December 2001 - Sinister

Sinister: Watch out for rhinos with hairy feet
by eric the half a bee 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Hi y'all. This was in last week's issue of the New York Press, and I thought I'd pass it along, seeing as how it might be of interest to all of you: Music Reviews Jessica Hundley Yall Get Scared Now Ya Hear? Reindeer Section (pias) What happens when a group of musicians gets drunk together? If you live in Glasgow, play the guitar and hang with the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, Arab Strap and Snow Patrol, then one debauched night can apparently equal an overload of inspiration. Masterminded by Snow Patrols Gary Lightbody, the Reindeer Section is a supergroup of sorts (consisting of various members culled from the above acts) and formed as the pleasant result of one such fortuitous evening. After a bout of guzzling fine Scottish brews and philosophizing about the state of music with his fellow indie rock brethren, Lightbody woke up and wrote the entirety of this debut album in one jam-packed day. Less than two weeks in the studio, a few more rounds of booze and a band was born. The beautiful thing about the album is that the haste in which it was created has enhanced, rather than detracted from, its solidity. Its as if any hesitation would have allowed the magic of that one beautifully woozy night to fade in the sobering light of dawn. Perhaps the most misleading record title ever, Yall Get Scared is as far from frightening as one can get. Throw aside any expectations of spooky goth rock or foreboding industrialthis is a world of pleasantly pretty ballads and infectious pop numbers that recall Becks Mutations. The album kicks off with a tidily constructed acoustic love song, "Will You Please Be There for Me?" that sets the albums tone: vaguely melancholic, slightly introspective and undeniably sweet-tempered. There are a few raucous numbers (such as the back-to-back chorus distortion on "Raindrop" and "Sting" or the near metal thrusts of "Tout Le Monde"), but for the most part the album steers a steady, sensitive and soulful course. The breathy, heartfelt vocals that thread throughout the disc create a satisfying atmosphere of longing, but Lightbodys plaintive lyrics keep it afloat. "Be my hope Ill be your hope," he sings on "If Everything Fell Quiet." Its as if all the yearnings and desires of that original one drunken evening were crammed into each of the albums tracks. Apparently Lightbody felt something that night, something stronger than the Scotch ales, something he needed to scribble down in the midst of sour mouth and throbbing head. The result is an album that reflects the good-natured camaraderie between talented friends. Together they have managed to translate one night, a little booze and some good company into music thats as simple as it is beautiful. I haven't heard this album yet, but I might pick it up... what's the verdict? I haven't heard it mentioned too much on this here list. that's all from me... a totally content-full post! what an odd concept... cheers, eric __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister:Sinister:Sinister:Sinister:Sinister:Sinister:Sinister:Sin ister:Sinister:
by Joe Vester 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Christmas is coming then! J'aime Noel Beaucoup. C'est tres interessant (Whewnever I am asked in French what I think of something, I always say interessant or ennuyuex. Yes, I know i'll flunk GCSE if I carry on like this) Also, I wish to participate in International sinister bowling day. The only Bowling Venue I know of in London is somewhere horrible on the North Circular, I hope someone knows somewhere else as that place is a pain to get to as there is no tube station and I am pathetic at using buses. I know two Bus routes: The number 31 from Camden to Notting Hill via Swiss Cottage, and the number 27 from Somewhere to Hammersmith. Using these two, you see, I can get from Camden to my Mum's house and From my Mum's house to my Dad's. I have decided that I will get my hair cut very early in the new year. I have so far managed to go without getting it cut since January or Febuary, when I got it very, very short indeed. Not Shaved, but bloody nearly in places. I wish some of the people I have to get presents for would post, perhaps mentioning that what they want for Christmas. I have been looking in the archives, and have bought one present but am not sure about the others. Now: A terrifying story. People who were terrified by Bambi should not read this bit SCARY********************** It was a normal day when I got home from school. The birds sang in the trees and all was quiet. On the mat lay a letter for me. Oh, that's nice, I thought. Picking it up, however, I was shocked to discover it was from the INLAND REVENUE! Arrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh......!!!!!!! I thought. quivering wit fear, i drew the curtains throughout the house and sprinkled Holy water around the place before having myself exorcised. Then, using a specially and totally sealed chamber with gloves in from which I could work in safety, I opened the letter. To find out it was to tell me I had been given a National Insurance number, with a