From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V9 #344 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Tuesday, November 28 2000 Volume 09 : Number 344 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: happy buy nothing day! ["Stewart C. Russell" ] Re: Lennon Tributes ["Russ Reynolds" ] RE: happy buy nothing day! ["Brian Huddell" ] RE: Lennon Tributes [The Great Quail ] completing the collection ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] Re: Lennon Tributes [hbrandt ] Re: Lennon Tributes [Ben ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Ben ] it's sold 800 copies already! [hbrandt ] Re: happy buy nothing day! ["JH3" ] uk appearances - did anybody go? [Bayard ] Re: it's sold 800 copies already! ["brian nupp" ] Re: Lennon Tributes [Terrence Marks ] proceed, tiny dancer [GSS ] RE: Lennon Tributes [Terrence Marks ] RE: happy judge nothing day! [Viv Lyon ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Viv Lyon ] RE: happy judge nothing day! [lj lindhurst ] RE: happy judge nothing day! ["Brian Huddell" ] RE: the real temptation [GSS ] Re: happy buy nothing day! [Ken Ostrander ] Buy a belt, and you're funding genocide [Eb ] Re: the real temptation ["JH3" ] Re: the real temptation [Ken Ostrander ] RE: happy judge nothing day! [Viv Lyon ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:00:38 +0000 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! Viv Lyon wrote: > > (except maybe The Gap- what is that supposed to refer to? Well, it was shorter than their first choice, "Aporia Emporia". Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 07:16:10 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: RE: happy buy nothing day! > I agree with the general sentiment behind Buy Nothing Day. But I'm really > troubled by the suggestion that consumers are helpless zombies in the face > of advertising. It strikes me as identical to the argument that people are > driven to criminal behavior by the images they see in movies, and the words > they hear in pop songs. Bingo. Generally speaking, people are like sheep. They tend to follow the flock. Movies, TV, Radio and print are seen by the sheep as examples of the what flock is up to because they are generally shared experiences, and the natural inclination of most people is to want to join in. Now, I'm not going to go so far as to say advertising is evil. Advertising is a useful tool. Passing out flyers at Banana Republic is a form of advertising. Posting your ideas to a newsgroup is a form of advertising. Most advertising is used to bring consumers to products. If you're the person selling the product that's a good thing, especially if you've got a family to feed. If you're the person buying the product that can be a good thing as well, particularly if it's a product you need that you can't find elsewhere. Advertising becomes a bad thing when people who don't need the money use it to get more money from people who don't need the product. Hello R.J. Reynolds. - -rUss (no relation) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 07:32:47 -0800 From: "Russ Reynolds" Subject: Re: Lennon Tributes >> > julian lennon: too late for goodbyes (at least, i always assumed it >> > was) >> >> I kinda doubt it but I'll give it another listen... > > Dude! Have you seen the video? It seems pretty unmistakable to me. Wasn't it just Julian sitting on a stool? Enlighten me. But don't call me Dude any more. Horse: > There are times when I can feel it settling on me like a pair of > John Lennon glasses. And I can either exaggerate it, or fight against > it. Or I can try and find my own way of doing something rather than > settling for a Lennonism. Which I've done in the past a few times: > there's a song called "Executioner" on Eye which is quite Lennon- > y. But it seemed appropriate to leave it that way rather than change > it. "Somewhere Apart" is very like that song called "Remember" on > the Plastic Ono Band record. We then put delay on it, so we made > it sound even more like John Lennon. But actually, if you listen > to the lyrics, it's really nothing like the other song. But that > was an example of deliberately making it into a tribute, if you like. Well, stylistic tributes are everyhere. (I find it interesting, by the way, that adding delay to a vocal makes a song Lennonesque when you consider that Lennon originally began using echo to sound more like Elvis--perhaps the boldest example of Lennon taking an idea from someone else and making it his). I'm specifically looking for tunes that relate lyrically to Lennon's passing. Got a good list going so far: George Harrison-All Those Years Ago Paul McCartney-Here Today Ian Hunter-Old Records Never Die Cranberries-I Just Shot John Lennon Queen-Life Is Real (Song For Lennon) The Kinks-Killer's Eyes Yoko Ono-I Don't Know Why Paul Simon-The Late Great Johnny Ace Elton John-Empty Garden Tom Paxton - Crazy John Loudon Wainwright III - Not John Martin Newell's "Johnny the Moondog is Dead" ? Christine lavin's "the dakota" The Chameleons,"here today?" John Wesley Harding "Famous Man" ... And maybe Julian's tune. Keep 'em coming... - -rUss ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:04:13 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: happy buy nothing day! > elsewhere. Advertising becomes a bad thing when people who don't need the > money use it to get more money from people who don't need the product. Presumably the result is behavior, in this case walking into a store and buying a lot of crap instead of playing with your kids. Are you also comfortable crediting movies and music with this kind of power over behavior? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 11:00:13 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: RE: Lennon Tributes There's three Lennon-y songs I can think of that I don't think have been mentioned yet: Paul Simon's "The Late Great Johnny Ace" from "Hearts and Bones" has this at the end: "On a cold December evening / I was walking through the Christmas tide / When a stranger came up and asked me / If I'd heard John Lennon had died / And the two of us / Went to this bar / And we stayed close to the place / And every song we played / Was for the Late Great Johnny Ace." The song also has some lovely music by Philip Glass at the end. (They cross-traded talents, as Paul also wrote a song for Phil to set to music on "Songs from Liquid Days.") Yes' "I've Seen all Good People" from the inspiringly named "Yes Album" is loosely sort of maybe kind of inspired by Mr. Lennon, or at least I recall reading somewhere. Re: the line "Send an instant karma to me...." Of course, like all Jon "Being Inscrutable is Fun" Anderson's lyrics, interpretation is as open as a consortium of dyslexic post-feminists at a "Finnegans Wake" convention. I don't think any mountains come out of the sky and stand there, though. King Crimson's "Happy Family" from the underrated masterpiece "Lizard" is a weird, veiled parable about the Beatles from songwriter Peter Sinfield. As far as fellow Crimsologists have been able to decipher, the figure of "Jonah" is John Lenon: "Happy family, one hand clap, four went by and none came back," "Nasty Jonah grew a wife / Judas drew his pruning knife," "Happy family, pale applause, each to his revolving doors / Silas searching, Rufus neat, Jonah caustic, Jude so sweet" and so on. And also in the Further Inscrutability department, Jon Anderson does guest vocals on this CD. There's also pictures of the Beatles worked into the faux-illumination that decorates the album cover. And didn't Bowie mention Lennon in some song or another? (Besides his "Young Americans" era collaborations?) La la la, - --Quail, back from Missouri -- Land of Budweiser and Brain Sandwiches ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 08:23:57 -0800 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: completing the collection I finally got around to buying "Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival." It's nice to have it, but I can't say I felt thrilled with it. The performances didn't do a whole lot for me, and the songs selected have never been my favorites. And it's really short! I do have the A&M Greatest Hits record, so I have heard the original "Alright, Yeah". I didn't see it as vastly better than the version on _Moss Elixir_ but I'll give it another whirl. So I suppose it's probably time for me to think about repurchasing _You & Oblivion_, which may be the only widely available Robyn record I don't currently own. I guess it will be nice to have it on CD so I can program the handful of tracks I really like. When I go to Amoeba an avalanche of used _Perspex Island_s covers me. Drew - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen.com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 09:32:32 -0700 From: hbrandt Subject: Re: Lennon Tributes The Great Quail wrote: > Paul Simon's "The Late Great Johnny Ace" from "Hearts and Bones" The first time Simon performed this song was at the Simon & Garfunkel Central Park concert in 1981. At the point in the lyrics when he "heard John Lennon had died", a fan leapt up on the stage and ran towards Simon shouting, "I have to talk to you!!" Since Simon could see the Dakota building from his vantage point onstage, this weird convergence was utterly unsettling to the singer. Or, so he claimed on the Letterman show a week later, as he performed the song for the second time. Just as he got to the same line about Lennon, the power surged in the studio and they had to cut to commercial. Rather than finishing the song after the break, Simon declared the song "jinxed" and vowed never to perform it again. He has since gotten over the jitters, because he played "The Late Great Johnny Ace" at his Denver Fillmore concert a few days ago. Great song, and that Central Park footage is spooky as hell. Watch Simon's face as he ponders the implications of it all after his "potential Chapman" is whisked away by security. Scary. > > Yes' "I've Seen all Good People" from the inspiringly named "Yes > Album" is loosely sort of maybe kind of inspired by Mr. Lennon, or at > least I recall reading somewhere. Re: the line "Send an instant karma > to me...." Don't forget for the background vocals (singing "Give Peace A Chance")! /hal ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 11:34:54 -0500 From: Ben Subject: Re: Lennon Tributes > > Uncle John's Band? The Dead > > Not explicit tributes, but thats how they read to me(regardless of authorial > > intent.) > > Sorry...I meant post mortem tributes. Interesting connections, though. It > never occurred to me that either of those two songs could be refering to > Lennon. I think the Dead tune is a less likely nod than the Zevon tune, > which coincidentally I just ordered from second spin yesterday. I'll give > it a closer listen when it arrives. That's an interesting interpretation of the song. Check out this page for more on it and other songs: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/ One song I don't think has been mentioned yet is Bowie's "Never Let MeDown" though I think it qualifies as a "homage" not a tribute. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 11:43:10 -0500 From: Ben Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! I feel that all this action against coporations on Buy Nothing Day is missing the *real* source of the problem - the birthday of Jeebus!!!! If it wasn't for Jeebus-freakin-Christ we wouldn't be celebrating a day of crass commercialism! So it's clear the solution must be to BOYCOTT X-MAS!!! Bring me the head of Santa Claus!!! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:08:33 -0700 From: hbrandt Subject: it's sold 800 copies already! Warren (TRANSMETROPOLITAN) Ellis on Kevin Rowland's (of Dexy's Midnight Runners) solo comeback CD: > He is no longer young. The CD cover shows him lifting the black dress > he's wearing to show us his legs in black stockings. He also wears pearls > and thick red lipstick. And not in a good way. See for yourself at: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002R0SE.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg Too-rye-ay! /hal ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 11:13:02 -0600 From: "JH3" Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! Ben writes: >I feel that all this action against coporations on Buy Nothing Day is >missing the *real* source of the problem - the birthday of Jeebus!!!! >If it wasn't for Jeebus-freakin-Christ we wouldn't be celebrating a >day of crass commercialism! So it's clear the solution must >be to BOYCOTT X-MAS!!! >Bring me the head of Santa Claus!!! I realize this might have been tongue-in-cheek, but it's actually one of the more astute things I've read on this list (at least on this subject) in quite some time... Ben, could you send along your address again so that when I do obtain Santa's severed head, I can just ship it to you? And do you prefer UPS, FedEx, or Priority Mail? (And does it really have to be refrigerated, or were you just going to bury it? Obviously I don't want a replay of that whole Alfredo Garcia debacle.) Jeebus H. Hedges III ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 12:28:00 -0500 (EST) From: Bayard Subject: uk appearances - did anybody go? any uk fegs attend either of these?: 22 November The Cluny Newcastle-on-Tyne 36 Lime Street, Byker (solo) 27 November The Big Booth taping BBC Radio Theatre London ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 12:50:32 -0500 From: "brian nupp" Subject: Re: it's sold 800 copies already! That's too funny. The 1st Dexy's album was really great, I thought, but what the hell happened on the 2nd one? And I dunno what happened after that. Were there any more? Brian Nupp >From: hbrandt Warren (TRANSMETROPOLITAN) Ellis on Kevin Rowland's (of >Dexy's Midnight >Runners) solo comeback CD: > > > He is no longer young. The CD cover shows him lifting the black dress > > he's wearing to show us his legs in black stockings. He also wears >pearls > > and thick red lipstick. And not in a good way. > >See for yourself at: > >http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002R0SE.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg > >Too-rye-ay! > >/hal _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:02:50 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence Marks Subject: Re: Lennon Tributes Oh, and "Not Now, John" by Roger Waters (and performed by Pink Floyd) Terrence Marks Unlike Minerva (a comic strip) http://www.unlikeminerva.com HCF (another comic strip) http://www.mpog.com/hcf normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 12:09:40 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: proceed, tiny dancer U.S. Supreme Court strikes down drug roadblocks November 28, 2000 Web posted at: 10:42 AM EST (1542 GMT) WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional police roadblocks to catch drug offenders, saying they violate privacy rights. The nation's high court, by a 6-3 vote, ruled against Indianapolis, where police had erected the roadblocks in an effort to stop the flow of illegal drugs through the city. "Because the primary purpose of the Indianapolis checkpoint program is ultimately indistinguishable from the general interest in crime control, the checkpoints violate the Fourth Amendment" protection against unreasonable searches, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor declared for the court majority. At the roadblocks, police officers checked license and vehicle registrations, motorists were examined for any signs of drug use and a drug-sniffing dog walked around the outside of each stopped car. