From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V8 #202 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Wednesday, June 9 1999 Volume 08 : Number 202 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Richard Plumb at NTAC ] From Launch.com [Griffith Davies ] Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Eleanore Adams ] Star Wars is for kids! [Eleanore Adams ] Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Joel Mullins ] Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Joel Mullins ] Re: "uh! god! it's from waldo!" [Capitalism Blows ] Re: From Launch.com [Capitalism Blows ] Re: "uh! god! it's from waldo!" [Aaron Mandel ] Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Tom Clark ] Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers [Aaron Mandel ] roger roger [The Great Quail ] RE: From Launch.com ["Thomas, Ferris" ] RE: roger roger ["Thomas, Ferris" ] Release the Jewels... ["jbranscombe@compuserve.com" ] inagain, outagain, finnagan ["Paul Montagne" ] Re: "uh! ***! it's from *****!" ["Jason R. Thornton" ] Dare I say WHEEEE!!! ? [Natalie Jacobs ] Re: Phantom Minus [digja611@student.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan)] Re: Phantom Minus [Terrence M Marks ] Re: roger roger [Christopher Donnell ] Recidivism [Eb ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 08:13:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Plumb at NTAC Subject: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers Capitalism Blows said: > anyway, as i predicted in this very forum, it's > already proving that it's not going to have legs. > in fact, i wouldn't be at all surprised to see The > Spy Who Shagged Me knock it out of the top spot next > weekend. > I can understand all the hype generated by Star Wars, but can somebody please explain Austin Powers. The concept is certainly amusing, but the first movie was awful. It was by far the least funny comedy I've seen in years. I just don't get it. rich _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 08:33:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Griffith Davies Subject: From Launch.com 6/8/99, 1 a.m. PDT) - The Flaming Lips and Robyn Hitchcock will tour together for the first time when "The 1999 International Music Against Brain Degeneration Revue" kicks off July 13 in St. Louis. Other acts set to appear on the tour, which will stop for multiple nights in large clubs, include Sebadoh, Cornelius, and Kid Loco. The Lips' latest effort, The Soft Bulletin, is due June 22. The album, produced by the band and Dave Fridmann, marks the group's first proper album since 1995's Clouds Taste Metallic. The band's last release was Zaireeka, an experimental four-CD set recorded for simultaneous playback. For the tour, the Lips will perform the headphone concert, which the band previewed in March at South By Southwest (LAUNCH feature, 3/25). At stops on the tour, the Lips will hand out 500 pairs of headphones and small FM receivers that will allow clubgoers to hear the concert over a specifically designated frequency for enhanced stereophonic listening. Jewels For Sophia, due July 20, is the latest offering from Hitchcock. Once again, Hitchcock called on a number of friends to lend their support. The album, produced by Jon Brion, features guest appearances by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, Grant Lee Buffalo's Grant Lee Phillips, R.E.M. sideman/ Minus 5 member Scott McCaughey, and Homer's Tim Keegan. While Hitchcock has no plans to broadcast his set, he is already pondering the fate of this next album. "I don't know if my next recordings will be released in the conventional disc form that has lasted the whole of the 20th Century, with various permutations," he writes in notes that accompany advance copies of Jewels For Sophia. "Next time the music might just come out of a tap or appear directly in your frontal lobe..." - ------ Advanced copies? griffith _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 08:50:05 +0000 From: Eleanore Adams Subject: Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers Well, I LOVE Austin Powers. We bought the first movie on DVD and watch it often with our friends. Maybe it is because we have seen all of the James Bond Pics and are big fans of that genre? I think it also relates to loving Mike Myers. Big fan of all his movies, including So I Married an Axe Murderer. He cracks me up! In a nut shell ("How did I get in this nutshell!") it has got to be personal taste. I am also a fan of Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin. Funny! Saw Star Wars the second time this weekend, and I must say I liked it even more. There is so much going on in that movie I think I'll love it even more the third time. The pod reace was great!!! eleanore Richard Plumb at NTAC wrote: > Capitalism Blows said: > > anyway, as i predicted in this very forum, it's > > already proving that it's not going to have legs. > > in fact, i wouldn't be at all surprised to see The > > Spy Who Shagged Me knock it out of the top spot next > > weekend. > > > I can understand all the hype generated by Star Wars, > but can somebody please explain Austin Powers. The > concept is certainly amusing, but the first movie > was awful. It was by far the least funny comedy I've > seen in years. I just don't get it. > > rich > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 08:57:55 +0000 From: Eleanore Adams Subject: Star Wars is for kids! Well, this weekend I saw Star Wars a second time, and my husband saw it a third, and we went to a Sunday matinee. It was packed with little kids. They LOVED it. They all giggled at Jar Jar everytime he did something even slightly goofy (tounge going numb etc...) and ooohd and ahhhed at all the action. The theater was alive and bubbling with kids voicing the good parts. I think the film was to kids today that the first one in 77 was to me. I remember seeing the first one, oh, 50 times or more as a little kid - just though it was great. Definately Lucas makes movies for the kid in us. I recommend seeing the movie with your kids or at a matinee and remember yourself in 77. eleanore ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:44:10 -0700 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers Richard Plumb at NTAC wrote: > I can understand all the hype generated by Star Wars, > but can somebody please explain Austin Powers. The > concept is certainly amusing, but the first movie > was awful. It was by far the least funny comedy I've > seen in years. I just don't get it. Well, it's definitely a certain type of humor that not everyone is going to enjoy. Have you tried watching it a second or third time? I didn't like it much the first time I saw it but loved it the second time. Joel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:49:21 -0700 From: Joel Mullins Subject: Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers Eleanore Adams wrote: > In a nut shell ("How did I get in this nutshell!") it has got to be > personal taste. I am also a fan of Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin. Funny! Yes! Both of those are hilarious. > The pod reace was great!!! I think I'm going to see Star Wars again today. It'll be my second time. We'll see what my opinion is after today. And I agree, the pod race is awesome. Joel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 10:56:23 PDT From: Capitalism Blows Subject: Re: "uh! god! it's from waldo!" it's in french, for the most part. so try foreign. well, for example. in episode i the "greedy Trade Federation" deploys massive droid armies. but by episode iv, the empire was using stormtroopers to do its dirty work. the difference? *lucas* had the ability to digitally insert tons and tons of droids, so he did. in episode i, pretty much all long-distance communication takes place via holograph. by episode iv, this technology had disappeared, for the most part. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 11:03:04 PDT From: Capitalism Blows Subject: Re: From Launch.com <"The 1999 International Music Against Brain Degeneration Revue" kicks off July 13 in St. Louis.> heh. how many tours ever start in st. louis? that's pretty neat. that's totally cool! except! what about taping? you might have to bring in your own boom box. yeah. come out of hiding, eb, and give us the lowdown! griffith _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 14:20:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: "uh! god! it's from waldo!" On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, Capitalism Blows wrote: > well, for example. in episode i the "greedy Trade Federation" deploys > massive droid armies. but by episode iv, the empire was using > stormtroopers to do its dirty work. the difference? *lucas* had the > ability to digitally insert tons and tons of droids, so he did. i agree lucas is a hack, but way back when the original trilogy came out it was apparently mentioned in the books and other supporting material that the emperor forbade use of non-living troops. now we know why. a ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 11:51:14 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers On 6/8/99 1:50 AM, Eleanore Adams wrote: >Well, I LOVE Austin Powers. We bought the first movie on DVD and watch >it often with our friends. Maybe it is because we have seen all of the >James Bond Pics and are big fans of that genre? I think it also relates >to loving Mike Myers. Big fan of all his movies, including So I Married >an Axe Murderer. He cracks me up! > >In a nut shell ("How did I get in this nutshell!") it has got to be >personal taste. I am also a fan of Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin. Funny! I'm with Eleanor on this one. It's also funny to watch the DVD and listen to the alternative audio where Meyers and Jay Roach(?) talk about making the film scene by scene. I think Austin Powers has a great mixture of all the Bond/Helm films and the campy "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" ("This is my happening, and it freaks me out!"). I'm a little disappointed