describe who you are

Now Anthony :) Do you really want me to? Gale ( The Old Crow! :)

I EAT STUPID NEWBIES

I live in London - well, I now sofa surf in London while staying with relatives in Herts, trying to ride out the recession and a string of setbacks. (I have been a computer programmer, web developer, and advertising "creative" in other lives.) I did live in the states for 15 years, tho. I am a failed artist/illustrator who was disillusioned with art by being a whore to the advertising industry. I play guitar in a "cult" (read: minor) indie-pop girl band called The Lollies. I have given up having lovers after some horrifying experiences, and now just satisfy myself with passionately unrequited crushes on tolerant friends. Religiously, I am a recovered Anglican turned Agnostic sliding gently into paganism. Politically, I've swung so far to the left (raised by hardcore socialists) that I'm come out on the right and have outed myself as a Monarchist. What else do you need to know?

I'm Tom. I 'work' as an 'Internet Analyst' and I spend my money on CDs, books, food, drink, and getting buses to see my friends. I like almost everyone on ILE and wish I saw more of them more often. I love writing but I don't do very much of it at the moment, and feel bad about that. I live and work in Oxford and play in London. My politics are a confused mishmash of contrarianism, pragmatism, leftism and libertarianism. I like pop music and know a lot about it. I know enough to bluff about a lot of other things. Not films though. Right now I'm listening to "Your Disco Needs You" by Kylie Minogue (Ally was right). I'm reading "Mason And Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon and Montaigne's Essays. I don't talk about my sex life on ILE. I'm an atheist. This year I started reading the sports pages in newspapers.

I am Lucy. My first post was semi-anonymous as Ally C's girlfriend because he said something cheeky and didn't realise I was lurking. That is why I am also Madchen. I have just been made redundant from a failing telecom company who won't let me go on garden leave quite yet, which is getting annoying because I start each day thinking it will be my last and it doesn't quite turn out that way. I am a Belle & Sebastian fan, as are most of my friends. Today, I am wearing a pair of flared corduroy trousers, a cardigan and nerdy spectacles. Make of this what you will. At the moment I am reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and Gallileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel, who I thought was a chap. I don't actually love everything, but I do love tuna steaks that are still nearly raw in the middle, stilettos and the Antiques Roadshow.

Hello! I'm Will. I'm 25 years old, and I work for a design agency. I don't really have a job title, I just muck in wherever I can. I'm getting a bit bored with it now, so I'm training part-time to be a teacher. I hope to teach English in Paris next year to brush up my French. I like all kinds of music. I want to do a PhD sometime in the future, but I don't know when. I like taking walks around London, and bright autumn days. I go on about my love life too much, and I like going to the cinema. I have met some of the ILErs (I've known one ILEr for over ten years!) But I would like to meet more of you.

I am a girl called rainy. I finished my fine arts degree five minutes ago. I live a charmed life, except for one day earlier this week when a man burped on me when I was at the supermarket.

Hello. I'm Mark, I'm 27 and I like to talk about myself, so this thread is right up my alley. I started contributing to ILE at the beginning of November after my dear friends Cabbage and Madchen kept having in-discussions which made me feel left out, and because I went to a party and met the very lovely Tom, Emma and Pete. I have also heard Tom murder karaoke standards. I have also been made redundant (I prefer "taken redundancy", i.e. was going to resign but found a way of doing it that gave me lots of cash) from my job as a development manager in children's animated TV. I hope to find another one, but better. I'm not great with art, literature and even music nowadays, more taking the occasional dip than smothering myself in them. I also like belle and Sebastian, to the point opf once saying in front of a roomful of journalists "You're the best band in the world!" Ex atheist, now agnostic who loathes dogma. Lazy and unmotivated, plagued by guilt and self-doubt, but hey, who isn't? Am wondering how to pass my imminent unemployment without being miserable.

Me = Sarah. I am 20 and live in Brixton with Alix who also posts on here. I am vs the Baddies and she is the arsemonkey. Also living with us are Alice and Tall DJ Dan who has been living with us for MONTHS but I have spoken to him about three times. I like eating meat. I love gravy. I work in D3FR4 round Whitehall way as a lowly long-term temp. I can type very quickly. Don't ask me about progressive ruralism! I'm currently reading "Group Portrait with Lady" by Heinrich Boll. Last three CDs I've listened to have been: THIS MORNING: 3" Steps CD-R that Brian (not McDonald!) made for me, LAST NITE (yer Strokes no not really):, Magnetic Fields - Charm of the Highway Strip, and BEFORE THAT last nite: um, Out on the Floor, a Doby Gray collection. SOUL! I want to get Steps Gold. The last SLABS OF VINYL I have been listening to have been: yer Tompaulin album, Not Too Soon by them Throwing Muses (however those two are both RickyTs), THE SKODAS: everybody thinks everybody else is dead bad!, the Bodines (Therese) and BASEMENT JAXX. I like sushi, burgers, chips and gravy, computer games, and I want to learn Linux. I can get very enthusiastic about things. My favourite drinks are BITTER, midori and ramune. I love Japanese things. Speaking of which I must remember to go and buy some more packs of Pocky at lunch. Mmmm, snackable... oh yes I also wuv MOLESWORTH and I approve of capital letters in writing. I are not being rockist, I am punXoR!!! Also, my favourite items of clothing right now are my BOOTS and my over the knee stripey TIGXoR SOCKS!

i am katie G and i live with RickyT and my lovely boyfriend who wishes to remain anonymous on these pages as he's scared i'll embarrass him (as if!). my hobbies are playing all types of guitar quite badly, but especially bass in another minor indiePop band. i covet sparkly things. especially sparkly guitars. i am currently re- reading 'Chaos' by James Gleick as it's like being on drugs. my favourite things to cook are cakes and curries and i am a vegan who has recently gone organic as i'm very concerned about the state of farming today. i aspire to be a redhead. i like wearin black but hate goths.

I'm Richard. I work as an applications programmer for an animations company, but probably not for much longer. I am geek in that I play with computers for fun as well as profit. I live in London with my best friend Katie (who also posts on ILE) and her boyfriend. Religiously, I'm a weak atheist and politically a pinko lefty liberal. I am loud and opinionated and as stubborn as a mule. The three records I've listened to most over the last week are Change by the Dismemberment Plan, Kompakt 3 and the Associates' Sulk and I'm currently reading Europe by Norman Davies after realising I knew alarmingly little about European history. I love beer, whisky, curry and badgers and fancy both men and women. I found ILE via ama, Freaky Trigger and ILM.

They call me Geoff, though I am thinking of changing it to Goeff, just to confuse people. I am a writer of lit/music crit, an author of a book called fuct & Fiction, an admirer of Mapplethorpe and patti smith, and a lover of a good lou reed lyric. i grew up in rural australia, have lived in argentina for a while, and have also consumed my fair sharre of horse tranquiliser.

I am Emma and 26 and live in North London with fellow ILEer Pete (but not WITH him we have a platonic relationship that occasionally descends into violence e.g. last Friday but I blame the indie disco for driving me over the edge). I work for a Large Fashion Company but don't do anything glamorous there, I don't even have my own minions. I have a rapidly growing elastic band ball on my desk. I like: vodka and other forms of alcohol, shopping, dancing, beaches, thinking about the boots I am about to buy and cats. I don't like: indie discos, mashed potatoes and people who stick their books in my face on the tube.

As I might be guilty of launching the impetus behind this whole thread due to what I started on "cliques/elitism," it would be absurd for me not to respond here = ) I think it's cool that you're all reintroducing yourselves to each other too, since it's always good to find out if someone has changed or updated some aspect of themselves, that you weren't aware of (i.e. altered their religious beliefs).

I just have to say though that: "I EAT STUPID NEWBIES

-- elitist ([email protected]), November 22, 2001. "

that is hilarious. i should be paranoid, right?

