It's been a rough couple of weeks, sinister. I seem to have survived a year of med school, a month of scorching heat, a week of killer finals, and a night of hellish travel on which it seemed the gods themselves wanted to keep me from getting home (including waiting an hour for a flight attendant to arrive on another delayed flight, and being _parked_ on the highway for 3.5 hours on the half-hour drive to my boyfriend's place. I kid you not). Where was I? Oh yeah, sturm und drang. Various family tragedies are brewing, and my body seems to be reacting to the comforts of home by becoming ill. I don't really mean to kvetch, but those are my excuses for not being more, er, proactive about the US tape trade (details below). Take 'em or leave 'em. I don't have much to say on the subject of Storytelling. Put me down as...cautiously optimistic. Just kidding, I really like it. I wish I could say that I can objectively evaluate B&S releases and things of that nature, but I'm a bit too far gone for that. I'll grant that all the songs are too short, and hope that this doesn't become a trend (who else was disappointed that the vocals on Marx & Engels lasted less than 2 min.? Um, was anyone else counting?). I've been listening to "Wandering Alone" nonstop lately, and does it strike anyone else that Stevie's singing has improved remarkably from whenever that was recorded? I thought it was loads better in NYC. (Here, I think, would be an appropriate place to make a mischievous comment about B&S and NYC and possibly the Kyoto Treaty, but I'm too scared of Neil.) **not a tree, not yet a circle** So...about 10 people have responded to me with interest in a US tape trade. I think it's enough to get going, but I'll leave it open for a few more days. Reply to me by July 7 if you want in on the first round. Colin was kind enough to explain to me the workings of the tape trade, and since several of you have asked me, I'll summarize. Basically, each person makes one mix tape/CD (minimal effort!), and sends it to the next person in the circle. When you get the tape from the person before you, you listen to it, commune with it, interpret its hidden meaning(s), decide whether you like it, and, if so, copy it. After a couple of weeks, you send on *the original* tape that you received, and get a new original from the person before you. If we have 20+ people in the group, it should keep us going for the better part of a year! For those of you who are busy now but would like to join later, just email me when you want in--that shouldn't be a problem. And thank you to everyone who volunteered to help set things up. In a couple of months I'll be quite busy and I'll gladly hand it off to you. 8^) If anyone has a better idea of how to set up the trade, please let me know. ~Aruni P.S. For those of you with too much time on your hands: www.dancingbush.com and www.emotioneric.com P.P.S. P.P.S.'s are the new P.S.'s. P.P.P.S. I just read Rachel Fruitl**p's post, and its gratuitous obscenities reminded me of the immortal words of Bart Simpson on the castaway life: "It'll be like Swiss Family Robinson, only with more cursing. We're gonna live like kings! Damn hell ass kings!" Here's to long weekends with long-distance boyfriends. :) _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.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 +-+ +-+ "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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+