that Meyers is doing so much cross promotion with the British Airways and Heineken commercials, but I guess you can't blame the guy for cashing in. Speaking of which, have you seen austinpowers.com? I can't believe all the shit you can buy! And I just saw an Austin Powers computer trivia game from Berkeley Systems. It looks like they just slapped an A.P. interface on top of You Don't Know Jack! rambling, - -t "Scott Evil" c ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 15:02:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: Star Wars vs. Austin Powers On Tue, 8 Jun 1999, Tom Clark wrote: > I'm a little disappointed that Meyers is doing so much cross promotion > with the British Airways and Heineken commercials, but I guess you > can't blame the guy for cashing in. the fuck you can't! he is already financially set, and without him these hideous eyesores would not be afflicting the entire bay area (not to mention, i assume, my home back on the other coast). "Virgin Shaglantic" - -- i ask you, would you expect to see billboards that said "American Screwlines"? "Sony Humpstation"? what were they thinking? the smarmy look on Myers's face does not make me want to buy product, and it's definitely put me off any thought i might have had of seeing the new movie. aaron ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 99 15:15:13 -0400 From: The Great Quail Subject: roger roger OK, I don't believe this -- two weeks without a post from me, and I am going to geek out to the geekiest post that's ever been geeked. Eddie writes: >well, for example. in episode i the "greedy Trade Federation" deploys >massive droid armies. but by episode iv, the empire was using stormtroopers >to do its dirty work. the difference? *lucas* had the ability to digitally >insert tons and tons of droids, so he did. No, way! See, Battle Droids are cheaper, because they are stupid robots! It's natural that a capitalist entity such as the Trade Federation would employ a mass army of cheap, programmable duck-headed drones that, let's face it, really didn't fight too well. But Stormtroopers, well they are real people, and probably cost more to train and maintain -- but I am sure get better results in the "independent thinking" and "acting menacing" categories. Of course, since they were also fairly easy to kill, one wonders if perhaps *they* invented the software that runs the Battle Droids. (And don't give me any of that continuity crap -- if C3PO can be created by Anakin Skywalker and then fail to recognize the planet Tatooine *or* the name "Skywalker" in "Star Wars IV," and if Obi-Wan aged twice as much as a normal man in 30 years, then I am sure that Stormtroopers can have something to do with the fighting abilities of Battle Droids.) Ha, now if the Trade Federation was really serious, they would have sent in an army of evil Ewoks. Fuzzy small things always seem to fight the best in these sort of movies. - --Quail-Quail Binks +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ The Great Quail, K.S.C. (riverrun Discordian Society, Kibroth-hattaavah Branch) For fun with postmodern literature, New York vampires, and Fegmania, visit Sarnath: http://www.rpg.net/quail "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." -- H.P. Lovecraft ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 15:21:09 -0400 From: "Thomas, Ferris" Subject: RE: From Launch.com If that's accurate, it's brilliant. I've had a vision...a sudden moment of clarity where I actually remember to bring a little 1/8 inch cable with me to jack straight from the gizmo into my minidisc..... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 15:31:46 -0400 From: "Thomas, Ferris" Subject: RE: roger roger Sprachen mein Quail: > if Obi-Wan aged twice as much as a normal man in 30 > years, then I am sure that Stormtroopers can have something to do with > the fighting abilities of Battle Droids. But did he really age all that much? Guinness is about 86 now (in a completely unrelated side note, I just finished "My Name Escapes Me" a diary-cum-memoirs he put out in '96 (I think)). Twenty-two years ago when the film was made he would have been 64. Thirty years before that (to when Episode 1 is supposed to take place) would have made him 34. Not too much of a stretch for McGregor. Stepping down of my box of Geek soap I'm going to go back to....work. - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 16:38:33 -0400 From: "jbranscombe@compuserve.com" Subject: Release the Jewels... My spies on this side of the pond (and they're as good and bad as everyone else's) say that the Jewels release date in Britain is July the *19th*. Burgess, Philby, Blake, Bond, Powers... they can't be wrong. jmbc. P.S. I worked in the same office as "gay-orgy-Admiralty-traitor" John Vassall for a short while after he'd been released from prison. He proved the truism that rather ordinary, uncharismatic people make the best spies. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 13:53:35 PDT From: Capitalism Blows Subject: Re: roger roger oh yeah. i meant to ask about this. was this intentionally lifted from Airplane! ("roger roger. what's your vector victor? we have clearance clarence."), or just coincidence? 'cause that's all i could think of every time one of 'em said it. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 16:06:32 -0700 From: "Paul Montagne" Subject: inagain, outagain, finnagan Well, I still read the digests when I can, and wishing to let you all know that I'm still alive and kicking. I was surprised when browsing my newspage at Yahoo that there was a fegnews item posted right there on the front page. Herm......probably no news here in fegland, but I thought I'd pass along the item....its about the Lips tour and his Jewels release. http://rock.yahoo.com/rock/music_news/launch/story.html?s=n/launch/news/1999 0608/19990608003 His quote is amusing, yet kinda sad: "I don't know if my next recordings will be released in the conventional disc form that has lasted the whole of the 20th Century, with various permutations," he writes in notes that accompany advance copies of Jewels For Sophia. "Next time the music might just come out of a tap or appear directly in your frontal lobe..." Looks like Robyn is primed to start releasing on-line a la PE and the Beasties. ;-( Cheers Paul Michael: Im in PDX for the Pavement show in July....I'll come by and see the store if I get there before you close. np: Fernando ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jun 1999 16:28:03 -0700 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Re: "uh! ***! it's from *****!" At 08:30 PM 6/7/99 PDT, Capitalism Blows wrote: >at San Diego State Thursday night to go to another show. Ever.> > >dude, you can't just say something like that and let it drop! what >happened, man! if it was just courtney getting nekkid, you know, she does >that at *all* of their shows. Dear Force That Surrounds Us All and Binds Us, why didn't anyone warn me about her breasts!?!?!?!?!?!?! Nah...I was mostly joking. It was kinda nuts, though. It was the most bizarre show I've ever seen, mainly because of the way Courtney acted (and perhaps "acted" IS a more appropriate word to use here instead of "behaved"). I'd heard about Love flashing the crowd, but I wasn't prepared for her to be falling out of her little red top so often. I'm still trying to decide how much of the event was authentically chaotic, and how much was a controlled "art performance" (her words) masterminded by Courtney Love. This is probably the same question often asked about Jim Morrison. I will give her credit for really stimulating the usually lackluster San Diego audience and for loosening things up a bit by turning a reserved seating show into a general admission show within five minutes of getting on stage. There was more ranting from Courtney than playing, and numerous attempts to really rile up the crowd by yelling at them. But, while incredibly self-absorbed, she was still rather self-deprecating, poking fun at things like her appearances on the covers of women's magazines (right after blaming them for making women feel bad about their bodies) and her Hollywood-ism. She claimed that Hole was the only "real" band left, and that the "kids" are all being "manipulated," all the while manipulating everyone herself in a mad-cap self-promotional concert orgy. She jumped into the crowd a lot and screamed "be nice" whenever wandering hands strayed too close to private parts. She interacted a great deal with the crowd - slow-dancing with two people, and making out with another. I liked that she spoke her mind, and blasted everyone from her corporate sponsors (Coke) to right-wingers (most of San Diego), but still all her free-spiritedness seemed rather forced and pre-planned as opposed to spontaneous and natural. Musically, when there were songs, the band rawked - - Courtney having one of the most terrific screams I've heard live. But, I think Love relied too much on using her "stoned loud-mouthed slut" persona and her attempts to shock, as opposed to trying to communicate with her audience through musical performance. What REALLY disappointed me most was that she kept dragging "fat girls" (again, her words, used over and over) up on stage to sit in front of the drummer, so as to give them an "education" on "how easy it is to be a rock star." As she did so, her security meatheads would brutually grab the girls and drag them across the stage floor in order to forcibly place them all in neat little rows. For me, the violently controlling aspects of Love's personality and her gorilla wannabe police force came close to overwhelming her likeability. Lucky for her, she showed off her boobs, which of course made me forgive all the rest. Best quote of the night was something like: "...all you freaks and jocks should just learn to get along. If I can be friends with Ben Affleck, then you can all get along." *shiver* - --Jason ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 21:21:18 EDT From: MARKEEFE@aol.com Subject: Re: Release the Jewels... In a message dated 6/8/99 1:45:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time, jbranscombe@compuserve.com writes: << My spies on this side of the pond (and they're as good and bad as everyone else's) say that the Jewels release date in Britain is July the *19th*. Burgess, Philby, Blake, Bond, Powers... they can't be wrong. >> If there is anything constant in this topsy-turvy world in which we live, it is that new releases always come out on Mondays in Europe and on Tuesdays in the U.S. So, yeah, they'll have 30 or so hours on us over there :-) - ------Michael K. