Blog-O-Matic 5000 is Back in Action!

Hey everybody! Welcome back to the old blog! So, look, it's been a while, and I've got two updates for ya. First is that I have some paintings on display at The Drawing Board in Montpelier, Vermont, along with fellow artist Shakeh Hagopian, who makes very impressive art. This will be up until the end of September, so if you're in Montpelier, feel free to drop on by!

Secondly, my art has graced the cover of the new album by The Pilgrims of Windsor, VT. I had the honor of being able to listen to this album for the last 6 months while working on the art, and now I get to throw it on the turn table and listen to it on my home stereo. They put a ton of work into this album, and it shows. There's a lot of heart in there, and it's well worth your time to check it out.

Seriously, I don't know how the fates paired me with these artists, but I feel ridiculously fortunate and honored<3 Cheers, Matt

10th Anniversary Isssssssue!

Greetings! Boy howdy, it's been a long time, but I missed you. Sorry I haven't been giving my own blog the time of day, but I'm back in the spaceship blogship, at least for now. I'm writing to inform you that I have released the 10th anniversary issue of Oh You! You can get it by emailing me or by stopping in at the Hanover Coop. Check out our Facebook page, too; you could message me there, if that's easiest for you.

It was a rough year, and it took me all year to finish the issue. I was down, and how can you laugh when you know I'm down? And I wasn't down like when you ask if I want to go to Pizza Hut, that's a different type of down. It was just really difficult to get myself to do what I want to do. You know when it's hard to justify finishing something; It's too late, or it's not good enough. Well, you know what? If you are a friend who makes art, it's never too late, and it's always good enough! And I'm a friend! And so are you! I'm saying this because if there's something you're working on that you're starting to think is dumb, well it's not dumb! It may not be elaborate, or exquisite perfection, but exquisite perfection is overrated, anyway. Besides, Beethoven thought his symphonies were dumb sometimes, did you ever think of that? I'll tell you, when you get back in the habit of creating on a regular basis, and you feel like most of it sucks, you will occasionally look back and find something that actually doesn't suck. That's a good feeling, and it can remind you as to why you make stuff in the first place.

But I digress. There are, should you care to want them, two very secret issues. They're mostly secret because virtually no one reads this blog. I don't have many copies left, but I made an issue for my friend Graham, and an issue for the Spring Fashion Show earlier this month. Drop me a line soon if you care to find them.

You're the best, you know that?

<3matt-o p="">

Look what I found! It's an abandoned K Mart with the lights still on!

10th Anniversary! The King implores you!

Hello, glorious pals! Just wanted to let you know that this year is our 10th Anniversary. We are collecting recorded songs and drawings to try to compile a big issue. We will most likely try to make it in color, but black and white is fine too. My main thing with creating Oh You is making a magazine you can hand to anyone without reservation, and that's my criteria for submissions. Make something you can hand to your Niece or your Grammy or even your world weary adversary. You can send any contributions to matt_mazur@yahoo.com or
Matt Mazur/Oh You
P.O. Box 204
Wilder, VT 05088

Cohase 48 Hour Film Slam 2014!

This past month, we attended a 48 hour film slam. On a Friday evening, all teams were given the same line of dialogue, prop, and location to be included in their films. And each team drew a genre from a hat. They were then instructed to write, shoot, and edit a maximum 7 minute film that incorporated all of these elements in 48 hours.
Film slams are always at least mildly grueling, but that really makes the showing of the finished films so much more rewarding. The feeling of camaraderie that has developed between the teams over the past 5 years is one of the best parts of the whole event. We're a community working together, even though we're essentially in competition. Because, when it comes down to it, no one knows as well as a fellow filmmaker how much it takes to make a completed film in 48 flipping hours.
Operating at 2/3rds capacity, TEAM MALONE! put forth a tour de france, or a coup de grace, or perhaps just a certain je ne sais quoi. Needless to say, it was anything but laisse faire. TEAM MALONE! adhered to their genre of "foreign film with subtitles" with all of their collected might. Matt, who once studied French in an esteemed grade school, was able to tap into his multilingual knowledge base with the help of Katie (who had google translate.)  Drew Peberdy and Nick Zandstra gave towering side-by-side performances as Chercheur and L'Operateur. Katie's stunt driver experience came in handy during the prodiction, yielding dramatic results. The stark vision of this film came to life with Chico Eastridge's directing, lighting and cinematography. Summoning superhuman strength, and fueled by cereal, Chico was once again able to complete the editing in the nick of time.
But TEAM MALONE!'s story is only one of many. The following entries are the only ones I could find posted online. Each and every one is worth watching, and the entries from Full House productions, Blue Moon productions, and Team Walrus Dice are worth finding. Please let me know if you run across them out there in the cyber ether.

