I have always thought that if I were to fall in love, it would be with a writer. I pictured an idyll where, as the evening gave way to night, she would read to me the words she had crafted that day, still experimenting with the language and glancing occasionally at my eyes for signs of reaction. And I would hang on her every word, watching lips move to form the sounds, struck dumb by her ability to put into words that which had existed for me only as vague thoughts, malformed knowledge, the "yes, I've felt that, but I was never able to see it with such clarity before" sensation. I'm thinking about this because I listened last night to Paul Auster waxing lyrical about his attitude to writing. He talked about the analogies between writing and acting, about his motivations and influences, his own novels and screenplays. As it's my first post, here's the link to the content: it was Murdoch's writing that first attracted me to Belle and Sebastian. The music came a close second. I bought If You're Feeling Sinister on a complete whim one afternoon, not knowing anything about them. And of course I'm not the only one to have experienced the immediate sensation that I was being spoken to. Overwhelming. I was always tangentially aware that there existed internet groups in their orbit, but, being from Northern Ireland, I always considered myself too far removed to benefit from participation. Also burnt-out on various BBS/forums et cetera for a few years and unwilling to open up to more of the same. This is a familiar sensation. Writing the first message to a new group. What to say. How to present. Experience teaches: f-ck it. I'll announce my addiction. My name is Michael, and I'm a bowlie. Hugs 'n' all to the McDermott girl for her sweet mentionables and being cute. A nod in the direction of Mr Chu for being other. Coy waves to the rest of you for being. +-+ Links +-+ - Listen to Radio 3's interview with Paul Auster (real player): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speech/ram/anwauster.ram - Read a review of Auster's latest novel, True Tales of American Life: http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,6150... 0.html +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+