Errors-To: ecto-owner@ns1.rutgers.edu Reply-To: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu Sender: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu From: ecto@ns1.rutgers.edu To: ecto-request@ns1.rutgers.edu Bcc: ecto-digest-outbound@ns1.rutgers.edu Subject: ecto #919 ecto, Number 919 Friday, 17 December 1993 Today's Topics: *-----------------* HAPPY BIRTHDAY Yay! holiday blahs Re: holiday blahs Shakespeare The other side of the story "The Return of the Lurker" or "Keeping up with the Joneses" ======================================================================== From: brianb@netcom.com (Brian Bloom) Subject: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 09:56:39 -0800 (PST) Happy B-days to Laura and Dirk!! Wow right in the holiday season!!! br!an -- __ ____ __ ____ __ __ (__==__) /\ \ / \_\ / /\ / \ \ / |\ / /\ (oo) ( moo.) / \_\ / /\ |_| / / /| /\ \ \ / ||/ / / /-------\/ -' / /\ | |\ \/ /_/_ / / / \ \/ \ \ / |/ / / / | U.T.|| / \/ |_| \ __ \_\ /_/ / \ /\ \_\ / /| / / * ||----|| / /\ ./_/ \ \ \/_/_\_\/ \ \ \/_// / | / / ^^ ^^ \ \/ |_| \ \_\ /_/\ \ \_\ /_/ /|_/ / Br!an Bloom \__/_/ \/_/ \_\/ \/_/ \_\/ \_\/ brianb@netcom.com .. but music hides me so well, ..and reveals me.. oh well - HR ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 13:30:31 -0500 (EST) From: Sam Warren Subject: Yay! In (somewhat delayed) response to Jeff's mention of Colorado's Amendment 2 having been declared unconstitutional (yay!), I was wondering if any ectophiles have any plans to be involved in this year's Gay Games IV? I'm doing Data Entry work with the organizing committee, and I'm really looking forward to June. Besides Gay Games IV, there will also be Stonewall 25. This is going to be a real party month! Any other ectophiles from New York looking forward to these events? Or maybe even out-of-towners coming in? By the by, on a completely unrelated sidenote, I saw "Dazed and Confused" over Thanksgiving. Loved it! I think it's "American Graffiti" for the 70's. Although I looked more like Carl at the time, I related (almost exactly) to Mitch's experiences. Boy oh boy, how I longed to be cool. I even hung out with my sister's crowd for awhile. But then, life was not all rock music for me. I was sneaking into discos fairly early. Oh well, I recommend the film. -Sam ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 93 10:59:25 PST From: Neal Copperman Subject: holiday blahs I found a really great cure for the holiday blahs last night. Sadly, it is rather site specific, so this information won't be of use to anyone else, but maybe reading it will feel good. Well, I just read it, and I'm not convinced it is the ideal mood enhancer after all. Last night my blah-combater was to head down to the cove in La Jolla. This is a stretch of land with a nice park that leads up to rock walls and small stretchs of beech. Walking along, you can catch glimpses of large waves and here them crashing and echoing off the cliffs. At one end of the short walk, a concrete embankment curves out into the water, making a small cove. Since the water was high tonight, the rock that the seals usually hang out on was being bombarded by waves, breaking on the rock with the foam pouring off the other end. To avoid this, the seals all come out on the beach and lay out in the moonlight. There seemed to be a larger than usual number of baby seals, who were actually relatively mobile on land, while the larger ones flop around like, well, fish out of water, or gigantic land slugs. Standing on the embankment, the waves crash on one side and the seals hang out on the other. Heading back toward the park, I climbed down onto the rocks jutting out into the ocean. Making my way in the shadows and half-light, I found a fine large rock to sit on and comtemplate the ocean. The ocean at night is an amazing thing, largely invisible, but it's presence can be strongly felt. The waves start as an absence, an area of darkness inside the gloom. It's a void that seems to pull at the spirit, mentally or spiritually drawing you out into it. I would see it out of the corner of my eye and turn to watch it. Soon, the wave would become visible as it started to crest, and the foam and churning would spread out on either side, bright in the dim light, releasing you from the earlier darkness. Whenever the backwards flow of a