Youn Jong Noh wrote: Is Mr. Dastoor of the Guardian wishing a sorry end to his fellow journalists, fanzine & e-zine editors here? Erm, Mr Dastoor, with your posh email address - remind us what you do at The Guardian? :P Regarding Emma and Miki from Lush and their disappointing voices - I can officially confirm that Isobel Campbell sounds like Louis Armstrong seeking to cure a heavy cold with an 80-fags-a-day regime - her speaking voice loosens bowels from 20 paces. And Leonard Cohen sounds like Chris Eubank. Honest. As I'm sure I've waffled before, I've seen Stereolab 15 times now but I don't have all that much desire to see them anymore as they are continually heading away from the things that made me borderline obsessive in them 4 or 5 years ago. i.e. the first album. And the second one, for that matter. However, I shall definitely be playing some 'lab at (ahem) A Night of Tigermilking, Upstairs at the Garage (Highbury and Islington tube - please someone tell me if that's wrong), Friday 11th June 1999 - all your fave B&S hits and practically every band you've heard praised on this very list, mainly thanks to Kevan Cooke's second-to-none record collection. I'm also plotting something rather special, but I don't know if it's going to come off yet, so shhhh.... Moving on, I always thought the Greek system meant up-the-bum sex. How little I know... I know loads of people are going to tell me how ridiculous this is, but...when I was younger (until my early teens, probably) my idea of an idyll was to live in a leafy American suburb with wide roads, driveways, big detached houses with little verandahs at the front, cute girls with fringes living next door - imagine Boy meets World, or wee Tom Hanks' neighbourhood in Big. I ought to point out that I live in something which I imagine is roughly its equivalent in England, so it's not exactly adventurous, or even longing for a better life. I'm not sure I can explain it, either - it just seemed so comfortable yet exciting, full of possibilities - probably because all the things that the American kids explored looked so much fun and expressed a more exciting culture and I just wanted to be a part of it. South London seemed so banal, though I betcha it's not half as banal as some of my little fantasies. The older I've got, the more sinister (small s) the whole notion of happy suburban family life has become. And the more I've heard stories of unhappiness, abuse, bigotry and all the things which were blissfully absent from my overprivileged 9-year-old life, the more I find myself wondering how I could have perceived this as nirvana. Even if discovering Calvin and Hobbes (there is nowhere near enough Calvin & Hobbes discussion on this list, though some may disagree) made me remember why it had seemed more attractive, it still strikes me as weird how this could have been such a dream for me. Well, the above 3 paras are very much self-indulgent waffling. I do apologise - but it was kind of nice to just speak like that. Pompous arse that I am :) I had the opposite school experience to Ailsa - in my (overachieving private boys') school, I got on fine with the cool set, the hard lads, the geeks and the simply dull. My principle friends were the indiekids, for want of a better definition - we all fancied ourselves as being that little bit more Bohemian and intellectual than the others, but not in too offensive a way - we were happy chatting about Ride behind out fringes and wandering off to listen to the Dead Kennedys and eat pot noodles and kit-kats at someone's nearby flat during lunch break. I even had friends in the year below me, which was pretty much unheard of, one of whom is still my best friend seven years later (the only downside was that it led to aspersions being cast on my sexuality, something which I sort of played up to (some may say I still do :))). Hmmm - middle class boy with mild superiority complex has untroubled childhood - not exactly thrilling, sorry :) I am *so* sorry for the length of what is possibly the most pointless post ever on sinister. Slapped wrists all round. Love Mark xxx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +-+ "jelly-filled danishes" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+