From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #212 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Saturday, September 2 2000 Volume 05 : Number 212 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: another visualized 'prediction' of at-sea disaster ["Trevor Ja] Alloy: 'Urges' & 'Satellite' [Robin Thurlow ] Re: Alloy: Song of the Week - One of our Submarines ["Diva" Subject: Re: Alloy: another visualized 'prediction' of at-sea disaster Robin wrote: > > The similarities of the Song of the Week to a real-life event reminds me > of the other Morgan Robertson who wrote a detailed novelization of the > Titanic disaster 14 years before it happened, in 1898... in Robertson's > novel the ship was called Titan, and many details were amazingly similar > to the real event. > > Thomas has said he doesn't know of any personal family relation to the > novelist Morgan Robertson. Strange though... very strange indeed... > > ~spooooky~ > Robin T > > This is spooooky. I recall reading an item in a teenage pop magazine in the early eighties. It was the usual Smash Hits style interview...what's your favourite food, colour etc. One thing always stuck in my mind though, and that was how much Thomas was stuck on 'One of Our Submarines'. It was his favourite song. He seemed very proud of that one. I wonder if it is still up amongst them? A very powerful song, perhaps even more so now as each time it is played I have no doubt many of us will be sparing a thought for those struk by the tradgedy. Trevor... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Sep 2000 20:51:25 -0400 From: Robin Thurlow Subject: Alloy: 'Urges' & 'Satellite' I'm listening to the 1989 Elvis Costello CD "Spike" and there's a song on it that's always reminded me a lot of Thomas' 'Urges', though I don't think I've ever mentioned it before. Here it is now in light of our song interpretation discussions. In Elvis Costello's song 'Satellite', there is the same sort of imagery, only it's seen on a television show which is being broadcast worldwide: "All over the world at the very same time, people sharing the same cheap sensation the thrill of watching somebody watching those forbidden things we never mention..." There are many common sorts of references to 'Urges' visuals, especially the lines @ the begining of the song which sound so much like Thomas' vision of the 'china doll', drifting through the party in a state of self-absorption: "She looked like she learned to dance from a series of still pictures She's madly excited now, she throws her hands up like a tulip She looks like an illustration of a cocktail party - where cartoon bubbles burst in the air champagne rolls off her tongue like a second language..." Anyway, I thought the similarities were very interesting, and the overall impression of the song is nearly identical for me to that of 'Urges': one of people being disconnected from themselves, yet obviously yearning for some kind of palpable human truth. Very interesting! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 02:36:45 +0100 From: "Diva" Subject: Re: Alloy: Song of the Week - One of our Submarines >One of our Submarines >Drinking heavy water from a stone Can anyone explain that line? I've always wondered about it... Sally diva@tn.prestel.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 19:53:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Brian Clayton Subject: Re: Alloy: Song of the Week - One of our Submarines On Sat, 2 Sep 2000, Diva wrote: > >One of our Submarines > > >Drinking heavy water from a stone > > > Can anyone explain that line? I've always wondered about it... Well, for a quick physics lesson: heavy water is water in which the two hydrogen atoms contain not just a single proton, but a proton and a neutron. This variation (or isotope) of hydrogen is called deuterium, or "heavy hydrogen", and thus water made from it is "heavy water." It is used in nuclear research and in nuclear reactors. The image I got from that line is the crew of the submarine, having depleted or lost their fresh water supply, had to resort to drinking the heavy water from the ship's reactor. I'm not sure how dangerous deuterium is (I don't believe it is radioactive, unlike tritium, which is a hydrogen atom with two neutrons), but drinking *anything* that's been near a reactor sounds like a desparate move to me. As for "from a stone"...a stone cup? I've no idea, but then I'm still stuck figuring out what is the "hungry heart to regulate their breathing." :) BC ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #212 ***************************