From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #124 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, March 31 2003 Volume 12 : Number 124 Today's Subjects: ----------------- digest slaw ["ross taylor" ] digest slaw ["ross taylor" ] sigh [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: bad band names [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Band of bad band names [BLATZMAN@aol.com] Re: Band of bad band names [Tom Clark ] What's in a name? [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: Operation Octopussy [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Oh, you're welcome. So very welcome. ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: Oh, you're welcome. So very welcome. ["Jason R. Thornton" ] Re: Operation Octopussy [The Great Quail ] Re: sigh [Eb ] Nooz [Eb ] Re: The name game, cont'd [The Great Quail ] Re: The name game, cont'd [Aaron Mandel ] RE: Operation Octopussy [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: Operation Octopussy [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: The name game, cont'd [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:42:47 -0500 From: "ross taylor" Subject: digest slaw Good band, bad name: Procol Harum. I mean, the only thing more pretentious than a Latin name is a misspelled Latin name. But we can blame this on their first manager, Guy Stevens, who also came up with "Spooky Tooth" and "Mott the Hoople." Plus late 60s band names in general. Leven Helm jokes that The Band was originally going to be The Chocolate Overcoat. I disagree w/ some others of Eb's -- Buffalo Springfield was a kind of bulldozer, & so less silly than other Psychedelic Monikers. If it's funny, like Echo & the Bunnymen, I like it. I'd offer-- Siouxsie and the Banshees Oingo Boingo The Pixies. - --- I think Rex mentioned Janeane Garofalo. I'd been a little secretive about these feelings, but, yeah. - --- David Crosby-- The whole Monterey DVD package is worth seeing. If you have the audio Rhino box, you know most of the story about the Byrds set, but it's fun to see the body language proving that Crosby, soon to be referenced only by a horse and the song "Artificial Energy," thinks he is now leader of the band. And he said he was asked to leave for "political reasons." I still like the fast, rock version of "Renaissance Fair" they start w/, before falling apart. But the DVD has a big song by Country Joe & the Fish, the whole Jimmi Plays Monterey video (man, the brutally casual way he shows the can of lighter fluid to the audience, like he's in a bar fight & letting his opponant know he's got a weapon), the whole Otis set, tons of extra crowd shots, etc. etc. - --- Bye, Ross O.-- This depresses me 1) because of the possible loss of 3, um, sources of posting, or flavors of posting I'd liked; 2) If I'm being spoofed about Bayard & Fric (I think?), then my insecure sense of list reality; 3) Loss of Ross. The more Rosses, the better. - --- Finally got some Mo Tucker, Life in Exile After Abdication. Two fav songs so far: "Spam Again" & "Work." And love hearing (I think) Jad Fair say "Don't play dumb/ and don't act smart." Great album. Ross Taylor "speed kills" Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:46:34 -0500 From: "ross taylor" Subject: digest slaw Good band, bad name: Procol Harum. I mean, the only thing more pretentious than a Latin name is a misspelled Latin name. But we can blame this on their first manager, Guy Stevens, who also came up with "Spooky Tooth" and "Mott the Hoople." Plus late 60s band names in general. Leven Helm jokes that The Band was originally going to be The Chocolate Overcoat. I disagree w/ some others of Eb's -- Buffalo Springfield was a kind of bulldozer, & so less silly than other Psychedelic Monikers. If it's funny, like Echo & the Bunnymen, I like it. I'd offer-- Siouxsie and the Banshees Oingo Boingo The Pixies. - --- I think Rex mentioned Janeane Garofalo. I'd been a little secretive about these feelings, but, yeah. - --- David Crosby-- The whole Monterey DVD package is worth seeing. If you have the audio Rhino box, you know most of the story about the Byrds set, but it's fun to see the body language proving that Crosby, soon to be referenced only by a horse and the song "Artificial Energy," thinks he is now leader of the band. And he said he was asked to leave for "political reasons." I still like the fast, rock version of "Renaissance Fair" they start w/, before falling apart. But the DVD has a big song by Country Joe & the Fish, the whole Jimmi Plays Monterey video (man, the brutally casual way he shows the can of lighter fluid to the audience, like he's in a bar fight & letting his opponant know he's got a weapon), the whole Otis set, tons of extra crowd shots, etc. etc. - --- Bye, Ross O.