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Sinister: How many people are feeling sinister now?
by sinkingpie 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

"How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they're forever banned" I feel an apology is in order to everyone, because this is another post that may slightly more than touch on the subject of war. My views on this much discussed subject are simple. It seems to me that intentionally taking away the life of another human being is fundamentally wrong (certainly if they're unwilling, we can save euphanasia debates for a rainy day). Forget about hypocritical politicians, forget about oil, the simple fact is that people will die. By this, I mean all of the people that will die. Including those doing the killing in the first place. A lot of people took part in both protests, and "protests" today where I live. During breaktime at school a number of people from other schools showed up, presumably in an attempt to increase their numbers (I suspect this may have been a "protest" rather than a protest). This didn't please the staff at my school much, neither did the ensuing attempt by a fairly small number of people deciding not to attend lessons. I do feel that these gestures were more to get out of lessons than due to an actual opposition to war, although that is of course a generalisation, and I'm sure some of the people were very genuine. Three fire engines showed up shortly after this, after someone decided that setting the fire alarm off would be an excellent idea for a protest. I wasn't entirely convinced, and I have to think that a lesson on gas-liquid chromatography may have been more useful... Reading through what I've just written, I fear I may not actually have said much, so I apologise for that. But I do think its important for everyone to let people know how they feel. Just hopefully in a more appropriate way than setting fire alarms off (rumours also suggested that protestors set fire to BHS, although I think that may be from rather unreliable sources, and quite what anit-war protestors have against BHS I don't know. any ideas anyone?). Finally, on an entirely unrelated note, Ballboy are playing on John Peel tonight, and I do suggest that listening may be enjoyable (this isn't as unrelated to B&S as it may first appear, allow me to explain. Ballboy are fairly heavily influenced by hefner, and an early hefner single (or EP?) had someone from B&S (can't quite remember who) playing keyboards on the B-side. a tenuous link I agree). Thanks for reading this, its a nice feeling that I may have shared my views with some other people (even if no-one reads this, I'll think they have). Perhaps our representatives in london will have a sudden change of heart. We live in hope. The answer is blowing in the wind. __________________________________________________ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: and the snow has stopped falling, falling, falling
by Mark Casarotto 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

Hey Sinister, War: what is it good for? Well, historically, the commencement of conflict has dramatically boosted the stock market, so now may be good time to pile back into shares. You heard it here first! Secondly, The Dirty Vicar was pretty much spot on when he talked about the good ol' days of Sinister meet-ups. Which makes me wonder what we can do to make some of that magic return. As you all know, Ken has been selling the April 5/6 weekend in London like a hyperactive Swiss Toni - A Sinister picnic is very much like making love to a beautiful woman, etc. In fact, on past performance, quite a lot of Sinister picnics have ended up quite literally like that. So. People who've never been to a picnic before - come along, bring friends for reinforcements, bring savoury foodstuffs for the good of the masses, bring a willing pair of legs (to climb the hill, for a start, and to play fitba!). I think that was all I have to say, really. I'm currently wondering what to do today, my 4th last in Denver before returning home to London (*sticks out bottom lip*), as the 30 inches of snow that's fallen over the last two days is only just beginning to thaw, and Sarah's car is almost invisible under it, and we don't have a shovel. Boo! So I'll leave dear Sinister to its usual machinations. Fuck Bush, fuck him with knives. See you all later. Mark xxx __________________________________________________ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Oh no! We forgot granddad!
