25 apologies, young Elvis fans and the Edinburgh music scene: it’s November Things!

Date
4 December 2017

It’s officially December which means here at It’s Nice That we’re all tucking into our advent calendars and listening to Mariah Carey on repeat. The days may be getting shorter and the weather (a lot) chillier, however, that didn’t stop you lovely people sending us an absolutely mammoth pile of goodies over the last month. There’s still a few week until Christmas you know!

Without further ado, here’s our roundup of some of the best bits we’ve been lucky enough to receive this month.

Dan Golden – Sorry I farted and 24 other apology postcards

This little book of tearaway postcards was written and illustrated by artist, designer and creative director, Dan Golden. Each card features a bright background, illustration and a very specific apology. For example, “Sorry I didn’t take out the trash (again). I seem to have a blind spot when it comes to garbage. I might need to see a doctor about this,” or “Sorry I forgot to walk the dog. I totally said I’d walk the dog. I had every intention of walking the dog. It just didn’t happen. One of life’s great mysteries.” It was apparently inspired by an embarrassing experience Dan had a few years back: “I wish I had time to go into details but I’m pretty busy writing apology postcards right now.”

Christoph Niemann – The Masters Series

Apparently books of postcards are a lot like buses… You wait ages for one and then two come along at once! Here we have a pretty hefty collection of the work of prolific illustrator Christoph Niemann, all available on tearaway postcards. The book was designed to coincide with the upcoming 29th Annual Masters Series award and exhibition in which the School of Visual Arts will honour the acclaimed designer.

Tim Lahan – One Damn Thing After Another

One Damn Thing After Another is a collection of works by San Francisco-based artist, Tim Lahan. The books brings together old and new work, categorising it by arrows, comics, faces, fences, fillings, flats, housebroken, illustrations, line studies, new man, restorations, stones and trash. With very little text throughout, the book is largely visual, allowing the diversity of Tim’s work to take centre stage.

Sonic Acts – The Noise of Being

Next up is a new publication from festival Sonic Acts called The Noise of Being. The publication is an attempt to collate the discourse that took place at Sonic Acts 2017. The festival focussed on “what it means to be human, to be part of an ever changing network. The Noise of Being attempts to capture this, opening with an essay from Nina Power reflecting on ways of visualising opposition to capitalism. It also includes a photographic series from Ingrid Burrington called, _Forever Noon on a Cloudless Day,_ which analyses Google Earth imagery for traces of military architecture and a conversation with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun about networked algorithms, big data, and habituation on the internet.

Saki Obata – Records of the seasons

Freelance illustrator, Saki Obata’s new book Records of the seasons, is a continuation of his ongoing personal work documenting various times of the year. Having previously existed as a zine, this version is a much more substantial book and features Saki’s specific style of black and white, simple illustrations with short interjections of text throughout.

Hayley Lousia Brown – Children of Graceland

This 44 page, glossy zine was produced by London based photographer Hayley Louisa Brown to coincide with her recent exhibition of the same name. The project is about young Elvis fans, all shot in Memphis as a means to explore youth culture and Elvis as a personification of the effect a single person can have on a generation.

Sam Bradley – Dive

This risograph printed zine was sent to us by its editor, Sam Bradley. Entitled Dive, it is a celebration of local music scenes and what makes them so great – the artists, promoters and audiences that fill them. Coming in a 7” sleeve so that it sits “perfectly alongside your record collection at home,” issue one hones in on Edinburgh. For future issues, Sam is looking to work with writers and creatives from other cities to highlight the local scenes where they are based.

Push Magazine

Push Magazine were kind enough to send us copies of their first and second issue, which feature Novelist and Mura Masa as their cover stars respectively. “The goal of Push was to create a publication about youth culture that really cares about it,” reads the opening line of Gran Brydon’s editor’s letter. As a result, everyone involved makes contribution to its advancements outside the context of Push. After a successful first issue the team developed the second and across both you can read a piece in which Donae’o who tells you how to stay relevant after sixteen years; discuss the general election with Novelist; and go behind the scenes at Radar Radio.

Nang Magazine

Nang is a magazine which covers “cinema and cinema culture in the Asian world” bringing them onto the printed page. Instead of functioning in a traditional magazine format, the publication broadens the horizons of what moving image is by working with a wide pool of contributors, instead of reporting on news or reviews. The third issue focusses on fiction and is dedicated not to the people who make films but the people who watch them. A particular highlight comes in the form of a 12 page spread featuring some of the genre’s best posters.

Splash and Grab Magazine

“Would you swipe left or right for me?” asks Splash and Grab’s founding editor, Max Ferguson in issue four of the magazine. The issue explores what it means to be intimate in our modern world and how this relates to a post-internet world of photography. The included photographic stories in Splash and Grab are exceptionally strong and the accompanying interviews allow for a deeper understanding of each artist’s work. Vanessa Peterson interviews Adama Jalloh about how her work represents the black quotidian, going beyond monotonous depictions of race and Max Ferguson questions Christopher Nunn about his time documenting the Euromaidan protests in Kiev and the people of Ukraine over three years.

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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