on fire, if need be, and you would survive this cruel season. You are separate from what has made you. You look for new things to collect; always new things to absorb and leave deflated in the basement sink.

Syphmag is here, with a new month’s worth of content. New comics from Rockmell and ‘Lil, a new poem from Winnipeg star Kram, and new prose from Betty McKenzie and Coyote Rosebud.

This month at SM²:

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New from Betty McKenzie:
Vinegar Hill.

New York is notorious as a place for the continent’s visionaries, but Betty McKenzie is onto the dream. In her third Leaving Story, Betty portrays a rare, disparate version of the city, where the movies and legends fail the actuality as much as the postcards.

New from Rockmell Comics:
Rockmell Year in Review: April through October
Resident science-head (and who isn’t trying to get hip with science, these days) Eli W. Rockmell draws half a year of memories, from biomedical conferences and Greek Proportion Theory to home-bleaching and Syphmag gallery shows.

New from : ‘Lil Comics:
The Beautiful Things Project
‘Lil’s newest mini series-comic, the first since her Winnipeg to Toronto hitchhiking epic, and follow up to The Coward Project, brings us a list of twenty-nine beautiful things, with accompanying tiny illustrations for each. Something sweet from the usually tough crowd at SM² – not to be missed.

New from Coyote Rosebud:
The Voracious Mouth of Roadkill Rita: Part Three
The third installation of The Voracious Mouth… takes a turn from the hedonistic as we find ourselves in a newly lit morning, our amorous characters changed from their performances of sleep, and with piano accompaniment.

New from Kram:
Chauffeur
In line with the holiday spirit, a funeral poem. After all – what year was that, when we unwrapped presents silently, while our parents sat dull and mournful before us? When we wore our newly uncovered, itchy sweaters to the viewing? When we learned that death, like our Kram, keeps no calendar? We bring you this poem on the gentle chance that the answer is ‘this one’.

New from Sketchbookkid Photo Diary:
Seemingly ever-tardy SBK collects a photo for each day in long past October, 2009. Spunky bands, hardwood floors, installations and the repetition of a few close friends fill this autumn month.
SBK would like us to note the camera problems plaguing October 2nd – October 13th, and their questionable artistic relevance.
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In a world of brief possession and revolving interests, it may be well to remember that parts of our worlds remain unchanging. Friends, the weather outside is sometimes frightful, no matter the longitude or hemisphere, and the new year will always bring with it some thoughts of those things past. Just remember: ten minutes of safety precautions can save hours of police reports and firemen’s lectures.

All our love at the close of 2009,

Nicolaas Van Roon, ed.

PS:
Was our update lacking in holiday spirit?
Syphmag reminds you that there are in fact two Tiny Tommy Christmas comics. 2006′s A Tiny Tommy Christmas Story (http://syphmag.net/tinytommycomics/07.htm), and 2007′s Elitist Misgivings Day (http://syphmag.net/tinytommycomics/31.htm). We’ve been assured that Tommy’s 2010 holiday comic will be the best yet, but until then, we hope you enjoy, and pass along, these old favourites.

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reposted by Syphmag friends, IT³.

November Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine:

The Drunk

Readers: as you spread your sweater-clad arms and throw them around the nearest body or bottle; as the autumn sets in and turns your leaves and hopes to crimson red; as you struggle through harsh winds, city dust that stings your eyes, and endless [...]]]> As seen at syphmag.net:

November Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine:

The Drunk

Readers: as you spread your sweater-clad arms and throw them around the nearest body or bottle; as the autumn sets in and turns your leaves and hopes to crimson red; as you struggle through harsh winds, city dust that stings your eyes, and endless rumours of deathly disease just to find someone, somewhere, who wants to listen to your gentle cries through this winter. Oh boys, oh girls, and oh casual or frantic undecideds: you are looking for the right party. You await the right moment, the right dress, the right pose.

You stand in doorways! You tip your glass, and you tip your head, and from the corner of your eye you watch the room and think, yes, this is the place, this is right, and I belong. You are not some sad, 80s chump just because you wear a cardigan sweater. You are real and alive and it is the year two thousand and nine, and you understand! You can jump over that line of human isolation and make connections; you are a grown organism with the understanding of several millenia behind you, and you will not be lonely. You will not be one of those sad and tormented fools of past musical decades.

And you touch the right places on all the right sweaters, and you smile your gorgeous, photographable smile, and you say so many right and relevant things, and you are gentle and good in your harmlessness; your words flying across the party like a pair of open arms. Yes, you will be always surrounded by true, wonderful friends who are also making these correct choices in attitude (influenced by you, no doubt, and also by their own fine graces and experience).

Yes, this world is right.

You walk home with your hand in hers and you expect nothing, readers, and of course you pretend to be as shy as decency requires, but you know the future, and you are at peace with it. And through the winter months while she lies in your arms, never once will you think of that fate you might have had, bitter and alone, cringing against the wall at each and every desperate attendance to each and every ridiculous party. You understand this world, and you have come to know that there is no other way; and now, you are simply thankful for it all.

Yet, gentle readers, sometimes art is on a different plane than life – and sometimes a good story about a bad party is just what the season requires. This week, we bring you two – as well as new photos from SBK’s photo diary, and an interview with two young men who seem to know when to carouse, when to collapse in despair, and when to combine the two with perfect harmony.

