From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V2 #112 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Thursday, June 12 1997 Volume 02 : Number 112 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: TMDR Videos not on TGAoW [p.louie1@genie.com] Alloy: Ed ist back - doh he'd never beened away! [Neil Leacy ] Re: Alloy: T-Shirt Artwork&Deadline [Paul Baily ] Re: Alloy: The Art of Alloy. [Paul Baily ] Alloy: That water killed Tchaikovsky, you know... [Melissa Jordan ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 06:24:00 GMT From: p.louie1@genie.com Subject: Alloy: TMDR Videos not on TGAoW Speaking of videos, does anyone know where one could obtain/buy a copy of TMDR's videos that were never readily shown or available? The videos I'm talking about are: Howard The Duck I Love You Goodbye Close But No Cigar Silk Pyjamas (I read one was made for this) The clips on the FES site make me want to see the whole thing. Can anyone help? I may be willing to trade. - -Phil ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 08:49:02 From: Neil Leacy Subject: Alloy: Ed ist back - doh he'd never beened away! I know that a couple of you asked me to keep an eye on the occasional record fairs I go to. Unfortunately that fatal slip of the mouse click has reared it's ugly head again and I accidently deleted my inbox and lost the current mail. Can you please re-post what you were after. The list I carry around is as follows... Suzanne Williams - Airhead Maxi-single CD Brian Clayton - Part 1 of Close But No Cigar cd set Part 1/2 of Silk Pyjamas cd set Part 1/2 of Hyperactive cd set Mary (Europa) Brown - Part 1/2 of I Love You Goodbye cd set Part 1 of Close But No Cigar cd set Anything from Aliens Ate My Buick I've only been to 2 this year (it's usually one a month but time, tide and tractors in traffic have got in the way just lately) and all Imanaged to pick up was "Golden Age..." on cd. Regards, Neil Leacy IT Support (nleacy@it-excelsior.britax.co.uk) ==================================================================== For further information on child car seats designed and produced by Britax-Excelsior visit our web pages at http://www.britax.co.uk/ ==================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 21:45:02 +1000 From: Paul Baily Subject: Alloy: Thou art not forgotten! Hi y'all, I realise a few of you are without web access so here's an attempt at describing the shirt art we've received so far. Melissa, this is especially for you: our intrepid [ex] Eastern Bloc correspondent. If you want to take a look at any image in particular (and have the bandwidth) let me know and I'll email you a copy. Lem Bingley: ____________ Idea 1: Subdued red background, A&H beige detail Front: The two plus two is five and a quarter equation. Underneath in smaller type is "(that's why people fall in love.)" Back: A nicely blended image of Da Vinci's flying machine sketch ala Astronauts & Heretics, with the text from the monologue in "I Live In A Suitcase" overlaid, i.e. They say travel broadens the mind, etc." Idea 2: Subdued red background, pinkish detail, beige writing. Front: Map of the world overlaid with "Flat Earth Society" (which, FWIW, I'm actually flattered with: said it before, always chuffed that people associate Alloy with FES) Back: The first verse from The Flat Earth framed by "Alloy" vertically up the left side, the 2+2 equation along the top, and "That's why, etc." vertically down the right side. Brian Clayton _____________ Single image: A very Flat Earth-esque picture of a canyon in subdued light (early morning?), our intrepid hero in archeologist outfit at the base of the canyon dwarfed by the canyon walls. At the top is the heading "Thomas Dolby" and in the middle is "Any time, Anywhere, In a corner of, your Mind's Eye" Barbara Cohen _____________ Idea 1: Front: Image scanned from the front of the Gate CD (or sampled from Quantum Mechanic off the Gate vid?) with "ALLOY" overlaid near the top in a similar style to the cover. Back: Red background. "alloy@smoe.org" in courier (typewriter) but with the Alloy 'luminescence', below that: "Think of it this way, a ribbon of space, a river of time..." Idea 2: Front: A striking greyscale image of a younger Thomas (circa GAoW) working on rocket sciency machinery as in the back of GAoW. Black background. Heading (in white outline) "Mr. Dolby Rejects Science and All Things Scientific" Back: Black background, white lettering. "Alloy" in large outline Gate-style lettering, alloy@smoe.org in smaller lettering below it. Stephen Tilson ______________ Front: "Alloy" in bold, below that the 2+2 equation and below that the "That's why..." line. Back: Splashed diagonally from lower left to upper right, "Fruit Juice Everywhere!" ...and of course all this brilliant art is encapsulated in tastefully designed and awfully well laid out web pages. (I'm kidding! I'm kidding! :-) Hope this helps satisfy your curiousity, stay well, Paul. [who really is going to redo his whole web page suite RealSoonNow, and may even be brave enough to put a mugshot up.] ________________________________________________________________________ Paul Baily paulb@thehub.com.au Consulting SE/IT contractor http://www.thehub.com.au/~paulb Brisbane, Australia There is a spirit here that won't be broken. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 21:45:05 +1000 From: Paul Baily Subject: Re: Alloy: T-Shirt Artwork&Deadline In last night's episode, we heard Lee Jackson say: >>Also, those of you who have not voted, or wish to change your vote, >>please do so at your earliest convenience. > >Recommendation - update the vote page to include the shirts on >display. 'Twould be easily done. ;-) Recommendation duly noted and smirked at. (Sorry! :-) I'll have a play over the next day or so and see what works. cheers, Paul. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 21:45:09 +1000 From: Paul Baily Subject: Re: Alloy: The Art of Alloy. In last week's episode, we heard Lem Bingley say: >>http://www.thehub.com/~paulb/artwork.html > >By which Paul actually means: > >http://www.thehub.com.au/~paulb/artwork.html > >forgotten where you live again, paul. D'owh! Got off at the wrong stop again. Stupid space shuttle. Last time I HALO jump outta one... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 09:30:37 -0400 From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Alloy: That water killed Tchaikovsky, you know... Hello, all! Well, after two frantic days in St. Petersburg, I'm now in Moscow, with the cheesy Russian version of "Name That Tune" ("Ugodai Melodiyu")playing on the tv in the background. What I love about that show is that the host is from the Baltics - he has a tremendous accent and doesn't always speak with correct grammar. It's considered a real insult to your Russian skills if someone asks you if you're "iz pribaltiki" (from one of the Baltic republics.) Regardless... it was hot, humid, and dusty in St. Petersburg. I only discovered how dusty when I sat down in the airport last night and discovered that I could have written my name in the layers on my ankles and shoes. Uck. I had taken a very long walk yesterday afternoon, to cool down after a tremendously frustrating set of negotiations with my somewhat unstable St. Petersburg colleague. I think I must have kicked up a lot of dust along the roads. (From poor farming techniques, Russian soil tends to be loose and shifting - you end up carting alot around with you...) During my walk, I befriended a delightful Santa Claus-like man who was a professional photographer. He, like many photographers in Russian cities, maintains a small stand in front of a local landmark (in this case, the Kazan Cathedral - which the Soviets rather nastily turned into The State Museum of the History of Atheism.) These photographers shoot pictures of tourists, have a friend race the film back to a processing location, and then the tourists can pick up their nearly-instant memories in about two hours. Sasha, this particular photographer, started chatting with me while I was buying a bottle of mineral water at a neighboring stand, and, within ten minutes, he'd offered to shoot some pictures of me with my camera for free. (I was wearing a jacket that I'd made, and I told him that a friend - Hello, James! - was designing a web site for my teeny weenie company, and that I needed some good shots of my stuff.) So, here, this sweet gentleman, who makes almost no money taking pictures shoots some for free. I tried to convince him to take a tip, at the very least, but he wouldn't think of it. What a sweetheart. Can't wait to see his pictures... Now, you might be wondering about the title of this post (or then, again, you might be saying "Shut up!") Well, the water in St. Petersburg is legendary. The Neva River is where the sailors of the Aurora fired the first shots of the Russian Revolution. It's where they attempted to drown Rasputin (at least once) after failing to kill him by shooting him (the first time.) And, it's teeming with disease. St. Petersburg dwellers are generally immune to the bacteria in their water supply, but visitors who foolishly drink the water are in danger of getting giardia (and if you don't know what that'll do to you, you don't want to know, trust me!) Occasionally, too, other nasty problems develop in the water to which the locals are NOT immune. That was the case when Tchaikovsky met his end. It is widely believed that