MSCList Postings

April 1998


Date: 2 April
Subject: wicket

Evening all.

Laura 2 muses
Jared Leto and Claire Danes have especially been trying to get away from the show. Claire wants to break the angst-ridden teen image of herself and Jared really doesn't want to be known as "jordan catalano" for the rest of his life i guess.
It's an interesting topic, one that gives me mixed feelings. Now, I've no way of knowing for sure, but I hope both Claire and Jared have a lot of pride in the work they did for MSCL. It was a shining star of a show, cruelly cut in it's prime. But that cut saved them from any possibility that they would be typecast as "Introspective Everyteen" and "Moody dreamer".
Only, MSCL has graduated to full Cult TV status. People write e-mail discussing the significance of Tino. Anoraks know every episode off by heart. Conventions are held up and down the planet. And re-runs continue in many territories. And that has made the change from actor in a flop series to Famous Star a lot more difficult. Jared hasn't managed to build a career from MSCL. He's still "Jordan Catalano" in the eyes of pretty much everyone. Claire has made that leap, to a marquee name in her own right. Of the other MSCL alumini, I think it's only Wilson Cruz (Rickie) that has made a name apart from the show, with his appearances in "Rent".

D reports his posts are
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< In Stereo! (where available) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Which reminds me to shamelessly plug that an archive of my posts is available on my web site, complete with clickable links, further notes, background reading and NICAM surround sound (subject to availability).

Huey suggests
hanson are really quite depressing if you listen to them in a club at 2 am
Anything is really depressing in a club at 2 am. Even "Justified and Ancient". We hear that
There are about 115 million women in this country who don't look like supermodels and only 8 who do.
So, of the 58 million people in the UK, 115 million (roughly) are women. That leaves minus 57 million men here. Somehow, I don't think the numbers quite add up.
And besides, who is it that decides who looks like a supermodel? As far as I'm concerned, all the listees I've seen are super people, and should any of them choose to model, they would become, by definition, super models. Furthermore, the folk who make a living out of modelling seem to be, without exception, about as much fun as sitting in a tunnel in a stopped train without any lights. In fact, I think I preferred the latter experience.

I wrote, and Sara replied

and Annette still hasn't recovered from hers.
uh..who's annette? someone you work with? /me is confused.
No, Annette Comm, the post-uber-meistress of Liberty and its semi- detached village neighbour, Digest. See March's archive...
  • A squaking parakeet.
  • A DC-10 taking off.
  • The sonic boom of a launching Space Shuttle.
  • A thermonuclear device going critical.
  • The crowd at the London premiere of "The Man in the Iron Mask".
If that doesn't wake him, nothing will.
te-he :) actually..I don't think anything will.

She's right. None of these events woke Ross. So, back to the old drawing board it is, says our chief experimenter, Marvin Martian.

I still remember the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
Now, this confuses me terribly. Why should anyone pledge anything to a strip of cloth with some non-distinctive markings on it. Other than to wash it should it get grubby, I suppose. But why not to support truth, honesty and decency? Alternately, to support the presidency? But a flag really takes the oddities.

Jo (who seems to remember that it's supposed to be some kind of an achievement to make it into an Iain post - is this true??!)
Well, it means that you have achieved an entry in an Iain post. Whatever that means. And, erm, how come I've never made it. Most left out, I is.

ALI sees an old topic, and adds
people were wondering if Angela would like Juliet, or Rose. Well, she'd prob like Juliet, cuz shes in love, and gives all for love. However, Juliet is insipid, and has no backbone, but Angela prob wouldn't look at that. Either that or she'd really dislike Juliet because she didn't do anythign - at no point until her death can she say that 'she stopped hiding - she was free'.
It's at a point like this that I wonder if we actually saw the same movie. Juliet is more in control of her situation than any of the other lead protagonists are of theirs. She's the one who actually takes the potion, who helps concoct the fiction of her death. Romeo just sits there, wallowing in his own pity. He's the one with no spine. He's the one who's hideously, tediously, insipid. Juliet is a lot more than you seem to be crediting her for.
And, yes, we did see the same movie...

But she'd prob rather be like Rose, as Rose is a cross between Sharon and Rayanne and actually has a backbone and courage.
Well, I'm not familiar with this work of fiction, so I'll reserve judgement. But, from where I stand, Angela is a close match with Juliet. A real, close, extra innings match.

Jennifer Jacobs
I just checked it out, and I must say that the picture of you and Ali is the nicest, warmest pic I've seen in years.
Why, thank you. [blushes deeply]. And good to see you back, too.

erin posits
it would be really nice not to receive messages in duplicate and triplicate.
This mail will now be the subject of a BBC Public Information Film that will be shown twenty five times per day for the next three months. After that, a special Christmas version of it will be made, listed as a separate show in the programme guides and released as a single.

You're going to reap what you sow.


Date: 6 April
Subject: sticky

Right. Warning, warning. There are some relatively oblique references to body image in this post. If you don't want to read about that topic, please don't scroll beyond Sara's comments about drinking.

Liz points out that
4. whoever stole my last truffle that I'd been saving and looking forward to for days out of the fridge is going to pay.
Big time. B-i-g t-i-m-e. What a complete and utter, utter, utter...

My friend met him once. He said, "I'm Macauly Culkin. Come fuck me." and she said no and he was pissed. And he annoys me anyway.
Gosh. What a wonderful chat-up technique. Brem, I hope you're taking notes.

Laura wonders
Does anyone know how to put frames in a webpage? I really want to put it on mine.
Two points. One: frames break the standard navigation pattern, and make it impossible for the visitor to bookmark a single page. I strongly recommend you work round them.
Two: If you must use them, I refer the good user to www.quadzilla.com, or any of the other online example sheets.

Love Mark (Who is spending the most exciting time at the moment watching copious amounts of American TV
Two words. Time for teletubbies. Time for teletubbies...

On the Desert Island Luxury thing, D-anon suggests
Angela: Her Jordan.
As opposed to the real Jordan. Hmm, good point sir.
Danielle: Hanson.
Naah. Danielle would be more of a Spice Girls camp follower.

And how could I resist spotlighting
liz, who wants to be a funky server like netcom when she grows up.
Of course you will be, dear...

Orange chap writes
I follow Iains directions, only going completely the wrong way entirely once.
If it's any consolation, I made exactly the same mistaike. When leaving Hyde Park Corner station, turn left. Not right. This will be on the web page for next time, which is good news for Dana, IIRC.

Iain leaves suddenly, which makes wonder exactly what I did to offend him. Egotisim even in self-condemation. There`s a lesson there.
The lesson being, always get a good night's sleep before traipsing round London Zoo with a bunch of listees. I didn't, and pretty much fell asleep all the way home. Listening to David Mellor didn't help, either.

