From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V2 #138 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Monday, April 15 2002 Volume 02 : Number 138 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: [loud-fans] Best. Obituary. Ever. [John Cooper ] [loud-fans] another query for the Oracle [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey ] Re: [loud-fans] The Divine Comedy [Elizabeth Brion ] Re: [loud-fans] The Divine Comedy [AWeiss4338@aol.com] Re: [loud-fans] Jon's Swap CD [Jon Gabriel ] Re: [loud-fans] Sunday chat [Miles Goosens ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 23:59:30 -0700 From: John Cooper Subject: RE: [loud-fans] Best. Obituary. Ever. Great obituary, though! On 4/14/02, Overall_Julianne@isus.emc.com wrote: >He may have had interesting adventures in life, but he died at 59 of >alcoholism and emphysema. Basically, the guy drank and smoked himself to >death. >How pathetic. > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Dave Walker [mailto:dwalker@freeke.org] >> Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2002 9:30 PM >> To: loud-fans@smoe.org >> Subject: [loud-fans] Best. Obituary. Ever. >> >> >> Watch the linewrap... >> >> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$FRUI4UYA >> AG0TXQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0? >> view=DETAILS&grid=&targetRule=10&xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F04%2F09% >> 2Fdb0903.xml >> >> -d.w. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 00:09:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Gabriel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] TV - --- Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > On Fri, 12 Apr 2002, Joseph M. Mallon wrote: > > > Best new show, hands down. > > Okay, I know what this phrase *means*, of > course...but what the hell does > it *mean*? So if there's some doubt, can we say > "best new show, hands up"? > Or perhaps "best new show, hands in a sort of > sideways posture halfway > between up and down"? From http://www.word-detective.com/011502.html Dear Word Detective: What is the origin of "hands down"? -- Alan Graner, via the internet. Thanks for asking my favorite sort of question. Here's an idiom that almost everyone has heard, and many of us frequently use. Yet most of us, including me until a few minutes ago, don't seem to notice how fundamentally weird it is, and it isn't until someone asks that we realize that we've been harboring a mysterious oddity in our vocabularies. It's as if we got up one morning to discover a kangaroo in the shower. In fact, it's worse. I mean, it's not as if you can just call Animal Control when you've got a question like that. Onward. "Hands down" means, of course, "easily" or "with little or no effort," and it's most often heard in the context of someone or something "winning hands down." Surveys of consumer products in which one product clearly outclasses the others almost invariably announce that "The Gizmo 2000 won hands down" or the like, often coupled with the phrase "no contest." When I first considered "hands down," I wondered if this phrase might have come from card playing, perhaps in reference to losing players being so discouraged by the winning player's overwhelmingly superior "hand" that they cast theirs down on the table in disgust. Or perhaps, I thought, "hands down" originally referred to one party in a fistfight or boxing match dropping his hands from fighting posture as a signal of surrender. Proud as I am of those theories, however, I was happy to find the real answer in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Hands down," it seems, dates back to the mid-19th century and harks, not from card-playing or schoolyard fisticuffs, but from the genteel world of horseracing. A jockey nearing the finish line well ahead of the competition, with victory certain, would often relax his posture and drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, as his steed galloped the final few yards. To win a race "hands down," therefore, was to win it easily, without any serious competition, and by the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean "with no trouble at all." ===== 777777777777777777777777777777 JON GABRIEL mesa, arizona usa inkling communication + design 777777777777777777777777777777 Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 10:18:59 -0500 (CDT) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: [loud-fans] another query for the Oracle Since I got my linguistic question answered so quickly (thanks Jon!), I'll try with this one, much more practical: Can anyone recommend a decent pen that won't blotch all over the place? It needs to have a fine point, as I write pretty small. I don't want to spend two million dollars...but I'm tired of buying el cheapo pens that blotch ink all over my students' papers, and certainly something in the $10-$20 range or higher would ultimately be a better investment. (Offlist with this one, probably - thanks.) - --Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::I suspect that the first dictator of this country will be called "Coach":: __William Gass__ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 08:54:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Gabriel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] another query for the Oracle I'm a Uniball man, myself. Wow, that didn't sound good. I'm a Uniball PEN man, myself. Jon - --- Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > Since I got my linguistic question answered so > quickly (thanks Jon!), I'll > try with this one, much more practical: > > Can anyone recommend a decent pen that won't blotch > all over the place? It > needs to have a fine point, as I write pretty small. > I don't want to spend > two million dollars...but I'm tired of buying el > cheapo pens that blotch > ink all over my students' papers, and certainly > something in the $10-$20 > range or higher would ultimately be a better > investment. > > (Offlist with this one, probably - thanks.) > > --Jeff > > J e f f r e y N o r m a n > The Architectural Dance Society > www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html > ::I suspect that the first dictator of this country > will be called "Coach":: > __William Gass__ ===== 777777777777777777777777777777 JON GABRIEL mesa, arizona usa inkling communication + design 777777777777777777777777777777 Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 15:36:04 -0700 From: Carolyn Dorsey Subject: [loud-fans] The Divine Comedy Has anyone heard them enough to recommend? I heard a couple songs and they sort of remind me of Radiohead. Re: pens- I always use a waterproof pilot pen. They never smudge and they are about 2 dollars each. I don't believe in spending more that that for a pen. I got a Montblanc pen a few years ago for a Christmas present and of course I lost it. Carolyn ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 