previous wave would meet an incoming wave, a wall of water would shoot up, at almost random seeming locations. This was pretty easy to get lost in, but what really pulled me out was when the waves actually made it near my perch. They looked huge, threatening to engulf me. As they crashed against the rocks below me, the spray would shoot skywards and come splashing down at my feet. The spray really did come between me and the sky, and despite never getting more than a little wet, my heart would leap into my throat, believing that this might be the wave that really fell upon me. Split seconds later, water spewed up behind me from cracks in the rocks. It is a terrifying and invigorating experience, and one that certainly knocked me out of my gloomy mood. Neal, the temporarily blah-less (But I do have a whole day of work in front of me - blah :-P) ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 14:47:02 -0500 (EST) From: SANDOVAL@stsci.edu Subject: Re: holiday blahs Neal, Thanks for your nice note about La Jolla and the Cove. It brings back some homesick memories :), but there really aren't many places on earth that are quite like it. You've made my day... :) Everyone, Thanks for the good wishes with Hubble. I've still got an e-mail or two that I need to reply to, and I hope to do that this weekend. Busy, busy, busy... :) Oh, and Vickie, I'd like to hear the Jorn story... Take care everyone, John ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 93 12:34:48 PST From: kyrlidis@templeton.cchem.berkeley.edu (Angelos Kyrlidis) Subject: Shakespeare Hi, While browsing through rec.music.misc, I noticed somebody is asking for references to Shakespeare in 20th Century music. Could someone better versed in the subject than me post a reply refering to 'Would that I could'? Also, in the alt.fan.david-bowie group, the list of Bowie song covers now includes 'Ashes to ashes' as covered by the Hap-ster. I noticed there that there is a Tears for Fears cover of that song. Has anybody heard it? What's it like? Angelos (9 days to go) 'Blood makes noize'-SV ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 93 16:40:53 -0500 From: pearceja%pomis.dnet@wl.wpafb.af.mil Subject: Re: Shakespeare I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M Date: 17-Dec-1993 04:29pm EST From: Lt Jeffrey A. Pearce PEARCEJA Dept: POSF Tel No: 55451 TO: _MAILER! ( _DDN[ECTO@NS1.RUTGERS.EDU] ) Subject: Re: Shakespeare Angelos, The Tears for Fears cover of "Ashes to Ashes" is on a 3 disc collection called Rudy Trax, with today's bands covering hits from the past. I want to say #1's from the past, but I'd have to look at the disc. Their version of "Ashes to Ashes" sounds as if they tried to match the original, at times (IMO) Roland Orzabal really sounds like Bowie. If you're looking for something special, though, I'm afraid it's not. But enjoyable it is. Also, this same collection has Tori Amos' cover of "Ring My Bell." A wonderful weekend to all. Jeff pearceja@wl.wpafb.af.mil ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 17:43:16 -0500 (EST) From: Sam Warren Subject: The other side of the story >Oh, and Vickie, I'd like to hear the Jorn story... Me too. Last night, as I was reading through Love-Hounds, I came across the explanation Jorn has for this whole inferno. He said something about you having misinterpreted his meaning early on, and how he tried to apologize, but you wouldn't listen. I thought "Gee, that doesn't sound like Vickie. I would think she'd give a person a chance." So I would actually like to hear your side of the story. If it's too personal, or you're just sick of the whole thing, of course I'll let it drop (Lord knows I don't want to "Feed The Fire"). Poor Jorn sounds like he needs some "deeper understanding" to help bring him back to reality. -Sam ======================================================================== From: Kjetil Torgrim Homme Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 23:53:32 +0100 Subject: "The Return of the Lurker" or "Keeping up with the Joneses" First things first: _ _ C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s , _ _ / \/ \ / \/ \ \ / C o u r t n e y \ / \ / & \ / \/ K i r s t i n \/ +-- Ian "PI" Young blew my cover: | Calling Oslo, can you hear me? :) :) Just as I was about to send this tome, honest! Took me a minute until I realized how you found out, though ;-) There's a cron-job sending me mail every night about who's using my WWW-pages, so if any of you try http://www.ifi.uio.no/~kjetilho/bel-canto, I'll know! Hee hee hee! [I was wondering if you were talking to someone else - there are actually three readers of this group according to arbitron, but I don't know who they are.] I'm not really a lurker, though - I've been in this business for fifteen years. If people have a problem and don't wanna talk to the police, they wanna talk to me *whack!