Pyotr Ilyich was a closeted homosexual and very depressed. One night, after the premiere of his "autobigraphical" symphony, Pyotr went to a chic St. Pete restaurant with his brother, Modest. According to witnesses, he seemed very sad, despite the success of his symphony. He asked for a glass of water, unboiled, despite the fact that there was a cholera epidemic in the city. He drank it down, and, three days later, he died. Yesterday, I asked for a glass of mineral water at a small cafe in the "House of Friendship." I got my glass, started drinking it, and I commented that the water had a strange taste - the waitress returned and, with embarrassment, explained that they'd run out of bottled water, and they'd brought me water STRAIGHT FROM THE TAP!!!! "Omigod!" I yelled (in English.) And then, in Russian, "For god's sake, woman - this water killed Tchaikovsky!" Amazingly, despite working in a building full of foreigners, she had never heard of the problems visitors have with the water. Oy vey! Now, I get to sit and wait and see if I develop giardia. Yuck. Well, I have my gold-toothed rural colleague arriving in a few minutes to negotiate a shipping contract, so I'd better sign off. Yeltsin has altered the schedule for a national holiday this week because the Russian Orthodox Church was angry over Sunday being a work day this week. So, now, my schedule has been changed - I won't be traveling to the rural Goodwill about four hours from here - nothing would be open for me to see. Now, I have 5 days in Moscow (my boss is going to flip her lid, but I'm delighted.) I plan on visiting Dead Red Fred (aka Lenin) tomorrow, as he may soon be buried. More in a couple of days. Have to go tend to my spider bites now... Cheers to you all - wish I could afford to access the web and see all the t-shirt art, but I don't think Goodwill would be too happy with me at $10/minute! - - Melissa Melissa R. Jordan Special Projects Manager International Programs Office Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (301) 881-6858 (301) 881-9435 (fax) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 10:50:39 -0700 From: Eclipse Subject: Re: Alloy: That water killed Tchaikovsky, you know... Well, it's good to hear from you again, tapwater and all.. I hope you don't get sick! Yuck... giardia is nasty stuff... I probably don't even want to know about the medical facilities over there either. (Oh, sorry, guess that's not very reassuring.. uhm..) Anyway, Melissa, I was wondering... since I, at least, always look forward to your stories (partly, perhaps, because I've been stuck in this one stupid state almost all my life... but also because I find them entertaining and well-written (and you have a slightly quirky sense of humor, which is always a plus )).. if you'd ever considered writing a book or some such of your strange misadventures. What do you other Alloids think? I bet such a thing could be published! (perhaps even without making the russian government mad?) Awaiting the next chapter in the (former) Eastern Bloc saga (and crossing my fingers it'll be good news)... -- E(lipse ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 12:20:22 -0400 (EDT) From: "MEYER,ANN ELIZABETH" Subject: Re: Alloy: That water killed Tchaikovsky, you know... Hi, all! Melissa: Thanks for the wonderful updates! Here's hoping you stay healthy after your too-close encounter with the infamous St. Petersburg water. About that Tchaikovsky story -- since you mention it, I just have to add an interesting twist that I heard from a biographer of his on NPR. Apparently, this is a story that a number of Russian historians have developed based on some documentary evidence, and it's just now getting out to Western scholars with the greater openness of Russian society. It seems that in the period shortly before his death, Tchaikovsky was having an affair with a young man who happened to be the nephew of an important nobleman. The nobleman was very upset about this and wrote a letter denouncing Tchaikovsky to the czar. The letter was intercepted by someone working for the czar who had been a classmate of Tchaikovsky's. Apparently, the graduates of this school took school loyalty to extremes. Wishing to avoid dishonor to the school, this classmate took the matter to an unofficial but highly respected "court" that judged matters thought harmful to the school's reputation. This group of alumni considered the matter, and then informed Tchaikovsky that he could either kill himself or face dire consequences (I don't recall what these were, but I think they involved ruining the reputations of both men). The next day was supposedly when Tchaikovsky drank the lethal glass of water. By the way, this biographer also mentioned