July 2002 - Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: Stuart's Granolithic
by Caitlin Pigtails 21 Jul '02

21 Jul '02

He is, you know. It says so in shiny brass letters on some of the pavements round here. Stuart's granolithic. Like a big statue, I assume. Anyway. Do you remember, months and months ago, I posted a Sinister Questionnaire? Some of you answered, and now the answers are all up on the web for you to read! So, if you want to know which Sinister boy claims to be straight even though his first kiss was with another boy, which listee was fired two days into a new job for drinking rum in the toilets, and which listee's most embarrassing Sinister moment was the time they posted to the list begging for money, there's only one thing to do. Go to http://www.joannou.net/topofthestairs/txt/siniq.html I hope you like it. If you're struck by a sudden urge to answer the questions yourself, you still can. I'll put the answers up there too. xx caitlin -- http://www.joannou.net/topofthestairs/ "When life gives us lemons, we just sit there and sulk about it, in the corner of the room, in a fetal position." - Matthew Henderson, on the Sinister mailing list. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: What i know about postmodernism
by Dean Gillon 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

Top of the morning to you good good people. The answer is Foucault of course. ho ho, well I thought it was funny in a "aren't I a pretentious twat" type of way. Instead of talking about what I've been up to, lets talk about YOU dear reader. How are you? would you like a nice cup of tea, I'll make it, I insist. I think I've got some lovely biscuits too in that cupboard under the sink. Chocolate Hob-Knobs or some such. Hmmm, that doesn't really work does it. Just doing up my tape for the tree thingy. Demons by SFA is such a tip-top tune you just can't leave it off really. And a little animals that swim too for good measure. ATS are one of my favourite bands in terms of lyrics. They're right up there with the Smiths i think, but whereas the mighty Moz-God sang about teenage angst and feeling a bit miserable, ATS tend to sing about blokes with horses in their flats and giving drunken priests "a good thrashing in a car park". And if that's not genius I don't know what is. I'm bored. Anyone fancy a pint? I might go and watch a bit of telly, I hear Sky has got the rights to this years origami championship live from Tokyo. Apparently it's paper view though. I think I best leave now. Have fun, and if any Americans can enlighten me as to what the buggery "cooties" are, I'd be most grateful. Apparently you get them from kissing, but I've never known what they are. I might be wrong but are they like lice or something? Loads of love Dean __________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: for your pleasure
by Robert Brennan 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

TOO MUCH CHEESECAKE TOO SOON The week started badly. An attempt to force myself into my suit trousers (bought 3 years ago) ended in aching arms, a near hernia and ruptured kidneys. Oh! To be that beautiful thin indie boy again. But then I wouldn't have enjoyed all that beer and those pies. Lose weight or shell out for a new suit? Not sure which would be the least painful. OLD MONEY'S BETTER THAN NEW? They never made a wedding list. The invitation said 'we'd rather have your presence than your presents'. My mum mentioned they were going for a city break on the continent as a honeymoon so I shoved some Euros inside the card. For those of you living outside the UK, the Euro's been in the news a bit here lately due to the 'No!' campaign commissioning a deeply offensive advert comparing the single currency to the 3rd Reich. Tossers. A country's worth is measured by its culture, achievements and its contribution to the international community - not who's picture it puts on the money. The Euro is BLUDDY GRATE anyway - I'd love to be able to bugger off to France and not have to change any money. NO MENTION IN THE LATEST TRIBUNE Loudly cursing all taxis, I arrived at the reception late. The groom hadn't seen me for about ten years and barely recognised me with my beard and trendy cropped hair. She looked fetching in her waistcoat and silk tie. Back in 'the day', she was 'my cousin Lisa' - about the only relative with whom I could have deep & lengthy arguments on religion and science. In our time we've believed in both. Now we're both grown up and she was celebrating her commitment with Judy (Lisa & Judy - the recurring B&S girl's names to give this post some pretence of relevance). Along with a hundred or so friends and relatives who understood perfectly well that here were two people who were truly in love - and that was well worth celebrating with cheezy 70s/80s music. The ceremony had gone swimmingly. The celebrant had spoken movingly about how mutually shared love was real & good whether or not it was recognised by religion or law. At the reception I was saddened to think of the number of people I had heard of (and sometimes known personally) who opposed that viewpoint. People who truly believe that this kind of love was 'wrong', 'sinful' or 'immoral'. Bollocks to them - they're just idiots. The two people who twirled in each other's arms while various kids chased each other around during the First Dance were the only two people in the world - joyously in love for their families and friends to see. Nothing could possibly be wrong about that. AND DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU: Dancing with your mum to Robbie Williams. Robster __________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Re: Sinister: Storytelling...
by frith on the hills 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