* sorry, I got into Yello-mode ;-) Let's try again: I've been on this list since May '92. I have 40 select messages to comment on, so fasten your seatbelts! Set your mind to a place far, far, away... to a time when everyone on Ecto was talking about ... fat. Most of it has been said already, but I think Silvia, queen of Sweden quite summed up the European view of Americans. She was in the US, visiting a hospital, and suddenly she forgot etiquette and asked "Why are they all so *FAT*?" :-) What you Americans need is a socialist government which tells you what to eat and drink. It works in Norway and Sweden, only Icelanders drink more milk than Norwegians (worldwide - incidentally, that's true for Coca-Cola also :-). But then Norwegian milk is of quite superior quality (incidentally, that's true for Coke also - it contains _real_ sugar :-) +--- Jim "Gurgle" Gurley: | Smoking doesn't seem to have the stigma that it's getting here in | the US. Does it seem less frowned upon elsewhere, i.e. in Europe or | Russian, etc.??? Tobacco adverts have been prohibited since the early 70s here in Norway, so like many other countries Marlboro and Camel promote clothing instead. For the last 3 or 4 years, it's been illegal to smoke in public places indoors. In many hospitals and schools, smoking has been totally banned. So far, restaurants and bars have been reprieved, but the politicians are making noises... The bars say that no one will bother going out if they aren't allowed to smoke. I don't know - it's not strictly one way here, and all the pretty girls seem to smoke (*sigh* :-) +--- [BTW, mjm, tnx 4 the tip re: transcribing interviews!] +--- Klaus recommended Andreas Vollenweider's latest, "Eolian Minstrel". I haven't bought it yet, but I really do enjoy others of his records. A month ago or so he held a concert here in Oslo, in Konserthuset (the Concert House). That's the concert venue for all the classical concerts, but the tickets weren't particularily expensive (~USD 50), so I had to go. I got a third row seat, almost all the way to the right, but with a good view. As astute ectophiles will remember, Andreas Vollenweider had Happy flown over to Switzerland, and he wanted her to come with him on record/tour. Happy declined this offer, and Eliza Gilkinson took "her" place. So I actually _could_ have been to a Happy concert :-) So how did they do? Eliza has a large range, but not as deep as Happy (goes without saying, eh?), and her voice is smooth and soothing, sometimes reminding me of Judie Tzuke. In the first half of the concert, they were playing material from the new album, and Eliza had a very prominent role on stage, singing and playing guitar. She did great, but I think Happy would have been swell as well :-) However, after the break, she had little to do but pluck a little on her guitar - a natural problem with Vollenweider's existing repertoire. Vollenweider is simply amazing, though! I spent the first ten minutes looking for the bass guitar player before I realized he played it himself on the harp, in addition to the main melody and the accompaniment. Really entrancing to watch. And the drummer (who's-name-I-forgot-just-now) is really something as well - he had a 5 minute drum solo. One particularily impressing feat was when he played the sharp drum (?? skarptromme :-) so it sounded like a bee swarm far in the distance, working it slowly up to a crescendo. Dynamics is the best sign of musicmanship, don't you agree? Conclusion: If you like jazzy, newagey, quirky pop, GO. +--- I enjoyed reading your reviews of the Dead Can Dance concerts and Baraka, but it made me sick since I can't see them. Baraka is worst, really, because it was screened in Oslo's largest cinema (Colosseum, the only cinema able to take 70mm), it got _rave_ reviews in all the newspapers, and