Like Mark C. I couldn't tell which poem is Rachel's and which is her friend's, but I sure would like to know. Only on account of the mention of breasts, my simple-minded association of poet and speaker, and the assumption that Billy is a boy's name, I would guess that Rachel wrote "Holiday Romance". Now to find out that the reverse is true would be an unexpected and welcome insight. One couldn't have better luck than to have a last name like Playforth, for celebrity. The language in "Holiday Romance" seems more condensed, while the poetry in "On Turning Ten" seems to be more in the juxtaposition of images and ideas. I like both approaches very much; I guess it depends on what you are trying to achieve, as well as personal style, taste, etc. "Natural" talent seems a tremendous thing to have and makes me sceptical of writing programs, though I'm sure they do make a better poet or writer of one. The lines about the bath in "String Bean Jean" just passed me by, though I've sung along to it often enough. I guess it was the shock of the last verse: 7 to 8 years old for children is probably about 60 pounds (sorry, don't know the conversion to stone). That means in the bath Jo would have to be on his side and he would have to buoy her up to prevent her bones from scraping against the bath - well the water would be enough for that. I like how the names are androgynous. Well it's revealed that Jo is a girl but Phil' could be short for Philip or for Phyllis, couldn't it? Or even Philomena. And if she weighs 60 pounds, I don't think she could be "on the rag". Poetic license is fine of course. And Brandt, a while ago I wrote some things about "feminine sensibility", which were an embarrassment, and I agree with the points you mentioned. I meant something like I would guess that Stuart has a sister and that they were close while they were growing up. But it was overstated and I'm probably wrong. I guess _High Fidelity_ is as good a book as any for Belle & Sebastian to contribute a song to the film version of, and maybe things will be expressed better in the film than in the book, but there is something fundamentally wrong with it! The basic idea is all right, but the author only gets out of it by making a joke of music. Imagine if the conflict were between "real life" and some other form of art. Comedy is fine, but I have the hunch that it will be filled with cliches. Here is what Alistair Fitchett has to say about it (thanks again Alasdair!): ... it is what lies beyond the obsessive collation and collecting that matters most. To take strength from something which shows you to be less isolated than you at first thought, to take inspiration from that and to then say, 'I will create something new of my own, will set my own spirit in flight', to add someting new and unique to the story. The battle then remains, of course, as the battle of personal demons and doubts, but at least they are the demons and doubts of your own soul and not the surrogate demons of another. The context in which I've quoted it makes it sound preachy (the tone of my writing), but it's not in the text. Sorry about that. In _1984_ I wonder if George Orwell meant to claim that popular music had value apart from nostalgic value. I like very much how Arantxa mentions frequently in her posts that she is a physics student. It is important to be confident and to believe in what you are doing. In fields dominated by men it must be especially daunting. I wonder in what sense Stuart claims to have perfected the student lifestyle. To be unsettled and always to live for the future? Well I guess the last thing is something he must have conquered. The things he says in the chat from long ago suggest that. Only people like me who can't deal with the uncertainty imposed by a distant seemingly unattainable goal handle it that way. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+