November at SM²:

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New from Kram:
The Drunk
A lively, endless discussion at a party is contrasted against the detached world of it’s quiet participant: the celebration’s cold and silent host, glass in hand.

New from Coyote Rosebud:
The Voracious Mouth of Roadkill Rita: part two
Our beloved Rita flounces amid the party-goers of Coyote’s last installment, committing one adulterous and criminal act after the other; until someone manages to take this wild and cruel young beauty home, with completely unforeseen results.

New from Sketchbookkid Photo Diary:
Photos from August and September. In thousands of pixelated colours, the busy and emotional turmoil of enigmatic and unreachable SBK.

New Interview:
Present Ghosts of Freddy Ruppert: A Sighting of Former Ghosts
An interview, conducted between our sister company IT³ and Californian band Former Ghosts, about the inevitable appearance of the personal in art.
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Sometimes the party is over, friends, and we must wipe the whiskey from our chins and find our shoes by the door.

This month, we end our update with some business, and some news.

Syphmag’s news posts, dear readers, will now appear each month in all of the usual places, as well as in blog format at http://imtrying.net [note: you're here!].

An interview with none other than myself also appears (reposted from our site) here, and our new RSS feed, which will be combined with IT³’s charming art blog, The State of the Arts in Canada, and the posts of our publishing house, I’m Trying I’m Trying I’m Trying, Ltd. All worthy reading to keep you warm through every accidental stumble during this oncoming winter.

The new Syphmag RSS feed can be accessed here.

More news: interviews! Syphmag wants your interviews. Our standards are high, our criticisms harsh, but if you have an interview conducted in the past with anyone, or anything, that you, dear reader, deem relevant in this life, or if you have an idea for a future endeavor, please, contact us. We have decided, contrary to our usually stringent content policies, to accept guest and reader contributions to our interview page.

Interviews and pitches may be submitted to magazine@syphmag.net.

Payment for all accepted contributions will be unmonetary, but of value. Speaking of which, Syphmag has a store. Thank you for your patronage.

Our thanks to those who have visited us at Canzine, Expozine, & etc.

Until next month, a friend of your heart of love, and your heart of practicality,

Nicolaas Van Roon, ed.

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reposted by Syphmag friends, IT³.

October Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine: Year 3 Begins & The Voracious Mouth of Roadkill Rita

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Little lambs: have you missed us? We’ve been busy. Syphmag took a brief hiatus last month to fight bitter biding wars for web domains, clean up the debris of our last show, and snuggle up a little closer [...]]]> As seen at syphmag.net:

October Update at Syphilitic Mermaids Magazine:

Year 3 Begins & The Voracious Mouth of Roadkill Rita

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Little lambs: have you missed us? We’ve been busy. Syphmag took a brief hiatus last month to fight bitter biding wars for web domains, clean up the debris of our last show, and snuggle up a little closer with our investors (read: menial dayjobs).

If you attended our last show in Toronto, thank you. Syphmag truly appreciates your love, support, and shy but resolute ability to eat fine finger foods. Dearest readers, we are your friend in every dimension.

This month marks an important anniversary for Syphmag – our second year of content is officially over, and our third year has begun.

Syphmag, a transient magazine by nature, has come to you from a variety of residences: from our roots in underground rooms in west & east Toronto, to our first-year homes in New York City, Atlanta, or the parking lot of Google Inc. (outside of San Francisco), to the Canadian cities of Winnipeg and Montreal – and now, at least briefly, back to our offices in Toronto. What does all this moving mean?

All the better to reach you with, my dears.

And yet, we are a little world weary. We begin to feel a little lost. And thus, friends, this month, our first installment of year three, we bring you an abbreviated update, featuring only our most cherished of writers: Coyote Rosebud, Dottie Jax, Bettie McKenzie, and Kram.

Welcome to year three, friends, and we hope you enjoy the ride.

October at SM²:

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New from Coyote Rosebud:
The Voracious Mouth of Roadkill Rita: part one
A party, two dancers, and a room full of dangerous lovers in this psychologically erotic and mysterious first installment of a strange short story.

New from Betty McKenzie:
Leaving Stories 2: The Bay St. Bus.
Betty breaks the Syphmag mold (and rules) with a second installment of her diary-style project: The Leaving Stories. As sunlight shimmers over the financial district of Betty’s soon to be abandoned home city, an unnoticed goodbye is attempted.

New from Dottie Jax:
Things I Used to Like
A man recounts an early minor, and minor, obsession with a young girl, as Dottie continues her method of employing classic principles of cadence and flow to write portray the internet and our relationships amidst technology – whether this is a conscious fixation or natural interest of hers, we’re not sure.

New from Kram:
Poem’s Name
Kram comes back to us with an unexpected love poem; seeming to break away from his callous whiskey nights and miraculously find some kind of wonder, again, as he watches the object of his nameless affection swirl ahead. A moonlit and vulnerable piece from our usually dark and hardened Kram; not to be missed
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And with that we’ll leave you now, gentle children, with a link to photos of our A Recession of Mortality show:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketchbookkid/sets/72157621945466310/show/,

and our fondest hopes that even amid the tearful despair of Autumn, that we may inspire you to turn your chin upwards, ever upwards, above the ghost of our hand.

With love, and until November,

Nicolaas Van Roon, ed.

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reposted by Syphmag friends IT³