Fuck Yeah, Book Arts!

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Fuck Yeah Fuckyeah Blogs

No one really knows why the “Fuck Yeah X” blog phenomenon became so popular — nor why it’s still going very strong in terms of raw numbers. As for ultimate beginnings, conventional wisdom points to the pop-culture longevity of “America, Fuck Yeah” from the soundtrack to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s 2004 flick Team America: World Police, but there’s no real evidence beyond the circumstantial to support this conclusion. Only a few mainstream media outlets dared cover the trend due to the profanity in the name (may we suggest “fudge yeah” as a workaround?).

Coincidentally, the bloggers behind Fuck Yeah Menswear were yesterday (allegedly) prematurely revealed as Kevin Burrows and Lawrence Schlossman (the latter running the non-fuckyeah Tumblr How to Talk to Girls at Parties); they have a book releasing this fall. So on Tumblr, where did the fuckyeah blogs really come from, and what are people fuckyeahing about these days?

editorial:

by fuckyeahbookarts

I started my book arts and design course in 2010, but since nobody I met ever understood exactly what the field of ‘book arts’ actually entailed, I decided to make a blog I could direct people to. I never expected more than a handful of people to follow, but a year and 30,000+ followers later, I’m continually bowled over by the sheer enthusiasm and positive feedback of the tumblr community, so rarely found on the internet these days. As things become more complicated in my personal life (‘oh my god why am I studying art I might as well start living on the streets now’ kinda thing) my blog became both a refuge and a reminder of why I chose the path I did. 

Through the rising success of the blog, I’ve had the opportunity network with best-selling writers, established artists, and best of all are the daily messages I receive from young students saying how much the blog has inspired and encouraged their own artistic endeavours. Last year, tumblr additionally scouted me out to work for the site as a crafts editor, where I research and promote fresh talent on a daily basis. Helping such gifted artists gain well-deserved recognition is always a good feeling. I don’t know where my degree will take me, but I know the blog has given me the confidence to believe that my passion matters. Viva la book arts! :D

I’d also like to say once again how much everyones messages meant to me during my hospitalization earlier this year- tumblr literally kept me sane throughout that whole medical nightmare! x

Although I do read (and really appreciate) everything sent into me, I don’t always have time to respond right away. Here’s a few messages I received over the past while, sorry for being so slow to reply!

1. Emma: That’s so flattering thank you- I’d looove to see some pics of your ‘Book Arts Wall’ if you didn’t mind sending me a snap or two! :)

2. Iris: Unfortunately I’m not sure if Malika Favre’s wonderful Karma Sutra cover design is available for purchase anywhere, but I’ve posted this here incase any of my followers might know.

3+4: Thank you jswagforthewin and tellmetaradiddles, will do! 

5. Nicki: Hahaha amazing! I left school not too long ago, and I have to admit I always loved it when my teachers let their guard down and swore or shared their personal interests with us, because when you’re a young student you often forget that teachers are people too! Thanks for encouraging your students to check my site out :)

6. Anon: Sorry, but I don’t give out my messenger to strangers… However if you really need to get into contact with me my work email is: xsweetvisagex@gmail.com. 

7: Anon: Book artists and sculpters? No problem, go through my archive or check out this post where I list a few book artist’s names :) x

So that just happened.

Normally I’d write a gushy thank you to everyone, but perhaps tonight this gif will suffice…

Feel the love guys x

The witty concept behind the books it so simple, yet so well executed. How did you come up with the idea? 

J+A: All of this started with a button-maker, actually. We were working as counselors at a performing arts camp back in 2002 and — in between doing our actual jobs, which included “keeping children unhurt and alive” — we bought a button-maker and starting creating phrases and images that we thought were funny for buttons. At one point, we wrote the phrase “All my friends are dead” on an image of a dinosaur and our fellow counselors seemed to like it. (Note to creative types: fellow counselors are always a great focus-group. Also: always start with a button.) We traded the button away for some sort of camp good or service, perhaps a massage, or some snacks, and went on with our lives. 

Later that summer, though, we remembered the idea and created a small print run of 50 white T-shirts with a dinosaur saying, “All my friends are dead,” which sold out almost immediately. Based on the response, we figured we were on to something so we created new dino-designs with the same phrase. When those shirts proved to be popular, too, we started thinking about other “All my friends are ____” ideas that would lend themselves to T-shirts. One idea we had was a tree who was saying, “All my friends are end-tables.” Right? He was lamenting the fact that all of his friends had been turned into furniture and not even very cool furniture. That was the joke and the explanation of the joke. 

SO ANYWAY. After hours of discussion (seriously), we decided that the “end-tables” idea didn’t totally work out of context, but it would work alongside the dinosaur and his original sentiment. That’s how we came up with the idea to do a little progression in a 12-page book, which we wrote, drew and stapled at Kinko’s. Much later, we were working with Chronicle Books on a book of humorous essays called I Feel Relatively Neutral About New York. At an early editorial meeting about that book, one of the editors we were working with pulled out our “All my friends are dead” mini-book from underneath a stack of stuff. It was actually a total surprise to us that they even had it. Very dramatic. (Can you feel the tension?) Well, it seems that one of them found the ‘zine at a small San Francisco boutique where we happened to be selling it. They asked if we might be willing and able to turn those 12 pages into 96 pages and we said, um, yes, we’d be willing. 

You know — the usual story of a button evolving into a 96-page book. 

