unfortunately, archel's super-helpful information service has already been rendered obsolete by rob brennan, but the theme about the lightning tree is indeed the one from follyfoot. i never really watched the programme, but the follyfoot farm books were great. i am trying very hard to read some adult books these days, but still fall back on joan aiken, ursula le guin, susan cooper, philip pullman and j k rowling. oh, and lemony snicket. (i am quite traumatised by 'a series of unfortunate events', to be honest.) racheljoe pancake said: British Hip-hop is actually quite good, i have discovered. Partly as they have tunes, and don't rap about how "tha ******* ho's and tha niggas in da **** hood is all **** gonna kill y'all ******" but about how they're gonna go to the library and then go to the supermarket and afterwards maybe go to the pub... it's sort of "twee-hop" really. Rather good, too. i am now exposed to hip hop on a daily basis and am pretty much a convert (despite fainting at the roots manuva gig in brighton). but it's not only british hip hop that can do that charming 'went to safeways, had some cheese on toast' thing. archel's recommendations for blingbling-free, nearly twee hip hop: 1/ buck 65 - canadian lyrical genius, raps about his mother's death and how tough it would be if you were a centaur and actually hung like a horse (albums: vertex, man overboard) 2/ ty - british MC, raps about being bullied at school and being a bit crap with girls (album: awkward) 3/ slug - part of the group atmosphere, sweet confessional material about a failed relationship, tattoos which come to life, and the gorgeous 'nothing but sunshine' (albums: lucy ford, music for the advancement of hip hop) (atmosphere appeared at atp last year, and curators tortoise have produced them - just in case anyone needs proof of their indie credentials...) even you will like some of this, tom, i guarantee it! that said, i still managed to insinuate a large helping of CHEESE into matt's purchases when we went vinyl shopping the other day: betty boo - doing the do; peter gabriel - sledgehammer (dance mix); simple minds - don't you forget about me. the latter doesn't stop being shit just because it's from the breakfast club, of course, but the sleeve photo of the kidz was too tempting... other news: 1/ i missed the belfast gig on radio 1 and please someone do me a tape (will exchange for cheesy mix) 2/ i am finally holding a Buzzwords summit meeting tonight so the site should be updated and lovely very soon 3/ brighton meetup in 17 days! luv archel xxx ps. welcome aruni! pps. http://www.anticon.com ppps. http://www2.friendtest.com/viewquiz.php?account=archel ****************** Visit www.buzzwords.org.uk for the best new writing on the web. Email submissions to buzzwords@bigfoot.com <nb: site undergoing maintenance> +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+