I am 21, attending college in Los Angeles but originally from Pittsburgh, where I was born. My parents immigrated from India in 1972; I've been there 8 times. I like lots of different types of music; I love films too but have many great ones left to see - I am a film student, cliche for this city, I know. Aside from suffering from chronic-procrastinatitus, I am an (ex-?)internet addict, as I said in that thread. My life has been bizarre, or at least it comes across as incomprehensible to anyone I'd confide it. I have been studying astrology for the past 7 years of this lifetime. I was brought up Hindu and still basically am but accept the spiritual side of all religious; my whole spiritual side is probably the most interesting or private thing about me, which is why I am reluctant to talk about it. I am conflicted in terms of sexuality but I am madly in love. I have had more than one major mental/nervous breakdown, and I have a pet bird at home, Baby Lou, who is also psychologically disturbed since my family never was very good with pets. He's the 14th bird we've had since all the rest either died or escaped...

ok I think that's enough for the [email protected] to know FOR NOW

I am 27 and live in leafy Highgate, North London. I have a degree in philosophy which I am putting to no use whatsoever ensconced as I am in my none-too-fulfilling job for a web hosting and domain name company. I love football (YID ARMY), music, films, TV and polar bears. Drinking and smoking are two of my favourite hobbies but the former often leads to trouble/embarassment/ridiculous dancing.

Sam. Computer programmer for an investment bank in London. Not entirely sure I want to do it any more, but bucX0R very good. Grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa but have v. Anglicised accent due to teenage pretensions and longing to be in Britpop band. Play guitar (An SG, Nude Spock will be pleased to hear) and love Rawk moosick. Politically somewhere to the right of Boris Johnson. (Feeling increasingly uncomfortable on ILE as a result of this. Not about to change views though due to being young fogey.) After much teenage turmoil am a very standard-issue Anglican turned agnostic. Am currently reading Lempriere's Dictionary by someone whose name I forget, Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (her mother was Auberon Waugh you know), the new Stephen Hawking (pretty pics and I now have a handle on superstrings) and the second Harry P.

I'm Gareth, live in london with 3 girls, i've been in london for 2 ½ years, originally from Bradford, West Yorks. i like music (like, duh) and things i've been listening to recently include The Other People Place, Suede, Jay-Z, Moodymann, Autechre and Dom Um Romao.

i never really read that much until the last year or so, when i've read voraciously. i'm currently reading Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography, and will soon embark on Bulgakov. i love maps, and the tube map is one of the greatest works of arts evah, i'm an atheist leftist libertarian. buffy is the best programme on tv, but i like anything that could come under the heading "american highschool teen comedy romance"

I like going out and having fun. i have a website called Surface Vs Depth, which contains a blog called 1471, and i look like this, and also this

(Also, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and Pokémon feature hugely in my life)

Laurence Norfolk, Sam? (I think)

(And I was born in yer Highlands of Scotchland, moved to Southampton when I was about 3, but moved up to PRESTON (NORTH!) yay! after about a year. I am Northern ey oop ect)

My name is Pete, 28, and I run a relatively small Students'Union in London. I am the first person to do this job and have done so exceedingly sucessfully - though I am underpaid I have done it wothout expending too much effort. However I am feeling a bit too comfortable and am seriously toying with career change/going back into education. I was here from day one, also on ILM from day one but I don't go there anymore because I don't love music half as much as I used to. I still own loads of records though and can easily bullshit a conversation about music - but much prefer the cinema (though I actually dislike the London Film Festival quite intensely). The rest of my time is spent drinking and I have been lead to believe I am quite good value in a pub. I too do not write anywhere near as much as I should, but I am not quite so worried about it as Tom. I went to college with Tom, though he did not like me there, and I was at best non-commital towards him. I live with Emma of this parish, who I also used to go to college with where I probably ruined her life. I do not talk about my sex life on ILE, but for completely different reasons to most people.

(I should probably also say that I'm 26, and that I also love maps and adore the tube diagram)

Gareth you have nicked the WHO ARE YOU thing off the Duke and his Tangents site and I claim my free cuddly lemur.

I'm Anna and I'm a journalist on a dance music magazine, but have far broader taste in music than my job title would suguest. I lurk terribly on ILE and rarely get up the confidence to post anything. I live in north London and I drink too much on weeknights. I am currently eating a toasted cheese and ham croissant and for this moment in time it is the best food ever. I like buying magazines published in the 50s and 60s. I prefer to go to the cinema on my own. I have lots of red curly hair that falls out and forms little hair tumbleweeds everywhere I go. I will read anything and everything that is put down in front of me. I hope I'm a good person, but who can ever really tell?

Pete omitted to mention the fact that he is terrible at spelling but then that should be obvious from his post. And I omitted to mention that I can be a right pedantic bitch at times.

I am Chris, I'm 28 and occasionally answer to the name Cabbage. I live in Walthamstow, East London. I arrived here thanks to ILM which I lurked on more than I posted on as my music critique tends to be either "I like it" or "that's rubbish"

I work for a large multi-national but only til next March when I get made redundant, get given a wodge of cash and then go travelling for a while rather than pay off my considerable debts.

The last three things on my turntable were: Jay-z, Tompaulin and Kurupt. My reading at the moment is split between two books, 4-2 by David Thompson and re-reading Glamorama by Brett Easton-Ellis.

I'm a cynical, hopeless romantic, an atheist and am leftist in my politics.

My major loves in life are Football, music, teen films, food and boozing (often with various people who have posted above, one of whom I've known for nine years, the others around two.)

Will: that's the fella. Also, I'm 25 and I live in Peckham. I'm told this makes me an interesting person.

I barely liked anyone at college, NB. This whole 'liking people' thing is relatively new to me and I quite enjoy it.

Emma
I thought being a right pedant was required here ?

Its not so much my lousy spelling as my blank refusal to proof read anything I have written. I have been enjoying "Scorpion" by Eve a lot this week and reading The Sparrow by Mary Dora Russell.

Hi, I'm Marcello. I was born in Italy but grew up in the Clyde Valley not far from Glasgow. I came down to Oxford in the early '80s to do a degree in English Language and Literature where I met a lovely fellow student called Laura whom I subsequently married. Tragically Laura died in August of this year of laryngeal cancer, just seven or eight weeks after diagnosis, and I've been trying to reassemble my life ever since.

I earn my living as a "career" NHS manager (yah boo etc) and currently run the Gastroenterology Unit at St George's Hospital. I did live in Oxford but following Laura's death have recently relocated to London.

Difficult to quantify my love of music but I suppose I'm a sort of bridge between Mark Sinker and Robin Carmody - from pure pop to post- Ornette improv.

I definitely feel at the moment that I'd like to talk to fellow posters in the flesh rather than online but I always try to be as honest and entertaining as I can be on these boards (which is admittedly not very).

I'm Suzy and I work as a contributing editor/features writer for an Edgy Fashion Magazine. I also write and edit books. I moved to London from America just over 10 years ago to be closer to the culture I liked and live BANG in the centre of Central London. When I started posting on ILM I only knew one of the regular posters well (not counting the muzak journalists). I like odd art school bands and people, thrift shopping, and I eat American Republicans for breakfast. To let off steam I cook, and sometimes put the how-tos here.

i'm = jess. and i am 23 and probably the first american up early enough this morning to post to this thread (i live 30-40 mins. south east of philadelphia, banished to the suburbs by cru-el fate.) i'm the supplies manager of a college bookstore, and it is like those mythical red assed baboons ricky t wants to capture, riding my back and biting me occasionally. (i am seriously contemplating returning to college at the moment, as i never finished the first time round.) music is my life and my wife (and i really want to Write about it, seriously, ya know, for money, but that'll prolly never happen.) the ten cds in my computer desk rack are: 500% dynamite, bubba sparxxx, mogwai, the art ensemble of chicago, radiohead, kompakt total 3, the human league, billie holiday, family fodder, and nobukazu takemura. i discovered ilx...well, i don't remember frankly, but i had been lurking since about june and started posting in august. i quite like it, so much so that i occasionally have to think about exiling myself from it to get work done. i run my own, much neglected blog and a collaborative one with fellow ilx'er daver popshots. i also lurve burritos, comic books, monkeys, and a girl named nancy.

