Remember BLT?

[nancylebov]

BLT (Black Leather Times) was an entertaining zine that was sold at, IIRC, Balticon or Disclave.

NSFW

I think one thing that really stands out in the photos you put on the sites is the sense of humor. None of the models seem to be taking themselves too seriously, and some of the more absurd aspects of Goth culture seem to be played up to humorous effect. The aesthetic on the site is very…sunny. To the untrained eye, that seems like a strange tone for a Goth site!

Well, my first post-university zine was a humor zine, albeit an antisocial punk rock humor one. I enjoy both flamboyance and a dark aesthetic, but with a sunny soul. I mean, Blue Blood company policy allows any of us to call in gothic, so I'm not saying I'm perky every day, but I think the goal should be individualized self-actualization, and not more bad days. If someone is, for real, trying to be depressing to themselves and evil to others, then I don't feel cool hair or great tits make up for that. Blue Blood is about living loudly and well, not living darkly.

This reminded me of the little bunch of goths that hung out on Main Street in Newark, Delaware. They generally looked happier than most people.

Link thanks to dglenn, who referenced this:

In DC, it turned out that being able to decorate one leather jacket with paint and rivets and being able to tell one great fantasy of an alternate life to a fuckable chick does not equal wanting an actual platform for success or recognition of any kind. I found that quite a number of my amazing and talented compatriots wanted to be able to fantasize about how cool it would be if they started a band, wrote a novel, opened a dungeon, ran a nightclub, got a short story published, deejayed a big party, designed clothing, became an international sex symbol, etc. Although I will engage in conversations about wouldn't it be cool if, I have a tendency to then go forth into the world to make it so. I think I'm wired that way naturally and my upbringing only hammered that into me more. I was both shocked and deeply hurt when I found that a lot of the DC scenesters I counted as friends were angry at someone giving them a chance. They wanted to be able to get credit for their brilliance without having to actually come through with, ya know, work. It had never occurred to me that there were people who did not want opportunity to come knocking.

Comments

[supergee.livejournal.com]

One extremely useful ability is distinguishing between one's realistic and unrealistic fantasies so as to refrain from sharing the latter in the situations where they would be mistaken for the former.