| The New Yorker Don't accuse the folks at The New Yorker of rushing into anything. After years of cautious restraint, everyone's favorite literary weekly has launched a site to complement their newsstand edition. Happily, the results are nothing less than you'd expect -- smart, neatly organized, and offering just enough online-only content to keep things exciting. All the magazine's traditional sections are represented, from the short takes in "The Talk of the Town" to the longer fiction and non-fiction pieces. Best of all, connoisseurs of sly wit can now add "Shouts and Murmurs" to their weekly humor menu. (And, yes, they have cartoons, too.) |
| A companion to Christophe Munier's 1998 book, this site introduces the ancient caves and stone monuments of Thailand: Buddhist monastic shrines, natural wonders, and tourist destinations across the countryside. Photos of prehistoric petroglyphs recall similar art from Europe and the Americas, and painted caves from historic times feature clay reliefs that resemble Buddhist temple stupas and statues. Notable rock formations are associated with local animist traditions, or with the Buddha himself, and are categorized here by shape: umbrella rocks, balancing rocks, rocks sculpted in the shape of animals, and phallic rocks to increase fertility. |
| New York Times on the Web: Working This timely feature describes the changing face of the American workplace through articles that focus on offbeat occupations, interesting job transitions, and the influence of the Internet in altering the style and substance of our work-lives. The rise of the Internet has reshaped the employment landscape in terms of occupational trends, as well as changing the way we seek employment or locate qualified employees. One article profiles a net nanny, a hair-implant stylist, a funeral-home greeter, and a murphy-bed installer -- jobs your guidance counselor forgot to tell you about. |
| William Girdler William Girdler's style of directing movies was simple: make 'em fast and cheap. This site pays tribute to the man who, in Ed Wood fashion, directed B-movie horror classics like Grizzly, Asylum of Satan, and the brilliantly titled Three on a Meathook, as well as branching out to direct blaxploitation masterpieces like Abby, a rip-off of The Exorcist so blatant he was sued by the original's producers. Check out the site's smattering of clips, interviews with cast and crew members, and plot summaries of some of the oddly entertaining films. The site even offers tips on the best way to track down Girdler's body of work. May we suggest The Manitou, which stars Susan Strasberg as a woman with a mammoth tumor growing on her neck that eventually gives life to an ancient Indian medicine man bent on murder. |
| Swiss Poster Collection Carnegie Mellon University is home to over 300 prize-winning Swiss posters dating from 1971 to the present. Assembled under the guidance of Swiss graphic designer Ruedi Ruegg, the collection chronicles 30 years of graphic design history and changing street-art style. Here's what's unique about the online presentation: savvy CMU site designers have created a series of thematic poster art tours. We reckon there are chocolates and cuckoo clock posters to be found somewhere in this rich, elegant database of images. |
| Last Expression Part of a project prepared by the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, this sobering exhibition looks closely at the art created by prisoners at Nazi concentration camps, especially at Auchswitz-Birkenau. There are essays, interviews with Holocaust survivor artists, biographies of the artists, and images of the works, which can be viewed thematically or searched by artist, nationality, or medium. Texts are available in English, German, or Polish. We were particularly moved by the portraits and caricatures, bearing titles like Prisoner with a Pickax, Boy with a Yellow Star Holding a Tin Can, and Caricature of the SS-man. |
| The Rothschild Petersen Patent Model Museum Home to over 4,000 patent models, this museum preserves the work of inventions large and small. Take a look at the rotary engine designed in 1876 or the machine for making toy torpedoes designed in 1875. While the making of toy torpedoes isn't as integral to everyday life as the rotary engine, part of the joy of this site is viewing the fantastic and whimsical models that didn't quite make it to the assembly line. Use it as inspiration for your own invention. |
| X-Files fans are a devoted bunch. The relationship between Mulder and Scully spawned some truly bizarre and original fan fiction. This site spins X-Files fanfic in a new and totally different direction. Take your favorite line of X-Files dialogue, work in the word underpants, and submit it. The site provides a full list of season-by-season underpants references. Sculley never really said, "I've heard the truth, Mulder, now what I want are underpants," but she probably should have. Even though the quotes are fabricated, liberal use of the word underpants makes for an entertaining and fun tribute. |
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