Pretty Ugly has a stall at the zine fair in Melbourne this Saturday.

We’ll be selling issues #4 – #6 of our zine.

Be there and get ugly.

Fair details at Sticky Institute.

It took a while but it’s finally here! Issue #6 is currently making its way to zine stores and distros around the country. You can also buy a copy from our online shop for $3.50 plus postage or less when purchased with past issues.

Issues #4, #5 and #6 of Pretty Ugly will be available from the following stockists from June 15, 2009.

Sticky Institute
Degraves Subway
Shop 10 Campbell Arcade
Melbourne City

Adelaide Zine Shop
23 Peel St, Adelaide City
(between Hindley & Currie Sts)
Open 3-6PM Monday through Friday & 12-3PM Saturdays

Bird In The Hand
100a King Street, Newcastle, NSW (opens mid to late June).
www.zines.bigcartel.com

There’s a new zine resource on the scene that helps zine makers connect with zine readers. Zine Classifieds is exactly what the name suggests, a place for zinesters to post ads about their zines. It’s browsable by category and features listings from all over the world. And it’s FREE!

Zine Masterclass
Sunday 11 May, 1.00 – 5.00pm
Cost: $30 / $25 Members & concessions
Bookings: 02 9245 2484 or www.mca.com.au/events

MCA Zine Fair – FREE event
Sunday 25 May, 11.00am – 6.00pm
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
140 George Street, The Rocks
Stall bookings: 02 9245 2484
Stall fees: $10 per table or half a table for $5
More info: www.mca.com.au/events

Submissions for Pretty Ugly #6 are now closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue and a special thanks to Emily Lebetzis for organising and editing the whole thing from abroad! The zine is currently being prepared for printing and we expect it to be available within the next month or so. As always you’ll be able to buy it directly from us or from our distributors. Keep an eye on the blog to see when submissions for issue #7 are open.

Would you like to contribute to Pretty Ugly #6?

It’s a zine written by people who have feminist ideas, but the content is not explicitly feminist. The contributors are mostly, but not exclusively women who consider themselves feminist and/or queer-positive. Environmentalists, punks and activists are also urged to take up their pens, cameras and brushes. You’re welcome to contribute your writing, artwork and photography, or design the cover of this unthemed edition.

We have previously published feature articles, reviews, interviews, recipes, columns and short fiction. We will accept anything for consideration, including personal writing. But in the case of poetry, it will only be published it if it’s funny/entertaining/political and I, the guest editor, personally like it (a long-debated Pretty-Ugly collective policy).

There are also no set word limits, but bear in mind that it’s usually an A4-sized publication of up to about 48 pages, so anything over 2500 words would probably be printed in digest form and placed on the website in its entirety. And please don’t send really long pieces without first sending a short synopsis of up to 300 words maximum!

Contact me – Emily – lebetz[at]gmail[dot]com with your contributions/contribution ideas.

Submission deadline: Monday October 29th

Launch will probably be at the Melbourne zine fair in January 2008

Thanks heaps,
Emily Lebetzis
for the Pretty Ugly Collective

***please pass this onto your wonderful, amazingly creative friends!

Top Five Fridays: Most Tasteless Games at Palgn.com.au

1. That ALL forms of violence against women end.

This includes rape as a weapon of war, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, psychological abuse, child brides, female trafficking, sexual assault, verbal abuse (including “hey-baby’ from the unknown jerk on the side of the road), date rape, drug rape, gang rape, marital rape, incest, etc.

2. That people stop forwarding me “funny” emails based on gender stereotypes. They don’t help the cause of women and they don’t help the cause of men.

3. That feminists, politicians, and popular media stop debating maternity leave and start seriously discussing paternity leave. Giving mom some time off from her job to take care of the kiddies, without dad’s help, is just a set up for a life time of unequal parenting.

4. That Britney Spears quickly recovers from whatever currently ails her, realises that skimpy clothes can’t bring you happiness, uses her voice to do a modern rendition of “I am woman” and becomes the poster child for young feminists everywhere – all with a shaved head.

5. Hillary wins.

6. Johnny looses.

7. Abortion is finally decriminalised throughout Australia and put under the relevant health act, where it belongs.

8. That “right to lifers” concern themselves with life. For instance the lives of women who they condemn as murders, the lives of people who could be helped by stem-cell research, the lives of the terminally ill who wish to end their pain.

9. That someone makes an action adventure movie where the central character features a woman rather than sensationalising a woman’s features. No latex should be involved in the making of this movie.

10. That marriage is allowed for all individuals, regardless of sexuality, because every person should have the right to reject this institution if they so choose.

I am woman, hear me roar!

Not a post about Kelly’s fav band, but recent news suggesting that Russel Crowe is not the hostile prat he appears to be. But what does this have to do with cheerleaders?

Co-owner of the rugby team South Sydney Rabbitohs, Crowe has revealed that the mid-game entertainment will no longer include cheerleaders.

Research, Crowe said, showed fans were uncomfortable going to games with girls on the sidelines dressed in skimpy green, red, white dance costumes. “It makes women uncomfortable and it makes blokes who take their son to the football also uncomfortable,” Crowe told Australian media. “We’ve talked to a lot of people and everyone sees it as being progressive.”

Progressive indeed, although the impetus seems to have come from his wife rather than Crowe himself – you can read the full story on CNN.

It would have been nice if in his statement he could have added, “I’ve decided that it was time to stop treating women merely as sexual objects on the sidelines. Women deserve a leading role, not merely in sporting culture, but all aspects of life. Misogyny must end!”

Baby steps.

Kick it to me, kick it to me!

…because she wasn’t the date of a male cricket star. Australian vice-captain Lisa Sthalekar, winner of the Women’s International Cricketer of the Year on Monday night. Read more at the Cricket Australia website.