My Sinisterines, ...The problem with hopping off The Fence is that one will inevitably have to start trampling things underfoot... Jenny began a sentence with the voice of tragedy: �Well, yes, in a Utopia where��. That way lies ruin; that way lies surrender. �Well, if we lived in a Utopia then maybe my company wouldn�t feel the need to employ malnourished sweatshop workers, but in the existing Marketplace, it remains an economic necessity�. �In a Utopia, of course, I could put down my glass and raise my head from silent despair. I could TOUCH people again�. The distance between the bottle and the street is the distance between everyday life and Utopia. Society happens in SPITE of everyday life; it exists because we WANT it. My relationships exist because I CHOOSE that they should. One relinquishes one�s own Power as soon as one relinquishes one�s own fantasies. Of course, one musn�t allow oneself to lapse into lazy idealism, but it is vital to undertake a certain Leap of Faith in order that one�s desires and dreams don�t falter when faced with Fact. Napster is denying �artists� their rights? Home taping is killing music? Piff paff poof! I find the idea of free exchange rather exciting, actually. The Library is a tremendously powerful and radical idea, you know. Copyright be damned, I want to experience everything I possibly can NOW, and then � and only then � may you try and judge me. I mean, it was a poor gig, was it? Then we�re hardly going to stay away from the shops en-masse, when next Belle and Bombastien release anything, on the grounds that �we already have the definitive versions of the tracks � you know, the moment when someone spills warm lager over the drum monitor and you can hear it fizzling and spluttering � that breaks my heart whene�er I play it�. Only fans are likely to want to hear a poorly recorded gig. Fans, being fans, will also buy all the new releases. A pretty secure position to be in, I�d suggest. I didn�t download the songs, myself. I couldn�t be bothered. The poetry parrot fluttered in through my window, but found my shoulders a little too slender to be able to perch comfortably. It�s probably for the best, I think. The only poem with which I concern myself today is Ted Hughes�s �Ouija�. And I couldn�t bear to type it out. I just couldn�t.. I always think electronic communication too fleeting, too brash, for poetry. Too many flickering digits to distract us. One click and it�s gone. One click. Poetry: an analogue medium unsuited to digital transfer. One click. Zero. I do struggle with the Duff Paddy trial. It�s like Snoop all over again � eschewing all concern for justice and human rights, I just want to see the sap go down because I find his music so objectionable. It�s only Celebrity, yeah? It�s only Soap Opera, no? If only his testimony could incriminate J-Lo as well.. Sure, it�s not right. But it�s quite ok. And is it just me who considers �Celebrity Big Brother� one of the most groundbreaking television programmes of recent years? An intensive insight into the nature of fame, into the frailties of showbiz-status, into our willingness to throw ever-more cadavers to the lions. Affects me, in all honesty, as much as something like Mike Leigh�s �Naked�. The Quote du Jour is two-fold. ** Interviewer: �What do you remember most vividly?� Reporter, just returned from Beijing: �The students singing as they were being shot. And a student, a girl, who said to me � �What can they do to us? We have our whole future ahead of us, AND WE�VE SEEN IT��. ** �But a boy carries his walkman on the long bus ride to Omaha/ I know a girl who cries when she practises violin/ �Cos the note sounds so pure/ That it cuts into her/ And the melody comes pouring out her eyes/ Now compared to that, everything just seems like a lie.� ** Nicholas Passant x ===== ------------------------------------------ All words belong in the public domain. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+