-- This depresses me 1) because of the possible loss of 3, um, sources of posting, or flavors of posting I'd liked; 2) If I'm being spoofed about Bayard & Fric (I think?), then my insecure sense of list reality; 3) Loss of Ross. The more Rosses, the better. - --- Finally got some Mo Tucker, Life in Exile After Abdication. Two fav songs so far: "Spam Again" & "Work." And love hearing (I think) Jad Fair say "Don't play dumb/ and don't act smart." Great album. Ross Taylor "speed kills" Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 11:16:55 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: sigh >Well, I think you've laid out your argument very clearly: > >1) Roberts is talentless and unattractive. >2) One needs to be talented and/or attractive to be a movie star. > >Ergo, > >3) Roberts isn't a movie star. > >Yup, it's a flawless proof. I can't think of a thing to say which >might refute this logic. sigh. I hoped this was all over, but I'll just point out a minor flaw in your logic. 1) Roberts is talentless and unattractive. 2) One *should be* talented and/or attractive to be a movie star. 3) Robert's *shouldn't be* a movie star. I'm not arguing that the world regards her as a movie star, or that she isn't a huge movie star, just that she doesn't have what it takes to make it understandable for her to be one. If you've been arguing that she *isn't* a movie star, while I've been arguing that she doesn't have what it takes, then it's no wonder this pointless argument has been going on so long. Like neighbours debating over the back fence, we were arguing from different premises. Now that that is cleared up, can we just stop this and get back to more interesting conversations like... well, anything, really? James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 11:17:20 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: bad band names >Ass Ponies I >never heard, but if the Afghan Whigs' cover of Mt. Superlove is any >indication, I would like them a lot as well. their album "Electric rock music" isn't bad - not earthshattering, but definitely worth the bargain bin price I paid for it. Sort of late Pere Ubu meets the Meat Puppets, with some REM influence thrown in for good measure. Lead vocalist's voice is somewhat high, thin and annoying, but it suits the music, mostly. >> Ben Folds Five > >I don't think this is particularly bad - except for the "ha-ha very funny" >factor that (get this!) there were only three of them. How many bands are in >that category? Took me ages to work out that there was a guy called Ben Folds in the band though. Sounds like Folds is a verb here. As to the "How many bands" question, I'd add almost any band that has "Twins" as part of its name. Seems that if you have, you must not under any circumstances have two people in the band. >By Hank Devito, whoever he is. Appears to be a steel guitar player: >http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3a%2f%2fweb.ask.com%2fweb%3fq%3d%2522Hank >%2bDevito%2522%26o%3d0&q=%22Hank+Devito%22&u=http%3a%2f%2ftm.wc.ask.com%2fr >%3ft%3dan%26s%3da%26uid%3d28a2620568a262056%26sid%3d38a2620568a262056%26qid >%3dD5C99F505653AE41A4956928D4AF8E67%26io%3d2%26sv%3dza5cb0dba%26ask%3d%2522 >Hank%2bDevito%2522%26uip%3d8a262056%26en%3dte%26eo%3d-100%26pt%3dFree%2bMus >ic%2bDownload%252c%2bMP3%2bMusic%252c%2bMusic%2bChat%252c%2bMusic%2bVideo%2 >52c%2bMusic%2bCD%252c%26ac%3d24%26qs%3d16%26pg%3d1%26u%3dhttp%3a%2f%2fstore >.artistdirect.com%2fmusic%2fartist%2fcard%2f0%2c%2c422947%2c00.html&s=a&bu= >http%3a%2f%2fstore.artistdirect.com%2fmusic%2fartist%2fcard%2f0%2c%2c422947 >%2c00.html did your computer just vomit? Jeffrey - many thanks for that tinyurl link! James - - -- WHY is Cheney? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 18:24:54 EST From: BLATZMAN@aol.com Subject: Band of bad band names Rex, on mentioning his old band:<< --There Goes Bill(named before I joined) >> I'm afraid I must take responsibility for the bad band name There Goes Bill, named a year before my excellent friend Rex joined... Democratic vote it was, I was so freakin frustrated trying to get everyone to agree to a stupid name, I would have said yes to "U22". I have forever vowed to never be in a situation where more than 2 people need to name a "band" That said, I have settled on "Missing Time" as the name of my long-in-the-making follow-up to my There Goes Bill years, and regardless of what anyone might say, I happen to think the name rocks the city of Phoenix!!!! By the way Rex, remember, I came up with There Goes Bill while reading Alice in Wonderland, and I thought it was funny when Bill the lizard got kicked up through the Chimney... all the characters out on the grass pointed up at the sky and exclaimed "There Goes Bill"... Blatzy ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 15:30:35 -0800 