Sinister: you're the apple of my eye

[david hewitt]

G'day Sinister.

As far as irrelevant, overly personal, and downright lengthy posts go, I've
probably got more to apologise for than most, so I'll do so now. Sorry. I'll
spare you my ridiculous diary entries from now on, and attempt to limit
myself to content, smut and teasing.

I'm pleased Lindsey Baker is keepin' on keepin' on, though. See seems to be
living her life on the pages of a well-written book, and I'm keen to see
whether it has a happy ending. Or one of those pervy sealed bits in the
middle with nudey photos in them. It's the least she deserves.

Others who have recently excelled in the field of being great include Miss
Dimitra and Miss Rachel Sunnyset. I haven't posted since Rachel wrote that
story about how she always checks for her keys, but I thought it was one of
the better things I'd ever read at the time, and I still do now, so I may as
well still mention it. Hats off.

In the spirit of turning over a new leaf (and also because the account's
full), I'm using a different (and slightly politer) email address from now
on. So if you're one of those people that sometimes likes to email me -
please reply to this address rather than the smelly old one. Or, if you're
not one of those people, you can become one if you like.

Belle and Sebastian are great; I still really think so. They have a quality
shared by only the very best bands, which is that my favourite songs by them
keep changing, months and years after having first heard them. I've recently
dipped back into them fairly extensively, and in a more melancholy frame of
mind than I've been in when they've appealed to me in the past. For example:
'Beautiful' used to be my least favourite song on 369, and it's only just
struck me how amazing a song it really is. I would have heard it dozens of
times, and I always quite liked it, but I only really 'got it' the other day
when I was hanging out my socks to dry. Not many records I own can keep
these sorts of gems hidden up their sleeves for so long.

If you played my current record collection to me five years ago, you'd have
been laughed at, I think. Probably fairly impolitely. There isn't much that
you can't admit to liking these days - it's all wide open. It wasn't that
long ago when you couldn't even admit to liking the Beach Boys, and now they
're the pinnacle of cool. You can admit to liking Destiny's Child amongst
fashionable and knowledgeable sorts and they'll say 'Oh yeah, I can see that
'. I never thought I'd like country music, but I've slowly slid from
country-influenced and alt.country sounding indie music into records that
really can't be called anything but country. Just country. The teenage me
would be cringing with embarrassment.

Everything comes back - I'm never discarding any music ever again. I
listened to ELO and Dr Hook at a mate's place the other night, and I saw
(well, heard) merit in it. A mate of mine has recently become obsessed with
Neil Young. He played me a song of his the other day that I don't know the
title of, but had heard a lot when I was growing up. I knew some of the
words, even. I'd heard it enough to be familiar with it, but I'd never
really given it a proper listen. It was actually really amazing.

Earnest is the new irony.

I don't think anything's unfashionable any more, other than perhaps
insisting on limiting yourself to what you consider credible - the only
things you used to allow yourself. There's no longer a need to appear to be
taking the piss when drawing reference or inspiration. This could be part of
a broad trend, or it could just be that some important filter in my brain
has broken, and my taste is spiralling downhill. Keep an eye on me, perhaps,
chums.

Sophia Katrina said:

"we could all drive to whichever point is equidistant to perth, brisbane,
sydney and melbourne"

Adelaide gets no respect, I tells ya. Harumph. That's it, I'm moving.

Oh dear, I meant this to be short, and already it's not. I'll let you get
on, then. Be good.

Bulk love,
-Vanilla Flavoured David (formerly St. Ankin of Cooter)

PS: I get to see Belle and Sebastian in New York on the 5th. Woohoo! I'll be
at the picnic too, so you should ALL come. You'll love me, I promise.

PPS: The fact that I get to see Belle and Sebastian at all is due to the
outrageous generosity and hospitality of our very wonderful (and totally
cute) NYC picnic hostess: the completely inimitable Miss Julie. So I'll take
this opportunity to send her an enormous public THANKYOU, so you all know
that she's the absolute tops. Although many of you probably didn't need to
be told.
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