omigod! i finally got around to seeing that film last night, and here's my opinion: what in the hell were both todd solondz and belle and sebastian POSSIBLY thinking?!! i thought that piece of tripe was the biggest waste of $3.50 that i've ever dropped for a rental. well, not quite, but damn awful close. there was not one redeeming quality to that film WHATSOEVER except for the songs of b&s featured, which really didn't account for enough to sit through the damn thing. i think i'd have done just fine to fast-forward to the end credits just to hear the new song and been just fine with that alone. and i LOVE all that is belle and sebastian AND todd solondz heretofore. what a pretentious, boring, useless and totally offensive film. and not offensive because of content, i think that's what he was aiming for--to be all avant-garde by being as utterly un-p.c. as possible, which i'm all for generally speaking, but this??? it was just trite and long and dry and pointless. the ONLY point made was that "ewww, i can be all shocking 'n' stuff", and really he wasn't at all. why on earth did b&s get their hands dirty with that garbage? chris _________________________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: "If I were Jennifer Lopez and had an ass that big, I'd never leave the house."
by Miss Marianna Longmire 20 Jul '02

20 Jul '02

I've been terribly, terribly irritable all week. And do you know the worst of it? I become even more cantankerous from the realisation that I look very unbecoming when I'm irritated. This is NOT good. Especially when the resulting facial contortions are an unfortunate cross between Julia Sawalha' s dowdy expression in Absolutely Fabulous, and that of a frustrated, "but non-retarded" Mary Cherry. Egads. And so it's Friday. And on some self-inflicted saving-money-and-beer-drinking-reducing campaign, I'm staying in. My plan for the evening is to apply for jobs, to start Infinite Jest, to dye my hair and practice running in heels. Instead, I spend far too much time playing the DJ in my room whilst having a stockinged feet groove. At some point, I have to turn the music up a notch as my flatmates begin having sex in the bath. Don't worry though, they're getting married. I really don't know how much longer I want to stay here. But it seems a shame to leave my room o' coolness, especially since I've now got a lovely collage of Christopher Gorham up on my wall. Spunktastic. Noises on my mobile. Fears of yet another message from 'Muba the drunk and dishevelled follower of girls in stripy socks' are happily allayed as Australian pals send messages of love and drunken stupidity. I miss them. And decide to make mix tapes for them all. Which leads me to start making other random presents for anyone deemed worthy enough. It's all very Blue Peter, but the end results are fab. Finally, it becomes that time of the evening when I hatch plans and suddenly the next 48 hours promise to be filled with crush-stalking adventures, sojourns into photographic genius, hackey sac playage and general insanity. I promise myself that this will, truly, be a GREAT weekend, one which I can proudly relay to co-workers whilst they look befuddled and continue to confuse Fischerspooner with a greasy East End fish café. I am, genuinely, excited, but in my heart of hearts, I fear all plans will go awry as I'm sucked in by the Hollyoaks omnibus. At this point, it's 1.40am and in my sudden flit of wanting to do stuff, I'm tempted to call everyone I know in London and demand that they meet me in a 24 hour café in Soho. I want Earl Grey and conversation. I want to sit on the N55 and reply politely to the winos' ineffectual attempts at dialogue. Instead, I resign myself to reading shabubu and random online diaries, only to fall in love with the authors' prose before completely falling for the authors themselves. Gah. Unsuitable crushes - the bane of my life. xx Miss Marianna. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: everyone you know someday will die.
by lindsey baker 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

