Alice Twemlow, in a twee overintellectualized profile in Eye (“ ‘No muscles, no tattoos,’ ” Nº 61) that actually uses the British English “biro”:
Jop van Bennekom chose American Typewriter for the text face of Butt because he thought it was a really gay typeface. It enables the Q&A sections to evoke the immediacy of typewritten transcripts while being rounder (and, according to van Bennekom, “faggier”) than Courier.
The man with the typically Dutch name (like the language itself, English-speakers just can’t take it seriously; surely you’re trying to pull a fast one) also has another magazine, Fantastic Man, whose sole availability in the largest city in Canada is by eBay at $29.99 per back issue.
I’ve been working on this posting all week and, when you get right down to it, all I want to say is I’ve been rereading the Butt Book and on every page I ask myself two questions:
- What the hell do I have to do to get an interview in Butt? (Or, in the argot, whom do I have to blow to get an interview in Butt?)
- Does this mean I’m not interesting enough for Butt‽ (Yes! Obviously!) What must be wrong with me if I haven’t been in Butt yet?
Then:
- What the hell would I talk about if I were interviewed in Butt? Fonts?
- What’s my slug gonna be? JOE CLARK PROCRASTINATING TORONTONIAN CHASES QUIXOTIC GOALS AND SPOTS FONTS AT TEN PACES? Like the WordPerfect spellchecker exception dictionary of yore, is not the Butt slug a window onto the soul?
- Then of course there is the uncomfortable issue of nonsexualism
<slash>homosexualism. I imagine this as a half-assed way of communicating with intimes, like a divorcing couple ferrying messages back and forth via their kids.
BUTT: FANTASTIC MAGAZINE FOR HOMOSEXUALS. Feminists say fashion magazines make girls feel inadequate. They ain’t seen nothing yet.