I spent some time in England, and I'll say that pubs ARE a wonderful thing... but I must also say that the folks you see on Ricki Lake and the like are probably about .0000000001 percent of the US population. The producers of those shows seek out the most outrageous, pathetic individuals they can find. I've seen British TV and tabloids... I wouldn't say they're much less guilty of that sort of thing. Obviously, in neither case (Britain nor America, TV nor tabloids) do those individuals in any real way represent the population at large. As for what Americans do besides going to the pub... well, it depends. America is a very diverse country. Trying to stereotype Americans is a bit silly because there are so many of us. I think it also depends very much on how old one is... I'm 23 and I go out to dinner, go to shows, have friends over to my place for drinks, etc... For example - on Friday night I had a party at my place with friends aged 21 - 35 ish. On Saturday I went to a friend's for drinks. Yesterday I relaxed at home and then went out to dinner... then returned home to read. Lots of people frequent bars or clubs. Clubs can be fun (though good ones are hard to come by), but I tend to find a lot of those places too noisy... in that way, I prefer pubs. But there are a lot of other options. I very much appreciated Tag's response to all the Americans vs. Brits blabber. Tag wrote: "If I were you, dear Americans, I wouldn't blame Ricki, Jerry, Ophra er all, I'd blame Kenny. My favourite programme is "Eurotrash", where we spend half an hour every week being treated to hilarious exposes of Italian porn stars, Germans who dress as babies for sexual kicks, and Swedes who make jewellry out of moose poo. At no point has it seemed to me that this is normal behaviour across the channel. That's because I am smart enough to know the difference between television and real life. There's been a lot of crap talked here recently about Americans, and while I have certain reservations about American government policy (I have certain reservations about British government policy too), I'd suggest that those responsible for this patronising "I don't like the rest of your people, but you're OK" attitude grow up, or shut the fuck up." Thanks for speaking intelligently. As for those who claim it was all a joke - let's face it, it's hard to tell on a post if someone's joking or not. And I'm not sure I really believe that anyway... Has anyone noticed that most of the people who say it was a joke are not Americans? Perhaps when you're the butt of the joke it isn't all that funny? This list is supposed to be about Belle & Sebastian, more or less, right? Thanks also to Michele for reminding us that pre-judging individuals based on their weight (or any other physical attribute) should NOT be an "acceptable prejudice." Given the statistics, I'd like to remind you all that there are likely at least fifty (quite possibly more) people on this list who have, at one time or another, had an eating disorder. The sort of comments a lot of people have been making are rather careless. And what's up with the popularity contests on the list? (Guess I'm not winning any with this post... ohhh wellll) NO wonder we have so many "quiet" members! ANYWAY, many thanks to the many very generous people who have offered to tape things for me and for other needy list members! It's nice to know you're out there! I'm slowly becoming more enamoured with Arab Strap... but my faves are still on Sinister, must say. Speaking of covers: has the band had anything to say about the obvious similarities with Smiths album covers? I like them very much, don't get me wrong - I'm curious, though, if the band or jeepster has acknowledged the connection. If you've gotten to this part of the message, congratulations! :-) Now off to some work... Terri Wise Editorial Assistant McGraw-Hill College +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+