ortured fans of The Matrix who salivate at the thought of the upcoming sequels, but scream in frustration at their 2003 release dates, can find temporarily solace at Believe the Unbelievable.
The trilogy fan site features monthly updates about the new movies, including rumors about production delays, educated guesses about when the first trailers might be seen and highlights of interviews with the stars. The Trilogy Notes section is filled cast lists, plot spoilers and rampant
speculation about the movies, all gleaned from sources around the net, television and magazines. Particularly interesting are the tidbits about how the movie's directors might deal with the death of some of its signature stars, including Gloria Foster, who played the Oracle in the original flick, and Aaliyah, who played a character named Zee in The Matrix 2.
Quicktime-formatted trailers from the original movie can be found on the site, as can a half-dozen different screen savers. The Pictures section includes dozens—if not hundreds—of photos taken from the original movie, as well as artwork taken from posters and CDs, and downloadable desktop images. The Matrix 2 picture galleries are less impressive, but they do include concept art and some clandestine snapshots taken on the set of the next movie.
— Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week—April 1, 2002
ecades of role-playing, board, war and computer games have spawned enough gamer jargon to put even NASA's linguistic gymnasts to shame. GamerJargon.com tracks this ever-morphing lingo with hundreds of entries explaining exactly what each cryptic utterance means, denoting its origin and then using the phrase in a sentence.
The featured jargon spans the entire gaming spectrum. "Alien eyes" refers to rolling two 3s on six-sided dice (rather than the traditional "snake eyes" that comes from rolling 1s). "Aggro," derived from "aggressive," describes the online lynching of a character in EverQuest, and dates from the days of more primitive online games like MUDS. "Wandering damage" refers to any encounter that the game master throws at players for the express purpose of hurting them and getting them to use up valuable supplies.
It's not all about obscure slang, though. The site also defines common gaming terms like "war-gaming" and "role-playing game" and includes brief histories of popular games like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer. There are a few holes in its coverage—the classic "TPK" (total party kill) isn't included—but fans are encouraged to submit entries of their own.
— Ken Newquist
Site of the Week—March 25, 2002
've been mildly interested for a while in dipping my toe into Robert Jordan's enormous Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels, just to see what all the fuss is about. But the sheer size of the series always daunted me—until now. I've just read the nine volumes of Jordan's "masterpiece" in a few minutes, and can immediately see that I was wise to forbear earlier. How, you ask, did I accomplish this miracle, short of possessing a watch that stops time? Easily! I visited Book-a-Minute SF/F, where scores of novels are distilled into their pithy—and hilarious—essences.
Click on any of the titles presented here, and you'll encounter the gist of the given book presented in under 100 words. Needless to say, the goal of such drastic boiling down is not to produce serious aids to the study of literature, but rather to highlight the banality of most books. The writers who contribute these capsule satires are more in league with The Onion than they are with Classics Illustrated or Cliffs Notes. You'll chortle if a book you think is particularly dumb is nailed, but you'll howl if one of your favorites is raked over the coals. Still and all, this is an enjoyable way to pass a half hour, guaranteeing that you'll never look at the high and mighty in our field the same way again. And these gleeful conspirators perform their surgery on mainstream classics as well, which you can visit via a handy link.
— Paul Di Filippo
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