little card with my name on it in. I felty all grown up and put it in my drawer before destroying the rest of the letter and envelope in a 100000000000 degrees Celcius oven, just to make sure. END SCARINESS***************************** That was scary, wasn't it people. But don't worry, it has probably happened to most of you already. I notice that hardly anyone has posted today, which I am very upset by. I am bored and need some Sinister diversion but yet there is none (aside from #sinister, of course). That will do for today, though Joe P.S. Has anyone noticed I did not use the phrase "but there you go" _once_ during this post. I'm very proud of myself. P.P.S. This was also probably my quickest post ever. They usually take me a 45mins or so but this took only 15/20, which explains it if it is total rubbish. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: dream of the bowling kids
by Sam Walton 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Hello everyone. Its a Saturday afternoon. Its that small period of time after Ive got out of bed but before the footballs started, where the only thing to do is to write to Sinister. So here I am. First things first though, we must say happy birthday to everybodys favourite trumpeter, Mick Cooke. Hes 28 today, yknow, according to various posts from a while back. It seems obligatory to cite an archive reference in posts these days, so for all B&Ss birthdays, see here: http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/200109/msg00016.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199807/msg00795.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199807/msg00794.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199711/msg00035.html The NME published their list of Top 50 records of the year. Predictably, it was wrong, although not as wrong as it has been in previous years. So to set the record straight, introducing... ASMS TOP 10 (WELL, 11, BUT WHO GIVES A F...) ALBUMS THAT SAY © 2001 SOMEWHERE ON THE BACK OF THEM 1. Air 10,000 Hz Legend 2. Kings Of Convenience Quiet Is The New Loud 3. Pulp We Love Life 4. Spiritualized Let It Come Down 5. Sparklehorse Its A Wonderful Life 6. Mercury Rev All Is Dream 7. The Beta Band Hot Shots II 8. Radiohead Amnesiac 9. Alfie If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing 10. The Avalanches Since I Left You 11. The Strokes Is This It At the moment, thats the order, but its changed loads since I started making the list. At various points Ive been convinced that all of the top four should be number 1. I had something of an epiphany regarding Let It Come Down; I thought it was a big pile of wank until about two weeks ago, when I suddenly realised how fucking brilliant it was, and havent stopped listening to it since. ...dream of all the bowling kids who hang around here... London Bowling Mummy, whoever you are (Ken?) whats happening about that? Anyway... Festive love, Asm.x ================= "He's strictly a pain in the ass, but he certainly has a good vocabulary" - Holden Caulfield _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: That lovely bus...
by Mark Sweeney 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Ah Saturday, must be time for me weekly splurge of useless information! Just for those who may be interested and don't know already, the bus to Belfast will leave from Liberty Hall (in Dublin, silly!) at 4pm next Friday. There shall indeed be pre-journey debauchery of a sort, but we haven't quite decided where yet; others may be better qualified than me to choose! There are some seats still available and the more who travel, the cheaper it'll be; at the moment it's looking like about 20 quid a head. So if yer interested, give me a shout on 086 3424095, and don't worry about being trampled in the stampede. Grainne, I could've saved you the hassle of ticket-buying as I have a spare which I'd completely forgotten about amid all the other excitement - sorry 'bout that. And thanks for canvassing at the Frames site, someone may crawl out of the woodwork yet. Alrighty, I'm away - I'll be in touch with the usual suspects during the week. Oh, and kiddies; don't forget to change your money! Ta-Ra _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: out of the nursery
by Jill Henkels 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

yeah, i have just succeeded in surviving the nursery period. and how do i choose to address you all in my first post: drunk. for weeks, i have jealously read of your excitement of an upcoming b&s show in your nearby towns. alas, i live in iowa, usa--nowhere near where my favorite band will be visiting. sigh. i shall live vicariouly through you, friends. i do however, have the band to thank for my particularly enjoyable and homey evening of last. thats pretty much all that i am capable of writing today before i collapse on my floor. classes are over next week; i shall soon develop something of interest to add to the discussion. with love and affection, jill ********************* You will conform. You will perform. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: thank you for bein' a friend..travel down the road and back again....your heart is true....you're a pal and a confidante...thank you for being a frie-e-e-e-e-e-end.