Mark raises the whole spectre of
Ahh, but you're making the mistake of bringing a 15th Century situation in the 90s. The problem is that back then the pair of them were likely to have been killed by their respective enemies... or at least excommunicated. There was no possibility of standing up to their families.
Rather annoyingly, this is the exact same point that I was going to make. But yes, there seems to be a certain dose of anachronism - being out of place in the time frame - at work here. Romeo, Juliet, and their families are creations of the late 16th century. That's 400 years ago. I can't agree with "oh, she should have done this or that". Both of the lead characters were paying lip service to their parents, while doing something totally different elsewhere. For me, it's that dramatic irony that makes the play as good as it is, and something that Baz's film brought out well.
In comparison, there is an argument that Cameron's "Titanic" falls into this exact trap of operating outside its stated time frame. Indeed, this topic reminds me of the suggestion that "Titanic" could be compared with "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane" as the all-time best ever movie. You just can't compare films from such different cultural perspectives. Similarly, I think that comparisons of characters from totally different cultures is iniquitous.

Sara writes
me and Ross get to go see the premier (over here) of "Great Expectations" tomorrow. Free! :)
So, how was this movie?

they were just leaving to go somewhere, and as we find out, they were thinking about going to some motion picture place (can't remember what its called).
Museum of the Moving Image. It's, like, a museum, but (and this is the fun bit) it's of moving images. The mind boggles at such obscure names.

I'll finally be 21 (though I won't be allowed to drink)
Annoyingly, you've been allowed to drink in a pub any time since you were 18. And residing in England, natch.

Further warning: the rest is loosely linked with body image.

Ali writes, on the "super models" thing,
Its messing with words.
So is "womyn". So is "native American". So is using "representative" in place of "spokesman". Language changes by usage, and that process starts by someone, somewhere messing with words.

Bronwyn added
Who said that a handful of people should have the right to decide who is and is not a supermodel? Who gave these people the right to define such a cruelly narrow ideal of beauty. Who convinced us we had to listen? And why in hell did we believe them? Your definition is much better, IMO, but it's unfortunatly not the one that the world follows.
For some reason, I well remember the first time I heard the term "supermodel". It was back in early 1993, and all the people were referred to only by their first names, as if to imply that anyone who didn't know who "Chrissy" or "Helena" (or whatever) were was lacking a certain social nous. And, hey, I didn't know who they were, and cared less.
Models are models are models. People can call them super, tremendous, terrific or dung heaps; they remain nothing more and nothing less than walking clothes hangars.
As regular viewers know, I'm something of an iconoclast about many things. If the world doesn't fit my view of it, then the world needs to change. Often, this annoys people. Sometimes, though, I just know that the world is wrong, if only they'd admit it. This is one of those occasions. And I'm not going to let it drop. Those people are models whom the media have made famous. By no strech of the imagination can they be described as super. Superman is super. These guys couldn't leap over a tall building if it were a 1/1,000,000 scale model.


Date: Maundy Thursday
Topic: elderberry

Well, hello to you. This time, we have stuff on "Super", Teletubbies, spam, the "Titanic" controversy rages, why the net is wonderful for relationships, and possibly the worst joke of the week.

AndiWD promotes
anyone want an orange??
Brem, care to air mail one to him?

ALI enquires
The super refers to the place they have made for themselves in the world. Do you have a problem with Superstar as a definition of an actor like Dustin HOffman?
Actually, I do have problems with this usage. There are actors. Some are rotten, some are good, some are excellent. "Super" is one, somewhat weaker, synonym for "excellent".
"Star" is a word that has been devalued out of all meaning by overuse. Now, it means someone moderately famous. For instance, last night's headline in the world's best evening newspaper, "Star arrested on drugs charge". It referred to a minor midfielder for Birmingham City FC, someone who is scarcely a household name in his own household. That's symptomatic of the use that has made the term nothing more than an empty shell.
So, you may wish to refer to Hoffman, la Plagia, Danes or whoever as a "superstar", but "excellent actor" conveys so much more about the person.

Mark points out
excommunication didn't just mean from the church, it meant from society as a whole - and no matter how true, or deep your love is for someone, that's gonna make life difficult.
Effectively, then, it is similar to ending one's (social) life.

Brooks on the Teletubbies
You know, we were talking about that the other day in my bookmaking class..like what is the stuff with that...having never seen it...but looking forward to it when it starts showing this month...
Last Monday, on PBS (check local listings...)
like what is the stuff in it? symbolism? stuff like that...can anyone point me in the right direction? Please?
Well, Teletubbies is, in theory, a simple programme for one and two year olds. Some suggest that it is a veiled reference to drugs, others that it is a Nitchzean (sp) take on the psyche. While others just think that Po's way cute.

While firing off my occasional anti-spam complaints to postmasters, I noticed this section in my standard letter:

Likewise, if the sender purports to honour requests to remove my address from their unwelcome mailing list, that does not make this cost-shifting acceptable. I did not sign up to any sort of LISTSERV or majordomo list in the first place, nor did I request any information from this user. It is abuse and forgery to put someone's email address on a mailing list without their permission.

[Adapted from http://www.mcs.com/~jcr/junkmaildeal.html]

I'm not sure why this sprung out at me today.

Oh dear. Sara wants me to diss "Titanic" again.
There were a few discrepancies..as with any movies, but besides the little points, how is it operating outside its stated time frame?
Well, let's be strictly accurate about it. There were some major errors of fact. The makers yesterday donated a five figure sum to charity for blackening the name of one character in direct contravention of the historical record.
But to hit Sara's main point. The lead characters are all 90s stylisations of the 10s reality. Why would two of them romp in a car, when there was a perfectly good deck available, other than to pander to 90s stereotypes? Or Rose give a sign that would be regarded as seriously obscene even for a "lower class" man, never mind a womin of "good breeding"?
The characters are wholly unreal. And, even though the main part of the film's attraction is the special effects, such matters as scripting and characterisation cannot be overlooked.

Eric joins in the fun
only one Cliche opportunity was missed - Rose didn't have a baby by Jack (that we saw, at least).
Do I hear the dread word "sequel" here..? more...
All the classics were there - the guns, which as soon as you see, you know will be fired at Our Hero,
By people who would not and did not use such weapons in that situation.
Add on top of that the incredibly lame dialog,
Don't get me started again (:
and the ridiculous "chase scene in a sinking boat"...
If I want to go see a chase movie, I send for Bugs, Daffy and R. Runner. Proper, two-dimensional characters, who don't pretend to be in 3D.

On this topic, Kris adds
Saw Titanic again. Dan had not seen it and I felt bad, so I took him. We laughed through out the movie. Im sorry, but it's funny the second time around.
Second..?
Iain: for the cut and pastes and for sending me your web page with your picture...HUBBA HUBBA!! your a looker! :) :)
Erm, thanks. [blushes more]

Nichole expounds
Sometimes it just isn't so easy to flip off the puter and leave your friends behind. not trying to attack you in any way or anything :) Some people just get into net friendships more then others, and you may find it silly, but there are still many people like this :)
Indeed there are. And, personally, I think that relationships made across the net can be deeper and more meaningful than those founded in person.

And finally. Bad joke alert. George Michael has been arrested. Under California's tough new anti-smoking laws, it's now a criminal offence to pop into a park toilet to have a fag.


Date: Easter Sunday
Subject: Peace calls

Last Friday evening, there was a settlement of one of the longest running feuds in the Western world. The Northern Irish troubles, a civil war that began nearly 30 years ago, has - hopefully - been settled.