by robin stout 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

I was never a spy in Baghdad; I never had dinner with The Dictator and his charming family, or washed my nervous hands in his bathroom. I never grew up under a Stalinist regime; never worried about arrest when I spoke my mind, never crumbled in the cellar as the bombs fell. I left my seat at the meeting of the New World Order empty; I never chose which nations would stand and which would fall, never dinted my compass on the map of history. In a world full of cats in boxes I won't even pretend to know what it's all about. Other people can tell you that if they want to. They seem to know. Instead, my advice for positive action now the war has begun is this: Find someone, call someone, hug someone, tell them you love them. Do that. Be good to someone. Be understanding and sympathetic. Let people know that the world isn't all hate and anger. Pretending to die in Jack Straw's garden won't do anyone any good. Sharing a biscuit with a someone on your lunch break will. ++ Miller spoke about "up the bum" sex: << Another thing that makes me wonder about the sweetness of pain is moving house. I am moving house to Cambridge. It never fails to amaze me how difficult moving house actually is. I remember thinking that walking along a couple of streets with a suitcase full of Penguin Classics was difficult. >> I spent the weekend helping my granddad move house. It was great fun. Me and me dad got to drive around in a big van and wear blue overalls and eat pie and chips. But Miller's right about how difficult moving house is. Over the years, my granddad seems to have become sentimentally attached to huge pieces of wood and sheets of corrugated iron, which he seems to think he might need in case he has to build a shed one day. It's always good to have these things just in case, apparently. Put them at the back of the van next to the bedside cabinet, would you? I tried to move a suitcase full of Penguin Classics once. Those expensive chocolate bars really are heavy. I remember thinking I should have filled it up with Sports Biscuits instead. ++ Did Ken's Dream win, Carsmile? I wasn't paying attention, I'm afraid. If it lived up to it's name, it probably just jumped about like a big pair of bouncing boobs. I'm off, Robin x [ by express delivery : http://www.superatomic.co.uk/blog ] _________________________________________________________________ Stay in touch with absent friends - get MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Reasons to be proud of
by Stefano [Steady-State] 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

Dear Sinister We tried. Some of us tried and we believed we could make it. We knew it was hard. But it was good to believe. It was good to have the feelings of being part of something big. Believing we could stop the country in which we are living, a country which in my case is not even my own one, if does any matter, to get into a reckless war. Being part of peaceful and democratic movement. We didnt make it, apparently. Arrogance won, as it is often happening, but that shouldnt stop us to show our disgust. If you feel like that, obviously. I used the word disgust, because I cant find a better one: I actually feel disgusted, on about the opinion of the many is being ignored and neglected, or even branded as lack of loyalty or cowardly or worst. And what is supposed to be called braveness? Bombing a country which almost hasnt got a proper army. Facing it with the most powerful military display since the Vietnam war (something which shown with a kind of bravado proud by the so-called alley alley to what?). They will be usually brave enough to drop bombs from the high sky, generally over people who are absolutely harmless, and have just the power to hope the bomb wont hit they house today, and keep the hope it is not going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Something to be proud of. Really. Are call causalities. Such a good word to mean slaughter. Hospitals, school, water lines, power centrals, causalities, they say. And now they are telling from the radio that the their bomb are much brighter then before. Such a nonsense. And they call tall on day that those people were hiding chemical, biological and even nuclear weapon. (All weapons that the US have more than any other country. Disarm them please. I fe! el a bit scared.) This is all look so brave. You should be proud looking back at all the good we have done to the Iraqi and middle-eastern people. Really really proud. Really really brave. I just feel a bit disgusted, indeed. I feel like I want to shout loud, bu And a tiny bit disgusted. I hope that we can make a decent sinister delegation to the march which is going to take place on Saturday, the 22nd*. The proud I feel of buy part of our occidental democracy. Yes, we rule the school. Take care, yours Stefano * if you feel like you want to come along please drop a note of least I will really apreciate it >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'll be careful when I drive 'cause I want to see her once before I die. ONQ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: "It does worry me when anybody gets killed, but life has to go on."
