Entropy Press
An interview with Publisher Rachel McIntosh
by Lex Marburger
The Chaotic World of Creativity
If you’re in the mood to expand your brain, run down to any random place and look for a copy of Entropy Press. The publisher is Rachel McIntosh, a striking woman with the tendency to talk about three or four things at once. We met at the Rat, drank beer, and let the tape recorder run.
Just for the uninitiated, what is “entropy?”
(The tape recorder falls over. Rachel screams, “That’s entropy, right there!”) Entropy, in the scientific sense, is basically a measure of randomness in any closed system. For an illustration, take a swimming pool, divide it in half, fill one side with ink, one side with water, lift your divider, and as you watch it all blend into one, that would be entropy. What Entropy Press is doing is a form, in all different mediums, for people to be inspired to create.
And how did you come up with this whole entropy “thing?”
I was making a series of 50 hardcover books, and I had to hand collate all these pages. My whole apartment was covered with pages, and I thought, “this is perfect entropy.” Then I realized a lot of my friends are very talented, be they musicians, or scientists, or artists… creativity happens no matter what field you’re in, that field is just language. So what we do at Entropy Press is put out a word for each Episode, and make that the catalyst to let anybody who wants to create around that.
It seems like in your Episodes, you have a basic structure, be it the initial ordering of pages, the placement of collage pieces, or even the order of links on your website.
That’s very conscious. Because everything we get is so diverse, I try to lead one thing into the next, so you can see there’s a connection between all this stuff… I think that you can only see chaos if there is some structure near it. We need to show the connections to show that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Do you think that there’s a frustration point reached when people read the text?
(Shouts) I sincerely HOPE so!
So what is it about frustration that you like?
That’s how things are created. Things falling apart, things getting destroyed, and then you have to deal, and then you go back – (Speaks directly into mic) Everything I’m saying can apply to Life, or the Website. (Laughs)
But really, all this stuff is based on a philosophy I do have about layers… Lots of shit going on and because of the preordained chemistry in our brain (which we can alter now and again) you’re attuned to certain things, like body language, or sound, or rhythm. But that doesn’t mean your perception is “right,” and it doesn’t mean their perception is “right.” It doesn’t mean a schizophrenic’s perception is right – it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It means it’s equally real for each person.
Have you ever thought of just cramming everything together a la Finnegan’s Wake?
We were going to. What we wanted to do was to print everything as a big chunk, on something that would eventually disintegrate. But people wouldn’t understand… So we thought of using different typefaces for each piece. And on the website, we use different colors to represent each Episode. The Website is all one big thing, but you know which word you’re in because of the color.
And you have a band, too?
Yeah, Mr. Couple a Drinks. I had this idea for a noise band for a long time. I decided to make up song titles, and I invited everybody down (about 20 – 30 people), to make whatever type of noise they wanted. I put one to three people in the studio at once, gave them the title of the song, and gave each group five minutes to play whatever came to mind. I thought it was hysterical. And that’s the whole point. If it’s not fun, then do something else, people. Creating should be fun, and I think it’s hammered into us from as early as third grade that it shouldn’t be fun.
Reading through the Episodes, both hard copy and on the Web, there are virtually no ads. How can you afford to do all this?
I can’t tell you, I’d have to kill you. There’re many rumors surrounding this.
In the spirit of Entropy, let’s print them all, and call them all true, even if they contradict each other. No, not truths; possibilities.
I actually heard that there’s an Arab Sheik that’s taken a liking to me, and is helping me out. There’s another that I was stripping for a while. There’s another that my dad left me gazillions of dollars. There’s one that people think EP is a cool idea, and trade stuff with me. A lot of it is me saying, “Why don’t I just flush money down the toilet?” I can’t believe how much has gotten done on absolutely nothing.
Have you ever gotten a response from someone who was so offended by what you do that they absolutely hated it?
Oh, yeah! There’s guy out there in Nebraska, or Minnesota, somewhere that’s very cold, and he hates us. He can’t stand us. He’s always saying, “What does any of this shit have to do with each other?” In the Political Episode, he’s on the front page with a letter of his, “Why I Hate Entropy Press.” And my Grandmother doesn’t like it. She wrote, “Thank you for the birthday present, but I think what you’re doing…” She just goes off… “I liken it to Playboy and Playgirl. Please do not exploit our youth.” I have no idea where she’s coming from, I guess some people just don’t get it. And that’s fine. It means we’re doing something right, if someone’s thinking we’re doing something that’s obscene.
For people who want to help out the cause of Entropy, what are some of the upcoming Episodes?
Circles is next… Synaesthesia, which is when you perceive something, say, a color, as something else, say as sound. Mysticism… Death… Our Love and Sex Episode (EP sells out), Smoking… Just call us at the world wide headquarters, we’d love to hear from you… Oh, somebody did something great. Whoever you are, I love you. Somebody called up my answering machine, and typed a message to me.
Rachel and the other happy folks at EP can be reached at 617-227-01 23 or emailed at ep@entropypress.com. Their web page is www.entropypress.com and their address is 63 Endicott St. Boston, MA 02113.
