Posted on: February 23, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

In the Tradition of Random Thoughts No. 10 / :5 / 20S / $1 / David Michael McNamara, PO Box 441429, Somerville, MA 02144 / 

Originally an online project, this zine is a nice little description of a trip that the editor, David, has made around certain monuments and towns. Much more catching on the printed page, In the Tradition of Random Thoughts is a slight bit on the light side of text, owing more to the color pictures within than David’s narrative. Seeming more to be a diary than a straight-out, On The Road-style narrative, I really felt that the text could have been shrunk or more fit onto the average page, as I was stuck at the end of this issue hungering for more great pictures and strong, Spartan commentary. Even if the textual side of matters is on the weak side, the reproduction and talent involved in creating such great shots to go alongside the text is truly amazing. Sharp and crisp even when shrunk down to 1×1.5 pictures, these shots go far in placing the reader alongside David when ey was making these sojourns. While the text was just cut-and-pasted from the website, David graciously allows for a page of just footnotes for those web-savvy kids who read the zine and just have to hit up the websites that ey mentions. Overall, what I would have to say to David would be just to possibly shrink down the font to about a eight or nine point (from the twelve ey laid out #10), doing a page of text followed by a page of relevant pictures. David writes in a great style that unfortunately does not have enough time in this issue to truly shine.

Rating: 7.1/10

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