Afterlife Telegrams
http://www.afterlifetelegrams.com/AFTERLIFE/I dunno, I think it's a pretty fair approach as far as contacting the dead goes. You pay a terminally ill person to memorize a short message to somebody who's dead, and the messenger promises to try and seek out this person in the afterlife. It's not really a scam, since nobody's trying to claim that the message will get through: "Maybe there are no 'directories,' or any other way to find people in the afterlife," the FAQ quite reasonably notes. "Reincarnation could cause a problem…It could also be that the addressee is now omnipotent and knows everything anyway." The company seems to take a refreshingly no-nonsense, just-doing-our-jobs-ma'am approach to whole issue of speaking with the dead. I particularly like the training material for messengers, in which newly dead employees are advised to seek help from regional authorites and "indigenous entities," to comply with local laws and customs, and to avoid traveling through hazardous regions. (TFK)
The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible
http://www.flamingfire.com/bible.htmlSo, this crazy dude put the entire King James Bible (plus Apocrypha) online, and he wants you and me to illustrate all 36,665 verses! You don't have to be a Christian to contribute pictures, and there is no imposed censorship (you can put one of several optional content labels on your work, and viewers can choose to block certain types of content). This is your chance to stick it to the Good News Bible and all its crappy stick figure drawings! (Th)
Lip Balm Anonymous
http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/Finally—a Twelve Step program I can relate to! The only problem is, reading all those testimonies just makes me want it more. Hmmm… (Th)
Landover Baptist Church
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/Since I was raised Congregationalist (Congregationalism, as its name implies, is basically just an excuse to have potlucks and gossip), I always felt the lack of a really good bible-thumpin', fire-eatin', snake-wrasslin' religion to defy. If only my parents had been Landover Baptists! I would have had mad fundamentalist fun until the demon-possessed cows came home. (Ks)
Boot Liquor Radio
http://www.somafm.com/bootliquor/Billed as "American roots music for saddle-weary drunkards," this Internet radio feed is the best place to hear whiskey-voiced crooners belt out such enduring classics as "Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus" and "You're Not Woman Enough To Take My Man." If you're sick of listening to mattress commercials and traffic reports briefly interrupted by prefab Top Ten playlists, then try turning off the corporate radio stations and tuning into listener-supported, commercial-free, independent Internet radio stations like Soma FM. And we'll go honky tonkin', honey baby, we'll go honky tonkin' round this town. (TFK)
lilbits' gallery
http://www.sentex.net/~max/somewhat haphazard collection of art and poetry and daily amnesia recovery diary, dedicated to John F. Kennedy, Hirohito, my mafia boyfriend, Nixon, the Kau, 4 soldiers, everyone else i have loved and learned from especially *****Joseph*. (re)
Wuthering Heights Roleplay
http://philippe.tromeur.free.fr/whrpg.htmYou've gotta love a game that "deals with such themes as Suicide, Despair, homosexuality & socialism for the sole purpose of entertainment." In WHRPG, your Rage and Despair scores will define your character's ability; all you need to round out your character is a name and a single accessory to "float in the wind"—e.g. hair, scarf, entrails. Characters roll percentile dice to find their Problems in life, such as "naivete," "dresses improperly," or "in love with someone from their family." Brilliant game. The only depressing thing is that me and all my friends translate into WHRPG character sheets too fucken easily. (TFK)
Critical Miss
http://www.criticalmiss.comCritical Miss, "The Magazine For Dysfunctional Roleplayers," is a webzine that only a hopeless nerd could love. I am a hopeless nerd, and I love it. If you enjoy games like Vampire or Dungeons and Dragons, yet retain some basic social awareness and a well-developed appreciation for satire, you'll find this site really fucking funny. I particularly like the free scenario "Oy! Leave Them Orcs Alone!"
I also enjoy fantasizing about "role-playing sessions" with editor Jonny Nexus, but that's neither here nor there. (TFK)
Ama Gallery
http://www.amagallery.netAlthough I have what is probably an irrational prejudice against "official" art (i.e., the stuff in museums and galleries), this site leaves me drooling. Ama Gallery (physically located in Turku, Finland) is the place to go for hauntingly minimalist landscapes, slender pig madonnas, wire-entangled poppies, and—of course—haute couture for the contemporary coyote skull. (Th)
The Cosmic Baseball Association
http://www.cosmicbaseball.comDid I mention that I find baseball utterly boring? Have I told you how much I loathe all of those cheesy "spirituality of baseball" books? That being said, let me heartily recommend the fine, upstanding website of the Cosmic Baseball Association, home of such illustrious teams as the Alphatown Ionians (a team of philosophers and scientists), the Bookhouse Classifications (a team of Dewey Decimal categories), the Tropicland Hurricanes (a team of tropical cyclones), and the Martian Kinotypes (a team of movies about Mars). (Th)
Psychobabble
http://www.popcap.com/psychobabble.htmlPsychobabble is the best online multiplayer word game, so there. It combines two of my favorite things: wordplay and guerilla psychoanalysis. It's also a clever yet incomplete metaphor for the American political system.
Admittedly, the quality of the Psychobabble experience is significantly affected by the people with whom you share a room. It is indeed a hair-rippingly frustrating experience to see your elegant, perfectly punctuated triple entendre spurned for "shes eat my big stick." However, a little persistence will reveal the significant number of regulars who are mature, creative, humorous, and—above all—good writers. (M)
Villain Supply
http://www.villainsupply.com/lairs.html"www.villainsupply.com presents a complete inventory of ready-to-build kits that will provide you or your cabal with long-term, defensible secret housing with a minimum of fuss. For preexisting bases and lairs, visit www.evilrealtor.com." (C)
Emily Short's Interactive Fiction Page
http://emshort.home.mindspring.com/All the hottest new games for the holiday season are Emily Short productions! In a brief space of time, Short's products have become famous within the gaming industry for her their lusty, bloodspattered scenery, nail-biting gameplay, and thrill-a-minute special effects! Available on the XBox, PS2 and Apple Newton.
Okay, all that was a funny joke. Emily Short writes text-adventure games. You know, like Zork or A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Only, hers are better, and they're also free. My favorites are Pytho's Mask, a swashbuckling, heart-stealing costume drama, and Metamorphosis, the spare, haunting tale of a wizard's apprentice. (TFK)
Ray's Comics
http://www.coyotecomics.com/home.htmlSo, I've been a great big Soltis fan ever since a pencil-line version of me showed up in one of his comics. But most of these comics—in fact, all of them—are not actually about me. Instead, they're about genderfucks and personal tragedies and the freaky-wonderful stuff that sometimes happens in life. They're political but never boring; personal but always clear-eyed. I only wish there were more of them. (TFK)
Temple of the Screaming Electron
http://www.totse.comUh, so, TOTSE also shares an editor with the PDJ. There may be something a little fishy about these here links. I think they're on the take. But, yeah, TOTSE. Because hacking tutorials and high explosive mixtures want to be free. (TFK)
Pigdog Journal
http://www.pigdog.orgFewmets shares an editor with the PDJ, so I can't brag about it too much, except to say that it's one of the baddest sites on the whole damn Internet. Where else can you read the impassioned rants of a bunch of Spock-loving cyberbillies specializing in beverage science and leisure technology? Go, read about genetic mind superpowers and the worst Assman ever, and download a Spocktail recipe while you're at it. Tell 'em Fewmets sent you. (TFK)