Both Catholic and Protestants have given ground; neither side has the totality of what they wanted.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair advised people not to condem the other side for historical reasons, or from a sense of some historical wrongdoing. Instead, we should seek to understand where the other side is coming from, and seek a compromise reached through dialogue, not the bullet or the bomb.

All sides have given ground, and expressed trust that no-one else will go back on their word. There are no guarantees of this, of course. Just faith, hope, and the knowledge that the prize of a permanent peace is worth a lot of effort and discomfort.

Have a happy Easter and Passover, so-called list.


Date: Easter Monday
Subject: bad yolks

If you're eating, you may wish to skip the first section. Plus; Titanic too, motor racing, footy and the DSS.

Angelique's form says she hates
when there is no paper in the toilet
And amen to that! It leads me to wonder, how do public toilets get into such a state that they don't have any paper left? I mean, it doesn't take too much effort to check there's an ample supply at any time, does it? more...

Philip McCormac heroises
Penelope Pitstop
Go Compact Pussycat! Boo to The Hooded Claw! And Sylvester Sneekly!

D-anon picks up on the prospects for a Titanic II
The ship sank. They all died. Even Rose died at the end. How can anyone talk about a sequel? Unless it's from Hell.
Suppose Rose did get pregnant by one of the wooden actors, and the kid takes a trip on the Titanic II that's going to be built in Switzerland (or by the Swiss, I forget).
Besides, the sequel can't come from hell. The original did.

Kati asks
Should I repeat myself? Does anyone have a tattoo??
Someone somewhere on this list does, I expect. I'm not that person.

Andi WD claims
i NEVER yell at the tv when they show stupid commercials that i hate. however, i always yell at the tv because a ref made an unfair call (because, as you all know, i always am watching those sport thing shows on tv about, uh, football, or something).
Oddly, I always seem to yell at the tv when there are commercial breaks during the motor racing. Take yesterday's Grand Prix in Argentina. Johnny Herbert suddenly finds Damon Hill driving due up his exhaust pipe - the TV shows some eejit putting plaster on his wall. Then, later, Michael Schumaccer drives off the track, across some gravel and grass, and onto a slip road before rejoining the track proper. The telly coverage has a bunch of people jigging about to a poor album.

Thank heavens for Radio 5.

Betsy has some problems playing football.
I always play terrible the 1st half, and I play so much better the 2nd. Mainly because my ass gets yelled at during halftime. I have a game on Monday, maybe you can do a pre-game yelling, and I'll be motivated.
Right, Betsy, your performance today is, quite frankly, a pile of cow dung. A stinking, smelly pile of cow pats with flies buzzing round it. Now, go out there, and clean the stench off the bottom of your boots and totally kick their backside.
[© Mark McGhee 1996]
Seriously, though, have an enjoyable match. Winning isn't everything, though it is nice. Allegedly.

Quick digression into the UK social security system. I was on it for most of '96. It actually paid more than the student grant - and the DSS payments are meant to be around 75% of subsistance. Apparently, there were schemes to help people, but they were tailored to the needs of unskilled labour, not those of us who have a degree and are looking for someone to take a chance on us now. There was meant to be a tightning-up of the system during my time there, but I didn't notice any changes. Just the same civil welcome, a polite enquiry as to how things were going, and please sign on the dotted line.


Date: 14 April
Subject: containers

To come: radiohead, Ireland, weather, lightbulbs and a SLATE forward.
But we start with the big news.

Elizabeth Angellla-Brem Skeie-Leih Tyler Oink Innes Wrigley-Field
I've run out of things to put here, it seems. Tragic.

The list is poorer for this loss of innocence.

Mae wonders
Yay! Radiohead rocks! I especially like their video for "Just"... anybody ever figure out what that guy said that made all those people lie there?

We never get to find out. Some would argue that the whole point of the video is that we never find out.

On the Irish question, Sara points out
but I don't understand is...why doesn't England just give back the teeny, tiny part of Ireland that they own? The people wnat ti back.. it can't be doing that much for Englad anwyay...what's the point of keeping it?

The point was that Ireland held a supreme strategic place in the Cold War geography of Europe. Look at where it is on the map, stuck in the middle of the Atlantic, and something that could either provide a last bulwark behind a force advancing from Moscow, or the first line of defence for an attack from the West. The Republic of Ireland is perennially neutral in conflicts, and isn't a member of NATO, making Britain's presence on the Ireland of strategic interest.

That, of course, all changed after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, leading Mr Major to set the peace process in train with his 1992 declaration that Britain no longer had a selfish strategic interest in Ireland, and would countenance unification of the island.

James
A good percentage of the people of N Ireland want to be part of England, but Eire have (had?) a constitutional claim on the land.

Have, but not for much longer. The clauses in the constitution would be amended under last week's agreement.

Eli
Second, basically, the protestants wants to stay under British occupation,

The Unionists (mainly, but not exclusively, Protestant) would prefer to stay under the United Kingdom banner, but with day-to-day running of the province by a local administration.
while the Catholics want to be under Eire occupation.

The Nationalists (a subset of the Catholics, in the main) would like to be an equal part of a united Ireland.

Note that Unionists are not exclusively Protestant, and not all Catholics are Nationalist. This is a very fine point, one that the British media are often guilty of missing.
Even though the Catholics are the major,

The Catholics are in the majority across Ireland as a whole, but in a (roughly) 60-40 minority in the North. Rising birth rates may bring equality in around 70 years, but no sooner. This would effectively rule out a national union before 2100.

Eric writes
These freedoms [in the North] include the right to divorce and the right to have an abortion.

IIRC, divorce was legalised in a 1995 referendum. Abortions remain illegal; it's even unlawful to give out information about the practice in the UK.
This new agreement will address many of these issues, and will hopefully bring peace to Ireland.

And amen to that!

Eli
As a rule, the weather in Europe in going nuts currently.

Yes, it is. Thursday saw heavy rain closing both rail routes between Birmingham and London. It took my boss ten hours to drive home - a journey that normally takes about an hour. On Friday, there was a significant fall of snow. Today, it's a lot sunnier, but still cold.
The Moscow Meteorological Service predicted an 11C temperature with clear skies, while in fact there was a heavy snow 16 cm deep. The mayor of Moscow actually sued it. I swear I heard so.

Indeed he has. Who knows where this will end up, but so long as a writer of horrorscopes ends up behind bars, I won't mind.

Following a lead, the Iain light switch:
Politely points out that you have to throw the switch the other way in Britain, and spends 10 minutes doing that.

And finally, one of my occasional forwards from SLATE. Chris Connelly writes on the advent of a feminised culture...

As we begin the autopsy for Boys R Us - the beer 'n' boorishness, boobs 'n' bang-bang, jeans 'n' sneakers, rock 'n' freaking roll pop culture that won the Cold War - it might be wise to determine a time of death. What'll it be: the day Kurt Cobain killed himself? The day Keith Olbermann left ESPN? The day Bill Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes?

Or was it yesterday, when an action film starring Bruce Willis got squashed in its opening weekend by Lost in Space - featuring a fully clothed Heather Graham; the youngest girl from Party of Five; and a human body count of zero - and Titanic. Some of us around here still remember when Titanic was going to be the Ultimate Boy Movie, based on the Ultimate Boy Tragedy, courtesy of Jim Cameron, the Ultimate Boy Director, the guy who put Jamie Lee Curtis in That Dress, shot down her cleavage, and blew up a bridge beneath her.

