When my pink triangle is upside down. Or was this a rhetorical question?
> X-Web: http://www.base.com/gordoni/gordoni.html
Free plug for Gordon: his "War on Junk Mail" page is the best, Jerry,
The Best:
http://www.base.com/gordoni/junkmail.html
[Unrelated aside because I'm too lazy to send a separate email: Gordon,
whatever became of the plan to buy a TLD? How much money does it cost
again?]
> > I'm working on a content-based spam filter.
> You are in luck!
> This morning I put together a list of Internet spammers affiliated
> with Sanford Wallace of Cyber Promotions.
> http://www.base.com/gordoni/junkmail/wallace-domains.html
Wow, what are the chances?
Okay, enough lovely spam, wonderful spam talk.
ObNewBits: Time Magazine for 6/23/97 is chock full o' bits related to
recent FoRKposts:
1. Cover story - 50th Anniversary of Roswell's UFO crash, for the
conspiracy buffs among us. I love the line, "The millions of Americans
who believe that U.S. officials are withholding the truth about Roswell
specifically and UFOs in general are not about to be swayed by the
facts." BTW, U.S. officials withholding the truth about UFOs is the
entire plot of the forthcoming movie Men in Black (which I predict will
be the top-grossing film of the summer, making at least $250mil - viva
Independence Day!).
2. Speaking of cool movies, there's a review of Hercules that's a
stitch. Some priceless puns:
> Directors John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin)
> could have gone for a decorous retelling of Greek mythology, but a
> funny thing happened on the decorum. They decided to give the musical
> form what it has sorely lacked recently: pinwheeling, knockabout fun.
I predict Hercules will do solid business, at least $150mil.
> Don't look for this plot in Bullfinch. It's a shaggy-gods story with
> the requisite Disney theme of adolescent self-discovery [a theme that
> some of us have yet to master!]: a cub becomes a lion; a mermaid becomes
> a maid; a geek kid becomes a Greek god.
Disney... shaggy-gods... I get it!
> James Woods as Hades works every meeting, with gods, mortals, or
> demons, as if it's a bored crowd in a Vegas lounge [Vegas, baby!]:
> "You look like the Fate worse than death" he purrs to one of three
> haggish wraiths.
Cute.
> The script is rife with Oedipus riffs, Achilles spiels, Zeus zingers,
> and roman-numeral jokes - "Somebody call IX-I-I."
Works for me, count me in!
3. "Who Ya Calling Techno" - a 3-page article on mainstream techno,
anticipating the July 1 release of Prodigy's "The Fat of the Land"
(Maverick records; 600,000 copies preordered; the Time review says this
album "rocks" with the rebelliousness of the Sex Pistols and the
funkiness of good hip-hop --- Rohit alert!):
> Can Prodigy give electronica the jolt it needs? Others have tried
> and failed. The ambient electronic group the Ord's newest CD,
> "Orblivion," [recommended by FoRK's Jim Whitehead] has sold only
> 65,000 copies in the U.S.; recent releases by such vaunted acts as the
> Future Sound of London [also recommended by Jim] and Underworld
> [recommended by FoRK's Tim Byars] have moved fewer than 60,000 ---
> the Spice Girls [recommended by FoRK's Adam Rifkin, who was
> subsequently picked on by a half dozen FoRKers so much he's afraid to
> recommend Hanson, Jamiroquai, and Savage Garden] sold more than that
> LAST WEEK ALONE.
Well, you say, what about the Chemical Brothers? They sold out, right,
so the public must be showing them the money about now, right? Wrong.
> Even the Chemical Brothers, after a media push that would make Madonna
> blush, has failed to crack Billboard's top 10. And what's worse,
> these CDs have been creatively wanting --- the Chemical Brothers' "Dig
> Your Own Hole" (Astralwerks) features a few new songs that
> energetically blend rock and hip-hop [both of which, Rohit, are on
> Tim's CD "Silent Bob Speaks" that I keep recommending you buy] ---
> but Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys did it better.
Agreed. "Dig Your Own Hole" has nothing on "Fear of a Black Planet" and
"License to Ill", respectively.
Oh, nice imagery here (sorry, Dobbin and Jim)...
> The Future Sound of London's "Dead Cities" (Astralwerks) is as
> exciting as a dead Tamagotchi.
I long for the days when the word Tamagotchi wasn't in my vocabulary.
Oh, nicer imagery here (sorry, Tim)...
> Underworld's "Pearl's Girl" (Wax Trax! Records) is only a trifle more
> fun than having a fax machine call you on your voice line.
Fear not, Rohit, the article does recommend some electronica besides
Prodigy that the author Christopher John Farley (Chris Farley?!)
actually likes.
> Morcheeba's "Who Can You Trust" (Discovery) is a rapturous blend of
> bluesy vocals and electro atmospherics [sounds right up Rohit's alley];
> Carl Craig's "More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art" (Planet E)
> is puckishly inventive; and "The Rebirth of Cool FOUR" (Fourth and
> Broadway) is an excellent compilation of electro acts. Later this
> year new CDs are due from two of the best electro acts, Goldie and
> Portishead.
Portishead is an electro act? Geez, their last album didn't sound any
more electro than Everything But the Girl is.
Okay, I've slurped the bits and sent them here, so you can save your
$2.95 and apply it toward your Men in Black or Hercules movie ticket.
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
It seems like everyone on FoRK has some kind of agenda they're trying to
get away with. I'm the only pure one on the LiST!
-- Joe Kiniry