hello sinister. i got an email from bron today, telling me she is leaving this little electronic internet world for one existing in manners intended. for us. she's going. to the country. she's leaving home. and somehow, i feel like she is leaving me, a little bit. but i am glad. for i want her to fly, because i know her wings need stretching. use. breathing room. and somewhere in my room, in a box that used to house a brand new pair of rubbery-smelling pink shoes, is the thick little square that unfolds to a poem. that she dropped. and i picked up. and reminds me. that we are flowers. and i decided recently that some kinds of flowers can decide when or if to wilt. which makes us. me. lucky. i think. *** i'm starting to find it difficult to fathom that finding a place to live is so trying. finding a job -- difficult, yes, sometimes. finding a lifelong love partner/soulmate -- extremely challenging, of course. finding a flattering swim suit -- impossible, naturally. finding a place to live should certainly not be as elusive. i keep calling landlords. gently explaining my "situation," as i've come to term it. asked for central air. price limits. locations. and they all say the same thing: 'you just picked the worst time! i mean, the best time for me, but the WORST time for you! how about i show you that place on (insert super-ghetto address here) or this other gem about 70 blocks away from campus? (me mumbling something occurs here) and then: "what? wait...you called yesterday? oh YEAH! I REMEMBER YOU NOW! bummer, i don't think i have anything for you." so maybe i can meet up with other local lincoln homeless, start a club of some kind. have our weekly meetings at the soup kitchen, right before i go to take my weekly shower at the ymca. and then i can head off to a cozy city bench, under a shady tree, maybe in line with the door to a building, so a bit of chilled air from inside can waft over me when the people walk past and inside and outside the building. is that how homeless people do it? no wonder they always seem crazy. i think that kind of life would drive me quite insane. *** today in the news was a story of a girl's ex-boyfriend. who broke into her house and beat her dog to death with a golf club before systematically dismembering the girl's mother's pet bird. i went to work at the toy store, and it turned out one of the women i work with was the girl's aunt. and she said she had known the boy. that he had always seemed so smart and so quiet. underneath, i guess, was an abuser and killer and who else knows what. a crazy person. no wonder we want to get away from this world. *** if i were an animal, i have long said i would be a bird. and i hope that i would be able to fly away and fly and build enough homes and sing beautiful songs before the world came back to cut me down or a deal or apart. this is the way we wilt, maybe. and maybe we flowers don't really get to decide after all. but. i'm still going to think they do. we do. xxx lou ------------------ THE FOLLOWING IS AN ADVERT FOR EXCELLENCE: never learned how to ride a bike? merely flailed helplessy in a chlorine-laced pool when trying to learn to swim? come to Camp Kids Who Gave Up 2002, sponsored by lindsey baker, dave snyder and conor oberst to learn to ride and swim like nobody's business! while you're temporarily residing on our beautiful, secluded island paradise camp, enjoy lessons from friendly guest instructors such as mandee wright and listen to a different live band every night (we feature saddle creek gems and omaha rapists)! dating lindsey is also an available option, so long as conor is off-island. SIGN UP TODAY!!! _________________________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: Q: What is the Greek for "credit card number"?
by Simon Knapp 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

i told a friend of mine that i was hoping to go and see belle and sebastian in greece. he obviously misunderstood and said, "what, the musical?"... now there's a gig i'd pay to see. i am trying my best to concentrate on this post, slightly distracted by the delights of "bid-up.tv" on the telly next to me. for the uninitiated, this is the live, no-fuss, on-line, interactive auction channel. it's very good. and so easy to use. with just one simple phone call you could be engaged in a cut-throat bidding war for a 3 piece aluminium luggage set. help me. the other night i couldn't switch off without knowing just how much those signed 'alien resurrection' film posters went for. the problem is, i have recently joined the digital age - telly, phone and internet, which means i can now check my email at home, instead of/aswell as wasting all that time doing it at work. oh my god, look at the quality of those saucepans. ok, i just found a link to the 'splishsplosh' "belle and sebatian song generator". maybe you all knew about this already, but for those of you who didn't (like me), go to http://www.splishsplosh.co.uk/frames.htm?song and enjoy the likes of "boy in a drawer" "horse on the game" and "david and the girl of string" A: if anyone does know the answer to the subject line question, please let me know. my attempts to buy tickets for the athens gig have been frustrated by my lack of knowledge of the greek language. take care simon _________________________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: haldern sinister massive
by marc bots 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

good morning sinister, in nijmegen, which is where i live, every year a four-day march is held, and today 40000 people are walking 50 km for the fourth consecutive day to get a stupid shiny thingy. as you may understand, i am not one of them. instead i am sitting here at the uni, where i am supposed to remove the dna from a bunch of bacteria, which i will do later. together with all the walking, a lot of festivities are going on in town, with each night at least ten bands playing for eight days in a row. most of the bands suck, however. things i saw/heard that i like: a modern classical ensemble, a oasis/supergrass/weezer imitation called cry ugly, and a band called kopna kopna, which were quite cool and sounded a bit like zita swoon. i also drank some beer. zita swoon will be playing haldern, which makes haldern even more interesting. if i would have to choose the best concerts i ever saw, zita swoon would be in the top five twice. and b&s would be in the top five too. so i have decided to go to haldern, especially since it's only 1 hr driving from nijmegen. are there any sinistrians that would like to meet on the festival? i think i recall some people talking about it a while ago, could you email me privately? kisses to idleberry and michael grant for writing such wonderful posts. love to all, marc +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0