Cameron is the Kim Philby of Boys R Us, the man whose Girl Movie in Boy Movie's Clothing led to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and to the detritus of Leomania. Titanic spent 15 weeks atop the U.S. box office, beating the pants off such movies as Wild Things - whose Boy Culture appeal was summed up by its star Denise Richards when she told Entertainment Weekly, "I don't want my dad to see my breasts. I'm hoping he'll cover his eyes."

Meanwhile, "My Heart Will Go On" has pulled two different albums to the top of the charts, humiliating new releases from Van Halen and Pearl Jam. But the music industry has been hip to the death of Boys R Us since last summer, when Lilith Fair out-grossed Lollapalooza. Last year for the first time, according to the Recording Institute of America, more girls than boys bought records. Three years ago, Trent Reznor was singing, "I wanna fuck you like an animal"; last year, in "Not Tonight," Li'l Kim and a gaggle of female rappers were demanding oral satisfaction.

Elsewhere on the cultural landscape, the news for Boy Culture gets bleaker. Television? Two words: Dawson's Creek. Talk radio? Goodbye, Rush ... hello, Dr. Laura. Even sports are under siege. The U.S. women's hockey team wins the gold medal? No problem ... but when the men's hockey team loses and gets frisky with a fire extinguisher at the Olympic Village, they practically have their citizenship revoked. After years of watching locker-room celebrations, I thought I was supposed to enjoy it when athletes got rowdy. Not anymore. Check out Boston, where golden-armed QB Drew Bledsoe is in Dutch for stage-diving during an Everclear show last year, and Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn still can't get a long-term contract after a couple of strip club incidents.

Has every American male teen had his allowance suspended or his part-time job taken away? They're not buying records or movie tickets or novels or Levi's or Arch Deluxes or Nikes. Even the people who make Budweiser have so little faith in the buying power of their core audience of males that they're test-marketing Catalina Blonde, a near-beer expressly designed for women. And just when you thought the sport utility vehicle craze could four-wheel Boy Culture back to the mountaintop, here comes the VW Bug, complete with a "Drive it? Hug it? Drive it? Hug it?" ad campaign so insufferable it makes Hello Kitty look like Pulp Fiction.

So where can Boys R Us make its last stand? There are Comedy Central's unashamedly foul South Park; Howard Stern and Jerry Springer; and Pamela Anderson, who could undergo a million makeovers like the one she just received and still be the star of The Video. My hopes were pinned on J.J., the California gray whale nursed back to health by Sea World and then released into the ocean. J.J. promptly ditched the four (!) transmitters researchers had implanted to monitor all perigrenations and breeding patterns. Track this, you aqualosers! Born free, baby! J.J showed up just when boys were in gravest need - in between Hugh Hefner's calling off his divorce and the release of Godzilla - to remind us that, whether we see them or not, America's males are out there, ready to resurface. Trouble is, J.J.'s a she.

Date: April 16
Subject: Pendog

Before the end of the sig: Ireland, Claire's, cosmetics, pedantry and Titanic II.

Deca
Additionally I found "Pump Up The Volume" on video and finally have my own copy of Kenickie's "At The Club" CD. Oh the joys of shopping at Virgin and HMV.

Are totally unbounded, especially when one adds in Tower's basement. Interestingly, last time I met some listee (singular) in London, he bought a copy of "At the Club" as well. Spooky or what?

Cory
My Preistess-making is this Midsummer.

Toutes les biens. Or whatever's appropriate.

Elaine
THe North costs the British taxpayer millions This is a dead cost for the UK. One John Major really wanted to dump - allegedly.

As I mentioned last time, Britain's strategic interest in Ireland (the geographical entity) ended with the end of the cold war. And, while Mrs Thatcher had a personal antipathy to the IRA, Mr Major didn't share that to quite such a degree. Personally, I reckon that had he obtained a larger majority in 1992, Major would have kicked the peace process off far sooner, and last week's agreement might have been reached a couple of years ago. As it was, he had to suck up to the Unionist parties, and the rest is history.
[abortion] We have the right to information and the right to travel.

Whoops, thanks for setting me straight.

Lisa
It is absolutely pouring with snow here in London. Please let it settle, please let it settle, then I can be childish.

Why do you need it to be snowy to have an excuse to be childish? Why not just bite the wax and do it anyway?
a) On Kensington High Street, they have opened a Claire's.

There has been a Claire's in Telford centre since 1996. These Londoners. Always thinking they're the hippest, when the real power resides within spitting distance of the giant's footwiper. more...

Demeter
Okay -- is it just me, or have cosmetics gotten unnecessarily psychoanalytic?

That assumes that it's possible for cosmetics to be *necessarily* psychoanalytic. And, er, I'm not sure that it has to be that way.

Rage? Skew? Contradiction? Happy? No fear? Heck, these are just nice sounding words. Well, that's how some of my post titles arise.

Huey
are buffalo tom a big band, or does anyone know if you can get hold of any of their stuff?

Try looking in one of the larger record stores - Tower, HMV, Virgin in Birmingham spring to mind. Only, don't try looking in the big band section. They're not the Ted Heath Quintet.

[Obpedantry] An AOHellster writes:
I agree with Brenden even the Constitution of the United States protects your right to free religion, believe, or don't believe what you want. Can't we all just coexist?

A pedant writes:
The constitution of the USA does no such thing for citizens of other countries. In particular, it does not protect any "right" to have any belief system. [/obpedantry]

Sara
who just had her first ultrasound today, and teh baby looked kinda like a little beetle :)

As in wheel at each corner, engine behind the seats? What an odd concept.
And remind us all, when's the sproglet due?

Now, Eric Geyer
Something tells me that this must have been an April Fools joke, that has now escaped into the public conciousness as fact. Either that or Iain swallowed a joke hook, line and sinker:-)

Well, nothing would surprise me less, but there's this little thing I've found in the Daily Telegraph archive from April 8:

-- quote --
A PLAN to build a full-size replica of the Titanic to carry 2,000 well-heeled disaster buffs across the Atlantic on the 90th anniversary of the ship's only voyage has been put forward by a Swiss-American consortium.

Costing an estimated �300 million, the scheme intends to recreate the elegance and luxury of the doomed vessel while offering passengers modern reassurances such as computerised iceberg-detection equipment and a full complement of lifeboats.

Promoters say the ship will sail from Southampton on April 10, 2002, 90 years to the day after its forebear's departure. It will follow the original route across the north Atlantic to New York before returning to Southampton to take up life as a cruiser. Tickets for the maiden voyage are expected to cost between �6,000 and �60,000 depending on class of berth.

The project has been developed by a Basle-based business consultancy which has set up a company, White Star Line Ltd, in imitation of Titanic's original but long-defunct owners. Its partner is a new Las Vegas firm, the Titanic Development Corporation, which aims to raise the necessary capital.
-- end quote --

Similar articles exist on the BBC and CNN news sites. So, maybe it's going to happen.

The final "Midday with Mair" starts next. So, from loyalty card holder 512, it's...


Date: April 19
Subject: after the rain

Well, Mair's gone, but Gambo's back. Yay!

