Dear Lovelies, Ooh, it's been ages since I wrote to you lot. Chiefly because I couldn't think of anything to say. Thankfully, this doesn't appear to be a prerequisite for posting thesedays, so I'll just press on. Or 'Send', rather. I'm joking of course. Or am I ? Without wishing to fall head first into the murky pond that is Discussing Sinister On Sinister, I would like to alert any UK listees who've recently been tempted to subscribe to OnDigital (by their consistently amusing and clever ad campaign, no doubt) to a new Premium Channel which begins broadcasting on Monday. It's called Sinister Gold and features a series of lively constructions of Old List Debates performed by professional actors and introduced by Tariq Ali. I've had a sneak preview; the exchange between a woman who was once Third Helicopter Crash Victim (DOA) in 'Casualty' and a chap whose chief claim to fame was Abusive Moustachioed Barman in 'Soldier, Soldier' on the nature of Sixteen-ness is particularly affecting. Comic relief is provided in the form of animated interludes - witness Cartoon Leonard Rossiter and Cartoon Tony Hancock discussing Yabby You. It's worth a look, though, for �15.99 a month, I was kinda expecting Antoine De Caunes and Jeremy Clarkson to be slugging it out. (Btw, if any grammar scholars out there would like to suggest a shorter and more readable opening sentence to the above paragraph, perhaps they can mail me privately and I can ignore them in my own time). Is 1999 the International Year of the List ? Tom Cox suggests as much in today's Guardian, so it must be true. Now, lists are, of course, the refuge of the scoundrel (or is that badger-baiting ?); I only peppered Sinister with Top 10s last summer to Make A Point about how appalling and loathsome they are. Of course I did. However, in Tom's piece in the Friday Review section he's made a laudable attempt to compile an 'alternative' Top 100 Albums chart. He's polled a selection of Pop luminaries (including our own B&S) for their favourites, but has prohibited voting for any of around 80 yawnsome acknowledged 'classics' ('What's Goin' On', 'Pet Sounds', 'Sgt. Pepper', etc). The results ? Well, Sinister Darling Nick Drake cleans up basically - 'Bryter Layter' is #1, 'Five Leaves Left' is #5. Elsewhere the likes of Jane Siberry, My Bloody Valentine, Laura Nyro, The Millenium and even bloody AR Kane (check out the Simon Reynolds ding-dong on Sinister Gold, kids) pop up. Now, a list is still a list and, as such, should be reviled and shunned by all good Pop folk but what *might* be interesting is if this process was repeated a number of times. The same (or different, sexier) people are polled but this time they can't name any of the 'alternative' Hot 100 either; and then they're polled again - excluding the list entries they came up with last time. And so on, until eventually all you're left with is 'Hot August Nights II', a bunch of Happy Hardcore and The Fire Engines. It's a thought. Not a very good one, mind. Enough yammering already. Mike. _________________________________________________________ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+