Zippy Chippy: A Horse With No Shame, Failure Magazine
By Anjula Razdan, Utne Reader Online, October 27, 2000

Racehorse Zippy Chippy has never won a race in his life. Sometimes the nine-year-old thoroughbred is too slow, sometimes he stops dead in mid-race and sometimes he simply refuses to leave the starting gate, reports Jason Zasky in Failure Magazine. All the same, Zippy Chippy's owner and trainer Felix Monserrate loves him dearly. "Even if he doesn't win, he can still live here with us," says Felix. "He doesn't have to worry about going to the meat market." While reading up on the Zipster's travails and near-wins, check out Failure Magazine, a quirky online publication committed to "humankind's boldest missteps." While the featured articles all deal with failure in one way or another, the prevailing tone is ironic, expressed most humorously by the Failure logo itself. A stick figure attempts to spell out F-A-I-L-U-R-E by arduously pushing each white letter onto an expansive red rectangle. After making it to "R," the figure stops and scratches its head, unsure of the next letter. Suddenly, an errant "E" bounces out and knocks him dead. Other website features include "This Day in Failure"—a daily quote—
and the "Failure Store," where you can buy several items, all emblazoned with the word "FAILURE."

This article appeared in the Utne Reader Online, October 27, 2000
Copyright © 2000 Lens Publishing Company