Later: spoilers, videos, radio, trains, vampires and a visit from a Mountie. But first:

[obplug]
Weaver's web site now contains: news on who's top of the English football tree; comment articles, including the best reason not to answer the phone; and my responses to the various questionnaires that have been floating round the list recently. Plus the biggest hits of the first quarter of the year: has Celine topped this chart as well? (Hint: no). Come visit now!
[/obplug]

D-anon seriously insulted the RCMP, and then compounded his sins by writing
(Note: The cool thing about mocking Canadians is, you never need to apologize.)

Apologise, boy, otherwise we'll send round Lucien Brouchard to spell out his designs on the future of the constitution on your front lawn.

~Laura
If you haven't see 'City of Angels' yet, listees, GO NOW GO

Well, we would, but it's not opened here yet. And won't for some months. But thanks for putting in some spoiler warnings, peeps. They don't work well on digests, but that's my problem.

Angie
Hey!I love Daft Punk's video too:Around the World!
Anyway,this group always make cool videos.

Too right. Especially the mad one for "Da funk", with the dog-head wandering around New Yawk (?) and having a life. Barking!

~Laura again
I was driving around at lunchtime and was listening to a local radio station. They were playing the new Tori song

Ooh! What's it like? The wretches that hold UK radio haven't been playing it much, even though it's out Monday week. Guess I'll be buying it blind... again (:
Then the D.J. came on

Yes, they have the annoying habit of doing that. Some of the ones round here promote as "We don't talk all over your favourite records." That's coz you don't play them, eejits! more...

a phone in contest...something they do daily...in which a listener usually wins between one thousand and two thousand dollars. Where do these radio stations get all this money to give away? I know when they give away prizes (eg a new car, a new stereo system) that they are usually given to the stations by the manufacturer for advertising/marketing purposes but what about all that cash? Thoughts or answers anyone?

I guess it comes out of their promotional budget. Rather than run expensive campaigns on billboards, tv or local press, a station might encourage listeners to listen longer by competitions like this.

Interestingly, this sort of contest is often used in the UK as a reason to start listening. One of the ones round here is offering 10,000 pounds on Monday morning, and have been hawking that on tv and the press since the campaign began some weeks ago.

Jaime enquired
Do record companies have to pay stations anything for playing their records?

I believe it works the exact other way round. Radio station plays record and has to pay the writer (and performer, in some countries) a fee based on the audience likely to have heard the disc. I'm not sure of the rates in the US, but I know BBC national radio pays about 120 pounds for a four minute track. It's the biggest expense for music stations over here.

Cory
I wanna be the Vampire Slayer

Then we hear of Liz
The first thing you may notice about Liz is her fangs. They're real. Watch out; she bites. In fact, as Vikki "Thanks for doing that Avi article; here's another" Brown may soon discover, it's difficult to ask Liz for a favor without incurring at least a minor skin breakage or two. Once again: watch out.

Oh. Bang goes my guest list planning. This is meant to be a fun day for everyone, not a bloody mess leaving at least one listee dead. And a maiden aunt, but that's only fainting...

Sara
I absolutely adore the care bears!!!!

Travel on Virgin Trains sometime, then. Their customer service assistants are affectionately known as "care bears". But you'll have to ask my conductor friend (er) Ross (ah...) Hamilton.

OK, quit while behind, dear weaver...


Date:Mon 20 Apr
Subject: BAFTA awards

Well, the results are in, and this is what they show.

Big winner: The Full Monty. Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, (Robert Carlyle and Tom Wilkinson), Audience Choice Award, Best Use of Cliched Hot Chocolate Number In A Movie.....

Almost as big a winner: Romeo + Juliet. Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music, and Best Production Design.

Best Actress could have broken the tie for the lead, had Claire Danes (who?) won in it, but Dane Judi Dench was victorious, for her work in Mrs Brown.

Nil By Mouth won a couple; the award for Best British Film (That Didn't Feature Stripping Ex-Steel Workers) and Best Original Screenplay.

LA Confidential also won, for Best Editing and Sound, Sigourney Weaver picked the Best Supporting Actress nod, and Wings of the Dove won for Cinematography and Make-Up And Hair (!!!).

And what was that movie that did things at the Oscars? My memory fails me a little.

Thankfully, it didn't do that this lunchtime. I've passed Microsoft's Annoyingly Difficult Networking Essentials exam, so yay me.


Date: Wed 22 April
Subject: flan

It's been a slow day. I submitted Shana's signature
"Close your eyes and let the magic begin, for tomorrow will be a new day where today will be just a memory. Make today a good day so the memory you will know tomorrow won't be regreted."

to the Altavista Translation service. Then turned it into German. Only, I don't know any German beyond "Eine kleine nachtmusic", so back into English we go
"your eyes and the magic let close begin, because its a new day becomes tomorrow, in which today's day is a memory even. Form today a good day, therefore is the memory, which it tomorrow, not regreted."

Think it loses something in the translation...

Eli
I want to know that girl. I want to go to that graveyard again. I thought about telling my parents that I'll go to the beach, and sneak to the graveyard. I want to meet that girl relatives, and know everything about her: Who she was, why she committed suicide, who planned that tomb.

Here, you're assuming she committed suicide. There's no proof of that. She could have been a traffic victim, or any other reason.
I have a question: How can I find out who she was and who are her relatives? I only know her name, and merely the location of her grave.

Don't. Hold the impression she's made on you, and make whatever changes you think best reflect that. If she's a mystery on her tomb, there are reasons behind that, and you're best off not violating that.
Judaism has many opinions inside. It nevers reach an agreement. About every opinion every made on that subject has some represntive in Judaism. The well known antisemite joke says that two jews have three opinions. It is practically true.

As opposed to the proven fact that if you lay all the economists in the world end to end and drive a steamroller over the top of them you get a far nicer world.

Liz
I seem to have a crush. How odd is that?
Not a very serious one, though.
Which is a damn good thing because the last time I saw him I threw up on his jacket.

What an attractive image.
"Hi, I'm the Wriglino Fieldino. I think you're almost as cute as me."
[spew]
la LA la lalala LA lalala la

Where's The Noo-Noo when we need it?

Alfredo
I didn't know much about Linda McCartney, except that she was an acclaimed photographer even before she met Paul, that she was a good mother and that she was his loving and beloved wife. I _have_ to pay my respects to the wife of someone I actually look up to, and offer my condolences to Paul McCartney, who though he didn't know it has given so much to me.

As my web site will eventually say (just as soon as I upload the appropriate page), I'll remember Lady Linda McCartney for her photography, and her range of meat-free foods. About half the main courses I eat are from her range, and jolly tasty they are too.

Marguerite
A year after its release here in the U.K. the soundtrack's still going strong on my player.

Mine as well, though that's another story.
A nod to Baz's radical vision - at last. Definite highlight of the evening for me.

Indeed. Best directed film I've seen in a very long time.

Laura
OKay, I have a question...where do the BAFTA awards take people?

The BAFTA awards are given by the British Academy of Film and Televisual Arts. They're British. From the cultural centre of the world, Britain [© Tony Blair 1997.]
Cuz Romeo and Juliet came out in the states in 96....

