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>>> Mar. 16, 2000
Funky badass superheroes Whazzuuup? By far the funniest thing to hit the Web all year, the Superfriends Whazzuuup commercial parody is this week's best waste of bandwidth. Some clever individual took the Budweiser Whazzuuup commercial, lifted some scenes from the Cartoon Network's Superfriends cartoon (featuring silver age DC comic book heroes) and pasted it all together. The very unauthorized result is a triumph. Check out both the original and the parody at The Ad Critic (www.adcritic.com). Did you plug in the Dragster? A reasonable question if you're a member of NEDRA, the National Electric Drag Racing Association. NEDRA's Web site is a treasure trove of interesting facts on electrically powered drag racing, an exciting and pollution-free sport. NEDRA may have a sense of humour about their cars, but make no mistake, they move fast. Charge up at www.nedra.com. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Mar. 9, 2000
Puppet state Flat city: Home awake late on a Friday night watching a rerun of Bouge de là on MusiquePlus, all kinds of strange ideas can creep into your head. The strangest by far is the yellow fuzzy star in a video by French techno artist Mr. Oizo, a puppet named Flat Eric. Already a fading star in Europe by way of phenomenally successful Levis ads, Flat Eric has quite the fan following on the Web. Find images, video, sound clips, bizarre info and the lyrics to "Flat Beat" at http://flateric.virtualave.net. Something stupid: From our good buddies at stupid.com comes a new assortment of brilliantly idiotic gifts that can be yours with a quick bit of e-commerce. The pocket-sized Magnetic Poetry kit is quite brilliant, but can anyone fathom a ratio-nal use for a talking BBQ spatula? Catch it at www.stupid.com/newstuff.htm Robots Attack! The scenario: a man in a cardboard robot suit terrorizes a suburban Taco Bell, and reads newspapers in the park. It's at www.robotfrank.com. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Mar. 2, 2000
To the extreme Streaming weirdness: Imagine, if you will, a bunch of geeks huddled over laptops, hosting a talk show on the Web. Imagine people chatting with the hosts on IRC during the RealVideo broadcast. Every Tuesday evening at 11:30 p.m. EST this scenario becomes reality on JudgeCal's High Weirdness, presented by ParseTV (http://parsetv.com/weirdness/). The show is intelligent, silly and at times even risqué, like in the most recent episode when host JudgeCal paid co-host Laura Foy $20 U.S. to make out with a female co-co-host. Other recent goings-on include a discussion on covert surveillance and the WWF Royal Rumble bikini contest. Bargain bin: This one comes courtesy of The Onion's AV Club, a site replete with the type of cruel cultural criticism expected from The Onion. The Least Essential Albums of the '90s (http://www.theavclub.com/avclub3547/avfeature3547.html) is a guide to the top throw-away discs of our fondly remembered decade. From the intolerably trend-biting Cyberpunk by Billy Idol, to the inexplicable Vanilla Ice comeback, they're all there. For extra fun, count how many you own. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Feb. 24, 2000
Don't stare too closely And now, the Fake News: Some would argue Norm McDonald is a genius because nobody understands his humour. Others would ignore him entirely. But the Quebec City-born comedian definitely has a large and dedicated fan-following on the Net. At the Fake News (www.thefakenews.net), the most thorough Norm McDonald fan site on the Web, you'll find audio archives of his appearances on the Daily show and on the View, including one where he mocks Star Jones for admitting her husband tried to have sex with her while she was asleep. Plus he says "cock" a lot. Haunted house of rock: Here's an excerpt from the description of something scary that was sold on eBay a few days ago. "Warning: do not bid on this painting if you are susceptible to stress-related disease, faint of heart or are unfamiliar with supernatural events." The ad claims it's a haunted painting, which may not be the truth. It is, a very disturbing image. It's at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251789217. Pass it on. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Feb. 17, 2000