by jim taylor 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

this post was titled "*no apologies", until i heard a London commuter interviewed on TV just say this. priceless. killed? life? I want to write about other things. but i can't. "Music has a role to play in spreading the word of peace. I think it is a case of using music to articulate something that you don't find articulated in the mainstream media. The most important thing it does is create a community of dissent. You realise you are not the only person who feels completely opposed to the war. Or, there are a lot of people out there who feel ambiguous about it, and hopefully coming along to a march or hearing the songs might help them to make a conscious decision to oppose the war. That is the experience that I have had." jim predictably quotes a lefty singer (b.bragg). and wonders what songs we'll hear in glasgow. how overtly B&S will be influenced by events. there. almost non-war content. I've been doing lots of thinking about attitudes to the US and UK, and as i think i've suggested before, about how just as it is ridiculously fundamentalist to hate the US or UK, it is similarly simplistic to be 'proud' of the same. The US media/?public/corporate pressure against stars such as Martin Sheen and the Dixie Chicks etc etc speaking out scares me a little. How nobody was *allowed* to say anything at the one award ceremony by TV station bosses. I know its the corporate end of things, but one of the many issues that rankles is freeing the iraqi people to have human rights when things smell less free than they could be in the US. Clearly rights are enshrined in constitution etc, but how far are we from mccarthyism? (i'll save you the links re these but can provide). I'm proud B&S speak their views, and are able to. It felt good to be walking around Hackney (London) today seeing so many badges, posters in windows in people's homes, shops etc, knowing how many people have been bothered to express opposition to war. A greek colleague was speaking about London's merits including its liberal atmosphere. I have mixed feelings about my dirty inner city borough, but am looking to part-buy a house in it which is remarkably grown up. and expensive. Back in 2001 Liz Daplyn eloquently typed "Vandalised bus shelters are, conversely, not reminiscent of comforting blankets at all. They can be startlingly beautiful, though, what with scattered cubes of safety glass scattered around ('Hackney diamonds', I read somewhere) or crazed mandala patterns radiating from the focal points of not-quite-hard-enough blows and looking like imitations of gorgeous spiderwebs laid down by secret crafty hands. But it might just be me that likes them." This 'Hackney Diamond' thing sticks in your head. I walk passed said gems i think every day i go to work. that phrase has unusually limpet like properties. I mentioned it to my cousin who has since reproduced (also quite a grown up thing, and entirely irrelevant) and he spontaneously volunteered it's a ditty he can't help but be reminded of when he sees them. My plan is to eventually produce the next volume (booklet) of patients' poetry (i work in mental health) and use this as a bit of a concept for the work (hard, sharp, broken, precious etc etc you get the picture) maybe the title. So a very delayed thanks to Liz for the inspiration for that one. There aren't many good things about this whole thing. The awareness that my dear leader seems to have forced in the 'kids' [that skipped school and demonstrated around the country yesterday] may encourage a generation to take a greater interest in democracy. On cheerier notes, given the peace to enjoy it (or lack thereof and a need to resort to it) we live in a remarkably world, with some gorgeous music (+people & gestures.) I'm looking forward to a trip to Glasgee to see B&S folk and of course the gig. As well as hopefully the non-ATP-gathering: wonderful as i'll be getting corner-of-the-camber-sands-queen-vic-pub withdrawal symptoms round about then. I believe protesting now is as important as ever. looking at the bigger picture [and how think how remarkably quickly much of this will be forgotten for a majority] making as much noise and opposition makes it harder to resort to final measures such as military action in the future. I don't necessarily agree with the idea that you do things because you have to do *something* (though can relate to that) and like the fact people are considering the value of their actions. I've been tear gassed and risked riot police beatings at a demo overseas because it seemed the right thing to do, but in retrospect it achieved little beyond being a story to tell and was possibly foolish. Saturday in London (and throughout the UK i assume), will be peaceful and very important. I can only speak for myself in stating i feel i have a moral responsibility to be out on the street to represent my view. simple as that. and i like the fact that through sinister i know others that will do the same worldwide. as long as people like Mark have thought about their view (which he clearly has) then i think that's great. I haven't actually been able to find anyone that supports the war, so i was intrigued to read a non-print pro-war view. For me Robin Cook's rather skilful speech resignation speech summed