My pretties: LIST ABUSE Theres been a lot of this going on lately, and Im heartily sick and tired of it. Whats more, Im taking a stand against it. People writing to this list and pestering 1500+ people by banging on about some Scottish musical duo? (Or is one a dog? Which ones the dog? I can never remember.) Where will it end? Its disappointing, and I think some of you really need to take a good long look at yourselves, and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps. You know who you are. There has been some smut, admittedly, which is lovely, but very little in the way of pointless, self-indulgent waffle about ME, which I find deeply disturbing. Where the hell is list mummy when you need her? Ill try and redress the balance here, but really, I expect more from you in future. EXPLAINING SINISTER How many of you have tried? Its not bloody easy, I can tell you. At first its reading material. Information, great; the odd bit of toilet humour, even better. Then its conversation and making your own bum jokes. Then its email addresses and photographs, and letting on more about yourself than you meant to. At some point it becomes something that you dont talk about. Youre out with your mates, and you think about people youve not met. You find yourself about to quote them on something, and realise that you cant. There are packages and phone calls, and sometimes plans. Then, you find yourself sitting out the front of a restaurant by the sea with your mother, under palm trees, enjoying the breeze, a fag and a glass of wine, trying to explain something that has (in one way or another) come to influence large decisions youre now making about your life. How and when this happened, I have no idea. What the heck some of us would do without it? Also havent a clue, Im sorry. Im sure Im not the only one thats struggled with this, as I know for a fact that its impacted loads of other lives just as much as its impacted mine. There should be some sort of warning on the site. I know theres some vague talk about pulling and getting into peoples underpants and so on, but really, I think that just encourages people. Stevie Trousers had a very good idea for a film. I dont want to steal his thunder, so you should bug him to tell you about it. PEOPLE WHAT DONT LIKE THE STUFF I LIKE Cant stand em. I WANT SOMETHING Ive had a few sleepless nights lately, and last night was one of them. I found myself oddly regretting the fact that Im an atheist. It seems that I need something to believe in at the moment. Other than, you know: aliens, love and pop music. This thought sort of snuck up on me, and rather surprised me, I guess. I attempted to figure out where it came from, and, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, it seems to stem from purely selfish motives. I think for the first time ever, I have something that I really want to ask for. This doesnt sit too well with me. Ive never been big on thanks or blame. I dont think I share the nostalgia for childhood that seems to be a common theme on this list. There have been ups and downs at every stage, of course, but the overall trajectory of my life is still heading upwards. Things, on the whole, get better every year. Ill be unstoppable at one hundred and three. Childhood was survived, and all the stuff that surrounded me eventually passed. I came out the other side of it uncertain and sort of shapeless, and got lost for quite a while. Having decided not to bow out, but to take some enjoyment and meaning where I could find it, I did the best I could, and stumbled from one thing to another. I measured my success by how well I could choose what to remember and what to forget. But that cant last for long. Somewhere along the line I got some sort of idea about who I am, and started to become able to let other people have an idea about that as well. That helped. I think I can actually see further ahead than the next step now, though Im still taking them. So its time to leap. Wish me luck. Im overwhelmed and scared, of course, and probably a bit daft, but Im clinging to hope and a sort of bloody-minded optimism that Im due for this. Oh, and what I want most of all at the moment is a green card. So if any American listees want to marry me, please email. Im fastidiously neat, I eat like a bird, I have a great record collection, I smell nice, and Im polite and charming, though a bit scruffy. Also, Im staggeringly handsome and hung like a Cretan bull.* WORKING, LOOKING FOR DIFFERENT WORK, GETTING ROBBED, COUGHING, MAKING EXPENSIVE PHONE CALLS AND GIVING CRAP RELATIONSHIP ADVICE IN #SINISTER Is what Ive been doing since I last posted. Some sod broke into my house and stole my laptop. Which is a giant pain in my arse. Whats more, it looks like it must have happened while I was sleeping in the next room. Which is slightly terrifying. Ive lost all the thoughts Id written down over the last few months, other than those Ive shared with you lot. My memory is crap, and my backup disc was in the drive, so thats all gone. Sigh. Ive been robbed twice in the last year. And this time they didnt even go to the trouble of punching my lights out and breaking my spectacles. Standards are slipping. GODSPEED ALL THE BAKERS AT DAWN Baker, Baker asked: have you ever considered how insignificant music and art would be in your life if you'd never ever felt terribly sad once in your life? In a word, yes. I try to be a tolerant and accepting person, but really, Im little more than a snob in many respects. Im deeply suspicious of people that dont have a passion for some form of art or expression, and I dont think that I could be friends with them, if Im totally honest with myself. I dont mind what it IS specifically, but all the best people are passionate about something. Im also one of those people that, if Ive never been to your house before, will read the spines of your CDs and books while youre doing a wee. Sorry. Baker, Lindsey asked: how is it that people make it through some days? Ask me tomorrow. Oh, and chins up, Miss Lindsey. Youre one of the good ones. Both Bakers also said some other stuff that I thought was good. So hats off to them, I think. Ive written this in dribs and drabs all day, while Ive been at work. Its absolutely all over the shop, isnt it? Sorry. Thats it for me for today, other than to remind you all how gorgeous each and every one of you are, and to insist you all take nothing but the very best possible care. Stay electronically tested for durability, with a pleasing coral tint. Bulk love, -David. *(This may very well not be entirely true.) _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+