...and was savagely overlooked by the Oscar voters in 1997. Whereas the people who actually know a good movie when they see one got to vote for it this year, and gave it its dues.

~L~ enquires
What is on your CD/Tape/LP player right now?

The one I take to and from work has the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack 1. The tape player at home is working through Echobelly's "Everybody's Got One" and my patented compilation tape from Christmas 1991. The cd racking has cd 2 of Tori Amos' new single, the one with a well-known spring ditty.

Shana
Today is my 6 month anni on the list :) Yay me!!! :)

Has it really been that long? [checks calendar] Yes, I suppose it has. Congratulations.

Shobi
I wish that someone would tell record stores that Mary Chapin- Carpenter belongs over in Pop with Shawn Colvin, Indigo Girls & Sarah McLachlan. Right now.

It's all music. Notes, tunes, harmonies, words and stuff along those lines. Whether it's Mary-Chapin, Shawn [both filed under Country in Our Price, Wolverhampton], McLachlan [folk], Chopin [classical], Horner [classical, chart] or Kenickie [pop], it's all music. Rack it from Aaliyah to 22 Top and be done with it.

Andi
did you hear that today in Chicago at a Win98 presentation that while they were demo'ing it with Big Billy standing up there, the presenter plugs in a new device, the computer says it's installing the new device or something, then they get a GPF?????
woops.

Which brings their new advertising slogan into context:

Windoze 98. Not even Billy Bug-Gobbler can get it to work. What chance do you have.

Nancy
What makeup do you wear? What is the thing (Makeup) you cant be without?

Make up proper? None. Jewellery? Well, Sara's friendship bracelet fell off last week, though I got it in August, so it's not had a bad innings. Now, it's just bracelets and necklaces as appropriate.

Dr D
Know where I can get a pair of Joo-Janta 2000 Peril Sensitive Sunglasses?
You know, the kind that go utterly black at the slightest hint of danger?

I have a feeling that they're exclusively available in some of the most up-market and fashionable stores somewhere near Ursa Minor Beta. Now, I've never gone shopping for them, but I gather that the mail order staff are more than a little snooty, and won't send packages to addresses this side of the Eastern Spiral Arm.
Though give the fashion people ten years and they'll have replicated the product from their portal in Singapore.

Sara
Over here in england I like Sugar, Marie claire, cosmo (the english version) and yeah..more magazines like that. oh, and of course, Eva!! which I am so getting hooked on :)

Not Minx? Shame on you...
I hate that I don't think I'm beautiful anymore

Well, FWIW, I disagree totally with that. Coz it's not true, and Sara is jolly good looking.
and there are certain ones that they can say what sex they want. isn't that rude?

Rude, and also illegal. The only exception is direct employees of the Crown (Liz's ladies in waiting, Chuck's nannies and such like).

Lauren
You think the paparazzi would learn from their mistakes. First Princess Diana

Diana Spencer-Windsor was killed by drunken driving. That is beyond dispute. The contribution of the paparazzi was limited to them being there, and by her own two-faced courting and denial of publicity.

Brooks
CD(downstairs): Blur (bootleg of some concert...from around the release of "The Great Escape" note the wonderful rendition of "For Tommarow" and "End of a Century" as well as a fun "Parklife" and "Daisy, Daisy" (both with Phil Daniels)

Sounds like the Mile End concert from June 95. As broadcast across the UK on Radio 1 FM (as it then was...)

Matt McGuire
I am an 18 year old from Fredericton, New Brunswick (which is in Canada).

At the risk of usurping someone's bad pun; welcome, Matt. And greetings from Canada-in-Exile.

shim returns
actually i think the problem today deals more with gender roles than defined things like boys vs girls...the gray area is where people get hurt...people need to realize that so much of masculinity and feminity is taught and not natural, so if someone goes against that, they aren't a freak or schizophrenic and they don't need to be locked up. actually, they're the ones in the right.

Indeed it is. It's all a problem of society expecting people to take a male - female dichotomy as real, polar opposites, when the fact of the matter is that they're just the stereotypical ends of a spectrum.
just obligatory! everyone go buy at the club!!

When am I next likely to be meeting listees in London, and which one will buy "At the club" then?
aaahhh!!! the concert i was embarrassed to be at! the cocteau twins were the special guest at the kansas city lolla stop a couple years back (the [ick] metallica [/ick] year) and the crowd was soooo mean that they threw stuff at them and booed them off.

Whoops. Not a smart move.
too bad i happen to love the cocteau twins. i swear, i wanted to like strangle people at that concert.

The whole ethos behind Lollapollooza (sp) is to provide an umbrella under which all sorts of broadly alternative groups and acts could play. Booing a band off is hardly in keeping with that ethic. And should be banned.
see, i found out not too long ago that my parents and grandparents had seen the shimcity webpage and that they were really ticked, but didn't bother to tell me that, they just stopped saying anything to me. my parents, anyway.

You make it sound as though it were a really bad thing...
my grandparents were on my side and said look, just bring him home for easter and with all the company there, your parents will be forced to behave.

And they did, I trust.
so anyway, i got lots and lots of chocolate, esp white chocolate... even cadburys! yay!

White chocolate is wonderful. Not only is it chocolate, which is great in itself, but it's white and not so cocoaey. And that's just brilliant. Annoyingly, the only form I can find the stuff in is a bar aimed at children ):
2) the vice principal of my high school tried to suspend me citing 'promiscuity which could influence other students.'

[asterix]
These principals are crazy. Especially the one at PWC, but then he knows that. The others tend not to.
[/asterix]
ok, what constitutes promiscuity? having sex? having lots of sex? having lots of sex with different people? having no sex but being a big flirt? wearing short skirts? or just not being afraid to say what's on your mind, even if you have renegade beliefs while you live in the bible belt?

I'd run with "Embarrassing the principal in front of the board of governors".

And on "This Boy's Life"
after all, it stars one of my fiances!

One of...
One of...
You don't mean...
shim...
and Mark...
oh my.....

Well, congratulations! If I had a plaster cast, I'd be waving it in the air right now. more...

Other than that, I'm speechless.


Date: Thu, 23 Apr 98
Subject: messies

We hear about the future of Party of Five, what's utterly unfashionable right now, and a word from a newcomer. So, press on.

Lauren
Now there can be a little happiness & Claudia can stop being so annoying (if it's possible)

Now, I'm seeing these episodes from the UK, where the series stopped part way through, during Charlie's treatment. So I'm some way behind you North Americans.

But happiness would be good, and a return to the sensible, head-screwed-on Claudia of the first three years would be nice. As would a comeback for Julia's sensibilities. Both of them seem to have been used as nothing more than poor plot devices, which is such a waste of talent.
Next they need to can Annie, that storyline is weak.

Weak? It wouldn't support a single marching ant without bending. She is just so not Bailey's type.
Can't wait to see what Julia does when she finds out Griffin slept with Rosalie

There will be a smashed ornament, or something along those lines. Then they'll just try to carry on as if nothing ever happened.

Kim Williams:
please put me on your mail list for my so called life......i love EVERY episode......i NEVER miss it ......and wish it would come back to regular television ,but for now, i will keep watching and thanking MTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so anything about the show or cast will be appericatd!!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! kim

Questions...