it up. It's linked below in my original knee jerk rant. I didn't realise why road traffic was so bad as i noticed it, walking, the end of this afternoon. It's likely it was shoolkids blocking junctions, which allowing for a bit of majority influence/peer pressure/fashionable thing to do, means some young folk caring about what happens in the world. I'm usually more likely to be scared by hard kids. Makes a very nice change. Suggestions are it won't be as big on saturday as the 1 or 2 million, but i'm looking forward to seeing fellow B&S peaceniks on the march on saturday in London, get in touch to join us. So feel free to ignore the below bit (he naively hoped folk got this far!), which i wrote when i woke up at 5am. With a bit of the above content, it felt a bit *too* ranty on its own, but not irrelevant. It made me post to sinister, this here world event. What fascinating times we live in. i suppose i don't know where else i'd be (indulgently?) expressing myself. I can agree with Mark that Blair is doing what he thinks is right. But the trouble for me is, the wrong thing for the right reasons, that doesn't feel much better than Bush's wrong thing for not quite so honourable reasons. (again see rumsfeldy link below). It would be a marginally more hard argument to win if we (?Bush) hadn't set ourselves arbitrarily early deadlines and given Blix time. Hello sinister. music, i know. music and life though. x - - - - - - *see prior explanations/justifications/blah blah. Phew. I'm sleeping better in my bed tonight knowing that Saddam is less of a threat to my life than he was 4 hours ago. Except i'm not. I'm awake. I woke up to a looped shot of one cruise missile being fired in the dark. Did somebody say media orgy? And i'm consuming. http://www.indymedia.org/ provides some interesting alternative dishes, such as the link to PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ http://homepage.eircom.net/~gulufuture/news/kate_adie030310.htm. Thinking of alternative sources of information. The B&S fan in baghdad has his own blog http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/ OK i'm predictably lying (about the B&S fandom i assume), but he is a human being, and one who previously gave the best argument i've come across re: human shields... i did share the link with ian. the link never works for me (why?!), but googling + reading caches such as this does: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:4D9u9ReRWt0C:dear_raed.blogspot.com/+ raed&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Oh hang on 5.14 am, official statement "this is not the start of war". Oh they're admitting it never stopped? No: Just an assassination attempt. Which is handy seeing as it seems the British military command didn't seem to know it was going to happen till it did. Robin Cook's Resignation speech Remember as a senior-ish cabinet member he had access to all those 'intelligence reports' that never existed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2859431.stm re: motive The agenda that was aired up of course back in '98. Say no more.The Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz horse's mouth is contained herein. www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/022003Leopold/022003leopold.html ~ p e a c e & love ~ jim LOW "you can't trust violence" +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Only the dead fish go with the flow
by Mark Brading 20 Mar '03

20 Mar '03

Hello everyone, I have been lurking for far too long. Or rather... I have been lurking. What is the longest anyone has been reading the list; enjoying the list; without posting? Your posts have been brightening up my day for a long while now, & I feel really bad that my first post is going to disagree with most of the people on the list... ...so lets have some B&S content before we get down to business. I heard State I Am In on the radio, when they were offering Tigermilk for £8 if you sent an SAE. I wrote a cheque but never sent it. Idiot. Later, my girlfriend took me to the Shepherds Bush gig. It was dire - and I fell in love, with the girl, and with the band. After a while, I was head over heals in love with both, so I asked the girl to marry me... she said no. She went off with a German maths student - it was for the best, I was infatuated rather than in love. But B&S never went away, and I have been in love ever since. I have tickets for Glasgow... I'm counting the days. So, back to the matter in hand. Saddam had until 1am this morning to leave Iraq, or face war. In fact, even if he left, the US were going to attack anyway. Our government voted last night to allow our troops to take part in an invasion of Iraq against international law. Against global, nevermind domestic, opinion. Against a lack of evidence that Iraq has weapons that could attack anyone within 20 miles, nevermind 2000... And I support that invasion. Yes, I know this isn't a popular view on this list, but I support the war. I believe that Tony Blair is an intelligent man, and much as I may disagree with his domestic tactics, I think he's a good and just politician, and if he believes (and is prepared to stake his career) on this war, then I will support him. I hate war. I hate violence. I abhor the idea that we are, inevitably, about to kill innocent people. But I believe that if we stand by, then more innocent people will die. Given the chance, Saddam would destroy the world, as long as he was left in control of the ashes. I don't believe we are after oil, I don't believe we are after power. I believe we are after peace. The question is not 'should we go to war' - that's academic now. The question is 'what should we do when we win?'