Ahoy-hoy, Sinisterines. I hope Santa was kind to you all, even those of you who don't call him "Santa" (he only lets his friends call him that). My friends and I laughed and cried over the fact that our most desired Christmas presents are now kitchen wares. It's so goddamn domestic, but when you get right down to it, it's what we need most. After comparing excitement over salad spinners and knife sets, we were practically forced to go out drinking until the early hours, just to remind ourselves that we hadn't gotten weren't quite ready for the rocking chairs. So in houses that get a ton of magazines and newspapers, there is a deluge of "Critics picks for the year" articles, so I spent a good long time over my holidays reading them. The Boy With The Arab Strap didn't appear in *any* of the ones that I read. Which, I've decided, is good. Not that I would totally *mind* having them on those lists, but I like the idea of B&S staying out of the spotlight, ONLY because I like the fact that they quietly make their albums and EP's, relatively free from intense pressure and media scrutiny. A rash of "one of the best albums of the year!" could only lead to "next big thing" articles, which I (selfishly, I'll admit) don't want. I've never heard the Pastels before, but am curious, and I saw their album "Illumination" in the store, used for five bucks. Should I pick it up? Would it make a good impression, or is it one of those "it's a good album but it shouldn't be the first thing you hear by them" albums? Please help a confused little boy. So now we're thankfully past Christmas and onto New Years, which is my favorite holiday of the year. My wish for the future is that New Years Day becomes THE celebrated holiday, with the presents and the cheer and all that. It's perfect, as least for most western countries: it's not religious (aside from being aligned with the Christian calendar) and it's not a celebration of a war or an invasion, it's not for one person and has nothing to do with being in love. How great is it that there's this holiday that can't lead to stupid arguments and "anti-New Years" parties? And how do we treat it? By getting drunk the night before. To me, it's all about starting over again. So with that in mind, I wish you all a Happy New Year. Golly, how'd that mistletoe get there, Reid +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+