was taken off after only one week. *sigh*. +--- Emily B "major": | "All Things Considered" on NPR played an interview with a | country-ish singer and songwriter from Norway. My best guess for | how his name is spelled is "Janos Fiell", but I could be way off. | When he writes, he says he doesn't write the lyrics in any real | language, he uses one of his own devising that sounds like English | (same vowels & rhythms) but isn't really. It was fascinating stuff | - my brain kept trying to grab hold of words or phrases, but they | kept slipping away. Nice try, Emily! It is 'Jonas Fjeld', and he's a well-known figure in Norwegian music. He's been in this business for fifteen years *whack!* sorry, twenty years, but he's really a dentist from Drammen (Drammen is Norway's 5th largest town (130.000, I think), but most of them work in Oslo, so it's a "sleep town". So a dentist from Drammen is about as trite as you can get :-) I've never heard him sing in any other tongue than English and Norwegian (mostly the former), though - intriguing. He has written a truly beautiful song called "The bells are ringing for you" or something like that. Perhaps an idea for the next HGP :-) +--- Vickie "Ingeson" Mapes: | I said we should have a contest to find the name. If someone guesses | it, you won't win anything, but you'll have the love, affection and | undying gratitude of millions of Ectophiles around the world, as | soon as there are millions of Ectophiles. I've seen little in the way of suggestions, except obvious ones like "More Paint" (urk :-) Then again, an album title can be so many strange things that guessing could be seen as impossible. Nonetheless, I am fairly confident that Happy's next album will be called (*drum-roll*) "Yonder the Soul". There might be a comma, though. +--- Michael Colford quotes a review of TRS: | "Her best work in years." There was a similarily opinionated review in "Natt & Dag" (trendy free Norwegian magazine), and that ended with almost the exact wording. I found it an amusing tautology :-) (No, I won't depress Jeffy and Vickie with my view of TRS, _but_ "And so is love" is an outstanding song) +--- Michael Colford wonders: | Hey, any Dalbello fans out there? Here! If you think "She" is incredible, you'll _love_ "Whoman foursays". It's readily available in Norway, a fact I am glad of having foolishly wrecked my first copy by carrying it around naked (the CD, not me!) +--- Vickie considers: | Jeopardy, the most intelligent game show in the *history* of game | shows. Uhm, you should have seen some of the highbrow game shows we have here in Norway / Scandinavia. In particular "Kontrapunkt" (Counterpoint) - a quiz on classical and contemporary music in which expert teams from the Nordic countries are pitted against eachother. It is the exception rather than the norm that the audience knows the answers to the questions, so the answers are displayed right after the question has been asked. Nevertheless, they are very popular shows. Mind you, "Kontrapunkt" is not series running year after year like Jeopardy, so that might disqualify it, and, uhm, we might have different views on what constitutes "intelligence" in a game show anyway. +--- Erik N. Johnson: | "I may be straight, but I'm not narrow" Great quote! I am continually amazed by how many gays and bis are on this list. I don't really think there's a greater proportion of "them" here than in the society at large (10%, isn't that what they say?), but it seems like a *much* greater proportion say so out loud here :-) In any case - my interest was piqued when I saw mention of Kiri and Courtney getting married. This autumn when the Partnership Bill went through in Norway, reports said that Denmark was the only place where gays can marry. A partnership is essentially the same as a marriage, but they needed a new word for it to go through. Homosexuals are not allowed to adopt children, though. There were some funny problems when devising a ceremony for this - in the normal marriage ceremony, the man is first asked if he wants the woman as his wife. Some other criteria must be chosen, so the elder is asked first :-) In any case - social security is primarily a personal concern in the US anyway, so I guess you don't lose much from doing it informally. Good luck with your ceremony! +--- Kiri recommends "The Piano": | There