Sinister: I could be in a brilliant career
by Kenneth P Y Chu 19 Jul '02

19 Jul '02

I used to think having a job was rubbish, but I've changed my mind now. I now think that it's OK.. or maybe "tolorable". Mmm yes, yesterday I was bored so I stayed up til 5pm, WORKING.. because I was looking for a job, and then I found a job! I'm not miserable yet, nor have I received my first pay cheque, when I do I am contemplating buying myself a PlayStation 2(tm). For now though I just have to play a game called "Age of Empires" which is a very old game now, but you get to command a war in it, and there are various campaigns in it where you can relive the lives of famous commanders, I played the Joan of Arc mission, and now I know how Joan of Arc felt! I'm typing this in a Webstation in Euston Train Station, and there is a guy shouting really loudly about how he can't FUCKING GET TO VICTORIA STATION! I wish he would calm down, I'm sure he can somehow, he just doesn't know, maybe he should ask me ask me ask me. Because nen nen nen ba bum ba bum ba bum together..... back to work xx Smiths and Red Bulls Ken _________________________________________________________________ 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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

2 1

Sinister: How things came to be...
by idleberry 18 Jul '02

18 Jul '02

I've been feeling pretty empty of things to write to Sinister recently. There have been little things I've thought of, noticed, and mentally noted. But all motivation and inspiration disappears when I sit down at my laptop. I start sentences, and then they sort of trail off, and I don't quite know how to end them or where it will lead. I've been quite busy recently, sitting at computers all day long and the like. At work, I'm busy writing and preparing things. I have little projects on the go at work. I've finished one paper, and now I'm moving onto paper number two. The first, was a Guide for MSPs (Manic Scottish Politicians). The second is about record keeping and more importantly, record disposal. "Keep original copies and dispose of duplications: Keep original Tigermilk; get rid of OCS and other Paul Weller duplicates". See work can be fun. At home, I've updated my personal web site. I've removed a lot of the nonsense. It was an experiment when I set it up. Wanting a web site, but needing something to put on it. So I just put anything that came to mind. Learning how to use different programs. Teaching myself HTML tricks. But most importantly, for any would-be web site designer, the art, and value of cut and paste. Now I've got rid of a lot of things. The cheesy, retro "so naff its cool" animations. And I've stuck some interviews up there; taken from the fanzine I used to edit Point of Isolation. There's still some which need to be transferred there, but I've lost the electronic copies, so it will be a laborious, hangover day job of typing them up again from the paper copies. Go and have a look if you want something for free that I used to charge people for (or give away, depending on alcohol levels). There's an interview with the boss of B+S ex-label, Mark Jones. There's a Jeff Mueller interview. Lift to Experience, and others. I think, most of all though, the bit that people seem to respond to most of all, is the wee online art room. Especially as you can get lots of people in there at the same time, that's quite good fun. http://www.geocities.com/idleberry I lost my specs today. I can't tell you how naked I'm feeling right now without them. Its an alien experience to be working without them. not quite x files, more "what files?? I don't see any files" ************* I was looking through my inbox today, and came across the first e mail I got in it. i set this e mail account up, when i fancied this boy you see. I was living in norway at the time, it was the start of 1999. Every day, on the bus, I would see this bloke, who was gorgeous. I liked the cut of his hat, and the look in his eye. He wore flares, for crying out loud. Therefore, he must be fanciable. He had dark hair, and he wore a blue jacket with a green felt hat. But every day, I saw him with a different girl on the bus. And then, somehow, I found out he lived down stairs from me. I was too shy to talk to him. But I did my research- which could techincally constitute stalking, but i like to think it was research- and found out his name. I'd see him at the bus stop, and I would get the same bus as him. I wanted to talk to him, but I was too shy. So instead, i'd catch a glimpse of him, and be happy all day long. It was a sad existence, but i was very lonely in norway I'd wonder what his voice sounded like, and I wondered, if amidst all that pouting, he'd ever smile, and what sort of smile he might have. Anyway, Valentines day was approaching. And i thought to myself, heck, it can't hurt to send him a card. But how would I find out what he