. To quote people more intelligent than me (and I'm not talking about Spiderman) - 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Whatever happens to Iraq now is in our hands. Let's hope we don't mess it up. Sorry to post so off-topic, and so controversial. But by the time you read this we'll probably be at war, and I thought that needed marking by somebody. May angels and ministers of grace defend us. Mark +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: unplugged
by Kieran Devaney 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

I wrote a wee while ago about returning to Birmingham and how that felt and all, and I suppose while this is undoubtedly all exaggeration given the fact that Ive only been away from there for five or six weeks I got a chance to test out my theories last weekend when I actually went back. The train journey down there mightve been the best bit if I think about it. Trains are great. Its so nice to be able to see distant fields suffused with great globs of sunlight through gaps in the clouds while you remain in the shade. The skewiff spire of Chesterfield cathedral. All that. Home is luxuries though. A bag of pic n mix, roast beef flavour monster munch, which even vegetarians can eat and that new fanta which tastes a bit like sweetened sick, but is a really pleasant colour, stuff like that. I got the bus a couple of times and the thing that stood out most, more than ever, because it always did at least a bit was an old shop, long since closed down, that used to sell computer parts. The faded sign, still in the window, which used to be royal blue, but has gradually faded to a more appealing pastel shade bears the names in angular typefaces - what might nowadays be called retro-futurism Amstrad, Atari, Spectrum, Commodore 64 all emblazoned in white across the window, and beneath them torn and yellowed net curtains half-hiding the bare interior. If you look closely inside you can see the dusty remains of shelves, and what mightve been a counter in the corner, and who knows what visions of the future changed hands there all those years ago. I remember once, on the way home from town, a boy wearing one of those fashionable Atari tee shirts got on the bus and sat down in the seat right in front of me. The shirt was much too big for him, perhaps two or three sizes, the Atari logo in bright yellow on a forest green background. He was tall himself though, and awkward with it, the picture of gawkiness with cropped and thickly gelled black hair and thin-framed glasses, his movements were indecisive and he stumbled along the stationary bus before sitting down. His face was covered in acne, little peaks of white and yellow surrounded by vast drifts of red all spilling into each other and feeding off each other. Like a toadstool, or a forest. All this detail about him isnt so important really, but it has stuck with me. I can picture him almost exactly, or at least I think I can, and I watched him as we trundled along, the little rhythmic glint of the sun on his frames through gaps in the buildings. The tee shirt looked like a concession, a treat, it was so pristine looking how proud he must have been. I waited for us to get to the old computer parts shop, to see what his reaction would be. But as we passed, and I was quite sure he was looking directly at the place, he didnt even blink, not one tiny hint of a nuance changed. How disappointing. Perhaps his mind was reeling at the sight of it, but he kept it hidden, I cant rightly tell of course, but there was a potential clash there perhaps it only existed in my own mind but I felt it deserved its own half-second of drama. And how irritating is it not to be able to know things? Does it ever bother you that there are things you will never know? Not just big important things either, but tiny trivial things too. When I was at school, and I tell you this by way of example, some teachers would make their classes put on house assemblies (if youre not au fait with the house system then basically the school is split into chunks, usually four, though there were only three at my school, and each one is a house, they then play sports against each other. Every week on Wednesday mornings each house would have an assembly), theyd have to choose a topic and then perform a short talk on it in front of about a third of the school. This wasnt a fun thing to do really I had to do it myself once, though it was an entirely unremarkable event, I cant even remember what our assembly was about. But this particular one does stick in my mind, if only for what happened after it. The assembly itself was given by a group of troublemakers from the year above me you could tell they resented having to do the thing; so unenthusiastic were their utterances. The topic was school dinners, the relative merits thereof and they half-heartedly presented the various well-worn clichés and jokes, anything else would have reeked of effort I suppose. But