1) How does one "appericat"? Is this some form of bizarre sexual position that I should be asking Brem about? Is it some form of religious ceremony that Nichole would know of but I don't? Is it further proof for the theory that the hand is faster than the spell-checker? Enquiring minds want to know...

2) Is Kim's middle name Skeie or what?

Anyway, welcome aboard (if you are aboard...)

Now, SLATE magazine (www.slate.com) has come up with a list of the latest offences against fashion. Here are just 55 out of the 214 things deemed "unfashionable" in the American, British, and Australian press between March 21 and April 21:

  1. Being loyal to one's mentors
  2. Personal sacrifice on behalf of one's children
  3. The piano accordion
  4. Good speechwriting
  5. Good screenwriting (in Los Angeles Times movie critic Kenneth Turan's piece attacking Titanic)
  6. The music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
  7. The belief that keeping one's job rather than changing it frequently makes one's life and work more rewarding
  8. Disliking television
  9. Difficult poetry
  10. Going to church
  11. Being middle class
  12. The literary essay
  13. Folk music
  14. Artistic virtuosity
  15. Wine
  16. Reticence
  17. Caucasians and Catholics
  18. Duty and obligation
  19. National pride and glory
  20. Making sure that nuclear energy is safe
  21. Employing the jobless and providing lasting benefits for the community as a whole
  22. Landscape painting
  23. Fat
  24. Sincerity and directness
  25. Integrity
  26. Love
  27. A feeling of irritation at men who wear open-necked shirts and no jackets when their female companions are more elegantly attired
  28. The ideal of knowledge for its own sake
  29. West Denver
  30. The attempt to construct a total work of art
  31. Hootie and the Blowfish
  32. Passion about one's family
  33. James Taylor
  34. Political commitment
  35. England, as Mike Leigh depicts it
  36. The Australian bush ballad
  37. Believing that Rembrandt is a great painter
  38. Women's issues
  39. Religion
  40. Whites of modest means and fundamentalist Christians
  41. E.O. Wilson
  42. South Los Angeles
  43. Values and family
  44. Poverty and need
  45. Cacti
  46. Political comedy
  47. Corporal punishment
  48. Bob Kerrey's proposal to cut the payroll tax
  49. Riesling
  50. Journalism
  51. The view that the market is getting set for a boom-bust cycle
  52. Refusing to get trapped in sterile quarrels over issues like borders and the treatment of minorities in such countries as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Germany
  53. Learning for learning's sake
  54. George Steiner's essay "Humane Literacy," and its assertion, "Who would be a critic if he could be a writer?" (In a review of Steiner's book by Michael Dirda of the Washington Post)
  55. Gilbert and Sullivan
To which, I might add that Leonardo does seem to be a bit peaky right now, and Matt Damon, or Bill Windsor, or Adam Rickett is going to be the next heart-throb. Unless someone else beats them to it.
Date: Sun 26 April
Subject: disciples...

Hello, list

Scott on Party of Five
I haven't heard if this is the last season or not.

I believe Po5 is listed as "firmly renewed" on the various lists. Something to do with a "demographic winner", or something... Given that,
I know Neve wants the show to be pulled so she can go off and persue her illustrious movie career

Her what movie career? In fact, what movie career? (;
but that's if they end the contract early. Hopefully they won't.

Ahum. Given renewal, I very much doubt they'd let any of the principals leave. Especially one of the main attractions for a male audience.

~Laura ponders
Sometimes I think we put too much pressure on relationships by deciding they are everlasting love. Why not enjoy it while its happening, and not bet on tomorrow?

Because, sometimes, it just is totally lasting for ever. Indestructable, no matter what mess is thrown about, no matter what obstacles are thrown up into the path. Total soul mates, fragments of the same being, thoughts and feelings like that.The one with whom you experience that moment of total connection, that this person is the one. The one for whom you'd cross burning bridges, fight demons and totally put yourself out for.
I think a lot of womyn come from a past of abuse, neglect or emotional hurt. Compounded by past hurts in relationships, some just give up and think crappy significant others are all they will ever get and deserve, or they just go for the comfort of familiarity, even if the familiarity is laced with pain.
Speaking for myself, I have gone thru that vicious cycle and have found myself happy in seeking a good and healthy relationship. Albeit, nothing is ever perfect. I at least now do not magnatize myself to assholes...at least not intentionally.

First, congrats on recognising that you're trapped in that mind-set, and actively breaking out. It takes a bit of doing...

It also raises the point: what's to be done when half a couple splits them apart precisely because their relationship is not rotten? When both sides recognise the other as their perfect match (see above), but one of them does a volte-face and inexplicably breaks it all off? Something I've never quite fathomed out...

Peter Ash
Well, I doubt anyone here would remember me... I havent posted in soooo long, and evern when I did post I didnt do it that much... But, just in case you remeber, it's me, Peter Ash, from Canada.... So if anyone does accually remember me, PLEASE mail me!!!

Hi, Peter. Good to see you again.

Brem
Before I start, I think that if my life has any purpose at the moment, it's to be haunted by Cerys from Catatonia.

Things are getting strange. Strange. Stra-a-a-a-a-a-a-ange. And, quite personally, I'm beginning to be a bit worried. I mean, it's probably nothing, but it is worrying.
If this matter continues, I may have to place a call to Mouldy and Scullery. Or not, as the case may be. more...

Mae
The temperature outside is 38 degrees Celsius.

38. Ow. 38 Farenheit would be nice, sometimes. 38 C is insufferable.

Alfredo's oddities
Maybe it's because it's starting to be spring here in the north, where most of the planet lives, but all of the mailing lists I'm on have gone pretty silent all of a sudden this weekend. I'm only getting a -trickle- of postings from the Claire list, the metaphysics list, the ebtg list...

How strange. I've noticed a distinct speeding up of the MHP list, and as many posts as usual if not more from uk-radio. Still, YMMV, and all that.

And doesn't time fly. Twelve years since Prince's "Kiss" was around. And twelve years since I last heard "America has a new Number One, because the one that was is now Number Two". Aaaaaahhhhh.....


Date: Monday 27 April
Subject: kalabash

Sara
So Byron, Sara, Shana Sunshine and I have set up a new list on a new server.

Well, yay for you guys. Please note that after this posting, the only way to be guaranteed delivery of my musings is to be subscribed to...
[email protected]

[Erm, didn't we ask you to attract people to the new list, not drive them away? - Admins]

Alfredo
This supposed new list has no legitimacy at all, until I hear our list administrator *Bryon C Go* announce it.

This list has legitimacy by its very existance. It's given further legitimacy by people posting to it, and respecting it as the 3rd home of the MSCList.
In the meantime, the backup list at dreamworld already is running, and has -everyone- already subbed to it, and I don't care who owns it, me or an impartial person.

A month ago, I mused that this smelled of spam. I've never asked to be added to any list at dreamworld.org. Neither, I suggest, have most of the other subscribers to this list. And part of my standard anti- spam message points out that I've not requested to be added to any Listserv or other mailing list.
I think the level of ethics and class in terms of who's managing the list would go down a few notches.

The amount of ethics would go up, at least till Sara leaves the county. more...

What I write is not for passing around or for publication.