by Kirsten Kenyon 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

this past sunday evening, i sat down with a cup of coffee and thought about what the week might bring. i'd like to say this is a weekly ritual, but that's just not true. i only did it because last week brought a funeral, an armed robbery, and a monstrous teenage girl who bumped into my sister and knocked her to the floor, breaking her elbow and rendering her useless for the remainder of the junior varsity basketball season. it was a strange week. so i decided i'd sit down and imagine everything that could possibly happen in the next seven days, thus sparing myself at least a little bit of potential shock, fear or disappointment. now, on a friday, the week has brought the following: A) the much-anticipated return of 'bitchy erin,' a sixteen-year-old noodles employee who was suspended for two weeks after her deranged boyfriend broke house arrest for a bowl of sesame lo mein, resulting in a jerry springer-style shouting match during the lunch rush. erin's hasty dismissal brought a spattering of applause from staff and patrons alike. her red-faced return left most of us speechless, although a certain flamboyant associate manager can be accredited the words 'help me jeebus, the bitch is back.' B) some lovely shimmery grapefruit-scented lotion C) undeserved words of gratitude from a hippie-turned- microbiologist. i met him on an email list during my freshman year at valparaiso. the timing couldn't have been better, really. he called himself a 'turnip,' but everyone else called him 'the dharma bum.' at the time, most of my evenings were spent sipping port out of a coffee mug, carefully directing the cigarette smoke out the window, listening to django reinhardt and dreaming of a mountain climber called japhy...with a little goatee and an impressive collection of portable cookware. of course. i was bored out of my mind, and jeff was out of money. so we had ample time to chat. he was living in maine, saving his pennies for enough gasoline to get to the west coast, and dividing his free time between his cello and me. nearly ten years my senior and bursting with 'real life experience,' he was full of wise words and literary recommendations. eighteen years old and stranded in a town that would surely rank among america's sleepiest, i really had nothing interesting to tell him. just silly stories. about the infamous 'stickshift sarah' and about my roommate's 'glutes and abs' workout video that starred this girl with hilarious breasts. (i can't remember why they were so funny. but they were.) and i told him about the stupid parties, about the 'valpo popo' and about drunken frat boys belting out 'redemption song' like some kind of anthem for the affluent white male attending a private university on a basketball scholarship. there really wasn't anything else to tell, and i felt sort of bad. but we kept in touch. spring break came around, and a rainy evening found me sitting on the sofa, watching seinfeld with my parents and racking my brain for a way to escape. the telephone rang, and my mom said there was 'some man' on the line for me. jeff had finally saved the money for his cross-country journey, and he was warming up at a milwaukee pizzeria and wondering if i'd care to meet him for a bit. so i drove out and found him, and we chatted for awhile and had some tea and custard, then he hugged me and sprinted into the pouring rain and drove off to oregon. i didn't hear from him for several months. when he wrote again, he was living in a greyhound bus with a crew of environmental activists, chaining himself to trees and fine-tuning his survival skills. we wrote back and forth a few times, and he kept trying to convince me to come out and join the organization. he insisted that the only things i needed were a good pair of shoes, an understanding that i would see my peers dragged off to jail in chains, and an acceptance of the fact that sooner or later, it would happen to me. believe it or not, i was tempted. but i declined, and he stopped writing and i felt i'd let him down. a year passed, and he dropped me a line to report that the organization had sort of rotted and he was back in school and feeling good. i wrote back to report that i was hopelessly intoxicated in the french riviera. after that, i didn't really expect to hear from him again. but then....yesterday, i received an email from a familiar name. and it said 'thank you.' and i'm still not sure why, although i've read it several times. something about going through 'some strange things' and really appreciating my friendship, and that although we hardly know each other, i have played 'a significant role' in his life thus far. help me jeebus. all i ever did was impose upon him with some of the lamest anecdotes ever told. hm. not unlike the way i ramble on to all of you. sorry, by the way. but i guess that if, on a certain day, what he needed was a detailed account of an unsuccessful attempt at 'natural refrigeration' (taping tubs of ice cream to the wall outside a third- story window in january).....then i suppose he was probably talking to the right person. goodness. oh. D) four pairs of socks, a new composition book and a large bottle of cheap vodka. hah. eleven days. love kirsten Care2 make the world greener! http://www.care2.com - Get your Free e-mail account that helps save Wildlife! +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: santa gave me a house!