Hello. My name is Alasdair, I live in Milngavie just outside Glasgow with my brother and sister and mum, and am currently in the process of trying to put my degree in Mathematical Sciences to some use i.e. attempting to get a proper job rather than the shitty bar work I do now.

I have a nagging guilt that I will always be too lazy to be a real success at anything I do, and I fear that someone will employ me on the basis of my apparent skills, which are actually non-existent.

Right now I am listening to Poundsign and The Gothic Archies on this here pooter, and I just spent the last 10 minutes trying to learn the solo to Acoustic Guitar on the acoustic guitar. I like playing the acoustic guitar, though I am rubbish. I would like playing the electric guitar too, if I had one. I want Starry's.

My favourite film is Annie Hall by Woody Allen, my favourite book could well be Something Happened by Joseph Heller and my favourite album is something like Before Hollywood by The Go-Betweens.

I am an atheist, and perhaps the world's biggest Pinefox fan.

I'm DG, I was once called David but it seems only my initials are relevant now. I'm 21 and live in east London (yes I do) where I spend my dole money as irresponsibly as possible. I know more than I should about certain diseases and would quite happily eat my own body weight in this stuff.

Hello. I'm Nick. I'm 28. I am rumbustious, fun and doubly incontinent.

Fat Free MAtzos , Oy Vey , Fat makes them good, schmaltz=good !

NOTHING should be fat free (except me of course.)

My name is Marianna, and I am almost 23. I was born in Grand Rapids, MI and now live in Crouch End, North London. When I was at University, I was a DJ at the radio station, where I played P!O!P! music. I met my husband and fell in love w/ him while interviewing him in that dirty basement radio studio. When I was 12 I won lots of math and science competitions, and when I was 19 I won an award for writing a short story about my dad. But I haven't won anything since then. I can play the guitar and cook. I work for a giant IT company. This year I wanted more Buffy videos for my B-Day, but my parents sent me shoes and clothes instead. I made a mix-tape this morning and am listening to it now. I am a cheerful person.

Uhhhhh, Matzos w/phildelphia and peppered salami or coated in egg and fried = bliss.

My name's Andrew. I work as a music buyer for a chain of book and music shops. My mum is from Banff in Scotland and my dad is from Cape Town in South Africa. I lived in Scotland til 1997 and then moved to Brighton, and now London's fabulously trendy east end (kidding). I'm in my 30s, which has proved to be nowhere near as depressing as I'd feared. Music was my first love and it will be my last. At the moment my favourite record is "Any Other City" by Life Without Buildings. My favourite band of all time are Oasis. I'm currently reading "Smoke Screen," Robert Sabbag's follow up to "Snowblind." I know a few people on ILE to say hello to. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder and alt-tabbing for Britain...

Which incidentally reminds me how much I want a big bowl of matzoh ball soup BUT WHERE BUT WHERE? No-where on Villiers St sells it. But I must admit that my jacket potato with CHEESE so much CHEESE and beans was absolutely TebbitTastic. Ben P, the next time I come to NYC you must take me out for some of the aforesaid.

Also I had BOAR SALAMI last night and it was PARDISE. OH god I want some more.

Paradise! Argh! Sniff! Snot! Cough! WHO GAVE ME THIS COLD???

i'm toby, and i'm 21 getting on 22. i moved to london a couple of months ago to start a phd in pure maths at imperial college. i was in cambridge before that, and i thought i'd miss it, but at the moment i think that moving to london = best decision i ever made. i live in golders green with a fellow imperial phd student who's also an electronic musician, which means i get to go to some idm gigs for free. i'm an atheist, leftwing libertarian guardian reader. the last novel i read was murakami's "wild sheep chase". i read a lot. i subscribe to private eye and the lrb. the only thing i watch on tv (well, almost the only thing) is buffy. i bleach my hair and tend to wear clothes that get me called a "candy raver" or worse. i think i'd probably have liked to be a cybergoth or whatever when i was 15, but i was far too boring. today i'm listening to the white stripes, slowdive, jay-z, buffy the musical, le tigre, pink, ludacris and john coltrane. three people i know have claimed in the last week that i have a thing about "unstable" girls, but as far as i can tell i just go for girls who look like boys or look like they were probably goths when they were 15. i love cooking.

Hi. I'm Mitch, I'm 19 and I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently studying Fine Arts. I'm short. I'm lazy. Some say I'm amusing, though it is possible that these people are mostly idiots. I'm not decadent enough. Been wit da ILx scene since the beginning. I've learned a lot from this place, a small percentage of it useful, even. Music is one of the things I Love. Songs on my playlist this very moment: NERD - "Run to the Sun"; Broadcast - "Until Then"; Jay-z feat. Eminem - "The Renegade", The Dismemberment Plan - "Superpowers". Boredom and hunger mean I'm not in the best mood right now. Try again later.

stevo. 34. from huddersfield, west yorkshire, have also lived in ulster, southport, york, leeds, liverpool + glasgow (where I was employed as a social worker). during the fag-end of the major administration I emigrated to the netherlands. i live in the university town of leiden where i recently married my long-term dutch girlfriend. overeducated, underemployed, + I am currently listening to the stooges + missy elliot, + reading 'dark continent' by mark mazower + 'the creation records story' by david cavanagh.

Oh,great, I have realised I lived an Allenesque version of Romeo and Juliet with some fellow around here last Summer thanks to this description game. Very accurate.

He didn't go on about his love life with me, though, what does that mean!

Ooooh, gossip. Tell us more.

Allo,
Im eZac and Im falling into the Atlantic Ocean which has me surrounded on the left and right in a tiny strech of land between NB and NS in Canada. I average about a page of h ate mail in the campus paper a year which is pretty good considering I barely write for them anymore. When Im not trying to help friends get their bands from TO to Halifax Im kicking about the idea of grad school. Both of those activities help distract me from my workload of finishing the compsci part of my double major. Just like any other indie geek in the hinterlands of this country, I gots me a campus radio show which at this point is now more an excuse to sign things out of the vinyl library.

OK, cutesy RickyT, I won't describe myself, but if the gentleman who took me on some balcony remembers who I am and what I do, he can take the job as well as he has done with his won (basket) case...

badger. no other name is that necessary. 30 years old. Am supposedly well trained in zoology, but have yet to complete any degree, after ten years of switching majors in secret (to things like General Studies, English Lit, and history.) Lost several years to prescribed antidepressants that I was not supposed to be on. Recently married to Louise in Cardiff a few weeks ago. Spent life with parents on a now fallow farm near a small southern town not far to the north of New Orleans. Raised agnostic, and remain agnostic with a deep love for weirdness. Currently unemployed, and frequently underemployed. Don't know nearly as much about music as i should, but that doesn't stop me from blathering on about it. I know even less about politics, yet choose to intepret events in the most liberal and paranoid that are remotely plausible. Am a failed writer and have dozens of meticulously kept journals and letters in a locked metal box. Now I have an awkwardly named blog that is kept out in the open, and not as embarrassing, although it's close enough. Have one non-fuck-up brother and fewer friends than i had five years ago, but that is a Good Thing. Am stuck on how to proceed, so to hell with it...

and spellchecking remains in a blindspot of the mind.