Power in your Pocket GameBoy gossip: Interested in keeping up to date with the latest happenings surrounding Nintendo's pint-sized entertainment device? Go to http://pocket.ign.com, part of the IGN network, for daily industry updates, game previews and even a Pokémon of the day. While you're there, be sure to check out the Cybiko (http://pocket.ign.com/ news/15193.html), a portable hybrid videogame system and PDA that offers wireless communication for realtime chat with anyone around you. It's cheap and looks like fun, whether you're a high school nerd or a high-powered stock trader. If you're looking for a GameBoy site that's a little less flashy but with info you won't find anywhere else, take a look at Euro-Asia GameBoy (http://gameboy.s-one.net.sg/), which keeps tabs on all sorts of strangeness, ranging from Mouseketeer-like bootleg Pikachu caps to the latest rumours from Japan. Sing it! From the people who brought you the Toasterphone and BlenderTV, here's the SongBoy. For only $79 U.S., you can turn your GameBoy Color into an mp3 player. It's weird and cumbersome, not to mention banana yellow. Mock it at www.songboy.com. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Feb. 10, 2000
Something for everyone Stile File: The Web's leading repository of crude filth--probably the most reliable source of tastelessness in the history of the Internet--The Stile Project www.stileproject.com is nasty, horrible and hilarious. After already achieving notoriety for its collection of unpleasant video clips, including fake snuff films and seniors having sex, the Project has expanded to include features like Girl of the Week and Geek of the Week, both of which require a sense of humour that can only come from not having enough love as a child. Updated several times daily, the Stile Project will provide many moments of "oh dear god, no" around the office. Lucasfilm in Legoland: Lego revealed its new Star Wars sets last weekend, including a huge Millennium Falcon, plus more. Yakface's Realm http://collectibles.echostation.com/fbtb/. has photos, info and more. As well, check out the amazing custom Star Wars Lego stuff that fans have built. : Michael Citrome |
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>>> Feb. 3, 2000
Wild Wild West Hang 'em high: Now that the plug has been pulled on iCraveTV, high-speed video junkies need a new source of flickering light and sound. What better to fulfill this need than an old Western, streamed direct to your desktop courtesy of Yahoo! Broadcast.com. Ensure you have Windows Media Player installed and you're off to the O.K. Corral, without the riding sores. Saddle up at www.broadcast.com/ broadband/Movies_And_Film/Westerns. Pop PopImage: The Web's premier comix e-zine is celebrating its second year of existence. This month's PopImage includes interviews with Vertigo editor Axel Alonso, and a review of the classic graphic novel Maus, so if comix are your thing, it's www.popimage.com/ for you. Bork Bork Bork: This one's been around a while, but it's still fresh. The Automatic WWW Text Borkifier www. astro.queensu.ca/~dursi/borker.html will translate any Web site into the Swedish Chef's babble. Hefe-a luts ooff foon! : Michael Citrome |
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>>> Jan. 27, 2000 The funky ostrich Video memories: Here in the midst of the winter blahs, one's mind veers toward nostalgia. Rather than regretting lost love, why not celebrate lost time spent in an '80s arcade? ClassicGaming.com, at www.classicgaming.com, is the top site for retro video games. Remember Joust? Well, with the magic of emulators and some help from the site, you can sip a flat New Coke out of a plastic straw while making little ostriches attack each other from the comfort of your own home. It's the O.G. Merger mania: We all know about AOL-Time Warner-EMI, but the question still remains: what would happen if Zippo, Audi, Dofasco and Dakota Mining merged? Would the resulting conglomerate be called Zip Audi Do-Da? Ponder this one and many more at www.edu-orchard.net/PROFESS/HUMOR/ralph28.html. Mmm, filth: As you finish off that bag of Cheetos, have you ever considered how much rodent hair it might contain? The U.S. FDA Food Defect Action Levels guide lists exactly how many insects can be in your box of raisins before it's considered contaminated. Cringe in horror at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dalbook.html. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Jan. 20, 2000 MP3 to go Borrowing without returning: MP3 supersite mp3.com has recently launched my.mp3.com, a new site that lets you listen to your own CDs online, even if you're in Finland and they're on your desk back in Ville St-Laurent. All you have to do is download the free Beam-it software from my.mp3.com and insert your CD into the drive. The program confirms that you do indeed own the album, and will then allow you to listen to it in streaming mp3 format from the site. The whole process takes under a minute. A record is kept of all the CDs you beam, so you can listen to all of your albums at any time. Of course, a clever and subversive way to exploit this system is to create a single account on my.mp3.com and share it with all your friends, allowing you to listen to all of each other's CDs, but you didn't get that idea from me. Chia puberty: Classical marble statues with leafy green growths. Wonder no longer: www.chickenhead.com/features/chia/index.html. Michael Citrome |