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, the court's most conservative members, dissented. Rehnquist said the checkpoints only involved a "minimal intrusion on the privacy" of the occupants of the vehicles. http://www.cnn.com/2000/LAW/11/28/court.roadblocks.sc.reut/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:11:29 -0500 (EST) From: Terrence Marks Subject: RE: Lennon Tributes On Tue, 28 Nov 2000, The Great Quail wrote: > Yes' "I've Seen all Good People" from the inspiringly named "Yes > Album" is loosely sort of maybe kind of inspired by Mr. Lennon, or at > least I recall reading somewhere. Re: the line "Send an instant karma > to me...." The Yes Songbook sez "instant comment", which makes a little more sense (in as much as a comment is a discrete, separate sort of thing that gets a definite article, while 'a karma' is a bit fuzzier) Terrence Marks Unlike Minerva (a comic strip) http://www.unlikeminerva.com HCF (another comic strip) http://www.mpog.com/hcf normal@grove.ufl.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:51:10 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: RE: happy judge nothing day! cappy wrote: > > So stop doing it. Buy things for people who need them and won't get them > > for themselves... to show that you know about their needs and pay > > attention to them. But better, just spend time with the people you care > > about (instead of avoiding them so you can sneak in a few hours shopping > > for them... and really yourself, too) and give them something that shows a > > bit more care than mass produced crap from a chain store. brian H wrote: > This is extremely paternalistic, and fucking insulting. Stay out of other > people's relationships, please. Do you really want to go around suggesting > better ways for people to express love to their families, their friends? > Relationships are complicated, LOVE is complicated, and your blanket > pronouncements have no place there. My holiday gifts this year happen to be > hand-made CDs of my music with artwork by my friends, so maybe I pass your > test. But my mom is going to get great pleasure picking out Thomas The Tank > Engine(R) toys for my son, equal to the pleasure she gets from baking him > cookies or sending him hand-written letters and drawings, because she knows > the corporate toys will make him smile. Maybe gifts of love between people > you don't know are not the best target for your snobbery. So someone has a problem with how people like your mother do their Christmas shopping. Get over it. "Gifts of love" are not sacred, neither are "people you don't know." What would you like people to do, stop talking about society simply because they don't know each and every member of society? "Gee, I'd like to condemn the behavior of those white collar criminals, but since I don't know them personally.... I guess I just have to accept that they redline loans and discriminate against homosexuals. You know, far be it from me to criticize anyone I haven't personally met or done a Vulcan mind-meld with." People, even mothers (god forbid) get pleasure out of doing the wrong thing sometimes. Perhaps you disagree that buying a Thomas the Tank Engine toy for a tot is wrong, that's fine. But don't get all up in arms about people judging others' actions and questioning their motivations. It's perfectly valid and necessary. Vivien ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 10:53:30 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! On Tue, 28 Nov 2000, Ben wrote: > I feel that all this action against coporations on Buy Nothing Day is missing the *real* > source of the problem - the birthday of Jeebus!!!! If it wasn't for Jeebus-freakin-Christ > we wouldn't be celebrating a day of crass commercialism! So it's clear the solution must > be to BOYCOTT X-MAS!!! I don't even believe in Jeebus! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 14:05:29 -0500 From: lj lindhurst Subject: RE: happy judge nothing day! Okay, so here's MY question: What if you are buying things from a small mom&pop store-? Like our local bookstore, which is NOT a Barnes & Noble, NOT a Waldenbooks, but owned by a local family? Is your problem with buying ANYTHING for a Christmas present, or is it buying big corporate products? How can you never buy ANYTHING that doesn't in some way go back to big-corporation-exploiting-seven-cents-a-day-shoeless-Haitian-children roots? What are you going to do with all the presents that your well-meaning but ignorant family members send you? Surely you are going to get SOME "big corporation" product presents. (I mean, do I need to return the PowderPuff Girls figurines I got for you and Cappy for Christmas??) Not arguing, just questioning, lj (who loves to shop)(on the other hand, in these-here-parts, shopping = drinking Manhattans at the Park Avalon on Saturday afternoons, so what's not to love?) >So someone has a problem with how people like your mother do their >Christmas shopping. Get over it. "Gifts of love" are not sacred, neither >are "people you don't know." What would you like people to do, stop >talking about society simply because they don't know each and every member >of society? > >"Gee, I'd like to condemn the behavior of those white collar >criminals, but since I don't know them personally.... I guess I just have >to accept that they redline loans and discriminate against homosexuals. >You know, far be it from me to criticize anyone I haven't personally met >or done a Vulcan mind-meld with." > >People, even mothers (god forbid) get pleasure out of doing the wrong >thing sometimes. Perhaps you disagree that buying a Thomas the Tank Engine >toy for a tot is wrong, that's fine. But don't get all up in arms about >people judging others' actions and questioning their motivations. It's >perfectly valid and necessary. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:32:21 -0600 From: "Brian Huddell" Subject: RE: happy judge nothing day! > So someone has a problem with how people like your mother do their > Christmas shopping. Get over it. "Gifts of love" are not sacred, neither > are "people you don't know." What would you like people to do, stop > talking about society simply because they don't know each and every member > of society? "Sacred" has never been a concern of mine, as I demonstrate whenever I tell the story about the time Jesus and Ralph Nader gang-raped my mom on Christmas morning while "Imagine" played in the background. When I complain about Jeme's prescriptions for the proper ways to express love and friendship, I'm less concerned with what's right and wrong than with what does and doesn't make one an insufferable condescending snob. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:53:28 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: RE: the real temptation On Tue, 28 Nov 2000, Brian Huddell wrote: > "Sacred" has never been a concern of mine, as I demonstrate whenever I tell > the story about the time Jesus and Ralph Nader gang-raped my mom on > Christmas morning while "Imagine" played in the background. Wow, Jesus in the buff,,, with an erection! I sure hope you had film in that camera. gss ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 15:11:02 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: happy buy nothing day! >Okay, so here's MY question: What if you are buying things from a >small mom&pop store-? Like our local bookstore, which is NOT a >Barnes & Noble, NOT a Waldenbooks, but owned by a local family? Is >your problem with buying ANYTHING for a Christmas present, or is it >buying big corporate products? i think you answered your own question. obviously, we will all be buying something for somebody in the next month. the idea is to think about why you are buying and where your money is going. >We went to the movies the other day and one of those on-screen slide ads >came up... this one a kind of meta-ad telling folks to buy ad space in the >theater... that said "without advertising, a terrible thing happens... >NOTHING." I'm afraid I had to call bullshit on that. well...movie theaters have it rough. more than eighty percent of the price of a movie goes back to the studios. the theaters are forced to make their money selling popcorn and other concessions. the advertizing on the big screen is just starting to take off. now, before the previews (which are essentially commercials) you get actual advertizements for say...mountain dew. i think it's going to get worse. funny thing is that these huge multiplexes are the ones that are doing this advertizing. if you can still find a small, independant movie house, chances are that this has not happened there. >I agree with the general sentiment behind Buy Nothing Day. But I'm really >troubled by the suggestion that consumers are helpless zombies in the face >of advertising. It strikes me as identical to the argument that people are >driven to criminal behavior by the images they see in movies, and the words >they hear in pop songs. that sounds reasonable. of course, in theory we're all desensitized to violence and crass commercialism. it's when we have to confront these things ourselves that we see that there's no substitute for experience. that's why i avoid certain parts of town at night and don't go to the mall on the day after thanksgiving. but i also channel surf when commercials come on. hmmm... >> I feel that all this action against coporations on Buy Nothing Day is missing the >> *real* source of the problem - the birthday of Jeebus!!!! If it wasn't for Jeebus- >> freakin-Christ we wouldn't be celebrating a day of crass commercialism! So it's >> clear the solution must be to BOYCOTT X-MAS!!! holiday x is the intersection of so many religious events that it seems like some kind of conspiracy. i mean, christmas, chanukuh, ramadan, and that pagan winter solstace all fall in the next month. >"Sacred" has never been a concern of mine, as I demonstrate whenever I tell >the story about the time Jesus and Ralph Nader gang-raped my mom on >Christmas morning while "Imagine" played in the background. wiping off my screen after that one! ho ho ho! ken "take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice" the kenster np. the messianic peter gabriel passion ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 13:14:34 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Buy a belt, and you're funding genocide Agit-Viv: >Last