by angela _ 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

hey kids... yes the big fat guy gave us a house for an early christmas gift. but he didnt send a team of strong burly, yet gental and considerate moving men along. which sux. i have to do all most all the moving my self too cos my mom is a busy body & likes to do the setting up of things once they get to the new house. my stepdad is just about the laziest sack of shit i have ever met in all my life and would sooner stand there and watch you breack your back as you lift a 250lbs. filing cabinet than to offer to help. he wont even watch the kids for you while you move the stuff from house to house. what to do? well if it were not for my being a good christian girl, i would be consulting with a witch of some sort to put a nasty hex on him. so instead i let off steam on you lovely little twee ones, and curse at him under my breath.... b&s content..... i was quite over joyed today when i put some new r.a.m. in my computer today and unlocked all my music files & listend to "o'come o'come emanuel" by our favorites scotts.....it made the day seem worth it all. i suggest you all give it a listen! the love of my life chatted with me yesterday...even tho we are not ment to be, something about hearing from him makes the world make sence for a moment. even tho hes not at all physicaly attractive, i cant stop thinking about him...*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*.... mabey if i wasnt a good christian woman i would go back to my friend who does hexs and have her make a love potion number 9. sounds like i want to controll people...i know.... oh and guess what?....my birthday was great! my friends gave me a surprise party. it was really fun actually & i had not had a fun birthday since i turned 14!and even that wasnt as fun as turning 25, cos i didnt have to controll 35 drunken maniacs in my mothers house. i know sounds fun but it really isnt... well i gotta go back to moving everything so i will go now. -Angela _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: slowly; it´s all falling down.
by Astrid Wiezell 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Hey sinister, thought I´d write a sinister sinisterpost today. Well, it´s not something planned. I think I might be in love. Or I am at least having a serious crush on a boy in my school. It´s all doomed to failure from the start. He´s two years younger, which makes me feel like an old pervert, like the old, sad person who can´t find boys in her own age. But it´s not like that. It wasn´t really something I planned. It was just that when I see him everyday (his locker is quite near mine, just around a corner).. well.. I began to get this very funny feeling in my stomach when I saw him, and it´s only grown bigger since. It´s horrible - When I see him I get this dubblesided emotion: Angst because I´m NOT supposed to like him, I´m supposed to fall in love with the boys who likes mopeds and only wear cool clothes and who just plays cool. But I also feel this strange connection, because I know that he know I like him, he looks at me and smile a bit or gets very shy when I look at him and he always look me straight in the eyes. Maybe he´s just suspicious. This strange girl who keeps staring at him and then stare att her shoes. I do not know what to do with all my feelings for him, he´s just so beautiful, he´s so cute and he always play ping-pong during the breaks, even if it´s just a five-minute-break, he´ll run through the corridors to find a ping-pong-table to play on. Reasons why I should NOT let my feelings keep growing like this: *He´s two years younger (13!) and it makes me feel like an old pervert. *He´s probably in love with one of those "cute" girls in his class, and in his age! *He´s quite a bit shorter than me, which I always get a bit angsty about *Even if it went well, if we would become a couple, no-one would get it, they´d just tease me (and him) and they´d be horrible. I know them. I am one of those persons who dream a lot. This is what I dreamt about him the night between thursday and friday: Me walking a bit behind my friends, when he runs up to me, and walks beside me, saying, ina sort of mumbling voice "Umm.. umm.. y. y.. you.. umm.." lots of times, and finally I say "Sorry?" and he say "What? I didn´t say anything". When I get to my locker