I am Ronan. I'm 18 and I live in Dublin, Ireland. Right now I am in the library of Dublin City University where I study Journalism. I just started about oh....2 months ago now I guess. Like all the other ILxers, and everyone else in Ireland I like drinking. Mainly vodka at the moment and red bull, however I have had recurring dreams about Elton John and slept badly lately as a result of this. at the moment I have been satisfying my disturbing addiction to country music with Ryan Adams, Emmylou Harris, Marah, and Will Oldham. I also have been listening to Felix Da Housecat and Groove Armada, although often when out. I go for girls that look like the girl I'm going for/with I dunno, and right now I only know one. I don't know if that's relevent to who I am but what the hell. I also like football, and I play most wednesday nights with my mates. However since I smoke and drink and eat too much and get no excercise I am not very fit and thus the subject of humorous mockery on the pitch. I tend to play in what we like to call the Jan Molby role, although I am not as fat as the great man was. That's it I guess.

Hello. I'm Rebecca, I'm 21, and I'm currently stranded in the middle of nowhere twenty miles southwest of Oxford. I don't post that often but when I do I write far too much. I like cats, records that nobody else on ILE would admit to liking, and drinking too much caffeine. I am currently sitting at home putting on vast amounts of weight all day every day while pondering whether it's less shameful to drop out of uni or to go back and fail my degree. Whee!

This week I have mostly been listening to the radio because I'm too lazy to listen to any CDs, but recently I have bought loads of stuff on Warp, Pole 3, Les Savy Fav, and (ulp) reunited myself with the Monsoon Bassoon album, which I like but everyone else here will laugh at me for owning. Sniffle. I found ILE by lurking on newsgroups reading posts by people here and then reading their blogs. I am only in minor indiepop bands in my dreams. I am not actually very interesting so I'll shut up now.

(PS where do you get hold of boar salami, Starry?)

Is it just me or have we noticed a disproportionately large preponderance of Maths graduates on ILx.

Laeticia, I think I remember! 3a Mell Street. It was very cold! I think I offered my jacket. If I didn't I'm very sorry. You do a PhD (have you finished?) in physics, in Nottingham, am I right? and you worked in Starbucks for a while.

You're on the Sinister mailing list...?

God, if I'm wrong, I am going to look a right dunce, but that has never stopped me before...

Through my "contact" in Sainsburys Harringay. (At least, I *think* it was boar salami. It was absolutely bleeding YUM. Head to yer nearest good deli counter and have a look)! Mmmmmmm, putting on weight... which reminds me, I have a big block of chocolate in my desk. DO I EAT OR DO I NOT? Ah the good old dilemma, responsible for so much hurt and suffering... actually I am stuffed on POTATO so I shan't.

eat, eat girlchik! you are nothink but skin and bones. candy is good for you. when i was being younger, we had no candy for weeks at a time...

(and so forth.)

Actually, I think I know who Will is talking about and it's not Laetitia. If it is, then um... I'm very sorry! But Will IS reminding me of someone else... who incidentally should be in London rather soon! And if Laetitia = person who I know under false name then we're all fooled arrghhh.

But what does it all MEAN?

Meaning, eh? What is the deal with that?

I've got a boar salami, though some people say elephant. I'm more modest than that, though.

I am sexy. I have grey-blue eyes. My five most recent records listened to were I am the World Trade Centre, Flying Burrito Brothers, Laura Cantrell, King Tubby and Roy Orbison, although I only own 1 song by all of the above. I am 6 foot tall and have always hankered for a girl who's taller than me. My alcohol progression has gone cider, pink lady, newcastle brown ale, Directors, 50p a litre carton white wine, Stella, Australian red, Chilean red, red of all nations, Scapa, Armagnac. I have a gap between my front teeth. I have seen Starry's knickers.

i'm maura, and sometimes i am maura dot com. 26, living in a lovely section of philadelphia where i have a diner across the street and lots of shops that sell marvelously smelly cheeses within walking distance. for my day job i write about music, bars, and tourist attractions for a major online city guide; on the side i dj at princeton university's radio station and write about music and books and technology for publications here and there. i've recently started overusing emoticons, much to my horror. magazines i subscribe to: the new yorker, the nation, the progressive, in these times, the new republic, entertainment weekly, harper's, the atlantic monthly. i used to subscribe to ms., but it got too expensive. i used to subscribe to lingua franca, but it went out of business. i can't stop listening to old scritti politti thanks to a cd-r of the peel sessions and '4 a-sides' burned for me by my boyfriend. i am posting this from long island, where i grew up, on a sexalicious ibm netvista. i myself own a powerbook g3. i like aimless car rides, which is sort of not so good since i don't have a drivers' license. my political leanings could be best described as 'contrarian leftist.' i'm anti-identity politicking because i see it as divisive, but i do think that many of my beliefs are motivated by a strong feminist streak within me. i was raised catholic and went to mass last night but i didn't take communion. favorite records of '01 so far (i have to make a list for work by friday): bobby conn, pulp, erase errata, sugababes, ex-models, tight bros from way back when, slumber party, dump. oh i play music, too - i play violin for bands here and there and i'll be on a split single with another person who posts to this board soon. i've been posting to various places online since i was 14 and posting about how i liked tesla to compuserve.

oh, and i bought maura.com in 1996 - people always ask me 'how'd you get that domain?' i didn't even want that name originally - i wanted starla.com instead, but hasbro bought it because it's another name for rainbo brite.

(i'm not very good at writing descriptions of myself.)

Exactly, what does all this mean? Who is going to be in London? Who is who?

You started it! ;-)

I am Tadeusz. I am 31, and I work as a Trusts and Estates/Tax lawyer in New York City. I am currently single, am on the prowl but don't talk about my sex life here. I was raised Catholic, though the religions that appeal most to me are Buddhism and Judaism. Politically, I am a Democrat (and am infamous among some here for my support of Al Gore and my passionate denunciations of G.W., Republicans in general, and Ralph Nader) whose views have become more moderate and pragmatic over time. To the further horror of some, I like Frank Zappa's music a lot, but that aside my musical tastes are in accord with many ILErs. I like literature, film, and the arts in general, though I'm not as on top of any of those as I'd like to be any more. I come here because it amuses me, and many of the posters amuse me.

My name is Josh and I'm dissatisfied with lists of facts about my job and my preferences as a desription of myself, but I don't have any good self-descriptions apart from that handy now, and I never do. I am a Ph.D. student in philosophy at the University of Minnesota, and I live in St. Paul. The things I'm most interested in studying are aesthetics (especially music, but also most of the other arts, and not just arts) and philosophy of math. Not-so-secretly I want to get academics thinking the right way (whatever that is) about pop music, or at least, get them to stop thinking wrong ways, though those are better than not thinking about it at all, which is the norm.

In casual conversation I try to avoid saying what kinds of things I like (say, books, movies, CDs) as assiduously as possible, so that people don't get the wrong idea about me, but I'm not sure that's working out so well.

Will might you be thinking of a Spanish lady in yr original post?

Sarah, what the hell did you mean? Moi: Likes-Dancing in front of the mirror, the smell of fresh bread, Paul Auster(him,his books,his movies) Dislikes- Starbucks (who said I ever worked for them?,you lose ten points)

What Josh is trying to say is that he wuvs Jazz and Emo.

You bitter old man, I claim a free pint from you for that.

Sarah is OTM.

I know someone [x] who sounded a lot like Wills description, but I very much doubted you were [x] due to different writing style never mind email address ect. [x] will be coming to London soon, not you! Unless you are in London! I don't know! I don't like Starbucks, they over roast the coffee, ver buggors.

WILL McC! Did you snog her?

I mean! Will McK! You know what I mean! Crikey :)

Man on a bike you indie kids, I don't know. Is there something in the water at the Betsey Trotwood?

St Sauveur, that is where I am. What is OTM?

OTM = on the money.

I don't know about over there, but: Washington, Lincoln, Franklin, Hamilton, etc. And also Sarah.

NO I DID NOT SNOG HER!! We just had a chat! Now I'm going to keep schtum and be all enigmatic.

Me? What? What did I say now?

Eh? EH?

Did you want to snog her? I don't know why I want to know but I do..........badly

[Aw that's nice Will, a nice chat :)]

Josh, that was appalling.