A friend of mine has just notified me that the blog’s been featured on Lost at E Minor! Cheers for the lovely little write up guys :)

(Miniature book featured in the article is the work of Li Kim Goh)

In further response to the title of this blog, I just received this thoughtful submission from writingandnotwriting all about the word ‘fuck’:

It is odd the ways in which we become deeply unsettled or even offended by a single word like “Fuck.”  It is a word for something we all do.  And for something that caused our existence.  It is a word that is in the dictionary! THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.  And it has a lush history dating back to the 15th century.  Furthermore, this collection of phonemes arranged in this way is not unique to our language alone:

“Probably cognate with Dutch fokken to mock (15th cent.), to strike (1591), to fool, gull (1623), to beget children (1637), to have sexual intercourse with (1657), to grow, cultivate (1772), Norwegian regional fukka to copulate, Swedish regional fokka to copulate (compare Swedish regional fock penis)” [OED].



So what is it that perturbs us about this word?  Is it the sexual connotations? The way in which it used in anger?  Or simply that it is so censored in (at least American) society (see: M.I.A. flipping the middle finger at the Super Bowl controversy).

We have to pay to hear ‘Fuck’ from our TVs (see: HBO, Showtime, etc. programming) and if an anchor or an actor says it on live television they will be fined and probably fired.  Yet, in England, many of the shows broadcasted on the BBC will feature language including “Fuck” and even “Cunt” with little shock value (“cunt” can even become a positive term if used with positive qualifier. See: Glue by Irvine Welsh, p.266, “Billy can be a funny cunt, a great guy…” [Example taken from the bibliography on the wiki for “cunt”]).  The only example that come to mind of “cunt” appearing in non-premium American cable television are: 1.) How I Met Your Mother - “How Lily Stole Christmas”: Ted (Josh Radnor) calls Lily (Alyson Hannigan) it for leaving Marshall (Jason Segel)…but they replace it to “grinch” which remains narratively functional as he is telling to story to his children. 2.) 30 Rock: “The C Word”: a minor character calls Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) it, though it is never uttered and might not have even been actual said. (For more on “Cunt” there is a full hour BBC documentary called “The C Word”).

Now, think about the phrase that even the most proper of us have used: “FUCK YOU!”  Here is what author/critic William H. Gass has to say on this term:
“When we swear we say we let off steam by throwing our words at someone or something. ‘Fuck You,’ I mutter to the backside of the traffic cop, though I am innocent of any such intention.” This example “allows us to separate what is meant from what is said, and what is said from what is implied, and what is implied from what is revealed.” [On Being Blue]

We do not get offended by words, but by ideas.  There are much worse ideas than sex and much worse words to go along with them.  This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be offended by things, but that you should question your feelings to understand their roots.

To conclude: here’s a clip from Louis C.K.’s stand-up “Chewed Up” on the use and connotations of “cunt,” the phrase: “The N Word,” and “nigger”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuLrBLxbLxw

Very interesting, thank you for submitting :) Indeed as an Irish girl, everyone in my lovely family frequently swears (religious little old grannies included) and all the best Irish and English films, tv shows, writers, actors and comedians regularly swear like drunken old sailors (Black Books, Peep Show, Misfits, Skins, Shameless etc) So personally, ‘fuck’ doesn’t make me bat an eyelash! x

And what a great year it’s been :) We are fast approaching 20,000 followers, and I’m still bowled over by the positive response and creative input the blog continually receives from all you eclectic bibliophiles and talented artists… thank you all so much for your support! (I’d like to add a special thanks for the overwhelming number of kind messages I received whilst in hospital earlier this month, it cheered me up more then you know.)

Thank you all for making running this blog an absolute pleasure, and for supporting the wonderful field of book arts. Long live the book! x

(Source: fuckyeahbookarts)

As of yesterday, we have reached the 10,000 followers milestone! Once again, I’d like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and goodwill towards the blog, and for making running it so enjoyable and worthwhile. In particular, I’d like to extend a warm thank-you to a certain handful of followers who have been here since our launch in October 2010. (Don’t think I haven’t noticed you popping up regularly on my dash, you loyal things you!)

Now, I know I promised to do/make something special for the 10k mark, but I’ve been crazy busy with my current magazine project, so I’ve not had the time :( I pinky-promise I will do something special for when we hit 20,000, but in the meantime, here is a picture of a cat reading a book. I hope that you can find it within your heart to forgive me…

n-g-r-latina asked: your blog is..amazing. how did you get the idea? what is your favorite work to read? who is your favorite author?

(lmao sorry for so many questions)

Thank you! I created the blog in late October 2010 more or less on a whim- to be honest, I got sick of people asking me about my degree. You see, every time I explained I was studying Book Arts, people tended to switch off and stop talking to me about it, simply because they didn’t understand what Book Arts actually was. I decided on creating and directing them towards my own Book Arts blog, which would give them the chance to check the artform out for themselves, and discover how diverse and exciting the subject can be. Plus, I already spent hours researching art online, and it seemed a shame not to share it with others. The blog also gave me the chance to showcase undiscovered talent which I often came across (and couldn’t understand why such artists didn’t receive more recognition)… I never expected the blog to garner more then a handful of keen art student followers. The whole success of running this blog has been a hugely positive experience for me, as it gives me hope for my own career as an artist, as well as for the future of books.

As for books, I cannot decide on a favourite author, but here’s an earlier post on some books I love. And thank you for the question, I love questions! :) x