Psi-Phi N.5

[page 2] PSI-PHI No 5 A 40-page combination of ditto and mimeo work, this issue of PSI-PHI is taken up largely by Ted Johnstone's Detention report and the lettercolumn. Preceded by a page of convention photographs, Ted's report runs 11 pages, and is yet to be con- cluded in the next issue. Based on copious notes and an attempt at convention omni- presence which almost succeeded, the report is one of the best-written and most-de- tailed which have appeared. The Johnstonian sense of <word is scratched out> humor comes through well. The rest of the issue is a very entertaining hodge-podge of fannish and @stfnic@ items, from reprints of Art Rapp's hilarious poems (or Not-Poems) through a couple trip reports and the final installment of Willis's "Fanorama" column (acquired as a result of the folding of _Nebula_), to Rog Ebert's well done scalpel job on the Gadget stories in _The Fourth GALAXY Reader_. The lettercolumn entries ramble on about various things, particularly the plans for filming _The Lord of the Rings_, articles on which have been appearing in PSI-PHI. Archie Mercer suggests that only unknown actors can be used for the film, and I think the point is a good one -- using famous actors would result in the audience getting a preconcieved picture of the character, from what they know of the actor and from the types of characters he has played before. Another idea might be to use famous actors only if they will play under pseudonyms; makeup and costume will probably suffice to keep the audience from recognizing them, and their acting abilities would thus be available for the film. The dittoed portion of PSI-PHI is better done than the mimeoed portion, par- ticularly in the matter of artwork. The only improvement needed, reprowise, if the zine remains dittoed, is to teach co-editor Arv Underman to type -- or get him a new typer for his editorial column. A highly recommended zine. (Bob Lichtman, 6137 S. Croft Ave., Los Angeles 56, California. 1/2¢ per page (25¢ minimum), or comment, trade, contribute.)