Have there been any recently?
We haver Anne Frank and Adrian Mole, but are there any others that are more contemporary? I have just read Rules of Attraction, which is almost like a diary and I thought "is there anything else this that is more ninties / 0X etc."?
― Debord (Debord), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)
That's not quite what I meant, but I am sure you realise this.
Other than "Belle de Jour" are there that many 'story' type blogs that are interesting?
― Debord (Debord), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 15:02 (twenty-two years ago)
I'm sure you realize there's a certain difference between Anne Frank's diary and Adrian Mole's. Do you mean real diaries, or made-up ones? I just read Christopher Isherwood's phonebook-sized diary and found it as captivating as any of his books, and full of good gossip and revelation. (and the last Adrian Mole book takes place in the 90s)
― antexit (antexit), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 15:14 (twenty-two years ago)
Sunday, 31st March 1991
How do I express unbridled joy? Thank God I was in the room (I'd just returned from the bathroom) when John Peel ran through what's to come on tonight's programme. Two alternate takes of Smiths songs and ONE PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED song! Of course I should never have believed Morrissey when he said in 1988 "Everything the Smiths ever committed to tape has been released. Re-released even!" Yet it still seems strange. I know that other famous groups have had bootlegs and official records released of outtakes, but I could never really imagine this happening to the Smiths. Do you understand that this is the first time I've witnessed (as a Smiths devotee) the airing of a 'new' Smiths track. All the Smiths songs are just so firmly imprinted on my mind as a complete portfolio of seventy-however many songs that I can't even imagine another one appearing in my life. It's so exciting. I'm jumping up after each record Peel plays and standing with my finger on the record button. I've put in a TDK SA-X tape. What if the bastard plays one following on from another record without introduction? He wouldn't, would he? What if I heard him wrong? It still seems incredible.
Sorry about another 'what if?' but what if the only reason the song wasn't released is because it's a sort of jokey, crap jam? Hmm... Will these tracks be officially released? If they're not then promos of them will reach gigantic sums. By the way, 'Sit Down' is now number two. I have to buy the original before all this success makes its price rocket.
John Peel, hurry up. How can he sound so calm and normal about announcing all the other, insignificant records?
It's 1:07 and I'm still waiting. He has confirmed that he'll be playing them, but he seems unaware of their importance. It's as if he's got some new tracks by... well any old band really. Sort yourself out John. I hope so hard that I'm not disappointed in some way in the next fifty minutes. Things that could go wrong 1) He might not play them 2) I might mess up the taping of them 3) They might not be very good. What will the previously unreleased song be called? I guess that it begins with a 'p'. I hope the alternate takes are of two of my favourite tracks. Perhaps the new song is an instrumental. I hope not. It's 1:14. Come on. It's 1:31 and I'm now sure that he's going to leave them to last. Sitting here, I've been looking back through this diary. Two things grab me. Firstly, a lot of it is almost illegible. Secondly, there are a number of sentences which might be read 'wrong'. Like somewhere I said that I spend more time thinking about films than I do watching them. Now, I didn't mean that if you add up all the durations of the films I've watched it will come to a longer [presumably I meant to write 'shorter'] time that the time than the time I spend thinking about films. That's not that surprising. What I meant was whilst I'm watching a film I spend an awful lot of time thinking baout my reaction to it, rather than just letting myself be carried along with the story. That might be quite normal, I don't know.
Well all I know is that these 3 Smiths tracks don't add up to more than 19 minutes of music: it's now 1:41. But then that's not very surprising. How many other people must be sitting here waiting just like me? Imagine if my radio broke down now. It's 1:47... 1:48... 1:49 (they must all be an average of 3 miuntes long unless this Levellers 5 record finishes in the next few seconds)... 1:50 what is this for heaven's sake? ... 1:51... This is heartbreaking. I'm sorry but I don't believe this: he's playing another record and it's 1:53. What are we going to get? Alternate takes of 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want', 'I Keep Mine Hidden' and a one-minute gem? Get lost John Peel. I *must* have heard him right - he said it twice. And he never overruns. Leave it to next week maybe? Bastard. 1:55. 1:56. I don't believe this. Yes I do. You know what he's jsut said? "And err.. waht was I going to say now. Ah yes... If you've been waiting to hear those Smiths tracks that I didn't have time for; maybe this time next year, eh? Ha ha ha. I don't suppose anyone fell for it did they? Still, you've got to try haven't you?"
When I started quoting him then, I was totally confused. "*Why?*," I thought. But suddenly I realised, it's now April 1st. April Fools Day. But that's no *bloody* excuse. I fell for it, yes. But I can still hardly believe, let alone come to terms with it. It was *so* obvious: of course he wouldn't have been that casual about it. I'm considering boycotting the show in future. I'm genuinely upset: how pathetic I am.
-- Nick (nickdastoo...), August 8th, 2001.
― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)
Che Guevara's ill-fated adventures in Bolivia make for an entertaining read, but like Anne Frank, knowing the ultimate outcome in advance makes the day to day entries all the more painful to read... from 1967.
― andy, Tuesday, 24 February 2004 18:02 (twenty-two years ago)
Someone actually LIKES the Warhol Diaries? I bought it ($18.95), took the subway home ($2.00) and read it, and I, uh, thought it was, uh, wow, a total waste of, uh, time.
― antexit (antexit), Sunday, 29 February 2004 09:08 (twenty-two years ago)
Well, antexit, I like to read about marginal 70s personalities (Where's Barbara Allen Now?)
― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Sunday, 29 February 2004 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)