[kj] fully on topic / the isis crisis

[fatpotanga]

[cringe/chuckle] - that's the kind of thing I do.
Still, if you're going to give your kids, how shall I put this,  
'unusual' names you have to expect a teen bit of fall out.

In a similar vein I gave my mum & a few of her friends a lift to some  
do somewhere a while back.
We drove passed this bloke & my mum pointed out he was someone who was  
the year above me at school.
"Oh god yeah!" chuckled I loudly, "His best mate ran off with his mum  
at the age of 17 didn't he? What was his name Alex or something"
"Yes," came a small voice from the back "that was my son"
which was like you, a fact which I'd totally forgotten...



On 12 May 2009, at 22:14, Alexander Smith wrote:


>

> Hah, Isis. I had a bit of an Isis crisis, if you will today.

>

> You fellows might enjoy today's quandary: So, you'll remember that  

> I'm still writing shit for The New Yorker's Goings On About Town  

> section. Basically, my task is to compose "pithy, funny and  

> infomative" blurbs about upcoming shows. Easy peasy, right? I've  

> been doing it since 2001, and I'd honestly do it for free. It's a  

> walk-in-the-park.

>

> So, today, my editor John sends me a list of upcoming bands that  

> will be playing in the area over the next couple of weeks. I pick  

> out four or five and start writing. The bands I write about usually  

> tend to be the types of bands that your average New Yorker reader  

> would NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS consider going to see, but whatever.

>

> One of the bands I pick to write about is a frowny  and (to my mind)  

> frankly ludicrous progressive metal band from Boston called Isis. As  

> my friend Rob likes to say, "they're the kinda thing you like, if  

> you like that kinda thing." Here's what I wrote (and submitted) to  

> my friend/editor John:

>

> June 2: Isis

> Though their name might conjure up corny images of Egyptian  

> mythology (or, conversely, a tepid live-action superheroine from  

> 70's Saturday morning television), Isis isn't  your run-of-the-mill  

> metal outfit. The Boston band's sound does indeed feature de rigeur  

> genre trappings like chugging guitars and gruffly-barked vocals that  

> border on the tuneless, but Isis' music comes imbued with lengthy,  

> ambient passages that would probably confuse or bore less discerning  

> headbangers. The bands latest album, <i>Wavering Radiant</i> is  

> equal parts raging heaviosity and contemplative, cinematic sprawl.

>

> Fair enough, right? Pithy and informative and blah-blah-blah.

>

> Five minutes after I hit "send," John writes back with the below,  

> single line:

>

> "Do you know that I named my second born Isis????"

>

>

>

> ...a fact which I'd totally forgotten.

>

>

> I'm a tool.

>

> Alex in NYC

>