| Picturing the Century We have a soft spot for historical photo archives, and this one's a doozy. The National Archives and Records Administration presents a luminous "best of the best" collection of images tracing America's 20th century. Browse the collection by time period (A New Century, A World in Flames), or peruse the portfolios of famous contributors like Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and documentary photographer Danny Lyon. And don't miss their obliquely poetic captions: "Much tattooed sailor aboard the USS New Jersey," "Farm family listening to their radio," and "Old-timer, keeping up with the boys. Many structural workers are above middle-age." |
| The Dead Letter Office You are dead. You don't know how you got to this point, but life as you know it is over. And now you have to chance to write a letter from beyond the grave to the world. That's the premise behind this morbidly entertaining site. Submit your own letter, or just read some of the thoughts and rants of the recently cyber-deceased. Explore the dead letters by category -- saddest, funniest, most touching, angriest, or most insightful -- or just read a random one. The honesty and frankness of the letters are sure to have you clicking your browser's reload button. |
| Mojo Magazine The British music magazine Mojo rocks, plain and simple. No highfalutin music snobbery here -- just tons of well-written articles about great music, from the Fab Four to the Furious Five. Indulge in a piece on prog rock ("the music that dare not speak its name") in the Features Section. Inquire about a missing musical hero in the What Ever Happened To? forum. Interested in augmenting your catholic but impeccable record collection? Check the Buried Treasure bin for "the musical equivalent of finding an undiscovered Van Gogh in the attic." And let's not forget the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time. |
| The Hollywood 10 (R.I.P.) In 1947, Hollywood's golden era of studio production detonated in an ugly morass of "paranoia, politics, and payback." The newly formed House of Un-American Activities Committee singled out nine screenwriters and one director for public ruin, and destroyed the careers of hundreds of other blacklisted artists. Read trial transcripts, background articles, and biographies of the key players. Friendly witness Walt Disney testifies about a suspected communist in his production studio: "I looked into his record and I found that, number 1, that he had no religion and, number 2, that he had spent considerable time at the Moscow Art Theatre studying art direction, or something." |
| Curious George Comes to Hattiesburg The exhibition, drawn from the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi, examines the lives and work of H.A. and Margret Rey, creators of the world's most beloved inquisitive primate: Curious George. In addition to the providing a history of the cheeky monkey, the site explores some of the other characters created by the married couple. From their early books and advertising to their later work with needlepoint, astronomy, and pottery, the couple's commitment to heartwarming stories and images is evident throughout. |
| Women in American History The introduction to this richly textured survey from Encyclopedia Britannica offers a surprising fact -- the women's liberation movement of the 1970s was predated by almost 100 years: "In the late 19th century, nearly one-third of American women earning college degrees went on to do graduate work, and in the 1890s eight times as many women earned Ph.Ds as had in the entire history of the United States." A medley of articles, original documents, and multimedia clips fills in the rest of the story: Dorothy Parker reads her poetry, Lillian Gish expounds on the power of motion pictures, and Susan B. Anthony delivers a fiery resignation speech to the National American Women Suffrage Association. |
| 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com Actor and playwright Mike Daisey witnessed quite a bit during his two-year stint at Amazon.com, and because his Non-Disclosure Agreement recently expired, Mike is free to share many of those experiences with the public. If you live in the greater Seattle area, you can go see the one-man stage show (through March 31st), but don't worry if you're not a denizen of the Northwest -- there's plenty of interesting fodder on the web site about the "slavishly love idealistic mouthbreathers, sixty-hour weeks, and the cult of personality that is Jeff Bezos." Don't miss the fan letters -- quite a few people write in with personal experiences of the dot-com rise and fall. And if you have about an hour to kill, watch the webcast of the show. |
| All My Life for Sale Ever felt like all your worldly possessions were weighing you down? Like you wanted to simplify your life? You might want to follow the example set by John D. Freyer. John's auctioning off the pieces of his life, one by one. He's already sold his Jesus Nightlight and his favorite hat. Items from John's life that are still available include a fresh-looking Chicago Cubs tank top and a very odd Talking Japanese key chain. Pitch in and help John get down to the bare walls. Good luck and happy bidding! |
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