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>>> Mar. 30, 2000
Happy fish day! Kick out the Jams: Culture Jammers be aware, April 1 is more than just a day to pin a fish on your boss's back, it's also the Fools Festival, the observance of which is explained and advocated at the Adbusters WHQ (http://www.adbusters.org/home/). Whether it means "tweaking the nose" of the establishment or turning Joe Camel into a chemotherapy patient, Adbusters is there with advice and a gallery of spoof ads that'll turn your laser printer into a machine of subversion. Pranks for Geeks: At MIT, when you perpetuate a "hack" it means a clever prank, and those crazy science geeks have a talent for some extremely clever pranks. Check out the MIT IHTFP Hack Gallery (http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/) where pranks include converting the great dome into a convincing replica of R2D2. Fresh: What better present for your poisson d'Avril than a sushi robot from Tomoe Co. Ltd (http://www.tomoe-co.com/). These fully automated robots can produce up to 2,000 pieces of sushi per hour, with variable wasabi dispensing. Michael Citrome |
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>>> Mar. 23, 2000
The road less travelled Kustom kulture: Holy blowers! Take a look at this hot rod site. Mooneyes has been in the hot rod scene since the 1960s and their Web site, www.ratfink.com, is a detailed catalogue of all of their custom accessories, as well as the largest selection of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth merchandise anywhere. You'll no doubt recognize Rat Fink and his cast of characters, who were totems to an entire generation of surfer dudes and dudettes. The only source for a flaming 8-ball gear shift knob, there's also lots of photos of hot rod cars, trucks and even bicycles. Hang Ten! Auto-expression: Ever felt like tooling down the highway in a Cadillac painted in black cow spots with Astroturf upholstery? Someone else did. You can share their vision at Art Cars in Cyberspace (www.artcars.com/ArtCarIndex/cover.html), a bastion of automobiles transformed into works of art in motion. Essential for fans of psychedelic Volkswagens and Subarus turned into sharp-toothed monsters. Michael Citrome |
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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 |