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Read this and then read this and then come and join us at Smolensky’s for a drink this evening from 7pm to 9pm – all welcome, from regular readers to first-timers.

Today on Barbelith: Marquis De Sade: Profile – “Being a comprehensive guide to the life and work of the world’s most passionate and depraved libertine and lover.”

I took a break from the nightmare reinstallation from hell in order to catch the last half hour of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It’s weird – Simon and Mark probably weren’t even born when I last saw it.

The weirdest thing about the whole experience was seeing how many images, sounds and effects in Close Encounters have become representative of the whole alien phenomenon. There are traces of Close Encounters in pretty much every film about contact and aliens made since. Particularly weird, though, is the way it’s represented. Exactly the same music and imagery is used in Independance Day and the X-files to convey horror and anxiety, and yet in Spielberg’s original the whole thing is approached with wonder. There’s fear in there as well, of course, but the general spirit is one of awe. It makes all those bizarre claims that Spielberg’s movies are designed to educate and reassure the American public about the actual presence of aliens vaguely plausible. Extraordinary.

When I was 18 I visited the place in the desert where they filmed the movie. At the campsite opposite they show the movie every single night – projected on an screen in an outside theatre – with nothing around but desert and tents, and nothing above but clear skies and hundreds of millions of stars.

I swear to god, if the Barbelith Underground reboot doesn’t work this time, I’m smashing something. I’m going to get a great big fucking rock and throw it through Infopop‘s windows.

“Why do you fight, miniscule blonde one?” Today has been filled with a profound inability to connect to anything or anyone, the frustration of discovering that an application form that was supposed to arrive this morning hasn’t done, a couple of hours of Buffy and a fair amount of UBB dismantling. Had a bit of an existential wobble around 4pm. Comforted myself with the thought that I’m under a lot of stress, am very tired and haven’t eaten properly for a while. Do not, as yet, feel at equilibrium.

Evening in a Nutshell: Was late getting everything done, half-tidied bedroom, met Nick H and Davo at The Edge, drank a couple of drinks, behaved like idiots, had fun. Went to GAY, downed a couple of drinks, bumped into ****, bumped into Scott and friend. Danced like a maniac for an hour or so. Saw stunning man, stunning man engaged in ten minutes of full-body flirting, stunning man wandered off with boyfriend, got a bit pissed off, danced like an angry maniac, tried to get Nick to flirt with someone, tried to leave the dance-floor but they kept playing incredibly good crap. Saw stunning man while sitting and having a fag with Davo. Felt really tired. Davo leant me the money for a cab. Got cab. Got home, had sneaky shower. Talked to **** on AIM about his behaviour over the evening – decided he was a bit of an arse. Went to bed.

Ok. You’re all missing the point. I want you to vote for the other people (ie not me), so I get to see them naked. Jeez, people. Pay attention. So in attempt to guide your voting a little, I’ve found these old pictures of Matt and Mo lying around the place. Wouldn’t you rather see them naked?

The disturbing mind of Cal Henderson has come up with the most evil thing I’ve seen in years: which uk blogger would you most like to see naked? I have it on good authority that whoever wins this poll will take much of their kit off immediately.

I don’t even know what to say. The person who got me Buffy on video – wow. This has been the main symbol of my currently tightened circumstances – that the thing that would be my first frivolity sits on a shelf glaring at me. I actually got a bit emotional. I don’t know what to say.

Today on Barbelith: CCTV in a nutshell – “Britain leads the world in the use of closed circuit television to discourage crime on our streets, and enjoys the highest known proportion of CCTV coverage.”