Taken to its logical extreme, this bars us from quoting your text in order to respond to it (passing around). And it bars me from posting that quote as part of my personal posting archive (publication). Or from storage in the semi-official archives.
Not this new lists' lack of respect for us as writers and listies.

I have not seen such a lack of respect in the postings so far.
With minor exceptions, the only accusations people have thrown at me are barefaced lies.
And I can prove it, so you're on thin ice if you want to challenge *that* statement.

Dittoes from here, Rush.
But wherever the list is, it's the people, not the email address of the list, that gives it credibility and respect.

At the end of the day, that's a fact. I've only stuck on this list for the past two and a half years because it's a quality list. If it were some flighty, dim-brained list, I'd have packed my bags in the first month.

Scott
You know I'm sitting here wondering what Alfredo's onslaught against the new list is fueled from, since his objections are far from logical.

Pride? Ego? Refusal to acknowledge the truth?
[casts glance 50 degrees west, and glance turns to glare]
Brooks Alfredo, if I were a list Admin I would want to unsub you for your repeated pattern of harassing people

Repeated? Giving Alfredo the benefit of the doubt, I wouldn't call his on-list behaviour a repeated campaign. I would deem it protracted beyond a reasonable point.
You had a point. What matters now is that you get over what kris said a long time ago.

I believe something of the order of 11 months back. So long ago that the Florida Marlins were still in contention for the World Series.
You make libellous statements. You don't back them up. You say you can...but you don't. And you don't respond to legitimate concerns that people bring up.

In October last year, Alfredo publicly claimed that Microsoft was using underhand methods to obtain an inventory of what was on their users' computers. I publicly requested that he back this up with some evidence, or stop making this claim. I never got the evidence. Instead, I got a mail off the list, stating that I would not believe his evidence, and so he wouldn't let me see it.

Make of that what you will.
Perhaps you should realize that some people might not be comfortable with you as an Admin.

I come forward as one of that group.
Dreamworld only has legitmacy because people post to it.

For me, dreamworld will no longer have legitimacy after this post.
Just because you do a nice thing *does not* give you licence to do things like this. This is libel.

Well spotted. Is there a lawyer in the house?
So do I. And, Alfredo, You have a record of problems. When someone else does something wrong you are unalbe to get past it.

Or even when someone does something Alfredo perceives as being wrong.
Maybe not for you...but as for everyone else, the list is still teh same list, its just moving to a different address.

It's made the move in the past, it can do it this time.


Date: Tuesday 28 April
Subject: interminables

Hello, folksies

Alan
Hey all.

Hey, Alan.

Well, I gather that the delayed Grand Re-Opening of Mornington Crescent Underground Station happened yesterday morning. Which means this travel advisory for anyone travelling to London this Saturday: Watch out, there will be loonies trying to play Mornington Crescent all day. Don't say I never tell you anything.

Liz
Just call me Ivy.

Erm, Ivy
i place a VERY high level of faith in the list admins, but I think that a stated policy on privacy and free speech and the like, listing the extent to which anything will be enforced, is something that ought to be written and sent out at some point. I just think it's a good thing for a list to have stated.

Ideally, I wouldn't expect this sort of thing to be required of any list to which mature people subscribe. But, as there's something of a history of such problems getting out of hand, a codified policy might be useful. In the interim, let's not forget that the normal rules of etiquette, especially those formulated for the net, apply.

Deca and Kris wrote
"bitch", "backstabber", "rabid mob", "crypto-fascists", "scum".
and add "irresposible parent."

I'm reminded of ALI's sig from June last year. I don't have it to hand, but it went something like this...
"Geek. Cripple. Idiot. Green. Bastard. These are words we use to insult. To abuse. To exclude." more...

~Laura
so, what was the best song you have heard today (so far)?

Not much competition for that accolade. Could be Ash's "Oh yeah", only I've heard that so often that I now think "Oh no not again". Could be Tintinout's story ending, but that's overplayed as well. Savage Garden may be #1 on my weekly charts, but not to my ears. Which leaves, I suppose, Terry Wogan's lead off track that I didn't catch the name of. Ho and in all probability hum. So I'll just inform you that my current fave rave is the Mavericks' newie, and huzzah other people's choices.

It wasn't Kris' nomination
um...."It's Raining Men"

Oh, cool choice. Tell me, was that the original, or Martha & Ru Paul's remake? Both are utterly utterly bonkersly fab.

Nor Alan's spotlight
Bangles - If She Knew What She Wants (Several reasons here....Like you need a reason to like a Susanna Hoffs song.

Erm, it's a Hoffsie song? Yeah, that's reason enough.

Sara
yep..what the subject says...its like everyone disappeared!!!

[john major]
I'm still here.
[/john major] And waiting for your message. Yes, you, there, the lurker in not-posting-much-ville. You don't have to come out with streams and reams of profound postings. Heck, I never have. Just wave a hand above the parapet and say hello.


Date: Wednesday, 29 April
Subject: made it

Another day, another dollar...

Sara
I always get confused between morals and ethics.

It's really rather simple. "Morals" are large paintings that are done straight onto a wall, rather than canvas or another medium. "Ethics" is a county to the north-east of London, with administrative centre at Colchester. You may know it...
Police officers are good for somethings...but not many.

Making quality dramas is certainly not in this list. Please take notes, BBC, ITV, C4...
I'm watching Sister Act right now, just for the music..I LOVE when they sing on here...the same with Sister Act 2. I love hearing other people sing so much!! Do other people watch movies just for that?
so...*is* anyone as weird as me??? :)

I'm terribly reminded of my sister. And I don't think that's a compliment. Sorry.

Kris on "It's raining men"
It was the original. There is this add on TV for this Disco CD you can order and for some reason that ONE song, out of the 10 they run, gets stuck in my head. Unfortunitly, "It's Raining Men" is the only line I know from it!! hee hee.

The bad news for Dan is...

"It's raining men, hallelujah
It's raining men, amen
I'm gonna go out
I'm gonna let myself get absolutely soaking wet!
It's raining men, hallelujah
It's raining men
Every specimen
Tall, blond, dark and lean - rough and tough and strong and mean"

[Logic Records has the full lyrics to the version with Ru Paul]

~Laura
So, everyone, songs for today?

Yes, I know I answered this yesterday, but that was yesterday, and Today's Song of the Morning is "December 63 (Oh what a Night)". The Four Seasons, natch. There's not many things that can make me feel good about being on Wolverhampton station at 6:55 am, but that's one of them.

huey
i have a friend from harlow. is that near you?

Oh dear. He used the H word. The Sickness Capital Of The UK, coz everyone who goes there comes back ill. ALI did, I did, my dad did. It is the most unwell place on the face of the planet.

Speaking of which, ALI writes
He {Iain} and I are no longer He-And-I.

However, the phrases Iain-and-Ali, Ali-and-Iain, Aliain, Iainali and all such similar contractions remain copyright © 1997. All rights reserved.
Why do I mention this? Because the Head Honcho of the company for which I work, a Mr Iain Barker, has this week announced his engagement to a member of staff, Ms Alison McCall. Known to everyone as Ali.
Sorry, you two, we were there first. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. [/Count]

Trees! Made of Gold!!


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