Did you know that Woody Allen's doorman in New York City does not swing the door differently for a celebrity than he would for us ordinary folks? True. What's more, Robin Williams' neighbor in San Francisco doesn't own jumper cables. News to us, too. How about this: Lloyd Bridges is unhappy about his driveway. Yup. And Trini Lopez needs to fix his, but he's a nice guy. Admit it, it really is amazing what you'll learn these days. Thanks to Driveways of the Rich & Famous we learned this and, oh, a whole lot more. Fascinating, huh? Hey, park your car awhile: welcome to Picks.
Speaking of celebrities, this week we've been following events at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, currently running in Park City, Utah, through January 26. Filmscouts' Sundance Festival 1997 offers a solid amount of coverage of the event, with reviews, interviews, diaries and more. You'll also find a history of the festival here, as well as a recap of last year's shindig and a collection of related links. So. Dim the lights, pop the popcorn, it's time to find the next El Mariachi, the latest Blood Simple, the sequel to Spanking the Monkey. Is it here? You'll know soon enough.
In other news, we're pleased to conclude that On Stagnant Pond is the type of site that knows exactly what it wants to do and does it, sans shame. So what does it do? Easy: OSP (our abbreviation) is a "CyberSalute to the American Pink Flamingo," that "universal symbol of good taste and psychometric excellence" that has graced many a front lawn and "done so much for the good of mankind at so little expense to its benefactor." C'mon admit it, you know what we're talking about here, so without further ado flock on over to this site and revel in the, uhm, flamingoness of it all. Is it too much to say something about being tickled pink? Hmm. We don't know.
Any chance of coming up with a corny segue from flamingos to mountain men? Not on your life. It's been at least 23 minutes and we haven't found one yet. Pity, because we like Mountain Men and the Fur Trade and want to tell you about it. Given the opportunity, we'd quote the site, note that it "is an on-line library and research center devoted to the history, traditions, tools, mode of living... of the trappers, explorers, and traders known as the Mountain Men." We'd make mention of the particularly cool collection of diaries, narratives and letters available online, the fur trade business records and the collection of images that, among other things, make this an interesting historical resource. Oh well: no corny segue, no can do.
However, we CAN tell you that if you had a pet flamingo and said flamingo suddenly took ill (it happens), there's always VetSearch, the online place to search for a veterinarian. As the title suggests, here you can enter your zip code for a list of animal docs close to home. The database is US-specific, but international users can make use of the site's additional, growing features, currently including pet care advice and selected popular references. Hope your bird feels better.
Got RealAudio? If so, you may want to head over to PoliceScanner.com, "where you can hear real cops on the beat 24 hours a day." Broadcast by AudioNet, the site offers live broadcasts of the Dallas police and fire departments. We're promised that other cities will soon be added, in the meantime, if this is your idea of a good time: scan away.
Finally, the folks at Yahoo! Internet Life recently launched Surf School, an online guide (and then some) to understanding and using this thing we call the 'Net. Surf School covers everything from extreeeme basics ("Where do I go when I click something?") to the more involved and complicated issues of, say, online communications and multimedia (Shockwave, Java, IRC, et al.) You'll also find features such as Ask the Surf Guru, "the man with the plan" who answers three of your questions a week ("What's a DNS error?"); Surf Stories, "helpful bits of knowledge from people who've been there and done that"; and a glossary called Surf Lingo. Watch out for that wave.
It's either that or dissect a sheep's brain. Up to you. Don't be sheepish, take your pick(s).
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