Who's [x] ???

Yes and it would have been better if not for you butting in. Cockfarmer.

Knobgoblin!

[x] = the person who you had a nice chat with who I am not naming on here because I think she occasionally lurks here too!

RT/Josh - WHOT???

Ronan that information is classified. Sarah, that goes for you, too ;-)

Well, Will, did you snog her?

Will wants to snog me too??? :)

NO!

Hang on Laetitia, did you or did you not do something with the boy McKenzie on a balcony last summer?

Hah!!! I wouldn't want to snog you anyway!!!!

Sarah you posted too quick and my emphatic 'no' was to Laeticia's question above yours. Er.... oh bum, now I've gone all shy.

So either he did want to snog her and is not saying out of embarassment. Perfectly acceptable.

Or er he didn't and is not saying out of eh..........

Hi new people! Welcome to ILE!

Will does not want to snog Sarah because RickyT would kick his ass to hell and back BADGERSTYLE!

will you please sort this out! Will and Latitia have you snogged (on a balcony or not?)

I have images of HOMEBOY BADGERS stuck in my head now like Ice T-Rex from the AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH it's MISTER HELL show! (but badgers).

I get very shy. I always expect to get clobbered if I move to snog a girl.

Will, do you make a habit of indulging in hot balcony action or something?

Clobbered on a balcony is dangerous cos you could fall off. However it would seem it was more a case of slobbered.

Laeticia, have I snogged you? I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't quite remember... :-)

Hot BACONY action...mmmm...

hot balcony action = rowr (except for those of us with a fear of heights.)

still, at least its not cliquey eh?

My balcony was not his balcony, I am afraid...but the one I dropped a hint at has not even replied to it! ILE helped me to find a past at some alternative balcony, which seemed highly amusing.

Allez,Will,est-ce que tu as y pense, au moins?

ok after reading this: does ANYONE talk about their sex like here? jesus

*life

inform me so I'll just read their posts

I know who Will snogged and I do not think it is Laetitia if she has never worked at Starbucks and lives somewhere I haf nevah heard off. Also she does not write in [x]s style so I think Laetitia was thinking of someone else, Will.

I mean had a nice chat with!!! Yes!!

Blimey, you have one busy day and come back to find all this. Nice one anthony for starting this.

I am too unimaginative to post under an assumed name. I am 32, I work in Hammersmith for an evil publishing company providing technical support on all things mac and design-y (and some other even less interesting things).

After graduating with a mixed science/philosophy degree I attempted to be a science teacher at a secondary school. Gave up after a year, moved to London in 1993.

I am mr indie-dance-crossover 1989. nobody on this board likes music that i have strong negative opionions on. i on the other hand regularly profess my love for all sorts of pap that is usually described as "no, that's shit innit"

I wish a)that my interests were less narrow and b)that I knew a lot less trivia about old fantasy/sci-fi tv shoes.

I like autumn, nachos, Bubbles PPG, comics (not kiddy superhero crap), old computers, curry, London Pride, cats, errr.... long romantic walks in the park. I currently have a crush on TV's Jessica Stevenson.

I would love to script comics, and have various outlines and WIPs for fictions in various media (blimey).

I didn't snog Laeticia, and I didn't snog the Spanish girl!

Oh, I'm depressed now.

Still, as Gareth pointed out, I think that we have categorically proved that ILE is not cliquey in any way and we welcome new people at their level, and take things at their pace.

London Indie kids, what's happening Friday?

Take that to London-Indie, Will!

I'd just like to say that due to my cold I'm drinking a lot of water = shame about small bladder and lots of trips to go to the loo. I really can't be arsed and am considering calling for a bedpang.

Bedpang = urgent and key need to go to bed.

Is that the London-Indie yahoo thingie? it's pretty quiet so i'm guessing, not and that it's something more sinister. MUCH more sinister.

Pun intended I hope Alan.

No, that is the bunny. It has been rather quiet of late.

Start a thread asking people to introduce themselves, and it just turns into the usual ILE clique rabbitting on about their in-jokes. SHEESH!

I have that all the time, Pete. I might be taking Friday off, I'm a tired and a bit sickly me, but if anyone comes up with some fun plans I might be up for something. Non commitment = my friend!

ulp, no pun intended. have i inadvertently stumbled on an indie-kid plot. And look anyway, don't you kids ever do the proper dancing with the proper dancing records?

oh and in my biog, shoes = shows

in case that was confusing you

I would Alan but I lost my 70rpm of the Charleston so where I am to do the bunny hop now eh? The Ritz has gorn dreadfully downhill I think, practically dancehall. Perhaps I should visit Lambeth ballroom (doing the Lambeth walk OI OI OI)...

Their idea of a proper-dancing record is Bugsy Malone.

You little rapscallion. i meant the proper modern dancing with the proper modern dancing music and the proper modern dancing druqcks and the proper modern silly sweaty dancing people. and glitter. sometimes

Hrmph. As I have said before I AM BORING and haven't done anything fun EVAH (um okay I have) so no DRUUUGS or all night sweaty dancing (actually yes but not to RAVE) and no glitterballs. So no. And I am young!! What am I doing! What has my generation got for me?? I barely hang out with anyone my age anyway, to be honest. Apart from wuvvly flatmates obv. and whiskey and lemonade work drinking chum. Arrghhh I am having issues you know. I am boring. I will nevah haf a book to write on RAVE AND DRUG culture it will just be about my SLIPPERS, DG do you want to contribute a chapter on pipes? This is a sad state of affairs. Do other 20ish people feel the same way??? Or do I just need to get the fcuk out of the civil service?

I am Graham, originally from Aberystwyth, Wales, mostly from Somerset, recently from east East Sussex, currently in Manchester, England. I am currently listening to/editing a minidisc of local Tom on the radio and Tuesday's John Peel show featuring our local Katie (was the third song any good? I got a phonecall and switched off the radio instead of turning it down, but it's not like...). I'm doing a degree in Media Technology at Salford University, along with my delightful and dashing Welsh mail-order bride Sara, whom I mention at every oppurtunity. Last night I listened to Discosis by Bran Van 3000, The Facts of Life by Black Box Recorder, and Bang Bang etc by our local Lollies, while covering my bedroom ceiling in 400 fairy lights and dreaming of indie gurls. I type this from the library having broken my PowerBook G4, have silly hair, enjoy The Powerpuff Girls, am a vegetarian, study MTV, spend money, and am wibbling and directionless (in the hope people will find this endearing, not because I'm lazy).

Hi! I am Alix. I am 21 and hate introducing myself. I generally tend to tell people how much I like a)Mayonnaise and b)Monkeys. This, is amusing, but ultimately uninformative. This is so no one can really get to know me. Make of that what you will. I am a linguistics student. This makes me quite pedantic. Also, it means I feel quite stupid because I don't think I have learned anything in the last year. I consistently don't live up to my potential. I don't live up to my ponytail either. I also work in A Large Supermarket, where I eat salami and get fairly worked up about stupid little things like very rude people who should be locked up for their impoliteness because, you know there's really no need and do they take a moment ever to think how their behaviour affects other people because really I have been quite upset at times by members of the public. I also know too much about cheese. I am quite amusing, I am told, but have noticed that I don't laugh much. My favourite weather is rain. My future hopes and dreams involve owning a cat and successfully caring for a pot plant. Lately I have been sitting in the kitchen in the morning listening to Radio 4 and eating toast and tea. I won't go to bed until I am very tired because I am afraid of not being able to sleep. I enjoy my company to other peoples. yesterday I had to leave the house at 6am and the walk to the tube was the most serene walk to the tube ever. It was a beautiful morning.

until c.feb 2001 mark s wrote good sense for bad money: idly googling himself as egomaniacs will, he came on THESE COCKFARMING COCKFARMERS ABOVE îîî and now pays phone and net access charges to post trivia and piffle all day long. Local legend has it he knows everything: it is yr mission shd you accept it to prove otherwise. He will be 42 in 7 months time. He has a second-class degree in mathematics and philosophy, obtained back when a Hamiltonian was still a Hamiltonian. He is usually benign, but has occasionally sliced mean chunks off harmless fellow posters viz doompatrol, pinefox, phil mass-transfer and (long ago and long forgiven i hope) sterling clover. His sexuality is non-negotiable, though it currently has no name. He prefers television to ppl, and reading to pets. He dislikes pubs, even when they do stock bud. He is widely adored, yet this acclaim seems brittle, shallow and surely undependable in a true crisis, the decadent ironic calm before the blowback storm of truth and justice. Only two other ppl evah understood punk, and one is dead and the other in a mad house. Luckily he can cook. He eats stupid newbies heh.