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 21:08:02 -0500 From: steve Subject: Robyn factoid from Chalkhills >"Storefront Hitchcock" will be featured at this year's Sydney Film >Festival, and Hitch himself will be here to introduce it. Cool, huh? The >SFF brochure dropped a bit of a clanger though - they wrote him up as being >a former member of "The Pet Shop Boys" (ooops!) _____________________ "Oh no! You accuse me of writing the Ewok National Anthem!" Partridge yelps, in obvious distress. "Please, no! I've had a lot of people accuse that track of being very Arabic; but it's very pagan, very English. There's a slight dromedary whiff about the percussion, admittedly; but it goes no further east than Norwich. And no Ewoks were involved." - - Andy Partridge, commenting on a description of "Greenman". ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 23:04:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Natalie Jacobs Subject: Dare I say WHEEEE!!! ? I think I've got a top 10 of '99 contender here, but I'm not sure if it actually counts, because a) I don't know if it's being released commercially and b) it's previously recorded material. It's a promotional sampler for the Beefheart box set, "Grow Fins," and it is SMOKIN', as you may well imagine. I'm supposed to be reviewing it for WCBN, although my primary temptation is to steal it (especially because I'll never be able to afford the box set itself). Anyway, this is a whole mess of outtakes and alternate takes and live tracks and general strangeness - the early material and the organic jams from the "Trout Mask" era are especially brilliant. Look for it in a used bin near you (where promo copies usually turn up), or shell out for the box set, but buy it! Unless you don't want to. enthused n. p.s. James - I'm also going to be reviewing the new Chris Knox CD. Have you heard it? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 15:27:45 +1200 From: digja611@student.otago.ac.nz (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Phantom Minus >also, if it's only >thirty years earlier, how could obi-wan be about 80 in episode iv, and about >25 in episode i? same with palpateen Palpatine. Aw come on, suspend your disbelief a little. Anyway, that assumes that beings in a 'galaxy far far away' live to the same age as humans and age in the same way! James (no, it hasn't opened in NZ yet - Sunday's the day; no, I won't be seeing it on day one; no - I'm not expecting too much from it, but it should be fun, at least.) James Dignan___________________________________ You talk to me Deptmt of Psychology, Otago University As if from a distance ya zhivu v' 50 Norfolk Street And I reply. . . . . . . . . . Dunedin, New Zealand with impressions chosen from another time steam megaphone (03) 455-7807 (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 23:39:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Terrence M Marks Subject: Re: Phantom Minus On Wed, 9 Jun 1999, James Dignan wrote: > >also, if it's only > >thirty years earlier, how could obi-wan be about 80 in episode iv, and about > >25 in episode i? same with palpateen > > Palpatine. Aw come on, suspend your disbelief a little. Anyway, that > assumes that beings in a 'galaxy far far away' live to the same age as > humans and age in the same way! Besides, do you think that turning completely evil and running the affairs of the known universe keeps you young and healthy-looking? Terrence Marks Unlike Minerva (a comic strip) http://grove.ufl.edu/~normal normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 06:04:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Christopher Donnell Subject: Re: roger roger They're just all called 'Roger' I think.. - --- Capitalism Blows wrote: > > > oh yeah. i meant to ask about this. was this > intentionally lifted from > Airplane! ("roger roger. what's your vector victor? > we have clearance > clarence."), or just coincidence? 