It's 2005: Do You Know Where Your Fanzine Is?

"Most fans would probably love to own a hard copy of a fan publication. If more were exposed to printed fanzines, they might even want to collect them. Many new fans don’t know these publications exist or ever existed, particularly if they have never attended conventions, or their only exposure is to web stories beamed over the Internet. What they are missing is something rare and precious and even personally valuable….like the rudimentary books published in the Middle Ages. How prized those must have been for the new readers….”*

*A fanzine aficionado posting to an online forum in 2005 during one of many debates about whether fanzines would continue to survive as a fannish art form. Read more about this discussion on Fanlore and even more about the history of media fanzines here.

Internets: Meet Shiro

We have a new cat in our home. He is 3 months old and his name is Shiro. It has been a long time since we've had such a young cat - we normally prefer older cats (because we are old and tired and sleepy people). Shiro (pronounced Sh-Hero)  is named after a cat that appeared in the Samurai Cat comics. You can see a drawing of him here.

The introductions to Sagwa our resident 5 year old cat have been going slow. This week we've allowed them to see each other through a baby gate (which Shiro promptly climbed so we cannot leave him unattended with the gate). There was a bit of hissing and back arching. Tonight,  he ate and played on his side without fussing at Sagwa. Sagwa for the most part watched him and did not growl or hiss. She eventually started grooming herself and then flopped on her back.

We're hoping to have them meet face to face this weekend. 

To date Shiro has discovered:
*Bathtubs are made for WILD CATS!!!!
*Human peeing is interesting and needs to be observed from close up. Really really close.
*Toilet paper is made for shredding 
*Water glasses are perfectly sized to fit your entire head and for getting stuck
*Mini-blind cords and curtains and anything dangling are perfect toys
*The same is true for any clothes hanging in closets
*Anything on the floor is meant for eating.
*Nail clipping is really not that bad
*Especially when it is followed by lots of cuddling
*There is a strange  glass box with moving beings inside that is just out of reach. But one day I will jump into it and they will run! Oh how they will run!
*Door screens are meant for climbing
*The sofa makes a perfect roundabout
*Paper is nice to nibble on
*The dishwasher is scary
*It is fun to play tag with human feet
*Why am I too small to get up there?
*Being left alone in the room is sad making

Pictures or it didn't happen

Sagwa                                                                                         Shiro