Journiuxuul Zup Amerikaskiski Cinemaaaski by Now Shooting
Love in the Time of Smart Phones by E & E Productions
Time Buzzer by Fairy House Productions
The Waltz by Fondue Pneumonia Party

Issue 15 is out and about!

There we have it, issue 15 is done! I forgot to make a blogpost for it, but then I remembered finally. You can find our latest work at The Valley Flower Company and at Revolution Vintage, both in fabulous White River Junction, VT. You can also peruse it on our Facebook page.
This issue took much longer than the previous 4. I've had to develop some new work habits to get through the brick wall I had run up against, and hopefully they will help in the future. It wasn't that I wasn't creating things, but putting the finishing touches on everything was destroying me. That last 10%, right? Anyway, that's always been the battle; how can I put out more magazines in less time?
September 12th-14th is the Bradford Film Slam, and you can bet that TEAM MALONE! will be there with gold lamé on. Expect to see a post of our latest film, or come on down to Bradford on the 14th. Getting your tickets in advance is advised, and I will try to provide a link for that as the date draws nearer. Ta ta for now, and thanks for everything!

I'm coming out of hibernation...soon!

It's been a long fall and winter. I have been working very slowly. I tell myself "I'll put out a late fall issue" or "I'll put out a mid winter issue" but no. I haven't released an issue since last summer, and spring is almost upon us. As crumby as this makes me feel, I must look forward. So for those of you who look forward to installments of Oh You, you will not have waited in vain. Just give me a few more weeks, the spring issue will arrive.
March will also bring the fond return of Team Malone for another 48 hour film slam in Montpelier. That is all for now. Over and out, my cyberspace website-surfer pals.

Happy Good Buddy Day!

That is all, over.

The Further Adventures of a Cybronaut (Movie)

Team MALONE has risen to the occasion and completed another 48 hour film slam! MALONE was one of 9 teams who assembled in Bradford, VT on Friday evening. Each were given the same prop (a crutch), location (The Brick Store in Bath, NH), and line of dialogue ("Shut up and give me your pants"). Each alsoteam randomly drew a genre out of a hat, with one chance to redraw. The genres were "heist film,""mistaken identity," "sci-fi fantasy," "mockumentary," and "superhero movie,"which was the one Team MALONE drew.
Beginning at 7:00pm on Friday night, each team had 48 hours to write, direct, edit, and render an entire 7 minute movie. It is a grueling task, and some members of our team got very little sleep. Chico got a grand total of 3 hours, I believe.

Here for your viewing pleasure is our latest effort:


The Further Adventures of a Cybronaut!

There are the other competing teams' submissions! (I will post them as they become available...)
Team Walrus Dice: "Robbery In Progress"
Team Now Shooting: "Dead Drop"
Team Fondue Pneumonia Party: "All the Wonders"
Fairy House Productions: "Miss Taken Identity"
E and E Productions: "Super Annoying"
Team 1215: "A Grave Heist"
Team Old Lady Dancers: "8th Dimension"

Etsy!

Greetings, cybernaut travelers!

Today we opened up an Etsy store!
So, believe it. Right now it's pretty limited, but I believe it will expand rapidly. Feel free to leave me a comment here to request things for me to put up there.

In other news, Team MALONE! is doing another 48 Hour Film Slam in Bradford, Vermont next week. The contest begins on September 20th, and the showing of the finished films is on Sunday the 22nd. Once that's all done, the next issue will be getting my full attention...

Here is the second film we ever made for a 48 Hour Film Slam:

Where is the elusive "Oh You" found?

Well, summer is dwindling down like a fire that's running out of furniture bits. This, of course, doesn't mean that it's over. There is still summer warmness, so I've stocked several locations with our magazine.

The first is the Valley Flower Company in White River Junction, VT. It's a truly magnificent flower shop. If you don't know much about flowers, that's all the more reason to go there. They have neat  greeting cards, stuffed animals, decorations of all sorts, cool buttons, and curious items abound. Also the staff rules.