with my friends, one of them tells me that he REALLY said that he wanted to "go to an italian restaurant and then walk in the new neighbourhood" but that I didn´t get that. all of the sudden, me and this certain, this girl and I are sitting in the school cafeteria, eating our lunch, when I all of the sudden say "That was a lie you told me, wasn´t it? He didn´t say that for real, did he?" and she kind of laughed in a sort of depising laugh saying "Of COURSE I did, Astrid, you didn´t honestly think he´d give a damn about you, did you?" and I just stood up and tipped her glass of apple juice over until the whole table was covered in apple juice. Then I dreamt that he and his twin brother was walking the opposite direction, and I turned aroudn and looked at him, and he looked at me all the time and I knew that he was the only one. Dreams like that stay with you for quite some time. Hmmm. I can´t just forget him, and give it up. I just can´t. His name is spelled A-D-O-R-E. Is my name spelled P-E-R-V-E-R-T? Confused, but still, love, Astrid x _________________________________________s_p_r_a_y_ Här börjar Internet! Skaffa gratis e-mail och gratis Internet på http://www.spray.se Spray Jul 2001 är här! Roligaste julen på webben. http://www.spray.se/jul/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: nog and snogs
by stacey dahling 15 Dec '01

15 Dec '01

Sorry Sinister, but I am about to use you. No, not for any sort of query. Purely for selfish personal purposes. Of the diversion variety. Hmm. I guess there is nothing new there, really. Anyway. You are to be my vorpal sword as I attempt to slay this frumious bandersnatch commonly known as insomnia. My battle plan, see, is to try to beat the beast at its own game - by purposely staying awake as long as possible (preferably until at least 5 p.m.) until the ferocious foe has no fuel upon which to feed. In other words, until I collapse in a heap of exhaustion and sleep until dawn. Yes. Its a tall order. But Ive got you. And Valley of the Dolls (mwah mwah Magnificent Miss Maddie McNeil). So Ive been writing since morning. Well, since the time most people define as morning, being about 8:30 a.m., since Ive been up since... 7 p.m.? Er. Time is very confusing to me right now. I confuse my days and often the weird logic I utilized when developing my insomnia attack (So, if I got up at 7 today instead of 3, that will help because I will go to bed later tomorrow and get up later and then soon will be on track, right? Wait a sec. Thats backwards. Er. What?). Writing. Yes. And not that crazy word processor shit. Im talking REAL WRITING here, like, with your hands, on paper, legibly. In fact, more than legibly. It had to be perfect and pretty, it was for a present. Only it wasnt of course, perfect and pretty that is, for my hand was hurting so badly it began to throb and shake; the letters danced deceptively across the page. And even worse, the special brown pen I was using began to run out of ink and had to be pressed down in just the right way or else it didnt flow and left big scratches instead. Sigh. I was up against a deadline, the deadline being the insanely early post office closing time - 2 p.m. - and needless to say, I did not make it. But I did not despair, for I had a slew of stamps and figured I could smother the envelopes in them, guessing at weight and all that. Then, after all was finally finished and I ventured outdoors to walk to the post box, I realized the big envelopes did not fit in the wee slot. So I have to wait until Monday anyway. And my sister will hate me for not only missing our family Christmas for the first time ever, but failing to deliver my cheap handmade present on time. Pathetic. Especially considering I havent exactly been a busy little bee lately. Ah well. Ive ingested so much poetry over the past week, Ive begun to regularly regurgitate in random circumstances. As I stumbled down the street to the post box twenty minutes ago, I started to recite I go my myriad ways, blundering, bombastic, dragged.. On the way to the bakery at 8, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.. should I presume, should I presume? and once inside, spotting a doddering old woman, I happily repeated to myself I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear my trousers rolled. I suppose there are worse things. In