If reverb makes it hard for you to figure
out what the words to Heartbreak Hotel are, help is just a click away. All the words to Elvis’s songs are available at , which includes a photo gallery of The King, from school photographs to the lanky youth of early publicity shots to the bloated recluse of the final years.
Do you have a space question? Get an astronaut to answer at the National Space Society’s Ask an Astronaut site, at . Individual astronauts are featured in special sections which offer information about each person’s specific missions, while each month another astronaut replies to e-mail questions. Lots of photos as well as sound and movie files, reading lists, and links.
>From the Hacked Sites We’d Like to See Department. Online hacker e-zine 2600 has a gallery of well-known websites that haven’t actually been, um, redesigned by hackers, but probably should be (). The scurrilous content of these elaborate parodies of Microsoft (of course), Amazon.com, the White House and 2600 itself is not for those of delicate constitution, however. The editors invite creative types to submit similar makeovers for other worthy sites.
Hypertext has intrigued many creative writers (and infuriated some readers) by the possibilities it offers for literally restructuring the reading and writing experience. What if, mid-sentence, you could send a reader off somewhere else, down a new line of thought? The Cybermountain Colloquium in Denver, Colorado will bring together some of hypertext writing’s most eminent writers to discuss the genre in June. If you’re intrigued but can’t attend, the organisers are arranging a worldwide MOO (multi-user object-oriented technology, but it just means a big online discussion) for June 2. Visit , which also gives dates for some practice MOOs for neophytes.
Here’s proof that sitting down helps one to think deeply, angrily or amusingly. Latrinalia () is a photojournalist’s documentation of restroom graffiti, gathered from water closets across the United States. “The underbelly of human culture, seeking refuge from our collective neurosis. A signpost of sorts with scattered scrawlings, framed only by borders of the mind,” is how the site puts it.
Makeovers of a different type are on offer at Online Surgery which is providing the chance to win complimentary cosmetic surgery. Just fill in the form and make your (brief) pitch, following these instructions: “Tell us about yourself in 50 words or less: What difference would cosmetic surgery make in your life?” The site also features live surgeries for viewing on RealPlayer and a video archive of past cut- and-snip jobs. Whatever will they think of next?