Also there's a blog

All I am is all I am (jel = on repeat play)...But no, sit back and enjoy my life story!

I was born in and live in West London. Aged 25. I have an MA in Mass Communications. I'm unemployed at the moment. I'm working all manner of creative projects and looking for jobs.

Music - Hair metal, indie/twee pop, E6/Kindercore, some 60's bands, thrash metal, rock, some electronic type stuff...maybe I'm a rockist, I dunno! *shrug*

I like making art...I have pages of pictures here:

Stuff I make

I like making music...I record as Sleepy Seaplane and the Various Artists. I am also in Buglebear Senior.

Comics (x-men to dan clowes to urusei yatsura) Film (bill and ted, adam smith, Americn Movie, Magnolia, Time Code...)

I tried to keep a blog, but I'm not very good at critical writing. That is all.

My names Bill though my family calls me William but for the purpose of ILx I'm Billy. I'm 36 (just) married to Maria with a 6 yr old son, Scorpio, 6'2 (eyes of blue), live in a village in North Yorkshire although I'm from Berwick on Tweed originally. regular trips to Glasgow keep me sane. I like drinking and getting lost in the hills. I try to be liberal but sometimes I fail. God means nothing to me. I learnt more at school than I ever learnt from a 3 minute record. I'm a weather forecaster, but I keep quiet about it.

I'm a music obsessive, but I have more than a passing interest in anything happening on the cultural landscape esp art, film and literature and the continuing misfortunes of Berwick Rangers FC. Fave song(today), either song to the siren by this Mortal Coil or feel the need in me by the Detroit Emeralds, fave lp Hats by the Blue Nile, film Midnight Cowboy, book dunno I'll have to think about that.
I'm currently reading a biodgraphy of Lee Perry and the last Cd I bought was Royksopp' Melody a.m. Last thing I ate was a cream doughnut with strawberry filling.

kurrently bingin on wheat crunchies and space raiders while easing his career change through Konceptionne, thee seanster werkz as a ROLE MODEL to 1000's[no laffin at tha back]in tha TOON[can you feel it ^BUZZIN^ NoRMaN ?]>tha IL* blogz posse are regularly peeked at byer man#lovin' em...big up tha skurriluz>spent today scribblin choons, much biscuits[count em again damn you] and plannin my 2002 trip to tha Smoke..feelin rite festive [tho fenwicks winda iz v.bllx] so WISHIN YOU a Happy Xmaz - if that ain't likely -well, take care compadres ?;~{-

Hi, I'm Mark Dixon, age 30, born in Liverpool, grew up in Southport, Merseyside, now living with my girlfriend in East London. My first degree was in Cultural Studies and my Masters course was in the History of Art. I'm currently working in a press cuttings agency. I've never posted on ILE before but I've been a regular on ILM for a few weeks.

Fave music: post-punk, psychedelia, 70s reggae, soul, funk, disco, electronica, folk, avant-garde, easy-listening etc etc. The only genre I really dislike is Nu-Metal.

Fave t.v. programme: "Seinfeld". Fave word: oneiric. Fave season: spring. Current reading: "Where I'm Calling From" by Raymond Carver. Most recent film I watched: "Ghost World".

Alright then. My name's Robin, I'm 21, originally from South London, once from Swanscombe, Kent, these days settled in Portland, Dorset. I posted on both ILM and ILE on their first days in existence. I once had my own website which is still at http://www.elidor.freeserve.co.uk, but I fear that my ability to write and update a site like that has gone the way of the Tories' parliamentary majority round here.

I used to contribute regularly to Freaky Trigger / NYLPM and have written for various other websites of relatively limited interest: I've also been published in The Wire. I currently write long, mostly unpublished essays, lyrics, short stories, attempt to write novels, and am endlessly considering musical collaborations with lapsed IL* conributors. I'm quick, slow, quick, quick, slow, you might say. Veers from being a vindictive bastard to being loved by all. Well, that's what *they* say.

Politically: conscious of the past, enthusiastic for the future, modern centre-left but *not* New Labour.

I've threatened to leave often enough, but I know now that I like these forums enough that I'll stick around forever, in some form. I don't like the phrase "progressive ruralism" anymore and I'm not sure I ever knew what it meant. I *might* restart my academic career but probably not. Fat, lazy bastard in the dole queue maybe, but you'd really have to be a Sun reader to think that.

Right, I'll probably go away again now. And return with 20 posts in an hour sometime next week ...

--

Robin Carmody, rambler of this parish, 22nd November 2001 (post-Thatcherite Britain + 11 years).

I am Norman, aged 36. I live with my wife Jill, & 2 1/2 tr old toddler adam. I repair bicycles & electrical appliances for a living. Thee money sux0r, but the work is v. enjoyable. If U have a "Vax" I can fix it.

I Like

Progressive rock

post punk

weird books eg michel faber, JL Borges

Hax0rspeack/GPOrrige-ese

I hate

stupid shit(sorry not v specific it has juct chimed midnight & I am knackered)

I live near newcastle and worh in sunny south shields famous for being mentioned on the inside sleeve of a Tubes LP. It is very good living in thee north-east ov england because it is v cheap & cultured too (IWE we paint woad upon our faces, & go out & club sabre toothed tigers for tea)

(also keep coal in bathtub etc etc)

Recently it dawned upon me that in thee last few years I have become an utter crank. Oh well......

Also I am usually very good at spelling, except when tired (IE now, sigh)

I also play synthesiser (v well) and 12-string electric guitar (v badly) I used to work as a PA engineer (I could probably still FOH or monitor mix yr band pretty well) but don't anymore because it is a bloody awful job. er......

My name is Gale Deslongchamps & I'm the Old Crow here! almost 54 Y/O Mom of 4 Grandmama of 7. I enjoy life. I love to go to live concerts and plays(When I can) Like cooking. swimming boating, & skidooing in winter! :) Gale

― Gale Deslongchamps, Thursday, 22 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

My name is Dianne Smith and I am 22 years old. I am also known as Lady Die and Lucy Lurex. i live in dismal Dunedin, New Zealand. I work as a music assistant at a local high school, and my contract runs out in a weeks time, at this stage i have no idea whether it will be renewed. After my contract runs out i will probably go back to university, to add a music degree to an already-achieved Women's Studies degree.

Religiously, i am an agnostic, as i like to make room for the possibility that i could be wrong (this may stun people who know me). Politically, I am ideologically an anarchist but pragmatically a lefty. I am almost a vegan except for cheese.

My band broke up last weekend, we were called LD50 and we made kick-ass wierd punk rock. We are in the process of making a CD. I played guitar and occasionally did some vocals. I used to be in a now defunct band called the Murdering Monsters, we liked to think of ourselves as a cross between The Fall, The Birthday Party and The Raincoats. I played keyboard. The last three albums I listened to were Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones, No Kissing In Public by Spacedust and Psychedelic Jungle by the Cramps.

I am quite a sweetie but have a nasty side when provoked. I am an angry young woman. Menelaus, Vsepert and Duane are people from ILE I know well in real life, I am also acquainted with Rainy, Maryann, Hamish and Liz.

