oleandrsstudio

Hi there! I’m Anna Gecko, a Filipino-American zinester! I use the pronouns they/them and xe/xir.

You can find some free printable PDFs of my zines [here.]

You can support me on ko-fi [here.] My ko-fi store has printable PDFs of some of my other zines.

You can find me on Instagram [here.]

My itch.io is [here.]

I buy a lot of the zines I review here, and I also love trading for them! Please message me if you’d like to trade!

This week’s #zine #review is “Pamper Yourself” by Lin Martin!

I love the little things that make life special. This zine is full of them, sharing recommendations for rituals to bring a little joy into life. As I write this, I'm recovering from a cold. This zine has a comfy, warm vibe. It created a cozy experience reading it.

#minizine #selfcare #selfcarezine

Today’s #zine #review is of “Blue Hour: a poem zine” by Victor Malamutya! Other zines from this zinester can be found at victorly.itch.io !

Victor has this beautiful art style, something I've noticed both in this illustrated zine and the photography zine I reviewed before. The way he uses light makes me feel warm. This story captures the feelings of the blue hour, that liminal time where the sunlight changes the world. It's a quiet, thoughtful story.

#artzine #poetryzine #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is “License Plates: 50 States” by Eve Gordon @from.eves.studio!

At the 2024 Grand Rapids Zine Fest, my brother picked up this one. License plates are a kind of art that we see so often we may overlook them. This zine, made of illustrations of plates, shines a light on them. It makes me more appreciative of the creativity that surrounds us every day.

#artzine #minizine #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is of “Mothcoven Presents: An Unofficial Companion Guide for Stardew Valley” by @mothcoven!

My friends are into the Stardew Valley game. I picked this up looking to get some more fan perspective about it. Like the title says, this is a sort of guidebook, featuring information about the characters and items one can find.

I got this at the 2024 Grand Rapids Zine fest! These zines were labeled “misprints,” so I expected the text would be blurry or something, but everything looked great. It turns out the misprint was a mistake in one of the checklists. I loved how the zinester included an insert to correct it.

#StardewValley #fanzine #gamezine #infozine

This week’s #zine #review is “A Mini Flash Zine” by Mothcoven!

Flash tattoos are pre-designed tattoos that a customer can walk in and get that day. This zine shows some of the zinester’s designs. They’re black-and-white designs, making great use of shading and detail. The one that stuck out to me the most was an envelope with a heart note inside — if I’m ever at Mothcoven’s tattoo shop, I might just get it for myself!

#artzine #minizine #zinereview #tattoo #tattoozine

This week's #zine #review is "What's For Dinner?: A Lansing Foodies Zine" by the Lansing Foodies club!

I found this zine out in "real life," left for free distribution. As you might imagine, I was really excited to see that. Lansing has a zine scene!

The Lansing Foodies are a group of Lansing residents who share their experiences with local restaurants. They have a Facebook group (full disclosure: I haven't seen the Facebook group).

This zine serves as a club publication. Inside, there are recommendations for the best restaurants in town. There's also resources for people facing food insecurity. Reading it made me feel like there's a real community here.

#communityzine #food #infozine #zinereview

This week's #zine #review is of "Electronic Organisms User's Manual Issue 1" by teratogenic on itch.io!

Lately I've been thinking about artificial life. The AI hype interests me because it's trying to capture the fun of artificial intelligence in science fiction while being mundane exploitation of human life. This zine, set in a sci-fi dystopia, illustrates that. The birth of a new life comes not with joy, but with the corporate eye looking for new resources. It's a fun, short zine.

#ezine #scifizine #fictionzine #diyzine #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is “Lotería Cards I Like” by Marianne Samano @po6ts!

This zine shares Marianne's illustrations of cards she likes. I like how these are her illustrations of the cards' illustrations. It reminded me of how creativity inspires creativity. Marianne picked up a pen to show art she liked. I appreciated that.

I wanted to post this after last week's abstract art zine because both of these made me think about the power of actively making art.

#zine #artzine #minizine #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is “Psh, I Could Make That” by Daff @daffieraisin.art !

When someone says, "I could make that," a logical response is "then go do it!" This zine is about doing it. This zine is an exhibition of abstract paintings, each small enough to fit comfortably on one half of a sheet.

Art is an exercise in humility. It asks us to put ourselves aside for a moment -- to stop worrying about being tricked or made to look silly -- and to instead consider what the artist is trying to say. What the art itself conveys.

When I opened this zine, I took some time to try to explore the paintings beyond a surface level. I physically turned the zine to look at the art from different angles. It was a nice experience. There's one painting that's yellow with red marks on it: it reminded me of lipstick marks on an envelope.

My favorite piece is this one. I rarely post pictures of the inside of zines, but I thought this one called for it. Look at how many colors appear distinctly even when they're painted on top of each other. Look at the way the black makes a pattern over the purple. Look at how the blues catch the light!

It's a beautiful piece. Hang it in the Louvre!

#artzine #zinereview

This week's #zine #review is of "The Mystery Pond #2" by Jamie Lewis!

The Mystery Pond is a music zine. This issue features an interview with "animated Australian Power Pop band Skeleton Staff". This zine spotlights a hip-hop album and a country album while remaining true to its rock music roots.

Full disclosure: after I wrote the review of the first issue, I submitted an article for this zine. Before I wrote this review, my submission was accepted! By the time you're reading this, the article will have been published. Time is fun!

This week’s #zine #review is of “Mother: A Recipe for Matzo Ball Soup” by Anna Perling @acperling!

This zine came to me without staples. Amazingly, I don’t seem to have lost any pages!

Perling introduces the recipe by talking about the food that "mothers" us -- that nourishes, warms, and comforts us. This soup is one of Perling's favorite foods, and the recipe looks like it would make something delicious. This zine is illustrated with watercolor paintings. It's pretty!

#foodzine #recipezine #food #recipe #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is of “Lion’s Tooth” by Shelly McClone-Carriere and Cris Siqueira!

I picked up this #minizine business card at Quimby’s. The zine introduces the Lion’s Tooth bookstore in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because it's a sorta-business card I guess it would be odd for me to review it as a zine, but it's folded like a zine, so I'm posting it here.

This piece fits a lot of information in little space. The illustrations are nice and clear. After I read this, I wanted to go visit this store myself.

#minizine #businesscard #businesscardzine #zinereview

This week's #zine #review is of "Building A Portable Zine Workshop" by Brandy E @ pixelatedzines!

Some years ago, I went to a zine workshop at a library. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad people worked to make that opportunity possible.

This zine is all about what supplies one might need to set up a zine-making event for a local community. There's a lot of information here. The text is set up clearly, but since it's a minizine, the text is pretty small. I liked how the list provides tips for how to obtain and use the materials.

#howtozine #diyzine #minizine #zinereview

This week’s #zine #review is of “Kevin Feige and the Incredible Shrinking Universe” by Shem Shelley on itch.io!

This essay/poem/artwork explores what the Marvel Cinematic Universe means for culture. It means something that these stories about justice and heroism come at the expense of the very people who create them.

I felt like I should review it in a comics-inspired sort of way, so I made a minizine which you can read above.

#ezine #literaryzine #fanzine