the rubbishness of the assembly is not really the point, they were all rubbish really, even if the speakers were actually interested in the topic they had chosen. I recall one on Pokémon cards a few years ago which was unintentionally hilarious its probably best not to devote a section to ad-libbing about your favourite cards, thats a tip for you all in case youre ever in a similar situation. But anyway, one the way out of the assembly hall you had to pass through quite a narrow doorway, which was a squeeze even if there were two of you, so getting a whole third of the school through meant that there was usually a bit of a wait before you could leave. This occasion was no different, and as I stood there waiting I lazily eavesdropped on the people in front of me it turned out that they both knew one of the people who had given the assembly, and so most of the discussion was devoted to how crap he had been and how much they were going to insult him when they next saw him. Fair enough. Then, as we approached the doorway one of them turned to the other and stepping forward a little way, so as to be the next people through once a gap emerged he said You know, the real problem with school dinners is and with that they both pushed through the throng and were gone, while I stood stranded just yards from where the end of the sentence was now being said. Now, thinking realistically, what he actually ended up saying was probably not that interesting or insightful after all, how interesting can the topic of school dinners conceivably get? But, stricken there amongst the people clamouring to get through the doors, and too frail and small to push my way past I thought the worst thing that you can think in such a situation: Im never going to know what the end of that sentence is, and its going to bother me forever. And, well, here I am some seven or eight years later writing about it. I went out last Wednesday night to see a friend of a friend DJ at this awful gothical rock night club and although the music was decent he even played a couple of B&S tunes for me (if I worried about such things this is where I would put a cheery note saying something like See?! Content!), there was virtually no one there, only fifteen or so people, which sort of put a dampers on things. Now, the night out isnt really the important thing. Because of high taxi fares and the fact that I live on the other side of Birmingham from all the people I was with that night I decided to go back with them, which I duly did and stayed the night at my friends house. Thats not the important bit either. Next morning in the kitchen of this rather plush house I was sitting with another friend, who had also stayed over Im not mentioning names not out of any desire to maintain anonymity or anything really, they both have the same name and things just tend to get confusing anyway. But there we were the fact that the house is rather plush is something you should hold onto, it will become more significant a bit later. So, we were sitting there, just having a chat and in walks my friends mother. Now, I dont really know her and I imagine she probably resents the fact that her children invite so many strangers to come and stay without consulting her first, but she was breezy and pleasant enough to us. I suppose you have to be. Anyway we chatted with her for a while and she mentioned that she had a new car, or well, she corrected herself, second hand, not new you know. We nodded. Taking up the thread I mentioned that my dad had a new car too he cant shut up about it - I added jovially. Perhaps I jumped in with that a little too quickly, or perhaps my tone was accidentally condescending, or perhaps she had inferred something from my mannerisms, perhaps my awkwardness or awkward over-politeness, I cant say, but in that instant as I was saying that innocent little sentence and a half she flashed me a contemptuous look that so took me aback that I stumbled over the last few words. She checked herself though and asked what sort of car it was, I told her and told her how old it is as well. Oh. She seemed unsure what to say next and swiftly changed the subject. But in that moment where she looked at me, as though I was in some way trying to somehow belittle her, I wanted to show her my house over the other side of Birmingham. Perhaps coming downstairs on a Sunday afternoon into the living room, my mum by the window doing the ironing, a bit pile of crumpled washing around her, the football results on the telly, my dad and my brothers draped variously across the settees, eyes fixed. Toys and stuff strewn across the floor, the lunch things still not cleared away, the stale, dry heat from the iron and the glutinous churn of the classified results, the lethargic looks on my siblings faces. I wanted to show her all that, just briefly, wanted her to know. In truth those grim Sunday afternoons spent in stasis, where escape outside, whatever the weather, or back upstairs were all I could opt for are the only times I can honestly say I dont like living at home. But my friends mother looking at me like that in the pristine kitchen of her spacious home, her new car parked in the driveway next to her husbands as though I were passing judgement on her, as though I were scorning all that I wanted her to see differently, to