Here's the promising start of a multilingual resource that aims to "create a deeper awareness and understanding of Asian cinema" with an in-depth look at the cinemas of China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Each regional section consists of background and analysis, highlights from recent feature films, lists of award-winning films and leading directors, and articles about cultural context with suggestions for creating educational curricula. We enjoyed the lucid navigation and look forward to watching the collection grow.
Newfoundland and the Great War
When Great Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, the entire British Empire entered World War I, including Newfoundland and Labrador, now an isolated Canadian province, then an independent republic. This site details the participation of Newfoundlanders in the war, overseas and on the homefront. Created as a Canadian heritage web site, with participation by Newfoundland's Memorial University and provincial archives, you'll find all the artifacts of local history -- photo albums of platoon after platoon of farmboys turned to soldiers, group portraits, videos of regimental marches, and the audio oompapa of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band.
The Web hasn't really been around for that long, but much has changed in its short history and, in Internet years, a lot has happened. That's why, when you come across a historical survey of "the Web as we remember it," it's perfectly fine to use lines like "re-live an era" or "read about the old times." Deja Vu makes it clear: we've browsed a long way, baby. Check out the site's browser emulator, a nifty, interactive tool that allows you to experience "web surfing" as it happened on the old classics: NCSA Mosaic, Mosaic Netscape, Lynx, line-mode browser, and others. It's history in the making so, um, "gopher it."
This "daily dose of delectable drawings" is the first web site we've seen that serves as an archive of Palm Pilot art. Our host, Sabrina, uses software called Diddle to create a sketchbook diary of her daily meals, then she uses DiddleEx to upload them to her PC. Each drawing is accompanied by a short blurb that embellishes the culinary moment. It looks like comic-strip line art, but drawn with a skinny stylus in a shaky hand. A recent panel included bagels in the morning, sushi for lunch, a sandwich and pitcher of milk in the evening, and a goodnight fruit-bar snack. Oh, yum!
Think about it as evolution: "Once, almost every conveyance was made of wood: boats, chariots, wagons, trains, even airplanes. Twentieth-century wood-sided wagons, convertibles, sedans, and trucks wear the vestigial tails of their wooden predecessors." This celebration of wood-clad cars and trucks from decades past includes feature stories and histories, and fabulous photo galleries with classic rides lovingly salvaged and restored by owners from Nashville to San Diego, even outrageous English shooting brakes (that's British for woodies) like the 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.
Now, we appreciate that Taco Bell chihuahua just as much as the next person, but in the name of all things sacred, what ever happened to the Taco Bell Klang Puppet? (Oh, come on, don't pretend you don't know what we're talking about!) Well, even if Klang doesn't feature that prominently in your childhood memories, chances are you'll enjoy a run through Tick Tock Toys. Explore the site's vast archive of images used in food packaging, store and restaurant displays, cartoons, toys, and more. (We found Klang in the fast food archive.) It's all about staying true to the past. You don't know where you're going if you can't tell where you're from. Long live Klang! And Cecil and Beany! Long live Crusader Rabbit and Rags, too!
Fast on the heels of the disgusting yet engrossing Stinkymeat Project comes the next installment of gross-out web diaries. This foot-based companion started on July 9 and chronicles one man's quest to infect himself with athlete's foot. Read the daily entries, post questions on the message board, or enter the $500 StinkyFeet haiku contest. Watch in horror as Christian, the human incubator, heads down to the local YMCA to infect himself with the malady. If infected phalanges make you squeamish, tread lightly around this site.