Second is Revolution Vintage, also in White River Junction, VT. This is the cat's pajamas of clothing stores in the area. Serious style lurks around every rack of clothes. They will also make you espresso, and possibly your day...

Thirdly, for those in southern New England, is Feeding Tube Records in Northampton, MA. This is my personal favorite record store; I am always able to find something there that I never knew existed. They have recently expanded into the realm of books as well, so dust off those dusty readers. A truly excellent store, no matter how much or how little obscurity you desire.

Something I found for you...

It's the porcelain cat with the shirt and tie!

My life as a blog!

There we go! We finished issue 14, and ate up our donuts. All is well with the world. In other news, my band The Caring Babies and our friends Pliable Tones just released our split album too (Side A / Side B)! As a celebration for finishing these projects, we went down to The Listen Center to find you some more cool stuff. The expedition was a success!

What we found for you...

It's a portrait of Toni done on slate! I love cats!

Issue 14 is upon us...

Well, summer is well under way, but it shan't be over anytime soon. Henceforth, I bring you issue 14: the summer issue! A bit overdue, but it's right here in our grubby little paws and we're just clutching it like miserly little minature raccoons. Anyway, I hope you can get a copy if you need one. Feel free to request one via email at:

matt_mazur@yahoo.com

There. That ought to be easy to select and copy for you. Now back to reposing in the donut induced state I'm in...it's not very often that I eat donuts, you know.

Sincerely, Matt

P.S. Oh yeah, and this is our 50th blogpost. Huzzah!

Summer's on it's way, and so is issue 14!

Welcome, again! I guess the two issues I finished up earlier this year got the best of me, I haven't blogged in months. I've been slogging away at several projects. I seem to be in archival mode. I feel like I've spent the last month just pouring over old recordings and artwork. It's a good thing too, because it's a lot of work, and I'd like to get it done someday.
   As for now, I can point you to The Case of the Missing Records where you can see some of the work I've been doing. Also I drew you this picture of Old Man Summer. Hope you like it. You can expect to hear from me again soon...
-Mart

Something I found for you!

Gummy bears who formed an alligator!

Movie: The Hard Reboot (by Team Malone!)

Team Malone entered the Montpelier 48 Hour Film Slam this past weekend. On Friday night, they were given the criteria for a film. It was to be created entirely within the span of 48 hours. There were 3 stipulations. The required prop: a reel of film. The required location: a local shuttered ice cream shop. The required line of dialogue: "Is this your idea of a good time?" Genres were drawn from a hat, and they drew "sports comedy" for their genre. Since the first draw may be discarded, they decided to draw again, this time drawing "sports comedy." They muttered something unintelligible before getting down to the business of making their film.
The first night began with visiting the required location. A lot of teams showed up at the Dairy Creme, and the police were called. It all turned out okay, and our license plates had their pictures taken. Next was hammering out of an idea for the script. In true Team Malone form, this quickly segued into building a robot. There were dremel tools, hard hats, baking pans, calculators, spray paint, and duct tape, all going full force, and echoing through the halls of the Econolodge. The robot was finished by 2am and the team got a bit of sleep.
The next day, everyone went out to start filming except for Matt; he was to begin work on the soundtrack. When Matt joined up later, Nick Zandstra had arrived to help. Thankfully, Nick Charyk lent his entire house to Team Malone for use as the laboratory and the fighting venue. Very gracious of you, Sir Charyk. Nick Zandstra lent his powerful announcing skills to the film. Team Malone once again owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Zandstra.
After That, Team Malone went out on the town with Ben dressed as our robot. It was a brave thing for Ben to do, seeing as the robot suit had near zero visibility. All in all, the good folks of Montpelier really took a shining to that robot. People do like to high-five robots.
The latter half of the day was spent back at Nick Charyk's house. The lab scene and fight scene still had to be filmed, and Katie still had to do the make-up for Drew as St. PetersBorg 2000. They stayed up until 4am filming there (though Matt left for several hours to write more music).
Chico edited straight through without sleeping, as is often the case. Matt got up to write the final songs. The movie turned out great, and Team Malone prevailed, taking first place among many finely crafted films. Another fine entry in the files of Team Malone!

(Clockwise from top right) Drew and Chico filming, Matt on an undated computer,  Drew as St. PetersBorg 2000, Lucas in repose, Ben as a cool robot, Chico not sleeping (photo collage by Katie!)

The Welcome Blog!