see the truth. And its not a case of whos most hard done by, because how pathetic would that be? Its pretty pathetic anyway I suppose. Perhaps I feel most sorry for my dad, almost turned gloating villain of the piece either goggle-eyed in front of the football in our stuffy living room or in the mind of my friends mum, lording it up over his new motor, or whatever it was she thought. A constant war, wrote David Hare, a war of attrition. We should keep that in mind. And then today I felt entirely disorientated by things. There was yet another anti-war protests organised by the student committee today, more chants of Warfare? Welfare! and the like rang aloud as I came out of my lecture today, and then they started marching up towards town. I was on the way there myself so I followed them at some distance; they were walking in the road, blocking the traffic. I couldnt sympathise with them they got in the way of a sticky bus full of people going to Halfway (I didnt get that joke until one such bus almost hit me the other day). And then halfway up the road they all sat down, but only for a few seconds, egged on by shopkeepers and passers by, drawn out by the sunlight and the noise. I sort of know one of the organisers of these protests his name is Jethro, Im sure he wont mind me mentioning it. I cant imagine he has much time for the interweb anyway, besides indymedia dot org. He stood for union president just last week actually, but was beaten by the captain of the rugby team. So it goes. And yes, there he was at the head of the line, megaphone in hand, leading the chant I say warfare etc, but I couldnt summon up the energy to get involved, not that I dont think protesting is a good thing quite the opposite really, but I felt as though the focus of that today was not my own. The focus has shifted. And I couldnt match Jethro in his boundless enthusiasm I kept losing my train of thought and wondering if his dippy parents (thats an assumption by the way, Im sure his parents are very nice people) had so named him after top prog rockers Jethro Tull. I sort of hope so. It cant have been after top Cornish comedian Jethro I wouldnt have thought so. He fascinates me anyway; hes like a cartoon character in that he always dresses in the same regulation clothes, grey fleece top and black drainpipe jeans. The top has the flag of Norway on the shoulder of one of the sleeves, perhaps both. He tops off the ensemble with a Eurohike bag decorated with a couple of Socialist Worker badges, bits and pieces like that. But on went the march with whistles and giggles and chants and banners being waved and I followed them along the road reading the banners and watching the people, but still something seemed faintly unsavoury about it. The focus, as I say. But I dont think I could put my finger on how it has shifted, or from what to what. Perhaps its just the sense that the ace card has now been dealt, perhaps its not that the protests or protesters have changed but that circumstances have changed, but the protests stay the same. How theyre supposed to resolve this is beyond me Im afraid. I followed the up into town anyway, this hazy sense of unease with me and they filed past the various shoppers and so forth, including a guy whos often knocking around Sheffield quite old he is, and he wears one of those luminous yellow jackets, the sort that cyclists wear to stop cars hitting them and he carries a placard saying Repent and Turn to God, or words to that effect. Past him and everyone they went and stopped, appropriately, at a place called the Peace Gardens. I wandered around for a bit, still unable to put my finger on quite what had irked me about the protesters. I got charged 65p for a can of Coke. It was such a lovely day too. It was one of those days where, if youre at school, you can take your jacket off and walk home with your shirt hanging out, and its probably still just a little bit chilly to be going around with just a shirt on, but the principle of the thing is more important so you dare not put your jacket back on, lest winter return. I saw a good few schoolkids doing that today, theres little more satisfying. There were a few still with their coats on though. But before that I sat in the sun outside Virgin Records and waited for my friend to turn up. Which he didnt actually, but it was ok because we rescheduled for a bit later. In other news I now have a ticket to see popular Scottish band Belle and Sebastian in concert. And Im going to the London thing in April. Words cannot express my excitement. Maybe Ill get to meet you there. - Kieran _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger - fast, easy and FREE! http://messenger.msn.co.uk +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Pick Up Your Feet, Fall In, Move Out
by P F 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

