Sinister: bitterness

[Youn J. Noh]

Like Mark C. I couldn't tell which poem is Rachel's and which is her
friend's, but I sure would like to know.  Only on account of the mention
of breasts, my simple-minded association of poet and speaker, and the
assumption that Billy is a boy's name, I would guess that Rachel wrote
"Holiday Romance".  Now to find out that the reverse is true would be an
unexpected and welcome insight.  One couldn't have better luck than to
have a last name like Playforth, for celebrity.  The language in "Holiday
Romance" seems more condensed, while the poetry in "On Turning Ten" seems
to be more in the juxtaposition of images and ideas.  I like both
approaches very much; I guess it depends on what you are trying to
achieve, as well as personal style, taste, etc.  "Natural" talent seems a
tremendous thing to have and makes me sceptical of writing programs,
though I'm sure they do make a better poet or writer of one.

The lines about the bath in "String Bean Jean" just passed me by, though
I've sung along to it often enough.  I guess it was the shock of the last
verse: 7 to 8 years old for children is probably about 60 pounds (sorry,
don't know the conversion to stone).  That means in the bath Jo would have
to be on his side and he would have to buoy her up to prevent her bones
from scraping against the bath - well the water would be enough for that.
I like how the names are androgynous.  Well it's revealed that Jo is a
girl but Phil' could be short for Philip or for Phyllis, couldn't it?
Or even Philomena.  And if she weighs 60 pounds, I don't think she could
be "on the rag".  Poetic license is fine of course.  And Brandt, a while
ago I wrote some things about "feminine sensibility", which were an
embarrassment, and I agree with the points you mentioned.  I meant
something like I would guess that Stuart has a sister and that they
were close while they were growing up.  But it was overstated and I'm
probably wrong.

I guess _High Fidelity_ is as good a book as any for Belle & Sebastian to
contribute a song to the film version of, and maybe things will be
expressed better in the film than in the book, but there is something
fundamentally wrong with it!  The basic idea is all right, but the author
only gets out of it by making a joke of music.  Imagine if the conflict
were between "real life" and some other form of art.  Comedy is fine, but
I have the hunch that it will be filled with cliches.

Here is what Alistair Fitchett has to say about it (thanks again
Alasdair!):

... it is what lies beyond the obsessive collation and collecting that
matters most.  To take strength from something which shows you to be less
isolated than you at first thought, to take inspiration from that and to
then say, 'I will create something new of my own, will set my own spirit
in flight', to add someting new and unique to the story.  The battle then
remains, of course, as the battle of personal demons and doubts, but at
least they are the demons and doubts of your own soul and not the
surrogate demons of another.

The context in which I've quoted it makes it sound preachy (the tone of
my writing), but it's not in the text.  Sorry about that. In _1984_ I
wonder if George Orwell meant to claim that popular music had value apart
from nostalgic value.

I like very much how Arantxa mentions frequently in her posts that she is
a physics student.  It is important to be confident and to believe in what
you are doing.  In fields dominated by men it must be especially
daunting.  I wonder in what sense Stuart claims to have perfected the
student lifestyle.  To be unsettled and always to live for the future?
Well I guess the last thing is something he must have conquered.  The
things he says in the chat from long ago suggest that.  Only people like
me who can't deal with the uncertainty imposed by a distant seemingly
unattainable goal handle it that way. 




+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   +---+  Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list  +---+
  To send to the list mail "sinister at majordomo.net". To unsubscribe
   send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
  "majordomo at majordomo.net".  WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+