Yes. Hello. I've attempted posting again several times lately, but I've learned from my mistakes, and so whenever I start writing I censor whatever it is I think I should say. I end up censoring the whole thing and thinking, "oh, bother!" Well, this time I feel this strange compulsion to write, I'm sure to disastrous effect, and I can't stop my fingers from typing. So, here goes nothing! So said obsession is touring western North America. ARGHHHHH!!!!! The gods of concert going have clearly aligned against me. Truly…. Vancouver? This is surely cruelty. That's 4 provinces away. Do you realize how many mines, grain elevators and MEC stores away that is? Certainly I'll be martyred for this blow to the esteem. The only consolation is the strange choice of venue, which I find to be strangely…. strange. You know they just want to fandangle a stopover in Hawaii…. Additionally, has anyone else heard the new (I assume) EPtypesinglething by The Dears? "Pop Noir Romantique" or something intimidating like that. I quite enjoy it. "Heathrow or Deathrow" is very addictive. They're excellent live - even without a proper sound check. I wonder if I'm the only listee who harbours an unhealthy obsession with words and grammar. Although I've probably already committed grievous grammatical errors in this single post alone, I can't help but memorize obscure grammar points and revel in them. For example, when people say 'from whence', when really it should only be 'whence'. I obsess over this. I don't know why, seeing as there are probably fewer than 10 people worldwide who actually use this term, even if incorrectly. It should be noted that Morrissey says "from whence" in Cemetry Gates. DAMN HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for this boring bit. I'm not really this odd, I'm just simple-minded. On a similar line, though, I was reading the dictionary today, as I'm (sadly) apt to do, and I happened to notice the following entry: DORK n. slang 1.Penis 2.Stupid or contemptible person. Um, call me naïve, but I never knew such a phallic definition existed for this word. It upset me to think what I've really been calling people all these years…. am I the only person to whom this is a surprise? On another note, do any of you remember (no doubt painfully) a movie called something like "Oxford Blues" or some equally marketable title like that? I was thinking about it the other day and it really made me laugh. It's truly a paragon of modern filmmaking. It details the trials and tribulations of a young, American 'hell-raiser' who ends up attending Oxford for some wildly unbelievable reason. Amidst many formulaic challenges, he manages to find himself the proverbial love-interest. I believe the climax of the film is the emotionally charged arch-nemesis versus pathological protagonist race, wherein our hero gets off to a fantastic lead, only to have his blade break off in mid-race. Are our hopes dashed? Of course not! Luckily our hero has the amazing capacity to mend the offending blade while still on the water and come back from several hundred metres to beat that pastylittlegoodfornothing kid. Truly he is a modern day hero. What an inspirational piece. I don't know why I brought that up. It seemed mildly important at the time. Sorry. Finally, (not that any of you care) I seem to have developed a pinball fetish. I had never played until last week, when my friend introduced me to this devilish game. I'm not very good but I'm obsessed! It was just a harmless thing at first…now I crave the game. I sneak out of the house at all hours to paddle away my days in the dim, dank, pop-encrusted cavern of fortune known as the arcade. It's terrible. My parents ask me where I'm going when I slink out of the house, pinball bound, and I bark back: "I'm walking the dog!!!!!!!!" As I slam the door I hear behind me, meekly: "But, Marybeth, we don't have a dog!" It's criminal. It's vicious. I'm afraid I may start listening to The Who soon. Oh dear! I'll be quiet for another several months now. Thanks to everyone for lovely posting. Keep up the good work. Yours, grammatically, Marybeth P.S. Bonus points for naming the subject line's source. If I'm ambitious enough I might even give you a prize! P.P.S. Sorry for all those ellipses. Filthy habit. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+