For weeks they have said: once we're in a war, public support will swing behind it. I have never doubted this. That's one reason I have never appealed to the fact that 'the British people don't support this war'. The British People, whoever they are, did not set my political agenda in the miners' strike. Soon enough the slaughter may be naturalized. The conflagration we know to be wrong may seem to be granted legitimacy, not by law or argument, but by happening. 'The rational is the real' and vice versa: the difficulty of denying the actual. I fear for my instincts. I hope yours will not be dulled. A page in history turning: a new start. The US government apparently promises that after this, things will be different: they're going to be in charge, and do as they like. That will make a change. A new moral era. A grey gauze cast over the light of spring days, as we pass to another world founded on colossal crime. No world in which to live. I walk an early evening Oxford Street to see Evan Dando play. I have never seen such a crowd here. He starts with 'Eve of Destruction', a song I barely know but recognize enough. Today it electrifies. He goes into 'Rudderless', half the rest of Shame About Ray, tons more, rarely stopping for applause. He pauses for one speech in which he tells the truth about Dubya. The new Evan Dando record is marvellous. An amazing proportion of the songs are tuneful, touching, thoughtful. He's a sufficiently good lyricist to make baffling the old assertions about his stupidity. Yet at some level, for the first time, I feel what 9/11 made some people (and not me) feel: doubt about what all this can be worth; about where value can live, from now on. I walk back down towards Centre Point, imagining nuclear conflagrations set off by this unprovoked action. Last night a majority of the democratically elected representatives of the UK voted for it - voted to unload the most advanced military equipment in the history of our solar system, and probably our galaxy (to speculate beyond that level seems rash), upon a poor and weak nation which has been forced for months to destroy its weapons. A poor argument for democracy, these mad, bad fools, weak-minded yet all too strong. Westerns: if someone asks you for a fist-fight, you throw away your gun-belt. It insults cowboys to compare the US administration to them: that's what they want you think, and what crass half-thinking media encourage. The US administration insists that you drop your guns, so they can shoot you. If you don't drop them, they'll shoot you for not dropping them. If you drop them, they'll shoot you because you're unarmed. I think of this coldly calculated insanity, and think of the shame that should burn in the heart of all those bad people who voted for this carnage, and the worse people who drafted it to suit their own calendar. What will survive of them is evil. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Sister Rosetta Parp: Your Place Or Mine?
by Peter Miller 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

I would quite like the new B&S record to sound like a Trevor Horn production from the early eighties. I think it would be a step in the right direction. But I doubt it will happen. I have it on good authority that TATU are not really lesbians at all. But they are partial to a bit of 'up the bum' sex. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Well, it makes me wonder. It makes me wonder about the sweetness of pain. Another thing that makes me wonder about the sweetness of pain is moving house. I am moving house to Cambridge. It never fails to amaze me how difficult moving house actually is. I remember thinking that walking along a couple of streets with a suticase full of Penguin Classics was difficult. I saw this film called 'Sweet Sixteen'. You Scots are so cute! And those accents are adorable! My favourite character was Pinball, I really liked him, the wee fella. Well, I liked something about him. I liked the idea of him. He reminded me a lot of YOU to be honest. I am now searching for the ideal Lloyd Cole hair product. The best one I've found so far is 'Fibre Putty' or something by VO5. Two for the price of one at Boots. Check it out. WORD magazine refers to YOU LOT as 'the unwashed' in an article about vote-rigging. Nice to see everybody in London. Apparently Korfball is a cross between netball and rounders. Sounds a bit girlish for my liking. I'm looking forward to that Big Stu DVD. I hope it's full of Big Stu extras. I don't think 'the band don't see much of Isobel these days' is really good enough though. Today I saw David Moore and his lovely wife in Barcelona. They are very well, and we had a nice time. I just mention this in case you are their daughter and were wondering how they are getting on. Peter +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Just a thought....
by Javier Garcia 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

Hi, I just wanted to share with you my feelings at the moment. I was just listening to B&S's "We rule the school", and a few words from the lyric catched my attention: "Do something pretty while you can". I hate talking about politics (I'd rather talk about music ;-) but I I think that the leaders of the world should listen to this song more often. They're not doing something pretty at all with this war about to begin. I am ashamed, really. Everyone in the world should do at least two things every day: listen to one B&S song and fall in love. I hope this didn't bore you. Best wishes. //Javier _________________________________________________________________ MSN Compras: Veinte tiendas personales abiertas todo el día. http://www.msn.es/compras/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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