I have black hair in a bob-cut, blue eyes and I stand at 5'3". I wear clothes of an early 1960's style. My favourite food is curry and my favourite drink is pina colada (made with coconut cream instead of dairy cream, thank you). I am also partial to drinking copious amounts of beer and when i can afford to I smoke Cameos.

I am a student of art and culture. I live in Chicago most of the time. Painting is what I am best at, or maybe I've been doing it for so long it seems pointless to do anything else. Right now I like to paint bodies. my 2 most recent painterly obsessions: Euan Euglow, Tai Shan schierenberg. I also love Ingres, David Hockney's figurative work (his abstracts = gah!) Balthus, etc. The last good book I read was High Fidelity. I'm currently working on Infinite Jest and a bio of Roland Barthes. I DJ a weekly internet radio show with my friend Tim in which we play way too many different kinds of music. On the weekends I teach kids computer classes at grant funded nonprofit hole-in-the-wall neighborhood arts center in Humboldt park. That's it.

I prefer to remain enigmatic - especially since I can't see folks being interested in the trivia that is my life anyway. ;-)

I am lazy, retarded and enjoy eating. I spend a lot of time sneering without realising that no-one is watching me. Sometimes I have big plans and I spend a lot of time on them - on the planning that is. Then I realise it's all futile. I like having my stomach scratched. I get away with being stupid because I'm pretty. I pass through a succession of menial jobs at which I am completely incompetent, but which I find easy to get because I am superficially attractive, although not well dressed, and nobody else is competent at them anyway, so my employers hope my veneer of acceptability will stand in for actual service. Having said that I'm attractive, I should note that it's a kind of retarded attractiveness, the kind ruined by plump knees and untidy, undyed hair and a goofy squinting smile (the smile of an eager dog). I find it easy to impress people, because nobody can believe my vacuous exterior hides such idiocy and maladjustedness. Basically I am part of the playstation generation, without the playstation. Not having the playstation (here I reveal my secret for free) is the key to my slimy charm (I have a few props but they don't have the deep meaning that the desperados attracted to me seem to hope for).

I am Doorag, the 24 Hour Troubleshooter.

I don't look like him, but I am him.

I am Ellie, which isn't quite my real name. I am always cold. I live in Leeds with a quiet man who listens to noisy music, and because of whom I have learned that I don't like Ornette Coleman or Carla Bley, although I am glad that he has bought so many Charles Mingus records. I come to York most days to sit in my office and try to finish a phd; also to make sure that the grebe family on the lake are still ok. I teach here sometimes, and for the Open University. I am so used to being poor that I find it hard to spend money even when I have it, and I have lost the enthusiasm for second hand shopping that I nurtured as a young adult (no patience / sated on kitsch). I wish I could get up early enough on Saturday mornings to catch the PPG; I wish I could be bothered to finish The Blind Assassin, the most tejus Margaret Atwood novel written; I wish I could face taking the stack of 30 tapes home from the office and replace them with new things to listen to.

I googled into ILM by chance. I have never posted there despite being charmed by its knowledge and wit and happily recognising its sensibility because it intimidates me. ILE is not scary and I like it/you. End message.

I am Zoe, but I have been posting as rosemary on various boards for three or four years, so why stop now, I say. At the moment I am living with a friend in Rotherhithe, before that I was in New Cross. I am 24 but only for two more weeks. I recently finished an MA course in Cultural Studies, but I don't think I did that well. I am from New York State, and will return there next month, something I'm not entirely thrilled about. I am just hanging about trying to think of what to do with my life and am currently spending my time going to museums and movies. I like music and books, but I didn't get to listen to music or read last night because the electricity went out.

Hello folks he he he he he now then young man my staunch ally my stalwart comrade am Wally Klemmer is nomenclature with which I was blessed born in 1925 that's 1989 in old money and was IN PRE-DECIMAL CURRENCY and place of birth domicile of creation was Hull except was then called Kingston not to be confused with Kingston on the Thames River boating jolly Eton in Jamaica the regal region of gay boats and painted faces my what a minstrel miscellany they have there in that dark yet fair land. And then embarked upon war as was war War II second of the world War I 2 and joined navy as am former navy man you know eligible to be as such as was born 1913 in Preston Pans minus said pans mark you and got into sundry scrapes my 'twas hilarious and then work for the good of others was Patient Welfare Office at Russ Abbot Hospital in Kensington Chelsea Hammersmith which is W8 very handy for DHSS in Acton Bromyard Avenue being W3 you know only five minutes away when walking or briefer bar bus but very gay upmarket area locale full of raucous rapscallions mind you I say Christmas is coming up super League of Friends raffle do you have old tin of vintage jam jar with jam of 1914 inside used in Ypres for the sons of the soil versus the dreaded hun if jam 1914 remains within tin kindly donate and name shall be entered amid short list for raffle to get tickets to see grand stars of yore in afterlife should be dead decease by Bin Lining attack bomb Ampersand material like asbestos really but then for four bob can see Jack Mind My Bike Warner Waters Elsie and Doris my what a carnival is in store should you enter next universe via raffle of League of Friends go round Kensington knock on door Pestle and Mallet and always give free T-square to good boys in tennis tumult.

I'm Mark. I am 31 years old and have lived in Oxford for the past eight years. Previous to that I studied at Bristol University and before that I lived in Edmonton, north London. I work in content management for a large publishing company and I spend my days correcting and processing scientific journal articles for display online. When not posting on ILE, I contribute to the Belle & Sebastian mailing list, "sinister" and enjoy going to Tom & Steve's indie nite Sussed. I also like going to Strange Fruit evenings at the Highbury Garage and the Spitz, though I make it less often than I'd like. The cds on my stereo of late have included the new albums from Sodastream and Tompaulin. I am currently reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

I'm always on the wrong side of the question mark.

22, living in Montreal since September. Lived in Ottawa before that, 2 hours away but much further in most respects. Finished a B. A. Hons in Music where I mostly did composition and culture studies/popular music studies. I'm applying to grad schools but not sure yet if I want to leave the city in a year. I'm in a good mood because someone just offered me a great opening slot on Dec 1. I'm sort of anxious about other stuff at the same time though. I get sort of moody. People either think I'm really calm or really hyper or are confused. I work at a call centre but I'm starting to get guitar students so I'm cutting down on my hours.

I'm about 5'10", 130-140 lbs, wear glasses, was growing my hair a bit but just had it buzzed.

I go back to a.m.a. I post asinine rants when drunk and wordy slices of neurotic self-deprecation when sober. But I post more to ILM.

I'm listening to Kate Bush's The Dreaming and into it. The last 5.5 albums I listened to before this were a side of Yes's Fragile, Dr S Balachandar's Dikshitar Krithis, The Smiths, Neurosis' Sovereign, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Music by Phill Niblock.

I'm reading Anna Karenina.

This is the third time I've tried to add to this thread, my laptop powersupply has dies (£80 replacement, anyone got a spare apple yoyo style powersuply?)

I'm Ed, 22, 1.88m tall, blonde (see photo thread for details, pink tights not normal attire). My life is oscillatory at the moment, oscillating between university and unemployment, sheffield and london. I've been miserable for some part of the last couple of months, but things are looking up. Nominally I'm an engineering student but I've just taken leave of absence from university and I'm going to restart my final year next year. I've been here on ILE since about 2 weeks after it started thanks to gareth. I was living in Italy (Torino) at the time.

I've probably demonstarted enough times that I love food and cooking.I might as well add to that I like wine, beer (real ale, quality lagers) and brewing. I love music but don't often post their, i'm suspicious of intellectualising too much about music. But basically with music start at jazz and work outwards, Mingus is king in my pantheon, courtiers monk, dolphy, basie, pastorius, coleman.From then on their is very little I don't like most pop, and am a reformed musical bigot. Best thing I bought recently, (that wasn't dub), was probabaly chicks on speed - 'will save us all'.