thought of it, if it was anonymous? So I wrote the card, and put this e mail address inside. I set up this e mail account especially. People knew my regular e mail account addresses, so I knew I had to think up something new. Something nobody else would know. Then I remembered a letter I had written to a pal. My pal, a bloke called Chris, and have known since I was 17. He went to school with Roddy Woomble of idlewild, and used to drag me along to their gigs, at the cas rock in edinburgh, before it became another theme pub. Back in their fierce panda days. Later, when we went to T In The Park one year, Roddy refused to sign Chris an autograph at the signing tent,claiming he saw him all the time anyway. Chris disagreed. "You're always on tour or whatever". So Roddy signed the autograph, but addressed it to Chris' mum. And I wrote this letter to chris, one cold january evening, and I asked "Hows my favourite idleberry then?" with a reference to his unconditional fan-ness for the band. idlewild. wild berry. idleberry. it just appeared, in my writing of the letter. And it sort of stuck in my mind afterwards. so i thought, that'd do. I'd use the nick "idleberry" and I set up this email account. and i sent my valentines card to this guy. Valentines day was on a saturday that year. I couldn't wait for Monday morning, when I could go into uni and check my e mails. But Monday morning, glued to my new e mail account inbox, and nothing appeared. So off I went home, slightly disappointed, and more so cos I didn't see the cute boy on the bus. And then Tuesday. I sat around on the internet, browsing chat rooms, and checking my inbox everyfive minutes. I had to go and work in this underground cafe I had a volunatary job at the university, called Kafe Bodega. I got to serve proper filter coffee, with fresh made waffles and jam, and all the teas you could imagine- proper tea leaves, and tea strainers- from earl grey to cactus tea. The tables were identical, little and round with tea lights and a small centre piece table cloth, and it was lit with wall mounted lamps, and the walls were painted in deep vampy red. Sometimes they;d show a film, an obscure, independent film there. Like maybe a film about snowboarding. It was a great place to met people, and everyone was really chatty, except me, cos I was too shy. And you could pick up board games and play backgammon or chess or draughts. And i got all the waffles I could eat, for working there. That was dinner sorted out for Tuesday every week. Wednesday, no sign of any emails. By Friday, I had resigned myself, with a heavy heart, he'd probably scoffed at it, and thrown it away. He'd probably thought it was a joke, or something too soppy, and girlie, and commercial, and whatever else might go through the mind of a man. Still, only I knew it was from me. Although I couldn't help, but feel a slight thought, if he knew it would be from me. maybe. The following Monday, I went to uni, and checked the e mail account. And there was his email. "Hei framtidige e-post venn? Et valertinerkort jeg av deg fikk Konvolutten var fylt av mystikk (osv.) :) Hvem er du?" It reads: "hello future e-mail friend? A valentine card i found from you the envelope was full of mystery (etc.) :) who are you?" of course, it actually ryhmes, in norwegian, but not in english. So, in an excited panic, i thought of my reply. i asked a friend to check it for me. I wanted to tell him I was too shy to speak to him, and that I'd seen him, and thought he was cute. I told him I lived in the same building, and I was a foreign student. (I thought telling him I was foreign might up my chances in the "interesting background" stakes). Only my friend, a german girl, misheard me. And instead of "shy" she thought i said "dry". Now try re-reading that again, and you can imagine what it might have meant. The reply came back. He said he was sorry if I misunderstood why he replied. he was extremely flattered, and thought it was very brave of me to send him a valentines card. But he had a lover, and was very happy... with him. I blushed bright red, then and there in the computer room in uni. As scarlet as the walls of Kafe Bodega. I re read it. I read it again. When I saw him, after that, I tried not to see if he saw me. Maybe he knew now, who his secret admirer was. And if so, I felt, very very stupid. In retrospect, I guess I look back, and I think about things differently. I think his response was lovely. I think I over reacted too quickly. And I don't feel embarrassed now. He might have liked it. He might have smiled. And that made it all worthwhile. I just wish I'd seen it. Love Idles ===== http://groups.yahoo.com/group/corduroysmoke/ starting playground gossip and passing notes __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes http://autos.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 +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

1 0