Sinister: affectations
ian
hobart at xxx.uk
Sun Aug 24 20:34:36 BST 2003
okay, there's a continuation of the twee discussion at the top of this post.
if you're bored pantless of that by now (i wish i really COULD bore the
pants off people, it'd be a great trick, but anyway, i'm going off the
subject) just go to the bottom, where there's a nice b&s song rip-offy type
thing.
------------
this may be a shorter post (queue collective sigh of relief) than normal
because my arms are hurting from spending the afternoon being very un-twee
and a bit macho and cutting branches off trees.
not in a random, bad way you understand. in a nice way, so that the sun
shines on the other plants a bit more and allows them to grow.
there's a metaphor there somewhere, but i can't be arsed to drag it out.
there have been some wise words here recently, notably from robin, edda (hi
edda) and idles. some wise words, and some misunderstandings.
idleberry and robin, whilst you're correct in saying that, to some, tweeness
is an affectation it is equally true that to others it is not. the reason
that element of belle and sebastian (and i'm not going to suggest for a
moment that its their entirety. if the band weren't multi-faceted, they
wouldn't appeal to such a wide range of people) appeals to some of us is
that it reflects something we feel inside ourselves.
yes, some people may be chasing the twee stereotype (and i maintain that
there are worse ones to chase) but to others of us, the 't' factor (as we
probably won't call it ever again) connects with something fundamental and
pre-existent inside ourselves. we don't have twee tendencies because we
listen to belle and sebastian but we may find that one of the reasons we
like belle and sebastian is that they can, at times, be a bit twee.
'the boy with naivety succeeds
at the final moment i cried
i always cry at endings'
one of my favourite lines and, to my mind, more than a little t-w-e-e.
of course you're correct that a lot of it comes down to how you define the
word - you may have noticed, for example, that i don't see twee in QUITE the
same way as certain others on this list (now, where did i put that paddle?).
robin sees tweeness as something shallow, whereas i believe it can be (but
is not always) more fundamental than that.
and if i seemed to suggest that sinister was entirely twee, then i should
not have done so. clearly, that was incorrect. however, to deny that the
element is there is equally incorrect: there are those of us who identify
with that word, and to whom it reflects something we feel within ourselves.
and, when we came here and discovered it here, it was rather a lovely thing
to find.
so, to be told that what we're feeling within is, in actual fact, an
affectation - or some deluded aspiration - comes as something of a shock.
after all.. if this is an affectation, what else is? maybe the whole gay
thing was a lie too, and i should be out shagging birds (as i believe the
terminology goes) as we speak.
really... please don't tell me what i do and don't feel within. not unless
you happen to be one of the voices in my head. (oh my god, you aren't, are
you? did i imagine you all?)
but, you're right... , tweeness can at times be an affectation. as can
anything.
whenever you view the present through what came before it, you don't see the
moment for what it is. your view is distorted by previous events, by
'experience', by prejudice and by a pre-conceived idea of what 'you' might
be. if you spend too much time building up a 'you', based on ideas of what
that should look, feel and think like, you forget that inside there there's
a vibrant, sentient being, capable of responding to any moment with
freshness and spontaneity, capable of being so much more than you've ever
been before as long as you don't go dumping the past or any ideas of what
'should' be on top of it.
everything we cling to is affectation. let it go, and become what you are,
right now.
but that's easier said than done, innit? it may be daft to become attached
to a word, but then, that word can offer a lot of comfort. for now, though,
maybe its time to let it go.
twe
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
THUD
there. i am no longer twee. i am simply me. ooh, that sounds like a poem.
of a sort. and, with that in mind, here's an affectation that i prepared
earlier:
(OKAY EVERYBODY THAT SKIM-READ THE TOP BIT, THANKS FOR NOT INSTANTLY
PRESSING DELETE. HERE'S THE POINT WHERE YOU MIGHT WANT TO START READING
AGAIN).
you know the tune - tigermilk, track two..
monday morning wake up knowing that
you've got to go to work
though last night you drank ten pints
and acted like a total jerk
do you want to be a builder,
wear some pants that show your arse?
stand on scaffolding, and leer and shout at women as they pass?
and you tell them you'll no longer be a
queer one any more
wearing white and drinking alcopops
has become such a bore
your obsession gets you known all round the
scene for being strange
and they laugh and bitch about you
when they think you're out of range
in the queue for lunch, you change your mind
an indie kid you'll be
so you throw out all the kylie and you buy an
nme
and in there you find opinions
and you claim them as your own
but you keep that barry white tape
'for the irony alone'
you're confused, you're being used
and you're trying to be
something good, something new
and if it all seems hopeless now
well just be thankful you aint twee-ee
monday morning wake up knowing that you've
got to go to work
so you ditch the denim
flares
and fumble for a tie and shirt
do you love the corporation? cause they sure as
fuck love you
just as long as you're of use to them,
and after that you're screwed
tell a mailing list that something doesn't feel so
very right
and at times it seems existence is a dull
and weary fight
they'll stick up for you, perhaps, if they see something
good inside
so you live life by computer - it seems
somewhere safe to hide
at the end of it, you age, perhaps the
layers drop away
or perhaps you build identity to help
you through the day
do you live life for the moment, do you
scrabble to pretend?
does the answer
to that question change the way the story
ends?
you've been used, you're confused
are you me? are you you?
write a song, i'll sing along
not for a reason, just because,
i think that it might be fun to do.
--------------
yeah... words, music, definitions... its all so... false...man
i think it might have been lester bangs (although, equally, it might have
been lorraine kelly) who said that writing about music was like dancing
about architecture.
and i know that it was edda that said:
*I'll admit that telling people that I
*listen to indie is more of an statement than a fact, cause I know that even
*though they would tell me the same, they are too listening to "crazy in
*love" and shaking there booty. Or at least here... I don't know how it is
*with you guys....
and she's right. and, somewhere underneath the 'hello kitty' notepaper i
never owned, i'm pretty sure there's a destiny's child cover of frank lloyd
wright's greatest hits. and i'm just dying to get my groove on.
until next time, my dears, all i have to say to you is
do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
no, that wasn't it
but it'll do
xx
ian
that wasn't a short mail at all, was it?
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