Site of the Week -- Dec. 11, 2000
umanity has spent thousands of years watching the planets of our solar
system,
but only the last few decades doing something about getting to them.
Romance to Reality chronicles those modern endeavors by
summarizing five decades' worth of plans to explore--and colonize--the
Moon and Mars.
The dreams of generations can be found here, packaged into broad
categories corresponding to the decades between the 1950s and today.
Visitors can learn about the plans of scientist-heroes from each era,
from Wernher von Braun's space-station-driven extrapolations to Carl
Sagan's thoughts on melting Mars' polar caps. There are also
summaries--260 in all--of intriguing plans by less famous engineers and
scientists.
The site's writeups are concise and readable, and while some may seem a
little dry, all are permeated by a sense of wonder. The author, as well
as the writers of the articles he annotates, are driven by future
visions of what could be--as well as the determination to make those
visions real, no matter how long it takes.
-- Kenneth Newquist
ne of the biggest complaints about The Phantom Menace was that
it didn't give nearly enough screen time to its visually cool but utterly
undeveloped villain, Darth Maul. Maul-hungry Phantom fans need look
no farther than Pulpphantom.com, where they can see the spike-headed baddie
shooting up, chatting about spice bars, and disco dancing with Queen
Amidala in the John Travolta role from Pulp Fiction. The site's
bright, vivid animated scenes faithfully recreate Pulp Fiction
almost line-for-line, but with a Star Wars twist, casting Boba Fett
as Samuel L. Jackson, Darth Vader as Ving Rhames, Queen Amidala as Uma
Thurman, young Obi-Wan Kenobi as Bruce Willis and so forth. The resulting
cartoons are not quite parodies of either Fiction or Phantom,
they're a colorful and surprisingly appropriate amalgam of the two.
Currently, Pulpphantom.com offers 15 episodes, with new ones added
periodically. The earlier episodes are short and crudely animated, but each
new one is a little longer and more ambitious, with better sound and more
motion. Recent installments, which take longer to load, provide
while-you-wait distractions, such as a "Beat Jar-Jar Binks bloody"
minigame. And all the episodes feature sharp, dynamic pop art that makes
the characters instantly recognizable. (A highlight is Han Solo, hanging
out with his multi-pierced wife Leia and bong-sucking pal Chewie, in Eric
Stoltz' self-centered dope-dealer role. "Hey, mi Falcon es su Falcon!")
Fans can also download Pulp Phantom desktop patterns and screensavers, or
play the Pulp Phantom slot machine.
The site's both a hobby and a practical advertisement for the web
designers at WarMedia.com, who pepper their main site with a lot of
interesting extras, including an interactive game where players penetrate
WarMedia headquarters to learn more about the company's
business-to-business capabilities. The company's sites are well worth
exploring--they're well-designed, irreverent, creative, and a lot of
fun.
-- Tasha Robinson
Site of the Week -- November 27, 2000
ore than 20 years ago, the Marshall family fell through a wormhole
into the Land of the Lost, a jungle world filled with dinosaurs,
odd-looking apes and some very freaky reptilian villains. The Saturday
morning live-action series ran from 1974 through 1976 and was produced by
the Kroft Brothers (also known for their H.R. Pufnstuf and
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters series).
The show's cult following continues to this day with Land of the
Lost,
a fan site that faithfully preserves the memories of the series' heroes:
Rick, Will and Holly Marshall. Those who dimly remember the plucky heroes
and their bug-eyed "Sleestak" antagonists can refresh their memories (and
hear the show's theme song) by reading the series FAQ. Die-hard fans should
check out the Sounds section, where they can download MP3 clips from the
show, and the Products page, which shows just how cheesy toys from the '70s
could be.
-- Kenneth Newquist
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