Feeling tweaked out? Downshift into neutral for The Idler, a British zine dedicated to "loafers, loungers, and lollygags" - and anyone else actively seeking the passive lifestyle. With tongue deeply in cheek, The Idler extols the virtues of the truly slothful in sections that include "Idle Pursuits," "Notes from the Couch," and "Idle Idols," which toasts Homer Simpson, Richard Linklater, and Paul LaFargue, a 19th-century advocate of shorter workdays.
Each issue pursues several paths of least resistance, which leaves it suffering only from a sprawling focus.
While its charter may be loose, The Idler's writing is skintight - and funny. A portrait paints the locals of Leiston, a rural Suffolk community tucked in the shadow of two nuclear reactors, as those who "divide animals into two species: lunch and dinner." One driver's agonizing (and unsuccessful) slalom through a toad migration is - pardon the metaphor - sidesplittingly hilarious.
It should come as no surprise that hard-core fans subscribe via mail. Going to a newsstand is just so much trouble....
The Idler: US$3.95. AK Press: +1 (415) 923 1429, e-mail akdis@aol.com.
STREET CRED
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Path of Least Resistance