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Band of bad band names on 3/31/03 3:24 PM, BLATZMAN@aol.com at BLATZMAN@aol.com wrote: > Rex, on mentioning his old band:<< --There Goes Bill(named before I joined) >>> > > I'm afraid I must take responsibility for the bad band name There Goes Bill, > named a year before my excellent friend Rex joined... > > By the way Rex, remember, I came up with There Goes Bill while reading Alice > in Wonderland, and I thought it was funny when Bill the lizard got kicked up > through the Chimney... all the characters out on the grass pointed up at the > sky and exclaimed "There Goes Bill"... I thought it might have been a response to the Camper Van Beethoven song. - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 11:52:34 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: What's in a name? >In many ways I am hard pressed to think of any "good" band names. How about The Monochrome Set, (especially when noted alongside their best of/rarities album "Volume, contrast, brilliance")? Talking Heads? Them? Screaming Blue Messiahs? Sisters of Mercy? Shriekback? Roxy Music? The Grid? The Sex Pistols? Enigma? The Exploding Budgies? Joy Division? Penguin Cafe Orchestra? Primal Scream? Sugarcubes? Supergroove? The Who? and, another few more bad ones: Dead Can Dance Straitjacket Fits Reg and Peter's Dog Trumpet Front 242 Look Blue Go Purple This Mortal Coil Three the Hard Way Voice of the Beehive Porno for Pyros Meself, I've been in the Kaftans, the Moomins, the Mysterons, Pre-emptive sheep, and the Beaker People. Not a good name among them 9although the last two were okay enough). And for about three months prior to deciding on the Kaftans, we changed name about every half hour: Ron, Inflatable man sketch, Happy plastic, Everyone else, the Ripleys*, Out the Window, Shevardnadze, Sticky Spock, the About Turns, and Don't Do That were some of them. what makes a band name good or bad? and talking of such imponderables: >Yeah, typo. The Afghan Whigs' What Jail Is Like EP is one of my >favorite albums to listen to on the way to work. is an EP an album? James (who always wanted to form a Goth band called Lacerta) *later used by our bassist for another band James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= .-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= You talk to me as if from a distance =-.-=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:54:36 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: Operation Octopussy Quoting Mike Wells : > http://tinyurl.com/8jdd > > Personally I can't wait to hear them say "and now over to Christiane > Amonpour > in Iraq, embedded with the 101st Airborne on Operation Goodhead." The > mind > boggles. Which reminds me of yet another thing that bugs me about US military operations: their obnoxiously self-congratulatory naming system. When did that change...from spy-novel obliquity to Successories-level gag-inducement? The first I remember of this was the US invasion of Panama - "Operation Just Cause," it was called, as if to reassure doubters. Since then, it's been one forcefed spoonful of treacle after another... ..Jeff, veteran of Operation Save the Fluffy Kitties J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: we make everything you need, and you need everything we make ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:16:36 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: Oh, you're welcome. So very welcome. Eb: >>Debate intelligently, please. Thanks. Okay. Like this? "Gawd, this argument is SO stupid." Or more like this? "Here's a thought... GET OVER IT." Or... "Yup, it's a flawless proof. I can't think of a thing to say which might refute this logic." ...which evince not the slightest snittiness. My own "snitty" quote was just an overstatement for effect of your contention that: >>...of course, because everyone on this list tries so hard to >>appear "quirky" and "eccentric" and "offbeat," etc. in their tastes... A statement that "everyone on this list" does *anything* is not "intelligent" "debate", "honey". ___ Pythia, then JeffFF: >>> Hitler rapes Jesus, not news. Jesus rapes Hitler. Now, thats news. >>>Okay, this is obviously Greg Shell in disguise - I mean the 'religious >>>figure/anal rape" obsession is here in all its, uh, glory. Beg to differ... note capital letters. Unless it's all for show. >>I've always been deliriously fond of an earlier name of >>the Velvet Udnerground: The Falling Spikes. What amazes me is that there actually is now a real band named the Warlocks, a name discarded by both the Velvets and the Grateful Dead, if memory serves. