MungBeing
MungBeing is an online, bimonthly magazine containing artwork, short stories, interviews, articles, essays, music, recipes, poetry, comics, and interactive features. The subject matter leans heavily towards art and art criticism, with each issue featuring several galleries of visual artworks contributed by painters, illustrators and comic artists. The writers explore offbeat ideas and philosophies, and the magazine contains several first-person works of creative non-fiction or gonzo journalism.
The first issue was released on 4 April 2005. The magazine is a collaboration between two veteran zinesters, musican/writer/artist Mark Givens, a member of the seminal lo-fi underground music group Wckr Spgt and the publisher/editor of Salmon Bosch zine, and jody franklin, a multidisciplinary artist/writer, member of July Fourth Toilet experimental music/performance troupe and co-publisher of The Misfit Library literary journal.
Upon release of the first issue, the publishers described MungBeing thusly:
- "MungBeing aims to be a narrower, more focused Outsider Salon, a Low Art The New Yorker (A Lorker), Juxtapoz's bookish third cousin, the sly Cubists to Pop Surrealism's witty Futurists, a poor substitute for sleep, the natural progression/extension of Salmon Bosch into the digital domain, and an outlet for some restless ideas. It exists to entertain, amuse, provoke, and evoke; it is meant to be contemplated, absorbed, savored and enjoyed. It is the cantaloupe pie of cyberzines, magalogs and webrags. Your friends will want a slice of the pie, too, so share it because there's enough to go around."
Issues
Most issues of MungBeing are organized around specific subject themes and have official subtitles reflecting thematic content.
- #1 – The Premiere Issue — features an interview with Robert Anton Wilson, a musical selection by The Congress (Givens and John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats), artwork by Jason McLean, and selections from The Misfit Library editors. 34 pages.
- #2 – Outsider Art and Stuckism — features interviews with and artwork by stuckists Charles Thomson and Billy Childish, outsider music selections from Otis Fodder's Comfort Stand Records, an epitaph for Hasil Adkins and paintings by Kim Richardson. 74 pages.
- #3 – The Memescape and Big Ideas — features an interview with Susan Blackmore, an essay on open source biology, music by Alexis O'Hara, and a lot of heady theorizing. 56 pages.
- #4 – Childhood Memories — features interviews with David Greenberger and Godfrey Blow, articles on childhood angst, and more. 45 pages.
- #5 - Consumerism and Product Affiliation — features interviews with Gus Fink and C.P. McDill, an essay about entitled "On Santa Claus and Saturnalian Revival", a rant by Rachel Haywire on "Creative Darwinism," and more. 47 pages.
- #6 - The Body — features an interview with Lisa Carver
- #7 – Fanaticism — features an interview with Caveh Zahedi
- #8 - Freedom — art by Michael O'Briant and Don Swartzentruber, music by David Greenberger & Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic
- #9 - The Mind - features Alex Grey, Gus Fink, Christopher P. Reilly and others