Art wise I know very little, photography is probably my favorite medium, particularly photojournalism, closely followed by large public art works, rachel whitread's house, andrew gormly's angel of the north, the rotation things on the empty plinth. The first piece of contemporary art that really thrilled me was Richard Willson's 20/50 (I only remeber the title and artist because there is a piture of it in todays gaurdian).

Lit wise I am a devouyrer of books but have yet to form any great opinons, i read as much non fiction as fiction, I'll stickx my neck out and say my favorite book is proably Mikhail Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita', closely followed by 'the clay machine gun' by victor pelevin. Currently reading 'the artist of the floating world' by katsuo ishiguro and next on the pile is 'A cooks Tour' by Anthony Bourdain

enough?

I forgot to mention a big part of my life, a charity, FSC, features heavily in my life, I spend at least a couple of weeks a year entertaining other peoples' children and several weekends a year maintaining our equipment to do this.

Bastard goddamn net connection not working for a couple of days, this thread has now gone on FAR TOO LONG without ME in it. GAH!

That said, I am a man of mystery. My core lies are slightly outdated but still functional.

Well I just discovered this thread after digging around to see what everyone was up to over the thanksgiving break.

I call myself Samantha (though that's not my real name) and am nearly 30. I moved to Dallas last summer where I live with my boyfriend Hank. I've lived in lots of places, tending to move every 2-3 years.

I'm the creative director for a fashion company and have always done design-y, graphics-y type things. I want a career change but am not sure to what yet.

My musical tastes are all over the map. The past few years have found me listening to mostly old country, new honky-tonk, rockabilly, and garage.

I love clothing and style from the 40's and 50's. My boyfriend makes furniture ala the 50's and 60's and is very into collecting vintage exotica-type decorations and stuff. This combo makes us a nice stylish couple.

I love to eat and recently gave up being a vegetarian after about 7 years. My favorite food is tex-mex. Give me salsa or give me death. I love to drink. Mostly beer and only Texan beer if I can help it. When drinking liquor I like G&Ts.

When not drinking or working (note the priorities) I like to write, read and do needlework. I collect vintage handbags (especially lucite and bakelite). I play drums and bass, neither very well, but have never really been motivated to be in a band. Hank's a drummer for three bands (two who actively record, tour, etc) so that's enough for the both of us. We have two cats and a dog who preoccupy much of our spare time.

I'm not religious though I was raised Catholic. I vote liberally. Some of my (current) favorite music: Miles Davis, Hank Williams, Carl Perkins, Ruth Brown, The Sonics, Jack O'Fire, The Gospel Swingers, Hank's bands, 60's soul, Quasi, the Deadly Snkaes and lots of other crap that isn't springing to mind. Favorite movie, Giant. Won't touch books b/c there are too many I'd leave out.

I found ILE after visiting other Greenspun forums (not telling which!) and it has sucked away my work ethic and ability to concentrate. Evil, evil contraption.

Wow, that's incredibly long. I'm not really such an egoist. Just believe in line breaks.

No - that was interesting. You're living my fantasy life!

Kerry, please. Just b/c I suggested you squirrel money away in your underwear drawer is no reason to mock me.

I'm not mocking - I hope that was a joke. It's kind of hard to tell sometimes on these boards.

I just can't imagine my life sounding too appealing to anyone but me.

Dallas needs more people like you Samantha!

Samantha = cool. :-)

but which other greenspun board? surely not y2k home of the bonkers tribe?

I blush at being called cool. Am actually quite cold today and have been working in gloves all day.

The secret of other greenspun boards shall follow me to the grave.

I'm this thing.

I'm Dan. I live in Santa Monica, California and work in magazine circulation. I'm older than many of you. I've been reading the poetry of Kenneth Koch and the new collection of short pieces by Lydia Davis. Both are amazing. My pantheon includes Ray Davies, Prince, Howard Devoto and Albert Ayler. Recently I've enjoyed several records from the emerging "twee IDM" genre--Bjork, Mum, Noriko Tujiko, and Bogdan Raczinski. I'm grateful to have found a board where the words "canonical" and "Britney" are thrown around with equal frequency, and where there are so many literate people with nice taste conducting themselves more or less graciously. I'm in love with a girl and my life is better than ever.

Samantha and Hank are neato bandito

I'm Ally. I'm 21 and live in New York City. I am a native New Yorker. I am at my work right now, which is a hotel/luxury real estate company on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I'm wearing a light blue turtleneck, black pencil skirt, black stockings and 1940's shoes. I am 5'8", somewhere between 125 - 140lbs depending on multiple things, and have blue eyes and red hair. I have three sisters, all in high school, named Megan, Jamie (James, apparently), and Katie (real name Erin - my sisters go by false names it seems). I mainly hang out with two people, Otis Wheeler and my fiance Ramon (who is obsessed with the Illuminati). Apparently we resemble Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson and Demi Moore in St. Elmo's Fire. I really don't like other people much, except for a handful of acquaintances. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I really dislike other people. I am listening to Duran Duran right now, who are like the best band ever but not as good as the Manics. The last movie I saw was Spy Game; prior to that it was Harry Potter. I have just returned from a trip to Arizona, where my parents live. I have one cat, a black thing about 2 years old now named Mr. Kitty. I dislike all other animals though, especially cows. My mom loves firemen. My favorite drink is a margarita, and I love Italian food. I went to university for three years but dropped out and moved back to NYC almost 3 years ago now. I make very good cookies, ask Wheeler.

yay margaritas and italian food. *slurp* Strangely my best margarita memories involve NYC despite being Texan. My friend Eve and I used to love getting wasted on the pink lemonade margaritas at the Sidewalk Cafe. And one summer in Williamsburg involved my roommate and I constantly making pitchers of mango margaritas and drinking them with whoever was around out on our deck. yes we had a deck. yay brooklyn.

They make very good mango margaritas at Citrus Bar & Grill. They have all sorts of flavors there that are all good, though I don't know about watermelon. The problem is they ahve the best flavored margaritas but they are too expensive by the glass. Pitchers are reasonable but sometimes I feel silly with a whole pitcher.

Brooklyn must be IT for mango margaritas cause I just had one Sunday at "Beso" on 5th Ave. Mmmm mango. And mmmm mofongo slurp nibble.

Full first names - Kimberley Robin Lorna. I'm a first generation Canadian and have a younger brother and sister, an older half sister I've met only once, and a much younger step brother and sister. My parents both came to Canada in their teens, my mother is from Paisley Scotland and my father's family is primarily English but he was born and raised in Rhodesia and South Africa as my grandfather was a mine manager there.

I was born in Toronto on St.Patricks day and currently have decided to live here again as an adult after having grown up in various other parts of Ontario. I'm 30 years old but 21 feels as if it were yesterday. Agnostic - fer sure. I almost went to art school but somehow ended up being a clerical supervisor in a bank office in the downtown core - decidedly unglamourous! So hoping to one day have a more challenging job, I've gone back to uni at night school, and am currently taking just one course, organizational behaviour, but after an already full day I feel like it's killing me.

I've been with the same person, on again off again for quite some time now - his name is DJ (Darcy John) and right now he's playing CIV II on the other laptop and doesn't know I'm talking about him - quite a smarty pants he is too and once won the national academic decathalon once when he was back in highschool, so for one year he was officially the smartest student in Canada. I can beat him in arguments (and chess) all the time though so feel free to colour me smug and self satisfied.

I love stuff. I hate stuff. This is too long already...

i am caught between hard rock and a place i don't get jokes in cyberspace i'm 30 on saturday, which means i will have played rock'n'roll music half my life to little avail ('cept a lotta fun)

hey cameron! happy birthday! hey do you remember my 30th birthday?

um...no. was i there? was i conscious? no, wait, it wasn't at castle st., was it? and celia rung you up to borrow money, adding "happy birthday" as an afterthought...