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:12:49 -0800 From: "Jason Brown \(Echo Services Inc\)" Subject: RE: Operation Octopussy > Which reminds me of yet another thing that bugs me about US military > operations: their obnoxiously self-congratulatory naming system. When did > that change...from spy-novel obliquity to Successories-level gag- > inducement? > The first I remember of this was the US invasion of Panama - "Operation > Just Cause," it was called, as if to reassure doubters. Since then, it's > been one forcefed spoonful of treacle after another... I think Panama was the first time it was so calculated. Before that they were still using spy novel sounding names like Operation Praying Mantis and Operation Golden Pheasant. Here's an interesting US Army War College on the subject of Operation naming practice: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1995/sieminsk.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:19:29 -0800 From: Glen Uber Subject: Re: Oh, you're welcome. So very welcome. Once upon a time Rex.Broome say to me -- this is the dog talkin' now -- what is your conceptual continuity? Pythia, then JeffFF then Rex: >>>> Hitler rapes Jesus, not news. Jesus rapes Hitler. Now, thats news. > >>>> Okay, this is obviously Greg Shell in disguise - I mean the 'religious >>>> figure/anal rape" obsession is here in all its, uh, glory. > > Beg to differ... note capital letters. Unless it's all for show. Maybe it's Utah Butch. No, wait. That was skull fucking. - -- Cheers! - -g- "Work is the curse of the drinking class." - --Oscar Wilde ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:16:29 -0800 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: RE: Operation Octopussy At 04:12 PM 3/31/2003 -0800, Jason Brown \(Echo Services Inc\) wrote: >I think Panama was the first time it was so calculated. >Before that they were still using spy novel sounding names like >Operation Praying Mantis and Operation Golden Pheasant. Oooooooo, maybe the next one will be called Operation Mindcrime. Expect even more Shocking & Awing civilian slaughter in the one. - --Jason "but it scares the bad guys" Thornton "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 16:13:22 -0800 From: "Jason R. Thornton" Subject: Re: Oh, you're welcome. So very welcome. At 04:16 PM 3/31/2003 -0800, Rex.Broome wrote: >What amazes me is that there actually is now a real band named the Warlocks, >a name discarded by both the Velvets and the Grateful Dead, if memory >serves. They sound much more like the Velvet Underground than they do the Dead, if that helps. - --Jason "Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples." - Sherwood Anderson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:14:55 -0800 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: The name game, cont'd Jeffrey FF: >>These raise the question of referentiality: does it make a difference if >>you know that Squeeze is (I think) named after a lame pseudo-VU album? Or >>that Mudhoney is from a Russ Meyer film? I've had a tendency to write bands off for this kind of thing. Eric's Trip, Venus in Furs (don't they even have an album named "Despite Amputations"?) and Happy Death Men, for example. I know there are many more littering the 99 cent bins (at least one of them named after a Husker Du song, I think). And was Radiohead or was Radiohead not named after a mediocre song on a way subpar Talking Heads album? There are also the "mishead lyric names", such as The Lightning Seeds and The Mystery Trend (and, umm, yikes, my own Rainland is a misheard lyric by the same songwriter as the latter). Nine Inch Nails strikes me as a totally crap name. Not quite as bad as Rage Against the Machine or your average death metal band name, but fairly limiting... perhaps the flipside of The Pastels or the Softies, who are SOL if they decide to do a grindcore record. But if your whole band-concept is self-limiting anyway, no big deal. But speaking of Jad Fair-- Half Japanese, great name. And god help me, I still like REM. (The name and (he grudgingly admits) the band.) Whereas XTC and U2 are awful names. And I still need someone to explain why I should pronounce INXS the way they want me to. It's either "Eye En Ex Ess", or "Inkses". - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:22:31 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: Operation Octopussy Jefrey writes, > Which reminds me of yet another thing that bugs me about US military > operations: their obnoxiously self-congratulatory naming system. I know -- I *hate* the name of this one: "Operation Iraqi Freedom." What the FUCK? Who *thought* of that? You would have thought that one person would have anticipated the grim irony of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" appearing on CNN over pictures of dead civilians. It makes me cringe every time I see it. >Since then, it's been one > forcefed spoonful of treacle after another... Except for "Desert Storm" and "Desert Fox." Those were good ones, especially "Desert Storm." A