I just met the first person I have ever known who also likes the group formally known as Smog (now remember I've never met another b&s fan so such things are completely rare for me). I am so utterly DISAPPOINTED. He's recently married and his wife ended up taking her last name, squeezing a hyphen in the middle, and then attaching his sur name as the caboose to her concocted train of a name. I suppose this quite normal, except for he did the same thing so now their last names match in some odd lopsided fashion. His name is William Bird so I suppose I might want to change my name too if I had gone my entire life as a Bird, Bill but still there's something a smidge saddening about the whole process. If everyone who likes the same musical groups as I do is going to be such a let down, forget me going to any Sinister picnics. Pffft. Of course, I don't know about Sinister anymore. The Angeline Jolie thing wasn't so much of a shock to my system as finding out that Honey reads the SUN. Not that I'm at all familiar with Scotland's newspapers but I'm having rather delicious thoughts of Honey all curled up with a tabloid reading about royalty flitting around half naked on Jet Skis. Tell me, Honey, is there any update about the treasure map they discovered in the ladies' varicose veins? Then there was the much talked about the post from Dazzling Dimitra who said, "I was in a church the day before yesterday, and people where chanting and praying at it felt great, so I tried to pray too, and I realised the only words that were strong enough inside me were lyrics. I found myself singing Fox In The Snow. Someone said that I was singing it to god -and that if he was listening he must have loved it." If I were God (and really - who is to say I'm not), I don't think I would approve. Or rather I think I would if you'd let me make requests. Perhaps a nudge for a little "If You're Feeling Sinister". I'm sure the vicar, or whatever, would really love that one. Fox in the Snow though isn't nearly spicy enough for my choir boy tastes. However, I just discovered while visiting http://www.fineran.demon.co.uk/basrefs/lit.htm yesterday that in Virginia Woolf's book "Orlando" the Russian Princess lover chic is referred to as being "like a fox in the snow" twice. The complete list of books and authors which B&S refer to amounts to fifteen. I've been trying to decide for an appropriate prize for the winner of the TRANSATLANTIC MIX TAPE CHALLENGE (which is still underway) and this site gave me an idea. In addition to the unadulterated envy and admiration of all of Sinister, I can also send the winner of the illustrious best mix tape in the world challenge a set of books to which B&S refer to in their songs (providing I can find them). Sexpot Sauer has already said that I am SUCH a book geek but I can't help it - so the following books will be in the set: 'Belle Et Sebastien' by Madame Cecile Aubry Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving The Trial by Franz Kafka Orlando by Virginia Woolf The Bible - King James Version John Polkinghorne's "Reason and Reality : The Relationship Between Science and Theology Salinger's Catcher In The Rye Kerouac's On The Road though I might get feisty and send you his Book of Dreams instead because I got two copies free Mark Twain - My favorite of his which is The Diaries of Adam & Eve Dostoevsky - I don't know which of his I'll send yet. I'm quite fond of Notes From The Underground Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (which is responsible for "Sleep The Clock Around"). Though his Screwtape Letters is my personal favorite of his. I met someone off the Mere Lewis mailing list which was Oooh scary. Too religious for the likes of heathen me. Captain Courageous by Kipling (Another Sleep The Clock Around contributor) Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal That's a rather substantial parting gift if I do say so myself (though quite a deal smaller than putting every book on the Literary List on there) so perhaps this shall spur even more people to compete though I have my hands for at the moment. At the moment I am enjoying very lovely entries and wondering if I have gotten myself into a torrid mess by falling in love with mix tape makers whom I've never met. Mike Winship includes the BEST Simpsons' and Twin Peaks' quoteage - Dahling's tape is my heartbreak find - my favorite Virgin-ahhh-an, Jenny Payne, does beautiful blue artwork - Jay's tape is like himself, completely perfect, and Peter's is a political statement of a masterpiece. There are a few which have yet to be listened to. I think that Dorothy Parker is a glaring omission from Stuart Murdoch's allusion list. Perhaps someone should alert him of this - I'll try to remember it the next time he is making a cameo appearance in my bedroom. Of course, some others on the list might complain as to the absence of Jane Austen. An editor among editors elaborated, "You see, Austen can be credited with not only developing the style of dialogue known as indirect discourse, but with the very genre of the novel itself. Furthermore, she wrote with great wit and irony about the great political topics of her day, all the while cloaked as mere gossip about men with big inheritances." I've never read any Jane Austen but I've read Mark Twain quotes referring to Jane Austen: "Jane Austen? Why I go so far as to say that any library is a good library that does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book." "I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death." "I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shinbone." You can't blame Mark Twain - he hadn't had the nightmare of reading Nick Hornby (hehehe*). Sorry for the length of this post. No matter what your girlfriend whispers in the dark of the night, size does matter. I'm no Mark Twain but I might be as sad as Dostoevsky, Laura *That was written precisely to incense Jay PS- Madeline, Kitty Collars? Next thing I know you'll have been telling me what you heard the wise Bob Barker say about spaying and neutering. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+