June, at a GAP Inc. factory in Cambodia, military police opened fire >on 400 workers who were striking for higher wages and shorter, more humane >working hours. So, this is The Gap's fault, because the workers wouldn't have been striking if they were treated better? Boy, you're stretching it. Or are you claiming The Gap controls the police, and ordered them to fire? >I wonder if you even know what you're saying sometimes. I didn't use the >word "corporate" as a scare tactic- I used the phrase "total corporate >dominance." What I mean by that, and what most people mean who use that or >similar phrases, is that I think gigantic multinational corporations have >too much influence over our government (through massive campaign >contributions and lobbying), over our consumer choices (by driving out of >business smaller companies), over our environment (by refusing to >implement technologies that would reduce or eliminate toxic pollution), >and over our minds (by constantly usurping what once were public domains >with their privately funded messages (such as advertising in public >schools). Sorry, I tuned out after "gigantic multinational corporations." Eb, who sternly frowns upon nested parentheses, particularly when one set goes unclosed ;) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 15:09:26 -0600 From: "JH3" Subject: Re: the real temptation >> "Sacred" has never been a concern of mine, as I demonstrate whenever >> I tell the story about the time Jesus and Ralph Nader gang-raped my >> mom on Christmas morning while "Imagine" played in the background. >Wow, Jesus in the buff,,, with an erection! I sure hope you had >film in that camera. I suspect this is just a wind-up, actually. Everybody knows Jesus can only get it up to the tune of Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock." Besides, who uses film cameras these days? Everyone's getting those massively-hyped-corporate-consumer-product digital cameras now. (Except for me, of course -- I prefer to steal people's souls with a DVD player! That way you get built-in copy protection...) John "37% more obscure than you" Hedges ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 17:02:40 -0500 From: Ken Ostrander Subject: Re: the real temptation >Besides, who uses film cameras these days? Everyone's getting those >massively-hyped-corporate-consumer-product digital cameras now. ok, what's the dealio with these things? since my camera has shit the bed, i'm looking to get something new for the crass consumer holiday x. do you save money on film processing; but lose out on quality of prints? would i be better off with a video camera? is there such a thing as a digital movie camera? does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 14:18:20 -0800 (PST) From: Viv Lyon Subject: RE: happy judge nothing day! On Tue, 28 Nov 2000, lj lindhurst wrote: > Okay, so here's MY question: What if you are buying things from a > small mom&pop store-? Like our local bookstore, which is NOT a > Barnes & Noble, NOT a Waldenbooks, but owned by a local family? Is > your problem with buying ANYTHING for a Christmas present, or is it > buying big corporate products? Okay, good honest question. I won't speak for Cappy, but for myself I think buying things from independent retailers is much more laudable, as long as you also take into account what it is you're buying. I mean, there's a non-chain boutique around the corner from me, but if they're selling the same exact sweat-shop-produced crap that the Gap is, then I feel bad buying from them, too. I'll let you in on a secret... I bought something on Buy Nothing Day. It was a sewing machine at a union hall sale, for $45 and it had the instruction book! The rationalization? Well, the thing exited the marketplace twenty-five years ago (at least) and all I was really doing was contributing to a good cause. We all have our rationalizations to keep us warm at night. > How can you never buy ANYTHING that doesn't in some way go back to > big-corporation-exploiting-seven-cents-a-day-shoeless-Haitian-children > roots? I admit it's next to impossible to avoid this altogether, but it's important to try. You can greatly reduce the amount you contribute to the coffers of OmniCon. You can also by things that have as few as possible ties to the vast web of corporate dominance. This means buying organic produce, carefully reading lables, doing research...it's hard work. I don't do all that I should, for sure. I do try to buy a lot of stuff used. Most of my clothes, in fact, are stolen from street people. It's true! > What are you going to do with all the presents that your well-meaning > but ignorant family members send you? Surely you are going to get > SOME "big corporation" product presents. (I mean, do I need to > return the PowderPuff Girls figurines I got for you and Cappy for > Christmas??) I just asked my mom not to buy me a bunch of crap (she is the queen of buying something just because it happens to be on sale). She sounded peeved, but oh well. I will graciously accept the PowerPuff Girls. Then I will ceremonially burn them and get high off the fumes. Vivien ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V9 #344 *******************************