surprising pit of poetry, there. - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:25:46 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Re: sigh >James: >1) Roberts is talentless and unattractive. >2) One *should be* talented and/or attractive to be a movie star. >3) Robert's *shouldn't be* a movie star. > >I'm not arguing that the world regards her as a movie star, or that she >isn't a huge movie star, just that she doesn't have what it takes to make >it understandable for her to be one. Well, now you've finally arrived at a tenable position, except for neglecting to insert "...to me" after "understandable." Let it be known that I don't consider myself a big Julia Roberts fan. I'm not especially fond of the types of movies she chooses, and the only JR films which I've seen and really liked were Erin Brockovich, My Best Friend's Wedding and Notting Hill. But I can certainly see why so many people "connect" with her -- she has an incredibly expressive face with an enormous emotional pull. Not to mention her acting talents. And I'm sick of reading Internet hyperboles about how ugly, talentless, evil, etc. etc. she is. People attack her with such malicious venom, it's like she has personally insulted them. Bee-zarre. And really, has there *ever* been a Best Actor/Actress winner whom can be casually written off as a total hack? (Or is this where we move onto Paltrow-bashing? ) Incidentally, I think it's safe to say that "Erin Brockovich" is as close as I'll ever come to having a movie named after me. ;) >Good names: >Screaming Blue Messiahs? >Roxy Music? >The Exploding Budgies? >Supergroove? Ugh! >and, another few more bad ones: >This Mortal Coil I like that one. I see we've moved onto "Bad Military-Operation Names," now. Heh. Odd...that "scary" picture has been taken down in the short time since I posted the URL. Guess it was just *too* scary. Maybe Glen was so traumatized that he hacked into the site, and disposed of this terror. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 17:30:21 -0800 From: Eb Subject: Nooz BBC NEWS The mother of late singer Kirsty MacColl has hit out at the small fine handed out to the driver of the speedboat that killed her daughter. Jose Cen Yam, who was at the controls of the boat, was fined #61 by a Mexican court after being found guilty of negligent homicide. He was also ordered to pay #1,450 in damages to her two sons, Jamie and Louis, who witnessed her death. Jean MacColl, 79, who has been fighting for justice for her daughter since the accident, said she and her family were "flabbergasted" at the sentence. "It has never been about getting money, you cannot put a value on human life, but a #61 fine has shocked everyone," she said. Folk singer MacColl was killed on holiday in south-east Mexico while diving with her two sons in 2000. Cen Yam was a deckhand on the speedboat and questions have been raised about whether he should have been driving because he had little or no experience. Mrs MacColl is now considering her next move in the campaign, including appealing against the sentence. Jean MacColl has set up a website for the campaign She is planning to travel to Mexico with a television crew to find out for herself what happened following the accident and the legal process that led to such a small fine being imposed. Donations "I don't know whether the amount of the fine is how Mexican law works, but if it is then the law should be changed," she told BBC News Online. "I want people brought to account which will be the only justice." The Justice for Kirsty campaign has been soaking up money from Kirsty's estate and her mother is asking for public support in her fight. "I have been using Kirsty's money to fight this but now this must stop because the money should go to her children." She is calling for donations and has been inspired by the money that has been sent in by members of the public. The daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl, Kirsty was best known for her 1987 Christmas hit with The Pogues, Fairytale of New York, and the hit single There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis. MacColl's other hits include a cover of Billy Bragg's song A New England, and a version of The Kinks' track Days. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:37:14 -0500 From: The Great Quail Subject: Re: The name game, cont'd Rex ex's: > Nine Inch Nails strikes me as a totally crap name. Not quite as bad as Rage > Against the Machine Oh man! Those are two names I totally love! Favorite Quail band names: Joy Division Pink Floyd King Crimson Einsturzende Neubauten Olivia Tremor Control Nine Inch Nails Rage Against the Machine Mercury Rev The Grateful Dead The Dead Kennedys Tin Machine System of a Down University of Errors Favorite album titles: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun Starless and Bible Black It is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space Fields of the Nephelim I can already feel Eb warming up the sarcastic comment machine, - --Quail ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:55:56 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: The name game, cont'd On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Rex.Broome wrote: > perhaps the flipside of The Pastels or the Softies, who are SOL if they > decide to do a grindcore record. But if your whole band-concept is > self-limiting anyway, no big deal. And then there's Kindercore Records, who decided that they would just go ahead and change the type of music they put out and it would be okay as long as they changed their logo (which is now white-on-black and involves a skull). a ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:47:39 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: RE: Operation Octopussy Quoting "Jason Brown (Echo Services Inc)" : > Here's an interesting US Army War College on the subject of Operation > naming practice: > http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1995/sieminsk.htm What's really interesting about this (I've only skimmed it so far) is that it seems to utterly ignore the fact that the perceptions engendered among a significant proportion of the population by names such as "Operation Just Cause" is exactly the opposite of what's intended: that is, like me, they view such names as transparently manipulative, defensive, and ultimately undermining of whatever potentially viable reasons there might be to support the operation. In other words, if they have to resort to Hallmark Carding an operation, even if it seems praiseworthy, they must know something they're not telling us to try to prettify it. This reminds me of the obliviousness too common to marketing people generally: Rose, my wife, works in an architecture firm, and one of the firm's leaders comes from a marketing background and is very into the notion of "branding" - which in this case means something like (in its positive sense) helping clients determine what a building might be used for, how personnel and the public might interact with it, and how those two things work together to mold whatever image the client is going for (figuring out that image is the first step). So far, so good...but the marketing person takes it further, and tries to sell these ideas in ways that are, to me, stupid and even insulting - such as requesting that the "team members" presenting to the clients put on skits, roleplay, etc. She (the marketer) seems incapable of imagining that such amateur theatricals might utterly turn off many clients (and employees), and dismisses internal criticism with a disappointed look and comments that so-and-so is "not a team player." Yes, it's a field day for the cliches. Funny - most advertisers are quite aware that cynicism has taken pretty strong root in American culture - to the extent that they market directly to it (paging Thomas Frank...). Stop me now, before this turns into a rough draft of an essay. ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: it's not your meat :: --Mr. Toad ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:49:55 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: Operation Octopussy Quoting The Great Quail : > >Since then, it's been one > > forcefed spoonful of treacle after another... > > Except for "Desert Storm" and "Desert Fox." Those were good ones, > especially > "Desert Storm." A surprising pit of poetry, there. Well, certainly "Desert Storm" isn't so obvious in the way that "Operation Just Cause" is (although I like to think of that one as "Operation Just 'Cause We Can") - but it's certainly very Simpson/Bruckheimer - I mean, wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger in that one? ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb :: --Batman ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:02:18 -0600 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: The name game, cont'd Quoting The Great Quail : > System of a Down Okay, what the...? Does this mean something in Armenian? I mean, what is a "down" in this sense? And why does it have a system? Is this a reference to advice from an English-challenged football (US) coach? Sorry - this has always struck me as one of the dumbest names possible. It sounds like the sort of phrase a stoned high school kid would come up with - "Dude - I've got it...'System...of a *Down*'!" "Whoa, dude - that's wicked cool!" etc. etc. ..Jeff, pointing out that both AC/DC and Motorhead are fine band names... J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: it's not your meat :: --Mr. Toad ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #124 ********************************