The arrival of the Eyewitness Guides to the Web is just cause for celebration. For those of you familiar with the books, you can now scan and search through their entire contents online. Neophytes are in for a treat -- these illustrated, introductory titles cover an array of topics: cinema history, international espionage, Vulcanism, Monet, early flying machines, primary colors, and more. Writing research papers just got ridiculously easy. These books are plain cool -- see for yourself.
Webmasters take note -- get a cease-and-desist from Arnold Schwarzenegger and you're a shoe-in for Picks of the Week. Gaijin A Go Go presents, for your viewing pleasure, a bunch of well-known actors performing in extremely silly Japanese television advertisements for what we assume is gobs of cash. The gang's all here: Leo pitches credit cards, Demi sucks protein paste from a tube, Keanu knocks back a liqueur, Antonio zips around in his new Subaru, Meg pretties herself with a facial cream, and Sean admires the new Mazda. The Demi advert, in particular, has to be seen to be believed. Apparently selling out in Japan doesn't count.
Kodak's line of art-deco-styled cameras from the late 1920s and '30s is a feast for the eyes. Noted industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague was hired to create alluring Kodak cameras for women like the 1928 Kodak Ensemble and Vanity Ensemble, cameras with built-in compact, lipstick, and change pocket. We took a longing look at the Beau Brownie, in a line of colors that rivals Apple's iMac, and the Mickey Mouse Kodak, a Brownie-prototype created in the late 1940s. The old-time advertising copy is equally awe-inspiring, "distinguished, dainty, feminine...swagger...aristocratic...modernity at its best...an important contribution to the mode." Somebody say cheese!
Air Traffic Control System Command Center
Here's an interesting web application for air travelers: a clickable map of major U.S. airports with the official FAA scoop on flight delays. We clicked and viewed all kinds of real-time delays: general departure, general arrival, delays by destination, delays due to weather and unforeseen circumstances. You'll also find an Air Traffic Management Glossary where you can dig deep into an alphabet soup of acronyms used by controllers.
What does teenage angst sound like? It sounds like "Quadrophenia" played very loud. Dave Van Staveren's tribute to the famous Who album is the alpha and omega on the subject. This exhaustive shrine site chronicles the creation of the epic album, the riotous film (featuring a young Sting), and the troubled tour. You're also invited to immerse yourself in the world of Mod culture: scooters, clothes, hairstyles, and lingo. As it turns out, the album was culled from over 15 hours of material. Pete Townshend said he wrote "about 50 songs for this and creamed off the best." The rest is history.
Sixty-four Baker Street, London, W1, was home to the Special Operations Executive or SOE, a British military intelligence organization which ran thousands of agents on undercover missions during World War II. This site is a lovingly crafted and well-researched homage to the courageous "ordinary" women who worked undercover behind enemy lines, relaying information, organizing resistance, and, in many cases, giving their lives to defeat the Nazis. The site developed as a way for a son to honor the father he lost in boyhood and learn about his father's war years as a ham radio operator and Voluntary Interceptor for the SOE.
It's a formula, but it works. Several smart, creative people decide to pool their resources and create an eclectic online collection of art, fiction, and investigative articles. We made Mission Creep's legendary Tube Bar article a pick a while back, but the rest of the package also deserves praise. Bask in the excoriating genius of Jim Knipfl's columns for the New York Press, browse through B. Amundson's creepy self portraits, or edify yourself with Soul On Ice, the story of the first African American to play in the NHL. And don't forget to print out the recommended movie list.
RatherBiased consists of "over 500 statements from America’s most politicized journalist" -- Dan Rather. We found it rather curious that the site's creators don't identify themselves, although they do state the mission of their carefully organized diatribe -- to help loosen "the stranglehold of government by the media." They've amassed ample evidence of the partisan and changeable beliefs expressed over the years by the CBS journalist. The compilation of quotes is organized into categories such as People (from George Bush to George Washington), Issues, Events, and Scandals (from Watergate to Whitewater). There's also a Compare and Contrast section that spotlights Rather's inconsistencies and opinion shifts over the years.