fact, it might make me seem more educated than I in fact am. Or crazy. Especially since discounting Elliot, most poems I can be heard quoting are not commonly known. If I were to actually converse in poetry, I might say: We were tired, we were merry, we had gone back and forth all night on a ferry. I am living without you because of a terror, a far-fetched notion that I cannot live without you. Love is not all: it is not mean nor drink. Let us put on our appropriate galoshes. I must suffer everything being poor. My childhood cities, by now Ive forgotten them all, and you in one of them. I have lost all desire to communicate with men. I have a bird in my head and a pig in my stomach. Positively on my own again, heart broken so long ago I hardly notice. You call that sex? Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. Its true, I weep too much. Like this before you, just as I am. Our story is how still we stood, how fast. Let us go then, you and I. In a mayonnaise jar I keep the tiny people I shrunk with my magic. Mothers of America, let your kids go to the movies! Lately Ive become accustomed to the way the ground opens up and envelops me each time I go out to walk the dog. We are the chin-choppers and the golly-woppers and soon we shall discuss the amputation of your head. See? Its a bit frightening. I can only recite a few poems in their entirety, but several snippets of others lodge themselves in my brain and shoot out at me in sing-song. Anyway. What else have I been doing during this sleep deprivation interval? Well, actually, I went shopping. Yes! I had not intended to, really. Well, of course I did, you dont just stumble into online cheese stores by accident generally. But I mean, it wasnt my initial intention when pondering what to get my parents for Christmas. I couldnt give them poetry. Its been done before. No books (they dont read). Umm. And everything else requires money, which I do not have and which they did not want me to spend anyway. Good. So I was preparing to be lame and pull out my digital camera and microphone and make it a merry internet media Christmas, but then I thought, Wouldnt it be nice to have a little something delivered to the door? Something small. Something cheap. Something unexpected. Something.. peculiar? Yes! Like.. um.. ha! Wouldnt it be funny to have a nice juicy steak delivered to their doorstep in a Styrofoam box of ice! Oh yes, it would. What followed was hours of searching for the perfect cheesy gift (and yes, a hunk of black currant vodka cheese WAS an option under consideration). Sorry, #sinister, for subjecting you to this, but you were good sports. And a special shout-out to Vociferous Vodkabird Vic, for her constant stream of very valuable advice. For those of you who werent there for the blow-by-blow, my options were as follows: -Ten monthly shipments of genuine Latvian rye sourdough bread; seemed to be the best option at $12.95, but then it turned out that shipping bread fresh from the oven of a Latvian farm matron to NYC and then by airplane to the nearest airport was a bit more expensive - to the tune of $49. Damn. - One loaf of special strawberry bread from Illinois. $8.95. Their online ordering site was down! Egads! - Polish Party Pack!!! Yes! If it werent for the prohibitive price - $50 - I would have been all over this one. Party Pack from Millies Pierogies of Chicopee, Mass., includes 6 pounds of pierogies in assorted flavors, two rings of kielbasa and a jar of horseradish. Damn, I REALLY wanted to get this. - Other sausages; first stop was an Italian sausage place right down the street from my parents! Best part of this shopping experience were the photos that accompanied the company profile (Ooooh look! Theres Rod packing some sausages with a devilish grin!) and the individual product descriptions (extreme close-up of hand-stuffed sausages in various shapes and sizes. Ew.) Unfortunately, this too was expensive and I just couldnt bring myself to send a sausage, being a vegetarian and all. - Gallons of Utz Potato Chips or Snyders Pretzels. Oh, lemmie tell ya, I was PSYCHED to learn that my favorite ghetto potato chips ARE ONLINE! UTZ! Not only did they sell mass quantities of junk food, but an adorable beanie doll and weird sports merchandise. I also stopped at Snyders long enough to become an official member of the Snyders