Hi Sinisterines and -ettes, Would you throw the back of your hand to your gaping mouth if I told you I just bought the new album (which, OK, now I just refer to as Dacaw, like someone with Elmer Fudd aspirations mentioning the city in Senegal)? Well, it's true. So very true. My hipster quotient just dropped 600 points with that admission, damn. Now I won't even be able to get into an *Interpol* show. But: it's so good, the album. Wrapped Up in Books is an impossibly good song, as is I'm a Cuckoo. If She Wants Me, at least the way Stuart sings on the song, reminds me of the BeeGees, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Recent monetary deficits incurred because of grad school fees ( $70 'processing costs' obviously mean that the schools have to cover the 40 bottles of Caswell-Massey sandalwood soap they use to scour their hands with after touching each piece of paper in candidates' applications) necessitates me not taking part in the Christmas Exchange, although I did have a ridiculously good time with that last year, thanks to Laura Llew, Amy Page and Kieran Devaney (apologies to the girl to whom I sent presents, you live in New York and I can't remember your name, sorry- but you were a good recipient, I'm sure). The only caveat I would throw into the pot, with respect to sending things, is that for those of you who live in the U.S. you might want to think twice about sending blocks of Floridian tuna to your U.K. recipients. Fish, for some reason, tends to not travel well in hot cardboard boxes. Nor mayonnaise, if you were considering that. Used ear-plugs are quite the favorite though, I hear. I bought some girl in Chicago the new single, and I was glad to hear, today I think, that it's beyond good. Via Robin Stout, if I remember correctly. I have to say though, I don't think the cover art for the single is up to the level that they've established- I mean, the photo's nice and bright, and the cover stars are all nice-looking, but why the conflation of tennis and office-located sexual harassment? Are the girls asking for a ruling on a dispute over some wayward balls? My hermeneutical skills are frankly baffled by this picture. I'm vaguely looking forward to T-giving, although what food-centric holiday is complete without some sort of dramatic tension? My uncle Gary (who is not blood-kin) is a retired Marine, and will be in attendance this year. I've managed to avoid him for the past couple Thanksgivings by simply drinking lots before dinner and then collapsing into coma immediately afterwards. This is the man who would, with feigned casualness, tell me and my little brothers that unless we ate the rest of our mashed potatoes, he would take us all out back and beat the shit out of us. He used to say this without a smile, and with jaw ligaments bulging- thereby affecting a very complex and intense fear in myself and all of my siblings that persists to this day. I have a plan for this year though- when he asks me, as I'm sure he will, what I'm going to grad school for, I'll turn to him slowly and just say 'what the fuck dude, get out of my face', and then grab my grandmother and hold a gravy ladle next to her neck in a threatening manner. Should work. Even if short is the new long, I feel like I've failed in some really integral way in this post. Maybe the other Kevin can fare better. The other Kevin: hello, what's going on?. There's also a third Kevin, non-jackflaps and non-Hyde. Hello third Kevin. I enjoyed your story of roadside relieving-of-self. Take care, Kevin +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+