Negative Capability

No ads, no compromises, no kidding

Negative Capability

No ads, no compromises, no kidding

Credits

While I often say that this zine is a one man show, nothing this massive can be done alone in a vacuum. I do write every word, design every page and all that kind of stuff. I also have some help from some friends. My wife is always very inspiring and I love her dearly. I dedicate every issue to her because I think without this zine, there would be no good stuff to talk about, it woud be all bile, all the time, and that's no fun. She's kind, sweet, patient, smart and she knows how to keep me from going nuts. So, thanks, boss. My friend Garett Holden has done a lot of work on the zine, including taking the picture for the cover of #4, doing the illustration for the cover of #5 as well as many little illustrations as needed. He's also a tremendously talented guy and I am glad he's my friend. My best friend Peter has always been supportive, he helped me record the audiozine that I did (Misfit Toys) and has been a promoter of this zine wherever he goes. He also has filmed most of my readings and we both help each other with computer issues as needed. My wife's friend Natasha has written a couple of Mini-Rants™ and she's also been a fan since the very beginning. My friend Katie has been my loyal proofreader forever and is one of my oldest friends. She has taken a lot of time out of her very busy life to read every single word in the zine multiple times, always using her red pen to help create magic, not stifle creativity. I don't usually like editors but I love Katie and I think she's so smart and talented that she's one of the few people that I trust with my words. She's just awesome. I wish I had something to plug for her, but I don't.

This web site was designed using Rapidweaver with some technical assistance from Will Woodgate, a freelance web designer from the UK. I did the grunt work but he built me the bones of the site from my sketches and it's as close as I am going to get.

This zine is brought to you by absolutely no one but me. I took ads for one issue, got burned and decided that I'd rather not make the design ugly by inserting commercial messages. I also don't want to compromise my vision or get "notes" from anyone about what I should be doing. Inspired by Bill Hicks and Robyn Hitchcock, influenced by Howard Stern, Matt Groening, Bob Black, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Ames, Will Self, the Zodiac Killer and you, my beautiful princess. There are many other zines that Negative Capability has been compared to, but almost all of them are now long gone. Some are probably better left dead, zines were the first casualty of the digital age, but not mine.

In terms of inspiration, I think Negative Capability was heavily influenced during its inchoate period by John Kelly's XYY. As I discovered zines, I found others that inspired me and fueled my creativity, including POPsmear, Murder Can Be Fun, Rumpus Room, Retard and Adbusters. I also have found kindred spirits in the makers of Fish With Legs, the Inner Swine and Barrelhouse. I always enjoyed the pop culture stuff in Hitch, the angry essays in ANSWER Me! and a few others that I can't remember off the top of my head. I also wanted to say that Marc Parker of Azmacort zine is a fucking douchebag assmonkey so that whenever someone Googles him, they find this. There may be other Marc Parkers out there, but this one is an asshole who should only drown in monkey come. While I am at it, Dan Halligan is a fucking moron douchebag assface cuntwaffle, Dan Taylor is a douchenozzle fart knocker and there was one other douche who did a zine called the West Virgina Surf Report that I absolutely despise, but I can't even remember that asshole's name. I guess that's a good thing.

I also think it's important to mention that in terms of career aspirations, I've always aimed to have a small but loyal cult. I don't give a shit about mainstream success, making money or having my work reprinted or adapted. In that sense, I am like my own personal heroes, Robyn Hitchcock, Bill Hicks and Alan Moore, though Moore gets crankier the more successful he is. You can also throw in some others like Dave Attell, Jon Stewart, Trey Parker and Matt Stone and any number of Jewish comedians, especially the genius Don Rickles. In Yiddish there is a word for what I am: a tummler, which is someone who likes to stir shit up. I come from a long line of tummlers and my sons are going to continue that tradition.

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