of Hanover Pretzel Eaters Club - yup, my membership card is IN THE MAIL, BABY! That one is going in my wallet. - Amish Shoofly Pie. Is it just me or is there something inherently wrong with Amish online merchandising? Hmm. And they were OUT OF SHOOFLY PIE! Wassup wit dat???? High demand for the holidays, I guess. Right. Yeah. So there are some great finds out there. If anyone wants actual links, I put them on my site, www.dreamwater.net/slithytoves under beamish boy. After all that, tho, I didnt get anything. Yeah, go figure, eh? I checked out beer of the month clubs too, because I liked the idea of forcing my parents to drink beer and picturing them kicking back with a brewski, but those things are fucking expensive! I was going to settle on a big hunk of that weird vodka cheese, but the shipping was almost twice as much as the actual product, and it seemed just silly to spend that much money on um.. cheese. Ah well. I learned some valuable things in the process. Like where to get some scary pecan sculptures (an onion factory, of course!). And where not to by bread (an Eastern European country). I really wanted that bread tho. Maybe when Im rich. Oh yes! I had something else to say! About Honey! Just when I think Honey cant possibly get any cooler, she goes and puts up a #sinister radio station!!! Yes! It is absolutely genius! I mean, were a bunch of music fans presumably getting together to discuss music (although how much this actually happens is questionable) so it makes sense that we should have a venue to not only make music recommendations to each other but actally LISTEN to the music too. What happens is this: individual #sinister folk can peruse a massive collection of 5,000 mp3s and select songs for the radio playlist which the rest of the channel can tune in to on a streaming sound connection. Ive been enjoying being DJ, forcing people to listen to Aden and Scud Mountain Boys and Kingsbury Manx and, yes, Crystal Gayle, Barry White and TLC. Hehe. I think Ive made some converts, and Ive discovered some new music meself as well. Anyway, having said all that Im NOT going to give you the direct link cause then the station would be flooded with users which would be NO GOOD. So youll just have to go to #sinister to get the addy. Muaahahaha! This is really my sneaky way of getting more of you into #sinister. See how that works? Clever, eh? Oh yeah, my poppa dont call me smartass for nothing. Er. Smart. I be off now. Behave! Wishing you lots of nog and snog this holiday season, ~dahling ps: is anyone asking santa for Athenian airfare for Christmas? Hmmmm? My latest picnic plan is to take over a wee club here for a sinister party. Mmm hmm. So lets fill it! pps: I actually wrote this last night but fell asleep before I could send it. True story. But I made it to 6 p.m. I think! Thanks guys. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: my wondering days are over
by R.Playforth＠sussex.ac.uk 14 Dec '01

14 Dec '01

hm, now the archives have come back to haunt me i feel a bit like i'm living in the past. any minute now i'll be drinking 7 pints of bitter, dancing to take that, and trying to produce essays on jane austen and wordsworth. not to mention falling for unsuitable post-grads and writing bad poetry. and while there are some aspects of my student days i would rather NOT revisit, i'm suddenly nostalgic for using my brain. maybe i can do a lit or film studies MA and go back to talking out of my arse full-time. (zoe - that wasn't a comment on film studies, but on me. your dissertation sounds great!) welcome scott, and don't worry about not being indie enough - i don't feel *anything* enough, but sinister is a good place to not be it :) and where can we get hold of your novel? oh, and i just want to say: http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199810/msg00581.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199810/msg00624.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199811/msg00369.html http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/199811/msg01300.html the words POT and KETTLE spring to mind :) luv archel xxx +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister(a)missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo(a)missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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