Psychobabble

Psychobabble was the first zine I made. I wanted to make it a net for random thoughts and reactions to everyday things around me. I would take a notebook with me at all times and record any frivolous idea that came into my head.

A page of a notebook could read:
” phobia of paddle pop sticks, tongue against wet wood gross.
What is the best boy in movie credits?
When you're bored you count things. For about two years I've been trying to work out how many fluorescent lights are between Town Hall and Wynyard.
Laboratories on cleaning powder ads - pristine women in white coats.”

I would enlarge on these musings in the zine, but only enough so they could be understood. I liked the ideas to remain kernels so I could cram in as many as possible; it was like an encyclopedia of the trivial, written by someone on amphetamines. I would hand write my thoughts in between a variety of cuts outs I had saved from newspapers, magazines and books. I chose cut outs which displayed the most nonsensical and petty aspects of the modern life.

I made twenty Psychobabbles, all in a similar style, although my handwriting became a bit neater as the issues progressed and I would started to devote whole pages to themes like the mystery of deep sea fish, or people who make houses out of bottles.

I haven't read through an old copy for a long time, but I still think about them fondly. I think about the tin I had full of clippings from newspapers, the hours I would spend searching through books and magazines for strange, interesting things, and all the trivial, raw thoughts I managed to capture.