'cause that's all > i could think of every > time one of 'em said it. > > > > > > > _______________________________________________________________ > Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit > http://www.msn.com > === Christopher Donnell Hmmm.. you might as well check out my homepage at http://www.bigfoot.com/~qrys _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 14:18:34 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Recidivism Where have I been, you might well ask. Well, my damn computer is totally effed up, and the Comp USA folks say I have bad blocks and need a new hard drive. Since I renewed the warranty, the new drive is free, so fine. But backup is the big problem -- I don't have a zip drive, etc. A well-equipped friend happily volunteered to burn my old hard drive onto a CD: "Just bring me the computer, and I'll do it within the next couple of days. No problem!" Well, twelve days later, I still had no computer. Stuck in limbo. Calling him every day. "Sure, I'll do it tonight! Call me tomorrow." Endless song-and-dance. Phooey. Finally went over to his place last night, and basically squatted until he stopped procrastinating. I still didn't get the damn CD burned, but at least he now has a copy of my hard drive saved on a JAZ disk (huh...never heard of that format before) which he can use as a source -- hopefully today, but I'm not holding my breath. At least the computer's back with me again, though still in a half-operable, routinely-freezing-during-menial-tasks state. I even had to reboot once while writing this note. Blah. Checked my mail for the first time in 12 days last night: 217 unread messages. Less than I expected, actually. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. Hrm. Anyway, what musical bulletins/advice should I post...hmm. I'm in such a lousy mood over these computer woes. I'm too irritated to be articulate. The Tom Zé show was absolutely delightful. Amusing Latka-like language gaffes, wacky body language and a concluding Einsturzende moment with silver cowbells being grinded into spinning lathes. Showers of sparks. Yum. He's remarkably spry for his age, and obviously seething with genius. The new Fluid Ounces album: damn good, and way better than the debut. There's only six or seven better releases which I've heard this year -- yes, including the new Flaming Lips album. It's miles better than the new Ben Folds Five, on generally the same turf (though Fluid Ounces is much more likely to appeal to Phish/Steely Dan types than BFF). Other than that, I haven't heard anything too exciting lately. The new Muffs disc is glaringly uninspired. The new David Thomas album is too out-there (various guest artists doing Thomas' spoken-word/lyrics over orchestrated Ubu licks?) to warrant repeated listens. I bought a cheap used record of Tim Buckley's "Greetings From L.A." and liked it a bit more than I expected. Also got a great deal ($1.99) on Chris Stamey's charming (and out-of-print) CD, Christmas Time. I already had it on vinyl, but the CD adds 11 (!) bonus tracks. Yay. I still haven't seen "The Phantom Menace," but I watched "Being There" again for the frazillionth time a few nights ago on TV. Ah, ecstasy. I also rented "Pi" and "Cube," and found them both very interesting and entertaining. I enjoyed "Pi" the most -- "Cube" was a bit too stilted, and short on subtlety. However, while I admired the style and intensity of "Pi" immensely, I *somewhat* agree with Jeme's view on the film -- the climactic "brain = bad" message was kinda pat and superficial. I'm seeing Ben Folds Five tomorrow night (yeah, the new disc is crummy, but ehh, why not -- I haven't seen them live since the first-album era), and eagerly await Waits on VH1 on the 13th and in-person the following night. The Grassy Knoll played a rare live date in L.A. last night, and I was curious because the group's last album was a happy surprise for me, but I couldn't go because I was tied up with computer woes. Oh, yeah --last night, I checked the Rhino site for the results of the big RMAT music quiz. I scored about 30 points higher than I did last year, but so did a lot of other people. It was an easier test. I don't know how I placed overall, because this year they didn't post any standings except for the winning scores from each of the five test locations. This year, the Internet winner was also the overall winner. He scored about 58 points higher than I did. Blah. Oh well...last year, I was about 75 points behind the winner. I guess I'm moving up. Eb, a bit grumbly about the complete lack of "where ya been?" emails in his box PS A special catch-up bonus "ehhh" list of recent releases: the London Suede (gawd, I can't believe that people fall for this empty shtick), Kid Loco, Harry Connick Jr., DJ Rap, Eleanor McEvoy, Meja, Blacque, Frogpond, Spacetime Continuum, Evil Tambourines, Mark King, Self, Sense Field, Speak No Evil, Texas, Speaker, Rachel's (:P), Anti-Flag, Ron Sexsmith, Cul De Sac, Splender, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ruff Ryders, Cake Like, Shootyz Groove, Ricky Martin/Backstreet Boys (yep, I actually listened to both of these discs), the Centimeters, June of 44, No Knife, Adam Daniel, Whistler, the Ernies, Kendall Payne, Swimmer, the Revellers, the Push Stars, the Gentle Waves, Regia, the Hellacopters, Buckcherry, Add N to (X) and the Bevis Frond. Oh, and Jordan Knight gets an ehhh too, but damned if his album isn't far, far better than it oughta be. Over and out. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V8 #202 *******************************