is one scene which will blow your mind it is shot so well! Am I right in thinking that the scene you are thinking of is towards the very end of the movie? In any case - I agree it was a very good movie, but I think it could have been tightened up a little about two thirds into it. The little girl is an amazing talent! +--- Kiri signs: | , , , | i dtir na ndall is ri fear na leathshuile "Hey, this is Irish. I know this!" I have taken a pre-course (wrong word, but I hope you understand) in Irish this autumn, and might/can study it more later. My real subject is CS, so everyone thinks I'm crazy :-) +--- the venerable Mitchell: | I'm not familiar with these particular Anglicisms. What do they mean? I get a perverse pleasure from this - Mitch stumped by British like we are stumped by American references sometimes :-) +--- John Relph on Neneh Cherry: | "Trout" is wonderful. But I guess it was thought too controversial | to put on a single. (Or on MTV?) Yes, it is a shame. I don't think it would be so controversial in Europe, though. (In Norway, "Bobby Brown" was a MONSTER hit three times, 1978, 1984 and 1988 or somesuch - evidently only a few understood the lyrics :-) Oh yes, Norway - where I've heard "Always look on the bright side of life" used in TV sermons and likewise for "Imagine") In any case, "Homebrew" is a lovely album, so good it could be eaten, as we say here in Norway. And I managed to miss out on buying the singles released from it! *sigh* "Money Love" and "Buddy X", I believe? +--- Chris Sampson on furs: | Eskimos/Aleuts who wear polar bear or seal furs don't constitute an | annoyance to me (in as much as my opinion even matters to them) as we are | talking about a culture that has an intimate understanding of the ecology | (intuitive) and hunts only what they need (I may be wrong about their | purity....). Americans (not the native americans) who buy seal furs annoy | me, primarily because they are frequently (though, I guess, not | necessarily) vain, prissy, assholes who need to adorn their bodies with a | skin that was obtained by (what I am led to believe are) wasteful, | greed-motivated, means (again, my info might be part propaganda...). "part propaganda" is today's understatement! I just can't let this one get by. Norway has long traditions in sealing and whaling. There is an _abundance_ of seals in the Atlantic - so many that they are a _real_ problem for the fishermen, ie. seals get caught in the nets by the hundreds or rip the nets apart get at the fish. Greenpeace propaganda hasn't exactly helped - for some reason it is now immoral to harvest the seas _if_ the animals look "cute". The market for seal oil (made from their lard (right word?)), seal meat and seal fur is practically non-existent now, so the state has to subsidize the seal hunters. The hunting is necessary if we are to keep a balance in the ocean. ("Quit fishing cod as well", you might say, but that's not really an option at this time.) Whaling is another sad story (okay, a bit off subject) - we hunt them mostly for the meat, but also use their fat. The Japanese are itching to buy bones and penises (you should see pictures of them - they are huge, like 2 meters long), but the Norwegian government won't allow it for fear of a boycott from the US or Germany. And in case you wonder - there are 80.000 minke whales in the North Atlantic, that's 30.000 more than what was recorded before whaling on this species started in the 50's. Threatened by extinction, huh? It feels good to have that off my chest - I just get mad at all the ignorance about sealing and whaling - it seems like the common man doesn't realize that killing animals is a necessary part of life (for most of us :-) +--- That's it, I guess! Ttfn... Kjetil T. PS. My goodness - the time is nearing midnight, and I began this post at 17... On average that is 6 wpm - most impressing, not? ________________________________________________________________________ Careful studies has determined the happiness value of this post to be 17 :-). Uh, make that 18 :-). Uh, 19! ======================================================================== The ecto archives are on hardees.rutgers.edu in ~ftp/pub/hr. There is an INDEX file explaining what is where. Feel free to send me things you'd like to have added. -- jessica (jessica@ns1.rutgers.edu)