something about arsenic poisoning having similar symptoms to cholera, and the suggested that Tchaikovsky might have supplemented the water to make it a little more of a sure thing. Now, this could be complete baloney. But it does make for an interesting story (I hope). And maybe it means that Melissa will be just fine, as long as she didn't add an arsenic chaser... Cheers, Beth Meyerr of marginally relevant information (Purveyor of marginally relevant infomation) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 13:11:35 -0400 (EDT) From: "MEYER,ANN ELIZABETH" Subject: Alloy: Screwup & Dolby-related encounter Hi, folks; Two things: 1. The primitive text editor that I have to use when writing from the lab royally screwed up the close of my last message, the one with the Tchaikovsky story. So much for impressing everyone with my wit (probably too late for that anyway). 2. Not wanting to waste a message on just that, I suppose now would be an OK time to report an interesting encounter from earlier this year. I am part of an interdisciplinary program at Georgia Tech that focuses on computer graphics and human-computer interaction. Earlier this year, we had Joy Mountford of Interval Research as a guest speaker. It seems that one of her interests is alternative representations of music. So she and her colleagues created some software prototypes to allow people to compose and play music based on alternative visual representations. One of these programs, called "the Matrix" as I recall, provided a rectangular grid for selecting and playing rhythms. Another program called "the Orb" provided sort of a circular web-like diagram for selecting pitches and chords. The thing was, Interval decided to show it off with a concert. It turns out that the percussionist who played the "matrix" was none other than Clif Brigden, and the composer who played the "orb" was none other than TMDR himself! She showed us some video clips from the concert, and I was duly impressed. Of course, that these two would be deeply involved with cutting-edge musical technology should surprise no-one here. Still, I'd had no idea that such an event had taken place. Wish I could have been there... Cheers, Beth Meyer (with only one 'r') ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 97 13:51:39 MST From: bcohen@LPL.Arizona.EDU (Barbara A Cohen) Subject: Alloy: designing >From: Brian Clayton >I like the new submissions from Barbara, but feel compelled to >point out that the line from "N.E.O." is "Look at it this way," >not "*Think of* it this way." Oh my! I *am* chagrined. Thanks for pointing out the error. Though I guess I'm in good company with bungling exact wording :) >From: Lem Bingley >I want a shirt like the black-and-white one that Barbara has designed. It's >perfect. I will draw no more. Ha. Based on what you did already, I think drawing no more would be a loss to us all. Thanks for the oversized compliment though. I assure you it went straight to my head. There's a graphic designer trapped in this body somewhere (probably along with the skinny woman:) ) ! Actually, I'm partial to the b/w one my own self. However, I seriously doubt that either design would print up well on a T-shirt. Too many details in the images. Brian, what's your graphic from? Is that tmdr in the image? *B* Barbara Cohen Cosmochemical Cocktail Mixer, PhD to be ****************************************** For a real sweet time, call C6 H12 O6. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 20:10:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Brian Clayton Subject: Re: Alloy: designing On Wed, 11 Jun 1997, Barbara A Cohen wrote: > >I like the new submissions from Barbara, but feel compelled to > >point out that the line from "N.E.O." is "Look at it this way," > >not "*Think of* it this way." > Oh my! I *am* chagrined. Thanks for pointing out the error. > Though I guess I'm in good company with bungling exact wording :) Words I usually can handle, letters are another matter. :) > >I want a shirt like the black-and-white one that Barbara has designed. It's > >perfect. I will draw no more. I admit, that one caught my eye too; it's very good. Nice image of TMDR, looking about "mad-scientist-y" as he ever got. The art deco font really makes it look like a 1920's movie poster. (The Cabinet of Dr. Dolby?) > Brian, what's your graphic from? Is that tmdr in the image? It, as well as the images used in flaterth.jpg, are from The Flat Earth Tour program book. All are pics taken on the photo shoot for the album. BC - --- Brian Clayton "...he's taking mumbling lessons from David Duchovny." stemish@kumr.lns.com -- Crow T. Robot ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V2 #112 ***************************