12:50:54 -0700 From: Elizabeth Brion Subject: Re: [loud-fans] The Divine Comedy At 3:36 PM -0700 4/14/02, Carolyn Dorsey wrote: >Has anyone heard them enough to recommend? I heard a couple songs and they >sort of remind me of Radiohead. I haven't noticed any Radiohead similarities, but I've been slowly getting into them lately and I think they're extra-fabulous. I've only got their latest album, Regeneration, and the greatest hits, both of which I'd recommend highly. From the evidence at hand and what I've read, Regeneration is much more straight-ahead than their earlier work, which tends toward the awfully clever. That doesn't bother me, but if it does you, the latest effort might be the place to start. Completely off-topic: Can anyone recommend a genius travel agent? We're trying to plan our honeymoon, and I'm finding my usual travel resources (Orbitz, Travelocity, that sort of thing) are very difficult to work with when your query is: "Here's how much money we have. Where could we go and for how long?" The only local place I've found seems to come back with prices twice as high as what I can find myself. I need help. Also off-topic and annoyingly personal: I owe some of y'all email, and I haven't forgotten about it - I'm just buried with post-wedding stuff and website layouts at the moment. I'll get back to you as soon as I have life in hand a bit! - -- Elizabeth ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 22:09:47 +0000 From: "Brian Block" Subject: [loud-fans] Sunday chat In case anyone feels like kicking off the weekly Loud-Fan chat, i'll be hanging out at irc.dal.net/#loudfans for a while. G'day! - -Brian _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 19:15:56 EDT From: AWeiss4338@aol.com Subject: Re: [loud-fans] The Divine Comedy In a message dated 4/14/02 3:52:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, elizabeth@fringehead.com writes: > Completely off-topic: Can anyone recommend a genius travel agent? > We're trying to plan our honeymoon, and I'm finding my usual travel > resources (Orbitz, Travelocity, that sort of thing) are very > difficult to work with when your query is: "Here's how much money we > have. Where could we go and for how long?" The only local place I've > found seems to come back with prices twice as high as what I can find > myself. I need help. > > The American Automobile Association is a great travel angency, I've used them for all my trips and they've been great. And they get great rates for you. This is not just car trips, but in general. Andrea ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 19:03:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Jon Gabriel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Jon's Swap CD I just remembered, I didn't respond to Andrea's review of my often brilliant, always entertaining swap CD > Fine China-We Rock Harder Than You Ever Knew, >...I like Fine China the best, it was the most > interesting of all of them. I just saw them play with Starflyer 59 at a little Phoenix arthouse and they put on a great show. I purchased their new album and it is much more guitar-based than the synthpop of "We Rock Harder." Still great though. > Over The Rhine i Radio Heaven, Bjork, Heirloom, two > songs that tilt toward > techno, and I like both a lot, and I've never been a > Bjork fan until now, is > this from her current album. Heirloom is from Bjork's latest album, Vespertine. Great album! I think Radiohead and Bjork are the most modern major-label artists around. They seem to be creating music that sounds like nothing else that has come before it. I'm sure they both have influences (esp. Radiohead), but they hide them pretty well. > of montreal, nicki lighthouse, Danielson Famile Big > Baby, cute pop, OM is > nicer and cuter, although I don't know if I could > listen to a whole album of > them. Between the > finernails-scraping-across-the-blackboard vocals and > the > word 'sissy' which if you want to be really PC about > it is homophobic, I > don't really care for DF. It's not cute to be nasty. I always assumed that the DF singer was the one being called "sissy," but after listening to the lyrics more closely, I couldn't tell. Then again, I couldn't figure out what any part of the lyrics meant! Of Montreal is like Cap'n Crunch cereal -- sugary fun, but you can't have it for every meal. > Aphex Twin 54 Cmyru Beats- full on techno, and while > I don't think I could > listen to a whole album of this, or dance to it, as > it would make me dizzy, I > like it, this rocks. I intended to start the CD with the slowest song and work up to the fastest one. After listening through the selections, I thought it was more interesting to start from the obnoxiousness of "54 Cmryu Beats" then immediately go to Low. Come to think of it, Aphex Twin usually starts every album with his most jarring track, then follows it with his prettiest. Great minds think alike, I s'pose. > Thingy Mayday, great pop that i want to hear more > of. I especially like the > chorus, has the right sense of urgency. Thingy is a project of Rob Crow, who also is in Optiganally Yours, Heavy Vegetable, Pinback and a few others. I had thought he operated out of Washington, DC, must recently I heard he lived in San Diego. ::shrug:: He's still great. > New Order, Rock The Shack, this does just that. A > friend from another list > sent me a tape of some of the songs on their new > album and this was on it, > this was one of my faves. Love it, will buy it. I guess you can teach old bands new tricks! :-) > Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American, I have the album, > and this is the best pop > punk album on the charts right now, in fact this > album just wnet gold. I think Jimmy Eat World has been on every swap CD I've made or received in the last year or so. They're from my hometown. > Magnetic Fields, All the Umbrellas In London, I've > been playing this song > over and over, it's my fave. In a better world > Stephen Merrit would be huge, > and this song would be #1 on the top 40. AMEN! Thanks for the speedy review and glad you enjoyed the CD! Jon ===== 777777777777777777777777777777 JON GABRIEL mesa, arizona usa inkling communication + design 777777777777777777777777777777 Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 23:00:57 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Sunday chat At 10:09 PM 4/14/2002 +0000, Brian Block wrote: >In case anyone feels like kicking off the weekly Loud-Fan chat, i'll be >hanging out at irc.dal.net/#loudfans for a while. G'day! A dedicated remnant of us are still there. I might be persuaded to stay up for another hour. Feel free to harangue me about how my Momus compilation sucks, that I was a sucker to stay home and not go see Cracker tonight at 3rd & Lindsley, or any number of other subjects. later, Miles np: Blondie, EAT TO THE BEAT ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V2 #138 *******************************