Salutations! It's back to the old blogstone again. There is much to do these days, and it is good. Work has begun on the spring issue, and I expect that this will be out later this month. I've devised an appropriate recipe, and the crossword should be stellar.

Don't expect another record issue until at least fall, but we are going to start recording one. Recording is the first step, we make the artwork for the cover next. We then submit the recording and the artwork to the record company in Nashville. They make a mold, and send us a couple of records, or test pressings. We have to approve them before the printing can begin. Once this is done, they spend a few weeks printing up copies, and we have our record. Sounds simple, but it does take months to complete the process.

I've started plotting out the next batch of Cool Monsters. These are the little glow-in-the-dark guys whom I sell out of the Vend-O-Matic 2000000. I'm making 8 of each figure again, and I've gotten the white buffalo finished so far...

The Green Mountain 48 Hour Film Slam is in a few weeks, and Team Malone is poised to participate. Team Malone, for those of you who don't know, is a group of film makers, many of whom are contributors to Oh You. They enjoy cereal, movies, and staying out late eating cereal and making movies.

That's all the news for now, but I imagine that I'll write again soon. Cheers to all you readers out there, you make all the typing worth while. Though, I must admit, I kind of like the clicking sound too.

Something I found for you!

Okay, fine! I made you a christmas cookie.

Issue 13 just got a little more completely finished!

I finished the new Oh You just in time for a dreadful storm to envelope New England! Why a new issue so soon? Well, you see we had these glow-in-the-dark records made, and it seemed a shame not to make some comics to go with them. We went ahead and did it. For this issue, Mister Hope drew up a Caring Babies coloring booklet! Ben Peberdy contributed a beautiful comic strip that is sure to boggle minds! Fred Polizzi gave a magnificent flourish that couldn't be contained in a single page! And Rebecca Weber lent us a bit of her literary prowess with smashing results! We ate doughnuts straight away when we finished this issue (we kind of forgot to with the last issue.) We will experiment with printing techniques, as the 7" booklet has a color cover. Expect variations as we print out more copies. Many thanks to all the supporters of self published comics and records, you are kind!

Glow, you magnificent record!

Buy it from our Etsy shoppe...

Winter Issue!

So, the holidays are done, but there's still plenty of winter to go around. Luckily, issue 12 is just the thing for those cold winter nights (Well, maybe issue 12 and hot chocolate.) It's even got a crossword and everything! It took me a bit longer than anticipated, but we're on the right track to be a seasonal periodical. 3 issues in 2012, our new personal best. As for those glow-in-the-dark records, well they showed up! See?

A glowing Record. The Caring Babies!

Mister Hope has worked up a coloring book, and it will accompany the glowing records as well as a new record-sized issue. We've got our sites set on February for a release, so look out!

Glowing Records To Come!

Good eve to you! I did a drawing of one of my favorite cats on the computer. I understand that she's a girl cat. Anywho, I write you with an update that pertains to our next issue. I have received word that a shipment of glow-in-the-dark Caring Babies (Gold Friends) records have been shipped to us. I have started to assemble things for the accompanying record issue, and we have commissioned a coloring book to be made for the project. I think the whole bundle will sell for $5 a piece, so sell something you don't like for five dollars soon.
Now I shall go to upstate New York to a Stewart's to get a bottle of Vichy. Yes, I could probably get some seltzer, baking soda, and salt and mix it myself, but where's the fun in that? Best wishes, granted!

I found you something!

It's a bottle of Vichy!

Employee art!

The Lebanon Co-op in Lebanon, NH is hosting the employee art exhibit this November and December. I've submitted a few works of watercolor to show there. You can see them in the cafeteria area from 7am to 9pm, any day except christmas. The rest of the time, you can't see them. Okay, maybe if you use your flashlight and peer in through the windows. Kudos to all my fellow employees who submitted their own art!

Issue 11: Out to lunch!

A ha! I managed to eek out a fall issue. This is a much tinier one than I have ever done, but there are 14 pages of stuff in there. There's a crossword, and a recipe. It's ridiculous! There are a few reasons for making this change:

1) It allows me to make issues at home if I want, and use recycled material.
2) It fits in a small envelope, and costs 45 cents to ship.
3) The format is a lot easier to work in, and I feel like I'm really maximizing the space.
4)It's a lot cheaper to make, and uses a lot less paper.

So, there you have it. I hope I can get you a copy if you want one. I'm currently working on devising ways to distribute it, but more on that later. Toodles for now, spacefans!