| Africa (R.I.P.) Freelance photographer Mickey Bhuiyan's Flash-fueled portfolio features plenty of great photographs, but the jaw-dropping design of his site feels like a preview of web technology to come. Each multimedia chapter downloads discretely, so clicking through photographs and maps happens instantaneously. No more clicking on thumbnails or broken image HTML tags. And who could have predicted that hyena pictures and thumping techno tunes would work so well together? |
| Slow Food Slow Food is the name of an international movement dedicated to defending "the right to pleasure" -- the preservation of gastronomic diversity, traditional cuisine, and local agriculture. From its beginnings in Italy in the 1980s, the movement has spread to some 35 countries and tens of thousands of members, who support the slow food manifesto's commitment to savor life at a snail's pace. We nibbled and browsed at a richly laden table of articles on cheese and chestnuts, osterie, and ostrich meat. Want to stop and smell the coffee in your own backyard? Consider creating a grassroots convivium in your culinary community. |
| American Masters Bells and whistles are thoughtfully deployed at this companion to the long-running PBS series. The current front page features author Norman Mailer, reflecting on, you guessed it... himself. Mailer's prolific writing career, displayed on a scrolling photographic timeline, reflects his gusto for key controversies of the late 20th century. Other resource-rich pages cover visual artists from Avedon to Warhol, performers, musicians, and film and television personalities. Don't miss the Six Degrees Game -- we discovered that Charlie Chaplin connects to Ray Charles by way of Truman Capote and George Gershwin. Now that's a web of culture. Masterful! |
| HP 100 Cameras Project Tip of the hat to Hewlett-Packard's 100 Cameras Project, still 80 cameras shy of completion, but already intriguing. See what different individuals do with one computer, one printer, one digital camera, and very simple instructions -- have fun and be creative. We explored portfolios from the Dolphin Club, which featured a group of year-round San Francisco Bay swimmers, and perused a photo essay by the once-and-future beat poet and painter, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Each exhibit is accompanied by a brief biography of the photographer. |
| British National Archives Virtual Museum Anglophiles rejoice. This impressive collection of parchments, daguerreotypes, and engravings chronicles over a thousand years of British history, from the Magna Carta to Sir Elton John. You'll find dozens of nifty historical diversions: World War II propaganda posters, letters from Charles Dickens, Victorian fashion cut-outs, 16th-century Tudor wallpaper samples. All accompanied by wonderfully understated comments like "Since medieval times Britain's relationship with the various countries of Europe has swung between unsteady alliance and open warfare." Great stuff. |
| Mr. Beller's Neighborhood This is an interactive surveillance photograph of Manhattan -- click on a particular neighborhood for a closer look. If you're familiar with the city, you should be able to identify particular buildings. As your host Thomas Beller suggests, "The main map, showing most of the island, is oddly beautiful to look at. The more detailed neighborhood maps, are downright disturbing after a while. You see Manhattan from a distant yet oddly intimate perspective." Here's the cool part: Mr. Beller has populated his map with stories, fragments, and recollections inspired by particular addresses. |
| Crop Circle Quest Subtitled "crop formations in western Canada that I have personally visited," this is a fine investigation of those strangely intriguing patterns of bent wheat stalks. Your intrepid host Judy Arndt presents plenty of crime scene photographs, detailed diagrams, and close-ups of "deformed nodes and expulsion cavities." You'll also find an essay which delineates the nine possible causes of crop circles: Whirlwind Vortex, Plasma Vortex, Earth Energies, Extra-Terrestrial Origin, Underground Archaeological, Chemical Applications, Hoaxes, God Force, and Military Experimentation. As Ms. Arndt sums up, "It appears that there were some powerful energies at work here." |
| Vintage Hawaiian Shirt: An Artistic Retrospective "To wear an Hawaiian shirt is an act of self-emancipation!" proclaims the creator of this onolicious (tasty) and akamai (clever) web site. If you share the sentiment, you'll want to spend some time ogling the gorgeous, eclectic personal collection of silk, cotton, and rayon shirts that spans several decades and styles. Feast your eyes on flower leis with classic vertical borders, emblematic island landscapes, long-sleeved alohawear, banker styles inspired by Japanese prints, and many novelty shirts. There's even a polyester shirt pastiche of Gaugin's work. It's the finest in eye candy, aloha-style. |
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